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.
"Everything's laid out for you. Your path is straight ahead of you.
Sometimes it's invisible, but it's there. You may not know where
it's going, but still you've got to follow that path. It's the path
to Creator. That's the only path worth following."
__ Leon Shenandoah, Iroquois
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg-
| | iance was first presented
| I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the
| to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat-
| of the Republic | ional Congress of American
| and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat-
| borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI
| Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the
| as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian
| States Constitution, | Nations.
| so that my forefathers |
| shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| Journey | In the summer and early fall
| The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders
| | rode a thousand miles on horse-
| For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and
| We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way.
| For All that fear and fear by sight |
| We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for
| For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity
| We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen.
| For all that die and die by greed |
| We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this
| For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity
| We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and
| For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the
| We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good
| | of the People or is it from ego
| Treaty Unity Riders | for self.
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!
The editorial in the last newsletter focused in part on House of
Representatives bill 1814. This bill must not become law!
I wish to than Mike Wicks for granting permission to share his letter
to his representative. I ask each of you to please consider sitting down
now, while it is fresh on your mind, and write a similar letter to the
representative of your district.
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 20:26:51 -0400
From: "Mike Wicks" <mike.wicks@mindspring.com>
Subj: HR 1814 IH
I would encourage everyone to write a similar letter to your own state's
reps and senators. And don't forget to include some National and local
news media. There are two links on the Camp Justice page, one for
getting a list of your state's reps and Senators, and another for
getting local news media. Please send a message.
http://www.aics.org/justice/camp.html
In struggle,
Mike
Subject: HR 1814 IH
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 19:40:31 -0400
From: Mike Wicks <Mike.Wicks!@mindspring.com>
Organization: American Indian Cultural Support
To: bob_graham@graham.senate.gov, connie@mack.senate.gov,
FL01@mail.house.gov, rep.boyd@mail.house.gov, thurman@mail.house.gov,
cstearns@mail.house.gov, john.mica@mail.house.gov,
Bill.McCollum@mail.house.gov, Rep.Charles.Canady@mail.house.gov,
miller13@mail.house.gov, porter.goss@mail.house.gov,
mark.foley@mail.house.gov, pdeutsch.pub@mail.house.gov,
alcee.pubhastings@mail.house.gov
CC: opinion@msnbc.com, EqualTime@msnbc.com, Dateline@NBC.com,
newswatch@foxnews.com, letters@newsweek.com,
WABC-TV.Eyewitness.News@abc.com, webnews@washpost.com,
nationalnews@herald.com, actionline@herald.com, osoinsight@aol.com,
tom.tryon@herald-trib.com, letters@sptimes.com, national@sptimes.com,
local@sptimes.com, tribletters@tampatrib.com, Mike!@aics.org,
AIMFL@aol.com
Sirs;
I would like to make a comment or two on this bill. If you plan to
charge STATE sales tax on goods sold on an Indian reservation, which is
in fact a sovereign Nation, then when might we expect to be able to collect
STATE sales tax on goods sold in Canada, Italy, France, and the rest of
the worlds sovereign Nations? What will be put in place to prevent
all these other sovereign Nations from imposing their taxes upon the
residents of this STATE? Indian Nations deal with the U.S. Government
on a Nation to Nation basis, and Nation to Nation Treaties are the
methods used. Now, just because the U.S. Government has never honored
the treaties they signed and made promises to keep, does not mean that
some STATE government can now come along and further erode the almost
non-existent income of Indian people. Are you aware that the annual
income for an average Indian family is LESS than the average MONTHLY
income for white Americans? Why would anyone want to take even more
from the poorest people in this land? When will the genocide end?
Mike Wicks
American Indian Cultural Support
P.O. box 1783
Lutz, FL 33548-1783
------------------------ Bill 1814 ---------------------------------
HR 1814 IH
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1814 To provide incentives for Indian tribes to collect and pay
lawfully imposed State sales taxes on goods sold on tribal lands and to
provide for penalties against Indian tribes that do not collect and pay
such
State sales taxes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 13, 1999 Mr. VISCLOSKY (for himself,
Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. SKELTON,
Mr. COBLE, Mr. SOUDER, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. NEY,
Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. HILL of Montana, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. BURTON
of Indiana, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. BUYER, Mr. GRAHAM, and Mr. CANADY of Florida)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Resources
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BILL To provide incentives for Indian tribes to collect and pay
lawfully imposed State sales taxes on goods sold on tribal lands and to
provide for penalties against Indian tribes that do not collect and pay
such State sales taxes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. INCENTIVE FOR INDIAN TRIBES TO ENSURE COLLECTION OF STATE SALES
TAXES.
Priority among Indian tribes competing for Federal grants shall be given to
Indian tribes that certify, through a process established by the Secretary
in consultation with the States, that retail establishments operating on
trust lands within a tribe's jurisdiction are collecting and paying to the
appropriate State all qualified State retail taxes.
SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION OF FAILURE TO PAY TAX.
If an Indian or Indian tribe consistently and willfully fails--
(1) to pay any qualified State retail tax on any retail item sold, by are
tail establishment located on land that is held in trust for the benefit of
the Indian or Indian tribe, to a person who is not either a member of the
Indian tribe on behalf of which the land is held in trust or a member of the
same Indian tribe as the Indian for whom the land is held in trust;
(2) to make equal payment to the State in lieu of such qualified State
retail tax; or
(3) to make payment to a State pursuant to a compact governing the payment
of qualified State retail tax between the Indian or Indian tribe and the
State, then the Governor or the Attorney General of the State may document
and certify such failure to the Assistant Secretary and request that the
land upon which the structure which houses the retail establishment is
located be taken out of trust status.
SEC. 3. NOTICE OF REQUEST; COMMENT PERIOD.
(a) NOTICE-
(1) FEDERAL REGISTER- Not later than 30 days after receiving documentation,
certification, and a request from the Governor or attorney general of a
State in accordance with section 2, the Assistant Secretary shall publish
notice of the request and the reason therefor in the Federal Register.
(2) OTHER NOTICE- Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate rules to ensure prompt notification
of any Indian or Indian tribe regarding whose land a request for removal
from trust has been made under section 2, the time and manner in which the
Indian or Indian tribe has to respond to the request, and the Indian or
Indian tribe's rights regarding the request.
(b) COMMENT PERIOD- The Assistant Secretary shall provide a period of 90
days after the publication pursuant to subsection (a) for interested persons
to submit comments on the request.
(c) HEARING-
(1) IN GENERAL- If a request is made under this Act for removal of an Indian
or Indian tribe's land from trust, the Indian or Indian tribe may request a
timely hearing on the request to remove such land from trust.
(2) TIME PERIOD- If a hearing is requested under paragraph (1)not later than
60 days after the publication pursuant to subsection (a),the Secretary shall
grant the hearing request. A hearing under this paragraph shall be held not
later than the expiration of the 90-day period provided for comment under
subsection (b).
(3) REGULATIONS- Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to implement this
section.
SEC. 4. INVESTIGATION; PUBLICATION OF FINDINGS.
(a) INVESTIGATION- Upon receipt of documentation, certification, and a
request from the Governor or attorney general of a State in accordance with
section 2, the Assistant Secretary shall begin an investigation to verify
that the Indian or Indian tribe consistently and willfully failed to make
payment described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 2 as documented
and certified by the Governor or attorney general of the State.
(b) DETERMINATION- Not later than 60 days after the completion of the
90-day notice and comment period required by subsections 2(a) and 2(b), the
Assistant Secretary shall publish the results of the investigation in the
Federal Register.
SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF LAND FROM TRUST.
(a) IN GENERAL- If the Assistant Secretary determines pursuant to section 4
that an Indian or Indian tribe consistently and willfully failed to make
payment described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 2 in relation to
any retail item sold by a retail establishment located on land that is held
in trust for the benefit of the Indian or Indian tribe to a person who is
not either a member of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land is held
in trust or a member of the same Indian tribe as the Indian for whom the
land is held in trust, the Assistant Secretary shall inform the Secretary of
such determination. Upon receipt of such determination, the Secretary shall
remove from trust status such land as the Secretary determines to constitute
the extent of the retail operations.
(b) EFFECT OF REMOVAL FROM TRUST- Removal of land from trust under this Act
shall eliminate tribal authority regarding taxation and make the property
subject to all applicable State and local sales taxes on goods purchased on
such land regardless of the purchaser's status as a tribal member.
(c) EFFECT OF PAYMENT OR AGREEMENT TO PAY- If, before the Secretary removes
land from trust status pursuant to subsection (a), the Indian or Indian
tribe that was determined to have failed to make payment described in
paragraph(1), (2), or (3) of section 2, makes all such payments to the State
or enters into an agreement with the State to make such payment, the
Governor or attorney general of the State, the Indian, or the Indian tribe
may inform the Assistant Secretary of such payment or agreement and request
that the land not be removed from trust status. If the Governor or the
attorney general of >a State so requests, the Assistant Secretary shall
immediately inform the Secretary of the request and the land shall not be
removed from trust status unless new documentation, certification, and a
new request is submitted, >published, and investigated in accordance with
this Act.
(d) APPEAL OF DECISION- The Secretary's determination under this section
shall be final agency action for purposes of judicial review.
(e) TRUST STATUS RESTORED- The Secretary shall take into trust for the
benefit of an Indian or an Indian tribe any land that was held in trust for
that Indian or Indian tribe but was taken out of trust in accordance with
the provisions of this Act, if each State in which such land is located
certifies to the Secretary that, for not less than 1 year following such
removal, the Indian or Indian tribe has made all applicable payments
described in section 2 to the State or has entered into an agreement with
the State to make such payment.
SEC. 6. ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS.
For the purposes of the delivery of services and benefits furnished to
federally recognized Indian tribes and members of such tribes, land taken
out of trust pursuant to this Act shall be considered part of the service
area of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land was held in trust or
the Indian tribe of the Indian on whose behalf the land was held in trust.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act--
(1) the term `Assistant Secretary' means the Assistant Secretary of the
Interior for Indian Affairs;
(2) the term `Indian' means any individual who is a member of an Indian
tribe;
(3) the term `Indian tribe' means any federally recognized Indian tribe,
band, nation, pueblo, or other organized group or community, excluding any
Alaska Native village or regional corporation as defined in or established
pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act;
(4) the term `qualified State retail tax' means a lawfully imposed,
nondiscriminatory State excise or sales tax on any retail item sold by a
retail establishment located on land that is held in trust for the benefit
of the Indian or Indian tribe to a person who is not either a member of the
Indian tribe on behalf of which the land is held in trust or a member of
the same Indian tribe as the Indian for whom the land is held in trust; and
(5) the term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the Interior.
>SEC. 8. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, not less than 90 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue interim rules
to implement the provisions of this Act.
------------------------------ end this bill! --------------------------
Peace! Night Owl
, , Gary Night Owl gars@netcom.com
(*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@nanews.org
(`-') Marietta, GA 30417, U.S.A. gars@crl.com
===w=w== Fax: 770-528-9643 gars@wolfstar.com
----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------
- Urgent Call - Tribal Head Start Makes Comeback
- TNAT Starting Up Again/ - Mexico Indians Live/
Thanks for Support Die in Hamlets
- Pact Would Give More - Wisconsin Wolf Alert
Water to Indians - Deal May End Suit on
- Campbell on BIA Trust Accounts Inmate Religion
- Tribes Want - O'odham Girl Buried
More Say in Yellowstone - Pictou-Aquash
- Yaquis Drop Effort to Canada Press Conferences
Create Enclave in Guadalupe - Release of Papers/
- Language Near Death Leonard's Extradition
- Tribe Receives Grants for Library - Native Prisoner
- Rio Nuevo Plan - Vechet's Food For Thought
- Innu Want Immediate - A Hundred Years Ago
Halt to Lower Churchill - Riding on to the Shiprock Fair
- The View from the Hogan 7 - Poem: Spirits
- Navajo War Effort - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
No Longer Unheralded - Native Youth Group Fundraiser
- Gun Lake Tribe Gets Recognition - Symphonic Powwow
- Forensic Test May - Upcoming Events
Settle Gnawing Question - Native America Calling
--------- "RE: Urgent Call" ---------
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 20:42:49 -0400
From: leslie@neca.com
Subj: Urgent Call
This is an urgent call for help for the victims of the June 4 tonadoes
which devastated parts of the Pine Ridge reservation, particularly
Oglala. The information following has been copied from the website
of Pathways To Spirit, a Colorado non -profit organization, with the
permission of Carmeen Klausner, Director. ( 970-282-8573 )
Updated information regarding the June 4th Tornado aftermath
In September we received a communication from Liz Morrison, Secretary
to Councilman Floyd Brings Plenty, of the Oglala Tribal Council. Liz
wanted to have us tell you that right now homelessness is a very big
problem for those who live in Oglala. Especially so since the tornado
destroyed approximately a quarter of their houses. With a population of
over 2,000 people , they only had about 400 homes. They have instances of
3 or 4 families living in a single dwelling. As their relatives became
homeless from the tornado, they took in who would fit. Sometimes they had
to split up families so they would all have shelter. Any kind of
assistance regarding homes would help them all right now. With winter
coming on the need is urgent. Furniture is being held in storage in
Denver right now for these families, since they have no homes to put the
furniture in. The only kind of shelter that was provided right now are
some RV's that would fit into the average homes' living room.
FEMA's expectation that 10 people can live in this type of crowded
conditions is unrealistic. These homes appear to be on loan for 18 months
from FEMA; these RV's are temporary housing. The people who are utilizing
this temporary shelter do not know what will happen to them after the 18
months have passed.
Some suggestions are log home kits and homes built from tires. If anyone
has expertise in these areas and would like to help, in any way, please
contact us immediately.
A woman from Oglala wrote us this.....
"We still don't know what they are going to do after 18 months.
When we ask, we receive a different answer each time. The original plan
was to surplus the trailers to the State of South Dakota who would then
surplus them to the Bureau of Indian Affairs who would then surplus them
to the Oglala Sioux Tribe who would then surplus them to the people who
are living in them. Then FEMA said they would offer them for sale to the
people who were still living in them after one year. Then they said they
wanted the Oglala Sioux Housing Authority to own the trailers and be the
landlord of these trailers. They would then rent the trailers out.
Unfortunately, many of the people who need them are on a very limited
fixed income who couldn't afford to pay rent. This is still being
discussed, argued, and changed again and again. When we hear something
concrete, I will relay the information on to you. In the end, what is to
stop the FEMA people from coming into Oglala and simply taking the
trailers back after 18 months. Legally, they can do that as their policy
is to provide emergency, temporary shelter for 18 months. One good thing
has come from all of this chaos, we now have a trailer park that can
accommodate 100 trailers. Before, when someone wanted to set up a
trailer, it meant buying a septic tank system which runs up to $3,000.00
to install, waiting for a hook-up to the water line which could take up
to a year and finally electricity hook-up which couldn't happen until you
had the water hook-up. Then you were responsible for the road to your
house and the cost of maintaining it. We do realize these are not new
trailers. At this time, we believe that anything will help alleviate the
housing shortage. We do still have people who are living in tents. We
have people who are still living in one-room log cabins with no indoor
plumbing, water or electricity. We still have people who are living in
HUD units that are not repaired. One instance is a woman is living in a
unit whose ceiling has caved in. In the second week of June when they
were fixing the roofs of these houses, the repairman fell through her
roof and ceiling ending up on her bedroom floor. The roof was repaired
but her ceiling still has a gaping hole where the fiberglass insulation
is falling through. She has a small child with asthma so I advised her to
move out as I believe it is endangering his life but there is nowhere for
her to go. There is simply no more room anywhere so she continues to live
there. There are many other instances like this here in Oglala. Many of
the houses that were severely damaged still have people living in them as
there is no place to put them. The testimony can go on and on. This is
why we are asking for help."
The need for funding for transportation for these mobile homes is urgent,
please help us
We are thrilled to tell you that now you can give someone a new home. The
cost of the mobile home transportation has been made affordable by some
very generous companies... the price is now $595.00 per home to take it the
reservation.
Please note that this is a tax deductible donation!
We have also been given the services of a pilot car driver once a month,
to help guide these homes to their new owners.
To see photos of the tornado damage in Oglala, please check out website
at http://www.pathwaystospirit.org
The photos are courtesy of the Pine Ridge Tribal Council .
--------- "RE: TNAT Starting Up Again/Thanks for Support" ---------
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 09:19:58 -0600 (MDT)
From: joseph c winter <jwinter@unm.edu>
Subj: TNAT starting up again; thanks for support!
(The following message is probably far too long, and I wish that I could
send each supporter a personal message. Also, I am very embarrassed
to ask for donations, but it is the only way we can get started
again. Thank you for passing this message on to others!!! Joe Winter)
Please pass this on to your friends and readers. In response to the
tremendous outpouring of support, with hundreds of letters, email
messages, petitions, and phone calls made on behalf of TNAT - The
Traditional Native American Tobacco Seed Bank and Education Program - I
have started the program up again, but with a new name and address. It is
now called THE NATIVE AMERICAN PLANT COOPERATIVE (NAPC) which reflects its
broader purpose, of providing many different kinds of medicinal plants to
Native Americans who need them, not just traditional tobacco. We still
have a traditional tobacco seed bank, tobacco health education program,
and tobacco leaf gift program, but we also have several hundred other
medicinal plants, that we can provide to Native Americans who need them
for healing, prayers, ceremonies and related purposes. Also, our many
donors have provided us with a lot of other items, such as bison and elk
hides, parrot and other feathers, beads, porcupine quills, sinew and many
other things that are useful for those in need, especially in prisons and
rehab programs where access is limited.
So here is our new address; we do not yet have a phone number, though I
can still be reached at my work number - 505-277-5853 and this email
address. We need your continued support! We are starting out with a
balance of 0 in our bank account, and while we have enough stamps to
provide plants to member groups for about 2 weeks, we need many things
that the university previously provided, and that now cost money that we
don't have, e.g., post office box, phone line, copying costs, FAX line,
web page, email address, and the many many other things required to set up
and maintain a private, not-for-profit cooperative.
So please send us your donations and support, so we can get back on our
feet. Also, please consider joining our volunteer-based cooperative, which
provides all member groups, each month, with as much traditional tobacco
as they need, along with sage, cedar, sweetgrass, and a different
educational set each month, and one other medicinal plant or other donated
item from our catalogs of plants, educational materials, and related items
(such as prisoner-made arts and crafts). Additional plants, educational
sets, and other items can be purchased for a small price, and we have many
books, posters, videos, Huichol and Tarahumara crafts and art,
prisoner-made arts and crafts, and other things available at a very
low cost. Finally, we still provide traditional tobacco seeds and a small
amount of Blessing tobacco, in return only for postage costs (three .33
cents stamps or $1.00). You do not have to be a member to receive the
seeds and gift tobacco. However, as a cooperative member you will receive
many benefits.
Initial membership in the cooperative is only $15.00, with a flat monthly
rate of $7.50 thereafter, payable in money, stamps, arts and crafts,
volunteer work, contributing traditional tobacco and other plants, making
gifts, and the many other things that the cooperative will depend on. In
other words, for only a little bit of effort or a little money, you can be
part of an important cooperative that helps thousands of brothers and
sisters in need, not only in prisons but in many other limited access
facilities throughout the U.S. and Canada.
So here is the new address:
Native American Plant Cooperative
P.O.Box 36749
Albuquerque NM 87176
Please consider donating support or even joining NAPC! Donations of $15.00
or more cover the basic cooperative enrollment fee. For the time being,
checks and money orders have to be made out in my name, since we do not
yet have our not-for profit status, tax ID # and all of the other
bureaucratic stuff we have to go through. Also, there are many many
challenges ahead of us, not the least of which is the upcoming Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms determination of whether or not our Blessing
Tobacco constitutes "tobacco" in the legal sense. But with your help, we
can overcome this and many other obstacles. Thank you!!!
Joe Winter
Director, Native American Plant Cooperative
Phone: 505-277-5853
FAX: 505-277-6726
email:jwinter@unm.edu
--------- "RE: Pact Would Give More Water to Indians" ---------
Date: Sat, 09 Oct 1999 05:59:53 GMT
From: "AliceH" <AliceH@gte.net>
Subj: Pact approved to cut federal CAP bill
Board's deal also would give more water to Indians
Newsgroup: alt.native
http://www.azcentral.com/news/1008cap.shtml
Pact approved to cut federal CAP bill
Board's deal also would give more water to Indians
By Shaun McKinnon
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 8, 1999
A plan to reduce Arizona's bill for the $4.7 billion Central Arizona
Project Canal in exchange for water to help federal officials settle Indian
water disputes won easy approval Thursday from the CAP governing board.
Under the proposal, which would end Arizona's 5-year-old lawsuit against
the federal government, the state would repay the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
$1.65 billion for building the canal, about $700 million less than the
bureau wanted.
And Arizona would give the federal government nearly half the Colorado
River water delivered by the canal; enough, state officials hope, to satisfy
ancestral claims by the Gila River Indian Community, the Tohono O'odom
Nation and other tribes.
Annually, 1.5 million acre-feet of water from the Colorado River is
delivered via the 336-mile canal to cities in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima
counties.
The Central Arizona Water Conservation District, run by 15 elected
Arizonans, voted to approve the deal, 13-1. The district now will file the
proposal with a federal judge in Phoenix, where the lawsuit is pending. Some
response is then anticipated from the federal government, which still
opposes some details, including a limit on the amount of water available to
the federal government.
Mark Lewis of Maricopa County opposed the deal, and several other board
members voiced concerns.
"I consider this a weasel trap," said Jim Hartdegen, Pinal County's
representative. "We're putting our chips on the table so we can see the
feds' hand and then see how fast they can weasel out of it."
The proposal would settle the issue of how much Arizona owes the federal
government for building the CAP Canal. Federal officials wanted Arizona to
repay $2.33 billion of the $4.7 billion cost. Arizona sued over the amount,
claiming the state should not be responsible for federal cost overruns. A
federal judge has already ruled that Arizona shouldn't have to pay more than
$1.78 billion.
The proposed settlement could turn into a windfall for taxpayers in the
three counties served by the CAP. Currently, property owners in those
counties pay 10 cents per $100 valuation for CAP repayment costs.
Although the proposed agreement does not directly address Indian water
claims, one key condition is settlement of the disputes. To help that
process, the CAP would support giving federal officials an additional
200,000 acre-feet a year of water. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons.
Indian tribes and the federal government now control more than 400,000
acre-feet.
Shaun McKinnon can be reached at (602) 444-7116 or at shaun.mckinnon@pni.com
--------- "RE: Campbell on BIA Trust Accounts" ---------
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 12:46:34 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 09-30-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
By Bill McAllister
c. Denver Post
Sept. 26, 1999
WASHINGTON - No sooner had he finished a hearing Wednesday on the
Interior Department's much-maligned Indian trust accounts, than Sen. Ben
Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., was off to the races.
Actually, it was a charity race, one in which members of Congress drive a
miniature race car around a small track at the foot of Capitol Hill. The
object: Get the best time on the course.
Each lawmaker who dared put the pedal to the metal was assured a $500
donation from Kmart Corp. for his or her favorite charity, and the
legislators with the 10 best times were promised an additional $1,500.
As he waited for his ride, Campbell and his aides munched on barbecue and
talked about the prospects for the legislation. The senator, who is chairman
of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, had just clashed with Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt over his proposals and he was mindful of how
strongly the Clinton administration had resisted.
"Since the Bureau (of Indian Affairs) opposes it, I'd say it's pretty
slim," he said. "But it is the right thing to do. They (the BIA) actually
are not capable of straightening up that mess.
"But they don't want to give up the turf. They don't want to give up any
decision-making authority to an outside entity. But that's what they ought
to be doing to get it straightened out."
The result, many here expect, is that the Clinton administration probably
will continue with its plan to revamp the trust accounts. As Campbell put
it, Babbitt and his staff are certain to keep pleading with the lawmakers
and Indians to "trust us."
And Campbell and other Indian activists are likely to continue questioning
the process in Congress.
The BIA's most significant challenge, however, is likely to come from U.S.
District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington. The judge already has fined
government officials more than $600,000 for their handling of a class-action
lawsuit filed by the Boulder-based Native Americans Right Fund. The Colorado
group has alleged massive mismanagement by the BIA, and Lamberth has been
receptive to their arguments, accusing Interior of "a shocking pattern of
deception of the court."
The standoff in Campbell's hearing room didn't surprise some of the Native
Americans the senator had called as witnesses.
"This scenario goes on and goes on," Joseph Tillman, a chief of Oklahoma's
Osage Tribe, told Campbell. Tillman added that he shares the senator's
misgivings about the BIA's approach to resolving the trust issues. As
Tillman put it: "The fox is guarding the henhouse once again."
Speaking of that charity race, called the Capitol Hill Challenge, Campbell
finished 63rd out of 144 lawmakers with a time of 29.29 seconds.
Of the four members of the Colorado delegation who participated, only Rep.
Bob Schaffer, R-Fort Collins, broke into the top 10. He finished ninth with
a time of 24.04.
Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Grand Junction, came in 27th with a time of 26.40 and
Rep. Mark Udall, D-Boulder, was 33rd with a time of 26.85.
Schaffer's $2,000 prize will go to the SHOUT program in Greeley. That's an
anti-smoking group whose name stands for "Stay Healthy - Oppose Using
Tobacco."
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, announced last week that he has signed up
for the Citizens Legislators Caucus, a newly formed group of 13 House
Republicans and one Democrat who have agreed to limit their time in
Congress.
"Term limits has a tendency to keep you focused and helps you avoid getting
caught up in the heady atmosphere of Congress," the freshman lawmaker said
in a statement. Tancredo last year pledged to serve no more than three
two-year terms.
"I would liken term limits to the practice in Rome when victorious generals
were paraded into the city to the accolades of the crowd. A servant would
have to ride in the chariot along with Caesar and, while holding a laurel
above Caesar's head, whisper "all fame is fleeting."
Next time you spot Tancredo riding in a parade, you'll know what the guy
next to him is saying.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., had a good word to say recently about a member
of the Clinton cabinet. He dashed off a letter of praise to Energy
Secretary
Bill Richardson for an agreement he signed with four states.
The agreement with the governors of Colorado, Tennessee, Washington and
South Carolina should help ensure that the former Rocky Flats nuclear
weapons plant is cleaned up by the scheduled date of 2006, Allard said. The
senator added a hand-written "Good work!" to the letter he sent to the
energy secretary.
--------- "RE: Tribes Want More Say in Yellowstone" ---------
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 18:41:13 GMT
From: ferry@mscd.edu
Subj: Tribes want more say in Yellowstone park
Newsgroup: alt.native
Go To:
http://database.newswest.com/cgi-
bin/T3CGI.exe/bdc/bdcNews.taf?function=detail&Local_uid1=20378
Headline:
By SCOTT McMILLION
10/07/1999 12:00:00 AM.
Tribes want more say in park
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. -- American Indians want a stronger voice in
the management of Yellowstone National Park and its resources,
representatives of several tribes said here Wednesday.
Nineteenth century treaties with at least seven tribes grant their
members certain rights within the park, including the right to hunt on
traditional grounds, said Tim Wapato, executive director of the
InterTribal Bison Cooperative.
"Some are interested in reinstating a subsistence hunt," which would be
conducted under regulations to be negotiated, Wapato said.
He was addressing the National Park Service in the latest of a series
of meetings between the agency and the tribes in a year-long effort to
deal with each other on a "government-to-government" basis.
Hunting in Yellowstone is illegal for everybody, whether they belong to
a tribe with treaty rights or not, said Marv Jensen, the park's
assistant superintendent. Anybody caught doing it faces citations or
arrest.
If the tribes want to change that, they should approach Congress, he
said. But they should also expect a fight from the Park Service, he
warned.
"I think we as an agency would come out in opposition," he said. "There
should be preserves like Yellowstone for all people, whether they're
natives or non-natives."
Wapato said the tribes seek a limited and regulated hunt, one that is
done away from crowds and cameras.
Hunting in the park is only one issue, however.
Since tribes have treaty rights in the park, their representatives
should be given a formal voice in decision making over things like
bison management, said James Holt of the Nez Perce tribe, one nation
that asserts rights in the park.
"You have to make allowances for Indian people that are consistent with
the treaties," Holt said.
Hunting by natives is allowed by some national parks in Alaska. Holt
pointed out that national forests surrounding his reservation in Idaho
recognize Nez Perce hunting and fishing rights.
The Salish/Kootenai tribes have similar hunting rights in some national
forests in western Montana, said Mike Durglo, a member of that tribe's
elected council.
"They introduced wolves here," he said. "How come they can't
reintroduce Indians? They were an essential part of that balance."
Much of the discussion centered around bison issues.
ITBC wants surplus bison, ones that are declared free of the disease
brucellosis, to be distributed to its member tribes and has issued a
plan for long-term bison management.
Jensen said the ITBC plan and the preferred alternative in an
environmental impact statement being written by Montana and federal
agencies "are not really that far apart."
Both would set caps on bison numbers at about 3,000 animals, establish
a quarantine facility, allow bison more room outside the park and
possibly allow for some hunting outside the park.
Wapato said the tribes want a stronger role in the creation of that
EIS. Some tribes want official "cooperator" status like other
government agencies, he said.
Right now their input on the EIS is considered about the same way as
that of the general public, he said.
Only the emissaries of tribes officially recognized by the federal
government should have a seat at the table, Wapato said, and not "self-
appointed" representatives of Indians.
Otherwise, "you are dragging somebody off the street and disrespecting
federally recognized tribes," he said.
Jensen said the Park Service is willing to talk with tribal emissaries,
but there are a number of questions and problems involved in figuring
out an official role for the tribes.
In addition to the seven tribes that assert treaty rights in the park,
archaeologists have found evidence of 21 tribes that inhabited the park
in the past. And 80 tribes from across the country have asserted an
interest in the park's bison, which carry a religious and social
significance for many tribes.
While officials in Yellowstone want to work with tribes, and meet with
them more often than they meet with other interest groups, asserting
treaty rights in general is "an issue that would be beyond our ability
at this level to deal with," Jensen said.
ITBC chairman Louis LaRose said the tribes are deeply committed to
being involved in Yellowstone bison management and to returning the
animals to reservations. They will carry the issue to Washington, D.C.,
he said.
"They are going to work at carry out out that vision until they die,"
he said of tribal bison advocates. "They'll do anything they can to
help that vision come true."
--------- "RE: Yaquis Drop Effort to Create Enclave in Guadalupe" ---------
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 22:23:04 GMT
From: "AliceH" <AliceH@gte.net>
Subj: Yaquis drop effort to create a tiny enclave in Guadalupe
Newsgroup: alt.native
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/LD0522.html
Sunday, 17 October 1999
Yaquis drop effort to create a tiny enclave in Guadalupe
GUADALUPE (AP) - Southern Arizona's Pascua Yaqui Tribe has dropped its
bid for trust status for land it owns within this small town, ending a move
opponents said would have created a tiny nation inside Guadalupe.
"Let me tell you, it was great news," Mayor Frances Osuna said of the
certified letter he received Friday that notified him of the tribe's
decision.
The Pascua Yaquis own 23 acres inside Guadalupe on which they planned to
build 91 homes and a medical clinic. Guadalupe, a town of about 5,400
residents, was founded by Yaquis. Osuna is a tribal member but opposed the
trust status.
"I couldn't believe it," he said of the withdrawal notice. "It's
wonderful."
Trust status would have given the tribe control of that enclave. The Town
Council opposed the proposition on grounds that it would lose taxing, zoning
and safety authority.
Tribal Chairman Benito Valencia said in the letter that the petition for
trust status was dropped because negotiations were making no progress.
"Regrettably, our good-faith efforts have been met by animosity and
willful ignorance of the facts on the part of most of the interested
parties," Valencia wrote.
Town Manager Luis Gonzales said he was glad to see the dispute end, in
part because the $100,000 the town spent on the battle already was money
Guadalupe really couldn't afford to spend.
--------- "RE: Language Near Death" ---------
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 09:28:31 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 10-18-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Tulsa World
Sunday Oct. 17, 1999
Language Near Death
Randy Krehbiel
Sapulpa - Mose Cahwee's business card is eloquently brief.
"Mose Cahwee," it reads. "Euchee."
That's what Mose Cahwee is.
That's what he does.
For more than 30 years, ever since an oil-field accident left him
disabled, Cahwee has tried to collect what's left of his people, the
Euchees, a tribe of Indians that in theory has not existed for almost
200 years.
And yet does.
The bookshelves and drawers of the filing cabinet in Cahwee's tiny
office are wedged tight with albums of old photographs and folders and
notebooks full of documents and newspaper clippings that are carefully
preserved in plastic covers.
There are copies of the Euchee Mission School rolls going to 1913; an
old composition book, containing membership records, many in the
Muscogee Creek language, of Sapulpa's first church; audio tapes, dozens
of them, some so old Cahwee is afraid to play them for fear they will
fall apart, all in Euchee. Among them is a 1 1/2 hour recording that
Cahwee's 101 year old father made on his deathbed.
Cahwee opens a small leather case and takes out the sash he wears to
the powwows and the stomp dance grounds, and on it are the medals. From
Normandy. From St. Lo. From the Falaise and the Battle of the Bulge.
The silver stars. The ribbon British Field Marshal Montgomery pinned on
him and his comrades in the 146th Combat Engineers and the medal given
him 50 years later by the people of France.
It is all there. Pieces of himself. Pieces of the past.
It is not enough.
Having helped save the French and the British and the nation of his
birth, the question now is whether Cahwee and a few others can save the
nation of his ancestors.
"We Euchees are still here," he likes to say, but the historians and
ethnologists who have for centuries been trying to write off the Euchees
may eventually be right if something doesn't happen soon.
Only a handful like Mose Cahwee, elderly Euchees fluent in a language
that is unlike any other known to man, are left. University of Tulsa
anthropology professor Richard Grounds says that 'you could easily fit
all of them into a minivan."
So it is with a sense of urgency that Grounds, himself of Euchee and
Seminole ancestry, is trying to help Cahwee and some of the others who
want to leave a legacy of more than photo albums and tape recordings.
They meet on Wednesdays. Cahwee is 81. Henry Washburn is 75. A
half-dozen or so children and an equal number of adults gather around as
they talk about the old ways, in the old language. Grounds, who is
diligently trying to learn Euchee himself, provides visual aids.
It is not an easy second language. Euchee, is what linguists call an
isolate, meaning it has no apparent relationship to any other language
or language family. The grammatical structure is awkward for English
speakers and like many Indian languages it is more spatially oriented.
There are no books or dictionaries of the Euchee language except for
a 90 year old ethnography by a man named Speck and a group of stories
collected during the 1920's by a German missionary named Gunter Wagner.
Grounds says those are virtually useless.
"We don't want to preserve what was," he said. "We want to preserve
what is."
So there are only Cahwee and Washburn and a few others.
"I was told when I was just a kid that I needed to learn this
language," said Washburn. "I had no idea I'd ever be trying to teach
it."
In his youth, said Washburn, the language was commonly spoken in the
remote areas of Creek County where many Euchees settled and eventually
took their allotments. But then came contact with the outside world and
either government schools, which forbade Indian languages, or public
schools, where no one else spoke them.
Grounds said his grandmother 'spoke Euchee every day of her life,"
but her experience as a teen-ager in boarding school 'did get to her
mind. She didn't want my father to go through the pain she did. The
cultural message was that everything about them was wrong."
"You really had several generations at the middle part of the century
who did not pass along the language or the customs," he said. "Now
we're in the 11th hour."
Some sources say the Euchees (or Yuchis, as some prefer) once
numbered in the tens of thousands, living mostly along the Savannah
River in Georgia. According to legend, they were the first inhabitants
of the region and called themselves Tsoyaha - The Children of the Sun.
Ethnically and linguistically, however, they were orphans, as
different from their Indian neighbors as English are from Finns.
As first other Indians and later Europeans moved into the area, the
Euchees found themselves squeezed. Their numbers reduced to a few
thousand by war and disease, the Euchees were incorporated into the
confederation of Muscogee-speaking bands the English called Creeks.
According to one story, the Euchees entered the confederation as
slaves after being defeated in war. Whatever the case by the early
1800s authoritative sources already referred to the Euchees as
"extinct."
But they were not. Living together in their own communities, the
Euchees maintained a distinct identity within Creek culture.
Cahwee sys he remembers the morning his grandfather took him into the
woods surrounding their home near Blue Bell, north of Kellyville and
gave him his first lesson in Euchee herbal medicine.
"He said, 'This was given to me by my grandfather when I was about
your age, and now I will tell you,' " Cahwee said.
In 1926, when Cahwee was 8 years old, a Bureau of Indian Affairs
agent came to take him to the Euchee Mission school in Sapulpa.
"My grandmother took me in another room and said, 'Do you want to
go?' I said, 'No, but I might learn something, so I'll go.' She agreed
to sign the papers then, but she couldn't really sign them, so she made
a thumbprint."
"My grandpa told, 'When you go to school, they'll make you forget the
Euchee language. They'll make you forget everything we've taught you.'"
But he did not, and thought over the years he rarely spoke those
things, he did not forget them, either.
"My grandpa and grandma would tell me all what used to go on," Cahwee
said. "They said, 'You listen. All these things have passed away,
except for the words.' "
Two of his youngest pupils, sisters Dawn and Heather Brown, say it's
"cool speaking Indian language." Their deceased grandfather spoke
Euchee, they said and their grandmother "knows a whole bunch."
"We would like to learn it to teach our children," said Dawn.
Randy Krehbiel, World Staff Writer can be reached at 918-581-8365 or via
e mail at randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com 20
--------- "RE: Tribe Receives Grants for Library" ---------
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 09:28:31 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 10-18-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Tribe receives grants for library
c. Shawnee News Star
October 14, 1999
The Sac and Fox Nation has received two grants to support its tribal
library.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has offered the Stroud-based
tribe a $4,500 basic grant and a $2,000 technical assistance grant. The
basic and technical grants are awarded to all eligible libraries that apply.
The Institute of Museum and Library services awarded $998,500 in grants to
enhance library services to Native Americans. The Native American Library
Service program provides opportunities for improved library services to an
often underserved part of the nation's community of library users.
--------- "RE: Rio Nuevo Plan" ---------
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 22:20:52 GMT
From: "AliceH" <AliceH@gte.net>
Subj: Churches, O'odham meet to promote Rio Nuevo plan
Newsgroup: alt.native
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/118-6400.html
Sunday, 17 October 1999
Churches, O'odham meet to promote Rio Nuevo plan
By Hanna Miller
The Arizona Daily Star
Members of four South Tucson churches and the Tohono O'odham Nation met
yesterday morning at Tucson's birthplace to promote their vision of Tucson's
future.
The event, sponsored by the Pima County Interfaith Council, blended
religious ceremony with a political demonstration on behalf of the Rio Nuevo
proposal on November's ballot.
Event organizers hope passage of the proposal, an ambitious downtown
redevelopment plan, will ensure the creation of Rancho Chuk-shon. They
describe Rancho Chuk-shon as a multicultural education center intended to
preserve the area's Native American heritage.
Westside residents, eager to take advantage of new jobs, want the center
built at the base of "A" Mountain, a scrubby desert area south of South
Mission Road where some of Tucson's first inhabitants lived.
The city hasn't promised to build the center, but rally organizer Mike
Wilson said he thinks its construction is a certainty if the measure wins
approval.
"Native people have lived here for 3,000 years," Wilson said. "We want
the center to be right here to bring economic development to the westside,
but before we build on this sacred soil, we have to ask for forgiveness for
desecrating Mother Earth."
Catholic, Methodist and Tohono O'odham spiritual leaders took turns
leading the crowd of more than 200 in prayer. Four Tohono O'Odham tribe
members conducted a purification ceremony, burning incense and spreading
water on the ground.
"We ask the blessing of the gods in all four directions," tribe member
Ron Miguel said, waving his arm north, south, east and west. "We take water
and bless the ground."
"This area has been desecrated," said Daniel Preston, organizer and
vice-chairman of the Tohono O'odham San Xavier district. "There's a
landfill on top of my ancestors. We have to say a prayer for future
generations."
Pima County Interfaith Council member Brian Flagg, who carried an
envelope stuffed with fliers and occasionally interrupted speakers with a
heartfelt "Yeah!," said yesterday's ceremony was a prelude to another
event this week.
"This meeting is entirely connected to a meeting Thursday night where you
can be eyeball to eyeball with the candidates for mayor," Flagg said.
Candidates for mayor and City Council have been invited to meet with Pima
County Interfaith Council members at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone
Ave., Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss a Barrio preservation plan. Flagg
said the public is welcome.
--------- "RE: Innu Want Immediate Halt to Lower Churchill" ---------
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 17:12:49 -0300
From: Larry Innes <innuenv@web.net>
Subj: News: Quebec Innu want immediate halt to Lower Churchill
Mailing List: INNU-L <INNU-L@odie.ccs.yorku.ca>
PUBLICATION The Gazette (Montreal)
DATE Tue 05 Oct 1999
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY News
PAGE NUMBER A8
BYLINE SEAN GORDON
STORY LENGTH 476
HEADLINE: Halt Churchill project: Innu: Quebec chiefs want land
rights compensated in power deal
Quebec's Innu chiefs want an immediate halt to development of the
Churchill Falls hydroelectric megaproject, and are insisting the
federal government step in to ensure Quebec and Newfoundland offer
adequate compensation for aboriginal territorial rights.
Some field work and environmental assessments have already begun
as a prelude to the project, a joint venture of the Quebec and
Newfoundland governments to harness Labrador's mighty Churchill
River.
Innu leaders yesterday said they are ready to seek a court order
preventing further development on the $10-billion project unless
the governments involved produce a treaty within 60 days spelling
out the Innus' ancestral rights to land surrounding the proposed
dam.
Construction Delayed
"The point is to ask the federal government to intervene so we
can properly defend our land rights," said Innu lawyer Armand
McKenzie. "It's a fundamental issue in Canada. We have to take
this very seriously."
Construction of the Churchill Falls development has been delayed
by wrangling over compensation for aboriginal bands who live in
the area, and by disagreement over environmental considerations.
The federal Indian and Northern Affairs Department had no
immediate reaction to the Innu demands.
Quebec Native Affairs Minister Guy Chevrette is attending a
conference in Malaysia, and could not be reached for comment.
The original Churchill Falls dams were built in the 1960s, and
sparked a long-running feud over royalties between Quebec City and
St. John's, a dispute finally resolved last summer.
The Innu claim that several ancestral lands and burial sites were
destroyed by the initial project.
A scant two months ago, Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin expressed
optimism that a deal could be signed between the governments and
aboriginal leaders before Christmas, but the Innu have always
maintained that no development can take place if it doesn't
involve them.
Now the Innu say they are ready to go to the courts to make sure
the development goes ahead only on their terms.
"In the first phase of the Churchill Falls project we never got
any compensation, we never got any involvement, they never asked
our consent - we don't want this to happen again; that's the
message," said McKenzie.
Though five Innu nations were represented at yesterday's press
conference, the Labrador Innu were conspicuous by their absence.
That can partly be explained by the more genial tone of their
negotiations with the Newfoundland government. In Quebec, the Innu
have complained that Hydro-Quebec and the government are unwilling
to meet their terms.
Target Date Is 2008
"The courts have been clear, we have a right to our traditional
lands," said Jocelyn Picard, an Innu chief.
If completed by the 2008 target date, the project could mean
50,000 construction and engineering jobs, cheap hydro power for
the island of Newfoundland and an added source of power to export
to the United States or Ontario.
Dorothy Guinan of the Gazette Quebec Bureau contributed to this
report
--------- "RE: The View from the Hogan 7" ---------
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 06:39:52 -0700
From: Robert Dorman <redorman@theofficenet.com>
Subj: NATIVE_NEWS: Notes from Big Mountain: vfh7
Mailing List: Big Mountain List <BIGMTLIST@onelist.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 09:03:28 -0400
From: ishgooda@tdi.net
Subj: NATIVE_NEWS: Notes from Big Mountain: vfh7
And now:ishgooda@tdi.net writes:
From: UNCLEJAKE74@aol.com
The View from the Hogan 7 107 Days till the final solution
Notes from Big Mountain (for the discerning reader)
Ya'a'tee
First off, a point of terminology. I have been instructed to avoid using
the word"HPL" in my writing. The words HPL, JUA, Navajo Reservation, etc
etc are deeply painful and offensive. These words refer to lines drawn on
maps and in the minds of those in Washington ( and their followers). They
are not real, they divide that which is whole. I will refer to the land
where these words are being written as The Altar. The reasoning is this:
Within the four sacred mountains that encompass Navajo land, is the hogan
for the Dineh people. When a hogan is built to live in, it is a model of
this Macrocosmic Hogan. This is why Ceremonies must take place inside a
Hogan. This is also why bulldozing of Hogans is such an abominable and
sacrilegious crime. Within the Ceremonial Hogans is a space used for an
altar. Within the Macrocosmic Hogan this space correlates to the Big
Mountain area.
We hear of many events and prayer vigils taking place in the first week
of October at U.S. Embassies abroad in support of the people here and
against the continued genocide. To all of you who have worked hard at
setting up these events, we send our prayers and thanks, as well as to all
those who give of their precious time to attend these events. Let us hope
that the hearts of those in Washington will be touched. As Sitting Bull
said "As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but all together we
make a mighty fist."
There is a good letter circulating on the Net from "the people of the
land known as America" to the clowns in Washington. contact Beth at
isco@efn.org and ask her to send you a copy. If you like what it says,
then you just send Beth your name and address and it will get appended.
The Men In Black continue to visit Paulines land on a daily basis. They
recently stopped at the site of this past summers Education/Witness camp,
and -horror of horrors- they discovered a piece of soggy cardboard
approximately one foot square, and a small brown bottle that at one point
contained ginger beer. Barely able to contain their outrage, many
photographs were taken of the offending material, and they rushed back to
HQ as fast as possible. Imagine the scene, the BIA War room,... a group of
Very Important People cluster around the photos trying to decide what
action to take against this latest outrage. Smart young men and women
stride across the room with the latest satellite images. Presidential
candidate McPain wants the Nuclear Option,... he's just about fed up with
these inconvenient Indians, Wayne Tulip, The Hopi Tribal Chairman tries
desperately to talk him out of it,... he's worried what a nuclear explosion
will do to the grazing for his friends cows. In a corner, Fedora Lewis,
the Hopi Goebbels, is not so sure,... she sees a way to incorporate the
nuclear motif into the Casino she so desperately wants to build in
Hopiland. In the end they settle on an armed convoy composed of Hopi
Rangers, BIA police, US marshalls, County Sheriffs, FBI and ATF, with a
couple of National Guard Helicopter Gunships for back-up. Maybe I'm
exaggerating SLIGHTLY, but what continues to take place here is a farce on
a hugely criminal level, and sometimes I find humor to be my only defense
against absurdity.
Meanwhile, the real criminals, the BIA impoundment squads, continue to
snatch the peoples animals even though there is more grass than could be
consumed by flocks ten times as large. Of course we knew they were coming
because the roads were graded. Normally the roads we travel are so bad
they couldn't be classified as jeep trails, only last week I had to rush a
woman to hospital in the middle of the night. A 75 mile journey took 2 and
a half hours, each bump, rut and pot hole slowing us down and causing pain
to my passenger. But when the BIA need to come in on a lightning raid to
take the peoples animals, out come the dozers and graders to give them a
nice smooth, fast ride. Your tax dollars hard at work. What may not be at
all clear to y'all out there is that this is all executed as military
operations, these are para-military, multi-agency "squads" whose only aim
is to cause fear and hardship. Loaded down with weapons and all the hi-
tech toys money can by, elders who are alone are targeted. The following
is a quote from Big Mountain Newsletter.
The people of Big Mountain and the Joint Use Area say they are being
terrorized.
They cite jet airplanes flying so low that the pilot is visible, BIA
trucks cruising the Survival Camp and the peoples hogans, helicopters, and
the apparent sabotage of wells and windmills, and so on.
The government has answers for most of the charges, saying for instance
that the jet flights are "routine" training patterns, the helicopters are
"surveying" and the trucks are "conducting a census". The government says
the people are being "over dramatic" in their reactions. In the 1960's
these same people said that they were attacked with poisonous gases from
airplanes, killing their livestock. It wasn't until years later, when the
white citizenry of Globe, Arizona, received a similar attack, that the U.S.
admitted it had been using 2,4,5-T, an incredibly toxic pesticide, for
"brush control" without proper safeguards.
Even if the latest actions are in fact "routine", the question remains
why all of these activities should suddenly escalate in the few months
just prior to the July deadline for Navajo removal.
The governments position on the jet flights is typical: the Air Force
insists it is just running a normal training pattern which happens to pass
directly over Big Mountain. Challenged at a recent hearing as to why the
flights were necessary, and whether similar flights were scheduled over
non-indian communities, the Air Force declined to explain. Spokespersons
noted that it would not change the flights just to please the indians,
regardless of ceremonies or other problems with the flights.
Parents claimed the flights terrified their young children at school and
literally knocked the elderly out of bed. Religious ceremonies are also
disrupted and the livestock are scattered by the flights. The Air Force
admits that it flies as low as 400 feet.
Bottom line is that these Indian people are being subjected to
procedures which the government wouldn't think of directing towards white
communities. In this case the people under attack are the traditional
Navajo and Hopi people of the Joint Use Area, already under incredible
pressure due to 12 years of implementation of the Relocation Act. The
result is terror.
That was written 14 years ago, and nothings changed..... its been going
on the whole time since, and the view from the Hogan is inescapable that
this is war, low-intensity maybe, but war nonetheless.
One thing I am sure of, is that both the people who plan this campaign
of harassment and those that carry it out, watch waaay too much TV.
How is it that a war against Indians has been and is still being fought
on this continent for the past 30 years, and most people are only just
finding out about it now?
So, we are hurtling towards two big dates. January 1st, 2000 and
February 1st, 2000.
I find it hard to get excited about the Millenium, some Roman dude, way
back when, decides to change his peoples calendar and start time from a
new date, how is that real? ......And anyway, don't most people know that
the year begins on November 1st?
When I think of Y2K, my first reaction is, how utterly terrifying it
must be, to live in a world that is so unstable that a couple of digits
on a silicon chip has the potential to bring it all tumbling down. My
second thought is how absurd it is, that here on the Altar, are people who
have the knowledge, skills, and most importantly, the wisdom, to live
without an infantile dependence on the Technostructure, and yet the
dominant society is hell-bent on rubbing out these people rather than
listening to them and learning from them. If, in a worst case scenario
(barring Nuclear Winter), the technostructure does collapse, then we here
on the Altar will have to make a few minor adjustments to our lifestyle (
though as I am now a cyber -slut, I'd surely miss conversing with all you
good folks out there), but overall the benefits would be enormous. The
mine will close down. The sky will be free of huge, noisy, chunks of metal
hurtling towards La La Land with Very Important People on board, and the
Men in Black will cease harassing us as the coal will be worthless. It
would be my guess that many of you who have not been here cannot truly
imagine what it is like to live outside of the Technostructure, without
electricity, without plumbing, with the closest small store 20 miles away,
asphalt road 30 miles away, telephone 36miles away, post office 40+ miles
away, supermarket 74 miles away. The people here have never had these
"amenities",... in what I consider a dumb move, the U.S. made it illegal
for the people to "develop", hoping to encourage the people to leave, but
what its caused is that the people continued with a way of life that has
changed little for generations, and life is lived in a good way, depending
on those most basic resources, brains and bodies, something most of us
have, life is generous. There is an often voiced belief "out there" that
everybody in the world is so desperate to achieve the "American way of
life", but I must tell you, it just ain't so. A little story may show
this.
Some years ago, when I was living with my Grandma and Grandpa, I figured
that the price of a simple solar power system was low enough for me to be
able to raise the funds, so I asked my Grandma what she would use
electricity for if I could supply it. I needed to figure what size system
to work on. Her eyes immediately lit up, "an electric light,".... for the
hogan in winter, so she could weave. Like many elderly people, her
eyesight was not as sharp as it used to be, and with a kerosine lamp the
colors of the yarns were hard to see, so on the long winter nights she
wasn't able to weave. " What else would you like" I asked. She thought
for a while, and then said " an iron, to iron the rugs after they are
finished". "Anything else" I asked. She thought, and thought....." how
about a microwave oven? refrigerator? TV?. She laughed. That was all she
could think of to do with electricity, make it so she could spend even
more hours sitting at the loom. Around this time I sat down and figured out
how much these elderly women were getting paid to weave these beautiful
rugs. Figuring in the time it takes to raise the sheep, shear, wash, clean,
card, spin, dye the wool, set up the loom, and then do the weaving, I
reckoned they were lucky if they were getting 2 bucks an hour. So any of
you in the market for a genuine navajo rug, please bear in mind what a
deal you're getting.
On the subject of rugs, for those of you in the neighbourhood of
Missoula, Montana, there is an exhibition of approximately 50 rugs from
the resisters here at the Art Gallery, in the University. These are the
real things, and the show runs till Oct 31st. I saw some of the rugs on
their way up there, and there is some beautiful work. I would be out of
line to have a favorite, but Fanny Goys rugs are particularly fine.
Roberta Blackgoat will be in town for a reception on Saturday the 30th, so
that would certainly be worth attending.
On the subject of Robertas travels, she will be in Washington DC during
the second week of November. I don't have any locations or dates for her
appearances there, but for sure she will be at the concert where Blackfire
are playing.
Presuming of course we survive Y2K, we then come to February 1st, 2000.
Who knows what is going to happen? The Feds and the HTC know, but they
ain't saying. There have been deadlines before, and a pattern has emerged.
Threats of forced evictions are broadcast, support is mobilized, the media
takes an interest, the deadline arrives, nothing happens, the media lose
interest, support wanes, and back to the daily grind of low-intensity
warfare and siege tactics. Maybe that will happen again, but maybe not.
Warmaker is not known for making rational decisions, so it's best to plan
for all eventualities.
Back in the real world, the weather has changed. It hasn't rained for
some weeks now. Back to the usual intense blue dome above. The sun is much
lower in the sky, the shadows are larger, the colors richer, and the days
shorter. The Dineh name for this moon is "back to back", where the two
seasons touch. The corn's all harvested, primary chore now is to bring in,
cut, and chop firewood for the coming winter. There is already a nip in
the night air, a killing frost took out my squash and tomato plant a few
weeks ago. Like most life-sustaining activities round here, cutting
firewood is illegal according to the Feds and the HTC. I know for a fact
that sons of two of the Grandmas went into Hopi Tribal Offices to get a
woodcutting permit and left without one, so even though no-ones been
arrested in a while for cutting wood, it is one more stress and worry on
the people. I've been too busy with the flock and the firewood to take
advantage of the other bumper harvest this year, Pinyon nuts, a much
favored delicacy. Travelling across the Altar one sees people out, under
the trees, collecting as much as possible before the 4 legged and winged
get their share. The sight of people collecting free food always feels
festive to me. I stopped by Robertas place late one afternoon after she
had been out picking all day. We sat in front of her house and watched her
sheepherder bring home the flock. Behind us, on her door, was a simple
sign that reads:
Entering Sovereign Dineh Nation Thin Rock Mesa All are welcome who
respect the land, life, and law of the Dineh Warning! Federal, state, and
tribal personnel, your jurisdiction does not apply here Your actions will
be counter-acted.
Similar signs are re-appearing around the Altar.
As we sat, a huge strange looking object flew slowly over us. grabbing
the binoculars I saw that it was the Space Shuttle, piggy-backed on a big
jet transport. I explained to Roberta what the space shuttle was, and how
it put all the satellites up in the sky, and how some of those satellites
can take pictures of us here on the ground. Her eyes immediately lit up,
"we should write SUE THE CREATOR out there" she said, pointing to the land
out in front of the house, Sooo there is now a message being laid out on
the ground in front of her place, so if you happen to be an owner or
operator of a spy satellite, point it to:
36 degrees 14 minutes 79 seconds N 110 degrees 38 minutes 62 seconds W
Also if you are a pilot or photographer who wants to take some pictures
of this message, you're welcome.
One final thought on Y2K, we hear of big bucks being made by supplying
Y2K survival information, so, I make the following offer; for a mere fifty
bucks a day, you are invited to the BOPEEP Y2K SURVIVAL SCHOOL, topics
covered will include: How to avoid freezing by using an axe. How to avoid
thirst by walking to a spring with a bucket. How to avoid starvation by
grubbing around in dirt and blood and guts. How to repair just about
anything with baling wire. 1001 things to do when your television doesn't
work. etc etc.
We human beings are an incredible species. Our brains and bodies are
perfectly capable of doing all thats necessary to keep life going in a
good way, but more than that, we are capable of profoundly beautiful acts
of love, kindness, and generosity. Yet we are taught to feel powerless
and to fear each other and to fear life itself. Why? (I am reliably
informed that that is a rhetorical question)
But then, what the hell do I know,........ I'm just a sheepherder.
"We need to be kinder to each other"
Your prayers, support, and correspondence are invited.
I thank you for your time that you have given me by reading this.
For all my relations
Bo Peep
reachable via unclejake74@hotmail.com
P.S. To all those who have written to me, please be aware that owing to the
pressing needs of the flock, the firewood, and the Grandmas, the office is
sometimes left unattended for days at a time. It may take as long as a half
moon between when you write, and when you hear back from me. Around here the
information superhighway is a muddy jeep trail. Please be patient, you will
hear from me.
If you have received this update as a forward, but want to sure of getting
them in the future, please let me know and I will add you to the list. Also
if there are any "back issues" you don't have, again, let me know.
Please feel free to distribute (unedited) this email.
Reprinted under the Fair Use
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international
copyright law.
--------- "RE: Navajo War Effort No Longer Unheralded" ---------
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 14:40:59 -0700
From: "Walsh, Pat A." <PAW@hogefenton.com>
Subj: Navajo Code Talkers
Excerpts from Todd S. Purdum Oct. 11, 1999 article "Navajo Ware Effort
No Longer Unheralded."
Comments by Paw -
Not one but two Hollywood films are in the works. One is
being developed in cooperation with the code talkers by a group of
Native American filmmakers and Gale Anne Hurd, the producer of the
"Terminator" movies and "Armageddon."
The other is being developed by John Woo, the action-adventure
director from Hong Kong.
Does anyone know which movie the code talkers are supporting?
But postwar life was not easy for everyone, and today the code talkers
got the news that one of the original 29 recruits, Alfred Leonard, had
recently died in Seattle without enough money to have his body shipped
back to the reservation for burial.
This is disgraceful. The government should be ashamed.
But their wartime experiences also remain painful and private for many
of the veterans, and when Sunday's meeting ended, most scattered
quietly, declining to stop and talk with a visiting reporter.
Uncle is a code talker. Some of them are medicine men now. They prefer
not to talk to reporters who are ignorant of their plight. It is
difficult for uncle to talk with his relatives about the experience -
the shame, the disgrace, and how it feels to be used by the
government. And for Hollywood to make a movie without compensation
would add further insult. The government is no where near satisfying
their effort by not giving them proper recognition and compensation.
Billison said some members are wary of having their story exploited
without compensation, and he pointed to one of the Hollywood proposals
as a prime example. Woo, the action director, is reportedly trying to
persuade Nicolas Cage, who was in Woo's hit movie "Face/Off," to star
in "Windtalkers," the story of a code talker and his Marine
bodyguard.
I bet Cage will make more money off this movie than most of the code
talkers put together have made in life. While in school mom says that
some boys were 16 years old when they and a few girls were pulled from
class as their names were read from a list. And yes, some girls and
boys did volunteer. In the dorms at night it sounded like a wake or
funeral because girlfriends, friends and relatives were wept
throughout the night.
People were taken from the southern part of the rez mostly where their
was more whiteman interaction. The government still couldn't quite
trust or find those isolated in the north. There were many ceremonies
for those who went across the ocean to bring the message. Those
prayers contributed to their survival and safe journey back to
Dinetah. But no, the majority of Dineh did not want to have anything
to do with the whitemans war and being used for front lines to be
killed along with blacks and chicanos, so that the white college boys
could be safe at home getting their degrees, in preparation to be
officer candidate material in case they were eventually drafted.
But Billison thinks that is a backward way to tell the story, and he
has drafted a letter asking Cage not to take the part.
ALL of us should support BILLISON on this hollywood backward way to
tell a the story about these dineh, told by non-dineh, and without
respect to dineh.
"I told him to reconsider," he said, "for the dignity of the Navajo."
--------- "RE: Gun Lake Tribe Gets Recognition" ---------
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 09:08:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paula Walters <fallingleaves99@yahoo.com>
Subj: Gun Lake Tribe gets recognition
The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish tribe of Potawatomi Indians known as
Gun Lake Tribe, has received their recognition as a federal recognized
tribe. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt cleared the last hurdle for
the tribe in denying the City of Detroit claim that it has an interested
party status and therefore could interfere in the recognition of Gun Lake.
The tribe is in Allegan County Michigan just south of Grand Rapids. They
had been struggling to secure their cultural survival as a sovereign
tribal government for 150 years.
------------------------------------------------------
I am a resident of Michigan and an political activist for the
Annishanabae people. Thanks Paula
=====
Remember , we were all wounded at Wounded Knee!!!!
--------- "RE: Forensic Test May Settle Gnawing Question" ---------
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 07:55:55 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 10-19-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Forensic test may settle gnawing question
By Jack Cox
c. Denver Post
10/17/99
Archaeological evidence from a dig in southwestern Colorado is about to
lay to rest a question that has gnawed at researchers for more than a
century: Did the ancient Anasazi really engage in cannibalism?
The answer, established through the use of biochemical tests only now
becoming available, appears to be: Yes, they did - but the practice was
hardly common.
As anthropologist Robert Pickering put it, "I don't think that human flesh
was ever a major part of anybody's diet."
While cannibalism seems to have occurred, however, scientists have yet to
solve a deeper riddle regarding the original inhabitants of the Four
Corners region: What led any of them to eat their fellow humans?
- Were they starving?
- Were they terrorizing their adversaries, as one leading researcher has
theorized?
- Were they exorcising evil spirits, or conducting some kind of bizarre
funeral ritual, as other experts have suggested?
Archaeologists consumed by these questions say the answers might be
revealed by more forensic analysis, such as DNA testing that could determine
whether the butchered individuals were typically members of the same family
or ethnic group. That could indicate they were persecuted.
But such research may be hindered by Indian resistance to wholesale
excavation of sites or further analysis of skeletal remains returned to the
tribes under a federal repatriation law.
"There's no getting around the fact that Anglos of European descent don't
have the same attitude toward death as Native Americans," explained Linda
Honeycutt, an archaeological consultant in Cortez.
"Some members of the tribes would like to have this done to better
understand their ancestry, but others think that dead people ought to be
left exactly as they're found, out of respect or a sense that disturbing
their bones could bring bad luck."
The Anasazi, from whom today's Pueblo Indians are believed to have
descended, lived for hundreds of years in the area where present day Arizona,
New Mexico, Utah and Colorado come together. But for reasons still not fully
understood, they abandoned their stone cities and cliff dwellings around
1300. Found near Cortez
The key indication that cannibalism occurred at least occasionally among
the Anasazi is a human coprolite - a piece of desiccated excrement -
recovered from a long buried kiva, or ceremonial chamber, on the Ute Mountain
Ute reservation about 20 miles southwest of Cortez.
The results of an analysis of the fecal material by Dr. Richard Marlar, a
pathologist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, have not
yet been published, and the tribe has directed him not to discuss the
findings until they appear in scientific journals, probably within the next
few months. But the tests are widely believed to have detected the presence
of human protein - a sure sign that human tissue was eaten and digested.
Terry Knight, supervisor of a Ute Mountain irrigation project where the
site was unearthed, declined to go into detail but hinted strongly that the
tests did point to cannibalism.
"Our findings here are going to rock the archaeological establishment," he
predicted.
Christy Turner, an Arizona authority on cannibalism who will give a slide
lecture on the topic Monday at the Denver Museum of Natural History (the
lecture is sold out), noted that some anthropologists "have taken the
position that cannibalism just couldn't have happened" among a people long
perceived to have been simple, peaceful farmers.
"This tells me we now have fairly substantial corroboration for what we've
been able to identify as evidence of cannibalism and great violence," said
Turner, who first confronted the issue while inspecting a box of Anasazi
bone fragments about 30 years ago. No longer taboo
The latest findings come at a time when the worldwide phenomenon of
cannibalism is being examined openly by scientists and scholars, rather
than shunted aside as a taboo subject or ignored altogether, as was
traditionally the case.
Earlier this month, for example, the journal Science carried an article
on the discovery of six cannibalized Neanderthal skeletons in a cave in
present-day France.
"We have a lot of tools, both forensic and anthropological, to show that
this is not just the stuff of legend or some missionary's tale," said Tim
White, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at
Berkeley and co-investigator of the French cave.
"The most important aspect of all this is that it's made archaeologists in
general aware that there was a fairly high incidence of cannibalism (among
prehistoric peoples), and that when they excavate a site they need to treat
it like a crime scene. If they go in and scatter the evidence, the
investigation is in trouble, whereas if they know what to be on the lookout
for, the chances for success are much greater."
The Colorado site where the coprolite was found, known as Cowboy Wash, is
one of several dozen Anasazi sites that have yielded human bones carrying
telltale marks of cannibalism - including a phenomenon dubbed "pot
polish," referring to a beveling of the broken tips of bones cooked in clay
pots.
The term "pot polish" was coined by White, who first recognized the
burnishing in the late 1980s on bones unearthed from a site in Mancos
Canyon, on Ute Mountain land south of Mesa Verde National Park and about 20
miles east of Cowboy Wash.
"It's important to realize that there were cannibals, certainly, but that
in most Anasazi sites - and there are literally thousands of them - the
bodies were buried intact, along with grave goods," White stressed. Tiny
percentage
Less than 1 percent of all the sites found up to now, or perhaps 50 out of
5,000, show evidence of cannibalism "in which the human remains were
exploited for their nutritional value," he said.
In addition, said Honeycutt, who is co-owner of Woods Canyon Archaeological
Consultants Inc., most of the cannibalism appears to have occurred during a
very limited time period, from about 1130 to 1150, when "there was
something, we think, probably not real nice going on there."
Tree-ring studies indicate that the Four Corners area was undergoing a
moderate drought at the time, which could suggest starvation. But the
evidence of cannibalism also "coincides pretty much with the demise of
Chaco," she said, referring to the massive Anasazi ruin in northwestern
New Mexico.
Turner, an anthropologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, has made
an extensive study of bone fragments from some 300 individuals who lived in
and around Chaco Canyon, which is now a federally protected cultural site.
In his book "Man Corn," co-authored with his late wife, Jacqueline, and
published earlier this year by the University of Utah Press, he argues that
cannibalism may have been used as instrument of terrorism by
warrior-cultists who migrated into the area from Mexico, where human
sacrifice and cannibalism had been countenanced by the Aztecs centuries
earlier.
"It's an option our species keeps open for various reasons," said Turner,
who is currently at work on evidence of cannibalism from two sites in
Siberia dating back even further - to 20,000 to 40,000 years ago.
"It's a topic that's difficult to talk about," he observed, "but I think
we've opened the door for people to discuss it."
Turner's thesis has been challenged by many Native Americans, notably the
Hopis, who contend that the corpses may have been processed without being
eaten, per haps as a funeral ritual.
It also has been greeted with skepticism by some of Turner's colleagues,
who suggest that the mutilation and roasting may have been done in an attempt
to exterminate witches, or to satisfy the demands of a tyrannical ruler or
religious sect, to cite other alternative explanations.
"I'm not yet willing to rule out the motive in some of these cases as
having been starvation," White said, terming Turner's theory "a little too
all-inclusive."
"It may not be that you had a famine every two or three years. Maybe it
happened every 20 years or so, just like today. But they didn't have trucks
coming in from New Jersey, helicopter drops or domestic animals, except for
turkeys. When rodents got into their stored corn, or the corn didn't grow
all of a sudden, what was a population to do?" Recent cases different
In more recent cases of cannibalism, involving the 19th century pioneers
who became snowbound in the Sierras and the South American rugby players who
were marooned a decade ago by a plane crash in the Andes, "they didn't have
to kill anybody," White noted.
But in the Anasazi settlements, the people whose limbs were eaten showed
no signs of having died peacefully. Rather, they appear to have been
slaughtered, dismembered and prepared for consumption in the same way as
deer or other game animals, with the bones later broken to remove the
marrow or crushed and boiled to render the fat.
"Perhaps this did come up from Mexico, but it may have been that bands of
aggressive males moved from pueblo to pueblo, motivated by hunger," White
said. "There's plenty of evidence of violence in the Southwest generally,
and when you add the aspect of marginality, it's not hard to imagine how
this could have happened with no outside influence whatsoever."
Pickering, a former curator of anthropology for the Denver museum and now
a deputy director of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo.,
pointed out that evidence of cannibalism has been found in virtually every
corner of the world, and dating back not just centuries but millennia.
Usually, he said, it is found in context with starvation or religion;
"it's generally not a random act." But absent written records, it is very
difficult to prove "unless you have a camera with pictures of people
consuming human remains," he added dryly. Consider later sites
To verify or refute the notion that the Anasazi were terrorized by
invaders from Mexico, Pickering said, "I would want to look at slightly
later sites, to see if there were different cultures coming in. I would also
look deeper into Mexico, to see if there were other hell raisers from the
south at the same time."
Regarding the study of cannibalism in general, he added, "There isn't a
culture on the face of the Earth that doesn't have something negative in its
past. It's not a reflection of an individual or culture. It's just the way
human beings are. The purpose of research is not to point a finger. It's to
try to understand the human condition - good, bad or indifferent."
--------- "RE: Tribal Head Start Makes Comeback" ---------
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 07:55:55 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 10-19-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Tribal Head Start makes comeback
Utes' program is enjoying highest enrollment ever
By Lezlee E. Whiting
c. Deseret News
October 14, 1999
FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County -- If enrollment numbers are any indication,
the Ute Indian Tribe's Head Start program is making a strong comeback.
This year, 204 children are enrolled in the program, which serves at-risk
3-to 5-year-olds by offering early education instruction and activities for
children and a variety of resources for their parents.
"It's the highest enrollment number we've had in memory," said Sandy
Hansen, who is the acting interim deputy director. Eleven more seats could
be filled, but it's a noteworthy improvement over last year's daily
attendance, which hovered around 158.
The program had been on probation for a year when tribal leaders were
notified last July that if dozens of deficiencies and areas of noncompliance
weren't corrected quickly, they would lose their $1.3 million in federal
funding by February 2000 and the program would be turned over to another
agency to operate.
The Head Start program has been operated by the Ute Tribe for 35 years and
is one of the tribe's largest employers.
A quality improvement plan addressing how 59 of the noncompliance areas
will be addressed was submitted to Washington, D.C., late last month. Based
on that report, Head Start officials in Washington have agreed to extend
funding for the program through March 28, 2000, Hansen said.
And there's more good news.
Kindergarten teachers in westside Uintah County schools who have the Head
Start students in their classrooms this year are reporting the children "are
well prepared" to start school, Hansen said.
She attributes the good reviews to the implementation late last year of
the High Reach curriculum. Before the program was implemented, Head Start
teachers each taught their own curriculum in the classroom -- one area for
which the tribe was chastised in the report.
Also, six recently hired family service advocates have actively recruited
families for the program in Bluebell, an area that really hadn't been
served before, said Hansen.
A new acting deputy director was hired last month to help Hansen implement
the areas targeted for improvements. Debra Reed, a Uintah County resident,
is helping reshape "the systems" that got the program into so much hot water
with the federal Head Start officials.
Reed has a master's degree in social work, with an emphasis in
administration.
"The program is here and it's an excellent program, but the systems aren't
in place to show that," Reed said. "We're setting up systems so that no
matter who the managers are there are systems in place to run that
program."
Fiscal problems and a lack of internal controls that plagued the program
are also being addressed, she said. Monthly budget meetings will be held,
and Head Start will work with the tribe's accountants to ensure there is
communication about revenue and expenses.
Other areas where improvements have been made include:
A Ute culture and language curriculum has been implemented. Head Start
students learn Ute, English and Spanish as part of their daily language
skills.
The Ute Tribe Business committee allocated $60,000 in funds for new
playground equipment for each of the five Head Start centers.
"Parent-friendly" policies and procedures have been developed to help
heighten parental involvement.
The Business Committee approved initial medical screenings for Head Start
students to be provided by Indian Health Services for both tribal members
and nonmembers.
A coordinated inter-agency Head Start screening is used to determine the
specific developmental needs of at-risk children and create individual
educational plans to meet those needs.
Files are checked to make sure each child had a home visit by their
teacher and parents meet with a family advocate to assess needs in the home.
The program has focused on hiring staff with professional experience.
The relationship between the tribe's Head Start administrators and Head
Start officials in Washington, D.C., has also improved, said Reed. "They
have told us to request whatever help we need. They are really willing to
work with us. I think that shows with them extending their funding for
another month. I believe that D.C. wants this program to exist."
--------- "RE: Mexico Indians Live/Die in Hamlets" ---------
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 07:55:55 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 10-19-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Mexico Indians Live, Die in Hamlets
.c The Associated Press
By MARK STEVENSON
10/17/99
LA SIERRA NORTE DE PUEBLA, Mexico (AP) - There is a legend here that evil
lives in the mountain called Coxazantla, and that if the people don't pay
the devil his due, the mountains will close in and crush them.
What the torrential rains of early October did to the Indian villages in
central Puebla state seems almost part of a legendary curse. One village,
Mixun, disappeared when a 100-foot gorge opened beneath it. Another,
Acalama, was buried - probably forever - when a 500-foot hillside collapsed
on top of it.
Maria Juana Campos was one of the few residents of Acalama to survive. The
gray-haired grandmother was across the river celebrating the Roman Catholic
rites for a drowned woman, when the hill collapsed.
"We were saying the rosary. My husband went back to get his cousin in
Acalama; both of them died," the tiny woman said.
Asked if she knew how many of her neighbors had died, she sobbed in the
Indian language of Nahuatl: "No, senor, they will never be found. We are
resigned to that." Thousands of tons of earth have given as many as 150 of
Acalama's inhabitants their final burial.
Some villages were swallowed by rising rivers. Others, like neighboring
Zempoala, were partly covered by mudslides. It's unlikely anyone will ever
live in these places again. It's unlikely they will ever be remembered as
anything more than graveyards.
"They should just put a cross on this place and declare it sacred ground,"
a Mexican army officer said during a risky attempt to recover bodies from
the bottom of the new gorge at Mixun.
The land around the Mixun gorge is littered with the remains of houses
tilting at crazy angles. Fifteen-foot-deep crevasses crisscross the fields.
The Indians moved up into the rugged mountains of Puebla centuries ago to
avoid Spanish conquerors who virtually enslaved them, and to preserve a way
of life that has left the land around their hamlets exhausted.
They cut down the forests to plant corn and beans. "Look," Domingo
Martinez, a 25-year-old farmer, said as he pointed to the valley above
Acalama. "Where there are still trees, the earth didn't come tumbling
down."
The land is honeycombed with rivers, waterfalls and caverns - the collapse
of one such cave is a suspected cause of the Mixun disaster.
Perched in wood and tarpaper shacks far above the valley floors, on land
no one else wants, the Indians preserve languages like Nahuatl, Totonaco
and Otomi, though their children speak Spanish and no longer use traditional
dress.
The number of changes they have seen in the last five centuries are few.
Now they have machine-made cloth, here and there a radio, and the lucky
ones have horses.
Starting 10 years ago, when dirt roads were first laid out and electricity
lines strung across the mountains, trucks began to rumble into their
hamlets.
Roberto Garcia Guzman, an employee of the Federal Electricity Commission,
connected the first power lines to the wooden and stone shacks in Acalama
just a year ago.
"They were very, very happy. It was big change for them," Garcia Guzman
said as he stared across the river of dirt and stone where the hamlet once
lay.
With the roads came some government programs - tiny two-room health
clinics and the first real schools. Local government officials still have
to do much of their business in Nahuatl.
"Aki'k polohua tilmati ma mo amatlali, polohua matlakti," Thomas Martinez
Roldan, the assistant mayor of Chiconcuautla, told villagers at an
improvised shelter in a primary school. "Tell me who doesn't have blankets,
and we'll give you one for every three people."
Isabel Cruz Gaspar, a 52-year-old grandmother, struggles with her own
dilemma of change at a shelter near the village of Zempoala.
Her husband, Nicholas Antonio Jimenez, has refused to leave their house
there, despite the lake ominously growing behind a mudslide above the
village.
He has ordered her to return to Zempoala. But local officials urge her
not to go, warning that the village is at risk of being wiped out. "This is
still a culture where men are very dominant," Martinez Roldan said.
Caught between duty, love and self-preservation, Cruz Gaspar sobs in
Nahuatl. "I don't know what to do.
--------- "RE: Wisconsin Wolf Alert" ---------
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 09:09:24 -0500
From: "Jean BraveHeart" <jbraveheart@sprynet.com>
Subj: Fw: ACTION ALERT-WISCONSIN WOLF MANAGEMENT PLAN
GOES FROM BAD TO WORSE!
Please pass this on, thanks Jean
ACTION ALERT
WISCONSIN WOLF MANAGEMENT PLAN
GOES FROM BAD TO WORSE!
YOUR LETTERS AND CALLS NEEDS ASAP!
PLAN TO ATTEND THE OCTOBER 26-27 NATURAL RESOURCE BOARD MEETING
Please take a few minutes to tell the Wisconsin governor and Board of
Natural Resources (BNR) members your concerns about the Wisconsin Wolf
Management Plan! Some of you may have already sent comments on earlier
versions of the plan, but the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is now
working on the fourth draft of the plan, and each version of the plan has
gotten worse. Changes in the third and upcoming fourth drafts include
removing core management areas where the wolf is fully protected, placing a
cap on wolf numbers, and rapidly moving towards allowing the hunting of
wolf in Wisconsin. Furthermore, public involvement is being undercut.
Currently the DNR has only posted the second draft on their website and the
e-mail address it lists for comments is closed.
Public pressure is needed more than ever. Four important points to make
are discussed below:
1) In all four drafts of the plan, wolves are managed under differently in
four separate zones. In the second draft, Zone 1, which includes the
largest and best wolf habitat, had core areas in which, "Wolves would be
controlled only to protect human health and safety." The third and forth
drafts eliminate these core areas, allowing livetrapping, translocation and
lethal control. ASK THE BOARD TO REINSTATE THE CORE AREAS INTO THE PLAN.
2) In the second draft, hunting wolves was to be considered five years
after the plan's approval, and only if the population was over 350. In the
third draft, the plan recommends the DNR, "begin the process of obtaining
legislative authority for a controlled public harvest" two years prior to
the population reaching 350. The BNR has since moved to "have a trigger at
350 for control" of the wolves, and a review of DNR literature has shown
that they are already working on a proposal to open up a hunting season on
wolves, including allowing the use of dog pack hunting. ASK THAT THE
PROVISIONS FOR A PUBLIC HUNT BE REMOVED ENTIRELY.
3) The second draft reduced numbers needed for state delisting from 300 to
250 but set a goal of at least 350 wolves. The third draft stated that 350
wolves would not mandate a wolf hunt. Now the board is moving towards
making a population of 350 the cap on wolves in the state. ASK THAT THERE
BE NO CAP ON THE WOLF POPULATION.
4) Scientists are still debating the minimum number needed for a viable and
sustainable wolf population. Currently the BNR is leaning towards the
lowest figures available, apparently caving in to pressure from the
agricultural and ranching communities to delist the wolf. Any decision to
down-list the wolf from endangered to threatened, or delist the wolf
entirely must be made with caution, using high population estimates that
guarantee continuous viable population. The still-prevalent public
attitudes against the wolf make it clear that Wisconsin is not socially
ready to remove them from the endangered list. ASK THE WOLF BE KEPT ON THE
ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST.
WRITE OR CALL:
Trygve Solberg, Chair
Natural Resource Board
P.O. Box 7921
Madison, WI 53707-7921
(608) 267-7420
Gov. Tommy G. Thompson
1 State Capital Bldg.
Box 7863
Madison, WI 53707-7863
(608) 266-1212
IF WRITING FROM OUT OF STATE, ALSO SEND COMMENTS TO:
Moose Speros, Secretary
Wisconsin Department of Tourism
Box 7976
Madison, WI 53707-7976
(608) 266-2345
Remind him that the delisting or hunting of wolves will tarnish Wisconsin's
image.
The schedule for the October 26-27 Board of Natural Resources meeting has
not yet been finalized. When it is available, we will send a follow-up
alert with the specific date and time and encouraging people to attend.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Billy Stern Tom Hershalman
GREEN Superior Wilderness Action Network
Midwest States Organizer Ecosystem Defense Coordinator
1121 University Ave.
Madison, WI 53715
PH (608) 294-6871 920-467-8311
bstern@defenders.org tombwca@tcbi.com
--------- "RE: Deal May End Suit on Inmate Religion" ---------
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 14:56:28 EDT
From: MarthaET@aol.com
Subj: Deal may end suit on inmate religion
Mailing List: TRIBALLAW (triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu)
from Ish's Native News
Deal may end suit on inmate religion
http://www.rochesternews.com/1017religion.html
State offers to hire a Native American chaplain, allow possession of sacred
items
By Kyle Hughes Democrat and Chronicle
ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 17, 1999) -- State officials will hire a Native American
chaplain for the New York prison system and will allow Native American
inmates to possess sacred and ceremonial items, according to a proposed
settlement of a religious freedom lawsuit.
"As a result of this lawsuit, Native American inmates are going to have
their religious rights protected to a far greater extent," David Leven of
Prisoners' Legal Services said. "Specifically, they are going to be able to
possess certain religious items that up until now have been prohibited."
As part of the deal, the state will pay $50,000 for attorneys' fees,
court costs and other expenses. The prison system, which includes clergy of
different faiths, also will create a part-time position for a Native
American chaplain.
The agreement -- filed in July in U.S. District Court in Rochester with
Judge Charles J. Siragusa -- has been signed by attorneys for the inmates
and the state and is awaiting the approval of a federal judge after Native
American inmates have a chance to comment on the deal.
The lawsuit was filed in 1997 by Native American inmates over what the
agreement calls "the systematic deprivation of religious rights of
traditional Native American prisoners."
The deal permits Native Americans to observe sacred seasonal ceremonies of
the Longhouse religion and possess medicine bags, herbs, bones, pebbles,
pendants, smoking pipes, and ashtrays for smudging or ceremonial cleansing
rites.
The new policy will become a problem for corrections officers only if they
are hampered in searching inmates for contraband, said Denny Fitzpatrick,
director of public relations for the New York state Correctional Officers &
Police Benevolent Association. It remains to be seen whether that happens, he
said.
The state did not admit to violating any law or rule, and said the deal
shall not be considered a precedent for any other inmate religious groups
since the needs of Native Americans are unique.
Native American inmates who want to practice their traditional religion
will have to produce a birth certificate, a tribal registration, a letter
from a tribal leader or government records, or receive the approval of
prison officials.
Midge Dean-Stock, director of the Seneca Iroquois National Museum in
Salamanca, Cattaraugus County, said medicine pouches can be as important to
a Native American as a cross to a Christian.
"They are a connection with your faith," she said. "They are a protection,
a blessing. In many traditions, they make you whole."
--------- "RE: O'odham Girl Buried" ---------
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 03:49:29 GMT
From: "AliceH" <AliceH@gte.net>
Subj: O'odham girl buried today
Newsgroup: alt.native
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/stories/Story1253157.html
Story by
Citizen Staff Report
Oct. 15, 1999
O'odham girl buried today
SELLS - Sunny Rae Francisco's tiny body lay forever silent inside a small,
white casket in the back of a pickup truck.
The 2-year-old Tohono O'odham girl, the victim of an Oct. 3 hit-and-run
accident in the Three Points area, would be laid to rest early this
morning.
But first, friends and family on the Indian reservation west of Tucson
were given a chance to say goodbye yesterday.
A wake was held at the grandmother's home in Sells.
Fred Narcho's pickup toted the casket from the Sells hospital morgue,
where family members earlier dressed up his granddaughter's body in
preparation for burial.
Loran Francisco, the girl's father, sat in the truck bed, head in hand,
overwhelmed by grief.
His daughter was dead.
He, she and her younger brother and cousin were struck by a car as they
crossed Arizona Highway 86 in Three Points at about 10:30 p.m.
Loran Francisco, 24, who was carrying his other child, 18-month-old
Jonathan Francisco, received only minor injuries when he was knocked off
the road. The toddler was uninjured.
Delano Rios, 13, who was carrying his cousin Sunny Rae on his shoulders,
suffered a broken leg in three places. He must undergo physical therapy.
Sunny Rae, however, was critically injured, suffering massive head
injuries. She was taken to University Medical Center in Tucson.
In a coma for six days, she was taken off life support the night of Oct.
8 at her family's request. She died at 6:25 p.m., after the family said
the rosary together.
"When she was born, it was cloudy out, so I guess she is my Sunny Rae,"
Frieda Narcho said after her daughter was taken off life support.
Robert Lutz, 40, of Tucson faces a vehicular homicide charge, as well as
for leaving the scene of an accident, unlawful flight from a police
vehicle, possession of methamphetamine and endangerment.
His blood-alcohol content was over the 0.10 legal threshold for
intoxication, according to police.
Lutz is being held at the Pima County Jail on a bond of $750,000,
pending trial.
Yesterday, family members could only weep and pray, searching for ways
to console each other.
Following an hour viewing in Sells, a police escort lead the caravan of
mourners to for an all-night rosary in Topawa.
Several members - including her father - accompanied Sunny Rae in the
back of the truck as it made its 8-mile trek to the village.
More than 40 family members and friends attended the rosary.
Sunny Rae was buried this morning at the Topawa Cemetery.
--------- "RE: Pictou-Aquash Canada Press Conferences" ---------
Date: 16 Oct 1999 20:59:00 GMT
From: annainc@aol.com (A.N.N.A. Foundation)
Subj: PICTOU-AQUASH~Canada Press Conferences
Newsgroup: alt.native
http://members.aol.com/Apictou/pictou-branscombe.html
Please observe the update page related to the recent Canada Press
conferences, concerning the murder investigation of the late Anna Mae
Pictou-Aquash. Included are statements, photos, letter from Assembly of First
Nations Vice Chief Ghislain Picard, and one of many newspaper clippings that
the family wishes to address to discern some points of view and with
appreciation to the media for providing the opportunity to do so. Statements
which represent the Pictou family are provided to assess their feelings,
including a very important perspective about the American Indian Movement as
a whole.
Please contact us if you have any questions or comments. It matters.
Thank you.
http://members.aol.com/ANNAinc/The-Foundation.html
(A.N.N.A.) Assembly for Northern Native Americans
Established in memory of the late Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash
Founded by her Daughters, Cousin and Executive Director
--------- "RE: Release of Papers/Leonard's Extradition" ---------
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 19:00:32 -0400
From: KDawn <oakbuddy@citrus.infi.net>
Subj: Release of Papers - Leonard's Extradition
Newsgroup: alt.native
Canada Department of Justice
RELEASE OF MATERIALS CONCERNING THE EXTRADITION OF LEONARD PELTIER
OTTAWA, October 15, 1999 - The Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of
Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the release of
materials pertaining to a departmental review of the 1976 extradition of
Leonard Peltier from Canada to the United States
In 1994, the then Minister of Justice, the Honourable Allan Rock, asked
Department of Justice officials to conduct a review of Mr. Peltier's
extradition file. That process has been completed, and Minister McLellan
is now releasing the file review to the public.
After fully considering the matter, Minister McLellan concluded that Mr.
Peltier was lawfully extradited to the United States. The reasons for her
conclusions have been detailed in a letter sent to the Honourable Janet
Reno, United States Attorney General.
The following materials are being released today;
* Letter to the Honourable Janet Reno, United States Attorney General;
* File Review and Appendices; and
* Summary of the extradition proceedings in the case of Leonard Peltier
including the news release of the Statement by the Honourable Ron Basford,
December 17, 1976
These documents are available on the Department of Justice Web Site at
http://canada.justice.gc.ca/Publications/review/index_en.html.
The appendices to the file review can be obtained by calling the
Department of Justice at (613) 957-4222.
--------- "RE: Native Prisoner" ---------
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 19:41:37 -0430
From: "Janet Smith" <jansatlcom.net@mindspring.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.
Miller, Robert L.R. Mills, Calvin Thomas
#191-152-MC #289-039
PO Box 740 PO Box 511
London, OH 43140-0740 Columbus, OH 43216
Ancestry: Cherokee Date of Birth: 1/9/75
Ancestry: Cherokee
Moore, Ray R.
#224-426 Morosky, Eric Allen
PO Box 511 #270-506
Columbus, OH 43216 PO Box 5500
Date of Birth: 4/2/25 Chillicothe, OH 45601
Ancestry: Cherokee Date of Birth: 8/18/66
Ancestry: Cherokee
Moffo, Sr., Christopher James
#199-502 Morris, Michael Lee
PO Box 56 #296-786
Lebanon, OH 45036 PO Box 511
Date of Birth: 12/21/60 Columbus, OH 43216
Ancestry: Chiricahua/Apache
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., Raleig
--------- "RE: Vechet's Food For Thought" ---------
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 22:35:33 -0500
From: angie@cityscope.net (Angelina Carrerras)
Subj: Vechet's Food for Thought #0010
<