And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Court documents filed to annex Whiteclay
http://www.journalstar.com/stories/neb/sto10
BY JOSHUA KUCERA The Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- American Indians filed an injunction in Oglala
Sioux Tribal Court this week asking the court to close down Whiteclay, a Nebraska
border town notorious among Indians for selling beer.
The lawsuit claims that under the 1887 Dawes Act, a strip of Nebraska land including
Whiteclay south of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is legally Indian land, said Tom
Poor Bear, an Oglala activist. The court is waiting to decide whether it has
jurisdiction over the matter until it gets documents from Nebraska and South Dakota
that describe the exact boundary between the two states, said chief Judge Patrick Lee.
Those boundaries were set out in the acts of Congress establishing territories or
states, called enabling acts. "If the Nebraska enabling act and the South Dakota
enabling act identify the same boundary line, then it looks to me like it's going to
be a federal question," Lee said Thursday. Lee declined to release the papers, which
were filed Tuesday, until all the necessary documents are collected. The move is the
latest in a series of efforts to stop what Indians call abusive alcohol sales in
Whiteclay. They have also alleged mistreatment by Nebraska law enforcement.
Protest marches from Pine Ridge to Whiteclay have taken place weekly since June, after
two Oglala men were found beaten to death near the reservation. The first march led to
fires and looting. Protest organizers say beer sales in the village contributed to the
murders, which remain unsolved.
U.S. Attorney Ted McBride and FBI Supervisory Special Agent Mark Vukelich met with
relatives of the victims last week in Rapid City. The officials showed family members
the autopsy results but could not make the results public because doing so might
compromise the investigation, Vukelich said.
Poor Bear, the half brother of one murder victim and a cousin of the other, said he
has a higher opinion of efforts to solve the murders since the meeting. "I didn't feel
better because there's no progress in the investigation. I didn't feel better because
Whiteclay is still open. But I felt better that at least I heard where they are coming
from," he said.
Protesters will continue to hold weekly marches, and a camp of American Indians will
remain at the site near the border where the murder victims' bodies were found, he
said.
The FBI is waiting for evidence to come back from the laboratory, Vukelich said.
"There's quite a number of examinations that we've requested, and these take time,
unfortunately, longer than we'd like," Vukelich said. He said the public has offered
few leads despite a $15,000 reward and a recent episode of "America's Most Wanted"
that profiled the case. Poor Bear said that may be because of a lack of trust on the
reservation. "A lot of our people are not cooperating with the FBI because of the way
the FBI has treated us," he said.
Leaders of the American Indian Movement, who were at the first march on Whiteclay, are
still monitoring the situation, Poor Bear said. "They are in full support," he said.
"If we need them I will call them." But Poor Bear emphasized that the effort was being
led by Oglala tribal members. Pine Ridge should not monopolize the American Indian
Movement's attention, Poor Bear said. "Every reservation has a Whiteclay," he said.
Pascual Marquez, a Department of Justice conciliator in Kansas City, Mo., is
organizing a task force to improve communication between state and federal officials
and tribal members.
Poor Bear told a reporter he and Oglala Sioux Tribal President Harold Salway were to
meet Thursday with Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns in Chadron. A spokesman for Johanns said
no such meeting was planned.
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE
http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/
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