And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: http://www.indiancountry.com/SW30.HTML Taking a stand: Carrie Dann protests at the federal building in Reno for her brother Clifford's release. Western Shoshone fight harassment by U.S. government Brenda Norrell Today staff Southwest Bureau WESTERN SHOSHONE, Nev. - The Western Shoshone National Council filed legal action in U.S. District Court to halt harassment, threats and intimidation by the United States against Western Shoshone struggling to maintain their traditional landbase. John Wells, tribal southern representative to the Western Shoshone National Council, said the federal government continues to mire Shoshone efforts to maintain ancestral land. "The United States government would have this matter to be bogged down in a myriad of legal complexities in issues of federal civil procedure, rather than have to address the core issues arising under the United States Constitution, laws, or treaties," Wells said. Wells said the court action filed in December, not only seeks to protect the traditional way of life, but extends to the Western Shoshone National Council the role of protector of the rights of individual citizens. The Western Shoshone Defense Project said the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley was the only agreement signed between the Western Shoshone Nation and the United States. The treaty was one of "peace and friendship" allowing the safe passage of non-tribal members through lands occupied by Western Shoshone. In the 1950s the Indian Land Claims Commission was established to compensate Indians for lands ceded to the United States. The commission created a date that Western Shoshone lands had allegedly been taken by the United States through a process of "gradual encroachment" by whites, July 1, 1872. Western Shoshone lands, 26 million acres, were valued at the 1872 price of $24 million. That included a $20 million payment for minerals and other resources removed before 1872. Payment for the land itself was 15 cents per acre. In 1979, the award was placed in a Department of Treasury account, where it remains today, refused by the Western Shoshone who say they can not buy or sell Mother Earth. Western Shoshone continue to exercise their sovereignty by using their lands. During the past two decades, Western Shoshone cattlemen from Wells, South Fork and Odgers Ranch have run livestock on disputed lands without paying the Bureau of Land Management. Crescent Valley Western Shoshone have continued grazing livestock on ancestral lands. The land battle reached a crisis state in 1972 when the BLM notified Mary and Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone sisters from Crescent Valley, that they were trespassing by grazing cows and horses on so-called public lands. In March and November 1992, the BLM rounded up 430 horses they claimed belonged to the Dann family. However, the horses were wild mustangs, not Dann horses. It was during the roundups that the Dann family and supporters of the Western Shoshone non-violently resisted the BLM efforts. Clifford Dann doused himself in gasoline and threatened to ignite himself. The Western Shoshone Defense Project reports, "The federal agents attacked him, charged him with threatening a federal officer." Clifford refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the U.S. court hearing his case and did not argue the charge. Clifford spent nine months in federal prison. >From 1974 through 1991, the Dann sisters fought the BLM charges in federal courts. The Indian Law Resource Center sought international support and filed a human rights complaint against the United States on behalf of the Western Shoshone before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. (c) 1999 Indian Country Today <<END EXCERPT <<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>> If you think you are too small to make a difference; try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.... African Proverb <<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =-=>>>> IF it says: "PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...." Please Check it before you send it at: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm
