From gars@speakeasy.org Thu Apr 1 13:47:21 2004 Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 15:57:53 -0800 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews12.014 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 12, ISSUE 014 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2004 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island April 3, 2004 Kiowa aiden p'a/leaf moon Anishnaabe Iskigamizige-giizis(oog)/broken snowshoe moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; Indian-Heritage-L Mailing List; UUCP email; Newsgroup: alt.native IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "I will never forget one thing. In Winter time, when you go to Wounded Knee never dig deep into the snow. All you will do is find the blood left by your family before me. Think only of them and say, it is a good day to die!" __ Tashunkala (Little Horse), SihaSapa Lakota +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! Indian Health Service clinics have never been the paragon of health care. More than once, I have known patients who could walk out, that did that "walk out" rather than accept the substandard excuse for treatment being offered. Indian nurses who have seen the IHS formulary are aghast at the only medications made available to treat Indians -- drugs that are less than effective, laden with dangerous side effects -- in fact, drugs whose only virtue is that they are cheap. Medical spending nationwide has now fallen to about $1,500 per Indian, less than the government spends on federal prisoners. My half-side, Janet, and I have the honor of serving as volunteers at a US Prison, and I can tell you prisoners in a maximum security prison are damn sure not receiving the best of health care. Knowing that, the statement in the previous paragraph is downright frightening. [We are certainly not in favor of lowering deplorable prisoner health care!] Since even the BIA is shocked (their words) by the Bush budget cuts, you can be sure the IHS picture is not going to get better. And this in the face of known epidemic-proportion diabetes and a rising incidence of AIDS among Native populations. I thought the US had reached the bottom of the barrel when it was proven Native women were being involuntarily sterilized in IHS hospitals (nanews09.006, April 24, 2002 - archived at http://www.nanews.org). I now wonder if designed neglect is not a more torturous form of genocide. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith Night Owl (*,*) gars@speakeasy.org P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30014, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Tribe, BIA shocked - Taught by Elders, by Bush's 2006 Budget Cut they listen and lead - Future BIA Budget Numbers - Students protest ban look Grim of Native Drummers - Indians oppose Bush Court Nominee - Tulsa lands `The American' - Blackfeet Woman praised - Tribal Aid Program for Trust Fund fight triggers old Fears - Bush cutbacks hit CIT hard - YELLOW BIRD: Faith, hope - Indian Teachers, Parents as Sundance draws near to gather in Missoula - YELLOW BIRD: Our different ways - Teacher reviving Cherokee Language of saying Goodbye - Jicarilla Apache Nation - Alaska Natives to address awarded Thousands Sex Abuse Issues - Cherokee Tribe purchases - No Big Cash for Aboriginals Will Rogers Downs in Federal Budget - Lumbee Recognition Bill - Dene Leaders plan set for Hearing Climate change awareness - Payback time on the Columbia - Yukon, First Nations for Chinook sign Forestry Deal - Coquille Tribe completes purchase - Native Man's Death in B.C. of Weyco Land getting Crown Review - Duwamish long for Longhouse - Omaha and Winnebago - Sauk-Suiattle seek to seek County recalls to restore Goat Herds - Graham to remain Free on Bail - Truth joins Salmon as casualty - Native Prisoner of Water spill Wars -- Pen Pals wanted - School District to build -- Plan to sell Prisoner Tribal Art over Anasazi Ruins - History: Carlisle Indian School - Piestewa Kin seek end to Peak fray - Rustywire: Cow Feathers - DOI orders BIA out of Kayenta - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Jemez Pueblo Leaders see Mayor - Hawkdancer Poem: Song of Nature --------- "RE: Tribe, BIA shocked by Bush's 2006 Budget Cut" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:50:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BUSH 'WHACKED' BUDGET" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/032404tribebiashocked.html Tribe, BIA shocked by Bush's $55M cut of 2006 budget By Jim Maniaci Dine' Bureau March 24, 2004 WINDOW ROCK - The U.S. Management-Budget Office stunned tribal leaders Tuesday by telling them the BIA has been ordered to take a $55 million cut actually worth $80 million in fiscal year 2006. No figures were immediately available for the Indian Health Service from the budget office's directive for a 2.4 percent reduction for fiscal year 2006 from FY '05. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. was with the BIA Budget Advisory Council to begin work on the year after next year's federal spending guide when U.S. Interior Department Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs David Anderson the BIA boss said he had received a letter written by the Office of Management and Budget ordering a 2.4 percent reduction for the FY '06 allocations the George W. Bush administration will ask Congress to approve. Shirley told The Independent the letter was written two days before the recent budget formulation national meeting which the BIA hosted in Phoenix, yet Anderson only received it Monday. "Tribal leaders of the BAC are supposed to be consulted first. They are just stunned, just as I am. Whoa. What's going on here?" he asked. "Native nations will get together, like we did at Gila River last year, for the united native nations to talk strategy to make an impact on the (Bush) administration. We are talking about uniting behind a one-voice effort," Shirley said. Stunning development He said the announcement absolutely stunned the advisory council, composed of 20 elected First American government leaders. The BIA Navajo Region's two representatives are Shirley and Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence Morgan. Anderson also was stung. "It was just sprung on him yesterday," Shirley said Tuesday. And the impact, the president said, amounts to much more than $55.3 million to be taken from Indian programs. Shirley said the cut really amounts to about $80 million when BIA pay raises and the effects of inflation are counted. Coupled with similar cuts the U.S. President wants Congress to approve for the coming 2005 budget, the primary money source for services to tribes is being cut by 6 percent or 7 percent in just two years, Shirley said. The annual Navajo Nation total budget exceeds a half-billion dollars a year, with three-fourths of that coming from outside sources, mostly through Public Law 93-638 and 100-297 contracts and grants. He called the reductions "devastating to law enforcement, education, and the bureau's programs." The president concluded, "It's just really frustrating." In a written statement later Tuesday, Shirley added, "The direction funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs is proceeding is very disturbing, not only for the Navajo Nation, but all of Native America. These proposed decreases obviously place our lives below the priorities given to rocks, forest, wildlife, wild animals and even tourism." New administration wanted Shirley then called for the election of a more Indian-friendly U.S. president. "I have said it before, and I will say it again. It is time to elect an administration that will seriously take into consideration the obligations the federal government holds with native nations," he commented. Shirley said he fears the decrease will continue to impede or eliminate services and could create life-threatening circumstances for Navajo children and the elderly, whom he called the most in need of the BIA dollars. He added that the 2.4 percent is expected to be the average for all federal departments. In the Interior Department, home of the BIA, various bureaus will be chopped down from 1.3 to 2.8 percent. Anderson's announcement drew a quick response from New Mexico Third District Congressman Tom Udall. The only Democrat among New Mexico's three U.S. House members, Udall again blasted the Republican president. His statement pointed to $200 million in proposed Indian program cuts for the '05 budget, which will begin Oct. 1. And Udall said he will vote against the coming year's budget on the House floor on Thursday because cuts in the already grossly underfunded programs would severely harm Indian communities while Bush wants to send billions for health and education programs to Iraq. "I am more than a little disappointed with the president's priorities. Every aspect of Native American funding is hurting housing, health care, education, infrastructure. It's a question of priorities," he said. Udall accused the U.S. President, who is from the neighboring state of Texas, of having "chosen to leave Native Americans behind. These programs serve some of the most economically and geographically isolated communities in America." He represents a huge district which is almost one-fifth Indian, including 16 tribes and pueblos among the 21 reservations in New Mexico. Copyright c. 2004 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Future BIA Budget Numbers look Grim" --------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:22:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLEAK BIA BUDGET" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2004/03/28/news/local/nws02.txt Future BIA budget numbers look grim By MARK HANSON, Bismarck Tribune March 28, 2004 When Indian leaders traveled to Washington last week, the plan was to fight for money, for funds that are proposed to be cut out of the budget and for additional money that is needed. "Then we got hit with a bombshell," said Tex Hall, Chairman of Three Affiliated Tribes on the Fort Berthold Reservation and President of the National Congress of American Indians. The Bureau of Indian Affairs budget is already facing a $52 million cut for fiscal year 2005. But while in Washington, Hall and others found out that preliminary numbers for the fiscal year 2006 budget show an $80 million cut. The cuts are across the board. And they also include about $3 million in funding for United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck. The funding has been eliminated for the third year in a row. The fiscal year 2005 budget begins Oct. 1. Funding for the college has been reinstated by Congress the past two years, and now it appears the fight will continue for another two if the FY2006 budget remains as is. UTTC President David Gipp said the fight for FY2005 funding is in the early stages. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., pressed Interior Secretary Gale Norton late last week as to why cuts were made to Indian education programs. He said he'd use his seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee to restore the UTTC funds. Dorgan cited that President Bush's proposed FY2005 budget would increase funding by $10.5 million for a program to manage wild horses and burros, yet at the same time would cut by 44 percent funds for replacing deteriorating elementary schools on Indian reservations. "Those priorities make no sense at all," Dorgan said. "We're talking about our kids." And that's the fight Indian leaders plan to bring to Washington in mid- April. Hall said a letter signed by 20 tribal leaders was sent to President Bush regarding the budget cuts. "We just don't think they understand," Hall said Saturday morning during a board meeting break at UTTC. "It doesn't give anyone hope out here that they care." The UTTC board of directors passed a resolution Saturday opposing the $80 million in proposed cuts for the FY2006 budget, to submit a counter proposal to BIA, and to supply justification and supporting materials to the BIA and the congressional delegation. Hall said the battle now is over a combined $132 million in cuts -- $52 million scheduled for FY2005 and the $80 million proposed for FY2006. The cuts, Hall said, will affect everything, from social services to law enforcement, education to health services. There are only 10 BIA drug agents in the country, Hall said, and none in North Dakota. "We have to turn this around," Hall said. "I'm asking them for a tour, to leave the Beltway and come out and see what's happening. These are human rights issues. The priorities have to be the people." Reach reporter Mark Hanson at 250-8264 or mark.hanson@bismarcktribune.com Copyright c. 2004 Bismark Tribune. --------- "RE: Indians oppose Bush Court Nominee" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:50:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANOTHER BUSH 'WHACK'" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/65-bush-nominee-opposition.inc Indians oppose Bush court nominee Associated Press March 25, 2004 WASHINGTON - Leading American Indian groups Wednesday strongly protested President Bush's nomination of William G. Myers III to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, contending the former Interior Department lawyer has shown disrespect for Indian lands and rights. "For Indian country, Mr. Myers is the worst possible choice," Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians, told a news conference. "We dread to think what damage Myers could do as a judge for the appeals court." "He has a clear lack of understanding" of tribal sovereignty, said Anthony Miranda, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association. Myers, who served as the top attorney at the Interior Department from 2001 to 2003, is Bush's choice to join the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit court, which has jurisdiction over nine Western states and decides many tribe-related disputes. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the nomination next week. Hall and other tribal leaders said Myers removed protections for sacred Indian lands while Interior Department solicitor and opened the way for a gold mine to be built in Imperial County, Calif., that threatened tribal lands. Myers, a lawyer in Boise, Idaho, did not immediately return calls for comment. But Justice Department spokesman John Nowacki called Myers "a strong defender of tribal interests while solicitor," citing several cases where he said Myers sided with tribes. "Bill Myers does have an exemplary record of service both in the public sector and as a private attorney and has the strong support of his colleagues who know his work best," Nowacki said. He said Myers supported the Imperial County gold mine because the reasoning provided by the Clinton administration in denying the proposal was inconsistent with federal law. White House spokesman Ken Lisaius also reiterated the Bush administration's support for Myers Wednesday, calling him "highy qualified." In addition to tribes, Myers also faces opposition from environmental, civil rights and women's organizations. He has written articles comparing federal management of public lands with "the tyrannical actions of King George" and criticized the 1994 California Desert Protection Act, authored by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, as "an example of legislative hubris." Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Feinstein, grilled Myers about some of those comments when he appeared before the committee last month. At the time he said he sometimes used a "poor choice of words," and he pledged not to "disregard statutory mandates or congressional authority." Copyright c. 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Blackfeet Woman praised for Trust Fund fight;" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:50:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ELOISE COBELL HONORED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/~/25-trust-fund-fight.inc Indian woman praised for trust fund fight; Government still hasn't fixed accounting system By MIKE STARK Of The Gazette Staff March 25, 2004 After four trials, contempt of court charges against top government officials and years of frustration, American Indians are still waiting for the U.S. government to fix the accounting systems that have made a mess of Indian trust funds, a key figure in the case said Wednesday. Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Indian who sued the government in 1996, said fundamental changes in how the federal government manages billions of dollars in Indian accounts and assets have not been made even though tribal plaintiffs have had victories in court. "We're winning every step of the way," Cobell said. Cobell was the keynote speaker for the three-day Montana Wyoming Tribal Economic Development Summit in Billings this week. Kennard Real Bird, who introduced Cobell on Wednesday morning, said Cobell should be viewed with the same distinction as Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo and others who have stood up to the government. "Today, Elouise joins that elite band of people that have defended their people," Real Bird said. "She's a lady who's going to go down in history forever." Cobell never expected to become a national figure. But when she worked as treasurer for the Blackfeet Tribe, she said, she couldn't ignore the problems and confusion in financial Indian trust statements provided by the government. Over the course of months and years, she asked questions, wrote letters and knocked on doors. It wasn't hard to see that the system was broken, she said. Generations of Indian people had known it for years, she said, but now the paper work showed the system's faults. "I didn't discover this," Cobell said. "We all knew." The issue stems from federal policies that started in the late 1880s, when thousands of Indians were allotted ownership of land with the federal government acting as trustee. In that role, the government was supposed to keep track of revenue generated from mining, oil and gas development on the land and disperse it. As Cobell looked into the Indian trust fund, she had a hard time convincing top government officials to take seriously her claims of malfeasance and mismanagement. She recalled a meeting with federal lawyers, one of whom opened the discussion by saying: "Don't come in here with any false expectations," Cobell said. "I told him, 'You should be ashamed of yourself. People are dying without justice.'" After finding frustration with politicians and government officials, Cobell decided to file a lawsuit. She and others raised $10 million to get it going. In 1996, Cobell filed a class-action lawsuit against the government on behalf of an estimated half-million American Indians and their heirs. The lawsuit alleged that the government needs to conduct a full accounting of money owed to Indian account holders, which is probably in the billions of dollars, and to reform the trust fund system. The lawsuit, which involves the Bureau of Indian Affairs along with the Interior and Treasury departments, may seem complicated, Cobell said. But at its core, the case is about making the government accountable and responsible for handling Indian trust money. "It's like the United States government is running a bank that's totally out of control," Cobell said, adding that one government official testified that Indian money was used to pay down the federal deficit. "This was happening as our people die with poor healthcare... not having the basics of life." Despite court trials and several victories, the system still hasn't been overhauled. So, with eight years and little resolution, members of Congress agreed in February to take the case through a formal mediation process. Cobell said her experience is evidence that tribal groups can stand up to the government and effect change. It takes persistence, she said, and a willingness to fight for what's right. "Make them be accountable to you," she said, and don't stop pressing. "That money belong to us." Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Bush cutbacks hit CIT hard" --------- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 08:27:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INSTITUTE BUSH WHACKED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_9905.shtml Bush cutbacks hit CIT hard By Jim Snyder/The Daily Times March 30, 2004 CROWNPOINT - The Navajo Nation's Crownpoint Institute of Technology would have no budget at all for fiscal year 2005 under a Bureau of Indian Affairs budget proposal by the Bush administration, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Wallace Charley of Shiprock said Monday. "It is at zero," he said. "This (BIA funding) was the major funding source. Chances are classes will be cut, staff will be cut and the operation will be very small. I don't want to see it." This is one example of how bad the Navajo Nation views the Bush administration's proposal to reduce the Bureau of Indian Affairs overall budget, said Charley, vice chairman of the Navajo Council's Education Committee. Bush has proposed to reduce federal funding to the Bureau of Indian Affairs by 2.4 percent for fiscal year 2006, said Michael Wero, a spokesman with the Navajo Nation's Washington Office. That could mean a loss of nearly $80 million for Native American programs nationwide over the next two years, he added. "Tribal leaders said `this was devastating news,'" Navajo Council spokeswoman Karen Francis said. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Dave Anderson, head of the BIA, made the announcement to a BIA-Tribal Budget Advisory Committee meeting last week in Washington. Bush's proposed BIA fiscal year 2005 budget is already too low without it sustaining a further cut for fiscal year 2006, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence Morgan added in a news release. "We see here that Office of Management and Budget also recommends fiscal year 2005 as a funding base," Morgan said, referring to a March 12 White House memorandum. "But we, as tribal leaders know that even fiscal year 2005 budget levels are not sufficient. We need to work to restore these budget levels." The fiscal year 2005 budget has not yet been approved by Congress. Bush seeks to reduce BIA school construction by $65.9 million from 2004, according to the BIA, who sees it as a positive step. "The funding level has been reduced in order to allow the program to focus on building the schools already funded for construction," according to a BIA statement on its Web site. Spin like this did not go unnoticed by Native Americans. The Bush administration has its priorities backward on its proposed Department of the Interior-BIA budget, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said. "The direction funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs is proceeding is very disturbing, not only for the Navajo Nation but all of Native America, " he said in a news release. "These proposed decreases obviously place our lives below the priorities given to rocks, forests, wildlife, wild animals and even tourism." Shirley called for a new administration to be elected in response to Bush's proposed budget. "I have said it before and I will say it again. It is time to elect an administration that will seriously take into consideration the obligations the federal government holds with native nations, said Shirley, the leader of the largest Native American tribe in the country. "This administration has made it very clear to us that they are not concerned with Native America." Bush has never met with Shirley or the National Congress of Indians. The Navajo Nation and other Native American tribes are gearing up to fight the administration's proposed cutbacks. The Native American Budget Advisory Committee, comprised of tribes nationwide, will meet April 13-14 in Washington. The purpose is "to develop a counterproposal to the Bush administration's proposed budget reductions," Morgan said. Shirley and Morgan form the Navajo delegation to the Budget Advisory Committee. Osage Tribal Council Principal Chief Jim Gray and Tex Hall, a member of three unified tribes - Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation - are the co-chairs. Hall is also president of the National Congress of Indians. Jim Snyder: jims@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: Indian Teachers, Parents to gather in Missoula" --------- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 08:27:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PARENT TEACHER MEETING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004/03/30/news/local/news02.txt Indian teachers, parents to gather in Missoula By JANE RIDER of the Missoulian March 30, 2004 More than 300 parents, classroom teachers, school administrators and high school students are expected at the 22nd annual Montana Indian Education Association Conference that starts Thursday in Missoula. This year's theme is "Nurturing American Indian Leadership into the Future." "It is important American Indians be active participants in the educational system, creating policies and strategies that will improve educational achievement and create new opportunities for success for Indian students," said Thomas Brown, this year's conference chairman. "Our annual conference is an important time for promoting these efforts, " Brown said. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Parkside. A variety of speakers and workshops aims at improving awareness of the many issues facing American Indian education as well as providing an opportunity to share successful strategies. "We have quite a lineup of outstanding speakers and exceptional workshops scheduled," said Denise Juneau, MIEA board member. "The collective talents and wisdom of these educators will certainly be an important part of the conference." Keynote speakers include: Sharon Peregoy, a Crow educator who will speak about using educational collaborations between parents, communities and schools to empower Native youth. Her talk is titled "Parents and Communities Coming Together in a Good Way: A Native Path to Empowering Youth" and is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday at the Holiday Inn ballroom. Julie Cajune, a Salish educator, will speak on "Pursuing Justice for Indian Youth in Public Schools." The talk is slated for 9:15 a.m. Saturday, also in the ballroom. "The voice of Indian educators is needed at all levels of policy and decision-making and we encourage you to take action to create the changes that are needed in our schools and colleges," wrote Carol Juneau, MIEA chairperson, in her welcoming remarks for the conference participants. In an interview Monday, Juneau noted this is the 23rd conference of its kind. The annual event represents a culmination of the year's activities that advocated for strengthening American Indian education in Montana. The conference will discuss ways to improve the state's American Indian graduation rate which is at about 50 percent, and will review how schools have and haven't implemented the Indian Education for All Act of 1972 - which requires public schools to educate all students on the unique cultural heritage of Montana's Indians. It will also highlight successful education programs and allow people to share ideas, projects and training, Juneau said. In remembrance of the late Montana author James Welch, MIEA will host an authors reception Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Parkside ballroom. William Yellow Robe, Jennifer Greene and several other Native authors will provide readings in honor and recognition of Welch's distinct contributions to Native American literature. On Saturday a state legislative hearing by the state tribal affairs committee is slated to discuss a recent dropout study of American Indians. "Developing strategies that will help keep our American Indian students in school and graduating is a key component to the economic progress of our Indian nations," said Juneau, who is a state legislator from Browning. "I am glad that the conference can help provide this time for people to share their ideas on what the state can do to improve our graduation rate." The conference will provide opportunities for students and adults to share their writing skills in a student essay contest; demonstrate their special skills at a talent show, 7 p.m. Friday at Holiday Inn Parkside; and practice traditions at a powwow 7 p.m. Saturday at Jefferson School. An awards luncheon on Sunday will recognize outstanding leadership in Indian education that is always a highlight of the conference, organizers said. Reporter Jane Rider can be reached at 523-5298 or at jrider@missoulian.com Copyright c. 2004 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Teacher reviving Cherokee Language" --------- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 08:27:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TEACHING CHEROKEE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.swtimes.com/archive/2004/March/29/news/language.html Teacher Reviving Language By Marcus Blair TIMES RECORD - MBLAIR@SWTIMES.COM March 29, 2004 GORE - Each time Phyllis Yargee hears children speaking Cherokee on the playground, she knows her difficult job is worth the effort. Teaching a complex, dying language to children isn't easy, even among a student body that is 71 percent American Indian. Most Cherokees are unable to speak their native language, and even fewer can read or write the characters of the Cherokee syllabary, Yargee said. I think people should know the language because they live in the heart of the Cherokee Nation," the Notchietown resident said. "There are now so few speakers and most of them are elders." Yargee spent 14 years working for the Johnson O'Malley program for the advancement of American Indian students. She helped develop the Cherokee Challenge Bowl in which young Cherokees test their knowledge of tribal culture. Through the experience, she learned basic Cherokee words. Since being hired last year by Gore Schools and fueled by a desire to keep the language from dying, Yargee has learned more about her native tongue. The dialect connects Cherokees to their heritage and helps students of other races learn about another culture, Yargee said. She believes stereotypes fall and students are more accepting of others when they receive a multicultural education. Yargee teaches 45-minute classes daily to students from kindergarten to fifth grade. The sessions are steeped in tribal history, government and customs. Yargee's students seem to devour their lessons and are acquiring more of the language on their own, school officials said. One student astonished Yargee by learning her name in Cherokee without the help of a teacher. The learning also produced some unexpected results, Yargee said. Students are using Cherokee as a secret language around teachers who can't speak it. The conspiratorial aspect of the speech is an unusual drawing card that piqued the interest of the students, Yargee said. Superintendent Marvin Thouvenel said the language is never a problem because the school is ecstatic to see the children enthusiastic about learning. "I hear them sometimes when I'm down there at the elementary," Thouvenel said. "I like to hear them speak Cherokee and I ask them to. I wish all of them could do it." Yargee is the first Cherokee teacher at Gore Schools to introduce the written language of the tribe to the elementary students. She developed the curriculum, which was a monumental task, said Sandy Williams, federal programs coordinator for the school. "Phyllis has done a tremendous job. She's the one who decided to implement the syllabary and there is no written curriculum for that from the state," Williams said. Yargee is searching for ways to involve parents who can't help with homework because they are unable to decipher the lessons of their children. To help parents get acquainted with the language, Yargee is developing several tools, including a Cherokee lunch menu designed to teach adults the names of foods. The developing language barrier between adults and children may be a positive sign that shows a revival of the Cherokee dialect that was not experienced in previous generations, Yargee said. School officials say they are thankful to have Yargee, a member of the Cherokee Tribal Council, as a teacher. Yargee has enthusiasm and knowledge that are irreplaceable in teaching, Williams said. "When we asked her to come here, we never dreamed we would get her," Williams said. "She brings a knowledge and experience to the school that is a huge asset to us." Copyright c. 2004 Fort Smith, AR Times-Record. --------- "RE: Jicarilla Apache Nation awarded Thousands" --------- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 08:27:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JOCARILLA HEAD START" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_9914.shtml Jicarilla Apache Nation awarded thousands By The Associated Press March 30, 2004 WASHINGTON - The Jicarilla Apache tribe has been awarded a grant of $720, 574 for its Head Start programs, Rep. Tom Udall announced in a news release. The preschool program was created to increase early childhood development for low-income children by teaching them the basic colors, shapes, numbers, and letters of the alphabet. They are also taught socialization skills like sharing with others and learning to interact in a group. In addition, the program helps parents with childcare training, understanding, and support. "These federal dollars will make a real difference for children enrolled in the Head Start program at Jicarilla," Udall said. "By funding the Head Start programs, we are taking a major step forward in preparing our children for the future. Proper early childhood development requires a safe and structured learning environment that prepares kids to succeed to the best of their abilities." Head Start, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a child development program that serves low-income children ages 3-5 and their families, while the Early Head Start program is provided for children up to the age of three. The program has been serving low-income children and their families since 1965 by providing access to services they need to increase their child's readiness for school. Head Start also benefits working families who need the support of these programs so they can continue to work and provide for their families. Udall is the vice-chairman of the Congressional Native American Caucus. Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: Cherokee Tribe purchases Will Rogers Downs" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:50:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CNO PLAN THOROUGHBRED RACING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/newsview.asp?recno=43414&subsec=1 Cherokee tribe purchases Will Rogers Downs, plans horse racing March 24, 2004 Cherokee Nation Enterprises recently purchased Will Rogers Downs for an undisclosed amount, according to an announcement on Wednesday, and is expected to revive horse racing at the Claremore, Oklahoma, track after completing a $2-million renovation to the facility. The track, located 25 miles northeast of Tulsa, currently hosts motorcycle racing and has not held live horse racing since 2001, but is the only mile oval outside of Remington Park in Oklahoma City. No sale price was released, but Rogers County (Oklahoma) officials assessed the track's value in 2004 at $2,859,842. The track was purchased from Gary Adams, who purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1996 in name of Cottonwood LLC. The Cherokees became the second tribe to purchase an Oklahoma racing facility. The Choctaws paid $4.2-million for Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw. Interestingly, Blue Ribbon sits on Cherokee-owned land. Will Rogers Downs became more attractive for purchase after the state Legislature approved a measure allowing for Class II electronic gaming at three of the state's four racetracks. Under the language of the bill, the track would have to hold 600 races annually, though that number could be negotiated down with approval of the Oklahoma Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. Will Rogers and Blue Ribbon Downs were each allotted 250 gaming machines, Remington was allotted 650, and Fair Meadows in Tulsa, which was not allotted any gaming machines, will share a percentage of gaming machine revenue from tribes located near the track. "We have great plans for the track," David Stewart, chief executive officer of Cherokee Nation Enterprises told the Native American Times. "We're excited about the opportunity to be involved in the racing industry and support it in Oklahoma." Will Rogers has no assigned racing dates for 2004, but the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission would work with them quickly if dates were sought, commission Executive Director Gordon Hare said. "We did the same for the Choctaw Nation after they bought Blue Ribbon Downs last November," Hare said. "We were able to issue [the Choctaws] a license in January. We had to do an emergency amendment to do that." Hare spoke briefly with a Cherokee official on Wednesday and understood a capital improvement project of $2-million would come first before a request for race days. The improvements were expected to take six months and make racing in 2005 more likely, Hare added. "We're ready to accommodate the Cherokee Nation." - John D. Ferguson Copyright c. 2004 Thoroughbred Times. --------- "RE: Lumbee Recognition Bill set for Hearing" --------- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 08:27:16 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LUMBEE RECOGNITION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4178 Lumbee recognition bill set for hearing Move not supported by many tribes WASHINGTON DC Sam Lewin March 29, 2004 A hearing on official federal recognition for a North Carolina tribe takes place this week, and there is no shortage of opponents and supporters of the move. The House Resources Committee will consider on Thursday a bill that would give immediate recognition to the Lumbee Tribe. The North Carolina- based tribe has been petitioning Congress for recognition for over a century now. The movement gathered steam when North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole and Rep. Mike McIntyre submitted legislation that would circumvent the usual process. Dole testified that the 1956 Lumbee Act is patently unfair because while recognizing the tribe in theory, it also denies members the usual benefits that go with recognition. "The Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties in North Carolina are descendants of coastal North Carolina Indian tribes, principally Cheraw, and have remained a distinct Indian community since the time of contact with white settlers," states McIntyre's bill. If the Lumbees are eventually successful in their bid, the tribe's 53, 000 members would be in line for many lucrative government subsidies. The Eastern Band of Cherokees is opposed, along with the United South and Eastern Tribes, a coalition representing 24 tribes. "It is a fundamental issue," Band Principal Chief Michell Hicks told the Native American Times. "We want this group to prove they are a true Indian tribe, with the land base and language of an Indian tribe." All questions to the Lumbees are referred to Tribal Governance Officer Ruth Locklear. Locklear's assistant said she would be out of the office all week. In addition to Dole, the Lumbees have the support of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, which voted overwhelmingly in October to pass the Lumbee Bill on to the Senate floor. Hicks thinks supporters are motivated by other than fair-mindedness. "I think it's political. It undermines the process that is in place," he said. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Payback time on the Columbia for Chinook" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHINOOK SURVIVAL" http://www.columbian.com/03222004/front_pa/128340.html Tribal Voices: Payback time on the Columbia By DEAN BAKER, Columbian staff writer March 22, 2004 All winter, Chinook tribal Councilman Greg Robinson slogged through ankle-deep mud to direct construction of a $300,000 replica Indian longhouse at the Ridgefield Wildlife National Refuge. It's been dirty, tough work building a longhouse just as his ancestors did it, with hand chisels and the backbreaking hefting of posts and planks. "This helps our cause," said the 47-year-old Robinson. "That's a big reason to do this." Robinson is one of 2,338 members of the Chinook Tribe, which is planning to use the commemoration of the Lewis and Clark expedition bicentennial as a springboard to lobby for legal recognition. The tribe, which has 59 members in Clark County, has been seeking legal status from the federal government for 53 years. Recognition would make the tribe eligible for funds for education, health care and business development. The Chinook believe the bicentennial will bring the kind of visibility that should translate into pressure on Congress and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They hope thousands of history buffs will be persuaded that the Chinook, who helped keep the Corps of Discovery from freezing and starving in the coastal rains of 1805-1806, are now being treated unfairly by the U. S. government. "It's just simply not fair," said Gary Johnson, 61, a Willapa Bay native and longtime school counselor at South Bend High School. "This is truly a fight for survival." In this political atmosphere, the longhouse at Ridgefield, called the Cathlapotle Plank House, becomes a dual-purpose project. It's both a cultural education center and a public relations tool to help breathe new life into the Chinook Tribe. Already, members of the tribe are using the plank house to raise their visibility by conducting classes on Chinook traditions at the site in Ridgefield. They're teaching tribal members, and anyone else who is interested, how to make cordage to bind together the longhouse planks, split cedar by hand to make planks, and find natural dyes in the forest. The Chinook plan to have elders on duty demonstrating skills such as basketry and canoe building when the plank house is complete. "We want to show people how our ancestors did this for centuries on this land," said Robinson, a former plastering contractor who grew up listening to stories of the old days from his Chinook elders. Apart from the plank house, the Chinook Tribe plans to take its case to the public in a variety of ways. Members are fashioning canoes to be used in festivals connected to the bicentennial and are taking part in planning bicentennial developments such as the Confluence Project: a series of historical sculptures designed by Maya Lin along the Columbia River. Beyond Lewis and Clark-related projects, members are demonstrating their commitment to traditional Chinook fishing and farming, which is essential in making the case that the tribe continues to exist. The Bureau of Indian Affairs argues the 5,000 pages of testimony the tribe has submitted since 1951 to gain legal recognition fail to prove the "substantially continuous" existence of the chinook between 1873 and 1951. The BIA has recognized 562 tribes in the United States, 29 in Washington. Complicating the Chinook case is the fact that the government itself forced the tribe to move off its lands and disband more than a century ago. As a result, Chinook culture and political systems were blended with those of other tribes. The Quinault, for example, have repeatedly argued against recognition of the Chinook as a legal tribe. "It's the Catch-22," said Larry Goodrow, Chinook administrator. "The federal government forced them from their homeland to other areas, and then wouldn't allow them to return. That had a direct effect on their ability to re-establish themselves as a government." The Chinook once numbered 16,000 souls, dominating the coast and Columbia River. In 1805, Lewis and Clark found them in dozens of longhouses in villages along the river in what is now Clark County. Some lived at the village of Cathlapotle, near the site of the replica longhouse. Without legal status, they are now little more than a social club scrambling for funds. Ten miles from the longhouse site, Robinson's cousin and fellow tribal councilman, Sam Robinson, 47, served coffee to motorists in February at Gee Creek rest area on Interstate 5 to raise money. Tribal members collected $380 at the coffee stand one weekend, $570 on another. The donations are needed to operate the tribe's headquarters, in the corner of an abandoned school building with a leaking roof in the town of Chinook. It is five miles north of Station Camp, where Chinook ancestors met Lewis and Clark. As he poured cups of coffee, Robinson talked Indian politics to the coffee drinkers, linking the Chinook to Lewis and Clark. "A lot of people were interested in our plight," he said. "They were just totally shocked at where we are at today. They say they studied about us in school, and don't understand how we could not be recognized." Making a home on the bay Even without recognition, members of the Chinook tribe run an active tribal government from their coastal office, answering daily questions from state, federal and local governments and the public. Members are scattered all over the West. The largest community includes a few hundred Chinook in Bay Center and Willapa Bay, in Ilwaco and South Bend and up the coast to Moclips. Among the busiest centers of tribal activity are Bay Center and Willapa Bay. Chinook elder George Lagergren, 82, and his wife Milly, 74, have raised nine children on Willapa Bay, always living in community with their Chinook neighbors, fishing and farming. They've shared food, festivals, political interests and the parenting of children. "Our family has always lived and played together here, and the neighbors have been welcome," said Lagergren, a soft-spoken elder who recalls Bay Center when it was accessible only by boat a half-century ago. Milly Lagergren makes traditional Chinook baskets, including one now in the Smithsonian Institution, where it illustrates living, traditional Chinook art. She hopes its display in the national gallery builds the credibility of the Chinook and will help in efforts to gain legal tribal status. Most recently, Lagergren has rallied to get his children to help him make five canoes for tribal ceremonies and to use in re-enactments during the bicentennial celebrations. They have set up shop in a shed in Lagergren's cow pasture, where the family chips away at cedar logs that will eventually take shape into canoes. "We want to go out and meet any re-enactors, and make them know the Chinook skills," said Lagergren. His most politically active daughter, Chinook Councilwoman Peggy Disney, 44, is building one of the canoes. She lives down the road from her father. Disney and her husband, Terry, 45, find, wash and sell Manila or steamer clams, much as their ancestors did for hundreds of years. To supply their company, Manke Seafood, the Disneys hire 10 Chinook diggers to gather the clams, which they sell to Ocean Beauty in Astoria, which supplies restaurants from Kalaloch, on the Washington coast, to Florence, Ore. On the tribal council for nine years, Disney believes the Chinook need to sue the federal government over the issue of legal status. With tribal recognition, she says, the Chinook could use government financial assistance to clean up pollution in the bay and nurture its shellfish yield. As it is, there is no funding for environmental work. The elders A mile from the Lagergrens and the Disney clam operation, elders of the tribe live in homes along Willapa Bay. Sam Pickernell, 76; Phil Hawks, 67, and Willard Frank, 79, all remain active in witnessing for the continuity of the tribe merely by living in the traditional way. Pickernell, a dark, round man, is the last Chinook who had a home on Long Island, a three-by-seven-mile sliver of ancient tribal land now set aside in Willapa Bay as a wildlife refuge. In the 1940s, the government forced Pickernell's family to move off the island. He was sent to government school, where he was forbidden to speak Chinook and required to live as a white man. It didn't take. Pickernell still speaks his native language as well as English. He retired this year after running an oyster dredge and a fleet of fishing boats in the bay for decades. A member of both the Chinook and Quinault tribes, Pickernell continues to buy clams and fish and truck his goods to reservations throughout Western Washington. "I just work, and when I get enough money together, I party. Drink a little, have a good time," he said. His traditional way of life is the centerpiece of the continuous Chinook existence, tribal leaders said. "He is a treasure," said tribal Chairman Johnson. "We just appreciate him for who he is." Hawks, a soft-spoken retired logger, fisherman and Bay Center fire chief, is a living example of the tribe's longevity. He's a tribal councilman and the last member raised at Goose Point, a settlement near Bay Center that no longer exists. The settlement was torn down in the 1930s when the Indians were forced by the government to move to the Quinault Reservation, the cities and into Bay Center or farther up the coast. Frank, a fisherman descended from Chinook dating before Lewis and Clark, has lived his entire life in Bay Center and now is disabled with heart failure. He lives with his grandson, Dave Bennett, 31, an oysterman and truck driver. "I don't fish now," he said, clicking through channels on the television. "No, no, no more." "He don't do too much now," said Bennett, leaning in a doorway. "But I fish a little, and do oysters. We make out." It's Bennett who continues the Chinook tradition by fishing. Many Chinook, like Bennett, have a lot at stake in talking about their deep roots in the area and ensuring the tribe's history is widely known. Cliff Snider, 77, is honorary chief for life of the Chinook. He served 25 years on the tribal council and speaks in many venues to adults and often visits classrooms to educate children about his tribe. On a visit to Image Elementary School in February, Snider dressed in a traditional button blanket, with hat and feathers. He delighted 100 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders with tales about his ancestors, including the great Chief Coboway, who met Lewis and Clark. A star football player at Oregon State University and a longtime coach at a Portland high school, where a football field is named in his honor, Snider travels across America to Lewis and Clark events, telling the Chinook story. "The bicentennial is a perfect vehicle for us to bring awareness of our tribe to everyone in America," said Snider. Among those in his corner is U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, who admits the recognition process is stalled. One route still open is congressional action, bypassing the BIA, Baird said. Eleven Indian tribes have been recognized through congressional action, rather than through the BIA, in the past 30 years, he said. Congress also has given seven additional tribes some benefits. "We want to make sure a bill has a chance for passage before we introduce it," said Baird. "The problem is that the committee in charge of this tends to defer to the BIA." To Tony Johnson, 33, the tribe's cultural chairman and the son of the Chinook chairman, the Lewis and Clark bicentennial is strictly an opportunity to gain status for the tribe. He teaches Chinook jargon, the traditional trade language, to Grand Ronde Indian children in Oregon. "Our people are not ones who want to call attention to themselves," Johnson said. "But this bicentennial has focused attention on us without us asking, and so it gives us an opportunity to push what has to happen, which is our tribal status. "Chinook are only going to survive in the future if we get our status. We desperately need to have new life breathed into our community because right now, the elders are dying, and there is no incentive for our people to remain in our community." Stanley Speaks, northwest regional director for the BIA in Portland and a Chickasaw Indian, said he believes the Chinook still may gain government recognition. "It's a long shot," he said. "But they are not going to give up. I'm not so sure they got all their historical data pulled together in a timely way as was asked, but maybe they can get a chance to do that, and time changes a lot of things." He said he believes the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark may give the tribal recognition efforts a boost. "That name, Chinook, is quite famous, and Lewis and Clark may never have made it back east without the Chinook." Chinook Portraits George Lagergren George Lagergren, 82, a lifelong farmer at Bay Center, relaxes in his home, which is filled with Indian art. A Chinook elder, he paints portraits of such heroes as Chief Joseph and Sitting Bull. He and his nine children are chiseling canoes from cedar logs to help tell the Chinook story during the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. Milly Lagergren Milly Lagergren of Bay Center shows a basket she made in traditional Chinook style, complete with spirit figures mingled with tribal members carrying on daily life. Another of her many baskets is on display in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where she hopes its display demonstrates the vitality of her tribe. Greg Robinson Chinook tribal Councilman Greg Robinson relaxes amid elk antlers and strips of cedar, raw materials that are being used to build an American Indian longhouse at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Sam Pickernell and Wynona Pickernell Chinook fisherman Sam Pickernell poses with his daughter Wynona Pickernell near their homes on Willapa Bay at Bay Center, Wash. The Pickernell family can be traced back centuries on the coast. They have spent their lives fishing for oysters and salmon and gathering clams, as did their ancestors. TRIBAL VOICES Reflections on Lewis & Clark Tribal Voices is a continuing series. The first story, on Dec. 29, 2003, featured Wasco weaver Pat Courtney Gold. It can be found in The Columbian archive, www.columbian.com. Dean Baker writes about American Indians. Reach him at 360-759-8009 or e-mail dean.baker@columbian.com Copyright c. 2004 by The Columbian Publishing Co. --------- "RE: Coquille Tribe completes purchase of Weyco Land" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COQUILLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2004/03/23/news/news03.txt Tribe completes purchase of Weyco land March 23, 2004 The Coquille Economic Development Corporation has completed its purchase of 50.5 acres of North Bend waterfront property from Weyerhaeuser Co., opening the way to the development of lands that have lain dormant since the wood-products firm abandoned its sawmill and shipping facility there. In a Friday press release, CEDCO, the economic arm of the Coquille Indian Tribe, announced the closing of the land sale, more than three months after the two companies first announced a deal was imminent. The sale follows a 75-day due-diligence period during which Weyerhaeuser executives reviewed the tribe's offer. Terms were not disclosed on Friday. In December, CEDCO chief executive Brady Scott said the purchase price was close to the timber company's last quoted figure in January 2003, about $6.5 million. Also Friday, the development agency announced it purchased the 1-acre site of the former Cutlips Creamery building, northwest of the Weyerhaeuser land, which has been on sale for several years. That property will be integrated into the newly purchased waterfront lot, according to the tribe. The site of a Weyerhaeuser sawmill between 1950 and 1989 - the former mill building to the south later formed the kernel of The Mill Casino- Hotel, opened in 1995 by the Coquille tribe - the waterfront property has not been used since 1999, when the timber company closed its lumber and wood-chip export terminal there. Sale negotiations between Weyerhaeuser and CEDCO began in 2001 and the two sides completed a tentative deal in late November 2003. CEDCO's announcement said the Coquille tribe is developing a master plan for the former Weyerhaeuser and Cutlips lands, possibly including retail stores, but gave few other details. Scott, the tribal company's CEO, has said the redevelopment plan will include improved waterfront access and links to the North Bend Urban Renewal Waterfront Project directly to the north. Work on the master plan, which also may feature the construction of a recreational vehicle park, was set to begin two months after completion of the purchase and be finished six to 12 months later, he said in December. Scott was returning Sunday night from an Oregon trade mission to China and could not be reached for comment. Copyright c. 2004 Southwestern Oregon Publishing Company. --------- "RE: Duwamish long for Longhouse" --------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:22:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LONGHOUSE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/166709_gcenter29.html Duwamish long for longhouse; tribe has land, just need a little more money By LEWIS KAMB SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER March 29, 2004 "We will build it," declares Cecile Hansen, sweeping a hand across a tiny, bramble-tangled parcel in the busy industrial sector along the Duwamish River's western shore -- the only land her people have owned in nearly 150 years. The construction Hansen speaks of is a project more than 2 1/2 decades in the making; an off-again, on-again dream of a tribal longhouse and cultural center that's about to become reality -- if, that is, the Duwamish Indian Tribe can muster up a relatively few more dollars. For the people whose greatest leader lent his name to Washington's largest city, it seems there's always a condition attached: If we give up our land ... ; If the federal government recognizes us ... ; If we raise enough money ... Conditions have haunted this tribe pretty much since the arrival of white settlers here in the 19th century, when the Duwamish -- the "people of the inside" -- roamed, hunted, fished and otherwise thrived across an area that stretched from what's now Federal Way to modern-day Edmonds. That all changed in 1855, when Sealth -- the son of a Duwamish mother and Suquamish father -- and several other appointed leaders of Puget Sound-area tribes signed the Treaty of Point Elliott. In exchange for giving up some 54,000 acres of the tribe's ancestral lands to Washington's Territorial government, the Duwamish Tribe was promised a reservation of its own. Washington got the tribe's land, where the city that bears the chief's name now largely stands. The Duwamish, meanwhile, are still waiting for a reservation. Fast-forward 145 years to the waning hours of the Clinton presidency, when, after more than 25 years of petitioning, the Duwamish won federal acknowledgement that the tribe was, indeed, a tribe. But the victory was short-lived. The incoming Bush administration quickly yanked the status that would have brought with it federal money for tribal government, health care, housing, social services and cultural programs -- and the chance for the Duwamish to create a reservation. The Interior Department ruled that the tribe failed to meet three of the seven criteria required for federal recognition, essentially deeming the Duwamish extinct. But try telling Hansen -- the spunky tribal elder and great, great, great niece of Chief Sealth -- that neither she nor 569 others who count themselves Duwamish don't exist. Since becoming the tribe's chairwoman in 1975, Hansen has made it her life's mission to say otherwise. "We're still here -- and always will be," she says. "We just have to educate the community that the Duwamish are still here." And that's why the plans for a small chunk of land along a major West Seattle shipping route are so important, she says; plans that are so close to fruition, but face at least one more obstacle before a blueprint can become a building: raising about $1.5 million. "Nowhere in the city is there really anything that recognizes the Duwamish," Hansen says. The Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center would change that. First envisioned more than two decades ago, the center housed in a traditional tribal family dwelling aims to provide the Duwamish with a place to gather to conduct tribal business, spiritual ceremonies and cultural events. At the same time, it would offer Seattle a facility for group rentals and field trips amid exhibits about Duwamish culture and history, affording the public a chance to learn about the tribe's significance to the Northwest. But over the years, the dream largely has remained just that -- a dream. "They were always overstretched, just running on fumes," said Byron Barnes, a local architect and member of the Montana-based Blackfeet tribe who for years has planned the longhouse with Hansen. Then, four years ago, a privately owned, roughly half-acre plot along West Marginal Way in the middle of bustling Port of Seattle operations became available. The tiny site wasn't much to look at: It was wild with blackberry bushes, littered with junk cars and abutted a steep, overgrown hillside. But in cultural terms, it was perfect for the Duwamish. The land overlooks the Duwamish River Valley where the tribe once flourished, and is situated near the former site of an ancient tribal village, hah-AH-poos, where some of the tribe's largest archeological discoveries have been made. "The price wasn't attractive," Barnes said, "but the location was." Through private donations and a Washington State Historical Society grant, the tribe financed the property. And last month, when the tribe paid off its mortgage, the land became the first piece of real estate the Duwamish has owned outright in nearly a century and a half. "Isn't it awful that Indians have to buy their land back?" asks Hansen. "We think it's about time we finally have a place of our own." In the meantime, momentum started building behind the project. With the help of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, the tribe secured a $275,000 city neighborhood matching grant for construction. Nickels also helped the tribe get a master-use permit for a cultural project in an area zoned industrial -- what Barnes calls a normally "iffy" proposition. Through other grants and private and public donations, including those from such heavyweights as Paul Allen and The Boeing Co., the tribe has raised about half of the $3 million needed for the longhouse and related costs, Hansen said. But now, the project's master-use permit is about to expire. By the end of April, the tribe must apply for a building permit and move toward construction, Barnes said. To raise the rest of the money and meet matching fund obligations, the tribe and its allies have staged several recent fund-raisers. Last week, Bill Speidel's Underground Tour helped organize an event at Doc Maynard's in Pioneer Square, emphasizing the historic friendship between Chief Seattle and the nightclub's namesake -- one of the city's founding fathers, Dr. David "Doc" Maynard. The tribe raised about $1,500 from the event in two hours, Hansen said. Now the tribe hopes others will join the cause to preserve a part of Washington's history and perpetuate a people somehow largely erased from it. "This longhouse won't just be for us," Hansen says. "It will be for everyone who lives and visits Seattle. ... We're going to build this thing, we just need a little help." FACTS ABOUT THE DUWAMISH LONGHOUSE AND CULTURAL CENTER PROJECT * The longhouse will be built with modern and traditional building materials, but its four foundation posts and crossbeam will be made of cedar -- traditionally used to build such structures. * The facility will occupy about 6,000 square feet. It will include a kitchen, gift shop, main meeting area and exhibit space on the main floor, with office space on a mezzanine level. Outdoor gathering areas, trails and parking will also be available. * The tribe is working with the UW's Burke Museum to obtain Duwamish tribal artifacts on loan from the museum to exhibit at the longhouse. * The tribe hopes to begin construction this year and complete it by the end of 2005. Total cost is about $3 million. * Project supporters say the longhouse will be the first built in Seattle in about 150 years. For more information about the project, or to make a donation, call 206-431-1582. P-I reporter Lewis Kamb can be reached at 206-448-8336 or lewiskamb@seattlepi.com Copyright c. 2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. --------- "RE: Sauk-Suiattle seek to restore Goat Herds" --------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:22:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAUK-SUIATTLE GOATS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://seattlepi.nwsource.com//local/166730_goat29.html Tribe seeks to restore dwindling goat herds By KARI NEUMEYER SKAGIT VALLEY HERALD March 29, 2004 MOUNT VERNON - The North Cascades mountain goat and the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe have long been interdependent. In the past, the goats were a source of meat and wool. Today, the tribe is trying to help restore the goat herds after decades of decline. Historically, the North Cascades were home to thousands of tribal members and mountain goats. After European colonization, the Sauk-Suiattle population reached its low around 1920, when there were just 17 people. Since then, the tribe has rebounded to about 200, but the mountain goats have dwindled in numbers to about 100. Lawrence Joseph, who is descended from a Sauk chief who founded the mountain goat clan within the tribe, said his ancestors understood the herds. "They traveled up to the hills to study the goat herd, to monitor the goat herd to find out which goat is getting too old for the herd, they understood that. Not contributing to the herd anymore, that's the one they'd take for food," he said. "They didn't go up there just to shoot any goat." The Southeastern Skagit County tribe is working with several state and federal agencies to find out why the mountain goat population is shrinking. The tribe wants to develop a plan to restore the species. Last fall, a team led by biologist Cliff Rice of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife tranquilized and collared about 30 mountain goats, fitting them with global positioning system transmitters. Each collar is programmed to periodically record the goat's location. When the scientists fly close enough to the animals, they download the data from the collar by radio link, Rice said. The collars also transmit a signal so that the researchers can locate the goats. "One of the issues here is, what the animals are doing varies a lot, not just season to season but year to year," Rice said. "We don't want to draw any conclusions from one winter or one summer." The team plans to continue the research for at least two years, studying the habitat and population dynamics, he said. Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded about $170, 000 to the project, as part of its Tribal Wildlife Grant Program. The project should cost about $400,000 in 2004, Rice said. A number of factors may have contributed to the mountain goats' decline, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, including overhunting, past timber harvest practices, predation, changes in habitat and a mineral deficiency exacerbated by acid rain. The mountain goat is as important to the mountain tribe as whales are to some of the coastal tribes, said Joseph, 64, a hereditary chief. A white mountain goat is central to the tribe's new logo. "They provided food for us, they provided wool," Joseph said. Copyright c. 2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. --------- "RE: Truth joins Salmon as casualty of Water spill Wars" --------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:22:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SALMON LIES" http://www.indiancountry.com/?1080573564 Truth joins salmon as casualty of water spill wars March 29, 2004 by: Jerry Reynolds / Washington D.C. correspondent / Indian Country Today WASHINGTON - Twenty-four salmon will swim to the ends of the oceans and back again while truth is getting its toes wet, it seems. Rising salmon numbers after years of demise have put them in the thick of the "always contentious battle over cheap juice" in the region, said Charles Hudson, communications director for Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. The rumor in this case is that 24 returning salmon cost the region $38 million in hydroelectric generating capacity lost to dam water spills. The deliberate spills are designed to assist juvenile salmon in their journey to the Pacific Ocean, where they fatten and gain strength for their return journey. But the lost hydroelectric generating capacity represented by the spills results in higher electricity rates for the whole region, according to this particular rumor, with only 24 home-from-the-ocean salmon to show for it. "To say it's a misrepresentation doesn't even begin to say what a misrepresentation it is," Hudson said. The actual number of salmon that return throughout the Columbia River Basin due to spill is always up for debate, but most estimates put it in the multiple tens of thousands annually. Speaking for the commission Hudson added, "We believe unequivocally that spill is the best way to pass juvenile salmon through the turbines [the electricity-generating engines at dams] - with dams in place it is the best way." Bonneville Power Administration, the region's leading electricity marketing agency, is under consumer pressure to fulfill rate-reduction promises it made in a previous economic crisis, in return for permission to raise its rates at that time, Hudson said. In seeking a way to fulfill its promises, BPA seized upon a pilot test plan for limited spill reductions, and began to present it as a permanent region-wide rollback in summer water spill at dams on the Columbia River. Less water spilled for salmon would mean more electricity for BPA to market to the region's public utilities districts, and the rising supply would result in lower prices for consumers, getting BPA off the hook for its earlier promises. Meanwhile, the higher salmon returns made it politically feasible to dwell on spill, even though reducing spill is known to reduce the number of juvenile salmon that make it to sea. "They went after the thing they thought they could get politically," Hudson said. Fifty-four Northwest tribes have condemned the BPA spill-reduction proposal as damaging to salmon, and now Alaska Natives have joined them. But that didn't stop the now-notorious distortion to the effect that 24 salmon cost the Northwest $38 million. A public utilities district in the region came up with it in the course of lobbying BPA and public opinion for less spill, and so lower rates for its customers. But the figures are drawn from a limited study of only one salmon run, the fall Chinook, at only one Columbia River dam, Ice Harbor. The numbers doctors then extrapolated from that limited study to all salmon runs at dams throughout the Columbia River Basin to come up with their 24-for-$38 million sound bite. Furthermore, independent scientific review had already found the scientific modeling in the study "marginally useful" in studying only juvenile salmon, at Bonneville Dam only. In other words, the study provided no valid way, based on the spill at Bonneville Dam, to determine an "adult equivalent" of returned mature salmon from juvenile salmon on their way to sea - many less mature salmon returned to Ice Harbor, where the federal commitment to barging salmon past dams is in full force (lower returns would be expected below Ice Harbor, as barging salmon on their seaward journey is generally considered to reduce their returning numbers). In the background of all this is a federal plan to protect Northwest salmon. A federal judge found it inadequate and ordered improvements, but left it in place during a one-year remand of the plan to lower courts for reconsideration. A summer water spill program at Northwest dams is part of the still legally binding plan. "We believe this is why the federal agencies have been doing this [the spill reduction proposal] by sleight-of-hand," Hudson said. "There's been nothing firm put on paper... They've got a plan they're verbally shopping around." In view of the already-promised pricing benefits electricity consumers might expect to get for agreeing to future spill reductions, he added, "Blackmail is not too strong a word." Congress is beginning to look beyond the 24-for-$38 million numbers that got so much attention, Hudson said. The week of March 15, Patricia Zell of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs was in Portland for meetings with CRITFC and BPA, he added. Copyright c. 2004 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: School District to build over Anasazi Ruins" --------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GALLUP SCHOOL DISTRICT TO BUILD ON ANASAZI VILLAGE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/032604school.html School district to build over Anasazi ruins; local reaction mixed By Zsombor Peter Staff Writer March 26, 2004 GALLUP - One morning late last month, more than 30 parents of Chee Dodge Elementary School gathered around the 1,000-year-old Anasazi ruins at the southeast corner of the school. For some four hours, local medicine man Franklin Yazzie lead the group in a ceremony to purify the site of the ancestral spirits some Navajo believe were still inhabiting the ruins. With that, McKinley County school district administrators say their plans to expand the school can get underway again. But what the community thinks of that is less clear. The ruins, along with pottery shards and nearby human remains, were unearthed last summer during the course of clearing the site for a $3 million extension to the Yah-Ta-Hey school. Discovery of the ruins, in the direct path of the proposed extension, pushed the construction date back, first to give archeologists a chance to excavate, chart and clear the site, and again once school began in September by community concerns about the danger the site was posing to students. Navajo tradition holds that those who disturb the remains or artifacts of their ancestors, even those merely in their vicinity, potentially invite sickness upon themselves. Though community input was mixed on whether people were comfortable with building the extension over the ruins or wanted it built elsewhere, Principal Danny Smith said, parents were clear on one point: they wanted the district to explore its options. But according to Assistant Superintendent of Support Services Leonard Haskie, who is overseeing the project, that didn't happen. On the local Rough Rock chapter's advice, Haskie said, he discussed the possibility of purifying the site with Yazzie, who OKd the idea, and moved on with the original plan. With costs already sunk into preparations for an extension over the Anasazi ruins, Haskie said the project's fixed budget precluded the additional costs of considering alternative sites. "The big concern was getting the (state mandated) architectural survey, getting it done and not being sure what else was out there," said Smith. With over 20 archeological sites already registered within a one-mile radius of the school, the district couldn't be certain what else it would find around Chee Dodge Elementary. "If we did explore another site, we could find something else," he said. And with each discovered site comes the cost and time of another archeological excavation. There would also be the added costs of redesigning the expansion for any other site, costs, Smith said, that would force the district to scale down the project's size and mean fewer new classrooms for the students. Because planning had already begun, Haskie said, moving the expansion anywhere else would drive the project's costs up. Instead of putting a hold on the planning when the district hit upon the ruins last summer to consider other options at that point, however, the district went on planning for that site while archeologists went to work. Haskie said the original site for the extension over the ruins offered the only viable option and provided for the best possible circulation of people through and around the school. But gauging the community's opinion hasn't been easy, not least of all because of the sparse involvement in the debate from the parents of the school's 400 or so students. After a few moderately attended PTO meetings, Smith sent home a survey with each student late last year soliciting additional feedback. Although only a paltry 49 were returned, 27 just over half opposed building the expansion over the ruins. Although two families were considering transferring their children to other schools, Smith said, that hasn't happened yet. Among them were Gabriel and Dorothy Claw, who have a son and daughter at the school. "I think it's still wrong," Gabriel Claw said of the district's decision to go ahead with its original plan. "They dug those homes up, and I guess they don't understand that it's still sickness ... They think that just because they removed (the artifacts and remains) it's not a problem to anybody." Though the negative effects of the ruins can take years to manifest themselves, he said, the Claws still plan to enroll their children elsewhere next year. The reproach of some staff for publicly opposing the plan, he said, has only encouraged them to follow through. Claw says there's more opposition to the planned extension over the ruins within the community, but believes those voices have apprehensions about speaking out. Haskie expects construction to begin in July or August. He said the district has already hired an architecture firm to draw up the designs. But until then, Claw said the district could at the very least cover up the ruins to help keep students away. Even the yellow security tape that once ran around the walls, he said, is gone. The district's plan calls for an 18,000-square-food extension connected to the school's southeast corner with 16 classrooms to replace the 19 portables currently standing behind Chee Dodge Elementary. It would roughly double the building's current size. The Independent had several more questions for Haskie: What was the district doing during the months between last year's meetings at the school at which community members voiced their concerns of the expansion and the Feb. 25 purification? Why did the district continue planning for the original sight following the discovery of the ruins without community input? What would the costs have been to consider alternative sights? etc. But Haskie ended the interview after accusing this reporter of not paying attention and of consistently reporting inaccurate information. Copyright v. 2004 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Piestewa Kin seek end to Peak fray" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PIESTEWA" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0324Piestewa24.html Piestewa kin seek end to peak fray Robbie Sherwood and Betty Reid The Arizona Republic March 24, 2004 Tribal leaders and family members of fallen Army Spc. Lori Piestewa made an emotional plea on Tuesday at the state Capitol to stop legislation they fear could restore the word "squaw" to the peak renamed in her honor. The crowded state Senate hearing took place between two spiritual gatherings in Phoenix to mark the first anniversary of Piestewa's death on March 23, 2003, in the early days of the Iraq war. Legislators are considering two measures aimed at overhauling the state board that changed the name of Squaw Peak in northeast Phoenix to Piestewa Peak. Lori's mother, Priscilla "Percy" Piestewa of Tuba City objected to the proposals during a hearing before the Senate Government Committee. "We should keep the name of the peak and not make it into a political issue that's going to make the indigenous people feel, well, here we are, they are Indian givers again," she said. "For many years we allowed this to happen to us, and we feel very strongly that we don't want that to happen again." Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor said the political debate over the peak is disrespectful and trivializing of Piestewa's service and sacrifice. "Let us put this ugly political wound aside and let Lori Piestewa have the peace that she fought for," Taylor said. Gov. Janet Napolitano drew praise and criticism last year when her staff pressured the Arizona Geographic and Historic Names Board to vote to rename the mountaintop. Piestewa, a Hopi from Tuba City, was the nation's first female American Indian service member killed in combat. Legislators, who said board members bent the rules, responded with bills to revamp the board. Because some members of the Senate committee were absent Tuesday, the group temporarily held off voting on House Concurrent Resolution 2036, previously approved by the House. It would ask voters to hand over control of the geographic names board to the Legislature rather than the governor. House Bill 2007 would do essentially the same thing without requiring voter approval but faces a likely veto by Napolitano. Rep. Phil Hanson, sponsor of the measures, said he does not want to rename Piestewa Peak. He wants to wrest control of the naming board from the governor because she and her staff were heavy-handed in pushing for the renaming. "The intention was never to change the name back to Squaw Peak," said Hanson, R-Peoria. "My person has been impugned over this. I have been called a racist and worse." But tribal leaders said they were skeptical of Hanson's motives because he has fought off amendments that would prevent a new board from revisiting the Piestewa Peak naming. Raphael Bear, president of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, sent a statement that disputed Hanson's testimony. "Despite the disavowals of the bill's sponsors, we remain convinced that the true purposes of these bills are to embarrass the governor and revert the name of Piestewa Peak to Squaw Peak," Bear said. Earlier Tuesday, about 200 people gathered at the foot of Piestewa Peak for a sunrise memorial. Many, including 11 members of the Tuba City High School's JROTC female color guard, traveled from Piestewa's hometown in northern Arizona to take part. The Phoenix Oyate Singers drummed and sang. Then Piestewa's father, Terry, offered a prayer in Hopi. The event ended with a Catholic Mass and mariachi music. The rituals represented her faith and her Indian and Latino background. The young Hopi-Hispanic mother of two was ambushed with her 507th Maintenance Company after missing a turn. The support unit had been traveling into the city of Nasiriyah, Iraq. Piestewa was 23. Bill Whiterock of Tuba City, Piestewa's ex-husband, traveled to Phoenix to attend Tuesday's sunrise service. Events of this nature continue to unleash fresh painful memories, he said. Though the couple divorced shortly before Piestewa's unit departed for Iraq, Whiterock said he spends a lot of time with their children, especially during the holidays or in between welding and ironworker jobs. "I miss her," Whiterock said. "I see Lori in Carla (their daughter). She's outspoken, and she is very cheerful." Ed Diaz, 73, came to mourn her death but also to celebrate. Diaz, a Tohono O'odham-Yaqui, said he had pushed for years to change the name of the popular hiking trail from Squaw Peak. Like many others, he says the word squaw offends Native Americans. No one listened to his cause, he said. "They were indifferent," Diaz said. "They told me they knew the mountain as Squaw Peak all their lives and it wasn't going to change." The family and supporters regathered for a candlelight rally Tuesday evening at Patriots Square in downtown Phoenix. Not everyone agreed with the decision to change the peak's name. Rita Stroud of Phoenix has a granddauighter who served in Iraq as a Marine. She said she does not understand "all this fuss" about Piestewa and was appalled at the way Napolitano handled the renaming. "I guess because she (Piestewa) was Indian, but it annoys me because we had other Arizonans killed as well," Stroud, 69, said. "To me it's kind of a slap in the face for all the young men and women who have gone because they just keep making a big deal about her. She's not even from Phoenix." Copyright c. 2004 The Arizona Republic. --------- "RE: DOI orders BIA out of Kayenta" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KAYENTA SCHOOL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_9721.shtml DOI orders BIA out of Kayenta By Jim Snyder/The Daily Times March 24, 2004 KAYENTA, Ariz. - A Department of the Interior judge has ordered the Bureau of Indian Affairs to return control of the Kayenta Community School to the Navajo Nation. Judge Andrew Pearlstein, with the Interior Board of Indian Appeals, ruled this past week that the BIA did not follow the Indian Self- Determination and Education Assistance Act and the Tribally Controlled School Act when they took control of the school in September. He recommended the school be returned to control of the Shiprock Alternative School Inc. School Board before the end of this school year. "This decision recommends that BIA-OIEP approve the SASI grant amendment immediately and return control of the Kayenta Community Schools education programs to SASI as soon as practicable," Pearlstein said. The BIA seized control of the Navajo Nation grant school after Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. and Navajo Attorney General Louis Denetsosie wrote letters to Aurene Martin, then acting assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the DOI. Shirley and Denetsosie told Martin the Navajo Council's Intergovernmental Relations Committee had acted improperly when they removed the Kayenta School Board and replaced it with the Shiprock Alternative Schools Inc. School Board. The Council's Education Committee had recommended the action because of alleged problems within the Kayenta School Board, committee Vice Chairman Delegate Wallace Charley of Shiprock said at the time. Those problems allegedly included the Kayenta school board failing to renew the school's three-year contract and the board running up excessive travel expenses, Charley said. The Education Committee discovered the Kayenta School Board had spent $55,000 for mileage, stipends, professional development, meals and lodging for the 2001-02 school year. They spent more than $71,000 for the 2002-03 school year, he added. Further, the Kayenta School Board held a regular meeting Aug. 8, 2002, and collected a $100 stipend. They adjourned and called a special session that afternoon collecting another $60 stipend each, Charley said. The committee removed the Kayenta School Board and replaced it with the Shiprock Alternative School Inc. School Board. Shirley and Denetsosie then wrote the BIA saying the committee's action was improper. The Navajo Council and the Shiprock Alternative Schools Inc. filed an appeal in October against Martin's action. "What he (Shirley) should have said is, `I stand by the Legislature,'" Charley said at the time. Now the tables have turned in favor of the Legislature. "The education committee was not surprised by the judge's decision," Charley said Monday during a phone interview from Washington. The committee, along with Dine' Division of Education acting Director Leland Leonard, is attending the National Indian Education Association conference. "It is no surprise that the judge ruled in favor of the Navajo Nation," Council Speaker Lawrence Morgan said in a news release. There is no doubt that the Education and Intergovernmental Relations Committees were acting within the authority delegated to them through the governing body of the Navajo Nation." The education committee and the Dine' Division of Education oversees 65 schools across the 27,000 square-mile reservation covering parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah in the four corners. Several are BIA schools. The rest are community grant schools. The Kayenta Community School issue had caused a sharp rift between the Shirley administration and the Council. The Education Committee tried to remove Denetsosie - a Shirley appointee - last fall from his job over the incident. Charley accused Denetsosie of siding with the president's office and for allegedly failing to represent the Council in the matter. The attorney general is supposed to represent the Navajo people and all three government branches, Charley said. The Council voted instead, 40-37, to formally reprimand Denetsosie after an education committee member backed off at the last minute from a total recall vote. Shirley called the reprimand vote at the time, "A sad day in the history of our government." Jim Snyder: jims@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: Jemez Pueblo Leaders see Mayor" --------- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 08:09:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ALBUQUERQUE MAYPR SEEKS COOPERATION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.abqjournal.com/~/news/metro/159248metro03-26-04.htm Jemez Pueblo Leaders See Mayor By Jim Ludwick Journal Staff Writer March 26, 2004 Mayor Martin Chavez and leaders of his administration met with Jemez Pueblo Gov. Paul Chinana and other pueblo officials Thursday. It was part of an ongoing effort by Chavez to visit nearby pueblos to become better acquainted and discuss matters of mutual concern. "We want to find ways that we can work better together," Chavez told the group of about 60 people at the meeting. "The days when our respective communities could operate in isolation are long gone. We are interdependent," Chavez said. He said he wants to improve relations between Albuquerque and Jemez Pueblo, starting with "a premise of respect and understanding." Chinana, interviewed during a break at the meeting, said he appreciates the effort by Chavez to reach out. "It is something that I've really wanted for a long time," Chinana said. "We have things in common," he said. "We breathe the same air. We drink the same water. We all live on mother earth. We enjoy the same sun. In everything we do, we need harmony. We all have common goals." The Albuquerque delegation included Jay Czar, the city's chief administrative officer; Nick Bakas, the chief public safety officer; the directors of many city departments and others from the administration. People at the meeting were divided into small groups so officials from each government could talk in detail with their counterparts. A group including Chavez, Chinana and other officials touched on numerous topics: transportation, infrastructure, tourism, equipment needs, the film industry and other subjects, focusing on possibilities for cooperation and mutual assistance. Copyright c. 2004 Albuquerque Journal. --------- "RE: Taught by Elders, they listen and lead" --------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:22:01 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ELDER WAY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4690702.html Taught by elders, they listen and lead Paul Levy, Star Tribune March 29, 2004 Tony LookingElk still relishes the childhood visits he'd make from Minneapolis to South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation. There, he would sit at his grandfather's feet, mesmerized by the soothing cadence of the older man's voice. It mattered little that his grandfather's words were in Lakota, a language LookingElk didn't speak. "I couldn't respond to him, but I listened," LookingElk said. "It's hard to say how important listening is to me." "There is wisdom in the words of our elders," said Justin Kii Huenemann. "When the elders speak, you're there to listen first -- and to learn." LookingElk is 39 and Huenemann is only 30, but the urban Indian community now listens to them -- and with the blessings of some of the community's better-known elders. As cochairmen of the Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors (MUID), leadership body of the urban Indian community, LookingElk and Huenemann are key voices in determining the political, economic and cultural future of the Little Earth community. Meeting with policeTom WallaceStar Tribune"It's an interesting dynamic because in Indian culture, you're taught to be respectful of elders and it's natural for elders to be leaders," said Robert Lilligren, Minneapolis City Council vice president and a White Earth tribal member. "We needed new blood," said Nina Mata, 52, finance director for the Peacemakers Center for native youth in Minneapolis. "Tony and Justin are smart. They have energy. We needed somebody dynamic to step forward and say, 'I represent the Indian community and this is what I'm all about.' They've shown many of the elders the way." They've done so by assuming leadership of a complex MUID group that, for two decades, has consisted of more than 50 organizations, executive directors and leaders of the American Indian community. MUID's role becomes even more complicated and diverse when considering that as many as 70 different tribes have lived in the urban area, LookingElk said. "We don't have one voice," LookingElk said. "There's no snap answer to any of our issues." Meeting the second Tuesday of each month at the American Indian Center on Franklin Avenue, members of MUID discuss a wide range of topics -- family preservation, civil rights, education, community and police relations, health disparities and civic and political accountability. Among guests at the most recent meeting was Minneapolis Police Chief Bill McManus. LookingElk and Huenemann are scheduled to meet today with Archbishop Harry Flynn. "MUID has been the place to go if you want to address an Indian concern," said Peter McLaughlin, Hennepin County commissioner. "It's a good place to get a read on the Indian community and to get reaction on proposals. And there are no stronger voices than Tony's and Justin's." Different styles LookingElk, current president of the Urban Coalition, is "more of a big-picture guy," Lilligren said. "He sits back at meetings," said Gail Dorfman, Hennepin County commissioner. "Sometimes you think he's not listening, or even sleeping. And then he quietly, simply, humbly weighs in. The reaction from others participating is often, 'Wow! I didn't think of it that way, and he's so right.' " Ask for LookingElk's re'sume' and he responds: "People want to hear it is higher education. That is very often thought of as the only way an American Indian can move forward. People want to think it is work experience and knowledge that helps me. It is hard for people to accept that it is my grandparents, parents, brothers and sister, nephews and niece, and many layers of relations that have contributed to my values and beliefs. "Whatever is determined to be my level of success has everything to do with what I have been taught by my community, family and culture," said LookingElk, who is single. "Work put food on the table, education created acceptance in the greater world, but my teachings allow me to matter." His parents were a generation removed from the boarding-school era, when American Indians were taken from reservations by the government and sent away to prepare for assimilation into white society. LookingElk's father, a courier, was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation. His mother, an upholsterer, grew up on the Red Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. They moved to Minneapolis, where dad worked nights and mom worked days. "There was always a parent around," LookingElk said. LookingElk has studied at a number of universities -- earning degrees at DePaul in Chicago and Minnesota State-Moorhead while also taking law courses at DePaul and William Mitchell in St. Paul. At DePaul, he said, he felt "challenged by every professor to see if an American Indian could pass a college-level course." He earned a degree in sociology at DePaul in 1988, spent four years doing social work in Chicago's American Indian community and then returned to Minneapolis, where he has served on a variety of boards and task forces. He was selected chairman of MUID in 1999, an unpaid position in an organization that has no budget, almost by default, he said. "I was their fourth choice." But his responsibilities to the Urban Coalition and other boards and tasks forces seemed too much. He tried to quit MUID. But the board rejected his resignation and offered a compromise -- a cochairman. That was Huenemann. Blue-eyed, with matching hoop earrings and a long braided ponytail, Huenemann is a former high-school track star who, before hurting his back, would go to any neighborhood playground looking for a game of hoops, and still dreams of the day he'll dunk a basketball. "Justin is the one who delves into details and cranks out the analysis," Lilligren said. Eloquent and articulate, Huenemann has a passionate tone that often speaks as loudly as his words. "Both Justin and Tony have this passion," said Clyde Bellecourt, 67, the Minneapolis Indian leader who was thrust into the national spotlight in 1968 with the founding of the American Indian Movement (AIM). "We wanted to create a program that would keep young Indian people -- kids who didn't have a proper education or might be headed for jail -- keep these kids from just standing around street corners. Justin seemed like a natural to run it." Finding his place The Government Center office where Huenemann serves as community catalyst for the American Indian Families Project is a far cry from the Navajo reservation on which his mother was raised. Most of the homes there still are without running water and electricity, he said. Huenemann grew up watching the disruption of stereotypes. His father came from a large, conservative German family in Iowa. A musicologist, he was attracted to reservations in Nebraska and Pine Ridge, where he was a pioneer in field recordings 50 years ago. He went to Arizona to record and became immersed in Navajo culture. When Huenemann's maternal grandparents refused to let his father date his mother, his father slept for a month in a tent he set up near their home. His perseverance eventually paid off. Young Justin's parents moved to Pine Ridge, then to Mitchell, S.D. "All of the sudden, I was at an all-white high school in a town which was wealthy, compared to where I'd come from -- so wealthy that all of us on the high-school basketball team had matching basketball shoes," Huenemann recalled. A singer, painter, established wood-carving artist and trumpet player, he considered returning to Arizona or possibly trying a career in art, but instead chose the University Minnesota and a major in architecture. "I'd sit in the dorms and knew that it just wasn't where I belonged," said Huenemann, who said his middle name, Kii, means "boy."I thought, 'OK, I'm alone. I've got to go find Indians.' " He found the American Indian Resource Center and, from there, the Heart of the Earth Survival School. Huenemann happened to be there the day a teacher was fired. He was asked if he could teach. "Sure," he said. He was 20. "I'd ask kids, 10th- to 12th-graders, 'What's your tribe?' And they had no idea. They had no connection," Huenemann said. "Here are all these Indian kids who didn't know who they were as people. How could that be?" The question continues to haunt Huenemann, who is married, has a 4-year- old son and another child due in August. All the while, LookingElk was asking similar questions. "How do you push back some of the pacification of the American Indian community?" he asked. "We're redeveloping Franklin Avenue, but why aren't there American Indian businesses?" "We don't celebrate enough. How do you celebrate poverty and frustration? But we should be celebrating the people we know." Observed Bill Means, a longtime leader of the urban Indian community and director of a state employment program for the economically disadvantaged: "Rather than impose their leadership on the community, these two young gentlemen have asked questions first. They were highly encouraged to take leadership positions because they were active participants long before they became leaders." Bellecourt said he once wondered "if we've done enough to provide young leadership." But, "Justin and Tony aren't afraid to take on the hard issues. They've shown up when we've had marches on police brutality." The marriage of the cochairmen may still be in its honeymoon stage. "My wife teases me that I check in with Tony so often, it's like he's my wife, " Huenemann said. "Our effectiveness depends on our ability to listen," LookingElk said. "We've learned that it isn't the speaker that creates knowledge, it's the discourse after." Paul Levy is at plevy@startribune.com. Copyright c. 2004 Star-Tribune. --------- "RE: Students protest ban of Native Drummers" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:50:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DRUM PROHIBITED AT UND GRADUATION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/local/8269844.htm UND LAW SCHOOL GRADUATION: Students protest ban of native drummers UND may reconsider and allow Lakota ceremony at law school graduation By David Dodds Herald Staff Writer March 25, 2004 Mike Grant's cry shook UND's Twamley Hall with a start at 8:49 a.m. Wednesday. Morning business at the school's main administrative headquarters briefly paused as Grant, an American Indian student of Omaha heritage, belted out a traditional "family song" as a way to call attention to what he views as a wrong done to UND Law School's 2004 graduating class. March 10, UND's administration rejected a request by the class' Graduation Committee and the interim dean of the law school, Candace Zierdt, to have an honor performance by American Indian drummers at the law school's May 15 ceremony. Grant was one of about 30 UND student and faculty protesters who wore red armbands for unity on a short march from the law school steps to the first floor of Twamley. In his family's native language, Grant called out a personal challenge to school President Charles Kupchella. "I just called him down for you guys," Grant told the gathering crowd. "I'm really sorry he did this to you." Waiting on decision They were met instead by Bob Boyd, dean for student and outreach services, who explained that UND tries to adhere to a traditional regimen at its graduation ceremonies and tries not to have activities that highlight one particular group. "The last message I want to send is that we're not proud of your accomplishments, and that we're not proud you're here at UND," Boyd said. Later, about half of the protesters - all law students - met with Kupchella, Boyd and Leigh Jeanotte, UND director of Native American Programs, to try to work out differences. But Cindy Gillis, a third-year law student from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and a protest leader, said that not much was resolved at the meeting. "It was a lot of back and forth," Gillis said. "We're still waiting on the word." 'No timeline' Peter Johnson, UND spokesman, described the meeting as a good conversation between the two sides, and he said school administrators are still exploring the request. "When we will have any kind of decision on it - I don't know," Johnson said. "There's no timeline, but there's also no interest in dragging it out any more than it has to be." Boyd said, "I expect we'll be getting back to them in the next two days, definitely by the end of the week; we've got to move ahead with some sort of a decision." In a Feb. 25 letter to Boyd, interim dean Zierdt formally made the request for the drum group to perform the traditional Lakota honor song, writing that it was important, "since we are trying to recruit more Native American students to the School of Law." She added that the 2004 graduating class has the largest number of American Indian students in school history. Boyd wrote back March 10, saying that he was unable to approve the request. No separate event Johnson said that much of the issue has to do with protocol for the school's commencement ceremonies, and because its ceremonies are so steeped in tradition, there's a reluctance to make changes. And then there's the issue of allowing an activity that draws focus to a specific group. Boyd said that the school did away with invocations and benedictions at ceremonies for that very reason, and the school has denied requests by some past graduating classes to wear symbolic colors or clothing. But Gillis said the law students are not asking to have the drummers perform to honor only American Indian students. "We're not asking for a religious ceremony," Gillis said. "All we're doing is something to honor all of our students." Boyd had encouraged the law students to hold the drum ceremony as an independently sponsored event outside of commencement. Other campus American Indian groups, such as Indians Into Medicine, have done just that in the past. The students said that a separate ceremony would be contrary to the collective effort that the class set out to do in the first place. ---- Reach Dodds at 780-1110, (800) 477-6572, extension 110, or at ddodds@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2004 Grand Forks Herald. --------- "RE: Tulsa lands `The American'" --------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OSAGE SCULPTURE TO TULSA" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/~displayarticle&article_id=4153 Tulsa Lands "The American," worlds tallest bronze sculpture Site to be selected by April for statue of 17 story Indian TULSA OK Jennifer Tedlock 3/26/2004 March 26, 2904 "How exciting is this?" Tulsa mayor Bill LaFortune asked the crowd at the press conference Thursday afternoon. He announced that Tulsa has been selected to be the home of "The American", a 21-story monument expected to draw millions of tourists and hundreds of millions of greenbacks to the city. Aaronson Auditorium erupted in applause. "This is not just a great day for Tulsans. It is a great day for all Oklahomans and all Americans. This will be the world's tallest freestanding bronze statue. This'll be the first built in this century with the latest technology and engineering that is available. This will be a symbol of unity at a time when we always are in need of unity and, perhaps, have never been in need of unity as much today as we've ever been," LaFortune explained. "Unity of all peoples, of all races, of all colors, of all creeds. And to have this statue which symbolizes what we all are when you put the adjectives aside -- we all are Americans." LaFortune emphasized that the important thing was not only landing the statue in Tulsa, but achieving Shan Gray's vision for his work. He remarked that Tulsa is the city with the greatest Native American roots to his knowledge and has the greatest Native American population of any city in the country. Osage artist Shan Gray spoke to the packed house. "As the mayor has stated I have decided to begin work with the city of Tulsa to locate "The American" monument in the Tulsa area. There are many factors that must be worked through in order to ensure "The American" finds the appropriate home. I've committed to negotiate to the city of Tulsa to find the site and the appropriate infrastructure and partner with the community to support its vision for the future," he said. Gray quoted an e-mail he received in favor of "The American Project" in Tulsa, then added, "Indeed, I am confident Tulsans will be respectful and vigilant custodians of 'The American' project. I look forward to starting this journey with you." A site is expected to be selected by Gray's self-imposed deadline of April 1, and though the artist lost one investor in the decision to build the monument in Tulsa, he said he has enough to begin work and is confident that the project will be privately-funded in full, including an endowment for upkeep - which some Tulsans were reportedly worried about. "The projections are that this project from the beginning can stand on its own." Gray explained that one of his team's goals is to "make sure that it has endowments set up and the trust that will maintain it so it will not be a burden on anyone." Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Tribal Aid Program triggers old Fears" --------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VIRGINIA TRIBES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.dailypress.com/~mar28,0,6036010.story?coll=dp-news Tribal aid program triggers old fears A new effort aims to identify the social problems facing the state's Indians, but some tribes are skeptical. BY MATT SABO March 28, 2004 Over the next three years, many of Virginia's eight state-recognized Indian tribes will take a small step toward independence while awaiting a decision on their efforts to gain federal recognition and funds. In a $120,000 federally funded program administered through the state, federal workers will help the tribes identify their most pressing needs, in areas such as housing, elder healthcare and education. The program would then seek money to alleviate those problems. In concept, the Virginia Indian Development program will unite the state's eight recognized tribes in the common goal of tapping into funds to aid their members, just as cities or counties reap money from the state and federal governments for similar purposes. But in practice, the effort is running into some of the same problems that have prevented the tribes from gaining strength in the past - a lack of unity. One tribe, the Pamunkey, in King William County, isn't going to participate, said its chief, who declined to elaborate. Another tribe, the Mattaponi, is not expected to participate, at least at first, said the program's director. The very core of the program, a Census-like survey, is sure to raise hackles among some of Virginia's Indians, many of whom endured decades of institutionalized racism that included purging Indians as a distinct group from Census counts. The Upper Mattaponi Tribe is supporting the program, but Chief Ken Adams says the survey may cause problems. "Typically, Indians have been surveyed to death," he says. "People have come into our communities and asked us questions for years and years and years. Nobody likes somebody to come to their door and ask them personal questions. We've been asked that kind of stuff many, many times." Adams says he still backs the program, hopeful for what it can do for his tribe. "I think it's something that probably needs to be done to tap into the needs and the desires of the tribes," Adams says. "Where it's going to lead to, I don't know. We just have to wait and see, I guess." Congress has been considering legislation that would give Virginia's tribes federal recognition - funding like other Indian tribes. But the measure has been stalled in committee amid fears by some that the tribes would use this authority to build casinos. Others are unwilling to commit to perpetual payments to the Virginia tribes. Scattered across Virginia, mostly in small, rural communities, the state's eight recognized tribes are estimated at only about 5,000 people, Adams says. Yet 21,000 Virginians identified themselves as American Indians in the 2000 Census. The Virginia Indian Development program is being conducted by Americorps, a network of national service programs. A key component of the program is that the tribes will conduct their own census. The census is expected to serve three purposes: Identify tribes' membership and needs; develop plans to meet those needs; and find money to carry out the plans. Unlike tribes in other parts of the country, Virginia's don't have federal reservations and do not receive federal funds earmarked for Indian programs. That's because the 17th-century treaties signed by Virginia's Indians were with England, not the United States. Even though they are state-recognized and considered political entities, responsible for providing services to their members, tribes don't receive funding like Virginia's towns, cities and counties do, said Dante Desiderio, the program's director and a member of the Sappony tribe, which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border but is not recognized by Virginia. "We don't have any land, our resources are extremely limited and we're not federally recognized, so we're not able to acquire federal funds," Desiderio said. "That's the biggest reason we're doing this." The program, he said, will put Virginia's tribes on a more equal footing with cities and counties. "It's a baby step, and really it's also a way for us to start getting programs for our members from the state," Desiderio says. He cites an example of an elderly tribal member who needs money for heating oil. That person would rather receive help from the tribe than from the state, he said. Desiderio said he's undaunted by the prospect of two tribes declining to participate. "It's nothing new, having tribes going in different ways with different goals," he said. He and other supporters of the program point out that one of its components is designed to overcome these differences. Tribal economic growth has been impeded by the varying objectives of the tribes, as well as a lack of money and administrative expertise, says Karenne Wood, chairwoman of the Virginia Council on Indians. "With help from the Virginia Indian Development program, we can address different needs without forcing tribal volunteers to become experts in multiple grant programs," Wood says. "This program also helps by making it easier on grantors to fund various projects since it will define not only the individual needs of each tribe but also the common needs of all Virginia tribes." msabo@dailypress.com (804) 642-1748 Copyright c. 2004 The Daily Press, Hampton Roads, VA. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Faith, hope as Sundance draws near" --------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: SUNDANCE EMOTIONS" http://www.grandforks.com/~/dorreen_yellow_bird/8289639.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Faith, hope and worry rise as Sundance draws near March 27, 2004 Before the morning sun reaches the horizon and touches rooftops, a silvery gray slowly seeps into the dark of night. That silvery predawn melts away the night like the dingy winter snow. Pink from the sun - a sun that still is reaching for the horizon - paints a few small brush strokes through the white overcast sky. It might have been that first sound of a bird calling for a warm day that woke me early that morning or just an unsettling feeling that change is coming. Whatever the reason, the early dawn brought me clear memories of a July ceremony last summer. Butterflies bumped for attention in the pit of my stomach as memories of an early dawn at Sundance consumed me. As I stood there looking out the window, I found myself reaching to cover my arms from cold even though it was warm in my room. I remembered the still, cool air as I waited to hear the sounds of drums that would call us to prayer at the Sundance camp last summer. As I lay in my sleeping bag waiting, I knew the day would be hot. I would be thirsty and hungry, and the ceremony would challenge my strength. I remember well. This is my 10th year. Watching the early dawn recently, I could feel and see change coming, and I realized I am getting seriously close to the July ceremony. A friend, relative, mentor and a man who answers my Sundance questions, told me preparation for Sundance starts the day we leave the Sundance - that is our New Year, he said. His work and participation with the Sundance goes beyond 40 years. Even his children grew up in Sundance ceremonies, and they know this way well. I was troubled when I talked to him. "Doesn't living your life according to the traditions of the Sundance means walking the 'Red Road' close and narrow?", I asked him. What exactly does it mean? How far can we stray from this way before we should step back from participation in the ceremony? It starts, he said, when we leave the ceremony. You should spend that next year preparing yourself for this sacrifice and intense prayer. That means you try to live your life in a good way, treating everyone - including yourself - as you would a sacred spirit. I was troubled because I was hearing that some of those who participate were starting their preparation for Sundance only a few months before the ceremony. They, I heard, also were abusing alcohol - not the way of a Sundancer or leader. You should respect all those who make decisions about ceremonies. They have different ways. Those ways were given to them in a vision or through intense prayer and sacrifice, I was told by another medicine man from the South. There are different ways even within the same bands of different tribes. So, if you chose to participate in their ceremony, then you follow their ways, he said. I have spent most of my life listening to these elders and spiritual leaders, starting with my grandmother and continuing on through uncles, relatives and mentors from other tribes. Their advice and opinions are important to me, so I try to listen and respect what they say. In these days when there are many different leaders and so many different ceremonies, sometimes these leaders bump up against one another and disagree. But most of those disagreements are about protocol and the different ways they were taught, not about abuse of the ceremonies. My troubling thoughts were how to help in those ceremonies that I support through attendance, not participation. I am firm in my commitment to the Sundance in South Dakota. I realized that the sun was getting higher in the sky, and the ceremony is near, so how do I in participate in those other ceremonies, I asked my friend. You'll know. The answer is within you, he said. Remember what you were taught. Respecting and honoring the ways of other ceremonial participants is important. It is not my role to watch and point out the mistakes of other dancers, but as the number of ceremonies grow in Indian country, we need to consider how these ceremonies can be kept intact and sacred. After all, they are for the well-being of individuals, Native people and all nations of this world. ----- Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her by phone at 780-1228 or (800) 477-6572, extension 228, or by e-mail at dyellowbird@gfherald.com. Copyright c. 2004 Grand Forks Herald. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Our different ways of saying Goodbye" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 08:47:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: SAYING GOODBYE" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforksherald/news/columnists/8196309.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: In praise of our different ways of saying goodbye March has been a month when the skies seemed to hang with dreary, dark foreboding and the chill in the air turned cold for too many days. In the middle of this March, I received news that a young friend, Kayla Rose Thompson, was killed in a car accident near Sioux Falls, S.D., on Friday. It struck me particularly hard because I spent the last three summers working with her on a Dakota Science Center summer project. When Kayla first started with the project, I was amazed at how beautiful she was. Her long, dark blond hair usually was in a ponytail and she was almost always smiling. She did cut that long hair the second year. I wasn't surprised that she was a cheerleader at the university because she had that bubbly cheerleader personality. Kayla started in the Dakota Science project as a student and sort of worked her way up to counselor. As a counselor, she worked with the middle school students for two solid weeks. She was only 21 years old and a junior at UND. I was sort of an elder counselor. As I erased her name from my speed dial, I realized it meant that I would never talk to her again in this life. I will be there to see her one last time Wednesday, when I attend her funeral. At times like this I appreciate so much how meaningful and comforting are these traditions of saying goodbye. In Native American culture, our way is a little different - not better, but different. For example, I am accustomed to death ceremonies where we stay with the person for four days or until they are buried. During those days and nights, we bring all that we know about the person to the place where they lay. We surround them with prayers, talk and songs. When they are buried, their last song is sung at graveside and they are sent on their way with the ancestors. After the funeral, a huge, potluck-like meal is provided by family and friends. All the community is fed. Then the family has a "give away." Many of the family and friends who come to the wake or waiting time will bring blankets, gifts or materials. After the feast, these gifts will be given to the community by the family as if they were from the person who has passed - their last gift to the community. When all that is done and most of the people have left, there is one more ceremony that evening for the deceased, immediate family and elders. After one year, a memorial service is held where the family and friends once again feed and give gifts to the community in the deceased's name. Those things comfort me, just like a lifelong Catholic would be comforted by the rituals of a Catholic funeral mass. Most Native people don't believe the person is gone. We believe they are now a spirit and remain with us for the rest of our lives. They have changed and are in a different place, but are still with us. That, too, comforts me. During the preparation time and shortly thereafter, that is time when you cry for the person. Not too many years ago, I remember an elder woman coming to the house when my grandfather died. As soon as she came into our house, she began a high-pitched wailing. That is the time to cry, the elders tell us.When the person has become a spirit and the mourning is done, you dry your tears and carry on knowing they are still with you, my grandmother would tell us. Don't cry too long, the elders would say. There is a time for weeping and a time to go on. I'm so thankful that Kayla will be taken care of by her birth family, her UND family and her many friends. I honor and deeply respect those traditions, too. Yet at times such as this when I'm overcome with sadness, I find myself going back to my old ways. I think of what I should bring to the communal meal, or what giveaway items (such as blankets) I should take. And I would - I will - begin my prayers with a Pipe. Nawah, my friend. ---- Yellow Bird writes columns Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at 780-1228, (800) 477-6572 ext. 228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com. Copyright c. 2004 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: Alaska Natives to address Sex Abuse Issues" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SEX ABUSE ISSUES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/4883916p-4819681c.html Alaska Natives form committee to address sex abuse issues STUDY: Group plans to examine allegations lodged against clergy. The Associated Press March 24, 2004 FAIRBANKS - Alaska Natives have formed a committee to study recent allegations about child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests. The new 14-member committee also is reviewing statements by a Jesuit supervisor that characterized Native culture as sexually "loose." "Right now we want to be a catalyst for people to come forward and express their hurt," said Miranda Wright, one of the panel's co-chairs. Eight Alaska Native men have filed separate lawsuits against the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese, claiming they were molested as boys. They said the late Rev. Jules Convert fondled them when they slept or, in one case, while watching a movie. In another lawsuit against the Fairbanks Diocese, a Native woman claimed to have been molested by The Rev. James Poole, the founder of KNOM, an award-winning Catholic radio station in Nome. The woman said Poole began sexually abusing her when she was 10 years old and continued until she was 16. "We support them in their statements and recognize that, in so doing, they have given us all an opportunity to pause and consider the past, present and our future, and to question all aspects of society - religion, education, jurisprudence and politics, as well as imposition of healing through Western models," says a written statement by the committee. The group also wants to examine greater issues that yielded "unwarranted, negative statements about Athabascan morals," the statement said. That concern stems from a deposition taken by Convert's superior, the Rev. William Loyens, who taught anthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In his deposition, which was quoted in the media, Loyens called Alaska Native culture "fairly loose" sexually and said that village mothers sometimes fondled their little boys' testicles. In a letter he wrote to Harold Brown, president of Tanana Chiefs Conference, Loyens apologized and said his remarks were taken out of context. Wright said she read the entire deposition and believes that Loyens' remarks were not taken out of context. Wright said the era in Alaska Native history to which Loyens was referring was the rapid breakup of Native culture and the assimilation of Western ways. "Many of our Native people didn't feel they had a voice in what was happening," she said. "You didn't question the church, that the Lord works in mysterious ways." Bishop Donald Kettler of the Fairbanks Diocese said he welcomed input from the new group. "It seemed to offer an invitation to the church to sit down together and look at our relationship and history," Kettler told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "I would certainly respond gratefully to that situation." Copyright c. 2004 The Anchorage Daily News. --------- "RE: No Big Cash for Aboriginals in Federal Budget" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PROMISE VS REALITY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/03/23/392959-cp.html No big cash for aboriginals in federal budget Ottawa budget tightens spending Petro-Canada sale to rake in $2B A do-nothing budget, say critics Tax break to soldiers, police Lower-income families, students boost New Deal for municipalities OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin often trumpets his commitment to improving the lot of aboriginals, but there wasn't much new cash in Tuesday's federal budget devoted to the cause. The biggest new promise is more funding for the Urban Aboriginal Strategy. The program, meant to help natives cope with the challenges of living off-reserve, is being doubled to $50 million over the next two fiscal years. Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, welcomed that cash, but said money is also badly needed for other priorities. "We would have preferred to have seen a more serious commitment to the housing crisis, post-secondary education - the fact we have approximately 10,000 students who can't access post-secondary institutions because of insufficient funding." The federal government also intends to establish an Independent Centre for First Nations Government to advance native self-government. Ottawa has earmarked $5.5 million over the next two years to establish the centre - its home community has yet to be determined - and up to $5 million a year thereafter to operate it. With half of Canada's aboriginal population under the age of 25, the government says it is trying to ensure the current generation has access to the tools needed for success. The budget renews funding for the Aboriginal Human Resources Development strategy, at a cost of $25 million a year for five years. As well, it provides $90 million over five years to support a northern strategy for economic development. The initiative covers all northerners, including roughly 50,000 aboriginals who live in the North. Copyright c. 2004 CANOE, a division of Netgraphe Inc. --------- "RE: Dene Leaders plan Climate change awareness" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:50:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DENE CLIMATE 'WAKE-UP' CALL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/~/View?filename=yuk-aacmeets23032004&disp=e&end Dene leaders plan climate change awareness March 23, 2004 WHITEHORSE - The Arctic Athabaskan Council has a new slate of leaders. At a meeting in Whitehorse the council announced the election of its new chair and vice chair. Chief Gary Harrison from Chickaloon Alaska will take over from Council of Yukon First Nations Grand Chief Ed Schultz as chair. Dene national chief, Noeline Villebrun will take on the international vice-chair's post. Villebrun says she'll be trying to impress governments about the importance of climate change to the Athabaskan people of the North. "It is an honor," she said of the position. "I will deliver a message on the impact of climate change with the Dene people in the North and the need to consult with the Dene and the Metis and the people in the Yukon and Alaska." The Council says climate change is a threat to the way of life for the indigenous people of the Arctic. To make its point the council is working on an impact assessment of the consequences of climate change in the North. The objective of the AAC's goal is to create an international organization for northern peoples of Athabaskan descent. It represents about 40,000 people in Alaska, Yukon, N.W.T. and northern Manitoba. Copyright c. 2004 CBC. --------- "RE: Yukon, First Nations sign Forestry Deal" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YUKON FORESTRY DEAL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.whitehorsestar.com/auth.php?r=32337&disp=e&end YTG, first nations sign forestry deal By Chuck Tobin March 23, 2004 Dealing with the massive infestation of the spruce bark beetle in southwest Yukon is among the objectives set out in new forest management agreement. Chief James Allen of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang signed the deal Friday. It commits the Yukon government to a $100,000-contribution to develop an implementation plan for an overall forest management strategy currently being discussed by the parties. The management plan will look at reducing fuel loads around communities to minimize the threat by wildfires, re-establishing a healthy forest and examining the potential economic opportunities related to beetle-killed white spruce. "I think this is the first step in meeting the Champagne and Aishihik forest needs on our traditional territory," Allen said at the signing ceremony. The chief noted the implementation plan will also move the first nation down the road to establishing what is known internationally as a model forest. A model forest is one that balances the environmental and economic considerations in a sustainable manner. There are, Lang pointed out, just 11 such models in Canada today. Lang said the government will also be seeking assistance from Ottawa to help cover the cost of managing the spruce-killed areas, which cover an estimated 250,000 hectares in the southwest. The devastation from the spruce beetle was not accounted for in the devolution transfer agreement but certainly existed before the responsibility for land and resources was transferred to the Yukon from the federal government last April 1, he said. Lang suggested there is some responsibility on the part of the federal government to assist with the effects of the beetle infestation, in the same way they remain responsible for mine sites that were abandoned before the transfer. There is, however, no estimate regarding the cost of managing the beetle-killed areas. Don Hutton, Lang's assistant deputy minister of resources, said a program in B.C. to tackle the problem of beetle-kill forests has been budgeted at $50 million. He was not sure, however, how much of the 2.2 million infested hectares would be managed by that amount. Both Lang and Allen suggested managing the beetle-killed area in the Yukon could result in economic opportunities. Trees killed by spruce beetles cannot be used for lumber after two years, but may provide economy in other areas such as the sale of firewood or as a source of fuel for a wood-fired generator in Haines Junction, it was mentioned Friday. Lang and Allen expect that this summer there will be some cutting of beetle-killed trees around vulnerable community areas as part of the strategy to reduce the risk from wildfires. Friday's was the second forestry-related announcement by Lang last week. Earlier, he had announced the creation of a new forest management authority formed jointly with the Kaska Nation to oversee management of the forest resources in the southeast. Included in the proposal is a provision for the Kaska to receive the stumpage fee paid by companies for the right to harvest the wood, which could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars annually if there is any interest from industry. Allen said Champagne and Aishihik have not pursued such a provision to retain stumpage fees because the wood in the southwest is substantially smaller and does not provide the same market opportunities as the wood in the southeast. That's not to say, however, that Champagne and Aishihik will not pursue the same stumpage-fee provision at some time in the future, he said. Copyright c. 2004 Whitehorse STAR. --------- "RE: Native Man's Death in B.C. getting Crown Review" --------- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 08:09:39 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PAUL'S DEATH REVIEW" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://vancouver.cbc.ca/~/View?filename=mar25paulreview03252004 Paul case gets Crown review March 25, 2004 VANCOUVER - British Columbia's Crown Counsel is examining what could be new evidence in the death of Frank Paul. Paul died after Vancouver police left him drunk in an alley. The case was recently reviewed by the police complaints commissioner, Dirk Ryneveld. Ryneveld recommended a public inquiry be held, but Solicitor-General Rich Coleman refused. Now Crown spokesperson Geoff Gaul says a Crown lawyer is reviewing the material gathered by Ryneveld. "If there is new information, then the next issue to consider is whether that new information impacts upon or alters the charge-assessment decision we made previously," Gaul says. "If so, then we proceed with charges. And if not, then we don't." Gaul says the Crown is treating the charge-assessment review as a priority issue. He says there is significant public interest in resolving the case surrounding Paul's death. Copyright c. 2004 CBC. --------- "RE: Omaha and Winnebago to seek County recalls" --------- Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 08:35:27 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SEEK OUSTER OF HOSTILE OFFICIALS" http://www.journalstar.com/latest_reg/?story_id=136520 Omaha, Winnebago tribes to seek recalls in Thurston County March 23, 2004 WALTHILL, Neb. (AP) - Officials with the Winnebago and Omaha tribes, who have accused the Thurston County attorney and sheriff of being hostile to the tribes, said they will seek to recall the two county officials. County Attorney Albert Maul and Sheriff Chuck Obermeyer have taken calculated steps to diminish the tribes' reservations in northeast Nebraska, said Darren Wolfe, a spokesman for the Omaha Tribe. The tribes must gather enough signatures from county residents to force any recall elections. Both county officials "have become increasingly hostile towards the two native tribes," a new release issued by the tribes Monday said. As an example, the release noted the conviction last year in state court of a Pender man for sexual assault. "The victim in this matter was Native American, and the assailant, non- native," the release said. "The U.S. Attorney's Office must prosecute crimes against Native Americans by non-natives within the confines of federal reservations. "In this matter, the crime was not reported to the U.S. Attorney's Office by the office of the Thurston County Sheriff or the county attorney." County Attorney Albert Maul said there have been disagreements with the tribe over law enforcement jurisdiction issues. Maul, who has been county attorney or deputy county for more than 20 years, said he would fight the effort. "I'll first look at the petition and see if it is satisfactory," Maul said. "If it is, then there will be an election." Sheriff Chuck Obermeyer said the accusations in the petition are untrue. Obermeyer seconded Maul's notion that most of the disagreements centered on misunderstandings about jurisdiction. Obermeyer dismissed Wolfe's claims that the sheriff discriminates against American Indians and said that Wolfe is making himself vulnerable to a libel suit by making such claims. "He is treading ground that is untrue," Obermeyer said. "The majority of people know better." The tribes planned to hold a news conference Tuesday in Walthill to announce the recall effort. Copyright c. 2004, Lincoln Journal Star. --------- "RE: Graham to remain Free on Bail" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:50:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JOHN-BOY FREE ON BAIL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mar24graham24032004 Graham to remain free on bail March 24, 2004 VANCOUVER - The United States has lost a court attempt to keep an accused murderer in a Vancouver jail until he can be extradited to stand trial. John Graham remains under virtual house arrest while his extradition proceeding goes through the court. He's accused of the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash in South Dakota in activities involving the American Indian Movement. B.C. Appeal Court Justice Risa Levine has ruled Graham's detention is not necessary. Graham's lawyer, Terry LaLiberte , says the U.S. accusations against his client are weak and wouldn't hold up in Canada. He says he'll be asking the court to loosen his client's bail restrictions. He'll also be making an application to have the murder trial conducted in Canada - the victim was also Canadian. Copyright c. 2004 CBC. --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Mon, Mar 29 2004 10:53:36 -0700 From: Janet Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 16:12:56 +0200 From: "Brigitte Thimiakis" Subj: Meredith Wounded Eye Greetings, Meredith Wounded Eye is a Northern Cheyenne incarcerated at Montana State Prison. He would be very happy to receive mail and thankful for the opportunity to make friends. We were told he has no one to write to him at all. Please write to him, or help him to be listed on penpal sites. Meredith Wounded Eye AO # 2019061 700, Conley Lake Road Deer Lodge MT 59722 (USA) Age: 29 Nation: Northern Cheyenne Thank you for your assistance. Respectfully, Brigitte <>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o "Honor Your Spirit, Protect the Children" http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/home.html STOP CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT http://www.geocities.com/honoryourspirit/stopabuse.html <>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o<>o -=-=-=- http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/8292976.htm Corrections commission approves plan to sell tribal art Associated Press March 27, 2004 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A proposal to allow American Indian inmates make tribal crafts and artwork has won approval from the state Corrections Commission, and the program could be up and running within a week. Ron Zylstra, director of Pheasantland Industries at the State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, had asked for permission to start a program that will use 10 to 12 inmates to make beadwork, quillwork, ceremonial drums and original paintings. "One of our goals is to help these inmates perpetuate their culture," Zylstra told the commission during a teleconference on Friday. Zylstra had asked the commission earlier this month to establish such a program but the panel did not have a quorum. "Some of these skills that these young men have learned have come from their elders in a passing on of the culture from individual to individual," he said. Pheasantland Industries is a program within the Department of Corrections but receives no taxpayer dollars. It puts inmates to work making various items to teach them job skills and help them establish a work ethic. The sale of its products pays for the program. Inmates involved in American Indian crafts will produce acrylic, oil and watercolor paintings, said Zylstra. They will use beads and quills to make hat bands, dance staffs and medicine pouches. They will make ceremonial drums from cedar and buffalo hide. And they will craft mandelas, or hoops with deer or buffalo hide stretched over them. The items will be sold to nonprofit organizations such as colleges, governmental agencies and tribal offices, and the inmates will receive 25 cents an hour, Zylstra said. "We're not looking to make a lot of money on this," Zylstra said. "If we break even and cover our costs, I'd be very happy." Tribal officials were contacted to get their input on the project and their comments were positive, Zylstra said. "They wanted to get the point across that, if we say it is an authentic piece of art and made by enrolled members of a tribe, we make sure we walk the walk and ensure that anything that goes out is identified as being made by an enrolled member," he said. Tags on each item will certify they were made by enrolled tribal members, Zylstra said. Leonard Eller, chairman of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, said he visited with Pheasantland officials and had no problem with the program. "Being that it is coming from prisoners, they're doing good work, and it helps them. ... I think it's fine," Eller said. --- Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com Copyright c. 2004 the Aberdeen American, --------- "RE: History: Carlisle Indian School" --------- Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 20:30:24 -0500 From: Barbara Landis Subj: March 6, 1891 INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle Indian School. [Editorial Note: These reprints are being included in this newsletter so that you might know the mind of those who ran institutions like Carlisle.] THE INDIAN HELPER ~%^%~ A WEEKLY LETTER FROM THE Carlisle Indian Industrial School To Boys and Girls. ================================================ VOL. VI. FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1891 NUMBER 26 ================================================ A BRIGHTER DAY. --- THE day is dull, the gloomy clouds Lie stretched about like long white shrouds; The heavy mist now changed to rain, Makes music on the window pane; No matter now how dull, we say, "Tomorrow'll be a brighter day." The wind sighs lonely through the leaves, The rain still patters from the eaves; The sky grows dark, and darker still; There's music in the dashing rill, For hope is looking for a ray -- "Tomorrow'll be a brighter day." In all the changes far and wide, In all the turnings of the tide, Though mighty storms around us rush, And thunders loud the air doth crush, Hope whispers in a cheering way, "Tomorrow'll be a brighter day." ================= A SIOUX GIRL WRITES OF HER CHILDHOOD DAYS IN CAMP. ------ At the time when the Sioux and the Pawnees were such bitter enemies, there was a great deal of killing and scalping going on among them. The poor women and children were in danger all the time. They did not dare venture out from the camp. We were very fond of swimming, so one day a party of us went two miles from home to swim. It was such a delightful afternoon that we could not help staying and swimming. While the older ones were gone to the other side of the river to get some berries I was placed in charge of the younger ones of the party. It was hard work to keep them from crying and going to the edge of the river. Soon the party returned with loads of berries and I amused the children by jumping into the water. I noticed one standing with his eyes wide open. He stood pointing to a woods on the island near by. He thought he saw a ghost peeping from behind a tree. Just then I heard a loud whistle in that direction, and I began to believe in the ghost, too. Then I saw a man running to his hiding place. Then another. I reported what I saw to the rest of the party. "They must be 'scilis' (Pawnees)," several cried in great alarm. And sure enough there were more than two scilis on that island, and they had been watching us. We did not scream nor cry, but how we did run leaving our berries behind! We let our brothers do the looking back. We got home almost too much out of breath to tell what had happened to us. For my part, I was so frightened that day that I did not know which death I was going to have, whether that of drowning or to be killed by the scilis, because I came near losing my life in that swimming hole. How the Pawnees and the Sioux fought that night! But I did not see the dreadful sight. The Sioux brought home horses and scalps. Of course a feast had to be made to please the fighters. They always dance over the scalps more than they do to anything else. Sometimes a scalp is lined with red cloth and fastened to tent poles. My father used to go to these fights and would not give up till he came back with a wound. He was then satisfied. H. =============== A BRAVE CARLISLE BOY WHO HAS NOT GONE WITH THE GHOST DANCERS YET. ------- He writes from the south west: "I have been gathering all I could to see if the newspaper was so. There came a band of people from another tribe with the notice that our tribe should be ready for an outbreak. "The time for Indian supremacy was at hand," they said. ------------------------------------------- (Continued on Fourth Page.) ====================================== (p.2) The Indian Helper. ----------------------------- PRINTED EVERY FRIDAY, AT THE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, CARLISLE, PA. BY THE INDIAN PRINTER BOYS. --> THE INDIAN HELPER is PRINTED by Indian boys, but EDITED by The-Man-on-the-band-stand, who is NOT an Indian. ----------------------------- Price: - 10 cents a year. ============================== Address INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle, Pa. Miss M. Burgess, Manager. ============================== Entered in the P.O. at Carlisle as second class mail matter. ============================== The INDIAN HELPER is paid for in advance, so do not hesitate to take the paper from the Post Office, for fear a bill will be presented. ============================= Haskell has taken her first Sioux pupils and they are from Pine Ridge. --------- Miss Longsdorf of town has been appointed school physician at Ft. Hall. --------- *Red Man* for February and March will be out the latter part of March. --------- Nellie Moore goes to Loller Academy, one of the best graded schools in the country. --------- There are three things which beat a drum for noise - one is a small boy; the other two are drum-sticks. -[Ex. --------- For downright unadulterated filthiness the chewer of tobacco stands without a rival. -[Farm, Stocks and Home. --------- The friendly Sioux who suffered great losses during the recent trouble are to be paid $100,000 for their homes and other property destroyed by the war party. --------- A friend writes: "I was delighted to see your Pine Ridge record last week. You ought to make the Omaha papers publish it and many others besides." --------- Mr. Potter is in the midst of a heavy law suit about his land in Oklahoma. Success to our friend. He says some of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes and other Indians in that vicinity are ghost dancing. We see trouble ahead for them. --------- One of the girls broke a very handsome and costly vase that belonged to one of the teachers. The teacher could not scold when such a note as this was found on the broken pieces: "By accident I broke this and am very, *very,* sorry. If I can replace it with anything, please let me know and I will *gladly* do so. With sorrow, _________." ======================================= At the Carlisle Indian school, is published monthly an eight-page quarto of standard size, called THE RED MAN, the mechanical part of which is done entirely by Indian boys. This paper is valuable as a summary of information on Indian matters, and contains writings by Indian pupils, and local incidents of the school. Terms: Fifty cents a year, in advance. For 1, 2, and 3 subscribers for THE RED MAN we give the same premium in Standing Offer for the HELPER. Address, THE RED MAN, Carlisle, PA. WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY AT HASKELL. The Lawrence *Daily Journal* speaks in the following flattering terms of the entertainment given at Haskell Institute, on the anniversary of Washington's birth. After publishing the programme in full, and stating that it was a good one and well performed, the paper says: "Much praise is due the pupils for their creditable performance throughout for the parts given them. Some appear on the stage for the first time but by their painstaking work well deserve the applause accorded them. A large number of friends in town having expressed a desire to have the entertainment repeated, it has been decided to accede to their request." ---------- "Fall out! Fall out!" rang the command along the line of boys last Saturday evening after supper. Fall out for what? All those who had used tobacco were expected to step to the front. Two young men came forward. There were others who followed, but who were more cowardly in their movements. They knew full well that they had done wrong in breaking the rules of a school which is doing so much to help them. The first two looked ashamed and sorry to be in such disgrace. But when it came to the test, "Shall I LIE, or shall I own that I have done the wrong" they did not hesitate a moment, even though each step forward sent a distressing pang to the very heart's core. Every good-principled young man in the line gave mental honor to those boys for TELLING THE TRUTH although all were sorry to see their friends in disgrace for doing wrong. But look at that sergeant! See how his heart goes "thump-i-ty-thump!" What is that matter with him? Ah, he, too, has used tobacco, but the coward stands still. He is AFRAID to tell the truth, and every good-principled young man in the line said to himself "What a contemptible sneak!" ---------- MR. Bond, who for five years was superintendent of the Unitarian school at the Crow Agency, Mont., has been with us for a little visit. Mr. Bond speaks highly of his school. He also tells of the failures of some of our boys and girls who have returned to the agency after receiving a very limited education here. The pupils he mentions were first-class here, in the atmosphere of industry and thrift. Carlisle does not pretend to be able to purify a drop of water from the muddy Missouri and to KEEP it pure when thrown back into the stream. Mix it with that which it has tried to become like and we guarantee it will keep as pure as the rest of the water. ---------- Who is it that is more despised than any other person? The man or boy who continually puts "I" to the front in his talk. We say such a person is troubled with a big *I*. Fannie Short Neck has gone home. Miss Anthony accompanied her. They went on the train with William Morgan. ========================================= (page 3) Pay day, last Saturday. Get out your skates again. The cold wave has painted Carlisle white. The top-fever has cooled off a little since the snow came. Miss Luckenbach spent Sunday among friends, in Harrisburg. Chas. Porter started at case work in the printing office on Tuesday. Miss Merritt is curious to know if we keep "M.O.T.B.S." always set up. Miss Ely brought back from Bucks county some books over a hundred years old. Captain returned from Philadelphia almost sick with rheumatism, but is much better. Miss Dittes, Miss Raymond and Samuel Dion visited the battlefield of Gettysburg on Monday. We have an excellent picture of seventeen of the prominent Sioux chiefs, on card 8x10, which will be given for a club of 14 subscribers for HELPER. Three cents extra to pay postage, must be sent. Lot Eyelash has returned from Mt. Vernon Barracks and gone to his place in the country. He reports of the old pupils at Mt. Vernon, that Talbot is married, Agnew is dead, Burdette and Lucy are keeping house and doing well. Mr. Robert Dunlap, who has been thirty years among the Indians and is now a trader at the Osage Agency, Indian Ter., called and shook hands with his Osage friends who were glad to see him. His remarks to pupils in chapel were plain and to the point. At the beginning of February, eight boys in No. 4. were promoted from the B to the A class and during the month they were all marked perfect in conduct which shows that good conduct and proficiency in studies usually go together. The boys are John Ground, Jackson Overy, Luke Pequongay, Frank Shively, Whitney Powlas, Wesson Murdock, Darwin Hayes and Joseph Cobell. It is easy to pick out of the line of girls those who are clean and tidy. Some of the cloaks look well brushed and taken care of, as though the owners of them always took pains to hang them up when not in use. But, on the other hand, the cloaks worn by the untidy girls look as though they had been sitting on them and dragging them in the dust, so full of wrinkles are they and so dirty. The M.O.T.B.S. would never marry such a young lady. When things we have to wear get old it is all the more necessary to keep them well brushed and clean. The all-seeing eye of the Man-on-the-band-stand as he looked into No. 3 school-room witnessed some neat work on slates, but he was sorry that all the slates were not neat. He heard No. 4. boys and girls answer promptly questions in Geography, and their faces showed interest in learning about their country. No. 5. pupils pleased him by the readiness with which they recited a lesson in Arithmetic. Is the old man a little deaf? Or do some of the boys and girls in these sections not speak loud enough to be heard. Spyna Deveraux leads the class in No. 4. A.M. school. Thos. Buchanan in the afternoon. Homer Pattison is going to become a typesetter, sure. Some of the boys have lost their pay this month on account of using tobacco, and it hurts. The farm slate is being made up. Quite a party of boys will leave for country homes on the 1st of April. William Petoskey keeps the best looking engine so far, but some of the small boys are working hard to beat him. James Perry, George Buck and Clark Gregg have been orderlies for the offices four consecutive months and better boys than they have never served for orderly work. The first hatching from the new incubator at the near farm was a fine brood of chickens, showing that the machine is a success. Mr. Bennett is going to try hatching ducks. Any fool can manage work if there be no difficulties in the way. But to work through and over the little and sometimes vexatious difficulties and to do it wisely and patiently is what builds up success. Clark Gregg has been admitted into the printing department and set his first stick on Wednesday. We are getting a splendid force of little workmen. The advanced boys are doing good job-work these days and making excellent time at the case. William Morgan, of Pawnee Agency, Ind. Ter., returns to his home after eight years of Carlisle life. William graduated last year. Having completed the course he still feels deficient in knowledge, but interest at home are calling him and he thinks it best to go. We shall expect to hear of his doing well. On Sunday evening Miss Raymond of Pine Ridge, Dak., made a few remarks to our pupils and others gathered in our chapel for regular evening service. She would remind us that wherever our lives may be and no matter what temptations we may be called to meet we will be happy if we carry with us the love of God in our hearts. Miss Raymond expects ere long to take charge of a camp school at Pine Ridge Agency. There will be difficulties to meet and trials to bear but she expects to b e happy in her work and we are sure she will be. On Monday night Miss Raymond left for the Pine Ridge Agency where she is now a teacher in the Government boarding school. The writer heard the mailer-in-chief call to another mailer who was assisting with the galleys: "Bring me 125 and 143." "All right, sir." When he got to the cabinet where the galleys are kept he said to the chief: "What did you say to bring you?" "125 and 143," the young man answered patiently. "One hundred and TWENTY-three did you say?" "No, one hundred and FORTY-three and one hundred and twenty FIVE." "Oh 145," said the boy again with no thought on his work. It is such discrepancies as these that cause business people to call us stupid and we cannot blame them. ========================================================= (Continued from First Page.) ------------------------------------------- The leader of the visiting tribe came out and said the spirit came and told him to come and warn our people. Soon after the talk he called for wine. Then I asked from the crowd if the spirit also told him to call for wine. He returned and said, "True the result of education." Now as they are gone there is very little craze. The newsmen who have been collecting the war stories wired the reports to all parts of the country. The Indians were blamed for things they never did. The news-men that I have seen here are men that do not even know the Indian country when closely questioned. But they have any amount of "dime novel" Indian knowledge, and send telegrams accordingly. Many an American here seems to think that it is a shame to educate an Indian because it makes him discontented when he comes in contact with his former associates. I am not discontented or anything of that sort. I mean I am every way my own man. If I do not like that which my friends do, I go and leave them. =========== INDIANS FOR THE ARMY. ------ A special dispatch to the New York *Tribune* from Washington says: Secretary Proctor intends to enlist 3,000 Indians in the army. Under the existing law the secretary has the authority to enlist 1,000 Indians as scouts. The secretary hopes to obtain from this Congress authority to enlist the full number required as scouts. If he does not he still has authority, which he will undoubtedly exercise, to enlist 2,000 Indian as private soldiers. This he can do as vacancies occur without extending the limits of the army. All the reports to the War Department say that the Indians make splendid soldiers. They have a courage equal, if not superior, to the class of men enlisted in the regular army. They are natural-born horsemen, and are quite different men once they have the army uniform on their backs. They are active, alert, amenable to discipline and full of an intense pride in their place. Indians in their blankets, who would scorn to work, in the uniform of a common soldier alongside of white soldiers work with docility and industry at all the classes of work required of a soldier in western fortification and camp work. A Happy Indian Girl Sees the Good of her Country Home. She writes: "I am very glad you have sent me out to go to school with white children, for I am very sure I have studied very hard this winter than I ever did before. I have been well all this rainy winter. I have found this place very pleasant to be in. I have a good time here. We are going to have a school entertainment sometime this month. Everybody seems interested in us at school. First Day school here is very nice." ------------ Let us all feel proud of girls who can have such words as these said about them: "She likes to see the kitchen clean and is not afraid of work to make it clean." Another kind farm mother says," She is taking in knowledge as eagerly as the dry ground takes in summer showers." Of one of our boys, a farmer says, "More Indians like J. would be an advantage to the country." ===================== Enigma. I am made of 19 letters. My 8, 2, 6 is what the Sioux and soldiers have been engaged in recently. My 1, 7, 4 is a part of a hog which is salted and smoked. My 11, 9, 10 is gaudy; showy. My 3, 5, 12, 14 is to assemble. My 17, 16, 19 is what boys grow to be. My 15, 18, 13, 14 is a fast of 40 days, observed by the Roman Catholic Church and some other churches. My whole is the key to all success, the story of which was impressively told by Capt. Pratt, at breakfast Monday morning. ======================================== STANDING OFFER: - For FIVE new subscribers to the INDIAN HELPER, we will give the person sending them a photographic group of the 17 Carlisle Indian Printer boys, on a card 4 1/2 X 6 1/2 inches, worth 20 cents when sold by itself. Name and tribe of each boy given. (Persons wishing the above premium will please enclose a 1-cent stamp to pay postage.) For TEN, Two PHOTOGRAPHS, one showing a group of Pueblos as they arrived in wild dress, and another of the same pupils three years after, or, for the same number of names we give two photographs showing still more marked contrast between a Navajoe as he arrived in native dress, and as he now looks, worth 20 cents a piece. The new combination picture showing all our buildings and band-stand, (boudoir) will also be given for TEN subscribers. (Persons wishing the above premiums will please enclose a 2-cent stamp to pay postage.) For FIFTEEN, we offer a GROUP of the whole school on 9x14 inch card. Faces show distinctly, worth sixty cents. For FIFTEEN, the new combination picture 8x10 showing all our buildings. (Persons wishing the above premium will please send 6 cents to pay postage.) For TWO Subscribers and a One-cent stamp, we send the printed copy of the Apache contrast. For ONE Subscriber and a Two-cent stamp we will send the printed copy of Pueblo contrast. Persons sending clubs must send all the names at once. ================================================= Transcribed from the original by Barbara Landis-- http://www.carlisleindianschool.org --------- "RE: Rustywire: Cow Feathers" --------- Date: Tue, Jul 16 2003 09:18 AM From: rustywire@yahoo.com (john rustywire) Subj: cow feathers Newsgroup: alt.native over the weekend i was at the trading post and happened to see a nice harley pull up, a 1200 custom job, with extended forks and a guy got off with a grizzled beard, dark glasses and leather vest. he came in the store and was looking for bottled water. at the counter he stood in front of me and i could see a tatoo on is arm. it was a picture in color of a cows head, more a texas longhorn head with two feathers sticking out on top of it. i had never seen a tatoo like that before and it made me laugh. he looked at me and i didn't say anything. i noticed he paid with a credit card and had perfect teeth. i suspect he was a yuppie who came from the city and was trying to fit in. as he left i could see him bouncing up and down the rutted road heading to two gray hills to buy a navajo rug. he was going to have a pretty bumpy ride and he bounced all the way down the road and disappeared over the horizon going very slow. --------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" --------- Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 13:44:42 -1000 From: Debbie Sanders Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days A HAWAI`I BOOK OF DAYS, week of March 29-April 4 MALAKI (March) (Nana) 29 The wind bides for a spell in this place, then it seeks other lands to explore. 30 Stone remains when all else passes away. 31 Build to preserve, not to destroy. `APELILA April Welo April was the last of the 6 months in the Ho`oilo, or Winter, period of ancient times, which ran from November through April. 1 The earth's magic is a gift of wonder. 2 Never abandon your dreams. 3 Memories dwell within the soul. 4 Return to the places of childhood -- there is your cycle renewed. (c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue (With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream) --------- "RE: Hawkdancer Poem: Song of Nature" --------- Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 18:07:44 EST From: Charles Hawkdancer Myrick Subj: Poem: Song of Nature Mailing List: N A Discussion Siyo Nigada Hello everyone here is a new poem I just finished today I hope you all like it. Been a while sense I wrote any had writes block because of a poem I have been trying to write about a Cherokee story about the dirt bobber will try that one again later but here is one about nature. Hawkdancer of the AniKawi (`\o/`) Tsalagi ale utlvquodi vhnai nasgi (Cherokee and proud of it) ========================== Natures Song. By: Hawkdancer Scream tires. Honking horns. Roaring motors. Messing with my mind. Under it all. Just below the surface. When least expected. You will find. Nature song. Grass under foot. Rousting of the leaves, wind whistling a tune in the trees. Song of a babbling brook. Song of Nature. --------- "RE: Upcoming Events" --------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 15:39:14 -0700 From: Gary Smith (gars@speakeasy.org) Subj: Upcoming Events =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= EVENTS ARE FEATURED IN ODD NUMBERED ISSUES ONLY =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//- Notice of Copyright Clearance by Contributors: The following have granted permission for their original articles to be reposted in order to help mend the Sacred Hoop: Gary Smith, Debbie Sanders, Brigitte Thimiakis, Charles Hawkdancer Myrick, Janet Smith, Barbara Landis, Johnny Rustywire, John D. Berry --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//- _ __ __ _ / | / /___ _/ /_(_) __ __ / |/ / __ \ __/ / | / / _ \ / /| / /_/ / /_/ /| |/ / __/ /_/ |_/\__,_/\__/_/ |___/\___/ ______ _ / ____/____ ___ __________(_)___ ____ _____ / / / ___/ __ \/ ___/ ___/ / __ \/ __ \/ ___/ / /___/ / / /_/ /__ /__ / / / / / /_/ /__ / \____/_/ \____/____/____/_/_/ /_/\__, /____/ Volume 12, Issue 014 /____/ April 3, 2004 Native Crossings (c) is a separately emailed suppliment to Wotanging Ikche (c) Native American News (c) dedicated to the memory of those in Indian Country who have begun their spirit journeys It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> --------- "RE: Fern Holland" --------- Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:13:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FERN HOLLAND" http://www.miaminewsrecord.com/myarticles.asp?P=952804&S=320&PubID=15562 Activist slain in Iraq remembered in memorial March 24, 2004 TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The friends of slain human rights activist Fern Holland remembered her in life Friday as a star attorney, a passionate fireball, a teacher and a fighter of injustice. And the Rev. Marlin Lavanhar summed up her death: "This is truly an international loss." Several hundred people gathered at All Souls Unitarian Church to mourn the 33-year-old former Tulsa lawyer who was assassinated March 9 in Iraq, where she was working to help women achieve basic rights. Holland was remembered for her beauty, her bravery, her intelligence, her love for life and the people whose lives she was trying to improve. "Everywhere she went she brought light where there was darkness," said her friend and fellow lawyer Stephen Rodolf. Holland, another American civilian and a translator were slain by Iraqi gunmen near Hillah, 35 miles south of Baghdad. The two civilians were the first Americans working for the U.S. occupation authority to be killed in Iraq. As a member of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Holland had opened women's centers in Iraq, arranged conferences and helped write part of the country's interim constitution. "She was very concerned the women in south central Iraq were going to be forgotten," said her friend, B.A. Rudolph. She was proud of the fact the constitution guaranteed women at least 25 percent of the seats in the new government. But "she wanted 60 (percent) and she wanted everyone to know she wanted 60," Rudolph said to laughter. Holland grew up in Miami in northeastern Oklahoma. A 1996 graduate of the University of Tulsa College of Law, she worked at two law firms in Tulsa and became known as a tough litigator. But fellow lawyer Jim Green said Holland had other ambitions and joined the Peace Corps in 2000, traveling to Namibia. Later, she returned to West Africa to investigate atrocities against refugee women and children and set up legal aid clinics to help them. One of the clinics has been renamed in her honor, Green said. "In her 33 years, Fern did it all," he said. "She died doing precisely what she wanted to do." During the memorial service, U.S. Army officials presented Holland's family with the Defense of Freedom medal, the civilian equivalent of the military's Purple Heart. "Fern lived a life that left a better place for all of us," said Sandra Riley, assistant to the Secretary of the Army. Cherokee Chief Chad Smith also recognized Holland, a member of the tribe, as a "Cherokee warrior" who died fighting for her beliefs. He said he brought his children to the service so they could come to know "a true Cherokee hero." Lavanhar urged mourners not to let Holland's murder fill them with bitterness or a desire for revenge because "that is not what Fern would want." Green summed up his friend's approach to life in quoting Robert F. Kennedy: "Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." "Fern," Green said, "was our ripple." Holland is survived by brothers James Holland of Overland Park, Kan., and Joe Holland of Cleveland, and sisters Vi Holland and Mary Ann Dunn of Oklahoma City. Copyright c. 2004 The Miami News-Record. --------- "RE: Randle Durant" --------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:50:49 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RANDLE DURANT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4139 Choctaw councilman dies, tribe holds special election Randle Durant died at the age of 84 DURANT OK Sam Lewin March 24, 2004 A venerated Choctaw Nation councilman has died, and the tribe is holding a special election to fill his seat. Randle Durant died last week at the age of 84, succumbing to a disease that plagues far too many American Indians. "Diabetes was something he dealt with for many years and he passed away finally," Choctaw spokeswoman Judy Allen told the Native American Times. "He was a good man." The special election is May 22. Those interested in running for Randle's seat, District # 6 on the Tribal Council, must file in person at the Choctaw Election Board in Durant on March 31 - April 2. The filing fee is $500. "We are excited to see how many people are interested," Allen said. Durant was the descendant of Louis Durant, a French explorer who married a Choctaw woman in the early 1800's. Randle wrote a book, Footsteps of the Choctaw Durants, recounting his family's history. He was also a member of the Kiamichi Economic Development District of Oklahoma and a veteran of both World War Two and Korea. He ran a restaurant in his hometown of Talihina, introducing Choctaw specialties to the menu. Durant's wife of 46 years, Margaret, four children, ten grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren survive him. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2003 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Noah White Jr." --------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NOAH WHITE JR." http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4686500.html Noah White Jr., Indian advocate, dies at 47 Trudi Hahn, Star Tribune March 26, 2004 Noah White Jr., the first American Indian elected to the Red Wing School Board, died March 13 in Red Wing of complications after a heart attack. White, 47, was a member of the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Dakota Tribe, and along with other children from the Prairie Island Indian Reservation, he attended Red Wing schools when he was growing up in the 1960s and beyond. "It was different for us as Native Americans because we were the only minorities in the area," said Johnny Johnson, White's brother, who is education director for the tribe. When White was elected to the board in 1999, "he broke the ice" between the white and Indian communities of Red Wing, Johnson said. The reservation had been incorporated into the city in the early 1970s. White also held tribal posts, including tribal councilman from 1997 to 2000. He had been elected again in December 2003. "He was a great advocate for all kids, but he worked very hard to bridge the gap between the two communities," said Kelly Smith, superintendent of the Red Wing schools. Services were held last week. Trudi Hahn is at thahn@startribune.com. Copyright c. 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Darlene Monica Garcia" --------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DARLENE MONICA GARCIA" http://obits.abqjournal.com/results?o_date=2004-03-27 Darlene Monica Garcia Darlene Monica Garcia, formally Monica Taptto, loving mother and grandmother went home to be with our Lord on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 in Lubbock, TX. Monica was born on October 11, 1951 in Richmond, CA. She was preceded in death by her brother, Peter John; and daughter, Darnell Lee Taptto. She leaves behind five loving grandchildren, Anita Victorino, Delores Victorino, Craig Victorino, Jalen Taptto and Xavier Taptto; two sisters, Joyce Charlie and Imogene (Mo) Sherman; two brothers, Joseph Edward (Guts) and Paul Juan; father, John Rey; and mother, Elizabeth Lowden; two children, Alisa Juana and Luke (Lukah) Jonah Taptto; and many relatives. Monica graduated from Albuquerque High in 1969 and attended Haskell Indian Jr. College-bus. in Lawrence, KS. She was an accomplished pottery designer and loved the arts & crafts shows. She also was employed as a secretary on various occasions and enjoyed waitressing. She became an avid sports enthusiast. Especially for Santa Fe Indian School Lady Braves Basketball, whom her granddaughter was a member of. She fought a long and courageous battle with diabetes. She will be greatly missed by all. Mass will be celebrated March 27, 2004 at St. Maria Church in McCarty, NM at 9:00 a.m. Interment will take place at Acomita Cemetery. Thanks to everyone for their help and support. The numerous friends in Oklahoma will miss her very much. A special thank you to Toby Aaron Blackstarr of Harding-Orr and McDaniel Funeral Home, El Paso, TX. Also the DCI Clinic for Diabetes for their continued war against diabetes- David L. Taptto, former husband, caretaker and friend. Copyright c. 2004 Albuquerque Journal. --------- "RE: Lynn Rice Sr." --------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LYNN RICE SR." http://www.stwnewspress.com/ Lynn Rice Sr. March 28, 2004 Lynn Rice, Sr. "Kuduks La-da-hu desadu", 83, of Pawnee, died Friday, March 26, 2004, in Pawnee. Services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Pawnee Tribal Roundhouse in Pawnee with the Native American Church officiating. Interment will be in the North Indian Cemetery, Pawnee, under the direction of Poteet Funeral Home. He was born Aug. 7, 1920, south of Pawnee, to Thomas Rice and Lena Otter Rice. He was a lifetime resident of Pawnee and April 4, 1946, he married Rena Goodfox. She preceded him in death July 26, 1992. He was a member of the Pawnee Indian Baptist Church and was also a member of the Native American Church. He served in the United States Army and was a combat veteran of World War II and the Korean Conflict. In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his granddaughter, Lisa Hawkins; three brothers and five sisters. He is survived by eight children, Lynn Rice Jr. and his family of Texas, Mitchell Rice and his family of Tulsa, Darrell Rice and his family of Pawnee, Jeffrey Rice and his family of Claremore, Rodney Rice and his family of Pawnee, Clarice Tselee and her family of Stillwater, Thomas Rice and his family of Okmulgee and Rosemary Moore and her family of Glencoe. He is also survived by 27 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and many other relatives and friends. Copyright c. 2004 Stillwater NewsPress/Stillwater, OK. --------- "RE: Julia Odlety Boettger" --------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 15:53:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JULIA ODLETY BOETTGER" March 28, 2004 Julia Odlety Boettger CARNEGIE - Graveside service for Julia Odlety Boettger, 97, Carnegie, will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Memory Lane Cemetery, Anadarko, with the Rev. Shaw Artichoker and the Rev. Amon Harjo officiating. Mrs. Boettger died Friday, March 26, 2004, in Carnegie. Arrangements are by Comanche Nation Funeral Home. A prayer service will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. She was born March 8, 1907, to Frank and Carrie Ataumbi Zatekaukaukomah. She married Charles Boettger on May 30, 1932, in Anadarko. She was a direct descendant of Heid-sicki, a famous Kiowa Indian chief. She was a member of the Apache Blackfeet Society and the Native American Church. Survivors include two daughters: June Artichoker and Peggy Tyler; two sons: William Boettger and Wilford Boettger; four grandsons: John Artichoker, Shaw Artichoker, J.R. Boettger, and Mathew Boettger; two granddaughters: Janet Tyler and Robin Bitseedy; and three great- grandchildren: Julie Ruth Boettger, Bryce Runsabove and Jade Bitseedy. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; three sons: Raymond Boettger and Patrick Boettger and James Auchiah Jr.; three sisters: Louise Ataumbi, Susie Ataumbi and Ada Ataumbi; and a brother, Charles Odlety. Friends may call from 1 to 5 p.m. today at the funeral home. Copyright c. 2004 The Lawton Constitution. --------- "RE: Crossings" --------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:10:52 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CROSSINGS" March 26, 2004 Ted Jones PEMBROKE - Ted Jones, 58, of University Road, died Tuesday, March 23, 2004. The funeral will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday in Greenpine Freewill Baptist Church by the Revs. Bobby D. Locklear, Clifford Locklear and Everette Woods. Burial will be in St. Anna Free Will Baptist Church cemetery. Mr. Jones is survived by a son, Ted Jones Jr. of Lumberton; a daughter, Crystal G. Jones of Parkton; his mother, Annie Jones of Pembroke; a brother, Charlie Locklear of Maxton; and four sisters, Catherine Kee of Lutherville, Ga., and Martha Dial, Rachel Oxendine and Annie Lowery, all of Maxton. The family will receive friends tonight from 7 to 9 at Locklear & Son Funeral Home in Pembroke. March 29, 2004 Willie J. Locklear RED SPRINGS - Willie J. "Farbie" Locklear, 60, of 7196 Red Springs Road, died Saturday, March 27, 2004, in Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville. The funeral will be conducted at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Temple Baptist Church by the Revs. David Hunt and Grady Hunt. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Mr. Locklear is survived by his wife, Nobalene Locklear of Red Springs; two sons, Caleb C. Locklear and Cody Jacobs, both of the home; a daughter, Mylee Locklear of the home; a stepdaughter, Linda Jacobs of Bunnlevel; two brothers, Sanford Maynor of Lumberton and Warner "Tom" Henderson of Red Springs; and three sisters, Elsie Jacobs of Red Springs, Rency Locklear- Godwin of Lumberton and Polly H. Stewart of Shannon. The family will receive friends tonight from 7 to 9 at Heritage Funeral Home in Red Springs. Grace Torgerson PEMBROKE - Mrs. Grace Torgerson, 62, of 801K S. Pine St., died Sunday, March 28, 2004, in her home. The funeral will be conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Union Chapel Methodist Church by the Revs. Jerry Scott, Michael Bost and Emory Goodman. Burial will be in Oxendine Cemetery. Mrs. Torgerson is survived by her husband, James M. Torgerson of the home; a daughter, Darlene Lowe of Ocala, Fla.; seven brothers, James H. Oxendine, Hugh D. Oxendine and Crawford Oxendine, all of Pembroke, Aubrey Oxendine and Harold G. Oxendine, both of Charlotte, Reynolds Oxendine of New Hampton, Iowa, and Atlas Oxendine of Greensboro; seven sisters, Darce King, Elaine Kerr and Juanita Standley, all of Charlotte, Carol Sandoval of Fayetteville and Linda S. Hunt, Shirley Oxendine and Eunice Oxendine, all of Pembroke; and two grandchildren. the family will receive friends tonight from 7 to 9 at Locklear & Son Funeral Home in Pembroke. Copyright c. 2004 The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. -=-=-=- March 26, 2004 Donald Taylor Donald Albert Taylor, 81, died on Wednesday, March 24, 2004, at the Jourdain/Perpich Extended Care Facility in Red Lake. A funeral will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Veteran's Memorial Building in Cass Lake. A wake will begin today and continue until the time of the service on Saturday. Burial will be in St. John's Episcopal Cemetery in Old Agency, Minn., under the direction of the Cease Family Funeral Home of Bemidji. March 27, 2004 Keshaun Beaulieu KeShaun James Beaulieu, infant son of RaeDahn Beaulieu and Jamie Hunt, died on Thursday, March 25, 2004, at the MeritCare Hospital in Fargo from congenital heart complications. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Cass Lake with the Rev. George Whitebird officiating. Family and friends are welcome to attend a wake that will begin this evening at the Veteran's Memorial Building in Cass Lake and will continue until the time of the service on Monday. Burial will be in Lakeview Cemetery in Bena under the direction of the Cease Family Funeral Home of Cass Lake David Loons David Loons, 61, of Akeley, died on Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at the Cass Lake Indian Hospital. A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday at the Onigum Community Center in Onigum, Minn. with the Rev. George Ross officiating. Visitation will begin at 4 p.m. today and continue until the time of service on Monday. Burial will be in the Old Agency Catholic Cemetery in Old Agency under the direction of the Thomas-Dennis Funeral Home of Walker. Copyright c. 2004 The Pioneer/Bemidji, MN. -=-=-=- March 24, 2004 Ellen M. Zach WINNEBAGO, Neb. - Ellen Marie Rave (DeCora) Zach, 54, of Winnebago went to the Lord on Sunday, March 21, 2004, at a Sioux City hospital. Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Augustine's Catholic Church in Winnebago, with Reva DeCora officiating. The soloist will be Francesco Loera Jr., who will sing "Going Up to the Spirit in the Sky." Burial will be in St. Augustine's Catholic Cemetery. Visitation will begin today and continue until service time Thursday in the church basement. Arrangements are under the direction of Winnebago Wake and Burial Program. Ellen was born March 14, 1950. She leaves behind her husband of 34 years, Leonard of Winnebago; a daughter, Laura of Winnebago; a son, Eugene of Winnebago; 11 grandchildren; a great-grandson; two sisters, Delores of Winnebago, and Karen of Sioux City; two brothers, Warren of Louisiana, and Aaron of Minnesota; and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Pallbearers will be Curtis W. Free, Henry J. Zach, Donald C. McCauley, Gordon C. Rave, Chad "Willie" Rave and Shannon R. Rave. Honorary pallbearers will be Eugene C. Zach, Warren "Hay-na" Rave, Aaron L. Rave, Thomas E. Wolfe Sr., Kenneth J. Zach and Zacheriah C. Free. Copyright c. 2004 Sioux City Journal. -=-=-=- March 28, 2004 Bessie Hayes, White Lake Bessie G. Hayes, 96, White Lake, died Friday, March 26, 2004, at the Aurora-Brule Nursing Home, White Lake. A memorial service will be held at a later date at the nursing home. Arrangements are under the direction of Will Funeral Chapel, Mitchell. Copyright c. 2004 The Daily Republic/Mitchell, South Dakota. -=-=-=- March 23, 2004 Corbin Michael Ghost WOUNDED KNEE - Corbin Michael Ghost, 31, Wounded Knee, died Saturday, March 20, 2004, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Survivors include his mother, Virginia Ghost, Wounded Knee; three sisters, Shilo Ghost, Dorinda Ghost, and Augusta Iron Hawk, all of Wounded Knee; and one brother, Leslie Iron Hawk, Wounded Knee. A two-night wake begins at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 24, at Wanblee CAP office. Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday, March 26, at Wanblee CAP office, with the Rev. Daniel Makes Good officiating. Burial will be at the Gethsemane Episcopal Cemetery in Wanblee. Sioux Funeral Home in Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. March 25, 2004 Robert E. "Bobby" Little OGLALA - Robert E. "Bobby" Little, 54, Oglala, died Monday, March 22, 2004, at Meadowbrook Manor Nursing Home in Rapid City. Survivors include two sons, Teton Little, Casa Grande, Ariz., and Theodore "Teddy" Little, Oglala; four daughters, Chaleen Little-Brewer, Casa Grande, and Lorraine Little, Mildred Little and Sandy Little, all of Oglala; five brothers, Don Little, Manderson, Darrell Little, Rapid City, Paul Little and Ernie Little, both of Oglala, and Mike Little, Pine Ridge; three sisters, Lavonne Little, Oglala, Lorraine Peil, Batesland, and Helena "Babe" Breunenger, Albuquerque, N.M.; and one grandchild. A one-night wake will begin at 2 p.m. Friday, March 26, at Loneman School in Oglala. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 27, at the school, with the Rev. Bill Pauly officiating and traditional Lakota services by Michael Cross. Burial will be at Little Family Cemetery in Oglala. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Peter H. "Peachie" Merrival PINE RIDGE - Peter H. "Peachie" Merrival, 62, Pine Ridge, died Monday, March 22, 2004, at Ellen Stephens Hospice Center in Kyle. Survivors include three daughters, Kim Schoos, Seattle, Jeannie Merrival, Denver, and Bobbi Jo Merrival, Pine Ridge; two brothers, Barton Merrival, Kyle, and Joe Merrival, Pine Ridge; four sisters, Delores Griffin, Seattle, Iris Wilson, Pine Ridge, Betty Blain, Pullman, Wash., and Judy Merdanian, Oglala; and five grandchildren. A one-night wake will begin at 3 p.m. Friday, March 26, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pine Ridge. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 27, at the church, with the Rev. Steve Sanford officiating. Burial will be at Little Family Cemetery in Oglala. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. March 26, 2004 F. Dixon Pourier RAPID CITY - F. Dixon Pourier, age 85, died March 24, 2004, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. F. Dixon Pourier was born September 10, 1918 at Manderson, South Dakota to Peter & Hattie (Standing Bear) Pourier. He attended elementary school at Holy Rosary Mission and High School at Oglala Community School. He later attended Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas. He returned to the Pine Ridge Community where he married Alberta Condelario in 1940 at Holy Rosary Mission. It was also during this time that he entered the electrician field, which became his life long work. He completed 30 years as an electrician with the Pine Ridge BIA Agency, and afterward continued on as a self-employed electrician for many years in the Pine Ridge Community. While in High School he excelled at the game of tennis and participated in a high school tennis tournament in Minneapolis and won in his division. He was also an avid golfer and in addition to serving as the Pine Ridge Golf Pro, he also instructed many young people in this sport that he enjoyed throughout his life. He is survived by his wife, Alberta Pourier of Rapid City. One son, Terry Pourier, Pine Ridge; one daughter, Nancy Pierskalla, Fredericksburg, VA; one sister, Alvina "Lovie" Morrison, Edgemont, SD; five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by one son. A one-night wake begins 3 p.m. Sunday, March 28, 2004, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Pine Ridge, SD. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 29, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Rev. Bill Pauly, S.J., will be the presiding Celebrant. Interment will take place at the Rushville Community Cemetery, Rushville, NE. Funeral arrangements have been placed in the care of Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge, SD. March 27, 2004 Anna C. Two Crow KYLE - Anna C. Two Crow, 84, Kyle, died Thursday, March 25, 2004, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Survivors include four sons, Duane Two Crow, Victor Two Crow, Kyle, and Darrell Two Crow and Cicero Two Crow, both of Rapid City; three daughters, Janet Scherich and Stephanie Wilcox, both of Kyle, and DeAnna Two Crow, Rapid City; one sister, Sophie Marie Red Wolf Gay, Kyle; 27 grandchildren; 48 great-grandchildren; and six great-great-grandchildren. A two-night wake will begin at 3 p.m. today at Little Wound School gym in Kyle. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, March 29, at the school gym, with the Rev. Frank Schmitt officiating. Burial will be at St. Barnabas Episcopal Cemetery in Kyle. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. March 29, 2004 Earl Pickner FORT THOMPSON - Earl Pickner, 67, Fort Thompson, died Saturday, March 27, 2004, at his home. He served in the U.S. Navy. Survivors include ten children, Robert Pickner, Billings, Mont., Debra Pickner, Chamberlain, Tim Pickner, Mobridge, Tom Pickner, Rapid City, Rick Pickner, Randy Pickner, Earlwyn Pickner, Jeff Pickner and Jason Pickner all of Fort Thompson, and Todd Pickner, Takini; one brother Gilbert Pickner, Fort Thompson; and three sisters, Rosie Koster, Fort Thompson, Margery McFall, Yankton, and Peggy Steiger, Chamberlain. He was preceded in death by his wife, Margie. Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. CST Tuesday, March 30, at Wevik Funeral Chapel in Chamberlain. Wake services will be at 7 p.m. CST Wednesday, March 31, at the Community Center in Fort Thompson. Services will be at 1 p.m. CST Thursday, April 1, at the Community Center. Burial will be at Riverview Cemetery in Chamberlain. Copyright c. 2004 the Rapid City Journal. -=-=-=- March 24, 2004 Harold Wesley Rainwater TAHLEQUAH - Services for Harold Wesley Rainwater, 74, will be held at 2 p.m., Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at the Hart Funeral Home Chapel, with Pastor Jim Dearborn officiating. Internment will follow at the Tahlequah City Cemetery under the direction of Hart Funeral Home of Tahlequah. Serving as pallbearers will be Dan Overman, Butch Ogden, Jerry Knight, David Dotson, Joe Dotson and Gary Rainwater. Serving as honorary pallbearers will be the Adair County Retired Teachers. Harold Wesley Rainwater was born Sept. 10, 1929, in Tahlequah, to Newell and Nina (Holden) Rainwater. One year later the family moved to Westville, where he grew up and graduated from high school in 1947. Harold attended Connors State College in Warner, and then graduated from Oklahoma A&M College in Stillwater. He later received a master's degree in education from Northeastern State University at Tahlequah. Harold served his country during the Korean War as a cryptographer in the U.S. Army stationed in Japan. After he returned home, he completed his education, and began his teaching career, which continued for the next 30 years. In 1955, Harold married Margaret Dotson. He and Margaret were parents of three children: Beverly Ann, Paul Wesley and Brian Harold. The family lived on a farm near Stilwell for 32 years. Harold raised Hereford cattle and baled hay to feed them while teaching in nearby schools at Baron, Zion, Peavine, Maryetta and Stilwell. After he retired from teaching and the children had left home, Harold and Margaret moved to a small cabin near a spring in the woods near Tahlequah. He renovated the cabin, making it a home they both loved. Near the cabin was an old log house built near the time of the Civil War. Harold enjoyed working on this old house, preventing its further decay and making it look somewhat like it must have looked over 100 years ago. Harold was a good, decent man who valued civic responsibility, and found pleasure in helping others. He believed in Jesus as his personal savior, and watched in anticipation of his return. He would do anything to help his family, once building a trailer and a large dog pen from scratch in the snow to transport his son's dog 700 miles - all to save the dog's life. He was always building and remodeling houses with his family as the glad beneficiaries. He enjoyed building fences, clearing land, working hard, meeting challenges, greeting friends,and telling jokes. He loved sports, especially watching NCAA basketball games. Harold's dad; mom; twin brother, Gerald; and Gerald's wife, Loretta; were all deceased at the time of his death. He is survived by his family who love him dearly: wife Margaret, of the home near Tahlequah; daughter, Beverly Sturgis and husband, Kerry, of Albuquerque, N.M.; son, Paul, of Tahlequah; and son, Brian and his partner Brenda, of Albuquerque, N.M.; his only grandchild, Wesley Dean Rainwater, son of Brian and Brenda of Albuquerque, N.M.; sisters, Helen Haney and husband Stanley of Tulsa, and Nadean Tays and husband, Herb of Austin, Texas; several nieces and nephews, other relatives, and many friends. Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider Habitat For Humanity, P.O. Box 1876, Tahlequah, Okla., 74464-1876. Hart Funeral Home, 1506 N. Grand, 456-8823. Copyright c. 2004 Tahlequah Daily Press. -=-=-=- March 24, 2004 Esther Pewo APACHE - Funeral for Esther Pewo, 71, Apache, will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at Apache Reformed Church with the Rev. Mike Harjo officiating. Rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Friday at Calvary Hill Chapel, Dallas. Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Calvary Hill Chapel. Mrs. Pewo died Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at her home. Burial will be at Calvary Hill Cemetery under direction of Comanche Nation Funeral Home, Lawton. She was born April 14, 1932, to Camillo and Lydia Anguiano. She married Robert "Bobby" Pewo on Dec. 5, 1959, in Dallas. Survivors include her husband, Apache; five daughters and two sons-in- law: Wilma and Alva Dee Tsoodle, Norma Chalepah, Susan and Troy Marlowe, Lydia Garcia and Alice Flores; three sons and two daughters-in-law: Billy and Tracy Pewo, David Garcia and Camillo and Betty Garcia; three brothers and sisters-in-law: Samuel and Rebecca Anguiano, Fred and Jeannie Anguiano and Joe and Helen Anguiano; 25 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren. Copyright c. 2004 The Lawton Constitution. -=-=-=- March 23, 2004 Maurice Benally Sweetwater, Ariz. March 15, 1919 - March 21, 2004 Maurice Benally, 85, of Sweetwater, Ariz., passed from this life Sunday, March 21, 2004, in Shiprock. He was born March 15, 1919, at Sweetwater, Ariz. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 24, 2004, at Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home Chapel in Shiprock. Interment will follow at the family cemetery in Sweetwater. The family has entrusted Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home of Shiprock with the arrangements, (505) 368-4607. March 28, 2004 Louise Rose Nez Farmington Jan. 12, 1949 - March 26, 2004 Louise Rose Nez, 55, of Farmington, passed away Friday, March 26, 2004, in Farmington. She was born Jan. 12, 1949, in Nageezi, New Mexico to Sam and Mary Wilson. Funeral arrangements are pending with Brewer, Lee & Larkin Funeral Home, 103 E. Ute Street, Farmington. 505-325-8688. Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. -=-=-=- March 23, 2004 Hoskie Yazzie Sr. THOREAU - Services for Hoskie Yazzie Sr., 79, were 10 a.m., today at First Baptist Church, Thoreau. Edward King Sr. officiated. Burial followed at Thoreau Cemetery. Yazzie died March 18 in Farmington. He was born June 10, 1924 in Rehoboth into the Towering House People Clan for the Water Flows Together People Clan. Yazzie was a rancher and was retired from the railroad. His hobbies included puzzles and listening to country music. Survivors include his wife, Christine W. Yazzie of Thoreau; sons, Hoskie Yazzie Jr. of Jamestown and Tommy Yazzie of Continental Divide; daughter, Emma Yazzie of Continental Divide; brothers, Leo Nez of Coolidge, Tom Nez Sr. and Willie Nez Sr. both of Thoreau; sisters, Irene Wero of Rehoboth, Dorothy Begay and Irene Dehiya of Mariano Lake, Helen Largo, Mary Yazzie, Grace Shorty, Nellie Charley and Elise Charley of Thoreau; 16 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. Yazzie was preceded in death by his son, Van Yazzie; daughter, Mary Yazzie; parents, Jim B. and Lorraine Nez; brother, Johnny N. Begay; and sister, Rose Gray. Pallbearers were Jones Larry, Shane Yazzie, Isaac Turner, Julius Larry, Wilson Lee Yazzie and Lallo Yazzie. Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. March 24, 2004 Lawrence Begay STEAMBOAT, Ariz. - Services for Lawrence Begay, 79, will be 10 a.m. Thursday, March 25, at All Saints Catholic Church, Ganado, Ariz. Father Flann O'Neil will officiate. Burial will follow at family plot, Steamboat. Begay died March 20 in Albuquerque. He was born April 26, 1924, in Steamboat into the Mexican People Clan for the Edgewater People Clan. Begay attended school in Keams Canyon and Chinle, Ariz. He served in the U.S. Army. His hobbies included rodeos and ranching. Survivors include his wife, Florence Roger Begay; son, Chester Roger Begay; sisters, Louise Shirley of Phoenix, Gladys Williams and Susan Thompson both of Steamboat; and five grandchildren. Begay was preceded in death by his parents, Hasbah Begay and Hosteen Tse Ni Toh; brothers, Kenneth Begay and Johnny Begay; and sister, Ida B. Tahy. Pallbearers will be Luther Tahy, Lee Mike Begay, Emery Tahy, Lanteo Haskie and Jason Begay. Silver Creek Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. March 25, 2004 Virgina Ashley HOUCK, Ariz. - Services for Virginia Ashley, 47, will be 10 a.m., Friday, March 26 at Good News Mission, Houck. Rev. Milton Shirlson will officiate. Burial will follow at Houck Community Cemetery. Ashley died March 22 in Tuscon, Ariz. She was born Oct. 4, 1956 in Rehoboth. Ashley graduated from Rosewell High School, Rosewell, Calif. Her hobbies included reading, writing, T.V and music. Survivors include her sons, Byron Ashley of Querino Canyon, Ariz. and Orlando Begay of Phoenix; daughters, Victoria Six, Bernita Yazzie, Vera Begay of Querino Canyon and Roberta Begay of Phoenix; mother, Anna Ashley; brothers, Larry Ashley of Houck, Leonard Ashley, Peter Ashley of Querino Canyon, Presley, Perry, Phillip and Preston Ashley of St. George, Utah; sisters, Jennie Slick of Querino, Ariz., and Anna George of Houck; and one grandchild. Ashley was preceded in death by her father, John Ashley; and brothers, Stanley Ashley, Clinton Ashley, Harry Ashley, Edward Ashley and Nathaniel Ashley; and sisters, Grace Ashley and Alta Ashley. Pallbearers will be Derrick G., Byron A., Don G., Stoney Y., Melcom G., Rudy A., Richard O., Roy Ashley and Veron Nez. Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. March 26, 2004 Jeanette Plain Eagle FORT WINGATE - Services for Jeanette Eagle, 34, will be 10 a.m., Saturday, March 27 at St. Michaels Catholic Church. Father Gilbert Schneider, OFM, will officiate. Burial will follow at the private family cemetery, Tachinee, Ariz. A rosary will be recited at 7 p.m., tonight at Rollie Mortuary. Eagle died March 23 in Albuquerque. She was born June 10, 1969 in Gallup into the Black Sheep People Clan for the Bitterwater People Clan. Eagle attended Valley High School, Window Rock High School, Mesa Community College and UNM-Gallup Branch. She was an assistant Rodeo Secretary. Her hobbies included volleyball, softball, beadwork, music and traveling. Survivors include her husband, Kevin Francisco of Fort Wingate; son, Wyatt Rope Francisco of Fort Wingate; daughters, Kylisha Franchesca Plain Eagle and Kynita Alnabah Plain Eagle both of Fort Wingate; brothers, Duane Etsitty of Flagstaff, Ariz., Eldon Etsitty of Window Rock, Everett Etsitty of Chinle, Ariz. Garrett Etsitty of Mesa, Ariz. and Ward Etsitty of Lupton, Ariz.; and sisters, Edelina Etsitty of Window Rock, Patti Etsitty of Gallup, Ninahasbah Etsitty-Yazzie Mesa and Terri Smith of Lupton. Eagle was preceded in death by her parents, Juanita Shirley and Edward E. Etsitty. Pallbearers will be Curtis Carviso, Kernie Carviso, Duane Etsitty, Eldon Etsitty, Everett Etsitty, Garrett Etsitty, Ward Etsitty and Timothy Skeet. Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Jeremy Jeremiah Thompson STANDING ROCK - Services for Jeremy Thompson, 27, will be 10 a.m., Saturday, March 27 at Bible Baptist Sheperd Church, Standing Rock. Rev. Neil Foerster will officiate. Burial will follow at the family plot. Thompson died March 20 in Standing Rock. He was born Dec. 19, 1976 in Crownpoint into the Meadow People Clan for the Salt People Clan. Thompson attended Crownpoint High School and Wingate High School. He was employed as a construction worker in Cibecue, Ariz. Survivors include his parents, Delborah Dickier Trijllo of Dallas, Texas and Jerry Thompson of Dalton Pass; brothers, Dexter Thompson of Dallas and Michael Trijllo Jr.; sister, Lena Trijllo; and grandparents, Marlene and Tom B. Jones of Standing Rock, Bobby Chee Thompson of Dalton Pass and Lucy Thompson of Thoreau. Pallbearers will be Dion Joe, Jerome Thompson, Jason Jones, Tom B. Jones, Larson Chaco, Dennis Yazzie, Mike B. James, Jerry Louis, Danny Yazzie, Dexter Thompson and Jerry Thompson. Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. March 27, 2004 Alta Tsi'najinnie Bert PINON, Ariz. - Services for Alta Bert, 79, will be 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 30 at Pinon Valley Church. Tom White will officiate. Burial will follow at the family plot, Pinon. Bert was born into the Tangle People Clan for the Black Streak of the Forest People Clan. Survivors include her husband Kee Bert Sr.; sons Harry T. Bert and Edwind Bert, both of Pinon, Ariz., Edison Bert of Hard Rock, Ariz., and Thom Bert of Winslow, Ariz.; daughters, Shirley McCabe of Page, Ariz., Elouise John of Pinon, and Linda Tso of Sanders, Ariz.; parents Warren Tsinajinnie and Vivian White; brother Gordon Tsinajinnie; sisters, Jesse Shonie and Jane Smith, 81 grandchildren, 73 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. Bert was preceded in death by her son Kee Bert Jr.; brothers, Albert Ranger and Steve Tsinajinnie. Pallbearers will be Fernando Bert, Ericson Bert, Alfredrick John, Ambrose Wesley, Mattaniah John and Charles McCabe. Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Copyright c. 2004 the Gallup Independent. -=-=-=- March 23, 2004 Lena Marie Naltazan Lena Marie Naltazan, 96, of San Carlos died March 17, 2004, at Heritage Health Care Center in Globe. She was born in San Carlos. Survivors include two daughters, Ophelia Ina Kill and Maryland Thomas of Ft. McDowell; two sons, Leroy Patten and Manuel Steven of San Carlos; one sister, Margaret Mashill John of San Pueblo, Calif.; and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. A wake will begin at 4 p.m. Friday, March 26, at the Lena Naltazan residence in San Carlos. Rosary will follow at 7 p.m. Funeral service will be conducted at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 27, at Burdette Hall in San Carlos. Interment will be in San Carlos Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Lamont Mortuary of Globe. Lionel Nochey Lionel Nochey, 62 of San Carlos died March 13, 2004, in Phoenix. Born in San Carlos, he was a laborer for the forestry department. Funeral service was conducted March 21 at American Indian Church in San Carlos. Interment was in Northgate Cemetery. Lamont Mortuary of Globe handled arrangements. Copyright c. 2004 Arizona Silver Belt/Apache Moccasin. -=-=-=- March 28, 2004 Josephine "Josie" Mary Williams Humphreys Josephine "Josie" Mary Williams Humphreys, born May 27, 1941, in Tacoma, WA, joined her family into rest on March 24, 2004. Josie was a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington and of St. Anne's Catholic Mission. She retired from the Snohomish County PUD after many years of service. Josie was preceded in death by her parents Martin and Margaret Williams; sister Florence "Gladys" McKay; brothers, Steve "Rooster" Williams, Marvin "Spud" Williams and Kenneth Williams. Josie was the third sibling, and final member, of her family to pass away during the last year. The Williams family has been devastated by the losses of Gladys, Kenny, Josie; and cousin George Sebastian Williams. Josie is survived by her husband, Robert Humphreys; sons Myron and Tracy Humphreys, and Matt Humphreys; granddaughters, Jennifer, Sarah, Brianna and Mackenzie. She is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Arrangements are under the direction of Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home. The Funeral Mass will be held at the Tulalip Tribes Community Center on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 10:00am. Fr. Patrick Twohy will officiate. Lunch will follow at the Tulalip Tribal Community Center. Copyright c. 2004 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash. -=-=-=- March 24, 2004 Dwayne Bow Hevewah FORT HALL - Shoshone Bannock Tribal Member, Dwayne Bow Hevewah, 25, passed away Sunday morning, March 22, 2004. He was born June 10, 1979 in Pocatello, Idaho. Bow grew up in the Fort Hall area and attended school in Blackfoot, and Sho Ban High School. His favorite hobby was working on cars. He enjoyed customizing (low riders), repairing and installing the stereo systems. He loved to camp, fish and raft in the Salmon and Middle Fork areas. He had a deep respect for our Native spiritual ways and ceremonies. He was of the many who helped protect Castle Rock from being developed in Boise, Idaho. Bow's greatest love was for his two young sons, Keenan Lee and Latrell Hobby. He loved being a dad, and spent a lot of quality time with his sons. He always played cars and wrestled with them; Bow made sure there were always hugs and kisses Dwayne Bow is survived by his two sons; his parents, Hobby and Melissa Broncho Hevewah; a brother, Curtis Captain (Vanessa Schrock); maternal grandparents, Minerva Osborne and McManus Broncho; paternal grandmother, Edna Hevewah, including John Hevewah, Eloise Little, and Iva Lee Osborne. He was preceded in death by his sister, Nikeea Jessie Hevewah, grandfather, Abner Hevewah, uncles, Kirby and Keith Hevewah, great-grandparents, James and Josie Papse, John Hevewah Sr., Jane Nephi Hevewah. Dwayne will be taken to Minerva Osbornes' residence on Ferry Butte Road (Gibson) today, Tuesday, March 23, 2004. Traditional tribal funeral services will be conducted on Thursday, March 26, 2004, at 2 p.m., at the Sand Hill Cemetery, Fort Hall Indian Reservation. All funeral arrangements are family-directed. Copyright c. 2004 Pocatella Idaho State Journal. -=-=-=- March 27, 2004 Johnny Fred Damon POPLAR - Johnny Fred Damon, 46, of Poplar, formerly of Wolf Point, died March 19, 2004, in Bismarck, N.D., after a long illness. A wake will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 28, at the Poplar Cultural Center. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, March 29, at the Poplar Cultural Center. Interment will be in Poplar City Cemetery. Clayton Stevenson Memorial Chapel is in charge. Copyright c. 2004 The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. -=-=-=- Golden Triangle On-Line Obituaries The following obituaries appeared in the Cut Bank Pioneer Press, Shelby Promoter, Valierian or Glacier Reporter this week. March 24, 2004 Betty Stripped Squirrel Betty Stripped Squirrel, 62, of the Piikani Nation, passed away in Pincher Creek on Mar. 12, 2004. Funeral services were held at Starr School on Thursday, Mar. 18 at 2 p.m. with interment in Takes Gun Cemetery. Eden's Funeral Home of Pincher Creek handled the arrangements. Betty was born Feb. 27, 1942 in Browning to Bert Stripped Squirrel and Rose "Lucy" Takes Gun. Betty was raised on both the Piikani Reserve and the Blackfeet Reserve. In her early years she was a laborer in the crop fields throughout Alberta. Betty loved making native crafts, which are enjoyed by her friends and relatives, north and south of the border. Betty's biggest love was raising her children. She is survived by her aunt Esther Little Leaf, her brothers Jimmy Stripped Squirrel and Earl Old Person, her children Alfred (Ann) Stripped Squirrel, Bernadette (Ivan) Stripped Squirrel, Yvette (Marshall) Stripped Squirrel and Leslie Stripped Squirrel and by eight grandchildren. She was preceded in death by husband Terry Day Rider, her sisters Hazel North Peigan and Eunice Good Rider, her brothers Ben Kills on Top and Dave Roundine Sr. She was also preceded in death by her maternal grandparents Chief White Calf and Ms. Little Plume of the Blackfeet Reserve, her paternal grandparents Norbert Stripped Squirrel and Julianna Crow Flag of the Piikani Reserve. Copyright c. 2004 Golden Triangle Newspapers. -=-=-=- March 29, 2004 Darryl Lynn Kirkaldie Jr. FORT BELKNAP - Darryl Lynn Kirkaldie Jr., 24, of Fort Belknap, a firefighter, was found dead Saturday north of Hays. He had been missing since Nov. 27. A wake and rosary service is 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Paul's Recreation Center in Fort Belknap. Funeral Mass is 11 a.m. Wednesday at the recreation center, with burial in St. Paul's Mission Cemetery. Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook is handling arrangements. Survivors include his wife, Thea Johnson Kirkaldie; a daughter, Chantell Talks Different; sons Codie Kirkaldie, Jess Kirkaldie and Keith Jake, all of Fort Belknap; his mother, Evelyn Doney of Hays; his father, Darryl L. Kirkaldie Sr. of Billings; a brother, Sheldon Doney of Hays; and his grandmother, Betty Mason of Billings. The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Copyright c. 2004 Great Falls Tribune, a division of Lee Enterprises. -=-=-=- March 29, 2004 Darryl Kirkaldie Jr. FORT BELKNAP AGENCY - Darryl Lynn Kirkaldie Jr., 24, died Nov. 27, 2003, at Hays due to a self-inflicted gunshot injury. He was located on Friday, March 26, 2004, an eighth of a mile north of Hays. A funeral Mass will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Saint Paul's Mission Recreation Center with burial following in St. Paul's Mission Cemetery. Wake and rosary will be Tuesday at 7 p.m. in St. Paul's Recreation Center. Darryl was born on Feb. 5, 1979, to Darryl and Evelyn (Doney) Kirkaldie Sr. at Fort Belknap Agency. He attended grade school at St. Paul's Mission and high school at Hays/Lodge Pole High School. Darryl attended carpentry school at Anaconda. Darryl married Kristie Reed in Hays and they had two sons. They later divorced, and he married Thea Johnson on Nov. 22, 2002, at Fort Belknap Agency. Darryl was a firefighter for six years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs forestry. He was an amateur boxer for 15 years and fought twice in the tough man's contest in Hardin. Darryl enjoyed little kids and giving them rides on horses. He also enjoyed jogging, hiking, listening to old country music and visiting with friends. Darryl is survived by his wife, Thea Kirkaldie of Fort Belknap Agency; daughter, Chantell Talks Different of Fort Belknap Agency; sons, Keith Jake of Fort Belknap Agency, Codie Kirkaldie and Jess Kirkaldie, both of Hays; mother, Evelyn Doney of Hays; father, Darryl Kirkaldie Sr. of Billings; grandmother, Betty Mason of Billings; and numerous uncles, aunts and cousins. Arrangements are by Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook. Copyright c. 2004 Havre Daily News. -=-=-=- March 25, 2004 Nastasia Peterson, 73 Marshall Marshall resident Nastasia Peterson, 73, died March 21, 2004, at Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. Visitation was Thursday in Chuathbaluk. A service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Sergius Russian Orthodox Church at Chuathbaluk with the Very Rev. Maxim Isaac and the Rev. Nicholai Isaac officiating. Burial will be in Chuathbaluk. Mrs. Peterson was born Aug. 8, 1930, in Holitna. She was a retired substance abuse counselor in Bethel. She was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. Mrs. Peterson enjoyed berry picking, cutting fish, sewing, jigsaw puzzles, carving, painting and being an artist. Her family wrote: "She was a very caring person. She was a very hard worker, had a great sense of humor and was a good listener. She always said something good about any negative outcome, and she could tell you like it is, whether you like it or not. (She will be missed) so very, very much and she will always be in (our) hearts and prayers." Survivors include her husband, William Peterson of Anchorage; daughters, Mary Morgan of Anchorage, Nancy Fitka of Marshall, and Martha Pitka of Bethel; sons, Wesley Pitka, Walter Pitka and Alex Peterson of Marshall; granddaughters, Carol Ausdahl, Carla Snow, Silivia Mendoza, Lucia Ma, Carmen Pitka, Maxine Fitka, Nicole Owletuck, Beverly Owletuck, Joanne Dickie, Shawna Pitka, Georgieanne Pitka and Elizabeth; grandsons, Benito Mendoza, Robert Pitka, Nick Fitka Jr., Mikey Fitka, Carlie Fitka, Morgan Fitka, Arthur Owletuck, Michael Pitka, Jonathan Pitka, Benny Dickie and Gabriel Pitka; great-grandchildren, Aubrey Fernandez, Simon Snow, Luke Snow, Robert Manuel, Andrew Manuel, Ilianna Manuel and Kailey Polty. Arrangements were made with Evergreen Memorial Chapel. Copyright c. 2004 The Anchorage Daily News. -=-=-=- March 25, 2004 Matuska Anna 'Emily' Williams Juneau resident Matuska Anna "Emily" Williams, 75, died March 21, 2004, in Juneau. She was born Aug. 10, 1928 in Sitka to Mary and Frank Marks. She attended the Wrangell Institute, and received a GED in Juneau. She was a homemaker, living in Juneau since 1977. She was married to Father Michael Williams, a priest at the Russian Orthodox Church in Juneau. Her family said she always looked forward to berry picking and sharing that with her grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband and parents. She is survived by daughters, Sue Ann K. Lindoff, Tillie M. James, Pauline D. Hudson, Natasha Williams; sons, Billy J. Williams, James M. Williams, Edward F. Williams, Howard G. Williams, Gordon C. Williams, Kevin A. Williams, Leon C. Williams, Rick Iannalino; sisters, Judy Brakel, Jeannette Tabor, Liz Hill; as well as number of grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Honorary pallbearers include Eunice Akagi, Dorothy Wallace, Ruth James, Judy Brackel, Emma Demmert, Judy Hanson and Liz Hill. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 25, at Tlingit and Haida Community Council. Graveside burial services spring 2004 at Alaskan Memorial Mortuary. March 28, 2004 Dan Frank Dan Frank, 80, died Saturday, March 27, 2004, in his sleep in Fairbanks after a brief bout with cancer. The son of Sarah and Johnny Frank, he was born Feb. 24, 1924, at camp near Arctic Village. He was married to the late Jean Ribaloff Frank for 51 years, the father of seven children, stepfather to three and has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Visitation will be Tuesday, March 30, at 11 a.m. at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Fairbanks with a memorial service at noon. A potlatch will be held at the church following the services. He will be buried at Venetie later in the week. Services there are pending. Copyright c. 1999-2004 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Inc. -=-=-=- March 23, 2004 Ronald Victor Badger BADGER - It is with great sadness that the family of Ronald Victor Badger announce his sudden passing on Saturday, March 20, 2004 in Moose Jaw at the at of 33 years. Ronald was predeceased by his mother, Harriet; his brothers, Nelson Shingoose, Earl Shingoose and Hector Badger, Jr. and his nephew, Christopher Shingoose. Ronald is survived by his daughters, Jodi and Emilie Badger; his father, Hector Badger; his brother, Steven Badger; his sisters, Margaret (Doug) Norris, Debra Nabess, Delores (Stan) Severight and Darlene Langan; his aunties, Elizabeth (Edgar) Keshane and Elizabeth Tourangeau; his uncles, Albert Keshane, Lambert Keshane and Cuthbert Keshane as well as numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. The wake will commence on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 at 4:00 p.m. from the Cote First Nation Band Hall. Funeral Services will take place on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 at 10:00 a.m. from the Cote First Nation Band Hall. The interment will follow in the Badger Family Cemetery. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Christie-Hill Funeral Chapel & Crematorium, Yorkton, Saskatchewan. March 27, 2004 Johnnie Ambrose Musqua Moose Jaw, SK AMBROSE MUSQUA, JOHNNIE April 1, 1979 March 20, 2004 - Moose Jaw Johnnie leaves to mourn his passing and cherish his memory, his partner, Amanda Maple; his daughter Mercedes and his son Avery; his parents Karen (Lambert) Keshane and Adolphus (Peggy) Musqua; his siblings, Roberta (Robert), Cheryl (Justin), Kyle, Senora, Santana, Randy, Lanney, Franklyn, Mara, Desiree, Taylor, J.J., Katrina and Lisa; his special Big Granny, Elizabeth Keshane as well as numerous other relatives and many, many good friends. Johnnie was predeceased by one baby through miscarriage in 2002; his maternal grandparents, Hazel and Kenneth Quewezance; his paternal grandparents, Mary and Ambrose Musqua and his cousin, Merrill Quewezance, auntie Evelyn Quewezance. We love you Johnnie and we'll see you again. Copyright c. 2000-2004 Regina Leader Post Group Inc.