NATIVE_NEWS: Racicot mocks the public with his position on bison
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Something that I think has been known for a long time...a quote from the article below: "This isn't a disease management issue, it's a battle for who will control public lands and public wildlife." http://www3.gomontana.com/ Opinion. By TODD WILKINSON 12/14/1998 Racicot mocks the public with his position on bison You might think that Marc Racicot, the attorney who became Montana's popular governor, would know better from his days in the courtroom: It isn't ethical, politically prudent, or fair, to prosecute suspects unless you know you have sufficient evidence to support a conviction. Today, beyond the border of Yellowstone National Park, Montana Department of Livestock cowboys, with the governor's endorsement in their saddlebags, can carry out death sentences against Yellowstone bison when the animals' guilt has never been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Yes, outraged citizens, here we go again: The state of Montana is belligerently trying to draw the American public into a barroom brawl and then, when the blood starts to spill, it will blame everyone, except itself, for getting a black eye. This winter, heavy snows could put many of Yellowstone's 2,000 bison on the move to lower elevations in Montana. The hungry behemoths - among the most beloved wildlife icons of our first national park - will then be either hazed back into Yellowstone or they will face state-run capture and slaughter. The purpose of this foolhardy herd control is to prevent native park bison, which carry the bacterium that causes brucellosis, from possibly infecting non-native cattle. In terms of evidence, Montana is relying upon hysteria, not science, to make its case in the court of public opinion. Jeanne-Marie Souvigney, a public land specialist with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, has been tracking the bison controversy for years. Soon, state and federal agencies will announce a long-term bison management plan based on an Environmental Impact Statement. As Souvigney notes, 65,000 citizen comments were received on the draft EIS, making it one of the most prominent American natural resource issues in recent years. "The majority of comments called upon the agencies to rightfully make room for bison outside Yellowstone," Souvigney said. "This isn't a disease management issue, it's a battle for who will control public lands and public wildlife." The state has no compelling evidence on which to base the slaughter of 2,000 park bison over the last decade or its present form of management, she says, asking: * Why is Montana slaughtering bison on U.S. Forest Service land at Horse Butte near West Yellowstone when the nearest cattle are now dozens of miles away? * Why has the Forest Service, which is legally mandated to provide winter range for wildlife, kowtowing to the Department of Livestock by allowing a bison capture facility to be built at Horse Butte? Not only was there fierce citizen opposition to construction of the $500,000 bison trap, but activity at the capture facility could drive bald eagles - a federally protected species - from using nearby nests. * Why is Montana being allowed to destroy the integrity of the Yellowstone bison herd on behalf of 2,000 head of cattle which inhabit private and public land along the western and northern border of the national park? Roughly 45 percent of the total cattle number mentioned above - many of them from Idaho - use Forest Service grazing allotments which generate less than $5,000 a year for the U.S. Treasury. Why are taxpayers being expected to spend a hundred times that amount to control bison on the same public lands? Since Montana continues to operate bison management as a kangaroo court, I enter into evidence the following exhibits. Exhibit A: There is not one documented case of brucellosis being passed from bison to cattle in the wild, not one. Yes, it's theoretically possible that brucellosis could be passed on to cattle - as likely as humans getting struck by lightning - but the risks are astronomically slim. Exhibit B: We now know that the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - the agency which initially demanded that park bison be shot in order for Montana to keep its "brucellosis-free status" - believes that bison can be afforded far more leeway than in previous years, especially along the west side of Yellowstone at Horse Butte. That's because APHIS recognizes its earlier position was scientifically unsupportable. Nor does it support threats of quarantine brought by other states against Montana cattle if Montana tolerates wandering bison. APHIS says there's no need to take preventative action against bison until April, roughly 60 days before the first cattle arrive back at Horse Butte. According to APHIS, the only animals that represent potential risks - in addition to wandering elk which aren't even addressed - are pregnant bison cows. Bison bulls, yearlings, calves
NATIVE_NEWS: Statue of Washakie - Shoshone Chief
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyomingframe.htm Washakie statue funds to be requested by Geringer RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) - The Legislature should provide funding to help place a statue of Chief Washakie in the U.S. and Wyoming capitol buildings, according to Gov. Jim Geringer. Geringer said he will recommend that a planning committee receive up to $250,000 for the project, providing the private sector put up matching funds. Earlier this year, the Legislature approved a law which names the Shoshone chief as the second Wyoming figure to be depicted by a statue in the U.S. Capitol. Each state is allowed two figures in the Capitol. Wyoming is one of four states which have only one statue. The state's figure depicts Esther Hobart Morris, who was known for her work promoting women's suffrage during Wyoming's territorial days. The governor and the committee plan to have the Chief Washakie sculpture completed by the end of the century, according to Sharon Kahin of Dubois, chairwoman of the Chief Washakie sculpture committee. "This is an ambitious timetable, but it is appropriate in that Chief Washakie lived in three centuries," said Kahin. The chief was born in the last days of the 18th Century and died in the first days of the 20th Century. Members of Chief Washakie's descendants will serve on the committee, which will be assisted by Wyoming Arts Council director John Coe. Other members of the committee are Alan Hirschfield of Wilson; Rep. Ray Harrison, R-Worland, who sponsored the legislation designating Washakie; Sen. Bob Peck, R-Riverton; Sarah Boehme, curator of the Whitney Gallery in Cody; May Raynolds, Lander; Pat Bergie, Shoshone planning department and Wyoming Arts Council; B.J. Durr, artist and member of the arts council board; Zedora Enos, Wyoming Independent Living minority affairs coordinator, Fort Washakie; and John Washakie and Ivan Posey, members of the Shoshone Business Council. end of article
NATIVE_NEWS: Nottawaseppi Huron Band Casino Approved
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/981215/nv_full_ho_1.html Tuesday December 15, 9:03 am Eastern Time Full House Resorts Announces: Approval of Class III Compact Paves Way For Battle Creek Casino LAS VEGAS, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Full House Resorts, Inc. (Nasdaq: FHRI - news) announced today that the Michigan House and Senate approved the Class III tribal-state compact executed between Michigan Governor John Engler and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians.
NATIVE_NEWS: Many Indian languages face extinction in Canada
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Monday December 14, 6:40 pm Eastern Time Many Indian languages face extinction in Canada OTTAWA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Canada's Indians are losing their native tongues as many of their languages are swallowed up by English and French, a study reported on Monday. Only three of 50 aboriginal languages -- Cree, Inuktitut and Ojibway -- had large enough populations in 1996 to be considered truly secure from the threat of extinction in the long run, Statistics Canada, the government statistics agency, said in its report. ``I view it as a sign of loss of culture, and it's also a sign of the assimilation process we were subjected to,'' Maryjane Jim, a vice-chief in the Assembly of First Nations, the largest aboriginal grouping in Canada, told Reuters. Statistics Canada said 10 aboriginal languages became extinct in the last century and at least a dozen were on the brink. Among Canada's 30 million people, only 800,000 claim an aboriginal identity. Just 26 percent of them said an aboriginal language was their mother tongue. Even fewer spoke it at home. A large base of speakers is among the key to viability. Cree, Inuktitut and Ojibway all have 20,000 native speakers, while endangered languages rarely have more than a few thousand and often only a few hundred, the agency said. Maryjane Jim, speaking by telephone from the Yukon Territory, which adjoins Alaska, said many aboriginal groups in the Yukon were trying to reestablish their language. Part of that involves writing the language for the first time, and establishing language classes in the school system. ``The numbers are continuing to decline, but I think that the more that we recognize in the territory that the numbers are continuing to decline the more effort and emphasis is put on the preservation of the language,'' she said. ``In some cases it's been absolutely too late.''
NATIVE_NEWS: FS releases report on bison facility
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Please note this: Comments on the environmental assessment will be taken until Jan. 13. The study is available from the Forest Service by calling (406) 329-3028 or on the Internet at www.fs.fed.us/r1/gallatin http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm FS releases report on bison facility By JOE KOLMAN Gazette Bozeman Bureau BOZEMAN - A bison capture facility near West Yellowstone will likely affect bald eagles, could displace grizzly bears and might serve as a lightening rod for those opposed to the way the shaggy giants are being managed, according to an environmental report released this week by the Forest Service. But the report said the pen may also reduce the number of bison killed in what is expected to be a harsh winter. Bison that wander out of Yellowstone National Park and into the state Department of Livestock's trap would be tested for brucellosis. Those testing negative for the disease, which causes cattle to abort their calves, would be marked and released. Positive animals would be shipped to slaughter. Earlier this month, Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Dave Garber granted the Livestock Department's request to operate a pen at Horse Butte through the end of January. But because the pen sits within a half mile of a bald eagle nesting site, the agency's request to operate the facility from February through April of 1999 and continue for up to 10 years had to undergo an environmental assessment. Bald eagle nesting activity is considered to begin about February 1. According to the report, there are three bald eagle nests along Hebgen Lake in the vicinity of Horse Butte. While the nests have been active, the pair nearest the proposed bison pen has not reproduced since 1992. Operation of the pen, which would include hazing by snowmobile, increased traffic for plowing roads and hauling bison, may disturb nesting bald eagles and could displace grizzly bears when they are not denning, the report said. But it added that current activity in the area makes it difficult to determine what effects the facility may have. The proposed pen is near residential areas and is highly used for recreation such as snowmobiling. Between 100 and 150 snowmobiles per day use the 30 miles of groomed trails in the area, the report said. Restrictions proposed in the study include no hazing by helicopter and no hazing or shooting of bison within quarter mile of the Horse Butte bald eagle nest, except from roads or groomed snowmobile trails. Beyond environmental impacts, the facility could have social and economic effects, the study said. Snowmobilers could willingly or unwillingly interfere with operations and law officers will be on hand to ensure security. While the study said West Yellowstone's winter economy would likely not be affected, it added that, "Interest groups opposed to the capture facility and removal of bison may suggest 'boycotts' of the West Yellowstone area. Predicting the effects of such actions is difficult and beyond the scope of this analysis." The Livestock Department is proposing the pen as part of an interim management plan that calls for bison entering Montana to be captured, tested and released or sent to slaughter or shot. Some bison carry brucellosis and while there has not been a case documented of transmission in the wild between bison and cattle, scientists maintain there is still a risk. Those in the livestock industry point out that the state's cattle producers spent millions of dollars over many years to obtain a brucellosis free status and to lose it would be devastating to business. But opponents of the bison pen say even if there is a scientific risk of transmission, the point is mute because there are no cattle in the West Yellowstone area during the winter months. "The whole thing's just not logical," said Dave Ritchey, who lives about a half mile from the pen and is one of the locals who opposes the facility. "But there's nothing we can do and there never has been." Comments on the environmental assessment will be taken until Jan. 13. The study is available from the Forest Service by calling (406) 329-3028 or on the Internet at www.fs.fed.us/r1/gallatin
NATIVE_NEWS: Crow negotiations - Water, Land and Coal taxes
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Sounds as if the Crow are in a good bargaining position. It's been a long time in coming,imo. http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Thursday, February 18, 1999 Crow seek to settle 2 issues before making water deal By LORNA THACKERAY Of The Gazette Staff No "deal breaking" issues emerged Wednesday during the second public negotiating session between state, Crow Tribal and federal officials trying to hammer out a water-rights compact in time for the 1999 Montana Legislature to take a vote. Most of what negotiators discussed during a daylong session at the Sheraton Billings Hotel were requests for additional information that may affect the details of the compact but not the overall effort to reach an agreement. But Crow Tribal Attorney Robert Pelcyger made it clear that there would be no water agreement if two other nettlesome issues can't be resolved at the same time. Those controversies include the tribe's attempt to collect millions of dollars in coal severance taxes that the state illegally collected on Crow-owned coal and its attempt to obtain compensation for continuous violations of limitations set in Section 2 of the Crow Allotment Act of 1920 on the amount of land that nontribal members can own on the reservation. ---end of excerpt---
NATIVE_NEWS: March focuses on Bison Slaughter
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Article and photos: http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Saturday, February 20, 1999 March focuses on bison slaughter Gazette photos by David Grubbs An unidentified Lakota Indian breaks the crest of a hill on horseback Friday on a long trek to Yellowstone Park. A band of Lakotas are riding on horseback and in cars from Rapid City to Gardiner to show their concern for the slaughter of bison outside the park. From Gazette Staff About 75 people - some on foot and others on horseback - crossed Yellowstone County Friday, entering the final stretch of a 500-mile trek they hope will bring attention to the slaughter of bison in Yellowstone National Park. "This is a nonviolent spiritual walk to remind people that the indiscriminate killing of these sacred animals continues despite public outcry," said Rosalie Little Thunder, a walk organizer and an elder of the Lakota nation. ---end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: Biological warfare...Brucellosis?
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: This is a new twist here, the need to eradicate brucellosis so that it cannot be used during a war. Who do they think they are they kidding? http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyomingframe.htm Oklahoma scientists work on new brucellosis vaccine OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma State University researchers working to rid the world of brucellosis say they would like nothing more than to put an end to the disease - not to mention reducing one less option during a war. snip "Fortunately, we've about got brucellosis eliminated from the U.S. after a span of 50 years, " he said. "But worldwide, brucellosis is a still a problem." Espe said the presence of free-ranging bison in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks threaten the brucellosis status of the surrounding states free of the disease. "Sooner of later, if the United States is considered free of brucellosis, bison will need to be free in that population," he said. Also wild elk, often infected when they gather for winter feeding, can potentially spread the disease. Espe said efforts to discontinue the unnatural feeding and congregation of herds are being considered. -end of excerpt--
NATIVE_NEWS: Brucellosis - Questionable research?
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I think this kind of article is highly irresponsible. No where in the article does it say where this "research" was done and by whom it was done. There is indication of why it was done and who paid for the study. This information is essential so that the "information" can be seen in a proper scientific perspective. This Bison/brucellosis issue is highly charged and what is NOT needed is sloppy reporting of vague information, imo. http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyomingframe.htm RESEARCH REPORT Study shows bison can give cattle brucellosis YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (AP) - Livestock research from up to 30 years ago suggests that cattle in the greater Yellowstone area have caught brucellosis from bison and elk and not from other cattle. --end of excerpt--
NATIVE_NEWS: Mortality rate nigh among Indian youth
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: With the high crime rate and the high mortality rate...anyone have data on the birth rate? http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm Mortality rate high among Indian youth and getting worse By PAYAL KAPADIA Medill News Service WASHINGTON - Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala has mentioned in several speeches her concern that male American Indians are "the only racial and ethnic group for whom the death rate did not go down" in the most recent statistics. But doctors at the Indian Health Service say the real crisis is the increase in mortality rates among Indian youth. Shalala cited statistics from the National Center of Health Statistics demonstrating that the adjusted death rates for Indian males went up from 489.8 per 100,000 in 1996 to 523.4 per 100,000 in 1997. Officials at the Indian Health Service added that life expectancy among Indian men was significantly lower than the national average, according to the agency's last available statistics, from 1992 to 1994. At that time, the national average was 72.2 years, while the life span of Indian men was only 67.2 years. But the reason that Indian males are lagging behind in life expectancy is not so much because older Indians die sooner than older non-Indians, according to IHS medical officers. Instead, the life expectancy rate is low because of the startling increase in mortality rates among Indian youth. end of article
NATIVE_NEWS: State agency holds off on bison pen
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm LEGAL LIABILITY FEARS State agency holds off on bison pen By JOE KOLMAN Gazette Bozeman Bureau WEST YELLOWSTONE - Citing legal liability fears stemming from a probable confrontation with protesters, the state Department of Livestock has yet to build a bison corral at Horse Butte that was approved a month ago. State Veterinarian Dr. Arnold Gertonson said Thursday that the agency is asking the Forest Service, which manages the land where the bison pen would be built, to rewrite the permit so that the state could not be held liable. Members of the group formerly known as Buffalo Nations have been blocking the Forest Service road leading to the proposed site of the bison pen for more than a month. They have erected five wooden tripods standing 30 feet high. Two of the tripods include platforms where members of the group chain themselves to the structure to make buffalo removal as difficult as possible. Members of the group, now calling themselves the Buffalo Field Campaign to reflect the "front line" nature of the protest, claimed victory this week for putting a crimp in state plans to build the bison pen. --end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: My local mascot
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: For any with an interest. The school district in which I reside has an "Indian" mascot. The photos are mine and were taken 27 Feb. 1999: http://www.pond.com/~sonjakeo/radnor.html
NATIVE_NEWS: Chronic Wasting Disease and Brucellosis
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I am glad that this is getting more press coverage. This disease has been seen in wildlife for some time. Please, all who are interested in the Bison situation, take some time to read the article, there are a number of excerpts below. As most know a disease similar to CWD, "mad cow disease" is fatal to humans. Both of these diseases cause a condition known as BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encyphalophathy) MDOL, up to this point, seems unconcerned about this threat to cattle and humans while it slaughters Bison. There is no proof that the Bison being slaughtered are able to communicate ANY disease. Brucellosis can and does infect cattle, but it is neither a fatal disease for cattle or humans. BSE, on the other hand is fatal to both animals and humans. I would be interested to know why, knowing the risks of CWD, MDOL appears not nearly as concerned as it is with brucellosis. http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm Proposed wasting disease rules draw fire from wildlife groups HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Proposed rules to prevent the spread of an alarming disease among game-farm animals are being strongly supported by the industry, but questioned by conservation groups. The rules are designed to prevent the spread of so-called chronic wasting desease, which strikes elk and some species of deer. It causes brain damage that affects motor coordination and the ability to maintain proper nutrition. Researchers say it is similar to the "mad cow disease" that has appeared in European cattle herds and which, in turn, has been linked by some scientists to the fatal human brain ailment, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. The disease has been found in wild elk and deer in Colorado and Wyoming as well as in game farm animals in South Dakota. ... "DOL practices a scorched-earth policy to protect cattle from brucellosis. I'm amazed they're reluctant to take consistent steps to protect wildlife from CWD," Jewett said. "DOL is completely protective of agriculture and shows complete disdain for the state's wild animals." end of excerpts-
NATIVE_NEWS: Congress ready to cut final check on CUT land deal
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: More Bison habitat...hopefully. http://www.gomontana.com/index.shtml Congress ready to cut final check onCUT land deal Key congressional committee chairmen have removed restrictions that could have delayed indefinitely the purchase of land and conservation easements from the Church Universal and Triumphant. "This has been a long process and now it's just a matter of cutting the final check," said Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. "The lands involved in this purchase are home to a wide variety of wildlife, and this purchase will ensure its future as a major migratory corridor." The church has offered to sell to the U.S. Forest Service or otherwise protect 7,850 acres adjacent or close to Yellowstone National Park's northern rim in the Gardiner area. The land is key winter range for bison and a variety of other animals. The price totals $13 million and about 1,000 acres of Forest Service land. It reflects appraised values. -end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: SL Tribune - Is Bison Slaughter Senseless?
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From the Salt Lake Tribune: A quote from the slaughtermen " But Montana livestock officials say the new testing is inconclusive" Must be also that DOL cannot conclude a new day has begun when they see the sun rise... http://www.sltrib.com/1999/mar/03051999/nation%5Fw/88202.htm Friday, March 5, 1999 Is Bison Slaughter Senseless? BY BRENT ISRAELSEN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Most of the Yellowstone bison slaughtered this year by the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) have tested negative for brucellosis, the disease prompting the DOL's ongoing slaughter program. Results from a second set of testing by the U.S. Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) determined that only two of the first 15 bison slaughtered this year were afflicted with the disease. Environmental groups are touting the results as added evidence that the bison slaughter is senseless and unnecessary. But Montana livestock officials say the new testing is inconclusive and will do nothing to change the slaughter program. By late February, the DOL had slaughtered 17 buffalo that wandered outside the western boundary of Yellowstone National Park, according to Montana state veterinarian Arnold Gertonson. Each of the 17 bison tested positive in blood tests for Brucella abortus, the bacterium that causes brucellosis, which makes cows abort. An interim court-ordered bison management plan, in effect for three years, calls for DOL to slaughter any bison that tests positive in blood tests, Gertonson said. For the first time, APHIS, whose mission is to eradicate animal diseases, this year performed more advanced testing of the slaughtered bison to determine if they did, in fact, have brucellosis. The advanced method is called a "culture test" of tissue samples taken from various parts of the animal's body. Results on 13 of the 15 bison tested were negative. APHIS spokesman Patrick Collins said the tests should prompt DOL to give more consideration to non-lethal forms of bison management. -end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Mound May Belong To Early Indians
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ Mound May Belong To Early Indians - (PINEVILLE) -- Archaeologists think a mound in a southwest Missouri farm field is one of the last remnants of a centuries-old Native American tribe. The mound is on the farm of Charles Gideon near Pineville. Michael Connor, an archaeologist at Southwest Missouri State says he thinks it's the last remnant of the Caddoan tribe which populated that area of Missouri more than a-thousand years ago. Connor is trying to get the mound on the National Register of Historic Places in order to protect it.
NATIVE_NEWS: Federal officials urge state to lighten up with buffalo
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: A quote from the article: " But Arnold Gertonson, Montana's state veterinarian, said the state does not intend to change its bison policy." I think what we have here in Gertonson, is one of those rare examples of the product of cross breeding between a mule and an ass... http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Federal officials urge state to lighten up with buffalo DENVER (AP) - Federal livestock officials say their concern over the disease risk posed by Yellowstone National Park bison has lessened, and they now encourage Montana to be more accommodating to wandering buffalo. But the state says it remains wary of the risk, and the stakes are too high for Montana's livestock industry to gamble that the new opinions are correct. -end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: More bison hazed back to park
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www3.gomontana.com/ By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer 12/18/1998 More bison hazed back to park The Montana Department of Livestock plans to keep hazing bison back into Yellowstone National Park as long as the weather allows, acting director Marc Bridges said this week. "We're going to haze until we can't haze any more," Bridges said. The department on Wednesday conducted its seventh hazing operation in the past several weeks in the West Yellowstone area. More than 500 animals have been chased into the park, though that doesn't mean there are 500 bison in the area, he said. Rather, many of the animals have been hazed several times. DOL has legal authority over wild bison that enter Montana. It maintains the creatures must be controlled -- and often killed -- because of fears they might spread the disease brucellosis to cattle. Bison advocates maintain the agency is wasting its time and endangering the animals unnecessarily. "There's no legitimate reason not to allow these bison to step out of the park," said Sue Nackoney, spokeswoman for Buffalo Nations, a protest group that is housing its members in a cabin north of West Yellowstone. She noted there are no cattle in the area at this time. "It's not about brucellosis," she maintained. "It's about who's got control of public lands and where public wildlife is allowed to go." Bridges noted that bison can wander long distances. In past years, some animals have traveled as far as the upper Madison Valley, in proximity to wintering cattle, before they were shot. "They are a migratory animal," Bridges said. "They used to migrate all over." He said his agency is trying to avoid killing bison. It recently received permission to build a bison trap on national forest land near Horse Butte, north of West Yellowstone. Bridges said the agency is now seeking construction bids and hopes to begin work in a week or two. Construction should take about one week, he said. While hazing is the agency's first option, weather may make the efforts futile. Deep snow, extreme cold and a lack of forage inside the park may lead to a decision to start trapping or shooting animals. After hazing, the second preference is trapping, followed by shooting bison in the field, Bridges said. Once trapping commences, animals will be tested for brucellosis. All pregnant animals and all animals testing positive for exposure to the disease will be sent to slaughter, according to the interim bison management plan now in place. Others will be marked, released and allowed to wander in the area until spring. Bridges said his agency intends to follow the plan to the letter. He also said the agency has asked the Forest Service to close about five acres around the trap to public access when operations begin. "It's for public safety, bison safety and personnel safety," he said. Last winter, Buffalo Nations members tried to disrupt DOL operations several times and a few people were arrested. The group has vowed to dog the agency again this winter. Yellowstone Assistant Superintendent Marv Jensen said earlier this week that bison have learned in recent years that pockets of good winter habitat exist outside the park along the western border. Though many of the animals that leave the park have been killed, survivors remember the area and return to it, he said, often bringing others with them.
NATIVE_NEWS: Ranchers Again Attempt To Stop Wolf Program
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I hate to sound "anti-rancher" but haven't heard anything that ranchers are "for" if it's an animal other than a cow. They don't like wolves and they don't like bison. http://www.abqjournal.com/news/3news12-18.htm Friday, December 18, 1998 Ranchers Again Attempt To Stop Wolf Program Coalition Files Motion Against Reintroduction By Mike Taugher Journal Staff Writer A coalition of New Mexico rancher organizations filed new court papers this week to halt the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves to the mountains of the Southwest. The coalition, led by the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, argues that the wolves are mixed breeds, with the genes of dogs or coyotes. The association also argues that wolves already exist in the wild in the Southwest. Scientists dispute both assertions. No hearing has been set on the ranchers' request for a preliminary injunction in an ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf reintroduction program in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest along the New Mexico-Arizona border. Until wolves were released earlier this year, the extremely rare subspecies of gray wolf was living only in captivity, scientists say. They base that belief on the fact that it has been decades since the last confirmed siting of a wolf in the wild. Peter Siminiski, who keeps track of the wolves' genetics at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, has told the Journal there is nothing to indicate there are dog or coyote genes in the Mexican wolves -- and that they are, in fact, wolves. But Caren Cowan, executive secretary of the New Mexico Cattle Growers, said Thursday that her group has obtained statements from people who claim to have seen wolves in the wild. And, Cowan said, her group plans to get a statement from Roy McBride, the Texas wolf trapper who caught three of the last wolves left in the wild nearly 30 years ago in Mexico. McBride is expected to say those wolves -- forebears of the wolves now being reintroduced along the New Mexico-Arizona border -- were hybrids, Cowan said. "We don't want them to turn out any more wolves," said Cowan, whose Albuquerque offices were recently tagged with pro-wolf graffiti. Someone spray-painted "N.M. needs wolves" and "wolves" in red on the offices' facade. On Monday, the rancher organizations filed court papers asking U.S. District Judge Howard C. Bratton in Las Cruces to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from releasing more wolves. With four wolves now in the mountains, the agency plans to release 10 to 15 wolves next year, according to agency spokesman Tom Bauer. Bratton recently allowed environmental groups to intervene in the lawsuit by the ranchers. Kieran Suckling, director of the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, said he was confident the ranch organizations would lose. "Hopefully, their members will start asking hard questions about why are these groups paying lawyers to make ridiculous arguments," he said. end of article
NATIVE_NEWS: Canadian Metis claim constitutional win
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/981221/beg.html Monday December 21, 6:24 pm Eastern Time Canada's mixed-blood Metis claim constitutional win By Gilbert Le Gras TORONTO, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Canada's mixed blood Metis won a major legal victory on Monday after a court recognized them as having the same rights as Native Indians under the constitution. The Ontario Court in Sault Ste. Marie, 300 miles (480 kms) northwest of Toronto, acquitted two Metis men of a 1993 provincial charge of illegally hunting moose. A judge ruled they were ``exercising their constitutional rights.'' ``We're very, very pleased. It's about time someone is recognizing our rights in this country and that someone says that our rights should be protected under the constitution,'' said David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Metis Federation in Winnipeg, Manitoba -- the single largest Metis community in Canada. ``This is the strongest ruling I've ever seen.'' Canada, which has 210,190 Metis people, are sometimes called ``children of the fur trade'' because many were descendants of European traders and Indian women. They were recognized by Canada's federal government as a legal entity until 1940 when they were granted the right to become registered Indians. Since then their status has become less defined while hunting and fishing rights and claims on land farmed by their semi-nomadic ancestors are less recognized. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources spokeswoman Joy Williams said the government will likely decide by tomorrow whether to appeal the case. The Metis see Louis Riel as their best-known hero whom they consider a freedom fighter that should be recognized as one of the founding fathers of Canada in leading an armed insurrection to demand better language and land rights for his people at the turn of the century. Other Canadians revile Riel as a bloodthirsty traitor who was executed in 1885 for refusing to stop the brutal execution of an English Protestant, Thomas Scott, who led an ill-fated force to overthrow the Metis rule of Manitoba.
NATIVE_NEWS: Congress releases money for CUT deal
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Congress releases money for CUT deal Conditions require environmental impact statement LIVINGSTON (AP) - Congress has released money to complete the proposed buyout of the Church Universal and Triumphant's ranch adjoining Yellowstone National Park, but critics say the strings attached could delay the purchase. It could even perish, said Michael Scott of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. The $6.5 million may be spent only upon completion of an environmental impact statement that redefines management of park bison and puts that policy to work on the ground, the Montana congressional delegation said. Sen. Conrad Burns and Rep. Rick Hill, both Republicans, support the requirement. Democratic Sen. Max Baucus opposes it. "This condition seriously jeopardizes completion of the Royal Teton Ranch purchase," Baucus said. But Hill said the money was released in a timely manner that underscores a commitment to the ranch deal. Church lawyer Joe Sabol said the deal remains alive for now, but could end if putting an environmental impact statement in place - a process that can span years - takes longer than the church is willing to wait. The conditions attached to the money may change, however. Spokesmen for Hill and Burns said they requested the restricting language at the urging of Gov. Marc Racicot. Racicot said Tuesday that alternatives may be acceptable. "We certainly don't want to place (the ranch purchase) at risk," said the governor, who spent much of Tuesday talking to the Interior Department. He and the agency's Karen Kovacs said they want to find ways to address the state's and the federal government's concerns about management of Yellowstone bison, which wander out of the park. The church ranch is one of the places they end up, and in past winters hundreds of bison have been shot there under a state-federal plan for bison control. In 1997, the church, the Forest Service and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation announced a plan to buy or place conservation easements on 7,850 acres of the ranch, which is rich with wildlife. Last month, Congress released $6.5 million to complete the first phase of the deal. The money now in question is for the second phase. The buyout has received strong support from conservationists, hunters and others eager to protect the habitat from possible development. A similar, less costly deal fell apart in 1981. The church and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which has provided some funds for the acquisition, are working on final details of a purchase option that would last through 1999. Kovacs said completing an environmental impact statement and putting it into effect during that time would be nearly impossible, even in the unlikely event the document was not challenged in court. The church and the elk foundation remain committed to the project and will keep working on it, said Sabol and Ron Marcoux, a spokesman for the foundation.
NATIVE_NEWS: Bison
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Some good urls regarding the bison situation: Some good links: http://www.twosocks.com/bison.htm and some good articles, by Fred DuBray and others, not new but still true: http://www.hcn.org/1998/jun08/dir/Feature_Don't_fenc.html
NATIVE_NEWS: Perhaps a warning for MDOL?
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: If it is against the law for dogs to chase wild animals, why is it ok for MDOL to chase (haze) wild animals (bison) ? Maybe the State game wardens should warn MDOL. Seems to me that this statement also applies to the chasing (hazing) of the YNP bison: "He said it's particularly hazardous at this time of year, because the game animals are at a lower altitude, and are expending most of their energy in just staying alive." http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm State game wardens warn dog owners MISSOULA - State game wardens are reminding dog owners in rural areas to keep track of their pets because dogs can be shot by wardens if they're seen chasing game animals. Domestic dogs chasing deer and elk is an increasing problem in Western Montana, said Jeff Darrah, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game warden captain in Missoula. He said it's particularly hazardous at this time of year, because the game animals are at a lower altitude, and are expending most of their energy in just staying alive. "It is bad, especially when it's this cold out," Darrah said. "A dog is frisky, full of food, and ready to go. But critters are out there 24 hours a day, burning a lot of energy just to stay alive." He said dogs can also be caught in leg-hold traps during legal trapping season, and they could become a mountain lion's meal if caught.
NATIVE_NEWS: migratory path [Oinion requested please]
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Forwarded with permission: This comes from Jim Horsley the author of the work: "Washita - Genocide on the Great Plains" available at the following site: http://www.dickshovel.com/was.html Anyone with comment or ideas about Jim's find here, they would be most welcome. It would be appreciated if you could contact Jim at this address: "Moorhead Health Care" [EMAIL PROTECTED] And please, cc the list, or if not on the list cc me [EMAIL PROTECTED] and I will forward. Thanks Sonja From: "Moorhead Health Care" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Mary Meagher" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: migratory path Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 22:51:13 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4 Hi-- I am in the middle of a research project on the migratory buffalo at Yellowstone National Park. How close is the Yellowstone River, including its headwaters, to the migratory path of the buffalo? If the buffalo were allowed to be free roaming could they get to the area north of the Yellowstone River? The reason I ask this is that I have discovered an old Blackfoot treaty that apparently makes the region bounded by the Rockies, the Yellowstone, the Musselshell and Missouri a "common hunting-ground" for all Indians for 99 years since 1855. Yes, it was relinquished, but illegally in my opinion. I am working on something to show that the ceding was totally without binding force, but I need to know if that area would be of use in the management of the Yellowstone herd vis-a-vis its migratory journey down from the mountains. My best, Jim Horsley Moorhead Healthcare Center Moorhead, MN
NATIVE_NEWS: YNP - snowmobile battle
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Unfortunately, imo, it seems that those business which exist ONLY because of their proximity to YNP, think it is their right to control the winter use. Even if the YNP bison had any money, they couldn't buy a break from some of these folks in Montana and Wyoming... A quote from the commissioners of Park County: "The question essentially equates snowmobiles with a policy of killing bison, commissioners said." Sometimes the truth is hard to take... http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyomingframe.htm PROPOSED RESTRICTIONS Commissioners plan survey of park's effects Some people don't trust park to offer unbiased questions By MICHAEL MILSTEIN Gazette Wyoming Bureau CODY, Wyo. - Park County commissioners on Tuesday doubted that a planned National Park Service survey of winter visitors to Yellowstone National Park would clearly gauge how restricted winter use of the park would affect neighboring communities and discussed launching a similar survey of their own. Commissioners noted that counties surrounding the park have standing as "cooperating agencies" in the development of an environmental impact statement analyzing winter use in Yellowstone, which allows them to play a direct role in compiling the document and supplying information for it. They agreed they must be sure the EIS does not overlook the impacts different winter management schemes for Yellowstone will have on nearby towns. ---end of excerpt---
NATIVE_NEWS: Smuggling Ring used Mohawk Land
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ts/story.html?s=v/nm/19981210/ts/immigrati on_1.html Thursday December 10 3:39 PM ET U.S. Says Chinese Smuggling Ring Used Tribal Land By James Vicini WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Canadian officials charged Thursday that American Indians helped a major ring run by Chinese nationals smuggle 3,600 immigrants through a Mohawk reservation on the border of the two nations. In providing new details on the largest smuggling operation ever broken up on the U.S. northern border, they said the ring smuggled the Chinese immigrants from Canada through the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation on their way to New York City. Of the 35 people arrested in the two countries, eight were American Indians who allegedly conspired with the ring to bring the young men from China's Fujian Province into the United States over the past two years, the officials said. end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Buffalo hazing begins in park
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: IMO, nothing will deter the MDOL slaughtermen from their efforts, except public scrutiny and outrage. Thank God for the Buffalo Nations folks. http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm MIGRATION SEASON Buffalo hazing begins in park By JOE KOLMAN Gazette Bozeman Bureau BOZEMAN - Snow is flying, bison are roaming and the accusations are starting to pile up. It is winter in Montana. State Department of Livestock officials say recent hazings of Yellowstone National Park bison back into the park are successful efforts to protect the animals. Under an interim management plan, hazing is the first option, then the animals may be captured and sent to slaughter or shot. But critics of the agency say the hazings have been unwarranted and could eventually kill the buffalo. Thirty-six bison were hazed back into the park Friday from the Duck Creek area near West Yellowstone, the agency's fifth and largest such operation in the last two weeks. "The Department of Livestock continues to claim they are saving the buffalo by hazing them back into the park," said Mike Bowersox of the group Buffalo Nations. "But these same buffalo will continue to come out of the park to their traditional winter forage grounds regardless of where the DOL tries to make them go. However, as the snow accumulates, continual hazing stresses the buffalo unnecessarily and increases the potential for winter kill." Members of the group, who observed some of the hazing, said many of the bison were bulls - which are deemed at a low risk for transmitting brucellosis. But Arnold Gertonson, the state veterinarian, said there were bulls and cows and it was impossible to determine the risk level of the cows. Buffalo Nations members and other conservationists said bison should be allowed to stay outside the park. The arguments are familiar to those who have been following the bison controversy over the last several years. Many of the park's bison have been exposed to the disease brucellosis, which causes abortions in cattle. While there has never been a documented case of transmission of the disease between wild bison and cattle, state officials and others have said any risk is too great. Eradicating the disease from state cattle herds cost millions of dollars and losing the brucellosis-free status would be crippling to Montana's largest industry, said Marc Bridges, the livestock department's acting director. Only 11 bison were killed for disease control last winter, but the prior winter saw 1,100 bison - about one-third of the park's population - shot or sent to slaughter. Many more starved and critics of the park service said a lack of management had resulted in too many bison and not enough food. Bridges said in a Thursday news release that recent bison migrations out of the park are due to a lack of forage to support the current herd, which stands at about 2,200. But Yellowstone spokeswoman Marsha Karle said bison are naturally roaming animals. "There's plenty for them to eat, they are just ready to move," Karle said. -end of article-
NATIVE_NEWS: Blackfeet begin talks on water rights.
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm Blackfeet Tribe starts talks on water-rights agreement Final agreement probably is years away HELENA (AP) - Blackfeet Tribal Council members elected this year have entered the lengthy process of developing a water-rights agreement involving their tribe, and the state and federal governments. The council is dedicated to protecting the tribe's natural resources, which Blackfeet members consider spiritually significant, William Old Chief said Monday at a meeting of negotiators. Old Chief is the new council chairman. The session Monday was the first involving council members elected last summer. Representatives of the tribe and state and federal agencies are just beginning to sort out details of water rights for Indian and non-Indian users of water in drainages of the Marias and Milk rivers. A final agreement probably is years away and would require approval of the tribe, the Montana Legislature and Congress. Until last year, the Blackfeet had declined negotiations, choosing instead to pursue the water-rights issue through the state Water Court. Among Montana's seven Indian tribes, only the Blackfeet chose to litigate rather than negotiate water rights. But negotiations can be advantageous for both the tribe and the state, said George Heavy Runner of Browning, a former state legislator elected to the Tribal Council last summer. Reserving water for the tribe could mean more water for the state, in the face of demands from downstream water users in the Missouri River Basin, Heavy Runner said. -end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: BLM says no review needed
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: It is not surprising that this development seems to be out of control, see: http://www.dickshovel.com/rogue.html and this article: http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyomingframe.htm Region-wide review in southwest Wyoming not needed, BLM reports ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) - A three-year review of the Bureau of Land Management's own environmental documents concluded that a region-wide review of the cumulative impacts of mineral and gas projects in southwestern Wyoming is unnecessary, according to an agency report. Conservation organizations and the federal Environmental Protection Agency expressed continued concern over the rapid pace of industrial development in the region. Dan Heilig, executive director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said the 45-page Southwest Wyoming Resource Evaluation Report reflects "a demonstrable, heavy bias toward mineral and energy development at the expense of other Congressionally recognized uses and values" of the public lands. ---end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Kootenai Tribe requests remains
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyomingframe.htm Tribe requests human remains, burial artifacts from Wyoming LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - Leaders from Montana's Kootenai tribe are expected to make a claim for human remains and burial artifacts from Wyoming's archaeological collection, according to University of Wyoming officials. The tribe is entitled to certain types of items under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. American Indian leaders have said the repatriations will ensure that sacred objects in museums and university collections are given proper treatment and respect. But research scientists and other members of the academic community worry the repatriations could devastate the university's internationally-recognized collection. The collection was developed over 20 years and includes about 200 skeletons and burial items spanning a 5,000-year period. Many archaeologists think some of the remains hold significant prehistoric clues and should be examined. Losing those items could hurt ongoing archaeological and other anthropological research, they say. end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: Heavy brucellosis surveillance will continue
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Please note that in TEN years they have not found an instance of brucellosis transmission from bison to cattle. And yet, both Montana and Wyoming claim this fear of economic terrorism (other state's sanctions) is what drives them to slaughter bison. Will good science and or logic ever prevail re the bison? http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyomingframe.htm Heavy brucellosis surveillance will continue for a while, official says PINEDALE, Wyo. (AP) - Ranchers should expect three to five more years of heavy testing of cattle for brucellosis, according to the leader of a federal brucellosis surveillance team. "We fully intend to maintain surveillance to the point we know we are truly free of brucellosis in cattle," Dr. Claude Barton of Nashville, Tenn. told the Pinedale Roundup. Ranchers have criticized Wyoming's program as cumbersome and unwarranted. Six counties in Wyoming have been testing cattle for the disease because some states fear brucellosis could be transmitted by elk and bison. While brucellosis has not turned up in Wyoming cattle in more than a decade, other states have threatened sanctions because of concerns that elk and bison could transmit the disease. The disease can cause cows to abort their calves and recurring fever in humans. The state has worked diligently in surveying cattle and keeping them separated from animals that may have brucellosis, Barton said. His team plans to submit its report on the state's surveillance program by Jan. 1.
NATIVE_NEWS: Wyoming ends Brucellosis tests
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyomingframe.htm Wyoming official says brucellosis tests to end CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The state's six-county brucellosis testing program for cattle will likely end this month, according to a state agriculture official. The state has no plans to continue the program after Jan. 12, according to Kelly Hamilton, law enforcement and disease control supervisor for the Wyoming Livestock Board's Animal Health Division. Livestock officials remain "quite optimistic" that a pending federal report on the state's brucellosis monitoring program will convince federal officials to recommend less extensive testing, Hamilton said this week. Preliminary reports from a U.S. Department of Agriculture team "have been very complimentary of the Wyoming livestock producers and very optimistic about Wyoming's future brucellosis protocol," the board said in a release. "We feel very strongly that there's light at the end of the tunnel," Hamilton said. "I think surveillance will continue, but surveillance does not necessarily mean heavy testing. We will undoubtedly have some surveillance, but that's a necessary element of any good animal health program." The Wyoming Livestock Board adopted testing requirements in November 1997, based on recommendations made by a U.S. Department of Agriculture team that reviewed Wyoming's brucellosis control efforts. Some states had threatened to stop buying Wyoming beef. Alabama and Oregon imposed sanctions on Wyoming cattle. Brucellosis can cause miscarriages in cattle and recurring fever in humans and is carried by many elk and bison in northwestern Wyoming, prompting a fear it could be spread to livestock. However, there has been no documented case of wildlife transmitting the disease to livestock in the open range. Ranchers called the program unnecessary and expensive and the state challenged the testing for Fremont, Sublette, Lincoln, Park, Teton and Hot Springs counties, but was rejected. Nearly 30,000 head of cattle have been tested since the program was instituted last January. So far, testing has revealed no Wyoming cattle carry the disease. The livestock board is currently drafting new rules to replace the expiring ones. The new rules will be submitted for public comment after the state receives the federal report sometime this month. ---end of article
NATIVE_NEWS: Menominee vote on casino
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/ Tribe To Vote On Casino Tomorrow - (KESHENA) -- The Menonimee Indian Tribe is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a 200-Million-dollar casino in Kenosha. The vote concerns several proposed amendments to the tribe's constitution that supporters say are necessary for the casino project to move forward. The tribe and an investor group want to buy the old Dairyland Greyhound Park for 45- Million dollars and turn it into a casino with 36-hundred slot machines. It will probably take until Friday before all the tribal votes are counted and the results are made public.
NATIVE_NEWS: Plutonium Found in Nev. Groundwater
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Just wondering if this finding has any bearing on the Ward Valley situation. I believe that dump was to be an unlined location and the opponents were concerned, among other things, about ground water contamination... January 6, 1999 Plutonium Found in Nev. Groundwater Filed at 4:14 p.m. EST By The Associated Press Traces of plutonium from a test blast in the Nevada desert migrated nearly a mile through groundwater, according to a study that prompted the government to recalculate slightly the risks that would be posed by an underground nuclear waste storage site. Scientists said the amount of radioactivity that can move in this fashion is too small to endanger the public, and the U.S. Energy Department, in reassessing the risks of the government's proposed waste site beneath Nevada's Yucca Mountain, agreed. Until recently, it was commonly believed that significant amounts of plutonium would not move through groundwater because the element dissolves at a very low rate and attaches strongly to any rocks it touches. But in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers confirmed suspicions that plutonium can hitch a ride on colloids, or particles of debris suspended in water. Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico looked at a 30-year-old nuclear blast that reached below the water table on the Nevada Test Site, where the United States has conducted 828 underground nuclear tests between 1956 and 1992. The site is 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The scientists found minute amounts of plutonium -- measurable only by the most sensitive equipment -- in test wells nearly a mile away from the blast, and concluded that the plutonium had flowed downstream on colloids. ``We have shown there is a new potential pathway that has been suggested before, but never definitely shown. The question is what the maximum amount is that you could move. We don't know that,'' said Annie Kersting, a Lawrence Livermore scientist. The Energy Department wants to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The government has already spent $2.2 billion in 15 years of research in hopes of entombing 80,000 tons of used reactor fuel that will remain deadly 300,000 years. The department took the latest findings into account and concluded that the seepage wouldn't happen for 10,000 to 100,000 years, and even then, the escaped radiation would be less than the background amount. ``They are not rates that would bust any kind of standards. We see no impact,'' said Abe Van Luik, senior technical advisor for performance assessment for the Energy Department. Bruce Honeyman, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines, said the very nature of colloids -- their extremely small size and low concentrations -- assure that they would never move large amounts of radiation. ``The radioactivity is so low that it probably is not of significance for adverse human health effects,'' he said. ``Conceptually, you can think of colloids being like a conveyor belt. The belt is really not turning very quickly.'' The Energy Department's conclusions did not satisfy Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects in the Nevada governor's office. He said he believes containers holding the waste will fail much more quickly than the government estimates and allow unknown quantities of contaminants to escape within 500 years.
NATIVE_NEWS: 30 Northern Cheyenne complete 400-mile trek
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm FROM NEBRASKA TO MONTANA 30 Northern Cheyenne complete 400-mile trek Runners fight weather, fatigue to commemorate escape 120 years ago By JENNIFER McKEE Of The Gazette Staff BUSBY - Battling blizzards, mountain passes and fatigue, 30 Northern Cheyenne runners sprinted the final yards of their 400-mile trek into this small reservation town. "From the time we left Fort Robinson, this is what we were looking forward to," said Philip Whiteman Jr., a Northern Cheyenne who organized the group dubbed the Fort Robinson Breakout Runners. The 400-mile run from Fort Robinson, Neb., to Busby, Mont., commemorates 120 years since Northern Cheyenne chief Dull Knife led an escape of 148 Cheyenne men, women and children from imprisonment at Fort Robinson. Dull Knife and another Cheyenne chief, Little Wolf, were leading the tribe back to Montana after a year of exile in Oklahoma as punishment for the Cheyenne's role in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Little Wolf's band made it back to Montana and settled in the land that would later become the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Dull Knife's group, however, was captured and never made the final 400 miles from Nebraska to Montana. That's why the runners did this, said Steve Brady, the leader of an elite Cheyenne warrior society, to "memorialize their grandfathers and their grandmothers." The run ended at a small cemetery where the remains of Little Wolf's band are buried. "They ran for these people here that are buried," Brady said. "It was a long trek home." Ranging in age from 72 to 8, the runners ate, rested and sometimes slept in support vans that drove ahead and behind them. Almost from the run's beginning last Tuesday, the runners fought bad weather and low cash flow. The band ran through subzero temperatures as a rule, not stopping for blizzards or closed highways. They ran out of money toward the end of the run, Whiteman said. The runners decided to run most of the night and sleep in their support vans rather than call it quits. "They ran on guts," Whiteman said. end of article
NATIVE_NEWS: Bison Hazing Continues
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From the Boseman Chronicle. Anybody know what happened to the statement APHIS made in the winter of 96-97 that said allowing the bison to wander into Montana would not cause them to rescind Montana's brucellosis free status? If that is still true, then there is no reason to haze? http://www3.gomontana.com/ Hazing operation continues The Montana Department of Livestock hazed dozens of bison into Yellowstone National Park north of West Yellowstone Wednesday, though there is disagreement over just how many animals were involved and whether the operation did any good. More bison remain outside the park, and those animals will be chased into the park as soon as possible, DOL acting chief Marc Bridges said in a press release. Wednesday's actions affected 45 bison, DOL said, and was the sixth such effort so far this winter. The protest group Buffalo Nations, which is monitoring bison operations in the area, said there were 50 bison in the group, which had been in the Duck Creek area near the junction of highways 191 and 287. The group also accused livestock officials of chasing 35 elk that were in the area at the time. DOL officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday. DOL says it is hazing the animals so they won't have to be killed. About half of the park's bison test positive for exposure to brucellosis, though a much smaller number are actively infected. Montana's beef herds enjoy a brucellosis-free status and the industry says that status could be imperiled if possibly infected animals are allowed to wander in the state. Buffalo Nations and other bison advocates maintain DOL's fears of disease transmission are overblown and that hazing the animals stresses them by making them run through deep snow. In past winters, hazing has been marginally effective. As snows pile up in the park and forage is increasingly hard to reach, bison become more determined to leave and find something to eat. That's when they enter the controversy -- and frequently the crosshairs -- in Montana.
NATIVE_NEWS: NM Bison Herd sold...
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Interesting, it says: "Almost from the beginning, public sentiment ran decidedly against hunting the buffalo." imo, if we keep up the publicity, public sentiment will stop the MDOL slaughtermen, public sentiment has already slowed them down and pushed them to start a PR campaign with brochures and videos. http://www.abqjournal.com/news/1news12-10.htm Thursday, December 10, 1998 High Bidders Claim Fort Wingate Bison Nebraska Rancher Buys Most of Herd By Fritz Thompson Journal Staff Writer New Mexico's beleaguered buffalo herd, established 32 years ago with the idea that it would propagate yet another big-game animal, has instead been auctioned off -- quite possibly with a sigh of relief from the state Department of Game and Fish. The 75 state-owned bulls, cows and calves pastured at Fort Wingate, a defunct U.S. Army post east of Gallup, soon will be headed for places as far away as Nebraska. Game and Fish wanted out of the buffalo business, but could not legally give them away and could not find suitable acreage elsewhere. The sealed-bid auction, completed last month, was the result. Left behind is the legacy of an idea that went well beyond the realm of an experiment. It was a straightforward notion that the animal could be hunted, providing a big game harvest and additional revenue for the state of New Mexico. But in all those years, the intended hunt never happened -- not even after permits had been sold to more than a dozen applicants. The hunt perhaps became the victim of changing times and the urban image of an American icon. Animal rights advocates objected and some Indian tribes found fault with the whole buffalo program. Almost from the beginning, public sentiment ran decidedly against hunting the buffalo. Actually, part of the original, grand plan did work. The buffalo, once the hump-backed, hardy denizens of the Great Plains, reproduced, and the herd got bigger and bigger. More than a year ago, the Game Commission and the Department of Game and Fish expressed a desire to get out of the buffalo business and get rid of a big headache. The auction seemed an easy way to do that, and bids were taken until early November. The biggest buyer in the sealed-bid auction was Nebraska rancher Jim Budd. He bought 60 of the animals at about $1,000 apiece. Budd, of Rushville, Neb., said he intends to use some of the heifers to build up his herd, and to butcher some of the others. The other 15 buffalo were sold -- but are not yet delivered -- to individual buyers, including seven to Sandia Pueblo. Sandia Gov. Alex Lujan said Wednesday the pueblo plans to use the seven new animals -- bought for about $950 apiece -- to build up its herd of 12, kept just north of Albuquerque on pueblo land near Tramway Boulevard. "We want to be part of the growth of this area, but we want to protect the environment," Lujan said. "The buffalo is part of our culture and our religion." He said the pueblo's buffalo herd will be accessible for public viewing. The other eight buyers were not identified. A roundup of the buffalo at Fort Wingate is scheduled for early January. A changing of the landlord at Fort Wingate was part of the reason the state wanted to get out of the buffalo business. Within about a year, the post will be turned over from the Army to the Navajo and Zuni Indian tribes. Both tribes have said they don't want the buffalo on the property. An attempt to relocate the buffalo at El Malpais National Concervation Area south of Grants in 1993 ended badly: The fencing was inadequate and buffalo bulls roamed unchecked. By 1995, the herd was back at Fort Wingate. The most recent controversy over the buffalo's welfare ended up in court, where a federal judge found cause to cancel what would have been the first hunt. --end of article-
NATIVE_NEWS: Spokane, Wash. - Indian slots illegal
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Friday December 11 1:08 AM ET Judge: Indian Slot Machines Illegal SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A federal judge ruled Thursday that slot machines at tribal casinos are illegal, clearing the way for the government to seize the gambling devices from two eastern Washington Indian reservations. The Spokane Tribe plans to appeal U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle's ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, tribal vice chairman John Kieffer said. The judge found the slot machines are illegal under the Johnson Act, a 1950s anti-organized crime law that bans slot machines on Indian reservations. Lawyers for the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Confederated Colville Tribes had filed a motion seeking to order federal prosecutors to sue Washington state rather than attempt to seize the slot machines. The motion was denied. The ruling allows federal marshals to seize slots from the Spokane and Colville reservations before the outcome of any appeal, assistant U.S. attorney Jim Shively said. As many as 600 people may be laid off at the Spokane tribe's four casinos, which feature a total of about 1,300 slots machines, Kieffer said. ``Without the slots, we'll definitely have to close our doors,'' he said.
NATIVE_NEWS: Action On Indian Reburial Demanded
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/ Action On Indian Reburial Demanded - (SANTA FE) -- They rest in pieces... but not in peace. Armond Minthorn, a member of the Umatilla tribe of eastern Oregon, says the bones of thousands of American Indians lie in boxes in the storage rooms of American institutions. They were dug up by archaeologists, anthropologists and illegal grave diggers. Minthorn says they have waited too long for reburial and the time for excuses has passed. He is a member of the federal review committee in charge of overseeing compliance with the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The panel is meeting in Santa Fe this week. The act was passed eight years ago... allowing tribes to seek the return of skeletons, burial objects and other sacred items taken from the graves of their ancestors. But the law has proved difficult to enforce.
NATIVE_NEWS: Ancient Bones Found
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/california Ancient Bones Found - (TORRANCE) -- Archaeologists have uncovered the bones of at least 50 people at an Indian burial site located on Arco refinery property. Experts are calling the discovery the most unique archaeological find in Southern California. There are indications that the people met a violent end and were buried hastily. The dig began September 12th at the site once populated by the Gabrielino Indian tribe. The team's complete findings will be presented to the Society for California Archaeologists. The remains will be cremated and re-buried in an Indian ceremony.
NATIVE_NEWS: FYI - Notice in NPCA magazine
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The current issue, January/February 1999, of "National Parks" the magazine of the National Parks and Conservation Association http://www.npca.org/ has the following comment on pg 50: "Record Number of Comments on Bison Plan" "The National Park Service (NPS) has received a record number of comments --more than 65,000 -- on its general management plan for bison in YellowstoneThe Park Service will release results of the comments in January."
NATIVE_NEWS: Why MDOL rejects APHIS definition
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I am passing along the entire article from the Bozeman Chronicle because it give a clear explanation for MDOLs rejection of the APHIS definition of "low risk". As you can see Racicot and MDOL want "financial" assurances from the federal government. In addition Racicot says: "He also maintained that the existing DOL policy gives his office considerable flexibility in dealing with bison." This, imo, is the bottom line...MDOL wants to take orders from no one and wants to continue to set policy on the use of public land. http://www.gomontana.com/index.shtml By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer 01/22/1999 State stands firm on bison policy HELENA -- The Montana Board of Livestock on Thursday rebuffed a federal request to soften its bison policy, saying the federal plan has been rejected before and it contains nothing new. The decision means Montana's controversial bison policy, which states little tolerance for free bison, will continue in the West Yellowstone area. The federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services earlier this month urged DOL to re-examine its policy for bison that leave Yellowstone National Park's western border in search of food. The agencies have different definitions of what is considered a "low-risk" bison in terms of the potential for transmitting the disease brucellosis to cattle. APHIS in November 1997 defined low-risk bison as bulls, calves, nonpregnant females and females that have completely passed a placenta. It said those animals could be allowed to wander the West Yellowstone area, where there are no cattle, until 60 days before the cows return on June 15. Such tolerance would not endanger the state's brucellosis-free status for cattle, according to APHIS. DOL defines a low-risk bison as one that is not pregnant and has tested negative for exposure to brucellosis, which means virtually all bison are considered high risk and are shot, slaughtered or hazed back into the park. On Jan. 8, APHIS spokesman Patrick Collins urged DOL to look again at the APHIS policy. That is the same day DOL first trapped bison this year. State veterinarian Arnold Gertonson said at the time he would take up the matter at the Board of Livestock meeting. However, he said Thursday that he had previously believed APHIS was amending its low-risk definition and the changes were what he planned to bring to the board. But since there have been no changes, there was little for the board to discuss. "Nothing new has been presented to me at this time," Gertonson told the board. "If there was something new I would bring it to you for your consideration." "I guess there's no new developments on that," board chairman John Paugh said before moving on to other business. "We're at the same place we've been at." Bison advocates said they were disappointed but not surprised by the board's actions. Adopting the APHIS policy would mean fewer dead bison, said Michael Scott of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. "It's a little perplexing to us that the state continues to reject that suggestion," Scott said. "APHIS is the national agency responsible for ensuring the health of the nation's livestock. There's not one (beef) cow in the entire Hebgen Basin, so there's nothing there to be threatened." In a letter explaining the decision to Gov. Marc Racicot, DOL acting executive officer Marc Bridges said DOL wants one of two things to happen before it will adopt the APHIS definition. One, APHIS must guarantee to pay Montana's expenses if any state imposes sanctions on Montana beef because of the brucellosis policy. Two, the U.S. Animal Health Association, the professional society of state veterinarians -- all of which have the power to restrict imports into their state -- must give formal approval to the APHIS definition. At its 1998 fall meeting, that group voted to "strongly oppose" it, Bridges said. He also maintained that the existing DOL policy gives his office considerable flexibility in dealing with bison. Last spring, over 300 bison were out of the park in the Horse Butte area north of West Yellowstone, Bridges noted. Almost all were untested, but none were shot or trapped. Rather, they were hazed back into the park after spring thaw exposed enough greening grasses to hold the animals there. Under strict application of the APHIS definition, some of those animals would have been killed, he said. Rob Tierney, a DOL supervisor in charge of bison operations, said he expects construction to begin next week on a second bison trap in the West Yellowstone area. That trap will stand on public land. An older trap stands nearby on private land and has captured 19 bison so far this winter. Of those animals, 13 tested positive for brucellosis and were shipped to slaughter. Twelve of them were bulls. About 25 bison are now outside the park, Tierney said. end of article
NATIVE_NEWS: Yeah! - Board refuses bison carcasses
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Hey...yeah!...any little bit works for me...a generous lawyer and a town that is afraid of bad publicity http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm Garbage board refuses bison carcasses WEST YELLOWSTONE (AP) - Carcasses of bison killed under Montana's policy for herd control may not be gutted and skinned at the garbage dump near here, the garbage management board has decided. The West Yellowstone/Hebgen Basin Solid Waste Board unanimously sent that message to the Montana Department of Livestock. The state agency kills, hazes or captures bison that enter Montana from Yellowstone National Park in the winter. State officials say the controversial policy is necessary to help prevent the spread of brucellosis, which can cause miscarriages in cattle and undulant fever in humans. Last winter, after the one time that livestock officials shot bison in the field that season, carcasses were taken to the garbage transfer station near West Yellowstone so they could be gutted and skinned behind a locked gate, away from protesters. That will not be allowed again, mainly because of concern this tourist town could be linked to the bison controversy, said Doug Edgerton, the mayor and chairman of the garbage board. "We do not need publicity saying the town of West Yellowstone supports the slaughter of bison," Edgerton said. "The potential for national TV exposure with this mess isn't a good idea anyway." Gutting and skinning usually is done by Indian volunteers who receive the meat, heads and hides of the bison. Some of the Indians working last year refused to make their names public, saying they were concerned about harassment from protesters. Edgerton said the protest group Buffalo Nations has a lot of support in the area. A Buffalo Nations protester arrested this winter is being represented free of charge by a Bozeman lawyer, Chuck Watson, who said he several other lawyers also have agreed to provide free assistance to members of the group. Watson said he began organizing the help at the request of Livingston friends who sympathize with the protesters. ---end of article-
NATIVE_NEWS: Cañoncito Navajos Want Casino on I-40
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: A fairly long article, but it takes the time to explain this "orphan band" of Navajo people and how they became located separately from the larger reservation. Aquote from the article: "If it is rebuffed by the larger tribal government, Cañoncito might move to separate from the Navajo Nation. It would be complicated and painful, but Cañoncito people have already begun weighing the benefits of independence against the security of belonging to the nation's largest Indian tribe." http://www.abqjournal.com/news/5news01-24.htm Sunday, January 24, 1999 Cañoncito Navajos Want Casino on I-40 The little branch is bucking the big Navajo Nation's gambling ban By Leslie Linthicum Journal Staff Writer CAÑONCITO -- Cañoncito Navajos, an orphan band of Navajos who live more than 150 miles from the reservation capital, are asking the Navajo tribe for permission to open a casino 13 miles from Albuquerque's western city limit. Cañoncito members have picked out a piece of reservation land overlooking I-40 at the Rio Puerco interchange and have drawn up ambitious plans for a truck stop and casino. Standing in their way is the Navajo Nation's reservation-wide ban on gambling and two referendums in which the majority of the Navajo people said they want to keep it that way. A 50-year-old federal law that set aside Cañoncito's reservation land in trust, apart from the larger reservation, is at the core of little Cañoncito's fight against what they call "Big Navajo." "We're basically saying, 'Navajo Nation, this is not your land. Don't tell us what to do with it,' '' said Tony Secatero, president of the Cañoncito Navajos. "We have full authority over our land." ---end of excerpt---
NATIVE_NEWS: Dineh relocation and broken promises
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From the Gallup Independant, this article about relocation and broken promises: http://www.cia-g.com/~gallpind/NEWLANDS.html Welcome to New Lands, "home of broken dreams" : New Lands residents find buildings, promises both empty By Malcolm Brenner Staff Writer SANDERS, Ariz. _ In Navajo, the name Nahata Dziil means "strong planning." But to the residents of Nahata Dziil Chapter, also known as the New Lands, a more appropriate name might be "Adee Hadee Sdzii Sits'il" _ "I broke my promise to you." Since relocation began in the mid-1980s, over 1,000 Navajo have moved to this sprawling chapter southwest of Sanders. To entice them from lands given to the Hopis, those relocated were promised homes, jobs, education, social services, grazing land, healthcare and law enforcement. Now, the factory that once offered jobs is padlocked. The Indian Health Service clinic is closed for lack of money and the police station stands empty, unless an officer from Window Rock, answering another call, stops by to fill out paperwork. The only things they have enough of, Nahata Dziil residents said Wednesday, were crime, alcohol and despair. And they have too much of those. "Nobody comes out here to ask us how we are doing," said Jennifer Yazzie, who moved from Low Mountain, Ariz., eight years ago. "The elderlies out here have their lights shut off, they have no propane, where do they turn to? They die of loneliness. What's going to happen to us? We're merely statistics to the government." end od excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: New President of the Navajo Nation
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: An article from the San Juan Sun, a newspaper located in Farmington, NM. http://www.sanjuansun.com/ Administration promises unity Nathan Tohtsoni Sun Staff In a year in which the Navajo Nation saw four presidents, the nation's newest leader promises stability and integrity for the largest Native American tribe in the United States. Kelsey Begaye of Kaibeto, Ariz., and Dr. Taylor McKenzie of Shiprock were sworn-in last week in ceremonies at the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock. Mr. Begaye was the Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council and Dr. McKenzie is the first physician of Navajo descent. Last March, he was named director of the Navajo Division of Health. "Dr. McKenzie was selected because of his knowledge, experience and training. We will work close together. We will use his expertise on health-related issues," Mr. Begaye said. "I joined the president during the election campaign in large part to the things he stood for," Dr. McKenzie said. "I saw in his stand a statement of sound government. In fact, a statement of new, real hope for our nation and our people." "As elected officials, we need to be accountable. I don't see this administration getting in trouble anywhere- if we follow the rules," added Mr. Begaye." The Begaye-McKenzie team replaced Milton Bluehouse Sr. and Frank Chee Willetto. Mr. Bluehouse in return had replaced Mr. Begaye who replaced Thomas Atcitty who replaced Albert Hale - all within a 11-month span. --end of excerpt--
NATIVE_NEWS: Tribes urged to unify vs. gambling challanges
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Gaming and Sovereignty are mutually exclusive..? http://www.billingsgazette.com/regionframe.htm Tribes urged to unify in face of federal, state gambling challenges By JOHN K. WILEY Associated Press Writer SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Thirteen state Indian tribes, struggling with moves at the state and federal level to restrict tribal gambling operations, were urged Monday to join forces and work together. "We need to unify ourselves politically for the fight that lies ahead," Joe Pakootas, chairman of the Colville Confederated Tribes' business council, told about 70 participants at the start of his tribes' two-day Washington State Tribes Gaming Strategy Summit. "We have to establish an economic and business agenda for Indian gaming. The state governments know we will be defeated if we are not unified." At issue are new moves in Congress and the states to restrict reservation gambling. Speakers were enlisted from tribes facing similar concerns in California, Nebraska and South Dakota. end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: NPS Rangers haze Bison
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From the Billings Gazette:http://www.billingsgazette.com Agency hazes bison back into park YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (AP) - For the first time this winter, National Park Service rangers on Friday hazed bison from near the north entrance at Gardiner to five miles inside the park. The Park Service said horsemen moved the 13 bison. There hasn't been much bison movement along the park's northern boundary this winter. However, near the west entrance at West Yellowstone, bison have been active and protesters have been trying to block efforts to haze, trap or shoot the animals. Thirteen bison have been shipped to slaughter from there. The Park Service said it would continue to cooperate with the state of Montana and operate under the existing bison management plan, which calls for the agency to haze bison as a preferred alternative. There is a large bison trap at Stephens Creek, just inside the park border. The interim plan calls for the Park Service to use that trap to capture bison heading for private land to the north. In the winter of 1996-97, hundreds of bison were trapped there, and most were sent to slaughter. --end of article-
NATIVE_NEWS: Oneida Land claims
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: For any with an interest, Syracuse Online has a photo and a couple of articles on this issue: http://www.syracuse.com/news/ and some background and history: http://www.syracuse.com/features/oneida/ as well as a "forum" where one can post, with all current comments so indicated: http://forums.syracuse.com/forums/get/oneida.html
NATIVE_NEWS: Navajos Claim Utah Wasted $100M
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Business as usual, it seems, when it comes to Indian Nations and money owed by governments...local or Federal. Stealing from Indians has always been and is still ok and the situations are always full of lies and dirty hands... http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Navajo-Suit.html April 8, 1999 Navajos Claim Utah Wasted $100M Filed at 3:26 a.m. EDT By The Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- When auditors reviewed Utah's handling of an oil-and-gas royalty trust set up by Congress to benefit Navajo Indians, one state lawmaker likened the chronicle of abuses to a cheap novel. More than $62 million had gone into the trust but only $12 million remained by 1991. The rest, the auditors found, was lost to lax oversight, payoffs, bribes and ill-conceived business ventures. Now, a federal judge has ruled the Navajos can go ahead with their claim that Utah must make up for abuses dating to the trust's creation in 1933. Their estimate of the damage -- $100 million. ``The attorney general should be calling any minute now to talk about a settlement,'' Brian Barnard, a lawyer for the Navajos, said Wednesday. ``I'm not holding my breath.'' The Navajos are Utah's poorest residents. Many reservation areas have no running water or electricity and unemployment runs up to 50 percent. The idea of setting aside the state's share of oil and gas royalties for the Indians surfaced when Congress decided to expand the Navajo Reservation from New Mexico and Arizona into southeastern Utah, where a number of Navajo clans had fled when Kit Carson marched the tribe into New Mexico in 1865. Congress made the idea law in 1933. But it wasn't until oil and gas companies started drilling in the Aneth extension oil field about 30 years later that the battle was joined over how the 37.5 percent royalty should be spent. The remaining 62.5 percent is divided between the tribe, headquartered at Window Rock, Ariz., and the Bureau of Indian of Affairs, Barnard said. In 1991, the year before the Navajos' class-action lawsuit was filed, the Utah Legislature's auditor general reported suspected self-dealing and mismanagement by trust fund officials. Federal criminal indictments followed, alleging bribery, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and misuse of tribal funds against seven Navajo Nation leaders in Arizona. end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: Montana, wildlife habitat and cattle
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Interesting reasoning here, again, imo, an example that the cattle business runs the state of Montana. Anyone who leases land in order to protect it as wildlife habitat will have their lease rates increased dramatically. Those who lease just to run cattle will see no increase in lease rates. So is it not conceivable that some may not be able to continue to lease to protect wildlife habitat because of increased rates for that use, but anyone can then lease the same land at a much cheaper rate...to run cattle. http://www.gomontana.com/index.shtml excerpt below: State raising rates for wildlife habitat By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer The Nature Conservancy, which leases part of the Pine Butte Swamp on the Rocky Mountain Front from DNRC, is looking at a $10,000 a year increase, from $2,690 annually to $12,457, for the 2,500 acres of DNRC property it controls. "Are we being singled out as a conservation organization?" wondered Bernie Hall, TNC's associate state director for conservation. His group manages the area to protect habitat for grizzly bears. But he notes that some of his group's neighbors, mostly traditional ranchers, lease similar bear habitat but their lease rates aren't being raised because their primary goal is to graze cattle on it and make money. "Are our neighbors on the Front going to have their leases reclassified?" he asked. Mark Ahner, area manager for DNRC, said that might happen. It depends on how the neighbors use the property. Right now, he said, they are using the land to run cows. And cattle grazing rates are established with a formula based on beef prices. ---end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Pecos Pueblo Remains To Be Reburied
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From the ABQ Journal: http://www.abqjournal.com/news/2news05-11.htm Tuesday, May 11, 1999 Pecos Ancestors' Bones Returning Home The remains of more than 2,000 residents of the once large pueblo are being repatriated for reburial By Miguel Navrot Journal Northern Bureau SANTA FE -- The remains of more than 2,000 ancestors of the Pecos Indians are to be returned this month to northern New Mexico in what is being called the nation's largest act of repatriation. Famed archaeologist Alfred V. Kidder oversaw the excavation of the remains during several diggings between 1915 and 1929 at the Pecos Pueblo ruins, now known as the Pecos National Historical Park. Kidder, who at the time worked for Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., shipped the remains and hundreds of artifacts to the boarding school and to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University for study. Those remains have been stored at the two institutions since. Jemez Pueblo officials have spent eight years writing letters, making phone calls and holding meetings with Peabody Museum officials to get the remains returned, Second Lt. Gov. Ruben Sando said. It appears the work has paid off. On May 22, the remains are to arrive by truck at Pecos for reburial. Sando credited the work of his pueblo, as well as the Comanche, Kiowa, Apache and other tribal governments, for the return. end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Cattlemen, brucellosis and the EU
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Here I go with my same old song, I think they will continue to slaughter bison until everyone agrees that making the YNP herd "brucellosis free" ( I still don't know exactly what that means) is a necessary thing to do. This is what they say: "The safety of U.S. beef is the cattle industry's top priority" It is obvious to me that the YNP bison are are just "in the way" and they are expendable in this effort by the beef industry. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/990510/dc_ncba_be_1.html Monday May 10, 9:30 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: National Cattlemen's Beef Association U.S. Cattlemen Call For EU to Drop Beef Ban Government Must Retaliate If EU Continues to Ban American Beef WASHINGTON, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. cattle producers at a news conference here today called on the European Union (EU) to drop its illegal ban on U.S. beef or face retaliation. snip Chuck Schroeder, a cattle producer and the NCBA chief executive officer, said, ``The safety of U.S. beef is the cattle industry's top priority. We have demonstrated this commitment over and over again.'' Schroeder outlined steps taken by U.S. cattle producers over the past 12 years to prevent BSE, or ``mad cow disease,'' in the United States, as well as steps to prevent other animal diseases, such as brucellosis. He highlighted the millions of dollars of investments in solutions to address E. coli O157:H7, much of which is being used in processing plants today. end of excerpt--
NATIVE_NEWS: DC rally for treaty rights
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The rally was sponsored by the National Congress of American Indians, their web address is: http://www.ncai.org/ The article: http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/990513_reg01.html Indians rally to demand equality for citizens living in U.S. 'Indian Country' Congress urged to respect tribal self-government and treaty rights By ALLISON STEVENS Medill News Service WASHINGTON - Like the beat of the tribal drum, a cry for equality echoed through the nation's capital Wednesday. "We want America to stop ignoring Indian country!" chanted Billings native and Crow tribal leader Dennis Big Hair Sr. after singing the opening prayer at an American Indian rally Wednesday on the steps of the Capitol. Photo/ALLISON STEVENS Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., addresses the American Indian rally Wednesday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Behind him is Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., a founder of the Congressional Native American Caucus. The rally attracted more than 700 tribal leaders, including several from Montana and Wyoming. Dressed in a headdress and native garb, Big Hair's invocation kicked off a string of speeches by sympathetic members of Congress and tribal leaders from around the country who encouraged Congress to respect tribal self-government and treaty rights. "The federal government is not paying you what it owes you for the land that you gave us," proclaimed Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Democrat from Rhode Island and a founder of the Congressional Native American Caucus. "Native Americans are no minority group," Kennedy said. "Native Americans are their own people, their own political entity. They are not demanding a handout but what is theirs to begin with." end of excerpt--
NATIVE_NEWS: Bovine TB, bison and wildlife.
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Another situation where wildlife is threatened by a disease of domestic cattle. Bovine TB is not brucellosis, but it produces the same reaction in the USDA and the cattle business, when found in a herd of domestic cattle. I quote.."farmers, who demand a sharp reduction in the deer population to curtail the spread of bovine TB..." This quote also from the article mentions bison: "Texas, California, Pennsylvania and New Mexico also have ``modified'' status because TB-infected cows or bison have been detected there in the past five years, VanTiem said. TB has been detected on a farm in North Dakota. Its status will change if another infected herd is discovered there in the next two years." http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ap/health/story.html?s=v/ap/19990516/hl/co ws_tuberculosis_1.html Source of Bovine TB Still Unclear By JOHN FLESHER Associated Press Writer ALPENA, Mich. (AP) - The clatter and rumble of tractors and cultivators, the mooing of cows in the pasture - usually familiar sounds on Mike and Kathy Warner's farm. But not this year. The Michigan Department of Agriculture destroyed the Warners' 21 cows last summer after one tested positive for deadly bovine tuberculosis. The farm was placed under quarantine for a year, off-limits to livestock. ``We've taken a beating,'' Mike Warner says, gazing out at the empty barnyard. His was the first of three farms in Michigan's northeastern Lower Peninsula where cattle infected with bovine TB were discovered in the past year. In each case, the entire herd has been put to death - 173 cows altogether - as officials scramble to prevent an epidemic that could devastate the state's livestock industry. The source of the disease, spread through breath and body fluids, is uncertain. But farmers believe it comes from whitetail deer that roam the region's forests and fields, sometimes mingling with cattle. More than 200 deer killed in the area since 1994 have been infected - the only sustained outbreak of bovine TB among free-ranging wildlife ever documented in North America, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. The situation has sparked a clash between two powerful interest groups: farmers, who demand a sharp reduction in the deer population to curtail the spread of bovine TB; and hunters, many of whom doubt that deer are to blame and fear their sport is under attack. end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Babbitt will observe some Bison?
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I find this galling... Babbitt, a man accused of withholding evidence in the BIA "lost Indian money" lawsuit, will go to Montana, the home of "Racicot the Slaughterer"and he will "observe some bison"? The land in Montana is soaked with the blood of slaughtered bison...will Babbitt observe that?...I don't think so...to me he is just one of many who have no souls...no spirits...they are dead people. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/montana/ Babbitt To Visit Montana - (GREAT FALLS) -- Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will spend part of the weekend on the Missouri River, and part visiting with Native Americans. Babbitt will arrive in Great Falls tomorrow, and will spend part of Saturday on the Missouri River at Fort Benton. He's also scheduled to meet with officials at the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation to review some environmental concerns and observe some bison.
NATIVE_NEWS: Tribe ends grazing by non-Indian ranchers
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Any who have been following the YNP bison issue and it's connection to the federal grazing leases in the area, will be interested in these numbers. The feds charge Montana cattlemen (welfare cowboys) $1.37 AUM (animal unit/month) for the grazing leases around YNP. Look what other people are paying: "Until now, tribal members were paying about $7 per AUM for their allotted grazing land. They charged non-Indian ranchers $16.50 to $22. Amendments passed in March raised the rates paid by tribal members to $10.75." LONG TRADITION ENDS Tribe cuts off non-Indian ranchers from Blackfeet grazing land BROWNING (AP) - Some Montana ranchers accustomed to grazing their cattle on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation are having to look elsewhere because of a new tribal policy. The Blackfeet Tribe has made 500,000 to 600,000 acres of reservation land off limits to livestock owned by people outside the tribe. The purpose is to make land available to Indian ranchers and help their businesses thrive, tribal officials said. end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: Rally article carried by NY times online
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Indian-Rally.html June 26, 1999 American Indian Rally Turns Violent Filed at 10:59 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) -- A demonstration by American Indian activists turned violent Saturday as people ransacked a store and set fires. Two news photographers were roughed up. The four-hour American Indian Movement rally Saturday started peacefully in Pine Ridge and ended with a two-mile walk to nearby Whiteclay, Neb. end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Lawsuit - Cattle vs.wolves - Grand Teton NP
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I think the question has been raised before: "Why are cattle allowed to graze in a National Park?" I think it is a bad idea, because it seems that no matter what is said or done cattle take precedence over wildlife. http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyoming/990716_wyo10.html Conservation groups threaten lawsuit over cattle near wolf den JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - Three conservation groups plan to file a lawsuit if Grand Teton National Park officials do not move cattle away from a wolf den. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and the Predator Project are concerned about a female wolf caring for five pups by itself. The male was found run over on a park road June 20. ---end of excerpt--
NATIVE_NEWS: Eastern Idaho nuclear waste incinerator
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The people will speak for themselves about this, but, this is also near the park (just north of Jackson) and I hear no one speaking about the effect on wildlife in and around YNP. http://www.billingsgazette.com/wyoming/990716_wyo04.html Thomas, Geringer seek more comment time on Idaho facility CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Gov. Jim Geringer and U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas have asked Idaho to reopen the comment period on a proposed nuclear waste incinerator in eastern Idaho. Some residents of the Jackson Hole area have voiced concern about emissions from the facility drifting into northwest Wyoming. --end of excerpt---
NATIVE_NEWS: Blackfeet Revival - Tribal Bank
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: After hearing the comments regarding Pine Ridge and what could be done there to help increase employment and create jobs and although what works for one community does not always work for another, I thought this was an interesting article. Am including a few "snipped" paragraphs: http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/990720_reg10.html Blackfeet revivial Tribal bank credited with breathing new life into reservation BROWNING (AP) - Business people in this reservation hub town say their community is coming back to life and the Blackfeet National Bank, a 12-year-old, locally controlled financial institution, is coaxing the revival. There's an air of optimism in Browning's business circles as more shops are open than in recent years and people are spending more money in town. SNIP BNB has its own local board of directors, on which no elected officials may sit. The Blackfeet Tribe owns 94 percent of the business. It specializes in small business, residential real estate and consumer lending in Glacier and Pondera counties, although most of its clients reside in the immediate Browning area. SNIP "A lot of times in our community what we tend to forget is our greatest resource is our human resource," Kipp said. "If we don't invest in our people, we'll never make it." That's exactly why the bank sometimes approves loans under circumstances that other banks might consider too risky, said Sheridan Erickson, president and chief executive of BNB. For instance, BNB might approve a loan for a client with questionable credit history when other banks would flatly deny the request. Instead of looking for reasons to deny loan requests, BNB aggressively looks for ways to approve them, he said. --end of excerpts-
NATIVE_NEWS: Daishowa and remembering the Friends of the Lubicon
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: For those who remember the issues (sent to the list by Norman Fournier) of the Daishowa paper company and the lawsuits they lodged against the Friends of the Lubicon for instigating boycots against those who used the paper products of Daishowa's destructive logging business... A strange twist that perhaps gives insight into the mind of the chairman of the Daishowa company. imo, an empty man, without soul...driven by greed to fill his and his company's insatiable needs at the expense of the destruction of Native land in Canada, and now perhaps the destruction of these paintings. $82.5M Van Gogh Painting Missing Filed at 3:35 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- No one in the art world seems to know the whereabouts of the most expensive painting ever sold, even though it has not been reported stolen. The painting is a portrait by Vincent van Gogh of Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, the doctor and friend of the artist who watched over him in the last weeks of his life. Many consider the 1890 painting to be van Gogh's last important portrait. When the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York tried to find the painting for its current exhibition, museum officials could not locate the masterpiece, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday. The exhibition catalog noted the absence with the words ``present location unknown.'' In 1990, Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito paid $82.5 million at an auction for ``Portrait of Dr. Gachet,'' the most money ever paid for a painting. Saito, the honorary chairman of Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co., said he stored it in a warehouse after looking at it once. That year, shortly after paying the Japanese government a $24 million tax bill, he told friends that the van Gogh and a Renoir he bought at the same auction should be burned at his cremation so his heirs would not have to pay an inheritance tax. At the time, it was regarded as a joke. Six years later, he died at age 79. It is unclear if anyone has seen the van Gogh since. ---end of NYT excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Cobell v. Babbitt - trial transcripts
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: For any with an interest, this site has transcripts of the Civil Action 96-1285, Elouise Cobell, et al., v. Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior, et al. The page has a list of daily transcripts starting on 7 June 1999 with the Pretrial Conference, to July 23, 1999, the final day. http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Parliament/9278/ For additonal information, please see http://www.narf.org/
NATIVE_NEWS: Hate crimes
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Rarely, if ever, have I heard of the many unsolved murders / deaths of Lakota people on Pine Ridge being referred to as "hate crimes". It is also rare, imo, that the deaths / murders on Pine Ridge are commented on by the national media. But when the victim is white... http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/south_dakota/story.html?s=v/rs /19990825/sd/index_1.html#1 Three Held for "Hate Crime" - (RAPID CITY) -- Three Native Americans will be arraigned this afternoon for what's being described as a "hate crime" directed against a white victim. The Bennett County sheriff says 21-year-old Brad Young was beaten and dragged early Saturday morning after a night of drinking on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Young remains in critical condition at a Rapid City hospital. His mother says he's having kidney trouble and lost both ears in the attack. The F-B-I is investigating. Two 18-year-old men and a juvenile male have been arrested in connection with the assault.
NATIVE_NEWS: Fwd: [FN] Dragged
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Forwarded from the First Nations list: See http://www.minorities-jb.com/native/apnews/newsframe.html for an update on the Pine Ridge dragging issue... --
NATIVE_NEWS: Govt., Tribes Negotiate on Casinos
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Indian-Gambling.html August 31, 1999 Govt., Tribes Negotiate on Casinos Filed at 8:21 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Though Gov. Gray Davis offered to double the number of Indian-run slot machines as part of an agreement to keep open tribal casinos, Indian leaders on Tuesday objected to sharing profits with other tribes and accepting unions. Closed-door negotiations continued with tribal leaders presenting a counterproposal. Tribal and government negotiators refused to discuss details. Negotiations began after the state Supreme Court last week struck down a voter-approved initiative that sought to expand legalized gambling at tribal casinos. The tribes have until early October to reach an agreement with Davis to avoid having thousands of video slot machines shut down by federal authorities. William Norris, the governor's special counsel for Indian gambling and a former federal judge, presented Davis' plan to about 300 people representing some 80 of California's 107 tribes. Davis offered to more than double the number of slot machines, as long as the tribes agree to share 25 percent of their gross profits with other tribes, as well as allow union activity in the gambling halls. --see url for complete article--
NATIVE_NEWS: Oil Companies Settle Royalty Dispute
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: For more reference information: http://www.dickshovel.com/rogue.html on this chronic mismanagement by the US government and the Minerals Management Services of the Department of the Interior http://www.mms.gov/ http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19990910/bs/chevron_settlement_1.html Friday September 10 2:04 PM ET Oil Cos. Settle Royalty Dispute LUFKIN, Texas (AP) - Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CHV - news), BP Amoco PLC (NYSE:BPA - news) and Conoco Inc. (NYSE:COCa - news) reportedly have agreed in principle to pay about $155 million to settle charges that they underpaid oil royalty payments. Chevron would pay about $95 million and BP Amoco PLC and Conoco Inc. would pay about $30 million each, The Dallas Morning News and the Wall Street Journal reported in Friday's editions. The settlements would resolve charges made by two whistleblowers in a 1996 lawsuit against 18 large oil companies. In the lawsuit filed in federal district court in Lufkin, the whistleblowers alleged that the companies knowingly undervalued oil they extracted from federal and Native American lands beginning in 1988 to reduce the royalties they owed. end of excerpt---
NATIVE_NEWS: United States Sues Tobacco Firms
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Now that the Feds have deicded to sue the tobacco industry, I wonder how this will affect the lawsuits proposed and or already filed by some Indian Tribes. I wonder if the IHS is included as a party to this lawsuit? The article states that 46 of the States have received setttlements in their suits vs the tobacco companies. Most states refuse to share this money with any of the reservations within their borders. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19990922/ts/tobacco_lawsuit_6.html Wednesday September 22 1:04 PM ET United States Sues Tobacco Firms Over Smoking Cost By James Vicini WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department sued the tobacco industry Wednesday to recover much of the $20 billion the federal government spends every year on smoking related costs, Attorney General Janet Reno announced. ``In the complaint, the United States alleges that for the past 45 years, the companies that manufacture and sell tobacco have waged an intentional, coordinated campaign of fraud and deceit,'' Reno told a news conference in unveiling the landmark civil lawsuit. end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: DC meeting - LaFrambois Island
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/south_dakota/ Native American Trip Called A Success - (PIERRE) -- A group of Native Americans from South Dakota has returned from a week-long trip to the nation's capital. They're calling it a success. The group made the trip to meet with congressional leaders and protest the federal government's transfer of lands to the state of South Dakota and several Tribes. Following meetings with congressional leaders, group members say they feel they had a chance to represent their views. They returned to a "spiritual encampment" on LaFrambois Island in Pierre, where a sacred ceremony was held offering thanks for their journey.
NATIVE_NEWS: Cayuga prepare for trial
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/local/state/new_york/ Tribal Leaders Prepare For Trial - (SYRACUSE) -- Leaders of the Cayuga Indian tribe are preparing for trial. They are trying to reclaim more than 64-thousand acres of land in Cayuga and Seneca Counties. Negotiators tried to work something out, but couldn't get either side in the claim to budge much. The trial is set for December second.
NATIVE_NEWS: DOJ - $89 million to tribes
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/991014_reg03.html Tribes in Montana get $8M from U.S. to combat crime WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department awarded $89 million in grants to Indian communities in 26 states - including Montana - to hire, train and equip police officers and to build new jails and detention facilities. The grants are aimed at reducing crime among the 1.4 million Indians living on or near Indian lands. Government studies show that Indians are victims of violent crime more than twice as often as any other major group and are more likely than others to be attacked by people of other races. The largest Montana grant went to the Northern Cheyenne tribe, $4.62 million, followed by the Fort Peck tribes, $2.3 million, and the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, $515,312. Other Montana grants were: Chippewa-Cree, $150,260; Crow, $86,483; Confederated Salish and Kootenai, $85,671; and Fort Belknap, $65,464. "These grants for additional officers, training and facilities will help ensure that all native Americans living on Indian lands will enjoy the decrease in crime being felt throughout the nation," said Attorney General Janet Reno, who met with tribal leaders Wednesday to discuss crime issues. -end of excerpt
NATIVE_NEWS: Little Shell Tribe recognition soon
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/991018_reg10.html Lawyer says decision on Little Shell tribe recognition not too far off GREAT FALLS (AP) - After several bureaucratic delays and more than a century without land, the federal government soon will recognize the Little Shell tribe of Chippewa Indians, said the lawyer who first helped petition for the tribe 20 years ago. Bob Peregoy spoke at a meeting of the Little Shell Tribal Council Saturday. While Little Shell leaders share his optimism, the tribe is still awaiting preliminary decision on its status from Interior Department, which can corroborate the tribe's claims to its existence. The tribe expects a preliminary finding from the agency by Thanksgiving. From there, it could be a year before Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt officially recognizes the tribe. "The decision won't be final for another year, but the proposed finding is the big one," Peregoy told Saturday's meeting of about 30, including tribal members from as far away as Spokane. At stake is $2.2 million that the government holds in reserve for the tribe and its members until the tribe's status is resolved. Recognition would also mean access to federal health services and housing programs, plus educational opportunities for tribe members. The tribe has been without a home since they did not sign the so-called "10-cent Treaty," 109 years ago. The Little Shell tribe claims about 4,000 members, who live out of and across Montana, as well as on every Indian reservation in the state. The Little Shell petition for recognition is one of the largest such actions of its kind, said Peregoy. He said earlier petitions have never involved more than about 1,900 people. -end of article--
NATIVE_NEWS: Anna Mae - Rocky Mountain news article
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: http://www.insidedenver.com/news/1104anna8.shtml AIM leader says FBI had role in death Group's head maintains woman kidnapped, killed By Karen Abbott Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Twenty-four years ago, Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash was kidnapped from a Denver home, driven to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and shot in the back of the head, American Indian Movement leader Russell Means says. On Wednesday, Means accused the FBI and two AIM leaders of conspiring to have her kidnapped, then killed by three other people. He called for a congressional investigation of the alleged collusion. Pictou-Aquash was an American Indian activist who has become a revered symbol to other American Indians in the fight for rights. Rumors have circulated since her death that she might have been killed by other AIM members who believed she was an FBI informant, or by the real informants -- perhaps with FBI knowledge -- for fear she would disclose their identities. "We are calling on Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo) ... to bring forth a hearing to investigate the FBI," Means said at a news conference in Denver. "One of the three men that took Anna Mae to her death has told me that it was (the AIM leader)," who ordered her killed, Means said. ---end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: New York Indian Land claim articles
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Syracuse Online has a section of its online edition devoted to Indian land claim issues. Both the Oneida and the Cayauga have made claims on local land. http://www.syracuse.com/features/landclaim/ There is also an online forum http://www.syracuse.com/forums/landclaim/
NATIVE_NEWS: Penn State offers fellowships for American Indian educationprograms
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Anyone wishing more information about Penn State, let me know and I will give you my daughter's address, she is a graduate student there. http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/news4.htm Penn State offers fellowships for American Indian education programs UNIVERSITY PARK, (Penn.) Penn State is offering graduate fellowships to American Indian and Alaska Native students interested in either of two programs: master's level training in special education or doctoral level training in special education or educational administration. Both programs are affiliated with Penn State's recognized American Indian Leadership Program. The fellowships are supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Applications for both programs are now being accepted. For the master's program, previous credentials in education or special education are preferred, but are not necessary. The deadline for submitting applications is Nov. 20 for Spring Semester 2000 and April 20 for Fall Semester 2000. The fellowship includes a monthly stipend of approximately $1,000 per month, tuition, textbooks and relocation allowances. Dr. Anna Gajar, professor of special education, and Dr. John Tippeconnic III, professor of education, are co-directors of the programs. For more information contact Dr. Gajar, 226B Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, (814) 863-2284; or Dr. Tippeconnic, American Indian Leadership Program, 207 Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16802; or at (814) 863-1626. ---end of excerpt-
NATIVE_NEWS: Means: AIM leader ordered 1975 murder
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Note from the article in the Sioux Fall newspaper: "Means... said he has a movie-production company that is planning a fictionalized story in which the female lead character is named Anna Mae. "It's my ode to her," he said." http://www.argusleader.com/news/Thursdayarticle2.shtml Means: AIM leader ordered 1975 murder By LEE WILLIAMS Argus Leader published: 11/18/99 Minutes after testifying before a federal grand jury Wednesday, Russell Means walked out of the courthouse, accused a leader of the American Indian Movement of ordering a murder, then called the grand-jury process a "sham." Means said he told the grand jury, originally impaneled to hear unrelated federal cases, that the AIM leader was working as an informant for the FBI and ordered the killing of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash in 1975. Because federal officials have not named the AIM leader as a suspect in Aquash's death, and because the Argus Leader was not able to contact him, the newspaper decided not to name him in today's editions. AIM officials have always maintained that the FBI orchestrated the killing of Aquash. Her body was discovered on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1976. No one was ever charged with her slaying. Means said he first told federal authorities of his allegations in July, and that no action was taken until he held a press conference in Denver. "This was a sham. It was only done to pacify me, by federal authorities, because they are intrinsically involved," he said Wednesday. Means said authorities know who the "trigger man" was in Aquash's death, and that he gave the same information to the grand jury. "I am convinced that the federal government is either so blatantly racist or involved in the murder," he said. He believes the FBI's COINTELPRO counterintelligence program of the 1970s was involved in the murder. -see complete article at url above-
NATIVE_NEWS: Notah Begay's long walk
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: This is the url for the first page of a six page article on Notah Begay: http://espn.go.com/otl/americans/begay1.html Wednesday, November 17 Notah Begay's long walk Tom Farrey ESPN.com The question, the basic reason Notah Begay was sitting before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in a wood-paneled room in the nation's capital, was simple but oddly personal, as if he were some federal program to be studied: How did this happen? How -- did -- Notah Begay -- happen? Senators do not ask this question of Derek Jeter or Brett Favre or even Tiger Woods, far more luminous sports celebrities, because none of their lives are, as the invite last May to 485 Russell Senate Office Building would suggest, as important to the nation's affairs as that of Begay, child of the reservation, creation of the public links, graduate of Stanford University, registered member of the Navajo Nation and son of Mother Earth. --end of excerpt--
NATIVE_NEWS: American Indian College Students to lead 1999 Macy'sThanksgiving Day Parade
And now:Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I'd be interested in any thoughts about this. I guess from a financial point I know why they are doing this, but I think I am disappointed that they have chosen this way to raise awareness. I spoke with David Cournoyer ( see below) and asked if they considered that fact that for many Native people this is a national day of mourning, he said he understood my point but thought it was going to be a beneficial thing for the American Indian College Fund. I also said that it reminded me of the times that the students in the Residential schools were forced to march in their uniforms in local parades to show how "civilized" they had become. If anyone would like to comment further his email address is: [EMAIL PROTECTED] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS: Katosha Belvin or David Cournoyer NOVEMBER 16, 1999 American Indian College Fund (303)892-8312 AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS TO LEAD 1999 MACY*S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE Dozens of students from tribal colleges will drum and dance on parade's first float, as millions of Americans watch on NBC CBS television networks - Students celebrate 10th anniversary of American Indian College Fund (DENVER)--Travelling from Indian reservations across the nation to Broadway Avenue in New York City, 23 American Indian college students will share tribal songs and dances on the very first float of the 1999 Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Hailing from reservation-based tribal colleges, these students will wear the colorful, traditional attire of 20 different Indian tribes. Macy*s has invited the students to join its lead float in order to showcase tribal culture and Native peoples' contributions to the Thanksgiving holiday. The American Indian College Fund is sponsoring the students' trip to New York City to kick off the College Fund's 10th anniversary in support of tribal colleges' scholarship and endowment needs. The college students will be seen by a nationwide audience on the NBC and CBS television networks. "For all Indian people of this country, it will be a wonderful way to help celebrate Thanksgiving in a sacred way," said Monroe Weso, a business student at College of the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin. Tribes to be represented include the Arapaho, Arikara, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Chippewa-Cree, Choctaw, Crow, Gros Ventre, Haida, Hidatsa, Klamath, Lakota Sioux, Lummi, Mandan, Menominee, Modoc, Mohawk, Navajo, Nez Perce, Omaha, Pueblo and Tlingit. "Indian culture is not a thing of the past," said Richard Williams, American Indian College Fund executive director. "Our students will show parade viewers that Indians today are making a contribution to America, while using education and modern skills to advance our culture into the next millennium." Macy*s began its parade in 1924. That same year, Congress granted citizenship to all American Indians. Over the past 75 years, the U.S. government's relationship with more than 550 different tribes has evolved. Today, Indians have more self-determination over their health, economic and educational priorities than ever before. In 1968, Indians founded the first of 31 U.S. tribal colleges, which are dedicated to fighting high rates of poverty and unemployment that confront the colleges' home reservations. Hugh Big Knife will travel from the Rocky Boy's Reservation in northern Montana, where the unemployment rate tops 30 percent. Big Knife speaks the Cree language and is the top student at his tribal college, where he is working on two degrees. "Not only will we be proudly representing our own traditional dance styles," he said, "but we'll also celebrate Thanksgiving, a uniquely American tradition that we all share." The nonprofit American Indian College Fund is the nation's largest provider of Indian college scholarships. It was originally created in 1989 by tribal colleges to raise private support for scholarships, endowments and operations. These colleges serve poor, isolated Indian communities in 12 states from Michigan to California. In 1997, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching called tribal colleges "the most significant development in American Indian communities since World War II." To support more students through the American Indian College Fund, call (800) 776-FUND or go to the website at www.collegefund.org. ### Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade American Indian College Fund Tribal College Participants Vonnie Jo Alberts; Fort Berthold Community College; New Town, North Dakota David Bigby; Fort Belknap College; Harlem, Montana Hugh Big Knife; Stone Child College, Rocky Boy's Agency, Montana Robyn French; Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute; Albuquerque, New Mexico Patricia Jackson; Northwest Indian College; Bellingham, Washington Vanessa Kee; Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute; Albuquerque, New Mexico Lisa Lopez; College of the
NATIVE_NEWS: Fwd: Buffalo News...
Posted by Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] : X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 18:53:50 -0700 To: "Stop the Slaughter" [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Buffalo Folks [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Buffalo News... Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In this issue of Stop the Slaughter! * Update from the Field * Winter Use Comments Needed by December 1st * Attention All Law Students * Thanks!: Road Show a Success * "Spirit of the Buffalo" conference * Art: Buffalo Mask Project Tidbits: Racicot gets more press... http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck112299.stm you can still send a free fax to the DOL: http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo/politk99/faxDOL.html ___ * Update from the Field Here we go again First off, a heartfelt thank you to all the people that make sure the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) exists. Winter is here and with it the buffalo come out of the Park. Unfortunately they are still stalked by the Montana Department of Livestock (MDOL). The 1999-2000 lease for MDOL's rental of Dale Koelzer's basement and of course the free land use for the Duck Creek capture facility has been was approved This lease was signed in its traditional form of a handshake on November 4, 1999 Mr. Koelzer is currently pending three poaching charges about a dead buffalo on his land. He did come out in the papers and state that he shot the buffalo. He has now changed his plea to not guilty and asked for a jury trail. His trial date will be set at a December 13 hearing in Bozeman, Montana. BFC and many other outraged citizens and groups will rally together in protest. Today found the MDOL frittering away taxpayer money to move the facility closer to the house so that the DOL won't have to walk so far. Meanwhile, the Horse Butte capture facility is again approved by the United States Forest Service. All this with the knowledge of a mating pair of bald eagle who had offspring this year, after having been unsuccessful for five years. The plan also called for the MDOL to revegitate the land where the capture facility sat. No restoration has taken place. The legalities of both these incidents are being looked into by BFC. The capture facility has not been set up yet. We will leave it at that. Campaign life is ready to roll: 7 field camp tipis, a new office, a great return crew, many new warriors on their way and more firewood than I've ever seen. Seeds of Peace provides the best meals on earth to BFC again this year. Last year over 250 warriors from around the world protected buffalo for seven months. The recent issue of Mother Jones magazine (Nov) has an article about BFC, helping spread the word. Our energy and numbers continue to grow. Unfortunately with that so do our costs. The BFC operation runs about $10,000 a month during the seven months of patrolling. The never ending saga of fund raising. In past years, over 60% of that cost has come from you the individual supporter. With this honor, the warriors in the field smile, knowing the people are with us in spirit. Patrols start this week and the buffalo will be under our never blinking eyes. Showing the world the truth. Enjoy the holiday seasons and know your efforts keep us with the buffalo. For the Buffalo, Michael S. Mease Campaign Coordinator Buffalo Field Campaign (formerly Buffalo Nations) PO Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 phone 406-646-0071 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Comments Due on Yellowstone Winter Use Draft Environmental Impact Statement(DEIS) by Dec. 1st The National Park Service has produced a DEIS-- the product of an agreement reached after The Fund for Animals, the Ecology Center and other groups sued the NPS in 1997--on Winter Use In Yellowstone Park. Comments are due by December 1st. You can find a copy of the DEIS online at: http://www.nps.gov/planning/yell/winteruse/index.html Speak out for the buffalo and their winter solitude! _ * ATTENTION ALL LAW STUDENTS: (please pass this on) Buffalo Field Campaign (http://www.wildrockies.org/buffalo) invites you to join us in and around Yellowstone National Park between mid-November and mid-May to experience and grasp the issue surrounding the Yellowstone Buffalo slaughter. We are encouraging law students to join us in the field to glimpse, first hand, the interactions between activists and Montana Department of Livestock officials as well as other state and federal agents. This is an opportunity for students to develop an understanding of the setting of many highly debated violations of our constitutional amendments, in court today. In addition, this exchange will provide an opportunity for activists to ask questions about their rights in non-violent field confrontations. You are not obligated to break the law or interact any more than you feel comfortable. This is simply an opportunity to open the doors of communic
NATIVE_NEWS: Tribal Chairman Likes High Court Plan
Posted by Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] (by way of [EMAIL PROTECTED]) : The article below is a couple of days old, but I was wondering if anyone had heard of this proposal before or any more about it? It is interesting to me that the DOJ has provided funding for this project. Tribal Chairman Likes High Court Plan (ABC NewsWire) A tribal chairman says a proposed tribal supreme court would allow tribes to settle their own judicial problems. The U-S Justice Department has awarded 250-thousand dollars to the project. Lower Brule Sioux tribal chairman Michael Jandreau (jan-droh) says the supreme court would be located at the Wakpa Sica (SHEE'-ka) area north of Fort Pierre. Jandreau says the court would most likely include representatives from each participating reservation. He says the court would deal with tribal legal issues along with issues involving businesses. He hopes the court will have the same impact as the federal Supreme Court. - Nov 24 5:18 AM EST
NATIVE_NEWS: World War II Code Talker Honored
Posted by Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] : So if this was a ceremony, I imagine the Army color guard was there with their flag complete with the battle streamer "honoring" the massacre of the women and children at Wounded Knee. Want to read about this "battle streamer"..http://www.dickshovel.com/smith.html I do not want to take away from the honor that this man received today, it just a shame that the Army can't figure out that it is time to rescind the Medals of (dis)honor given to those who participated in the massacre at WK. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Code-Talkers.html November 30, 1999 World War II Code Talker Honored Filed at 12:29 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army today presented a special award to the last surviving member of an elite World War II group that used their native language as an unbreakable code to relay sensitive U.S. military messages during the crucial weeks following the D-Day landings in Europe. Charles Chibitty of the Comanche Code Talkers received the Knowlton Award in a ceremony in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes. The award, established in 1995 by the Military Intelligence Corps Association, recognizes individuals for outstanding intelligence work. It was named for Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton, who served in the Revolutionary War. Chibitty was one of 17 Comanche Indians recruited to serve in the Army Signals Corps because of their unique language. Like the larger group of Navajo Indians who performed a similar service as Marines in the Pacific theater during World War II, the Comanches were dubbed ``code talkers.'' The Comanches coded messages from the battlefields in Europe back to division headquarters, where another of their group decoded the messages, thereby avoiding the common problem of enemy decoding. They used the phrase ``crazy white man'' -- posah-tai-vo in Comanche -- to refer to Adolf Hitler. Because they had a native word for airplane but not bomber, they used the Comanche phrase for ``pregnant airplane.'' Chibitty, 78, was born near Medicine Park, Okla. He enlisted in the Army in January 1941 and achieved the rank of corporal. He earned the World War II Victory Medal, the European Theater of Operations (5th Bronze Star) Victory Medal, the Europe African Middle East Campaign Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.
NATIVE_NEWS: Pueblo Receive Threats Of Violence
Posted by Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] : From Yahoo local headline news: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/lo/st/nm/ Pueblo Receive Threats Of Violence - (SAN ILDEFONSO PUEBLO) -- A wave of concern has come across San Ildefonso Pueblo officials. The reservation was threatened with boycotts and a possible bombing of the White Rocks gas station after announcing possibly closing New Mexico Four or placing a toll booth on the road if easement negotiations with the state fail. Pueblo Governor Terry Aguilar says a concerned White Rock resident left a message at a tribal office promising to organize a boycott of the tribe's Phillip's 66 gas station in White Rock or blow it up if the Pueblo didn't back off its plan. The current easement agreement between the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the Pueblo expires December 31st.
NATIVE_NEWS: Fwd: Thanks to the first 121 Position Paper E supporters!
Posted by Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] : A follow up to this issue, for any with a continued intrest. Please consider giving this project your support if you are able. Thanks, Sonja X-Authentication-Warning: world.std.com: brunner@localhost didn't use HELO protocol Date: Sun, 05 Dec 1999 14:54:46 -0500 From: Eric Brunner [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Thanks to the first 121 Position Paper E supporters! --- Blind-Carbon-Copy To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Thanks to the first 121 Position Paper E supporters! Date: Sun, 05 Dec 1999 14:54:46 -0500 From: Eric Brunner brunner Oki all, We have set something of a high-water mark in ICANN's brief but tulmultuous history, the normal course of comment-events is hundred(s) of emails, all in opposition to each other. The "score" for the Interim Report on new generic top-level domains is about 10 for all other positions (Papers A, B, C, D, F, and G) combined, to our 121 as of this morning. As the public comment period is extended to Jauary 10th, I ask that you do two things: 1. ask your personal acquaintances, relatives, friends and elders to add their voices to yours. Make a personal request to lists you participate in for others to send positive comments to the [EMAIL PROTECTED] public comments archive. Numbers are important. Hitting the one-K mark will be historic. 2. reread Position Paper E critically, thinking about issues not identified, and solutions to any problems you or anyone else brings up. Some issues already mentioned: plastic shawcritters and wannabees pricing structure of secondary level domains authority of NIEC/Treaty7/NITI/InterCOUP/Wampumpeag, and NCAI tribal and non-tribal trademark registration Some resources: 1. The Indigenous Intellectual Property Constituency archive: http://www.iipc.tp or http://www.world.std.com/~iipc 2. An overview (in formal ICANNesse) of our position at the start of WG-C: http://www.dnso.org/dnso/dnsocomments/comments-gtlds/Archives/msg0.html 3. How the European Regional (RIPE NCC) is organized http://www.ripe.net/docs/ripe-161.html Kitakitamatsinopowaw, Eric Brunner Principle Author, Position Paper E --- End of Blind-Carbon-Copy
NATIVE_NEWS: Fwd: jim thorpe on espn
Posted by Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] : For any with an interest: Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 12:42:38 -0500 Subject: jim thorpe on espn address list snipped Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Disposition: inline Coming this Friday, December 10, 1999, 10:30PM (Eastern), ESPN network, SportCentury program will feature Jim Thorpe (individuals in other time zones should check local cable listings). During 1999 ESPN cable network has been featuring the 50 top athletes of the 20th Century. Jim Thorpe, number 7 in the ESPN listing, will be featured during a half hour SportCentury show, December 10, 1999 at 10:30PM. For further information on the show go to the ESPN web page at http://www.espn.com and scroll down the left column to SportCentury. One feature of this program will be excerpts of an interview with Andrew Cuellar, alumni of the Carlisle Indian School, who remembers the great athlete. Special thanks to Andrew's daughter, Ory Cuellar, for sending notice of the upcoming Sports Century program. An added note: there are 110 photographs featuring Jim Thorpe in the collections of the Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle PA. A listing of these photos with how-to-order information may be found at http://www.epix.net/~landis/thorphoto.html.
NATIVE_NEWS: Bison - Montana and the blame game
Posted by Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] : An opinion piece from the Bozeman Chronicle: This season's version of the "blame game". Who is to blame for the slaughter of the YNP bison? Racicot would like to blame the NPS, or more frequently APHIS or DOI. The blame for the slaughter rests solely at the feet of the governor of Montana - Racicot. He is the one who allows the cattle industry to dictate. It is the fight for the use of public grazing land, the cattlemen want cheap grazing and they are killing bison to get it. http://database.newswest.com/cgi-bin/T3CGI.exe/bdc/bdcNews.taf?functi on=detailLocal_uid1=21330 By Chronicle Staff 12/10/1999 12:00:00 AM. Park winter use plan should be tossed Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park is a complicated and bitterly divisive issue. But a Park Service proposal to snowplow the road from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful for bus and car traffic has united warring factions in opposition to the plan. People of all political persuasions, from animal rights activists clad in plastic shoes and outrage to the most avid fans of high-marking, ear-splitting, exhaust-belching snowmobiles, find themselves holding their nose over the concept. Between the extremes are moderate politicians, from the commissioners of Gallatin and Park counties to Sen. Max Baucus, who described the plan as simply "nutty." Now enters Republican Governor Marc Racicot, who pointed out last week -- as have many others in the past -- that the plowing scheme is likely to funnel more bison into Montana, where they face a grim fate. -see complete article at url above
NATIVE_NEWS: ABC to air 100-tribe Tucson powwow on New Year's Eve
Posted by Sonja Keohane [EMAIL PROTECTED] : For any with an interest: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/archive/Story1253790.html ABC to air 100-tribe Tucson powwow on New Year's Eve A 10-day powwow involving more than 100 Native American tribes that starts here Dec. 31 has grown to such proportions that ABC-TV plans to televise the event as part of its millennium coverage on New Year's Eve. The New Millennium First Peoples' World Fair and Pow Wow, Thunder in the Desert, was to feature 50 to 60 powwow dancers each day. The number has grown to about 2,500 dancers each day, said Fred Synder , the event coordinator . The tremendous growth has put organizers in a bind, and they're asking the community to help volunteer with food, lodging and any other way they can, Synder said. Organizers have secured more than 400 hotel rooms for participants, but are asking churches for help and are searching for Tucsonans to serve as host families. Synder didn't have an estimate of how many people will attend the event, which runs through Jan. 9 at Rillito Raceway Park. He said some will need accommodations for only a few days. Weekends are expected to be the busiest times, he said. The event is open to the public and will include concerts, parades, a round table dance to bring in the new millennium, a sunrise blessing for the 21st century, a competition powwow, exhibition performances and craft markets. Theme days, such as Gourd Dance/Warrior Day, Alaska Natives Day, Seventh Generation Youth Day and Senior Golden and Veterans Day are planned throughout the week. Proceeds from the event will go to the event's sponsor, Reservations Creation Women's Circle Charitable Trust, a non-profit Tucson organization whose mission is to preserve, protect and promote Native American culture and traditions. All activities are free, although there will be a recommended donation of $10 to $12 for the Electric Pow Wow concert. Tucson was chosen for the event because it is close to many tribal nations, has mild winter weather and is one of the top 20 urban areas for Native American populations, Synder said. Arizona is home to 27 tribes, including the Tohono O'odham and Pascua Yaqui tribes in the Tucson area. Event organizers are asking that people who can accommodate guests during the event or help with food call 622-4900, or Gina John at 622-7611, extension 1342. Information about the event is available on the World Wide Web at usaindianinfo.org ---end of article-
