And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Casinos Not Tribes' Cure-All
The Deseret News
http://www.desnews.com/
Despite the advent of casino-style gambling, most American Indian tribes
still need hundreds of millions of dollars more each year to meet their
basic needs. Of 166 tribes that had casinos in 1996, 28 lost money and only
54 experienced profits worth more than $10,000 per tribal member, according
to a recent report by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Adding gambling
proceeds to government subsidies, the tribes still find themselves at the
low end of the economic spectrum. American Indian communities have long
suffered from poor infrastructure, limited investment and shifting federal
policy. Presented with those realities, it was folly to believe that these
institutional problems could be overcome by a couple of good years of
gambling revenue ... The numbers suggest all of the tribes are underfunded.
Taking money from one tribe and giving it to another would seemingly be an
attempt to equalize poverty. Such funding shifts could violate the federal
government's constitutional and treaty obligations.
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Interior Secretary Says Mesa's Ruins Deserve Added Protection
http://www.ap.org/
Black Canyon City, Ariz.: Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Monday
that an Arizona plateau rich with prehistoric Indian ruins needs new
protections to preserve it from encroaching urban sprawl. "With the future
coming at us, I think we have to acknowledge that a well-kept secret can be
hidden no longer," said Babbitt, standing on a rock wall that forms part of
a bastion overlooking one of Perry Mesa's many canyons. Archaeologists say
Perry Mesa was home to thousands of people from roughly 1200 to 1400. Some
believe its many ruins were militarily and politically allied fortresses
designed to fend off attacks from outsiders ... The federal government
already owns most of Perry Mesa, which is managed by the Bureau of Land
Management and the National Forest Service ... Babbitt said additional
protection is needed to focus attention on the area so the public has an
opportunity to learn of its history and to help ensure the ruins- most of
which have not been studied in depth by archaeologists - are protected.
Phoenix is only about 30 miles to the south, and new development is closer
than that, Babbitt noted. Though making the area into a national park is a
possibility, the more realistic options are to make it a national monument
or designating it as a national conservation area, Babbitt said.
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Indian Tribes Fear Handling Sacred Remains
The Associated Press
http://www.ap.org/
Tulsa, Okla.: The return of human remains and buried objects to American
Indian tribes and nations is a mixed blessing, several tribal officials
say. Indians have long maintained their right to rebury their ancestors and
burial objects that have sat in museums and in university collections for,
in some cases, longer than a century. The tribes were granted the ability
to reclaim remains and objects in the 1990 Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act ... However, some items in museum
collections have placed tribal members in a quandary because they are so
sacred some fear just handling the objects will cause spiritual
disturbances. "We have what we call sacred bundles that were, you might
say, big, strong medicine. And those things, we believe, had a lot of power
at one time. No one knows how to use those sacred bundles anymore," said
Francis Morris, repatriation coordinator for the Pawnee Nation ... "We
don't know whether they ought to be buried or be kept. No one knows
anything about them anymore," he said. "We can't use them and they may
cause bad luck. We don't know what we are going to do with those things."
Morris said the Pawnee Nation is seeking the return from the Smithsonian
Museum in Washington, D.C., of nine skulls of Pawnee scouts who worked for
the U.S. Army. The scouts were beheaded in Kansas as they were awaiting
discharge from their service, after the U.S. surgeon general put out a
bounty of $ 50 a head for Indian skulls so he could study them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Conference Highlights Intricacy of Indian Law
Bangor Daily News
http://www.bangornews.com/
Rockport: Decades after the landmark court decisions established the
sovereignty of Indian tribal government, the battles continue.
Conflicts between labor laws and unions, the status of non-American Indian
businesses operating on reservations, and Indian hiring preferences often
drive federal law and tribal sovereignty together like a square peg into a
round hole, attorneys specializing in Indian affairs say. These issues and
others were explored Friday by attorneys representing tribes from around
the country at the Indian Law Conference at the Samoset Resort. One of the
featured speakers, 1996 Green Party vice presidential candidate Winona
LaDuke, a member of the Chippewa tribe in Minnesota, related the battle for
economic justice for her people in arenas other than courts. The specific
goal of the conference, hosted by the Portland law firm of Drummond Woodsum
& MacMahon and co-sponsored by the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy
Tribe, was to consider how federal law supports tribal structure, and how
it sometimes threatens it ... Winona LaDuke spoke about the economic
challenges Indians face. She has worked with organizations such as
Greenpeace and Honor the Earth and was named a Woman of the Year by Ms.
magazine last year ... First greeting the American Indian participants in
her own Chippewa language, she then said, "We are survivors of this great
holocaust that happened to our communities," referring to the history of
mistreatment of American Indians in the United States. LaDuke said she
originally wanted to be a lawyer, but decided she would end up spending all
her time getting relatives out of jail. American Indians are arrested six
times more frequently than non-Indians, she said. Instead, she has focused
on finding out why her people are in jail. LaDuke directs a nonprofit
organization on her reservation in Minnesota which takes on land,
environmental and cultural issues. Too many burdens have been laid on
tribal government, she said, and a nonprofit organization provides another
tool to deal with problems.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Editorial Opinion
The Associated Press
http://www.ap.org/
Anchorage Daily News on Supreme Court and tribal authority: By
recognizing the equal status of Native tribes in deciding internal tribal
matters like child custody disputes, the Alaska Supreme Court has
graciously fallen in line with a higher authority: the federal government.
In voting three to two earlier this month to recognize joint state-tribal
jurisdiction in a child custody dispute, the state's highest court found
that the proper forum was the Northway tribal court. In reaching this
decision and reversing a lower-court ruling, it had to reverse earlier
court precedent and get in line with federal policy and law. This welcome
turnaround will lead to a more reasoned state judiciary and more
enlightened state policy that acknowledge the value of tribal governments
in deciding the fate of Native children. Or as Justice Dana Fabe wrote in a
58-page opinion: By acknowledging tribal jurisdiction, we enhance the
opportunity for Native villages and the state to cooperate in the child
custody arena by sharing resources. Recognizing the ability and power of
tribes to resolve internal disputes in their own forums, while preserving
the right of access to state courts, can only help in the administration of
justice for all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jurisdiction Arguments Over Whiteclay Arrests Postponed
The Associated Press
http://www.ap.org/
Rushville, Neb.: Lawyers for the nine American Indian activists arrested
at Whiteclay near the Pine Ridge Reservation have more time to build a case
on the question of jurisdiction. Sheridan County Judge Charles Plantz has
granted a prosecution request that will let defendants provide more details
about why they believe Whiteclay is part of the reservation in South Dakota.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vicenti Elected President of Jicarilla Tribe
The Associated Press
http://www.ap.org/
Dulce, N.M.: The Jicarilla Apache Tribe has elected Rodger Vicenti as its
new president, bringing some stability to a tribe that has been awash in a
yearlong political struggle for tribal control. Vicenti defeated Wainwright
Velarde, receiving 339 votes to Velarde's 281. Only 620 of the tribe's
nearly 3,000 members turned out for Friday's election. Vicenti replaces
Arnold Cassador, who left office amid a dispute over personnel changes,
campaign donations and money distributed to tribal members. He will serve
out the remainder of Cassador's term, which ends in July.
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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