_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 012 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2005 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island March 19, 2005 Blackfeet sa'aiki'somm/duck moon Yuchi wadasine/little summer moon Zuni li'dekwakkya ts'ana/little sand storm 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 s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from 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; Indigenous Peoples Literature Mailing List; UUCP email 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "It is extremely disheartening and disturbing that tribal members, and especially aspiring Indian students, have to suffer the consequences of the BIA's ignorance of tribal sovereignty." -- Francine Hall, Si Tanka University President +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Understand before I begin there is nothing especially new or revealing in this issue's editorial, at least not to Indians. Let's take a look at the heart (or lack thereof) of the dominant society in news this week. Needless to say it is selfish, greedy and spiteful. U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin introduced legislation to block the renaming of "Devils Tower" and the designation of it as a Sacred Site. "This is not a proposal for a name change for the park, a locally controversial subject," the National Park Service stated in an internal brief in January. "The Secretarially-designated Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark will ensure that the Native American name and sacred site values are formally recognized and convey a stronger sense of the cultural significance of the site to all people." As long as I have known Lakota I have known the "true name" for that peak is Mato Tipila, or Bear Lodge. I understand there are other names, but I heard the stories of how the marks came to be on the sides and the Sacredness of this place... how it was a part of the star knowledge and what it meant to the Lakota. I also heard how the residents near Mato Tipila were hateful and racist to the Lakota because of their view of Mato Tipila as Sacred. That love and reverence for the place would make it less inviting to the tourist and rock climber and the dollars they brought. All that mattered to them was the greed and that's the only thing this legislation by Cubin is designed to protect. To hell with the First People and their understanding of this Sacred place. This week the Federal Parks decided to allow the spraying of waste water snow on the mountain the Hopi call Nuvatukyaovi, meaning `Place of Snow on the Peaks,' and considered by all Hopi people to be a central and essential element of Hopi culture, religion, and survival. The peaks are the home of the Katsinam (spirit messengers). To the Dine' "San Francisco Peak" was adorned with Diichili', Abalone Shell, Black Clouds, Male Rain, and all animals, beside being the home of Haashch'e'e'lt'i'i' (Talking God), Naada'algaii `Ashkii (White Corn Boy), and Naada' `Altsoii `At'e'e'd (Yellow Corn Girl). The area is also sacred to Havasupai people. "Once again the federal government has made a decision that is clearly in opposition to the passionate pleas of Native American nations who hold the peaks as sacred," Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr. said. You read the above and understand what this Sacred place means the people of the Native Nations and wonder how this can be. How can such sacrilege occur? One word: greed. The wealthy ski resorts will have more snow for a longer time. Never mind that the snow is manufactured from reclaimed waste water. You wonder who wants to risk e-coli skiing down a slope made of recycled sewer water. Since the beginning this has been the way of the European. Take and take, and screw who it hurts as long as there is profit. While greed is the main driver of this culture, I don't believe it is the only thing driving these decisions. From the very beginning, the whole intent of the Europeans overrunning this country was to eradicate the "pagan" beliefs of the people they found here and replace them with the "correct" religion worshiped by their culture. They despised our people's beliefs as "devil-inspired." Clearly this intent has not changed. This deliberate attempt to cement the name "Devil's Tower" on a place sacred to the Lakota can only be meant to permanently stick that "devil" label on the Lakotas' sacred beliefs. To spray processed sewage upon the traditional home of the Hopi and Navajo deities is the worst kind of insulting attack. If somebody sprays processed sewage on the local First Baptist Church, or better yet, on the altar and cross inside, how long would it takes the upright citizens and their law enforcement agencies to scream that somebody had committed vandalism and sacrilege against their religion? Taken a step further, naming half the landscape features in a state "squaw," and insisting the name remain even after its insulting connotations are made clear, and retaining drunken "tomahawk chopping" at a baseball game as an "honor" to our culture speaks volumes of the disdain for Indian beliefs and dignity. And how ironic is it that our legislators and government administrators - those who should be protecting all citizens - are fostering this outrageous activity? Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30012, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - Aid for Last Comanche Code-Talker - RUNGE: A new Campaign - McCain weighs GAO probe of against Indians Indian Trust debacle - JODI RAVE: Misconception: - Norton lobbies Congress on Indians don't pay Taxes Trust Fund accounting - CHUCULATE: Innuendo - NAGPRA change up for linking Indians to a Fire Senate consideration again - Native American Holocaust - Onondagas file huge Land Claim Monument - Legislation to repeal - Blackfeet Schaghticoke Recognition Health and Wellness Conference - Bill blocks recognition of - World's Healthiest Foods: Monument as Sacred Eating to live - Feds approve use of - First Nation wins decision Wastewater on Sacred Site in Treaty Rights Case - Tribes blast Snowmaking approval - Protests in Bolivia in Sacred Peaks prompt Resignation offer - 9th Circuit rejects Tribe's - Brazil may open Indian Lands $6 Billion Claim to mining - High Court refuses - APTN Head defends Idaho's Fuel Tax Appeal new Dubbing Policy - The shock of Recognition - Epcom was shut out - Funding for Indian Education of Dawson Project in Montana slashed - Court joins Navajo Nation - Both Si Tanka Campuses might close in Discrimination Case - Editorial: - Report backs Tribe Learn Si Tanka's Lessons in Columbia Pollution Claim - Anderson 'Famous' again in - Native Prisoner new role at Company -- Writing Native Inmates - Farming Program for Indian Women -- Judge approves - YELLOW BIRD: Native Inmate Deal Surplus can help fund Child Care - Rustywire: The Other Brother - YELLOW BIRD: - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days Ultimate Tragedy makes Rez Reel - Poem: Tiro de Gracia --------- "RE: Aid for Last Comanche Code-Talker" --------- Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 22:07:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHARLES CHIBITTY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6135 Oklahomans and American Indian Chamber of Commerce rush to aid of Last Comanche Code-Talker March 11, 2005 Tulsa, OK - Charles Chibitty, one of the last surviving Comanche Code- Talkers, and one of Oklahoma's most gifted dancers has been admitted to a nursing home where he is alone, perhaps a little disoriented by his new surroundings and seemingly abandoned by all. Chibitty is now a resident of Maplewood Nursing Home, 6202 E. 61st, Tulsa, OK. The American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Oklahoma and concerned Tulsa Indians have taken it upon themselves to offer aid and comfort to one of Oklahoma's true war heroes. The Chamber called upon its members to see what they could do. The support has been swift and beneficial. State Chamber President Margo Gray and Chamber Director Cathy Wilkins have pulled Indian people and businesses together in a few hours to meet Chibitty's immediate needs. Stated Gray, "The AICCO feels its commitment not only to "Support Our Troops" at its website, www.aicco.org, but also to continue to support all of our Native veterans." A hard and uncomfortable bed has been replaced with a new medical bed that he will be able to raise himself. Chamber member Scott Sanders, owner of SS Medical Supplies, generously donated the bed and other crucial items. Maplewood staff and the Chamber are coordinating the installation of the new bed with Sanders and his Bixby company. Gray has opened an account with Chamber member Bank 2 in Oklahoma City for monetary donations for Chibitty's needs. Bank 2 is owned and operated by the Chickasaw Nation. Call Bank2 at 1-405-946-2265 or 877-409-2265 for information on how to donate to Chibitty's special account. The name of the account is the "Charles Chibitty Substaining Account." The room is sparse and has nothing to reflect the colorful nature of Chibitty. There were over 16 members of the original Comanche Code-talkers. Much has been written about the contributions of the Navajo code talkers. Little has been said or written about Oklahoma's code talkers, which also include the Chickasaw Nation. Before that, Chibitty raised a family and continued to dance and promote Native American Indian culture everywhere we went. His infectious smile and warm laugh helped bridge many gaps in white and Indian relations. Chibitty lost his wife and both children. For more information on how to help, call the Chamber at 1-800-652-4226. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: McCain weighs GAO probe of Indian Trust debacle" --------- Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:24:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BROAD INVESTIGATION CONSIDERED" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/006943.asp McCain weighs GAO probe of Indian trust debacle March 10, 2005 Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) raised the possibility of a broad investigation of the Indian trust after tribal leaders on Wednesday complained about the Bush administration's reform efforts. At an oversight hearing, McCain reiterated his view that trust reform, while a high priority, isn't the only pressing issue in Indian Country. "I intend to give it only one-good shot," he said. "If it looks like we're not getting anywhere," he continued, "then I will leave that task to future Congresses and the courts." But after listening to tribal leaders repeatedly criticize the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the expansion of the Office of Special Trustee, McCain said he might seek a full Congressional investigation. The effort would be taken up by the General Accountability Office. "Maybe we ought to have GAO look at the whole situation and see what the deal is and what the options are," said McCain, the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "It's a pretty big task." At the request of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota), a member of the committee, the GAO already looking into OST's finances amid growing concerns over the agency's exploding budget. Since the start of the Bush administration, the office has grown into a massive bureaucracy carrying out, and overseeing, nearly every aspect of trust reform -- including a costly historical accounting -- to the tune of nearly $304 million. McCain did not say what issues might be before a second investigation, the idea of which was raised by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the committee's vice chairman, with respect to allegations that the BIA has mismanaged individual Indian lands on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. Charles Colombe, president of the tribe, testified that allottees have been cheated out of more than $100 million since the 1940s. McCain, however, suggested that the probe might be a far-reaching in terms of the Interior Department's trust management. "I think we could also use those [allegations] to take a broader look as well," he said in response to Dorgan's query. Since the introduction of Interior Secretary Gale Norton's disastrous BITAM proposal more than three years ago, tribes have pressed Congress to take a stronger role in trust issues. Tribes considered various tactics to stop the reorganization including litigation and suspension of appropriations. The campaign had limited success, with some tribes gaining exemption from the reorganization and others gaining consideration for regional specific plans. Meanwhile, the Bush administration plowed ahead with costly plans aimed at fixing the system and conducting an historical accounting of the Individual Indian Money trust. "We're basically complete with our reorganization efforts," associate deputy secretary Jim Cason told the committee yesterday. Views of the twin efforts were unanimously negative among the tribal witnesses who testified. Keith Harper, a Native American Rights Fund lawyer in the Cobell v. Norton case, said "not one red cent" should be spent on an accounting based on inaccurate and incomplete information. Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said reform was a futile endeavor without clear trust standards, enforceability in court and independent oversight of the system. "We expect that there will be a high standard of accountability and responsibility," he testified. "There really can be no other way." Along with the Inter-Tribal Monitoring Association, tribes and other organizations, NCAI is developing a "single" legislative proposal to reform the system and devise a settlement mechanism for the Cobell case. Jim Gray, chief of the Osage Nation and chairman of the ITMA board, is co- charing the discussions. Gray said Interior Department officials have done a poor job at consulting with Indian Country and explaining the many changes they are making under the "to-be" model of trust reform. But he welcomed the involvement of Special Trustee Ross Swimmer and deputy Donna Erwin in listening sessions that ITMA held across the country last year. "Those discussions needed to happen," Gray told the committee. Darrell Hillaire, chairman of the Lummi Nation of Washington and a representative of a group of self-governance tribes exempted from the reorganization, presented draft legislation that would implement key parts of the trust reform task force that fell apart in the fall of 2002 after the Bush administration and the Department of Justice objected to the standards, enforceability and oversight items. The bill creates a deputy undersecretary for Indian affairs, phases out the OST and creates an independent commission. "The terminationist and paternalistic insensitivity that the OST has displayed toward the impacted tribes and the damages caused by prior mismanagement of trust funds and assets. have become polarized Indian tribes and leadership nationwide," Hillaire said. The draft also calls for mediated settlement of the Cobell lawsuit, a concept Harper embraced. "Let me be clear on one point," he said. "We want to resolve this case." Trust will remain a big issue in the coming months as the House Resources Committee focuses on settling the case and other committees take up the federal budget. There is already talk of reinstating the "midnight rider" that put a halt to the accounting for one year. NCAI expects to have its proposal ready later this spring. "Today Indian Country heard once again the call from the Senate that this legislation is on a fast track in Congress," Hall said after the hearing. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Norton lobbies Congress on Trust Fund accounting" --------- Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:18:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CAN WE SAY, "TRICKSTER."" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/006975.asp Norton lobbies Congress on trust fund accounting March 11, 2005 Interior Secretary Gale Norton urged Congress on Thursday to get involved in the battle over an historical accounting that the Bush administration is taking to a federal appeals court. In testimony before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, Norton sounded a warning about an injunction reinstated by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth last month. She said the court ordered the department to undertake a costly accounting of the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust. "This order requires us to back to 1887 to verify every single transaction since that time," Norton said. Norton said the effort will require the federal government to subpoena and compile records from oil and gas companies, individual Indians and tribal governments. "The department has estimated that the total cost of this accounting work will be $10 to $12 billion," she testified. Norton did not suggest a course of action for the lawmakers at the hearing, who appeared more interested in cuts for tribal colleges and construction of Bureau of Indian Affairs schools than the trust. Only one lawmaker, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Montana), the chairman of the subcommittee, brought up the issue when he said the government was "pouring money down a black hole." "Between you and judges and everything else, it's got most of us up here on the Hill sort of confused," he said of the $135 million request, an increase of $78 million, for ongoing accounting activities. But Norton's decision to lead off her testimony with a lengthy statement about the court order signaled the Bush administration's stance on the issue. The Department of Justice filed an emergency motion to stay Lamberth's ruling pending an appeal. Hours after Norton finished her testimony, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to issue the stay. Instead, the court asked the Cobell plaintiffs to provide a response by March 17. The Bush administration's final brief is due March 24. "It appears the Court of Appeals is getting the message: justice delayed is justice denied," lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell said in a statement. "We welcome the opportunity to make our case before the appeals court, and believe that the accounting ordered by the district court will proceed." The activity sets the stage for another battle on the lawsuit in the halls of Congress. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the House Resources Committee are jointly pursuing efforts to settle the case and provide a fix to the system. Some lawmakers, however, are considering reinstating the "midnight rider" that halted the accounting last year. The Cobell plaintiffs, tribes and a large contingent of House members led by Rep. Richard Pombo (R- California) tried to defeat the rider but were unsuccessful. The issue was raised earlier this month after Norton brought up Lamberth's order at a hearing of the House Interior Appropriations subcommittee. Over the past three years, Reps. Charles Taylor (R-North Carolina) and Norm Dicks (D-Washington), the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee, have tried to force a settlement of the Cobell case by inserting language in Interior's appropriations bill. Interior officials repeatedly denied involvement with the effort but the White House last year supported the midnight rider. And Norton's used it to seek a stay of the original accounting order that Lamberth had issued in September 2003. The D.C. Circuit eventually set aside Lamberth's order but, as Norton noted yesterday, did not reach the merits of the rider. That led Lamberth to reissue the broad historical accounting injunction late last month. The Bush administration is currently performing an accounting much more limited in scope. The Office of Historical Trust Accounting is not verifying land holdings, probates or leases and is only examining accounts that were open as of 1994 According to Norton, the effort has shown that errors in individual and tribal accounts are "infrequent and small." Although the project is not complete, she said there have only been $1.5 million in discrepancies on a throughput of more than $15 billion in individual and tribal trust funds. The Cobell plaintiffs welcome a settlement, Native American Rights Fund attorney Keith Harper said in Senate testimony on Wednesday. But the two sides differ on the potential amount owed to individual Indians -- department officials suggest it would be in the "low millions" rather than billions. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: NAGPRA change up for Senate consideration again" --------- Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:24:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="McCAIN BILL HELPS TRIBAL CLAIMS" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/006919.asp NAGPRA change up for Senate consideration again March 9, 2005 A controversial two-word change to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) that would make it easier for tribes to reclaim ancient remains will be considered by a Senate committee today. On Monday, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) resurrected the proposal as part of a larger technical corrections bill. The measure adds the words "or was" to the definition of Native American in hopes of ensuring that remains not linked to present-day tribes can still be repatriated. The change is supported by tribes and their advocates who argue that existing law fails to protect the ancestors of the first Americans. They pointed a federal appeals court decision that barred the federal government from repatriating a 9,000-year-old set of remains known as the Kennewick Man. "They said NAGPRA was entirely irrelevant to what should happen to those remains," Paul Bender, a law professor from Arizona State University who helped draft the law said at a July hearing on repatriation. "That was a startling holding for somebody like myself who was involved in the framing of NAGPRA ... and I think it would startle every member of the committee that recommended the NAGPRA legislation." The language surfaced last year in the wake of complaints about the inadequacies of NAGPRA. But it quickly ran into opposition from a group of scientists who won the right, in court, to study Kennewick Man over the objections of four Pacific Northwest tribes who claim him as an ancestor. Lawyers on both sides of the debate agree that passage of the bill is unlikely to affect the case. The tribes are still seeking a role in any studies carried out on the man they refer to as Techaminsh Oytpamanatityt, or the Ancient One. But if approved, the bill could affect other repatriation disputes and set a national precedent. Currently, the Interior Department is mulling whether to return the remains of a 10,000-year-old man to the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of Nevada. A decision has been delayed for more than three years. At issue is NAGPRA's requirement that tribes or tribal descendants show a "cultural affiliation" to ancient remains. This can be done using linguistic, historical, anthropological, archaeological and other data. The task becomes controversial when the remains date back thousands of years. Scientists argue that tribes cannot demonstrate a direct connection to people with whom they may or may not be related. But tribes say their continuous occupation of ancestral territories proves they have maintained ties. In the case of Kennewick Man, evidence showed that tribes lived in the area of Washington where he was found for at least 10,000 years. The remains were, in fact, discovered on land that used to be part of the Umatilla Reservation until the late 1800s. There isn't likely to be any debate on the measure, being considered at a business committee meeting this morning. Last September, it was rushed through without discussion by McCain, who was eager to move onto a hearing on the tribal lobbyist scandal. McCain has since modified the bill to make it more clear that NAGPRA is being modified. The earlier version, sponsored by former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colorado), did not mention NAGPRA by name. McCain also added language that would appear to dispel criticism that tribes would be able to claim everything older than 1492. The measure clarifies that NAGPRA only applies to artifacts and remains of Native Americans that are, or were, indigenous to the United States. The bill reads as follows: SEC. 108. DEFINITION OF NATIVE AMERICAN. Section 2(9) of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001(9)) is amended-- (1) by inserting "or was" after "is"; and (2) by inserting after "indigenous to" the following: "any geographic area that is now located within the boundaries of". Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Onondagas file huge Land Claim" --------- Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 22:07:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONANDAGA LAND CLAIM" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.syracuse.com//news-18/1110534040210151.xml Onondagas file huge land claim Nation wants lake, other sites cleaned up March 11, 2005 By Mike McAndrew Staff writer The Onondaga Nation will claim ownership of a 40-mile-wide swath of land stretching from the Thousand Islands to Pennsylvania in a historic lawsuit it will file today against New York, Onondaga County and Syracuse. The Onondagas will ask a federal court to declare that New York illegally acquired the land in five treaties between 1788 and 1822, and they will ask for title to that land. The disputed territory includes roughly 4,000 square miles - including nearly all of Syracuse, plus Oswego, Fulton, Watertown, Cortland and Binghamton. About 875,000 people live in the claim area. Syracuse is the biggest U.S. city to be included in a Native American land claim, according to attorneys and historians familiar with such cases. While the lawsuit asks a judge to declare the entire area as Onondaga property, Chief Sid Hill stressed the nation will not sue individual property owners or evict anyone from their homes. The Onondagas - a nation of 1,500 members who live on about 11 square miles just south of Syracuse - are not seeking monetary damages in this action. The suit asks the court to declare that New York violated federal and state laws when it bought the Onondaga land, said Joseph Heath, the Onondagas' attorney. Hill said the Onondagas hope such a ruling would force New York officials to bargain with them on compensation for the illegal sales and to compel New York to better clean up environmental hazards in the claim area - especially Onondaga Lake. If those state negotiations fail, the Onondagas could return to court to ask a judge for damages. "With land claims elsewhere, we've seen all the negative things that can come out of that. We want to be good neighbors," said Hill, the tadodaho, or spiritual leader, of the Onondagas. "We aren't saying we're coming after Syracuse because it's ours. What are we going to do with Syracuse?" Chief Jake Edwards said. "We want to be at the table and help the people in Syracuse make it a healthier place to live." Elsewhere in New York, land claims have not hurt anyone's ability to buy and sell real estate, according to real estate professionals in those areas. "Day-to-day, no one will see any difference," Heath said. "Certainly not until there's a judgment. Then 0 the state has to figure out how we are going to resolve that." John Dossett, general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians, said, "Often there are a lot of concerns about land claims. The immediate concern is: Is the tribe going to take all this land? Experience bears out that's not what happens. Eviction is not ever seriously considered as a remedy by the courts or the tribes. Everybody understands that's not on the table." Eventually, if the court declares the Onondaga Nation is the rightful owner of the land, the Onondagas hope to: Force New York to clean up Onondaga Lake and other environmental problems. Enlarge their untaxed territory by buying land from willing sellers. Hill declined to estimate how much land the Onondagas want or identify any parcels. Require New York to make payments to the Onondagas for use of their land. If New York makes a fair offer to settle the suit, the Onondagas will not expect individual property owners to pay any "rent," Heath said. The Onondagas - whose leaders oppose casino gambling - say they do not want a casino. Casinos have been a major part of Gov. George Pataki's formula to try to settle other pending land claims. On Feb. 3, Pataki proposed a law to allow the Cayuga, Oneida, Mohawk and Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican nations to open five casinos in the Catskills as part of settlements of their land claims. The Onondagas' opposition to casinos "takes away one of the things that's been used to settle these claims," said Michael Oberg, an associate professor of history at State University College at Geneseo who researched the Oneida claim for the U.S. Justice Department. "The Onondaga will take a much different approach in the land/money settlement formula," said Robert Odawi Porter, director of Syracuse University's Center for Indigenous Law, Governance & Citizenship. He said the Onondagas are the most traditional of the six nations of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy, and they revere the land. The Onondagas will be "tough negotiators for strengthening their land base - their unpolluted land base," Porter said. Environmental defendants Instead of casinos, the Onondagas want air and water cleanup to be part of any settlement, Hill said. Hill said that's why the Onondagas named as defendants in the suit five Syracuse-area corporations that they allege are polluters: Honeywell International, which in 1999 merged with Allied Signal Corp., the company that dumped about 165,000 pounds of mercury into Onondaga Lake from 1946 until 1970. Honeywell has proposed a $237 million cleanup of the lake. The Onondagas have said the cleanup plan is inadequate. The Onondagas consider Onondaga Lake as sacred ground because the Iroquois Confederacy was founded on the lake's shores hundreds of years ago. "That's our cathedral, right there," Hill said. Clark Concrete and its affiliate, Valley Realty Development. Clark began operating a gravel mine in Tully in 1997 on land the Onondaga say is sacred. That's where the Onondagas say wampum, the beads used to communicate and record history, was invented. Trigen-Syracuse Energy Corp., whose coal-burning power plant in Solvay is the largest air polluter in Onondaga County. Trigen produced 547,270 pounds of pollution in 2002, most of which was hydrochloric acid gas released into the air, according to federal records. Hanson Aggregate, which has been mining limestone at a 2,280-acre quarry on Jamesville Road in the town of DeWitt since 1996. Heath said the Onondagas decided to sue Hanson Aggregate about five years ago after he and Hill took a helicopter ride to get photos. From the air, they saw how large the open pit quarry was and were shocked that little had been done to repair the mined land. "We want to use this action to put us at the table and enforce your laws and exert our laws of responsibility for the earth, water, air and animals," Hill said. None of the other Indian nations in New York has made environmental cleanup the cornerstone of its settlement talks, according to attorneys familiar with the claims. "We're trying to do a different land-rights action here," Hill said. "Our concern is the environment and how we as two peoples can live in the area that was our ancestors." Long road to today The Onondagas have been talking about filing a land claim against New York for more than 80 years. In the 1920s, Laura Cornelius Kellogg, an Oneida from Wisconsin, met chiefs from the six Haudenosaunee nations at the Onondaga Nation many times to try to organize a claim. Federal civil rules barred Native American nations from filing suits in federal court until 1966, according to SU's Porter. Before then, many legal scholars believed Native American nations had to get the United States to file suits on their behalf, said Arlinda Locklear, the attorney for the Oneida of Wisconsin. In 1997, three Onondagas filed their own land claim against New York and dozens of other corporate defendants. The Onondaga chiefs denounced the effort. Eventually, the suit was withdrawn. In 1998, Onondaga leaders met with Pataki and told him the nation was close to filing a suit. At the time, the Onondagas were planning to sue for the 108-square-mile territory surrounding Syracuse that they possessed in 1790. Onondaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons said the Onondaga system of government requires the chiefs to be in unanimous agreement to take action. Until last year, some of the chiefs did not want to sue. When they reached a consensus, the chiefs also decided to seek title to all of the land in New York that the Onondagas once occupied. The Onondagas do not know the precise borders of that aboriginal territory, which stretched from Pennsylvania to the Thousand Islands. They haven't calculated the square miles or acreage of the area that they are suing over. "Our territory was between the Cayugas and the Oneidas," Hill said. "There were no lines in the forest." Strongest claim The Onondagas are the last of the five original Haudenosaunee nations - which include the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas and Senecas - to file a land claim. Based on the Oneida and Cayuga cases, the Onondagas appear to have a good chance of winning a land claim for any land New York acquired after 1790, said Porter and Oberg. Those cases relied on the 1790 federal Trade and Non-Intercourse Act, which barred states from obtaining Indian land without Congress' approval. In the United States' infancy, New York regularly ignored the Trade Act as the state spread west. In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that New York violated federal law by acquiring the Oneidas' land after 1790 without congressional approval. In the only land claim suit to go to trial, the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma won on the same point and received a $247.9 million judgment against the state in 2001. Most of the area the Onondagas are seeking in their lawsuit was sold before 1790, and the claim for that land faces a more uncertain future in the court. That still leaves more than 100 square miles - including nearly all of Syracuse - that New York bought from the Onondagas in four treaties after 1790. None was approved by Congress, according to Heath. "The Onondagas' claim on the post-1790 land transactions are as strong as any of the claims that have gone forward," Oberg said. "It's as strong as the Oneidas' claim in the test case." Attorney John Campanie - who is defending Madison County against the Oneidas' pending land claim over 256,000 acres - said the state and counties are much better prepared to fight land claims than they were when the Supreme Court ruled on the Oneida case. "I'm not going to say it's a slam dunk one way or the other. The defense in the 1970s was almost nonexistent. There are good defenses now," Campanie said. "But the state and counties will be burdened by some earlier Supreme Court decisions." A tougher test The Onondagas will face higher hurdles to reclaim title to the larger area - for thousands of square miles in Oswego, Cayuga, Cortland, Tompkins, Jefferson, Tioga and Broome counties. That represents almost one-tenth of all New York. New York acquired this land - about 90 percent of the Onondagas' aboriginal territory - in a treaty signed in 1788, two years before congressional approval of Indian land transactions was explicitly required. No Native American nation in New York has won a court decision covering territory acquired before 1790, said Locklear, who argued the 1985 Oneida case before the Supreme Court. For this land, the Onondagas will use an untested legal argument, Heath said. While the other cases relied on federal law, the Onondagas will contend that New York broke state law when it negotiated the 1788 treaty. Heath said a 1783 New York law required that the state Legislature ratify, or approve, any taking of Indian land. New York's Legislature did not ratify the 1788 treaty until 1813, he said. By 1813, the Trade and Non-Intercourse Act was in effect, so the treaty should be void, the Onondagas contend. The Onondagas also say the Onondagas who negotiated the treaties 200 years ago did not have the authority to sell land to the state. How fast will the Onondaga claim get resolved? The Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes of Maine sued in 1972 for 12.5 million acres in northern Maine. Just eight years later, in 1980, those tribes accepted an $81 million federal settlement - which experts said remains the largest monetary land claim settlement in the country. But in New York, land claims typically linger for decades in the federal courts. The Oneida land claim is 35 years old this year. Copyright c. 2005 The Post-Standard. Used with permission. --------- "RE: Legislation to repeal Schaghticoke Recognition" --------- Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:43:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SCHAGHTICOKE TAG-TEAMED BY CONNECTICUT OFFICIALS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.kenttribune.com/print.asp?ArticleID=7493 Congresswoman Johnson Introduces Legislation to Repeal Federal Recognition of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation By Sharon Hartwick March 4, 2005 Congresswoman Nancy Johnson said Friday she has introduced legislation in Congress to repeal the federal recognition granted to the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. Johnson made her announcement at a public meeting in the town hall in Kent, where the Schaghticoke Indians have a reservation. Her announcement was greeted with applause by about 100 local residents who showed up for the meeting. "It is truly unfortunate that the step I take today was necessary," said Johnson. "But it has become clear to everyone that the BIA made erroneous and unlawful decisions to recognize the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation. This bill makes sure that the citizens of western Connecticut will not pay for the mistakes made by the BIA." Johnson said she introduced the legislation in Washington on Thursday. But she also conceded that she does not expect quick action on the measure. Her purpose she said was to educate her fellow congressmen in the House and the Senate that the process of recognition of Native American tribes needs to be reformed. (The Associated Press reported from Washington that Johnson's legislation was co-signed by Reps. Rob Simmons and Christopher Shays, but that Senators Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd had distanced themselves from the Johnson legislation). Johnson said, moreover, that she hoped her legislation would put the BIA and the Department of Interior on notice that Congress was going to take a more active role in oversight of the BIA deliberations. After Johnson concluded the meeting in Kent, STN Chief Richard Velky issued a statement that said the STN would await the administrative recognition process in accordance with rules agreed upon in court by the parties involved. He said Johnson had resorted to "1950s-era tactics designed to strip Native Americans of their lands and their sovereign rights." See full text of Velky's statement nearby. The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation received recognition from the BIA on Jan. 29, 2004, but the state of Connecticut, the town of Kent and other interested parties are appealing that ruling within an interior board of review at the BIA. It's not clear when a ruling will be made on the appeal, and until the appeal process is concluded -- within the BIA and in outside courts -- the bid by the STN for federal recognition, and its plans for a casino in western Connecticut, are on hold. "The overwhelming evidence on the record shows that the STN did not satisfy the seven mandatory criteria needed for recognition," said Johnson. "More than that, contrary evidence was ignored, federal regulations were manipulated, long standing precedents were overturned and there were material errors of facts." Johnson said the text of her legislation recounts the "errors and manipulation" by the BIA. "It is quite compelling," she said. "It certainly strips away the veil that this was an ordinary fact finding process." Johnson's remarks indicated that she held the Bush Administration responsible for part of the problem with the recognition process. "The administration allowed methodologies to be changed and precedents to be overturned," she said. "The degree to which the facts were tortured and distorted is remarkable." But the real problem, she said, has been within the administration of the BIA itself. "The BIA has a lot of problems and they need to clean up their act," Johnson said. "My legislation will promote that." Indeed, Johnson said that her legislation was designed to educate members of Congress who are just now beginning to awake to the problems of Indian sovereignty within the legal process, but also within local communities. She said legislators in western states are beginning to realize that the current federal policies towards Native American tribes need to be changed. Likewise, lawmakers all along the Atlantic coastline are beginning to understand that "sovereignties within sovereignties" present major problems to governance. A key development now, said Johnson, is for Congressman Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, to schedule hearings on the her legislation, known as Schaghticoke Acknowledge Repeal Act of 2005 (SARA). But she acknowledged that the process could be a slow one, probably spreading over two Congressional sessions in the next two years. "Governance is a processs," she said. "Democracy allows people to be heard... .it does take time, but we are making some real strides." Johnson said she will meet with Sen. John McCain, who chairs the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, next week and she will start to lobby her fellow Congressmen in an effort to develop a consensus on reformation of federal policies towards Native Americans. Johnson was accompanied to the meeting by Kent First Selectman Lorry Schiesel who, in introducing the Congresswoman, thanked her for supporting the town's appeal of the STN decision. Also appearing at the podium was Ken Cooper, chairman of a local citizens group, Town Action to Save Kent (TASK). TASK has hired lobbyists in Washington and Hartford to persuade Congress to reform the Indian recognition process. "This is a very aggressive piece of legislation," said Cooper after the meeting. "When the dean of our congressional delegation feels confident enough to introduce such legislation, it makes a statement to the entire Washington establishment. I hope that the Bureau Indian Affairs and the Department of Interior are beginning to believe that there is real Congressional oversight over their activities in this area. That is good for both petitioners and any other interested parties involved in any recognition process." Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal later issued a statement in support of Johnson's legislation. "I share completely the goal of reversing the Schaghticoke recognition, even as I am pursuing it by other means -- through the Interior Department appellate process," said Blumenthal. "The congressional battle may be uphill unless others join this cause, but the facts and law are on our side in the administrative appeal." Copyright c. 2005 Kent Tribune. --------- "RE: Bill blocks recognition of Monument as Sacred" --------- Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 08:24:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DEPENDS ON "WHO" IT IS SACRED TO" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.casperstartribune.net//863b90aca6cc20bd87256fbe006a148e.txt Cubin: 'Devils Tower' in jeopardy By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune staff writer March 9, 2005 GILLETTE - U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin believes the name of the nation's first national monument is under attack, so she introduced legislation on Tuesday to preserve the name "Devils Tower." Cubin spokesman Joe Milczewski said the action is meant as a warning to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton not to meddle with the Devils Tower moniker. He said Cubin wanted to be in front of a pending proposal by the National Park Service to give the monolith the designation of "Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark." "This is not a proposal for a name change for the park, a locally controversial subject," the National Park Service stated in an internal brief in January. "The Secretarially-designated Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark will ensure that the Native American name and sacred site values are formally recognized and convey a stronger sense of the cultural significance of the site to all people." Milczewski noted that the secretary of Interior doesn't need congressional approval to make such a designation. He said Cubin recently heard from many residents in the area who believe the landmark designation is really an attempt to change the Devils Tower name. Frank Sanders is among them. "I see no need to change the name. It was not misnamed to start with," said Sanders, owner of Devils Tower Lodge Bed & Breakfast Wilderness & Climbing Retreat. Sanders said he has climbed the tower 32 times already this year. He said Devils Tower holds significant meaning for many American Indian people, just as it holds significant meaning for local residents today and for climbers and tourists from all over the world. But many Indians don't see it that way. Janice Ashley, a Lakota from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said she doesn't like the name "Devil." To her, it counters the spirituality of the place. "The creator made it, so why would you want to call it something like that?" Ashley said. Ashley prefers Wakan Tower, meaning Sacred Tower. Other Lakota members call it Mato Tipila, or Bear Lodge. Still other Indians have suggested calling it Grey Horn Butte, named after the boy in the legendary tale of how a rock grew into the sky to protect the boy from a bear. "It is my belief and the belief of scores of people from around the Devils Tower region that a name change will harm the tourist trade and bring economic hardship to area communities," Cubin said in a prepared statement Tuesday. "I will not stand by and allow that to happen." Reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dzeffer@trib.com. Copyright c. 2005 by the Casper Star-Tribune published by Lee Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: Feds approve use of Wastewater on Sacred Site" --------- Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 08:24:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WASTE WATER ON SACRED MOUNTAIN" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6115 Feds approve use of wastewater on sacred site Tribes vow to protest decision Sam Lewin March 8, 2005 Leaders of the Hopi and Navajo tribes are blasting a decision to use "reclaimed water" on a sacred site to accommodate a wealthy ski lodge situated in the Arizona mountains. "Once again the federal government has made a decision that is clearly in opposition to the passionate pleas of Native American nations who hold the peaks as sacred," Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr. said, adding that the tribal council will review the ruling and "explore what options we have." A Coconino National Forest Service Environmental Impact Study prepared for the Arizona Improvement Project approved using wastewater, or reclaimed water, for artificial snowmaking on 205 acres of terrain suitable for skiing. Reclaimed water is wastewater that has been treated and transformed into a product that supporters say is clean, clear, and odorless. The issue has been around since 1979, and the tribe has consistently protested any attempt to expand the Arizona Snowbowl, a lucrative ski lodge with thousands of rooms. The Hopis, a tribe so traditional that members rejected Indian gaming even though unemployment on the reservation is rampant, organized a protest in March of 2004 to protest what essentially amounts to the use of former toilet bowl water on a sacred site. "It is indeed a sad day for the Hopi people," Hopi Cultural Preservation Office Director Leigh Kuwanwisiwma said in a statement. "It is not just a breach of the forest service's trust responsibility for the tribe, but a breach of the Hopi people's trust in Coconino National Forest. The San Francisco Peaks, which we call Nuvatukyaovi, meaning `Place of Snow on the Peaks,' are considered by all Hopi people to be a central and essential element of Hopi culture, religion, and survival. The peaks are the home of the Katsinam (spirit messengers) and the focus of our prayers for rain and snow. The use of reclaimed water on such a sacred site can only be described as sacrilegious. In a time when the Hopi Katsina Spirits have answered our prayers for rain and happiness, Coconino has placed a dagger in the Hopis' spirituality." In addition to that argument, tribal officials protest that artificial snowmaking will have a significant adverse effect on the overall environment of the mountain and watershed, a move that could ultimately affect the condition of an historic property currently in the process of being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. The San Francisco Peaks is an extinct volcano that was formed over 3 million years ago. Tribal officials say they support the elimination of the night lighting system and night skiing that was originally included in the proposal. "The Hopi Tribe is united in our stance and will continue to reiterate our profound disagreement with the proposed action," Taylor said. "We believe that we are also entitled to the fundamental freedoms guaranteed all citizens by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which we believe should be honored by all parties." The Hopis are not the only ones that consider the San Francisco Peaks to have religious significance. The Navajo, Zuni, Tewa, Haulapai, Havasupai, Yavapai-Apache, Yavapai-Prescott, Tonto Apache, White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache, San Juan Southern Pauite, Fort Mcdowell Mohave Apache, and Acoma also maintain a spiritual connection to the site. "Since 1979 the impact of the presence of the Snowbowl on our holy shrine has been immeasurable. We have suffered a spiritual impact that many of our spiritual leaders directly attribute to the presence of the Snowbowl," said Navajo tribal member Klee Benally "This plan outlines enormous destruction to our spiritual, psychological and physical well- being through its attack on our sacred mountain in the high desert of Northern Arizona." "We want to share with you what it means when we say, `the Peaks are us.. it is Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Acoma,'" said Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. When you build on it, when you talk about putting wastewater on it, you are desecrating our life. You are chipping away at our way of life and committing genocide. We are an endangered species. We need all the help we can get...My heart cries when I hear sacred sites are desecrated. As a leader, I am doing all I can to save them." Some local environmentalists have supported the tribes in their bid to prevent the wastewater plan. "The Forest Service has squandered an opportunity to do the right thing," said Andy Bessler of the Sierra Club. "This plan is culturally and environmentally destructive." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes blast Snowmaking approval in Sacred Peaks" --------- Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 08:24:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WASTE WATER ON SACRED MOUNTAIN" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic//0309snowbowl09.html Snowbowl can make own snow U.S. OKs use of wastewater Mark Shaffer Republic Flagstaff Bureau March 9, 2005 FLAGSTAFF - The U.S. Forest Service on Tuesday approved Arizona Snowbowl's plan to make snow and other improvements at its ski area in the San Francisco Peaks. The decision is expected to be a boon for Flagstaff's business community and provide a steady base for winter tourism to the city after years of drought. The ski area provides about 400 jobs and is an estimated $20 million industry in the city. But the decision, announced by Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure, set off a firestorm of criticism from Indian tribes in northern and central Arizona who oppose any further disturbance on the peaks because of cultural and religious reasons. advertisement Only four of 13 tribes signed a memorandum of agreement with the Forest Service concerning the ski area changes, Rasure said. In a prepared statement, Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said he was "extremely disappointed" by the Forest Service's decision. Shirley also said the plan to use treated wastewater piped up the mountains from Flagstaff is "one of the highest forms of desecration" that Native Americans can imagine. Vanessa Charles, a spokeswoman for the Hopi Tribe, said that the decision "is like a dagger piercing the heart of Hopi spirituality. . . . A lot of Hopis are very grief-stricken today." George Hardeen, a Navajo tribal spokesman, said that representatives of 13 tribes met with Rasure last month at a private meeting in Flagstaff to try to dissuade her from allowing snowmaking. "But she appears to have made it clear that business interests and skiers are more important," Hardeen said. The decision is expected to be appealed to the Forest Service's regional office in Albuquerque within 45 days, and a lawsuit also might be in the offing, said Andy Bessler, a spokesman for the Sierra Club in Flagstaff. Gene Waldrip, a planner for Coconino Forest, said that almost 10,000 public comments were received concerning the changes and that a majority of those opposed them. Last year, the Forest Service released a draft environmental report that had backed all of Snowbowl's proposals for its 777-acre ski area, except night lighting of the runs. In addition to making snow, the proposal calls for additional ski lifts, the expansion of two ski lodges and some changes to the Snowbowl's terrain, including some widening of runs and construction of a half-pipe ski feature. But the most controversial part of the proposed changes involved making snow using the treated wastewater. The water, which Forest Service officials say meets all state and federal guidelines for cleanliness, will be piped 14 miles from near downtown Flagstaff to the ski area. The pipeline will follow established utility corridors and have no environmental impacts, Waldrip said. Rasure said repeatedly during a noon new conference that she made her decision based on the Forest Service's mandate to provide multiple use of its land. She pointed out that the ski area was barely more than 1 percent of the 74,000 acres in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness Area. Rasure also said that economics was not the "driving factor" behind her decision. "I have to look at a variety of users. Certainly the Native Americans use the peaks, but there are a lot of others skiing and other recreational users," Rasure said. Snowbowl has been enjoying a potentially record-breaking season this year because of abundant moisture. But the drought since the mid-1990s left the ski area in a precarious financial position and the owners have said that they probably would have to shut down without a guaranteed source of snow. "During the last 20 years there has been a significant increase in demand and the infrastructure has not kept up with that," Waldrip said. Snowbowl officials struck an accord with Flagstaff in 2003 to buy 1.5 million gallons of treated wastewater a day from November through February if the snowmaking was approved. Copyright c. 2005, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: 9th Circuit rejects Tribe's $6 Billion Claim" --------- Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:24:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SKOKOMISH LAND CLAIM DENIED" http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D88NR7E84.html 9th Circuit rejects tribe's $6 billion claim Associated Press March 10, 2005 The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld its earlier rejection of the Skokomish Tribe's $6 billion claim against the United States, the city of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Utilities. The tribe contends construction of two Skokomish River dams have interfered with its treaty-based fishing rights. Its claim was rejected first by a U.S. District Court judge and then by a three-judge 9th Circuit panel. The 11-judge en banc court said in its ruling Wednesday that the district court had no jurisdiction over the claim against the U.S. government because claims of more than $10,000 against the United States that arise from a contract with the government are properly brought in the Court of Federal Claims. The majority's ruling did transfer portions of the case to that court. The decision also held that the tribe was entitled to no damages from the city or Tacoma Public Utilities. U.S. District Judge Franklin D. Burgess had found that Tacoma followed federal regulations for licensing the dams and that the statute of limitations had expired on other claims made by the tribe. Five of the eleven judges dissented in part. The tribe has fought the Cushman Hydroelectric Project for more than 70 years. In its 1999 lawsuit, the tribe contends the license for the dams was not properly granted and that the project damaged reservation land and violated its fishing rights under the 1855 Treaty of Point No Point. Copyright c. 2005 KGW-TV, Portland, OR. --------- "RE: High Court refuses Idaho's Fuel Tax Appeal" --------- Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:48:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SOVEREIGNTY UPHELD" http://www.shobannews.com/local.html Sovereignty upheld after High Court refuses Idaho's fuel tax appeal By Lori Edmo-Suppah Sho-Ban News Volume 29, Number 8 FORT HALL - The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes has advised the state of Idaho they will no longer be paying state fuel tax after the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a 9th Circuit Court ruling that said the state of Idaho couldn't tax fuel sold on Indian reservations. The High Court refused to hear the case that involved the Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce and Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Monday but did agree to review a case involving the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation vs. Kansas. That case will determine whether the state of Kansas can impose a gasoline tax on fuel sold on reservations. Idaho has filed a friend of the court brief in the Kansas case. Tribal Attorney Bill Bacon said the difference between the Idaho and Kansas cases is the Kansas fuel tax scheme places the incidence of the tax on the distributor not the retailer such as Idaho's fuel tax. "To place the incidence of a tax on a tribe requires specific federal legislation," he said. The Sho-Ban Tribes will start imposing their own fuel tax of .25 a gallon (the same rate as the state's) as soon as the Fort Hall Business Council directs it Bacon said. The tribal fuel tax will then go into a tribal tax account and it will be utilized for a variety of services such as road maintenance, bridge repair, etc. Fort Hall Business Council Chairwoman Nancy Eschief-Murillo said in a press release, "For the first time we can impose our own fuel tax adopted years ago to begin maintaining more than 2,500 miles of reservation roads that the state of Idaho and counties fail to maintain." Bacon said the state fuels tax the Tribes have collected since 1992, when the district court ruled in favor of the Idaho tribes, has been placed in a separate bank account until the final ruling was made. It amounted to about $2 million last fall when the 9th Circuit Court issued its ruling. He added that the Tribes intend to file a refund claim with the state for back taxes and that is upwards of $22 million. Coeur d'Alene Tribal Chairman Ernie Stensgar said in a press release, "We're pleased by the Supreme Court's decision and hope this ends Idaho's legal maneuvering to sidestep Tribal immunity from state taxes on fuel sold by Tribal stations." Bacon cautioned that the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are concerned the state of Idaho may attempt to avoid enforcement of the High Court ruling by introducing legislation and applying it retroactively such as it unsuccessfully did in 2001 when the Idaho Supreme Court ruled against it. "When it comes to court rulings against the state of Idaho and in favor of tribes, Idaho has a history of taking action to avoid the court's ruling," the FHBC press release said. Copyright c. 2005 Sho-Ban News. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: The shock of Recognition" --------- Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:48:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="VIRGINIA TRIBES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.newsleader.com//20050312/OPINION01/503120318/1014 The shock of recognition March 12, 2005 Virginia's American Indian tribes have never had an easy time of it. Once killing Indians with bullets became socially unacceptable, the extermination of Virginia's tribes on paper was begun. Any person who claimed Indian ancestry when heads were counted during the once-per-decade census was classified as being either "colored" or "mulatto," much as South Africa did with its non-whites during apartheid. In recent years, however, Virginia's tribes have begun a slow climb out of the darkness of near-extinction into the light of acceptance. Six of the state's remaining tribes that have maintained their identities and gained state recognition - the Chickahominy, in Charles City County; the Eastern Chickahominy, in New Kent County; the Upper Mattaponi, in King William County; the Rappahannock tribe in Essex, Caroline and King and Queen counties; the Nansemond tribe in Chesapeake; and the Monacan tribe in Amherst County - are at the threshold of gaining federal recognition. They have reached this point thanks to a bill by chief sponsor Sen. George Allen, R-Virginia. About 3,000 Virginia Indians would be affected by this bill, if it passes and their tribes are granted federal recognition. This would gain them access to federal education, housing and health benefits available to other federally recognized tribes. It goes without saying that recognition, should it finally arrive, won't occur without strings attached. Republicans in Congress have invoked the new Indian stereotypes - casinos and cheap gas - to throw roadblocks in the way. Ironically, the tribes, shunned and unrecognized for so long, are eagerly sought by the organizers of Jamestown's 400th anniversary commemoration for use as background color. Unless recognition is gained, we'd have serious reservations about that powwow. Copyright c. 2005 The News Leader. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Funding for Indian Education in Montana slashed" --------- Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:48:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="UNMET GOALS" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.billingsgazette.com//2005/03/13/build/state/40-indian-ed-goal.inc Goal of Indian ed remains unmet By JODI RAVE Missoulian March 13, 2005 HELENA - Understand thy Native neighbor. Some educators and community leaders believe it's a goal that can be met in public school classrooms across the state. And when they met recently in Helena, many arrived ready to revive a vision. Bolstered by recent legislation and court rulings, they still believed Native issues could be integrated into K-12 curricula. "First of all, it's constitutional," State Superintendent Linda McCulloch said. "It's statutory. But the real reason, the most important reason, is that 148,000 students need to know this information. ... Frankly, it isn't just the K-12 students that we're involving. "It's every potential adult in Montana that needs to know this. Indian Education for All isn't just about educating students about the cultural heritage of American Indians. It's making sure that we all are tolerant of different groups. When that happens, and that tolerance is achieved, we erase racism." Now all they need is the money. A 30-year fight McCulloch, a former teacher, brought Native-based education to the forefront last fall when she led the Office of Public Instruction to organize October's Indian Education Summit in Helena. For many, it had been a three-decade effort. "As many of you in the room know, today is not the beginning discussion on Indian education," McCulloch said in her address. "I see some people who have worked on Indian education for many, many years." Indeed, some of the 200 torch-carriers attending had since retired. Yet there were those like Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, who refused to quit pushing for change. And with recent court rulings on their side, it seemed the day might have finally arrived when lawmakers and public schools would uphold the 1972 Montana Constitution's Article X. Juneau's education career spans 30 years, as teacher and administrator in tribal and public schools. She brought that experience to the Legislature eight years ago. In 1999, even before a district court followed by the Montana Supreme Court pushed quality and Native education into the spotlight, Juneau introduced the Indian Education for All act. The bill reminded her legislative colleagues and state educators that Montana Constitution's Article X Section 1, Subsection 2 required the state to preserve the cultural integrity of Native people. Her bill became law. Furthermore, the constitution's Native education article would later become central to the school funding lawsuit argued before District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena beginning in January 2004. Attorney called to testify Attorney Jim Molloy called on Juneau to testify on behalf of the constitution's Native education mandate. Molloy: "Carol, is the Indian Education for All act intended just to serve the needs of Indian students?" Juneau: "It's for every Montanan. It's for every school district. It's for every student in every school district to be provided with an opportunity to learn about their tribal neighbors." Molloy: "OK. And, yet, does it have an important purpose with respect to serving the needs of Indian students in our public schools?" Juneau: "Absolutely. Say you're an Indian student walking into a classroom in one of Montana's schools, and you don't see anything about Indian people in that classroom, you don't see anything visual in the classroom, you open your textbooks, there is nothing. ... I think that child is going to get a pretty strong message that they don't belong or they don't fit. When you feel valued and when you feel that you belong, you do better in school." 'Jumping for joy' In April, Sherlock ruled in favor of the Montana Quality Education Coalition, which filed the lawsuit against the state. The Montana Supreme Court upheld the ruling in November, then ordered the state to define "quality" education so it could adequately fund state schools. Second, it found the funding system "failed to recognize the distinct and unique cultural heritage of American Indians and has shown no commitment in its education goals to the preservation of Indian cultural identity." The ruling was cause for a victory dance. "I was jumping for joy," said Rep. Norma Bixby, D-Lame Deer, who is also the Northern Cheyenne tribal education director. "We had another opinion, another court ruling that said the state still has not honored the constitution and American Indians." For the first time in nearly 30 years, proponents of Native education had reason to believe all Montana students Native and non-Native would be taught Native issues, past and present. And furthermore, that the state would increase efforts to close the achievement gap of Native students, of which some 96 percent attend public schools. For a six-year period beginning in 1991, 56 percent of Native students graduated from high school, compared to 82 percent of white students. "So when you think about Article X, and you read those two provisions together, quality education and Indian Education for All, they're basically saying the same thing, that all Montana's schoolchildren deserve an opportunity that allows them to live good and effective lives," said Ray Cross, a University of Montana law professor who spoke to the state's Native legislators about their role in this year's session. Challenges ahead Winning a lawsuit represents only one step. Now come more pressing questions. How much money should be allocated to Native education? And once the money is there, how will teachers bring quality Native curricula into the classroom? The answers are uncertain. Lawmakers have been grappling with the money issue since January. Office of Public Instruction staff is still trying to create a way to get Native- related curricula to more than 10,000 teachers. And the Montana University System has yet to fully embrace teacher education programs to qualify teachers to become familiar with Native-based curricula. A proposed Native education budget request for $23 million was slashed. The Senate Select Committee's Working Group reduced the amount to $7.5 million to be spent over the next two years. Then it voted to reduce that amount to $1.4 million. "The funding is still elusive," Juneau said Thursday. Yet she remained confident that progress was being made by her legislative colleagues. "I think some of them understand what Indian Education for All is about, and how it's a significant part the lawsuit, and perhaps a cornerstone." The proposed budget is only enough to pay for a conference, someone to look for grant money, a public Indian education campaign and $25,000 for the Montana Advisory Council on Indian Education, said Joyce Silverthorne, a former member of the State Board of Education. An important piece is missing from the proposed funding. "It will not fund professional development for all educators of the state," said Silverthorne, who is also the 2004 National Indian Educator of the Year. But just as pro-Native educators have done before them, and for those still in the trenches, Juneau and her education colleagues will continue their fight. "I always feel that unless somebody's here having a good clear voice on it," she said, "we will be forgotten." ---- Jodi Rave, who covers Native issues for Lee Enterprises, can be reached at (800) 366-7186 or jodi.rave@missoulian.com. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Both Si Tanka Campuses might close" --------- Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:43:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PULLED BIA FUNDING" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.argusleader.com//20050305/NEWS/503050335/1001 Both Si Tanka campuses might close Tribe will provide funds, but university depends on BIA money PETER HARRIMAN pharrima@argusleader.com March 5, 2005 Si Tanka University will close both its Huron and original Eagle Butte campuses at the end of the current semester if a renewed effort to get $850,000 in federal money released to the school by the Bureau of Indian Affairs is unsuccessful, school and tribal officials said Friday. "A series of false promises and reneged agreements ... will result in the closure of Si Tanka University," Si Tanka and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe officials said in a statement. "With the loss of employment for 191 people and the loss of educational opportunities for 775 students, most of them Native Americans, the closure of Si Tanka University will devastate both rural South Dakota communities," the statement continued. But the tribal council is committed to helping Si Tanka remain open through this spring, according to David Nadolski, a Sioux Falls lawyer working with the tribe and the school. "The place is going to be open Monday," Nadolski said. "We have committed to complete this semester, and we will complete the credit hours that students need to finish their classwork and for those that are going to graduate to graduate." The college missed a payroll Monday after money it was anticipating from the federal Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act was not released by the BIA. About 100 staff members were not paid. On Thursday in Eagle Butte, the tribal council agreed to either guarantee a loan or directly lend money to Si Tanka for continued operations, Nadolski said. He has been working with Si Tanka and the tribe to resolve foreclosure litigation against the school after it defaulted on $6.6 million in loans and was hit with a $2 million federal tax lien. But Nadolski also was pulled into the immediate funding crisis and took part in a tribal council session Thursday in Eagle Butte that dealt with the school's revenue shortfall. More scrutiny Meanwhile, Si Tanka is facing further scrutiny that could lead to a criminal investigation. Beadle County State's Attorney Michael Moore is looking into complaints from students that federal student-aid checks issued to them through the school bounced in February. Moore initially received two complaints. After those became public Thursday, he said, the number grew rapidly. Moore said he expects to decide sometime next week whether to begin a criminal investigation. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe chartered what is now Si Tanka University in 1973. In 2001, the school purchased Huron University, and that decision set the course for the current financial crisis. Nadolski said the school incurred too much debt when it secured a $3.3 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and another $3.3 million bank loan largely underwritten by Rural Development to buy Huron University. That led to it defaulting on the loans and prompted the foreclosure litigation. Acquiring Huron University and its largely non-Indian student body also made the percentage of Native American students at Si Tanka fall below 50 percent. As a result, the BIA told university officials last August, the school no longer qualified for federal tribal college funding. That money is a $4,390 appropriation per Native American student at tribal colleges. Si Tanka was expecting $1.4 million for all the Native American students at Eagle Butte and Huron, and the money was a significant portion of the university's operating revenue. After a meeting in January with Ed Parisian, director of the BIA's Office of Indian Education Programs, university leaders thought they had a deal that would allow the school to qualify for $850,000 by separating out the Eagle Butte and Huron campuses. "For whatever reason, which we can't figure out, on Wednesday he did a 180," Nadolski said of Parisian. "We don't understand what happened. We clearly met the standards that existed prior to 3 p.m. Wednesday." Nadolski said that when administrators and tribal lawyer Tracey Fischer called Parisian and questioned him about what they thought to be a sudden reversal, he hung up. According to Friday's statement from Si Tanka and tribal officials, "not only did Parisian renege on his January agreement, but he also refused to put such denial in writing, in an apparent attempt to avoid a legal appeal of his decision by the university." Separate schools Parisian did not return phone calls seeking comment Friday. But he did send a letter to Si Tanka President Francine Hall on Friday. It recounts the BIA assertion that the university fails to meet the majority Native American enrollment criteria or, short of that, that Eagle Butte students would qualify for the money because they constitute a majority in an institution that has its own accreditation. Before it acquired Huron University, Si Tanka awarded degrees using the accreditation of the South Dakota public higher education system. "You have failed to demonstrate that STU (both campuses together) meets the majority Indian student enrollment criteria or that the Huron campus and the Eagle Butte campus are separate institutions, each with its own accreditation," Parisian wrote. Hall said the BIA did not accept the fact that Si Tanka's original tribal charter allows the Eagle Butte campus to function as a separate and parallel institution to the Huron campus, and therefore Eagle Butte students should qualify for the federal money because they are an overwhelming majority. "It is extremely disheartening and disturbing that tribal members, and especially aspiring Indian students, have to suffer the consequences of the BIA's ignorance of tribal sovereignty," Hall said in the statement released Friday. Seeking assistance Nadolski said the tribal council's backing for the remainder of the semester was sufficient to prompt Si Tanka officials to travel to Washington, D.C., this weekend with hopes of meeting with members of Sens. Tim Johnson's and John Thune's staffs and with BIA officials early next week. Nadolski also said the tribal council directed him to continue efforts to resolve the foreclosure. Nadolski said he thinks that can be accomplished within 45 days and will result in a portion of the loan being forgiven and the school continuing to operate under the current administration. Bruce Jones, USDA Rural Development director, said Friday, "We are still hopeful this process will be resolved both for the employees and the students." Reach reporter Peter Harriman at 575-3615. Copyright c. 2005 Argus Leader. All rights reserved --------- "RE: Editorial: Learn Si Tanka's Lessons" --------- Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:18:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDITORIAL: SI TANKA CLOSURE" http://www.argusleader.com//20050311/OPINION01/503110323/1052 Editorial: Learn Si Tanka's lessons Colleges must have financial stability, accreditation to fulfill their missions March 11, 2005 There still is a chance Si Tanka University could survive, although as a dramatically changed entity - separate accreditation for the Eagle Butte and Huron campuses, and that alone will create additional challenges. So where does that leave the 191 employees and 775 students? Still up in the air, even if a deal is reached with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Indian Education. That's a shame. It's a shame because of the doubt. It's a shame because of the effect, if the schools close, and that would happen. Both campuses would close if there's no deal. Not just one. Loss of jobs. Loss of options for students. Loss of a dream of creating a national Indian university. The basics of the situation now are known, even though Si Tanka officials have tried to cover up some aspects - such as missed payrolls: * The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe charted Si Tanka University in Eagle Butte in 1973. * It bought Huron University in 2001. That deal required a $3.3 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and another $3.3 million loan mostly underwritten by Rural Development. * It was too much debt, and the school was in financial trouble, trying to restructure the loans. * That's when the BIA stepped in and yanked so-called "471" funding, a per-student allocation of $4,390 for each Native American student at tribal colleges - but only if the enrollment was at least 51 percent Native American. When the tribe bought Huron University, that percentage dropped - and the money was withheld. * The tribe has agreed to keep the university afloat through this semester. After that, both campuses could close. Even if the loans are restructured, that ongoing 471 money is needed. The BIA says it will release the money, if the schools are separated, administration and everything else. That's fairly simple. But there's a kicker. Si Tanka-Eagle Butte must get its own accreditation - it's piggybacked on Huron University - and the money only will go for students at the Eagle Butte campus. That could present problems. The BIA says it hasn't closed the door on a deal, and tribal officials are trying to work with Sens. John Thune and Tim Johnson to save the schools. It would be wonderful if Si Tanka could be saved. But it won't benefit anyone if it's saved now, only to continue on rocky financial or educational footing. If we're going to have a Si Tanka University, it needs to be financially stable, and accreditation needs to be assured. This is a tragedy because of the effect on jobs, the communities, the students and the dreams. Si Tanka has filled a niche and given students - especially Native American students - a valuable option that seems slipping away. But there also are lessons to be learned about the viability of such schools and what's needed if they're to survive. Whether the school survives or not, let's at least learn the lessons. Copyright c. 2005 Argus Leader. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Anderson 'Famous' again in new role at Company" --------- Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:24:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DAVE BACK AT COMPANY HE FOUNDED" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6123 Meet the new boss...same as the old boss Anderson goes back to the restaurant biz. Native American Times March 9, 2005 Former Bureau of Indian Affairs head Dave Anderson's new job is... working at his old one. The Board of Directors of Famous Dave's of America, Inc. has named Anderson to serve as "Chairman Emeritus" of the company. "Famous Dave's is honored to name our founder Dave Anderson as Chairman Emeritus," said David Goronkin, President and CEO of Famous Dave's, in a statement. "Dave's vision and passion are the reasons that Famous Dave's has grown from a great concept and a single restaurant to 108 restaurants today. His legacy as a leader continues to provide guidance for Famous Dave's. Dave Anderson would accept nothing less than serving the best ribs in America and giving every guest a memorable dining experience. Equally important, Dave built a company culture in which every team member is highly valued and encouraged to be their very best as a person and as a representative of Famous Dave's." Anderson started the Bar-B-Que chain back in 1994 with one restaurant in Hayward, Wisconsin, on the edge of the Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa Reservation. The business went public two years later. Anderson, Chippewa and Choctaw, washed his hands of the operation when he was confirmed as Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs with the U.S. Department of the Interior. Shortly into his tenure he recused himself from issues involving tribal recognition and Indian gaming. He resigned Feb. 12. A replacement has not yet been named. "Dave's commitment to the community and to the country serves as an inspiration to everyone at Famous Dave's," said Goronkin. "As a very successful business person, Dave made a great sacrifice by leaving the private sector and serving the country. His devotion to helping others continues even after leaving his role in Washington. Dave is a role model for Famous Dave's, so it is very fitting that he was named Chairman Emeritus." Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Farming Program for Indian Women" --------- Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 08:24:36 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FARMING PROGRAM" http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?RECORD_KEY[News]=ID&ID%5BNews%5D=8898 University starts farming program for Indian women Source: AP March 7, 2005 ALBUQUERQUE - Members of a new national organization for Indian women in agriculture are to meet this week in Albuquerque. The Native Women in Agriculture group is the brainchild of two University of Arkansas professors who hope to connect the nation's American Indian women farmers. The group was formed in partnership with the Billings, Montana-based Intertribal Agriculture Council. The council promotes conservation and development of Indian farming. A 2002 Census of Agriculture showed 12-thousand Indian women operating farms in the United States. The group is to meet Thursday and Friday in Albuquerque. It will include members of the Navajo, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee and Seminole tribes. Copyright c. 2005 KRQE News 13, Albuquerque, NM. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Surplus can help fund Child Care" --------- Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 08:52:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: FUND CHILD CARE" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/opinion/11077617.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Surplus can help fund child care March 8, 2005 North Dakota has a surplus budget between $140 million to $150 million for the 2005-2006 biennium, and for that we should be delighted. Yes, we have reason to be proud of Gov. John Hoeven, the Legislature and the people who clicked some whizbang abacus marbles to bring black to our state's budget. I support Senate Bill 2003, which would allocate about $400,000 to universities' budgets for low-income students for purposes including child care, but that amount just doesn't go far enough. The bill passed the Senate and now is being considered by the House. Child care helps young people who are single mothers and fathers who want to attend colleges or universities. These young people probably will stay in North Dakota. Adequate child care will let them stay in college. North Dakotans are not all Mad Bomber hats and snowmobiles. We are good planners. I am saying "we" with pride, because I live across the river from Minnesota and see them struggling. I feel good that we're one of the states in the nation that can brag we're not billions of dollars in the red. Child care from the state came from a match to federal funding. That federal funding ran out Aug. 1, so the state's money also ran dry. And judging by my conversations with college students, shortchanging child care is a hardship on single parents and young people in college. One divorced woman from the Fort Berthold reservation decided that she wanted a good life for herself and her child, and she needed that piece of paper - that diploma - before she went job searching. So she applied and was accepted at UND. It was a good decision, she said. The woman feels in control of her destiny and life, but it has been a hardship for her, too. It is hard to find decent child care in the first place and almost impossible to pay for it. She is performing a juggling act right now - paying one bill and letting another bill go until the creditor threatens her, then paying that one and so on. She has student loans that help pay for some things. She tries to farm out her child to friends when she can, but it isn't always possible for the times when she is in class. She remembers when child care was part of financial aid. It wasn't easy then, but it was doable. I also have a friend who is working in a poor-paying job. She thought the solution was to return to college and upgrade her skills. She was astonished to find she doesn't make enough to go to the university, either. The reason? Child-care costs. She gave me an account of what she lives on. After paying rent and car payments, she has little left for childcare and incidentals such as food. Remember, the people who benefit from child care are those young singles who are the future players in North Dakota's leadership. They're in college because they want a better life for themselves and their children; they'll be tomorrow's mover and shakers. Many of these young people began raising children in two-parent families. But as things go, life didn't always deal from the top of the deck, and they were left with a child or children to support. These are the young people who are willing and trying to help themselves. They just need a little help getting past all the increases in the cost of living. When I found that President Bush put increases in Pell grants in his new budget, I called and gave my friends the good news. Yes, but the president took Perkins loans out, they told me. Those are the loans that let students make those payments they can't make with their financial aid. Then, one of the women told me, tuition likely will go up at the same time as the Pell grants will be raised. So in most cases, the students will have a little less money than before. But despite what's happening on the national level, North Dakota is in a position to help future leaders with the help of some excellent planners. That position should let it provide funding for child care - and not just a teaser of a sum, but truly an amount that will say to students, "We want you in North Dakota, and we support your efforts to make life better for yourselves and North Dakotans." Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2005 Grand Forks Herald. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Ultimate Tragedy makes Rez Reel" --------- Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 22:07:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: SUICIDE - PART 1 of 3" http://www.grandforks.com//dorreen_yellow_bird/11116803.htm DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Ultimate tragedy makes rez reel March 12, 2005 This is the first of a series of three columns about suicide among young people on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Any publicity about suicide can be risky because copycat incidents could result. Yet, as a mother of one of the victims says, it is also important to understand suicide in order to help others, so solutions can be found. The Standing Rock community is working hard at finding solutions. Today's column focuses on the incidents and those who were affected. The second will describe how the Lakota people, including programs and tribal leaders, have rallied to address the problem. The third column will include some observations and thoughts for the future. Five young people - three teenagers and two 25-year-olds - on the Standing Rock reservation in Fort Yates, N.D., took their own lives from December through January. In addition, and in that same time period, more than 30 young people made some kind of a suicide threat or attempt that brought them to the Indian Health Service facility in Fort Yates, according to Indian Health Service staff. Indian reservations aren't the only place where suicide is a cause of death. According to national statistics, suicide is the third-leading cause of death among 15- to 25-year-olds. This is frightening. What caused this epidemic of suicide on the Standing Rock Reservation? There is no one cause, no one answer, health-care and tribal leaders say. The really scary part is there doesn't seem to be a pattern, the father of a young teen who attempted suicide said. "We saw no signs that our daughter was considering suicide," this father told me. She participates in ceremonial inipi (sweats), doesn't abuse drugs or alcohol and is a good student. It wasn't until her father and mother went to classes on suicide that they could identify signs - for example, their daughter was too quiet and seemed to have trouble dealing with younger children. Yet, still she didn't seem like the typical suicide victim. This girl's parents are divorced, but both still take an active interest in their children. They spend much of their free time with their children and participate in the Lakota culture. When the incident happened, the family came together. The girl's sisters, mother and father took turns being with her - they never left her alone. They rallied around her, trying to find where they had missed her hand when she was reaching out for them. They were able to intervene, and their daughter now is getting help. That wasn't true of a woman I had lunch with. As I sat down at the table with her and two other health-care workers, I could see there was a sadness about her. There was a shadow in her eyes that just didn't go away, even when she laughed. Her son killed himself a couple of years ago, she told me. His death is like nothing she ever experienced. When a young person dies in an accident or from disease, that is a "normal" if terribly tragic death. But with suicide, it is different, she said. It is unlike a death from any other cause. One of her relatives told her that she needed to "get over" her son's death. She would never, ever get over it, she fired back. She will carry that pain for the rest of her life. If it's possible to imagine an even deeper pain, it's being experienced by the mother of two young boys, both of whom took their own lives. It simply is unimaginable to fathom what this woman is going through. During the 1990s, the tribe experienced a similar surge in suicides. At that time, the deaths were different: There were patterns and signs. Back then, most of those who committed suicide were young men. But in the recent incidents, four were females, and one was a male. In the 1990s episodes, the young people often had been involved in alcohol and drugs. This time, health-care staff say, the young people were not necessarily involved in those things. Some were good students and came from good families. And generally, females who commit suicide use pills of some kind. But most of the recent suicides were by hanging. Like a strain of flu or cluster of cancer cases, the two spikes in suicides on the reservation are similar but somewhat different in cause and method. The Standing Rock Lakota nation is reeling with the loss and struggling to find answers. Those answers may be hard to come by, but the tribe is finding answers. I'll describe those answers for you in my next column. Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2005 Grand Forks Herald. --------- "RE: RUNGE: A new Campaign against Indians" --------- Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:24:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RUNGE: NEW INDIAN CAMPAIGN" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/5283408.html C. Ford Runge: A new campaign against Indians C. Ford Runge March 10, 2005 My father's great-uncle Carl came from one of the pioneering families that settled the western shore of Lake Michigan in the 1840s. Born in 1859, and orphaned at 10, Carl Runge signed on to a lake sailing vessel as cabin boy and survived with the first mate when the ship went down. Self- educated, he read law, served as Milwaukee city attorney and was one of the last state judges to carry his law library in his saddlebags while riding circuit. My brother still has them. Growing up on the frontier, the judge saw the mistreatment of native tribes, who were held in ill-concealed contempt by many whites. Looking back, he remarked that "the meanest animal on Earth is the white man." With false promises of land and wealth, aggressive use of military and civil power, and by setting tribes against one another, federal and state policies became a troika of lies, intimidation and divide-and-conquer. George Custer and the Seventh Cavalry implemented these policies energetically, killing 100 Cheyenne, mostly women and children, at Washita in 1868, until blundering into encirclement eight years later at the Little Big Horn. Not much has changed. In his efforts to make up for fiscal bungling, Gov. Tim Pawlenty has gone after the tribes' money. The strategy has the same meanness: false promises of wealth (including a role as drug warehouses), intimidation through the statutory powers of the state, and attempts to divide tribal groups. House Speaker Steve Swiggum even complained that the tribes have hired lobbyists, which he called without historic irony "unfair." As he sallies forth in his own campaign of promises, intimidation and division, the governor might recall how easy it is to become encircled, in this case politically. When the original compact on gambling was struck in 1987, the sovereign status of the tribal reservations provided a haven for what would otherwise have been illegal under Minnesota law. Today, Pawlenty seeks to extend this activity to the state as a whole, and threatens to take away a part of the tribes' revenue if they fail to cooperate in filling the budgetary rathole he created with his "no new taxes" mantra. President Ulysses Grant, sympathetic to the tribes, was no admirer of Custer, whom he found self-aggrandizing and frankly stupid. When informed of Custer's demise and that of his unit, he remarked dryly that the sacrifice was "wholly unnecessary." Much the same could be said of Pawlenty's gambling plans. C. Ford Runge is distinguished McKnight university professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota. Copyright c. 2005 Minneapolis Star Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Misconception: Indians don't pay Taxes" --------- Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:18:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: TAXES AND OTHER MYTHS" http://www.billingsgazette.com//2005/03/11/state/75-reporters-ntbk.inc Reporter's notebook: It's a common misperception that Indians don't pay taxes Jodi Rave REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK March 11, 2005 American Indians endure some common stereotypes: Drunk, lazy Indians get a free education, free housing and are free from paying taxes. American Indians are drunks? I've made a choice not to drink alcohol. American Indians are lazy? I go to work every day. American Indians get a free education? I have a $25,000-plus student loan debt. American Indians get free housing? I have a veteran's home mortgage. American Indians don't pay taxes? Each year I pay my fair share of state and federal taxes. If you haven't heard any of these complaints, then you haven't been exposed to some common misconceptions about American Indians. Today, the last stereotype is standing front and center. It's tax season. And the e-mails sent to my account remind me about those who don't understand the tax system, Indians and Uncle Sam. Far too many reporters neglect stories about American Indian communities, especially when the story moves into the complex political and economic arenas of Indian Country. It can be daunting - a bit like trying to find your way through a corn maze only to find it leads to another. But like any long walk, it can be invigorating, even though it might take some work to get familiar with the pathways. Let's take on the topic of how taxation applies to federal, state and tribal jurisdiction on Indian lands. A lack of understanding about taxation has led those who believe the stereotype to complain: "Those Indians should pay their fair share of taxes." It's a misconception that deserves further examination. As individuals, we all pay federal income taxes. That includes American Indians who live on reservations. That is a federal mandate without boundaries. When the April 15 federal tax deadline approaches, Indian people will be at the post office. On the other hand, tribal citizens living on the reservation - on nontaxable trust lands - are not subject to local or state property and income taxes. That's because they fall under tribal jurisdiction, not the state's. And that's what causes some to feel that American Indians aren't paying their fair share. Yet tribal governments could easily claim the same. That's because non- Native businesses and non-Natives living within reservation borders don't pay taxes to the tribes. That money goes to local and state governments. Indians - both tribes and individuals - pay state and local property taxes within reservation boundaries if the land is not held in trust by the federal government. That leaves tribal governments with a weak to nonexistent tax revenue base. The base is weak because 56 million acres - 45 million acres for tribes and 11 million acres for individuals - of Indian-owned land is nontaxable because it's held in trust by the federal government through the Interior Department. Tribes try to make up lost tax revenues by creating businesses, such as casinos. Those enterprises are no different than state-owned lotteries, which don't pay federal income taxes, either. This much should be clear: American Indians are not free from paying taxes. The larger issue is a matter of who has the right to tax whom, which has created taxation quandaries that won't go away any time soon, even after April 15. In fact, one of the ever-looming battles between states and tribes today centers on taxation disputes. States with successful tribally owned or tribal citizen-owned businesses want to collect taxes from them. Topping their tax wish list are tobacco and petroleum-related sales on reservation trust lands. If just one reporter at every daily newspaper across the country wrote an American Indian tax-related story - and gave it jurisdictional context - that would mean some 1,456 stories might help inform the public about how American Indians and tribal governments pay taxes, and why they don't. After the tax stories, those same reporters might take on other Indian stereotypes. Meanwhile, I'll keep coming to work so I can continue paying off my student loan and housing debt. And, of course, I'll be filing my taxes. Jodi Rave reports on American Indian issues. She can be reached at (800) 366-7186 ext. 299 or jodi.rave@ missoulian.com. She wrote this column for the journalism Web site poynter.org. Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: CHUCULATE: Innuendo linking Indians to a Fire" --------- Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:18:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHUCULATE: BURNED UP with INNUENDO" Eddie Chuculate: Burned up There's no justification for innuendo linking Indians to a house fire By Eddie Chuculate Tribune Columnist March 9, 2005 Any innuendo suggesting that American Indians burned down a house under construction on the West Side, in protest of development near Petroglyph National Monument shows, if not blatant racism, then narrow-mindedness. One envisions face-painted braves firing flaming arrows onto roofs, whooping and hollering and galloping into the petroglyphs. In the early-morning hours of Feb. 18, the Albuquerque Fire Department received a call about a house on fire about a half-mile south of Unser Boulevard on Universe Boulevard Northwest. Engulfed before firefighters arrived, the house could not be saved. The next day and in days since, media reports told of suspicions by the owner and investigators of "disgruntled opponents of development," antisprawl people "making a statement" and individuals "not happy" with development near the monument. Laurie Weahkee, executive director of Sacred Alliance for Grassroots Equality Council, read those accounts and heard buried whispers. "I felt like some of those stories that came out were half-cocked," said Weahkee, a Navajo, Cochiti and Zuni Indian whose council has led opposition to the extension of Paseo del Norte into the petroglyphs, which are revered by Indians. "I asked several reporters what proof they had, and they said they had no proof at that point." SAGE and other groups, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, filed a lawsuit Feb. 17 against the city, alleging noncompliance with a historic-sites preservation act. Lawsuit one day, felony arson the next? "First of all, we don't condone that kind of behavior - violence," Weahkee said. "Secondly, it's a little offensive, because as far as I know they don't have any proof that it was a `sacred-site advocate' responsible for the fire. For them to connect this criminal act to a legitimate public debate about protecting sacred sites is offensive." It reminds me of the case last week in Chicago in which an Aryan skinhead was accused of being responsible for the killings of a federal judge's husband and mother. This was before he was scheduled to be sentenced next month for already trying to have the judge killed. Don't you think it would be too obvious? After SAGE and other antiroad supporters have staged peaceful protests, sat long hours in boring City Council meetings for a chance at a few words, campaigned for votes against the road in two elections, lobbied the governor, attended meetings in Washington, D.C., and filed a lawsuit in state District Court, do you think they would accomplish anything by burning down a house? The Fire Department used a dog in this case to sniff out things such as gas, kerosene and lighter fluid. That's fine, but someone should tell media hounds and investigators they're barking up the wrong tree if they're pointing at Indians. ---- Eddie Chuculate (Creek/Cherokee) is a Tribune copy editor who writes about American Indian issues. His column appears on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. Copyright c. 2005 Albuquerque Tribune. --------- "RE: Native American Holocaust Monument" --------- Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 22:07:42 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE AMERICAN HOLOCAUST" http://www.earthskyweb.com/news.htm#edit Volume 36, Issue 11 Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Open letter to the Oyate: Native American Holocaust Monument Tribal members: Throughout the history of the North American Continent, certain people created a Holocene attempt to exterminate or assimilate the Native American. Some of the members of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate are researching a Native American Holocaust Monument for the future of our Native American people on the North American continent. However, we will base our research on the educational, cultural, spiritual, and historical events to remind the people of today what really happened that is not recorded in the history books. The plan is to create a Holocaust Monument for the entire North American Continent. We believe the time is right for this type of venture because with a few more generations our past will be completely forgotten by our children and grandchildren. In the plan, we want to see hotels, cafe's, Native American art, crafts, and foods. The plans are for this committee to work on the monument and get other people involved in the economic development of the site. This venture is not and will never be politically motivated by any one type of government. This is a grassroots venture for the benefit of the people who died during the settlement of this hemisphere. We, the undersigned enrolled members, request recognition from the SWO Tribal Council to support our research with this type of project. To contact the different organizations that will eventually be involved with the final construction. The cost will be overwhelming; our fundraising will be perpetual for the continued cost of this project. This type of monument will not belong to any one Tribe, but to the entire Native American Peoples of the North American Continent. Other documents will be available to inform the Council of the direction that will be taken by the researchers of the monument should they be requested. Laurs Williams, Byron Williams, and Milton Quinn. ***** (Submitted to SWO Tribal Council March 9, 2005 by Bryon Williams, CEO, and Milton Quinn, Secretary. Submitted to the Sota for publication by Laurs Williams, Byron Williams, and Milton Quinn.) For 513 years our people have been under attack by Euro-Americans who tried to exterminate us for standing in their way of expanding our lands and resources. We remain today because of the strength that our Ancestors instilled in us to remain united for the future of our People. The genocide of the Nazis to the 6,000,000 Jews during World War II is small in comparison to the amount of lives taken here in the Northern Hemisphere since 1492. It is estimated that 300,000,000 lives were taken since our people welcomed the Euro-Americans to our shores. The Euro-Americans at that time and since did not understand our way of life or our cultural ways to even consider an intelligent People here in the Americas. It is for this reason that we the members of the cooperation feel the world needs to know the real story and look into ways of mending the division of the two cultures her on the North American continent. The Holocaust Monument's theme will be spiritual, educational, cultural, and historical. This monument will be owned by all tribes in the North American continent who will tell their own stories of the treatment of their tribes. The monument will be built by donations from any entities that want to see what the real story of how our people were treated by the Euro-Americans as they explored the lands of the Americas. With the Native American Monument, we will always keep what our ancestors went through and the cost of welcoming them to our shores. Our charter of the Native American Holocaust Monument approach(ed) the Tribal Council for the initial start-up funds of $60,000 to seek funding for the future of the monument, and for raising funds to get the necessary paperwork done to start construction. Our proposal is to receive $10,000 a month for six months, which will give us time to solicit funding from other entities. The cost for this type of monument, is overwhelming, but the vision of the monument is of great importance to the future of all Native Americans in the Northern Hemisphere to get the real story told to the world. Copyright c. 1999-2003 by C. D. Floro/Earth and Sky Enterprises. --------- "RE: Blackfeet Health and Wellness Conference" --------- Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:24:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OLD WAYS FOR MODERN HEALTH" http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/articles/2005/03/09//news2.txt Blackfeet Health and Wellness Conference focuses on old models for modern times. By John McGill, Glacier Reporter Editor March 9, 2005 "All the plans done so far just sit around on shelves," said Theda New Breast, facilitator of the No Blackfeet Left Behind: Blackfeet Wellness Conference set for March 22-23 at Blackfeet Community College. "So we dug them out, and there are plans, but who's implementing them? So we started a different way. We asked, when were our ancestors really healthy?" New Breast said the group discussing the question of how to approach health in Blackfeet country included local health care officials Mary Ellen LaFromboise, Rosemary Cree Medicine, Jolene Weatherwax, June Tatsey, Pat Calf Looking, Anne Williamson and Lori New Breast. One of the first things they did was to look at historical pictures of Blackfeet, and from these they compiled a list of cultural facts about the Tribe. "One Blackfeet woman could put up a tipi," reads one of the first. In addition, they noted Blackfeet hunters walked, butchered and carried meat; their ancestors hayed by hand, and operated timber running gear and teams of horses. They were superior horsemen and spiritual healers who conducted sweats, fasts and sundances. They were superior fighters and were survivors against hardship. In short, the ancestral Blackfeet had "superior well-being and were resilient in mind, body, spirit and emotion." The first case of diabetes was diagnosed in 1936 on the Blackfeet reservation, and the precursor of the Indian Health Service, the Public Health Service, opened for business in Blackfeet country in 1955. "The year 1955 was critical for the Blackfeet," said Mary Ellen LaFromboise, "because our relatives gave over their health to the IHS. Some didn't. Some still practice the traditional ways." The group uncovered a long list of health-related events over the years that contributed to the decline of Blackfeet health, including epidemics of smallpox, scarlet fever and measles, as well as the Starvation Winter of 1883-84 that drastically reduced, by more than half in less than a century. The results of the process were listed as "Dr. Grim's Remarks" and included statistics that show rates of alcoholism 770 percent higher than the U.S. at large. Diabetes runs 420 percent higher, accidents account for 280 percent more, suicides are 190 percent higher than the rest of the population, and homicides run at 210 percent of America's "normal." "We looked at how our parents and our grandparents had died, among ourselves," Theda said, "and they were lost to respiratory diseases, cancer, heart disease, and they smoked and ate lard sandwiches." Next they looked at what broke the Blackfeet apart as a social group. Many items fill the list of events that had an impact on Blackfeet culture, including the legalization of alcohol sales on the reservation in 1953. Whatever brought the members into the mainstream culture and taught them to think of themselves as being separate from the Tribe are all elements that weakened it as a social unit, explained Lori New Breast. From that perspective, such occurrences as members having become US citizens in 1924-26, members serving in the Armed Forces in wartime, members moving to the shipyards in Seattle, and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964-69 are things that wedged apart the traditional structure. Money, too, comes into play in the form of welfare and the division of members into rich and poor categories. "So, knowing this, we asked ourselves, what would keep us together today?" said Theda. "What would mend us?" Exercise stands out on the list of things that would help, from making it a normal activity to holding fun runs and walks, including the "10,000 Blackfeet" course at the Southern Peigan Diabetes Program. The "10,000" refers to the number of walking steps diabetics are encouraged to take as part of their treatment. In addition, the group is looking at a "circle structure" called "Akak'stiman," that brings all elements of the social group together to discuss issues. Theda New Breast reports the Blood Tribe of Canada is using the model with their youthful offenders, in which all affected members of this social group are brought together to collectively decide what action to take. In addition, attention is focused on emphasizing the positive. "We're going to give wellness awards to all the Health, Education and Social Services (HESS) chairs," Theda said, "because we're trying to reverse the beating up of our people, and the HESS job has to be one of the most thankless there is." The group is hoping to put on an event at least quarterly, and they emphasized the importance of everything being home grown. "The whole concept is community health," said Lori New Breast. "The focus is to bring different circles of people together, so the Blackfeet Warrior Society is included because it is important to their group and to the community." "I hope that people will understand that they can promote their own health and well being," said Mary Ellen LaFromboise. "With the Blackfeet, it was nice to give their kids a part of the American Dream, so to speak, but we're beginning to realize it isn't all that it's cracked up to be. So what we had of self-sufficiency and integrity, it's coming back because of the community college and education and Blackfeet people realizing we can be what we were a long time ago. Maybe we're just sick and tired of being sick and tired." Registration for the conference starts at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 22, and is sponsored by the Blackfeet Tribal Health Department, Indian Health Service, Blackfeet Community College, Blackfeet Head Start and the Blackfeet Warrior Society. Copyright c. 2005 Golden Triangle Newspapers. --------- "RE: World's Healthiest Foods: Eating to live" --------- Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:43:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EAT TO LIVE" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096410429 World's healthiest foods: Eating to live March 1, 2005 by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today Leading degenerative diseases in Indian country can be fought with healthy diets ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Long before the concept of toxins and degenerative diseases, American Indians hunted, fished and harvested wild plants and herbs. With the advent of trading posts and convenience stores, combined with the loss of land and clean drinking water, Native "foodways" degenerated, resulting in some of the highest rates of diabetes and chronic diseases of any groups in the United States. With convenience foods common in Indian country and high-sugar colas replacing clean water and herb teas, diseases are increasing at alarming rates. The non-profit George Mateljan Foundation points out that a healthy diet protects people from some of Indian country's leading killers: cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes mellitus, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and depression. Healthy diets feature whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and fish, and slow down aging. Further, studies show that pesticides and other environmental toxins used to grow and manufacture conventional processed foods impact health negatively. The Foundation has released a list of the "World's Healthiest Foods," reflecting the life-giving foods and nutrients which comprised earlier indigenous diets. Almost gone are the days when rose hips and wild berries were picked to provide the needed daily dose of vitamin C, a key fighter against chronic diseases. Studies show that people whose diets are high in vitamin C-laden fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of developing various types of cancer, including breast and colon cancers. They also have a lower risk of strokes, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Carotenoids, easily recognized in the market by their bright colors, are another health booster. Carotenoids give red, orange and yellow hues to fruits and vegetables, easily spotted in carrots, tomatoes and greens. The carotenoid lycopene, found in tomatoes and pink grapefruit, is present in the blood in the highest concentration. It is associated with protection from prostate cancer. Lutein, another carotenoid in vegetables, accumulates in the eyes and is associated with protecting against the development of macular degeneration associated with aging. The best way to receive the full spectrum of beneficial carotenoids is to eat a varied diet of the "world's healthiest foods," the Foundation said, especially fruits and vegetables that provide a range of colors. Raw carrots, sweet potatoes, red tomatoes, boiled chard and asparagus top the list, followed by prunes, papaya and oranges. Vitamin E is another essential vitamin, providing a protective gateway that allows nutrients in and keeps wastes out while preventing potentially destructive molecules from entering cells. Excellent sources include sunflower seeds, mustard greens, chard, and turnip greens, followed by spinach and almonds. With the spread in popularity of white bread, white flour and white rice in Indian country, a primary mineral is now deficient in many diets. Selenium, found in whole grains, provides energy and fights disease. It is a key in protection against toxins in the body and the onset of degenerative diseases. "The most exciting recent studies are those that link selenium to protection from developing cancers of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts," the Foundation said. Garden produce grown in a more natural environment is more likely to have a higher selenium content. Mushrooms, cod, shrimp, salmon, snapper, tuna and calf's liver are excellent sources, followed by oats, barley, eggs, turkey and lamb. Before the advance of convenience foods, Northwest tribes ate ample supplies of fish, which contain the important omega-3 fatty acids. Fish are also an excellent source of selenium. Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats that are critical components of the membranes in every human cell. These can help reduce the chances of heart attacks. Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish and algae, can help fight asthma and inflammatory bowel disease. And people with major depression have been found to have lower concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in their bloodstream. Wild-caught tuna and salmon are excellent sources of omega-3 fatty acid when caught in clean waters. Scallops, shrimp, cod and halibut are also good sources. Like coastal Indian tribes, salmon was a traditional food of the Nez Perce. Nez Perce fished for salmon and gathered camas and ka-keet bulbs in the high country, according to Nez Perce in Idaho. When it comes to selecting oil, there is only on the world's healthiest list: olive oil, the best-known source of monounsaturated fats (the "good fats" found in whole foods). Good quality virgin olive oil is also a good antioxidant to rid the body of toxins. Other good sources of healthy fats are avocados, almonds, cashews, peanuts, mustard seeds and pumpkin seeds. Although rare now, in earlier times Navajos parched mustard seeds and ground pigweed seeds for meal and made bread and dumplings from sunflower seeds. Even the seeds of the tumbleweed were eaten. Rocky Mountain beeplant was gathered as a green, and the fruits of the prickly pear were eaten along with wild forms of carrots, onions, potatoes and celery, according to Navajos interviewed a century ago by researchers. Fresh-brewed green tea is a winning food for health. Earlier, Navajo and other Native diets were packed with fiber. However, with white processed flour and grains offered at convenience stores and in commodity foods in Indian country, sufficient fiber is now lacking in many diets. Fiber helps speed the movement of food through the intestines during digestion, so the body can rid itself of potentially toxic wastes more quickly. People with diabetes may also benefit from eating foods high in dietary fiber, as these foods have been shown to reduce blood sugar levels. Fibers are classified as soluble and insoluble. The insoluble fibers generally promote excretion, whereas the soluble fibers support the function of the intestinal tract and help decrease blood glucose levels, the foundation said. Tucson, Ariz.-based Native Seeds SEARCH has promoted the reintroduction of high fiber, high nutrition traditional foods for Native diets in the Southwest, including nopales (large cactus pads) and ancient beans such as Anasazi and tepary beans to help reduce the effects of diabetes in the Tohono O'odham and Tohono O'otham in southern Arizona - tribes with the world's highest rate of diabetes. While collecting ancient seeds for gardens, the organization also encourages the reintroduction of traditional wild foods. In earlier times, Gila River O'otham ate cholla cactus buds with wild greens, ground mesquite beans and corn with squash blossoms, according to interviews with elders. In today's markets, excellent sources of fiber are raspberries, turnip greens, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower and Swiss chard, followed by fennel, strawberries, kiwi fruit and oranges. The World's Healthiest Foods were selected because they are among the richest sources of many of the essential nutrients needed for optimal health. Nutrient density was used to determine the foods with the highest nutritional value. Foods selected are also considered familiar and readily available. For more information visit www.whfoods.com. Copyright c. 1998-2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: First Nation wins decision in Treaty Rights Case" --------- Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 08:52:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ECHOS OF OKA" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.canada.com/aspx?id=597bf6a6-fd75-45bb-8bb7-3940d884343a Court reverses sale of golf course and orders B.C. to negotiate with natives Canadian Press March 7, 2005 VANCOUVER (CP) -- The B.C. Court of Appeal has agreed with a Vancouver- area native band that the provincial government failed to consult the band when it sold off the popular University Golf Course. The court suspended the sale of the lands to the University of B.C., giving the parties two years to negotiate a settlement. Maria Morellato, the lawyer for the Musqueam band, said the band's biggest concern is the sale of Crown-held land while the band is trying to negotiate a treaty. "If this continues there will be nothing left to negotiate about, because while they're at the table the land is being sold off," she said. The three Appeal Court judges unanimously agreed to allow the appeal. "Is it a breach of the duty to 'accommodate' to do what the Crown proposed to do in this case?" Justice Mary Southin asked in her written reasons. "My answer to that question is yes." Musqueam Chief Ernie Campbell said the decision is great news but said it's been a frustrating and expensive legal process. "It's unfortunate that we have to go to court to argue our case and to get some justice. "When you're supposedly at the negotiating table and you're talking about land, but at the same time they're (government) finalizing a deal to sell the land to the university." The First Nations Summit, which acts for First Nations involved in treaty negotiations, applauded the Appeal Court decision. "The legal ground has shifted in very significant and constructive ways" said Grand Chief Ed John, a member of the summit's executive. "It is important that the courts have pushed the Crown and First Nations to work together towards fair and just agreements." The 18-hole public golf course is near the UBC campus on what the Musqueams say is their traditional territory. The Musqueam and B.C. and federal governments are not negotiating a treaty now, but have set down a framework for talks. Campbell said the band and provincial government may have to negotiate outside the treaty process over the land, given the glacial pace of treaty talks in the province. If an agreement can't be reached within the two-year deadline Justice John Hall noted that the University of B.C. previously agreed to hold the land subject to direction of a court. "It is clearly possible that some order could be made affecting title to the lands," Hall wrote. Morellato said the court has issued a clear message to the provincial government. "You can't keep selling the land when you're at the treaty table if there's nothing going to be left at the end of the day," she said. "It's a matter of justice and making the treaty process viable." Copyright c. 2005 Canadian Press. --------- "RE: Protests in Bolivia prompt Resignation offer" --------- Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 08:52:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PRESIDENT GAMBLES WITH RESIGNATION OFFER" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.nytimes.com//08bolivia.html?pagewanted=all&oref=login Bolivian Chief, Angling for Support, Offers Resignation By JUAN FORERO March 8, 2005 BOGOTA, Colombia, March 7 - In what seemed a calculated political gamble, President Carlos Mesa of Bolivia offered Congress his resignation on Monday in the face of road-choking protests that he said had made the country nearly ungovernable. "I cannot continue to govern besieged by a national blockade that strangles the country," Mr. Mesa, 51, a former journalist and historian, said in a resignation letter read on national television. But government officials said Mr. Mesa was hoping his announcement would be rejected by lawmakers and serve as a rallying point for Bolivians tired of the relentless protests. Congress is expected to meet Tuesday morning to decide Mr. Mesa's future. If the government is able to marshal support, political analysts say, Mr. Mesa could emerge with a mandate and avoid the same fate as his predecessor, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who was overthrown amid similar protests in October of 2003. "The gamble is to get the people who tolerated these protests in the past to go out and say they won't tolerate it," Jaime Aparicio, Bolivia's ambassador in Washington, said in a phone interview. "It may be effective, but we'll have to wait and see." Mr. Mesa's chief of staff, Jose' Galindo, presented the president's resignation to lawmakers after demonstrators last week closed highways nationwide to protest a new government-supported bill they felt did not go far enough to tax the foreign oil and gas companies that are developing Bolivia's huge reserves of natural gas. The government has proposed a new 32 percent direct tax on the production of natural gas and oil, leaving royalties at 18 percent to avoid breaking long-standing contracts with the companies. But protesters want royalties raised to 50 percent on top of the tax, as well as more control over where the gas is sold. Mr. Mesa said their proposal would drive away investors. The president also faces an uprising in El Alto, the predominantly indigenous city where demonstrators are demanding that the authorities immediately close down a hated French-owned company that runs the waterworks, rather than phasing out its operations as the government proposed after annulling a 20-year contract in January. Mr. Mesa's decision to offer his resignation, first made in a nationally televised broadcast on Sunday night, surprised the government's opponents. Reached by phone in his office in the city of Cochabamba, Evo Morales, the country's most powerful indigenous leader, said he saw Mr. Mesa's announcement as a thinly veiled power play. "It is blackmail so as to not change the government's neoliberal policies," he said. Earlier, Mr. Morales had promised to step up the protests this week. Mr. Mesa's announcement seemed to have some of the desired effect. Thousands of Bolivians gathered in front of the presidential palace on Monday morning, lamenting Mr. Mesa's decision and denouncing Mr. Morales. In Congress, not normally a hotbed of support for the president, two powerful leaders of opposition parties, Jaime Paz and Manfred Reyes, both said Monday that Mr. Mesa should continue as president for the sake of the country. The president of the Bolivian senate, Hormando Vaca Diez, who is next in line to become president, said he would not accept the presidency if Mr. Mesa resigned. The United States and several Latin American countries also expressed support for Mr. Mesa, worried that his resignation could plunge Bolivia into chaos. Still, Mr. Galindo, the chief of staff, said in an interview that it was not enough for Congress to reject Mr. Mesa's resignation. He said lawmakers from all parties, including those most opposed to the government, should reach an accord that would permit the government to operate smoothly. "It cannot just be that the president goes or does not go," he said. "What we need is to come up with a national accord to permit the country to be governed." Unless there is an agreement, Mr. Mesa will remain hobbled, analysts say. Since 2000, when protesters forced out an American company contracted to run the water system in Cochabamba, government policy has increasingly been shaped by the size and power of demonstrations. By Mr. Mesa's own count, there have been more than 800 protests against him since he replaced Mr. Sanchez de Lozada. Antigovernment leaders retain solid backing and have been emboldened by Mr. Mesa's repeated assurances that he will never use deadly force to control protests, as had Mr. Sanchez de Lozada. "Mesa has to understand that governments have the right, the legitimate right, to use force," said Eduardo Gamarra, the Bolivian-born director of the Latin America and Caribbean Center at Florida International University in Miami. "You can't just burn down a building or take over a government building because you don't like government policy." Copyright c. 2005 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Brazil may open Indian Lands to mining" --------- Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:24:47 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MORE INTRUSION IN BRAZIL" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.mineweb.net/sections/sustainable_mining/423141.htm Brazil may open Indian lands to mining By: Dorothy Kosich 10-MAR-05 GMT c. Mineweb 1997-2004 TORONTO--(Mineweb.com) The Brazilian government is considering regulatory reform that would open more aboriginal territories to mining and mining exploration. In a question and answer session following his presentation this to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Dr. Miguel Nery, Director-General of Brazil's DNPM, the National Department of Mineral Production, said his agency is working on opening up mining in indigenous lands. A 20-member delegation comprised of Brazilian government officials and miners doing business in Brazil attended PDAC and hosted a special workshop on mineral exploration. Nery's remarks come in the wake of an incident last May when Cinta Larga Indians massacred 29 diamond miners in the Roosevelt Indian Reserve in Brazil's Amazon rain forest. In the meantime, a member of a government task force working to stop illegal diamond mining on Indian reservations was killed as October. The killings of the garimpeiros came after a four-year diamond rush to the Roosevelt Reservation by miners across Brazil. It is believed that the reservation may host South America's largest diamond resources. While mechanized mining is illegal in Indian territory, thousands of miners have illegally prospected and mined on Indian lands. The Indians also began mining illegally including the Cinta Larga Indians. Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry estimated that $2 billion worth of diamond have been mined on the 2.7-million-hectacre reserve. It is believed that a dispute over mining revenues may have resulted in the killings, according to federal police. Ironically, the same laws which protected the Indians from prosecutions for the murders also designates them as wards of the state, denied of the rights of other Brazilians, particularly when it comes to mining concessions or keeping mining out of reservations. The Cinta Larga Tribe has 1,300 members, about half of whom speak Portuguese. Under Brazilian law, the ability of an individual to speak Portuguese and the degree of his or her exposure to Brazilian society are factors in determining eligibility for full citizenship and constitutional rights. The massacre resurrected questions of who owns the region's mineral resources, what law applies on the reservation, and how to explore and mine while preserving the ancient culture of the Cinta Larga and other tribes. Nery told the audience of mostly Brazilian mining and exploration professionals that the government's goal is to revisit the Roosevelt Reserve matter including the removal of the roadblocks which are used at all access roads and navigable rivers out of the reserve. Dr. Telton Correa, Coordinator of the Secretariat of Mines and Metallurgy of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said the government intends to free some of these lands for exploration and mining "under certain conditions." The special status of Brazil's Indians has prevented them from entering into contracts, starting businesses, or even having much control over their traditional lands and resources. Their resources are under the management of FUNAI, a system similar to that of the U.S. Department of Interior's management of Indian lands. The use of water and mining resources by third parties are considered the sole exception to the rights of indigenous communities to use natural resources on their lands. However, the government must consult with these communities concerning mining activities. The regulatory reform now under consideration may include a mining royalty for the tribes for activities on Indian reserves. The former government official who was considered a vital link between the Cinta Larga and the Brazilian government was shot and killed at an ATM last October. Apoena Meireles, the first non-Indian to make contact with the tribe in 1967, wanted to persuade them to stop mining until the government had reformed legislation regulating mining on Indian lands. Copyright c. Mineweb, a division of Moneyweb Holdings Limited, 1997-2004. --------- "RE: APTN Head defends new Dubbing Policy" --------- Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:48:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OBJECTIONS TO DUBBED INUKTITUT" http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50311_02.html APTN head defends new dubbing policy Isuma, MLAs, culture minister oppose decision to dub Inuktitut language programming ARTHUR JOHNSON March 11, 2005 Given his background, credentials and current job, Jean LaRose is the kind of guy who should be spending most of his time accepting awards and honours for his efforts in promoting aboriginal languages in Canada. But LaRose, who was born in Quebec of First Nations descent and now heads the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, arrived in Iqaluit this week to face hostile critics, some of whom accuse him of trying to marginalize or do serious damage to the Inuktitut language, and others who flat-out say he is a racist. LaRose's new pariah status across Nunavut arises, he says, from a well- intentioned desire on the part of him and his network to make programming more accessible to more people and to broaden it out to include more aboriginal languages. In fact, he says, this was precisely what the TVNC, the predecessor organization of APTN, pledged to the Canadian Radio and Television Commission that it do with the new network. LaRose said he was merely reaffirming this pledge when he called, in a recent request for proposals from filmmakers and other program creators, to start "versioning" or "dubbing" their works into other languages, including French and English, rather than just providing a translation in subtitles. This is done by replacing speech in the soundtrack of programs or films with translations delivered by other actors. This would help to achieve a wider audience for programming, to satisfy audience demands for more programming in their own languages, and would vastly broaden the range of aboriginal languages heard on the network, LaRose said. But the response in Nunavut from filmmakers and government leaders was universally negative, he acknowledged. "The line forms to the left and it just doesn't stop," he said ruefully about his Nunavut critics. Topping the list is Louis Tapardjuk, Nunavut's minister of culture, language, elders and youth, who insists that the new policy is a step backward. "Any channel that you turn on the dial on TV, you don't pick up any other languages except English and French, and APTN is the only station that our unilingual Inuit in Nunavaut can understand," Tapardjuk told CBC News. He's campaigning to have all members of the Legislative Assembly oppose the new policy. Tapardjuk, other MLAs and everyone else were to get a chance to accost LaRose at a public consultation scheduled for March 10 in Iqaluit., just before Nunatsiaq News went to press. Marie-Helene Cousineau of Igloolik Isuma Productions said in a letter to APTN that she found it "disturbing both politically and artistically" to hear about LaRose's request for proposals. "How ironic that APTN would refuse to licence aboriginal language films not dubbed in English or French," she wrote. "How do you call that: Self-hatred? Post colonialism? Short vision? Racism?" LaRose said being accused of racism stings. What's more, he said, APTN's intent has been badly misinterpreted. Inuktitut language programming now makes up 23 per cent of all of APTN's content. All other aboriginal language programs comprise just 2 per cent. LaRose said he'd like to see Inuktitut programs dubbed into other aboriginal languages, as well as English and French, because that's what viewers say they desire. He said he's had positive responses from producers in the south, including one French language producer who expressed a willingness to dub programs in aboriginal languages. It would mean, he acknowledged, additional costs for producers, but APTN would be willing to negotiate higher licencing fees to offset these costs. But he said he also understands that in some cases, the opposition to dubbing by some Inuktitut language producers might be intractable. In these cases, he said, he intends to offer producers the alternative of having their undubbed programs appear on prime time spots on APTN's "northern" feed," which is seen in Nunavut, while in the south the programs would only be broadcast in the less desirable afternoon afternoon spots, when there are fewer viewers. Of course, he said, that would mean such producers would receive lower licencing fees. Whatever the outcome, LaRose seemed resigned to the prospect that he has made some enemies. "It's very hard to meet all expectations," he said. "Language is one of those things that can flare out the passions of people." Copyright c. 1995-2005 Nortext Publishing Corporation (Iqaluit) --------- "RE: Epcom was shut out of Dawson Project" --------- Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:48:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LEADERS WANT EXPLANATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=epcom050311&ref=rss First Nations leaders want explanation why Epcom was shut out of Dawson project CBC News March 11, 2005 DAWSON CITY, YUKON - Yukon First Nations leaders says they're frustrated and want to know why a native-run construction group was barred from bidding on a lucrative contract. Judy Gingell, president of the Kwanlin Development Corporation one of the consortium partners, says she's especially disappointed because of government promises of First Nations business opportunities. "I thought for sure thing we finally had a break. A non-aboriginal leader who's finally going to give us some opportunities here like everybody else. They still found a way to come back and say 'No.' "I just can't understand why this is happening ... so this is why we are asking for an appeal. We want to be sure we were treated fairly here." The First Nations consortium, Epcom, is led by international engineering giant, SNC Lavalin. Government officials say the consortium did not demonstrate enough northern building experience to be allowed to bid for the project. Two consortiums have been shortlisted for the bidding process. Both are led by big construction companies and include Yukon partners. They're being asked to submit detailed proposals laying out how they'll finance and build the bridge and for how much. The government will then decide which group will get the contract, which is estimated at between $30 and $35 million. Lawyers for Epcom say they will sue if the company is not allowed to participate in the competition. Copyright c. 2005 CBC. --------- "RE: Court joins Navajo Nation in Discrimination Case" --------- Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:18:52 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PEABODY IGNORED LEASE CLAUSES" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/006965.asp Court joins Navajo Nation in discrimination case March 11, 2005 The Navajo Nation must answer to an employment discrimination suit brought against Peabody Coal, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday. The tribe signed leases with Peabody that contain a Navajo hiring preference. Two members of the Hopi Tribe and a deceased member of the Otoe Tribe challenged the provision, saying it was discriminatory. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals did not rule on the merits of that claim. But in a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel said the Navajo Nation has to be joined in the case because it was brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency. "Because the EEOC is an agency of the United States, the Navajo Nation cannot assert its sovereign immunity," the court wrote. The Navajo Nation isn't likely to face any action, the court acknowledged. But since it is a necessary party to the Peabody leases, it has to abide by a final decision in the case. The court sent the suit back to a federal judge for further proceedings. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Report backs Tribe in Columbia Pollution Claim" --------- Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 08:52:26 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SMELTER POLUTTING COLUMBIA RIVER" http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/006892.asp Report backs tribe in Columbia River pollution claim March 8, 2005 Pollution in the Columbia River can be attributed to an industrial plant right across the U.S. border, an Interior Department agency said in a report on Monday that backs up claims by a Washington tribe seeking cleanup of the area. In cooperation with the Confederated Colville Tribes, the U.S. Geological Survey examined sediment at six locations in Lake Roosevelt. The lake is downstream from the Teck Cominco plant in British Columbia, the largest lead and zinc smelter in the world. According to the USGS, scientists discovered byproducts of the smelter in 100 percent of the samples. "Elevated concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, and zinc occurred throughout much of the accumulated sediments," the report stated. The findings raise concern because every sample exceeded tribal guidelines for cadmium, lead, and zinc. Levels of arsenic, copper, and mercury were just below the guidelines. "These and other results from our study indicate that the liquid effluent from the Teck Cominco smelter is the primary contributor of the large concentrations found in sediment samples from the middle and lower reaches of Lake Roosevelt," said USGS hydrologist Stephen Cox, lead author of the report. The report is ammunition for tribal officials who say the smelter poses a health and environmental risk to the reservation. The tribe, which has treaty rights on the Columbia River, says that fish are contaminated by dangerous chemicals and that pollution is a deterrent to tourism and economic development. In hopes of getting Teck Cominco to clean up the mess, tribal members filed a lawsuit under the Superfund law. The federal government and the states of Washington and Oregon are backing the claim in federal court. But Teck Cominco is challenging whether it is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States since the smelter is located on Canadian soil. The company's motion to dismiss was rejected by a federal judge and the decision is now on appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The tribe and the federal government counter that Teck Cominco can't escape responsibility for actions that impact the U.S. The study attributed the pollution to "decades" of the smelter's operation and reported that trace elements of the chemicals were found all the way from the Canadian border to the southern end of the Colville Reservation next to the Spokane Reservation, a distance of more than 100 miles. If found liable under the Superfund law, Teck-Cominco could be forced to pay for cleanup of the area. The cost of the effort is not known. In response to a separate lawsuit filed by the Environmental Protection Agency under the law, the company offered to pay $13 million to assess health and environmental concerns. The EPA rejected the offer and is seeking to force Teck Cominco to comply with a cleanup order. Teck Cominco says it has spent more than $1 billion to upgrade operations of the smelter, which opened in the 1890s. The company has been in talks with the State Department and U.S. diplomats, some of whom are concerned that the EPA's actions could impact business relations with Canada. The smelter isn't the only Teck Cominco operation under scrutiny. In partnership with an Alaska Native corporation, he company operates the largest zinc mine in the world near two Alaska Native villages. Residents of Noatak and Kivalina are worried that the mine is polluting their food supply. Copyright c. 2000-2005 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Monday, March 14, 2005 4:20 PM From: Janet Smith [owlstar@bellsouth.net] Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - Mon 3/14/2005 4:20 PM One of the best ways to know what's going on with Native Americans behind bars is to write to a couple of them, or join a group of volunteers serving Native American inmate groups. What you give of yourself to write or visit a Native American brother or sister doing time will, I promise, be returned to you many times over. Many people are not aware of the federal prison system's policy of removing inmates to locations as far distant from their homes as possible "for security reasons." The result of this is that tribal inmates are separated for years at a time from family, friends, spiritual leaders, and counselors from their own people. Pen pals are treasured by inmates, as are the few events allowed them where Native volunteers can visit. State inmates have their own challenges, even though they may be a bit closer to home. In both state and federal institutions, there have been documented issues with respect for Native inmates' culture and traditions, and I believe a perception that these are isolated people encourages abuse. Staff is aware of who has people outside the institution who care about them, and human nature is what it is. Those who might be inclined to abuse power or exercise prejudices are less likely to select victims whose mistreatment will be noticed. Sometimes regular correspondence and/or volunteer visits have a value beyond friendship, moral or spiritual support. When people ask me about how to find a Native inmate to write to, I refer them to the Native American Prisoner Network (NAPN). Below is a statement taken from the home page of this site (http://www.napn.us): "The Native American Prisoner Network site is for Native American (First Nations) inmates. The inmates on these pages are from various tribes, incarcerated in different facilities throughout the United States. Many are incarcerated far from home, from family and/or friends, from their tribes. While some do have family they remain in contact with, many have no family or friends, no contact with the outside. On the enclosed pages you will find native inmates' pages, displaying their personal information, photos, artwork, writings, etc. Go through the information, photos, artwork and/or writings samples and choose an inmate to correspond with. Let them know they are not forgotten - remember them on their birthday and other holidays." (http://www.napn.us) Note: Visitors to this site must be over 18 years of age to enter. -=-=-=- Judge approves Native inmate deal By BUTCH MABIN / Lincoln Journal Star http://www.journalstar.com A settlement over the rights of Native inmates to religious smoking, pow-wows and other aspects of their culture is fair, if imperfect, said the federal judge who approved it Monday. At the end of a nearly five-hour hearing U.S. Senior District Judge Warren K. Urbom said both sides had reason for criticism, but he said the settlement was nevertheless a fair one. "It may not have gone far enough for some," he said. "It may have gone too far for others." The settlement between the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services and a Native inmates cultural and religious club deals with the inmates' rights to pow-wows, medicine men, ceremonial foods and to a tobacco substitute used in religious ceremonies. In addition, the settlement permits members of the Native American Spiritual and Cultural Awareness Club to hold staggered elections for club officers. Also, it allows outgoing officers to appoint their replacements rather than filing the vacancies through elections. Those two provisions were negotiators' attempt to allay the fears of some Native inmates that the club's leadership could be overtaken by non-Native inmates. The club is located at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. A number of Native inmates expressed the same concerns to Urbom on Monday. Jeff Freemont, one of six inmates who testified, questioned how Native inmates could have guaranteed control of the club when Native inmates number fewer than 60 at the penitentiary. The penitentiary houses about 1,150 inmates. "Anybody can hold office and tell us about our Native American culture," Freemont said. Most of the inmates Monday said they favored restrictions on the rights of non-Native club members - for example, barring non-Native inmates from voting. Richard Walker said a Vietnam veterans club at the prison was allowed two classes of members: veterans and nonveterans. The same should be permitted for the Native club, he said. "Natives should have it too, so that the leadership is restricted to Natives," he said. "I believe that's the only way, really, of having a culture club." In the past, he said, Hispanics, African-Americans and a white inmate held leadership positions in the club. That, according to Walker, nearly caused violence to spill out on the prison yard. "A lot of Natives were unhappy," he said. "It was causing problems." Walker and the other inmates Monday also expressed concern over access to medicine men and Natives' use of ceremonial tobacco. The Natives would be allowed the tobacco substitute, chinshasha, in the ceremonies. "We're using it (tobacco) to pray, not to smoke," Walker said. Penitentiary Warden Mike Kenney, in testimony elicited by Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Tomka, said Christian inmates were not allowed wine in communion ceremonies. Tobacco is banned at the department's facilities. He also said neither the Hispanic or African-American cultural groups at the prison make distinctions among their members based on race. To do so, he said, would violate department policy. "It is a simple form of racial discrimination," he said. Kenney said he believed the department made significant concessions to reach the agreement. He mentioned the staggered elections and the appointment of officers by outgoing officers, neither of which are allowed in other clubs. "I wasn't crazy about it," he said. "But it was a concession I was willing to make to move ... things forward." Tomka and the inmates' attorney, Bassel El-Kasaby, urged Urbom to approve the settlement. El-Kasaby acknowledged the criticisms expressed by inmates Monday, but he said he had no reason to believe the majority of Natives at the prison opposed the settlement agreement. "It's a good agreement," he said. Urbom agreed. "The proposed settlement is a fair one," he said. "(But) I grant there are things about it that don't meet the wants of either side," he said. The settlement replaces a consent decree signed by Urbom in 1974 that required prison administrators to let Natives hold religious ceremonies and have access to medicine men and ceremonial tobacco. Walker, one of the inmates who filed the original 1972 lawsuit that sparked the decree, was among a group of inmates who a few years ago claimed the state was in contempt of the decree. The two sides later began negotiations leading to the settlement agreement. Walker said in an interview after the hearing that he and other inmates would file more lawsuits over access to medicine men and tobacco, among other things. Copyright c. 2005 Lincoln Journal-Star. --------- "RE: Rustywire: The Other Brother" --------- Date: Tue, Jan 25 12:41:09 2003 08:12:44 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RUSTYWIRE: BIA" The Other Brother by Johnny Rustywire Sometimes when i get tired or need a rest I find a bench to sit on and take it easy, except when I do I have to share it with my brother. I did not want him to be there all the time with me, but he is the unwanted brother I have had all my life. No matter where I go or what I do he is there, somehow getting involved with my life when I go home. I didn't ask for him to be there, he is just there alway telling me what to do or how to do it, or to try this and that. He has a special name for me and many times he will do things that affect me without me having a word to say. I am tired and sitting on this bench with him, he rubs me the wrong way, his big body is there pushing me off the bench, it is always has been. I have tried to talk to him, but he looks at me like I understand you, and no matter what you say I know what is best for you. The only way to deal with him is not to go home, to leave it forever, but even then from time to time he reaches out to me for this and that. If I go home he is there, even when he is not close, his presence is felt in everything. I want to be free, to make my own decisions, to live and go about my life in my home and to deal with my life without his interference. He stands there and at times he seems to care, but mostly he doesn't really know anything about what I am about but makes it his business. He was there when I was born, when I went to school, when I went to the store, when I went to get help in dealing with land problems, to build a home, to take care of livestock and in just going about my land. He has rules and regulations he makes up just for me. I do not have a normal life and have never known what it is to be given true freedom, the use of the Bill of Rights in conjunction with my own name, my birthright and my land. He stands not too far off looking at me with indifference. Oh, I wish to be rid of him, but others would find some other monster to bother me still. Go away, leave me alone, let me be a man, a human being. take your responsibility elsewhere, because there is no trust between us. Go away BIA, go away bureaucrats, you are not a good brother and I am tired of you. Copyright c. 1999, Johnny Rustywire, all rights reserved. --------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" --------- Date: Monday, 14 March, 2005 02:11 am From: Debbie Sanders Subj: Book of Days A HAWAI`I BOOK OF DAYS, week of March 14-20 MALAKI March Nana 14 A life well spent is like the banyan tree -- anchored to the land by many roots. 15 The rain is a blessing of renewal upon the earth. 16 Arise, oh Sun, and warm the land with your passage! 17 Though I have no wings, my spirit flies upon the wind! 18 Strength is the warrior within. 19 The land is rich in abundance for those who know where to look. 20 In the song of the ocean, I find healing. (c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue (With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream) --------- "RE: Poem: Tiro de Gracia" --------- Date: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 9:29 PM From: Glenn Welker [ghwelker3@comcast.net] Subj: Tiro de Gracia (call against the war in Chiapas) - 5th book in the Chiapas Mayan series Mailing List: Indigenous Peoples Lit. Tiro de Gracia (O ya nadia queda por traicionar) http://www.indigenouspeople.net/frontera/tiro.htm A Rosa Aurora y a mi hijo Ulises, por el amor. Ulises Cordova This poem is a call against the war in Chiapas. A Bullet of Thanks (or Nothing to Betray) is action and sentences, trustworthy of our times: time of certain glorification to the violence as if in this one and only in this one it was the essence of the intelligence of the human being and its place on Earth. The first person of the poem, of course, is not the author; it is the universal blood and heartrendering facts of life. I roam in bloody battles and ambushes. Ulises Cordova Ochoa takes the position as the opposed. without reason for the war. He initiates each volume with an apparent disorder, turning the order into combat: How many times can a person die when in front of him, the facts irresponably follow each other then proceed to nullify the other based on religious differences, ethnic or ambitions, or of being in a different group? The answer for Ulises is in the poetry, the poem, the Word; that his life is jeopardized. It is called in the name of a woman named Madness, whose personage, first person is universal me. It is arranged to be with Madness, one immense dawn, that the poet - personage knows never will arrive. Continue: here http://www.indigenouspeople.net/frontera/Tiro/ Tiro de Gracia (A Bullet of Thanks) Presentacion Copyright c. 2001 - Frontera de la Palabra Este poema es una convocatoria contra la guerra. Tiro de Gracia (O ya nada por traicionar) es accion y sentencia fidedignos de nuestros tiempos: tiempo de cierta glorificacion a la violencia como si en e'sta y sclo en e'sta radicara la esencia de la inteligencia del ser humano y su transcurso por la tierra. La primer persona del poema, por supuesto, no es el autor, es el yo universal merodeando en lo cruento y desgarrador de batallas sangrientas y emboscadas. Ulises Cordova Ochoa toma posicion frente a la sin razon de la guerra. Inicia este volumen con un aparente desorden, convertido el orden del combate: ?cuantas veces puede morir un hombre cuando frente a e'l se suceden los hechos mas irresponables que provaca nulificar al otro por diferencias religiosas, e'tnicas o ambiciones personales o de grupo? La respuesta para Ulises esta en la poesi'a, en el poema, en la Palabra que compromete su vida y en el nombre de una mujer llamada Locura cuyo personaje, primera personan, yo universal, esta dispuesto a estar con Locura una innmensa madrugada, que el poeta - personaje sabe que nunca llegara. Indigenous Peoples Literature --------- "RE: Upcoming Events" --------- Date: Mon 7 Mar 2005 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, Janet Smith, Debbie Sanders, Johnnie Rustywire, Glenn Welker --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//- _ __ __ _ / | / /___ _/ /_(_) __ __ / |/ / __ \ __/ / | / / _ \ / /| / /_/ / /_/ /| |/ / __/ /_/ |_/\__,_/\__/_/ |___/\___/ ______ _ / ____/____ ___ __________(_)___ ____ _____ / / / ___/ __ \/ ___/ ___/ / __ \/ __ \/ ___/ / /___/ / / /_/ /__ /__ / / / / / /_/ /__ / \____/_/ \____/____/____/_/_/ /_/\__, /____/ Volume 13, Issue 012 /____/ March 19, 2005 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: Crossings" --------- Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:10:52 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CROSSINGS" March 9, 2005 Elbert "Ed" Hunt Lumberton Elbert "Ed" Hunt, 81, of 1170 Linkhaw Road, died March 5, 2005, at Linkhaw Place. The funeral will be 3 p.m. Thursday at Floyd Memorial Chapel, the Rev. Clyde Lowery officiating. Burial will follow at Lumbee Memorial Gardens. Hunt served in the U.S. Navy and was aboard the Tarawa aircraft carrier. He was preceded in death by his parents, Colton and Stella Sealey Hunt; Bessie and Dan Oxendine, who raised him; and a daughter, Mildred Hunt. Surviving are four sons, Elmer Hunt and his wife, Shelby, and Harlen Dean Hunt, all of Lumberton, Jerry Hunt of Carolina Beach and Antonio Hunt and his wife, Cathy, of Fairmont; three daughters, Ola E. Jones of Lumberton, Satrina Locklear and her husband, Ernest, of Pembroke, and Amveline H. Locklear and her husband, Leroy, of Hope Mills; 27 grandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; and 13 stepgrandchildren. The family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Floyd Mortuary and Crematory in Lumberton and at other times at the home of Ola Jones, 547 Odum Road, Lumberton. March 10, 2005 Mertice Lee Locklear Pembroke Mertice Lee Locklear, 77, of 559 Solomon Road, died March 7, 2005, at his home. The funeral will be 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Union Chapel Community Baptist Church, the Revs. Jimmy Strickland and Fred Gibbs officiating. Burial will follow at Oxendine Cemetery. Surviving are her husband, Hodgin Locklear of Fairmont; four sons, Ricky Locklear, Micky Locklear, Tim Locklear and Carl Dean Locklear, all of Pembroke; two daughters, Patricia Chavis and Cathleen Locklear, both of Pembroke; two sisters, Modis Locklear of St. Pauls and Ceroshia Maynor of Pembroke; 10 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. The family will receive friends from 7 to 9 tonight at Locklear & Son Funeral Home in Pembroke. Copyright c. 2005 The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Elbert Hunt LUMBERTON - Elbert "Ed" Hunt, 81, of 1170 Linkhaw Road, died Saturday, March 5, 2005. Services: Funeral, 3 p.m. Thursday in Floyd Mortuary & Crematory Memorial chapel. Burial in Lumbee Memorial Gardens. Visitation: 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Survived by: Sons, Elmer, Jerry, Antonio and Harlen; daughters, Ola Jones, Satrina Locklear and Amveline Locklear; 27 grandchildren; 13 stepgrandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren; and four great-great- grandchildren. March 12, 2005 Grace B. Lowry COLUMBIA, S.C. - Mrs. Grace Bullard Lowry, 72, of 1840 Marley Drive, formerly of Pembroke, N.C., died Friday, March 11, 2005. Services: Funeral, 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Thompson's Funeral Home chapel in Pembroke. Burial in Lowry family cemetery in Pembroke. Visitation: 7 to 9 tonight at the funeral home. Survived by: Husband, Claude; sons, Claude, Charles and David; daughter, Elizabeth Sanderson; sisters, Zelma Locklear, Judy Warner and Margaret; and eight grandchildren. Copyright c. 2005 The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. -=-=-=- March 9, 2005 Paul "Polo" Gutierrez Jr. Paul "Polo" Gutierrez Jr., 35, Green Bay. Visitation after 5 p.m. today at the home of Patrick and Lisa Madrid, 2190 South Point Road. The traditional Big Drum ceremony will be held from 6-10 p.m. today. The Longhouse ceremonies will be conductied from 10 p.m. until sunrise on Friday. At sunrise on Friday, the body will be transported to the Oneida Longhouse on Reformatory Road. Funeral service 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Longhouse. Survivors include his financee, Pamela Denny; seven children, Anthony, Daniel, Paul III, Terrill, Shaudia, Avery, Coleman; two brothers, Roberet (Wendy), Patrick (Lisa; one sister, Paula (Jerelyn). Ryan Funeral Home, 305 N. Tenth St., De Pere, is assisting the family. Copyright c. 2005 Green Bay News-Chronicle. -=-=-=- March 11, 2005 John Abraham Yellowhammer John Abraham Yellowhammer, 40, of St. Michael, ND, began his journey into the Spirit World on Thursday, March 3, 2005 at Altru Hospital, Grand Forks, ND Funeral services will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at Dakotah Oyate Lutheran Church, rural Tokio, ND. Pastor Larry Thiele and the Fort Totten Prayer Group will officiate and burial will be in the Dakotah Oyate Lutheran Cemetery. A Wake and Prayer Service will be held Thursday, beginning at 5 p.m. also at Dakotah Oyate Lutheran Church. Northern Nation Singers will be the Drum Group for the Wake and Services. Pallbearers will be Eric Azure, Jason Robertson, Jeremy Robertson, Jonathan Robertson, Martin Little and Joe Peterson. Honorary pallbearers will be Glen Abraham, Jacob Abraham, Eugene "Webbie" Makesgood, Casey Thomas, Richard Abraham, Brett Tiger, Brian Tiger, Mike Meade and all of John's many relatives and friends. John was born in Chicago, IL, on July 5, 1964 to Lang and Mary Rita (Abraham) Yellowhammer. He attended Fort Totten school throughout his grade school years and obtained his high school diploma from Fort Totten High School. John was very athletic and played basketball and was on the cross country track team in grade school. John attended many pow-wows and was a fancy dancer in his teen years. His hobbies were fishing and hunting and playing basketball. John obtained employment throughout his years at the Spirit Lake Casino and Resort, Dakota Tribal Industries and Sioux Manufacturing. John was a very caring, helpful and compassionate person. He enjoyed visiting with his friends and family. He loved rock and roll music, particularly Motley Crue. John will be greatly missed by family and friends. John is survived by his partner and companion, Debbie; sister, Muriel Robertson; brother, Nathan Yellowhammer; nieces, Mary Anne Robertson and Marieta Yellowhammer; nephews, Jeremy, Jason and Jonathan Robertson; special grandson, Taylin Redfox; special friend, Bonnie White and numerous aunts and uncles and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, David Yellowhammer. Friends may sign the on-line register book at www.gilbertsonfuneralhome. com Gilbertson Funeral Home, Devils Lake, is in charge of arrangements. Frank L. Charboneau Frank L. Charboneau, Sr., 84, of Fort Totten, ND, died Saturday, March 5, 2005 at Altru Hospital, Grand Forks, ND. Funeral services will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Seven Dolors Catholic Church, Fort Totten. Officiating will be Fr. Charles Leute, O.P. and Fr. Ed Sherman. Special music will be provided by Tony and Vina McDonald and Prayer Group. Military honors will be accorded by VFW Neathery-Simenseon Post #756 of Devils Lake. Interment will be in St. Jerome's Catholic Cemetery, Crow Hill, rural Ft. Totten. Visitation will be Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Evans Funeral Home in New Rockford. A Prayer Service and Rosary will be held Friday from 5-10 p.m., with a Prayer Service/Rosary at 8 p.m. at Seven Dolors Catholic Church, Fort Totten. Casket bearers will be Shawn Charboneau, Frank Charboneau, Robert Charboneau, Jr., Kyle Charboneau, Greg Greene, Patrick Hook, Sr., Patrick Hook, Jr., Robert Thompson, Mitchell Rainbow, Kenneth Greywater, Jr., Brian Pearson and Barney Charboneau. Honorary bearers will be Matt Freisen, Solomon Sherman, Bruce McKay, William Kazena, Kenneth Greywater, Sr., Allen McKay, Allen " Tiger" Hanson, Barb and Mike Hillebrand, Sebastin Thomas, Reaba Mack, Marie Baker, Penny and Bruce W. Eagle, Chuck and Mary Trottier, Phillip Young, Fort Totten Roads Department, Ray Porter, Pierre Cultbertson, Richard and Milly McKay, Cheryl Goodiron, Myra Pearson, Terry Morgan, Josie Lawrence, Larry Greene, Gerald Wanna, Si Ironheart Jr., Keith Miller, Wayne Trottier Sr., Cap Cavanaugh, Don Hart, Bert Steffen, Tom Nistler, Pete Hager, Jerry Cook, Ron Cook, Max Cook Jr., Michael Charboneau, Leah Wanna-Cook, Velma and Vern Lambert, Tony Charboneau, Dean and Sonta Dauphinais, Fr. Chuck, Carl McKay, Violet Dubois, Fritz Wetzel, the Spirit Lake Ambulance Department and all his many friends and relatives. Frank L. Charboneau was born July 21, 1920, in Roblin, Manitoba, the second son of Robert and Mary (Bouviere) Charboneau. He moved with his parents and siblings to the Spirit Lake Nation when he was two years old. He was a descendant of Sacajawea. During WWII, he served with the 431st Engineers Battalion of the US Army in South Haws district of South Devonshire, England, and also in France and Germany. On March 24, 1945, Frank was united in marriage to Mary E. Veale in Harbertonford, South Devonshire, England. After his discharge, Frank worked with and the BIA Roads Department for 36 and a half years, and the Tribal Blade for three years. With his Army time, Frank retired with 40 years good service in 1982. Frank was a Sunday morning member of the Rosary at the Seven Dolors Catholic Church in Ft. Totten. He was a member of the VFW Neathery- Simensen Post #756 of Devils Lake. Frank enjoyed bowling in his younger years, and later enjoyed playing cards with family and friends. He enjoyed watching for the school buses with his grandchildren and great- grandchildren. In the summer he enjoyed cutting grass for the church and friends. Frank loved to play horseshoes with his family and friends, and won many tournament when he was younger. He also loved playing Bingo at Ostby Hall in Sheyenne on Saturdays. Frank will be greatly missed and will be remembered by his family and friends. May he rest in peace. He is survived by Mary, his wife of 59 years; two sons, Robert (Frieda) and Todd (Sheila); two daughters, Jeannie (Greg) and Stacie; one adopted son, Cecil Longie, all of Ft. Totten; 21 grandchildren; 41 great- grandchildren; one sister, Cecelia Cook of New Rockford; one sister-in-law, Theresa Charboneau of Devils Lake; one daughter-in-law, Patty (Doug) of Eckelson, ND, and many nieces and nephews. Frank was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Mary; a son, Frank, Jr; a daughter, Rosemary; four brothers, Charles, Joseph, Clarence, and Tony; a grandson, Todd Belgarde Jr.; one sister-in-law, Vesper Charboneau; one brother-in-law, Max Cook; nephews: Charles Jr, Joey, Art, Russell, Rickey Sr., Ricky Jr, and Scott Cook; and his best friends, Samuel Cloud and Jerry Robertson. Evans Funeral Home, New Rockford, is in charge of arrangements. Copyright c. 2005 Devils Lake Daily Journal. -=-=-=- March 9, 2005 Frank L. Charboneau Sr. FORT TOTTEN - Frank L. Charboneau Sr., 84, Fort Totten, died March 5, 2005, at a Grand Forks hospital. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 12, Seven Dolors Catholic Church, Fort Totten. Burial will be at St. Jerome's Catholic Cemetery, Crow Hill, rural Fort Totten. He is survived by his wife, Mary; five children, Robert, Todd, James, Jeannie and Stacie, all of Fort Totten; one adopted son, Cecil Longie, Fort Totten; 21 grandchildren; 41 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Cecelia Cook, New Rockford. Evans Funeral Home, New Rockford. March 12, 2005 Minerva Little Elk Minerva Little Elk, 74, Dupree, S.D., died March 10, 2005, at a Rapid City, S.D., hospital. Arrangements are pending with Oster Funeral Home, Mobridge, S.D. Copyright c. 2005 Bismarck Tribune. -=-=-=- March 10, 2005 John A. Yellowhammer Yellowhammer, John A., 40, St. Michael, ND, 10:00 a.m., Friday, March 11, Dakotah Oyate Lutheran Church, rural Tokio, ND. A Wake and Prayer Service will be held Thursday, March 10, beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the church. Gilbertson Funeral Home, Devils Lake, ND. Copyright c. 2005 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. -=-=-=- March 10, 2005 Clara Eagle Waubay - Funeral service for Clara Eagle, 85, Waubay, will be Friday, March 11, 2005, at 10 a.m. at St. Peter's Catholic Church, Sisseton. There will be an all-night wake service Thursday, March 10, 2005, at 7 p. m. at St. Catherine's Hall, Sisseton. Interment will be at St. Benedict's Cemetery near Sica Hollow. Clara passed away March 8, 2005, at a hospital in Sisseton. Cahill Funeral Chapel of Sisseton is in charge of arrangements. March 14, 2005 Minerva Little Elk Dupree - Funeral for Minerva Little Elk, age 74, of Dupree at 10 a.m., MDT Thursday, March 17, 2005, at the Cultural Center in Eagle Butte, S.D. Burial will be in St. Peter's Episcopal Church Cemetery under the direction of Oster Funeral Home of Mobridge, S.D. Minerva passed away at Rapid City Regional Hospital on March 10, 2005. Copyright c. 2005 Aberdeen American News. -=-=-=- Welcome to the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe/Dakota Nation Sota Iya Ye Yapi On-Line, News from the Lake Traverse Reservation Volume 36, Issue 11 Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Funeral services held for Clara Eagle Funeral services for Clara Eagle, 85, of Waubay, SD, were held last Friday morning, March 11, 2005, at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Sisseton, SD, with the Rev. Fr. Walter Butor, OMI, Fr. Stan Maudlin, OSB, and Fr. Tom Roznowski, OSB, officiating. Active pallbearers were Mike Peters, Michael Owen, Les Barse, Jr., Eugene Anderson, Gary Gaikowski, Corey Jensen, Merle Redbear, and Brad Dilworth. Honorary pallbearers were Angie Wanna, Edwina Bernard, Tammy DeCoteau, Violet Barse, Helmina Makes Him First, Bernice Patenoude, Blossom Keeble, Dolly Azure, Bernice Hopkins, Pearl Wilson, Patty Marks, Tina Williams, Ione Eagle, and all N.A.V.A. men and their wives. Interment is at St. Benedict's Cemetery near Sica Hollow. There was a wake service on Wednesday evening, and an all-night wake service Thursday at St. Catherine's Hall in Sisseton. The Cahill Funeral Chapel of Sisseton, was in charge of the arrangements. Clara was born on December 31, 1919, to John and Mary (Williams) DeMarrias in Veblen, SD. Clara grew up in the Sica Hollow and Veblen area. Although she only attended school to the third grade, she taught herself how to read and write. On September 11, 1937, she was united in marriage to Elijah Eagle, and twelve children were born to this union. Clara loved to tell stories, especially in Dakotah. She collapsed on her way to Sisseton Wahpeton College, where she worked translating Dakotah stories to English with the Association of American Indian Arts Program at the College. Clara loved gardening and taking care of her many, many, plants and flowers. Clara and her daughter, Nadine, made many star quilts. There is a star quilt, which Clara made, that is hanging in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. Clara worked at Landsberger Creamery for 45 years. She retired at the age of 74 from Landsberger. Clara loved to travel. She has been to the east coast and the west coast several times. She especially liked traveling to and attending Catholic Indian Congress and Kateri Tekakwitha conferences, which Clara attended every year. Clara was knowledgeable about traditional Indian medicine and how to use it. She would go every summer to dig for sweet flag and tato, which she gave to relatives and friends. Clara loved going to pow wows, she attended all the local ones. Besides her work, Clara loved playing bingo. It seemed like she would always bingo when she needed it. Clara passed away on March 8, 2005, at a hospital in Sisseton. Survivors include children - Roy and Bernadine (Eagle) Gaikowski, Nadine Anderson, Charlotte Grey, Les and Kathleen (Eagle) Barse, Sr., Francis Eagle, Merle and Donna (Eagle) Redbear, Patrick Eagle, and Theodora Eagle; two sisters - Lillian Owen and Teresa Peters; fifty-eight grandchildren; one hundred sixty great grandchildren; and many great great grandchildren. Clara also adopted and raised many grandchildren, Ann Marie Eagle, Cheryl Eagle, and Michelle Walkingbull. She adopted Christine Neubauer from Germany in 1991. Clara also became mother to her sister-in-law, Helen Redday's children, Duke, Darin, Emmett, Delores, Brenda, Betty, Bonita, and Maria Redday. Clara was preceded in death by her husband, Elijah, two daughters, Marcella Eagle and Florence Eagle, two sons, Elijah Thomas Eagle, Jr. and Martin Lawrence Eagle, her parents, John DeMarrias and Mary Williams, four brothers, Sylvester DeMarrias, Thomas Brown, Wilford Brown, and Walter DeMarrias, and three sisters, Joyce DeMarrias, Sister Irene DeMarrias, and Catherine DeMarrias. Copyright c. 1999-2003 by C. D. Floro/Earth and Sky Enterprises. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Sungokiele Jakobe-Dylan Romero WOUNDED KNEE - Sungokiele Jakobe-Dylan Romero, infant, Wounded Knee, was stillborn Thursday, March 3, 2005, at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls. Survivors include his parents, Lonna Romero and James Graham, Wounded Knee; one sister, Misty Graham, Wounded Knee; his paternal grandparents, Michael Graham, Manderson, and Donna Graham, Rapid City; and his maternal grandparents, Timothy Romero, Wounded Knee, and Marilyn Marquiss, Minneapolis. A one-night wake will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, at Messiah Episcopal Church in Wounded Knee. Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 10, at the church, with the Rev. Joe Brown Thunder officiating. Burial will be at Messiah Episcopal Cemetery in Wounded Knee. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. March 9, 2005 Donald "Donroy" Charge On Him WOLF CREEK - Donald "Donroy" Charge On Him, 45, Wolf Creek, died Saturday, March 5, 2005, in Wolf Creek. Survivors include one brother, Virgil "Jim" Charge On Him, Pine Ridge, and an aunt, Sophie "Hannah" Yellow Boy, Wolf Creek. A one-night wake will begin at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at Wakpamni CAP Office. Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday, March 11, at Wakpamni CAP Office, with the Rev. Frank Hill and the Rev. Wayne Wasicuna officiating. Burial will be at Wolf Creek Community Cemetery. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Kaiden M. Winters Santisteven PINE RIDGE - Kaiden M. Winters Santisteven, 7 months, Pine Ridge, died Sunday, March 6, 2005, in Pine Ridge. Survivors include his parents, Isaac Santisteven and Esther Winters, Pine Ridge; one brother, Deven Santisteven, Pine Ridge; one sister, Danika Santisteven, Pine Ridge; his paternal grandparents, Bessie Matthews and Arthur Santisteven, Denver; his maternal grandparents, Louie and Melvina Winters, Pine Ridge; his maternal great-grandmothers, Esther Ecoffey and Nellie Two Bulls, both of Pine Ridge; and his paternal great-grandmother, Alma Tyon, Hot Springs. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. today at Messiah Episcopal Church in Wounded Knee. Services will be at noon today at the church. Burial will be at Afraid of His Horses Cemetery in No. Four Community. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. March 10, 2005 Elwood D. Corbine RAPID CITY - Elwood D. Corbine, 58, of Rapid City, died Saturday, March 5, 2005, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Survivors include his wife, Beverly Corbine of Rapid City; four daughters, Candy (Joe) Mayo and Misha Escamilla-Corbine, both of Rapid City, Penny (Jim) Rogers, Sr. and Angel Corbine, both of Oglala; seven sons, Anthony Corbine, Eric Corbine, William Corbine, Antonio Dreamer, Craig Dreamer, Jr., Buddy Dog Trail-Corbine, all of Rapid City, Jack (April) Corbine of Oglala; nine grandsons, eight granddaughters, two great-granddaughters, four great-grandsons; one brother, Clinton Corbine of Rapid City; two sisters, Sharon (Jones) Wounded Foot of Minneapolis, Minn. and Beverly Corbine-Stands of Hayward, Wisconsin; numerous nieces and nephews; and all relatives and friends. Wake begins Thursday at Mother Butler Center at 9:00 a.m. with a Rosary service at 7:00 p.m. Services are set for 10:00 a.m. Fri., March 11, 2005, at Mother Butler Center in Rapid City with Fr. David Matzko officiating. Interment will follow at Mountain View Cemetery in Rapid City. The family prefers memorials for cancer research. Friends may sign Elwood's guestbook at www.kirkfuneralhome.com. Kirk Funeral Home of Rapid City is in charge of the arrangements. March 11, 2005 Robert W. Hernandez Sr. PINE RIDGE - Robert W. Hernandez Sr., Pine Ridge, died Tuesday, March 8, 2005, in Pine Ridge Hospital. He served in the U.S. Army. Survivors include two sons, Robert Hernandez Jr. and Mike Hernandez, both of Pine Ridge; six daughters, Roberta Hernandez and Helen Brings Him Back, both of El Paso, Texas, and Dawn Hernandez, Misty Pulliam, Lenora Clifford and Jeri Ghost Bear, all of Pine Ridge; his mother, Dora Hernandez, Pine Ridge; six brothers, Floyd Hernandez Jr., Kyle, Walt Hernandez, Mission Town, Norman Hernandez and Seth Hernandez, both of Pine Ridge, Pat Ruff, Chicago, and Art Ruff, Eagle Butte; two sisters, Helene Palmier, Pine Ridge, and Corrine Ruff, Kyle; and numerous grandchildren. A one-night wake will begin at 3 p.m. today at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pine Ridge. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 12, at the church, with the Rev. Bill Pauly officiating. Burial will be at Holy Rosary Mission Catholic Cemetery in Pine Ridge. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. Leslie P. Two Two PINE RIDGE - Leslie P. Two Two, 44, Pine Ridge, died Tuesday, March 8, 2005, in rural Pine Ridge as a result of an automobile accident. Survivors include his wife, Wilma Two Two, Pine Ridge; two sons, Newton Two Two and Heath Two Two, both of Pine Ridge; one daughter, Leslie Ann Two Two, Pine Ridge; four stepsons, James Colhoff, Sean Poor Bear, Daniel Bad Milk and Manuel Bad Milk, all of Pine Ridge; seven stepdaughters, Renita Poor Bear, Shannon Poor Bear, Babe Poor Bear, Ampo Poor Bear, Annie Colhoff, Priscilla Bad Milk and Vanessa Bad Milk, all of Pine Ridge; his mother, Delphine Bettelyoun, Pine Ridge; two brothers, Fred Two Two and Dave Two Two, both of Pine Ridge; two sisters, April Two Two, Denver, and Jeanne Two Two, Pine Ridge; and numerous grandchildren. A two-night wake will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at Billy Mills Hall in Pine Ridge. Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, March 14, at Billy Mills Hall, with the Rev. Bill Pauly officiating and traditional Lakota services by Wilmer Mesteth. Burial will be at Holy Rosary Mission Catholic Cemetery in Pine Ridge. Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements. March 13, 2005 Duane Fire Thunder RAPID CITY - Duane Fire Thunder, 62, Rapid City, died Wednesday, March 9, 2005. Survivors include one daughter, Sophie Fire Thunder, San Francisco; four brothers, Vance Fire Thunder and George Fire Thunder, both of Rapid City, Michael Quilt, Dallas, Texas, and Tim Quilt, St. Paul, Minn.; and one sister, Judy Romero, Salt Lake City. Memorial services will be at 6 p.m. Monday, March 14, at Mother Butler Center in Rapid City. Kirk Funeral Home of Rapid City is in charge of arrangements. Albert D. Hawk FORT THOMPSON - Albert D. Hawk, 29, Fort Thompson, died Wednesday, March 9, 2005, at his home. Wake and funeral services were at Fort Thompson Tribal Hall, with burial at Conkicaska Cemetery at Fort Thompson. Survivors include his parents, Velsworth "Puggy" and Patsy Hawk, Fort Thompson; one sister, Valene Hawk, Fort Thompson; his grandparents, Daryl and Phyllis Halligan, Mission, and Madeline Felicia, Fort Thompson. Wevik Funeral Home in Chamberlain was in charge of arrangements. Albert D. Hawk FORT THOMPSON - Albert D. Hawk, 29, Fort Thompson, died Wednesday, March 9, 2005, at his home. Wake and funeral services were at Fort Thompson Tribal Hall, with burial at Conkicaska Cemetery at Fort Thompson. Survivors include his parents, Velsworth "Puggy" and Patsy Hawk, Fort Thompson; one sister, Valene Hawk, Fort Thompson; his grandparents, Daryl and Phyllis Halligan, Mission, and Madeline Felicia, Fort Thompson. Wevik Funeral Home in Chamberlain was in charge of arrangements. March 14, 2005 Minerva Willamette Red Bird Little Elk DUPREE - Minerva Willamette Red Bird Little Elk, 74, Dupree, died Thursday, March 10, 2005, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Wake services will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 16, at the Cultural Center in Eagle Butte. Family and friends will gather at the four-mile junction at 4 p.m. Wednesday to follow in procession. Services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 17, at the center, with the Rev. Jeffry Barnes and Deacon Dora Bruguier officiating. Burial will be at St. Peter's Episcopal Church Cemetery. Oster Funeral Home in Mobridge is in charge of arrangements. Copyright c. 2005 The Rapid City Journal. -=-=-=- March 9, 2005 Saaswanis HisWaqs Buckskin Saaswanis HisWaqs Buckskin died Friday, Feb. 25, 2005. He was 64. The Celebration of Life Service was held at the Williamson River Indian Mission west of Chiloquin, Ore. Mr. Buckskin was an enrolled member of the Klamath/Modoc Tribe and was born at the old Klamath Agency on Aug. 7, 1940. Mr. Buckskin had a great love for native people and was a remarkable volunteer and organizer for events that benefited the health and goodwill of all American Indians. He was head of security for the Longest Walk, a march across the United States protesting the abrogation of all Indian treaties. The walk began with a Pipe Ceremony on Alcatraz Island in February 1978, and ended five months later in Washington, D.C., in July of the same year. Mr. Buckskin was a delegate to the United Nations in Brussels, Belgium, on behalf of indigenous peoples of the world. He was truly loved and respected by all who knew him. Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the SunUte Community Center in Ignacio. Copyright c. 2005 Durango Herald. -=-=-=- March 9, 2005 Mary Jane (Dry) Dew TAHLEQUAH - A wake for Mary Jane (Dry) Dew was held at 6 p.m., Monday, March 7, 2005, at Reed Culver Chapel. Services will be held at 2 p.m., Tuesday, March 8, 2005, at Reed Culver Chapel, with Pastor Brandon O'Field and Rev. Johnnie Sanders officiating. Interment will follow at Bill Batt Cemetery, under the direction of Reed-Culver Funeral Home of Tahlequah. Pallbearers include Johnny Dry, Alfred Sixkiller, Leon Dry, Dennis Dry, J.D. Dry and Eugene Dry. Honorary pallbearers include Chris Bush, Charley Dry and Homer Dry Jr. Mary Jane (Dry) Dew passed from this life Friday, March 4, 2005, in Tahlequah at 76 years of age. She was born May 29, 1928, in Leach, to Johnson and Rachel (Spade) Dry. Mary was a triplet. Mary married Sanders Dew Jan. 6, 1948. Mary was a member of Elm Tree Baptist Church. She enjoyed word find puzzles, listening to the radio and watching cartoons. Mary is survived by six daughters, Wanda (Johnnie) Sanders, Minnie Dew, Edna (Bearl Jr.) Jones, Kathy (Perry) Vanbuskirk, Jackie (Robert) Clayton and Marilyn Dew; two sons, Elvis Wayne (Debra) Dew and Kenneth James Dew; two brothers, Homer Dry and Bob (Billie) Dry; and 13 grandchildren. Mary was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, a daughter, Geneva Dew; and two sisters. Reed-Culver Funeral Home, 117 W. Delaware, 456-2551. Roxie B. Gainey TAHLEQUAH - Services for Roxie B. Gainey were held at 10 a.m., Monday, March 7, 2005, at Reed Culver Chapel, with Rev. David Robinson officiating. Interment followed at Boudinot Cemetery under the direction of Reed-Culver Funeral Home of Tahlequah. Pallbearers were her nephews. Roxie Bell (Long) Gainey passed from this life Saturday, March 5, 2005, in Commerce, at 80 years of age. She was born on July 27, 1924, in Haskell County, to Henry and Lina (McGuire) Long. Roxie grew up in Haskell County, and attended Hawthorne-Rock Ford School. She married Charles Gainey Jan. 31, 1955. She had lived in Tulsa since the 1950s, and moved to Miami in 1999. She worked at various jobs, including being a waitress for several years and then cleaning offices for a period of time. She loved to make a big garden every spring. She did lots of canning and loved to share with friends and neighbors. She loved her family and will be greatly missed. Roxie was preceded in death by her husband, Charley Gainey, in 1996; her mother and father; two brothers, John and James Long, four sisters, two infants, Lina Mae and Sarah Faye Long, and Inez Robinson and Maudie Dix. Roxie is survived by two sisters, Vida Rose of Tahlequah and Mable King of Miami, and a host of nieces and nephews. Reed-Culver Funeral Home, 117 W. Delaware, 456-2551. Wes Randall "Hawk" Proctor KANSAS - Services for Wes Randall "Hawk" Proctor, 19, will be held at 1 p.m., Tuesday, March 8, 2005, at the Kansas High School Gymnasium, with Rev. Charles "Chuck" Glass officiating. Interment will follow in Clouds Creek Cemetery. The family received friends at the Worley-Luginbuel Funeral Home in Jay, Monday, March 7, 2005. Services are under the direction of Worley-Luginbuel Funeral Home, Jay. Wes Randall "Hawk" Proctor, of Colcord, died Saturday, March 5, 2005, as the result of an automobile accident near Colcord. The son of Dallas and Sharon Leaf Proctor, he was born June 25, 1985, in Claremore. He was a graduate of Kansas High School in 2003, where he was a member of the basketball team. He represented Oklahoma in an international basketball tournament in Hawaii. He was recently employed in security for the United Keetoowah Band Casino. He was a member of the Keetoowah Nighthawk Society, and attended the New Mission Church at Rocky Ford. Survivors include his parents, Dallas and Sharon Proctor of the home; three brothers, Brian Proctor and Fonda Davis of Kenwood, Charles and Michelle Deason of Stilwell, and Tsa-li-di Sequoyah of Cherokee, N.C.; two sisters, Traci and Ben Cummings of Oaks, and Shelly Ramsey of Tahlequah; maternal grandmother, Lorene Budder of Kenwood, nine nieces and nephews; and a sister-in-law, Phyllis Proctor. He was preceded in death by a son, Jordan Don Proctor; paternal grandparents, Rev. Daniel and Lucille Proctor; maternal grandfather, Archie Leaf; and uncles, Johnny Fred Leaf and Wesley Proctor. Worley-Luginbuel Funeral Home, P.O. Box 450460, Grove, Okla., 74345-0460. Copyright c. 2005 Tahlequah Daily Press. -=-=-=- March 11, 2005 Rosalie E. Wynashe Mrs. Rosalie Evelyn (Horner) Wynashe, 86, a resident of Bartlesville since 1991, died at 6:10 a.m. on Thursday in the Silver Lake Care Center. Private family final rites will be directed by The Arnold Moore Funeral Service. Rosalie Evelyn Horner was born April 24, 1918 at Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was the daughter of Leo George Horner and Lydia Eunice (Terripan) Horner. Rosalie moved with her family members to Muskogee, Oklahoma at the age of six and began her education there. She was a student at the Chilocco Indian School near Newkirk, Oklahoma where she completed her education. She and Wayne Henry Wynashe were married at Independence, Kansas on October 5, 1940 and they established their first home at Pawhuska, Oklahoma. During World War II, Mrs. Wynashe was employed by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Tulsa for three years. Rosalie and Wayne moved to Maywood, California and she was employed the the Kirkhill Rubber Company. Mr. Wynashe preceded her in death on July 17, 1991 at Lynwood, California. Rosalie moved to Bartlesville in October 1991 to live in retirement. Mrs. Wynashe is survived by several nieces, Mrs. Barbara Matthews and Bob, Pat Morris, Eunice Bonnett and Melvin, Pat Morris, Naomi Wright and Jim, Rosie Tucker and Monroe, Sue Thompson and Edward, Ella Lippert and Bob, Phyllis Parker, Owasso, Mary Ann Jakosa, Moore, Oklahoma and a nephew, Michael Taylor and Bonnie, Nashville, Tennessee; and a brother-in-law, Houston L. "Chief" Taylor, Bartlesville, Oklahoma and several great and great great nieces and nephews. In addition to her father, mother and husband, she was preceded in death by sisters, Edith Taylor and Ahniwake Parker and by brothers, Leo G. Horner and C. H. "Mike" Horner. March 14, 2005 Anna L. Saul Anna Laura Saul, 84, of Bartlesville, died Saturday at her residence. Graveside services will be 1 p.m. Wednesday at Fort Gibson National Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the National Museum of the American Indian, Office of external affairs, National Museum of the American Indian, 4th. Street and Independence Ave. S.W., MRC 590 P.O. Box 37012 Washington D.C. 20013-7012. Survivors include two sons and daughters-in-law, Bill and Suzanne of La Canada, Calif., and John B. and Glynda of Muskogee; three grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter. Copyright c. 2005 the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Charlotte "Charlie" Beeman Farmington Feb. 13, 1941 - March 7, 2005 Charlotte "Charlie" Beeman, 64, of Farmington passed away Monday, March 7, 2005, at Cedar Ridge Nursing Home in Farmington. Charlie was born Feb. 13, 1941, in McNary, Ariz. Arrangements are pending with Alternative Choice, 2415 E. 20th St. in Farmington, (505) 326-3671. Kysiah Raymond Tan Red Valley, Ariz. Jan. 10, 2005 - March 5, 2005 Our beloved baby, Kysiah Raymond Tan, "Monster Boo," passed on into the arms of the angels on Saturday, March, 5, 2005, in Chinle, Ariz. Kysiah was born Jan. 10, 2005, in Shiprock to Rayford A. Tan and Clarissa Neal. Kysiah is survived by his grandfather, Raymond Tan, and grandmother, Laverna Bitsilly, both of Shiprock. Kysiah was the great-grandson of Sam Joe and Elsie Tan of Red Valley. He was loved by his aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas. He will be greatly missed. Kysiah was preceded in death by his great-grandmother, Sara Clah. Visitation will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. today, Tuesday, March 8, at Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home in Shiprock. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 9, at Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home Chapel in Shiprock. Pastor Kee Becenti will officiate. Interment will be at the family cemetery in Red Valley. Pallbearers will be Rayford A. Tan, Melissa Tan, Ramondo Tan, Haines Tan, Rodgerick Neal, Roger Neal Jr., Jay Harvey, Kendrick Joey and Delbert Sandoval. Honorary pallbearers will be Sam J. Tan, the Tan family, the Neal family, the Hunt family, the Bitsilly family, and everyone who loved Kysiah. Kysiah is in the care of Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home of Shiprock, (505) 368-4607. Lilly Russell Upper Fruitland Oct. 12, 1912 - March 4, 2005 Lilly Russell, 93, of Upper Fruitland died March 4, 2005, at San Juan Manor in Farmington. She was born Oct. 12, 1912 in To'binasti'i. Services are pending with Chapel of Memories Funeral Home, 458 CR 6100 in Kirtland, (505) 598-9636. March 9, 2005 Lee John Peshlakai, Sr. Naschitti May 20, 1929 - March 8, 2005 Lee John Peshlakai, Sr., 79, of Naschitti, passed from this life on Tuesday March 8, 2005, in Bloomfield. He was born May 20, 1929 in Crystal. Services are pending with Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home of Shiprock, (505) 368-4607. Kysiah Raymond Tan Red Valley, Ariz. Jan. 10, 2005 - March 5, 2005 Kysiah Raymond Tan, "Monster Boo," 1 month, 28 day old infant, of Red Valley, Ariz., passed from this life on Saturday, March, 5, 2005, in Chinle, Ariz. Kysiah was born Jan. 10, 2005, in Shiprock. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. today, March 9, 2005, at Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home Chapel in Shiprock. Interment will be at the Community Cemetery in Red Valley, Ariz. Kysiah is in the care of Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home of Shiprock, (505) 368-4607. March 10, 2005 Nora Charley Beclabito March 4, 1942 - March 6, 2005 Nora Charley, 63, of Beclabito, passed away Sunday, March 6, 2005, in Farmington. She was born March 4, 1942, in Beclabito. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. today, March 10, 2005, at Brewer, Lee & Larkin Funeral Home. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, March 11, 2005, at First Baptist Church in Shiprock, with Clifford Springwater, Wilson Calvin, and Terrence D. Calvin, Pastors officiating. Reception will follow at the Beclabito Chapter House. Nora is survived by her four sons, Saferino and wife, Susie; Myron and wife, Cassandra; Wilson Jr. and wife, Yolanda; and Wilton; two daughters, Laura and husband, Nathan Benally; Deana and husband, Lambert Lee. Nora is preceded in death by her mother, Irene Dick, and sister, Marri R. Billie. Pallbearers will be Garric Dick, Truman Jones, Terrence D. Calvin, Kyle Smith, Norman Joe, Shane Charley, and Christopher Charley. Honorary pallbearers are Saferino and Susie Charley, Myron and Cassandra Charley, Wilson and Yolanda Charley, Wilton Charley, Deana and Lambert Lee, Laura and Nathan Benally; grandchildren, Michael, Rhianne, Joshua Benally, Ericka, Derrick, Myron "Johnny" Jr., Kinisha Howard, Mariah, Sascha, Hailey Lee, and Cameron Lee. The family wishes to extend special thanks to the San Juan Regional Medical Staff, Beclabito community, BHP Billiton, Pastor Eugene Baker, Dr. George Baacke, Shiprock Sonic, Inc., Farmington Waste Management, and Farmington Police Department. Nora is in the care of Brewer, Lee & Larkin Funeral Home, 103 E. Ute St in Farmington, (505) 325-8688. March 14, 2005 Leslie N. Yazzie Carson, N.M. Aug. 30, 1952 - Mar. 11, 2005 Surrounded by his loving sons and family, our beloved father, grandfather, son and brother, Leslie N. Yazzie, 52, of Carson, N.M., peacefully passed through the golden gates of heaven into the waiting arms of his wife, Bernice, on Friday, Mar. 11, 2005, in Bloomfield. Leslie was born Aug. 30, 1952, to Cato N. and Mary G. Yazzie in Carson. Leslie is survived by his two sons, Gabriel N. Yazzie (Ida) of Farmington and Forrest S. (Kristen) Yazzie of Bloomfield; his loving granddaughter, Lataeya S. Yazzie of Bloomfield; his mother, Mary G. Yazzie of Carson; his sisters, Bertha Becenti, Rebecca (Nelson) Piaso, Ida (Freddy) Sam, and Marylyn (Lorenzo) Mescale, all of Carson and Janice (Richard) Yazzie-Montoya of Bloomfield; his brother, Phillip N. (Ruthie) Yazzie of Carson; numerous nieces and nephews and his special friend, whom loved and cared for him with all her heart, Lillian Frank. In addition to his wife, Leslie was preceded in death by his father, Cato N. Yazzie, and his brother, Howard Yazzie. Leslie was a mason worker his entire life and was employed with various mason companies throughout the area. He loved the challenges of the trade, and being a mason gave him many friends and happy memories to share with his family. Leslie also loved to hunt, fish, and camp with his family. Many memories were made during these wonderful times. Additionally, he loved to watch the sun rise every morning and watch the stars at night. Leslie will clearly be missed by all his family and friends who cared for him so dearly. Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m., today, Monday, March 14, 2005, at Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home in Farmington. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Tuesday at The Oasis Ministries, 1601 N. Dustin, Farmington, with evangelist Mike Lee officiating. In respect to Leslie's wish, interment, next to his wife, will follow at Greenlawn Cemetery. Pallbearers are Benjamin Henry, Phillip N. Yazzie, Fabian Yazzie, Lorenzo Mescale, Travis Becenti, and Myron Cayetineto. Honorary pallbearers are Gabriel N. Yazzie, Ida Austin, Forrest S. Yazzie, Kristen Johnson-Yazzie, Lataeya S. Yazzie, and his mother, sisters, and brother. The family wishes to extend a special thanks to the Medical and ICU staff at San Juan Regional Medical Center and to Northwest NM Hospice, especially Mindy ("Jill"), for their compassionate care and support. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home, 103 E. Ute St., Farmington, (505) 325-8688. Copyright c. 2005 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. -=-=-=- March 9, 2005 Rita Mae Lee LOWER GREASEWOOD - Funeral services for Rita Mae Lee, 85, were this morning, March 9 at 10 a.m. at the Full Gospel Church. Burial was in the Greasewood Springs family plot. Lee died March 5 in Flagstaff. She was born Jan. 26, 1920 in Lower Greasewood. Lee was a homemaker and rugweaver. She enjoyed reading the Bible, traveling, spending time with her children and grandchildren. Survivors include her daughters, Fannie George of Tuba City, Euenca Amy Lee of Oak Springs, Marie Humeyumptewa of Winslow, Irene Lee Benally of Navajo; sons, Arviso Lee of Lower Greasewood, Benson Lee of Oak Springs; brothers, Ben K. Logg of Barstow, Calif., David Logg of Tuba City, Murphy Logg of Window Rock, Kee Logg of Lower Greasewood; sisters, Barbara Yazzie, Eva L. Yazzie, Betty Logg all of Lower Greasewood; 23 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Lee was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene Lee; parents, Mike and Mary Logg; brothers, Dana Logg, Arkie Logg and two granddaughters. Clara M. Henderson PREWITT - Funeral services for Clara M. Henderson, 44, will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday March 10 at Rollie Mortuary. Pastor Rolanda Cook will officiate. Burial will be in the Gallup city cemetery. Henderson died March 5 in Albuquerque. She was born Sept. 26, 1960 in Crownpoint into the Towering House People Clan for the Red Running into Water People Clan. Survivors include her husband, Jack W. Henderson of Prewitt; mother, Rose L. Francisco of Prewitt; daughters, Marsha Henderson, Monica Henderson, Valerie Henderson all of Prewitt; son, Steven J. Henderson of Prewitt; brothers, John Francisco, Jr. of Chinle, Albert Francisco, Bennett Francisco, Bennie Francisco, Johnnie Francisco all of Prewitt; sisters, Helen Larry, Shirley Mescale, Sarah Smiley all of Prewitt. Henderson was preceded in death by her father, John Francisco. Pallbearers will be John Francisco, Jr., Johnnie Francisco, Cordell Henderson, Jimmie Largo, Sr., Rick Moralez and Eugene Smiley. Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Hugh Manygoats Jr. LUEPP, Ariz. - Funeral services for Hugh Manygoats, Jr., 36,. will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 10 at Mary Mother of Mankind, St. Michaels. Father Gilbert Schneider will officiate. Burial will be in the St. Michaels community cemetery. Manygoats died March 5 in Winslow. He was born Dec. 12, 1969 in Fort Defiance into the Zia People Clan for the Bitter Water People Clan. Manygoats attended Navajo Elementary school and was graduated from Navajo Pine High School in 1988. He was employed with Ignace Brother. Manygoats enjoyed playing the guitar, listening to music, ranching and hunting. Survivors include his wife, Rosemary Manygoats; daughter, Shannon Seaton; parents, Hugh and Mary Manygoats; brothers, Emerson, Darrell, Michael, Jymerson, and Derrick. Manygoats was preceded in death by his grandfather, Alvin Seaton and grandmother, Helen Begay. Pallbearers will be Darrell Manygoats, Jymerson Manygoats, Derrick Manygoats, Lavon Legah, Aaron Legah and Darvin Legah. Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Myles Gatewood SANOSTEE - Funeral services for Myles "Mel" Gatewood, 5 months, will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 10 at Mesa Baptist Church. Pastor Bobby Boyd will officiate. Burial will be in Sanostee on a family plot. Gatewood died March 4 in Palo Alto, Calif. He was born Sept. 21, 2004 in Shiprock into the Folded Arms People Clan for the Big Water People Clan. Survivors include his mother, Karen Prettyboy; father, Melvin Gatewood; brother, Marlyn Kaskalla; sisters, Marcale Kaskalla, Kayce Gatewood; maternal grandmother, Mary Prettyboy and paternal grandmother, Magline Brown. Pallbearers will be Glenn Begay, Martin Begaii, Roger Kee and John Begay Kee B. Tsosie, Sr. TSE BONITO - Funeral services for Kee B. Tsosie, 75, will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 11 at the Chinle Catholic Church. Burial will be on a family plot. Tsosie died March 6 in Chinle. He was born May 29, 1929 in Chinle into the Water Flows Together People Clan for the Bitter Water People Clan. Survivors include his wife, Louise B. Tsosie; sons, Henderson Tsosie, Anderson Tsosie, Tyson Tsosie, Kee Tsosie, Jr.; daughters, Rosita Tsosie, Max Thompson, Rosalita Teller, Nancy Tsosie; brothers, Sammy Tsosie, Harry Tsosie, Herman Tsosie; sisters, Rose Ann Bahe, Mary Bahe, and Dorothy Yazzie. The family will receive relatives and friends at Tsosie's residence. March 10, 2005 John Yazzie TOHLAKAI - Funeral services for John Yazzie, 82, will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 11 at Cope Memorial . Pastor Jerry Baker will officiate. Burial will follow in the Gallup City Cemetery. Yazzie died March 7 in Gallup. He was born March 16, 1922 in Two Wells into the Folded Arms People Clan for the Edgewater People Clan. Yazzie worked for the railroad. He also was a silversmith. He enjoyed performing traditional ceremonies. Survivors include his wife, Helen S. Livingston; sons, John Jesse Yazzie of Coyote Canyon, Vance Yazzie of Pinehill, Samuel Yazzie of Yuma, Ariz., Benjamin Yazzie of Tohlakai; daughters, Anita Yazzie, Brenda Yazzie, both of Tohlakai, Peggy Sue Yazzie of Pinehill; brother, Lambson Yazzie of Pinehill and 19 grandchildren. Yazzie was preceded in death by his father, Sind Guy; mother, Anna Duboise; brothers, Jesse Yazzie, Jack Dempsie, Tom C. Yazzie; sister, Susie Yazzie and daughter, Rita Yazzie. Pallbearers will be Vance Yazzie, Samuel Yazzie, Benjamin Yazzie, Irvin Livingston, Arvis Livingston and Anderson Claude. The family will receive relatives and friends at the Twin Lakes Chapter House. Cope Memorial is in charge of arrangements. Lee John Peshlakai Sr. NASCHITTI - Services for Lee John Peshlakai, Sr., 75, will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 11 at Naschitti Baptist Church. Pastor Jerry Begay will officiate. Burial will follow at the Naschitti Community Cemetery. Peshlakai died March 8 in Bloomfield. He was born May 20, 1929 in Crystal into the Salt People Clan for the Bigwater People Clan. Peshlakai had no formal education. He was self taught carpenter, bricklayer, pipe fitter, maintenance man and concrete finisher. He was employed with the Santa Fe Railroad, Navajo Nation, El Paso Gas Co. and he retired from the Navajo Community College. He enjoyed ranching, farming, rodeo, song and dance, fishing and spending time with his grandchildren. Survivors include his sons, David Peshlakai, Leon Peshlakai both of Naschitti, Lee Peshlakai of Pinehill; daughters, Shirley Chato of Tohatchi, Marlene Cody of Rock Springs, Elvira Woody of Hogback, Gloria Peshlakai of Naschitti, Cynthia Begay of Parker, Ariz.; brothers, James Kee, Roger Kee, Raymond Kee, all of Crystal; sisters, Rose Bitsie of Albuquerque, Elsie Peshlakai, Amelda Begay, Pauline Peshlakai, Myrtle Herbert, all of Naschitti; 39 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Peshlakai was preceded in death by his wife, Grace M. Peshlakai; daughters, Barbara Ann Peshlakai, Marilyn Henio; son, Michael "Chibby" Peshlakai; parents, John Kee Sr. and Lucy Peshlakai. Pallbearers will be Leon Peshlakai, Nolan Peshlakai, Nathan "Cash" Peshlakai, Jonah Woody, Alonzo Begay and Dwayne Henio. A reception will be held at the Nachitti Chapter House. March 11, 2005 Vernon E. Tsosie SAWMILL - Funeral services for Vernon Edward Tsosie, 39, will be at 10 a. m. on Saturday, March 12 at Our Lady of Blessed Sacrament, Fort Defiance. Father Gilbert Schneider, O.F.M. will officiate. Burial will follow in the Fort Defiance Community Cemetery. Tsosie died March 8 in Phoenix. He was born April 19, 1965 in Fort Defiance into the Red Running into Water People Clan for the Bitter Water People Clan. Tsosie attended Fort Defiance public schools and graduated from Window Rock High School in 1985. He worked for the Navajo Forest Product Industries. He enjoyed basketball, sightseeing and traveling. Survivors include his daughters, Raquel Cleo Tsosie, Rochell Tsosie, Vernae Tsosie all of Mesa, Ariz.; father, Edward Sam Tsosie of Navajo; mother, Roslyn Tsosie of Sawmill; brother Ferland E. Tsosie of Glendale, Ariz.;grandmother, Mary D. Tsosie. Pallbearers will be Vernell Tsosie, Patrick Tsosie, Virgil Tsosie, Michael Teller, Duane Tsosie and Casey Teller. Copyright c. 2005 the Gallup Independent. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Drake Joel Quotskuyva Drake Joel Quotskuyva, Infant, of Fort McDowell, Arizona, died March 3, 2005. Graveside Service will be held Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 9:00 A.M., at The Fort McDowell Cemetery Fort McDowell, Arizona. Arrangements entrusted to Messinger Fountain Hills Mortuary. Copyright c. 2005 The Arizona Republic. -=-=-=- March 9, 2005 Rita Mae Lee Rita Mae Lee died Saturday, March 5, 2005, in Flagstaff. She was 85. She was born Jan. 26, 1920, in Lower Greasewood, Ariz., to parents Mike Logg and Mary Begay Logg. She was a homemaker and rug weaver. She enjoyed reading her Bible, traveling and spending quality time with her children and grandchildren. She is survived by four daughters, Fannie George of Tuba City, Euenca Amy Lee of Oak Springs, Marie Humeyumptewa of Winslow and Irene Lee Benally of Navajo, N.M.; two sons, Arviso Lee of Lower Greasewood and Benson Lee of Oak Springs, Ariz.; brothers, Ben K. Logg of Barstow, Calif., David Logg of Tuba City, Murphy Logg of Window Rock and Kee Logg of Lower Greasewood; sisters, Barbara Yazzie, Eva L. Yazzie and Betty Logg all of Lower Greasewood; 23 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Eugene Lee; parents Mike and Mary Logg; brothers Dana Logg and Arkie Logg; and two granddaughters. Funeral services for Mrs. Lee will be today at 10 a.m. at the Full Gospel Church in Greasewood. Interment will be at the family plot in Greasewood Springs Copyright c. 2000-2005 Arizona Daily Sun. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Sharry Kay Long, 26, Natasha Long, 21, Sharry Kay Long, 26, and Natasha Long, 21, died Feb. 21, 2005, in Leupp, the result of a car accident. Sharry was born in Phoenix and Natasha was born in Tuba City. The sisters are survived by their mother, Ursula Key of Phoenix; father, Curtis Long of Leupp; and a brother, Lon Long of San Carlos. Sharry is also survived by two daughters, Mariah Tamika Martin of Peridot and Tasheena Kay Cook of Flagstaff. They had both attended school through the eighth grade at Leupp. Natasha graduated from San Carlos High School in 2003. They had been living with their aunt in Peridot and moved back to Leupp two months ago to live with their father. Funeral service was conducted Feb. 26 at Leupp Church of the Nazarene with interment in Long's family plot in Leupp. Copyright c. 2005 Arizona Silver Belt/Apache Moccasin. -=-=-=- March 11, 2005 Nashaya Lena Alchesay Nashaya Lena Alchesay, 9 months old, died March 6, 2005 in Whiteriver. Nashaya was born in Whiteriver. She will be dearly missed. She is survived by her father, Nathaniel Alchesay; mother Jacquiline Begolin; brothers Jonathan Begolin, Michael Chavez, Nathan Truax and Meslach Alchesay; sisters, Eledea Rupp, Chrystal Chavez, Kimberlyn Begolin, Alicia Begolin, Tiffany Begolin, Leona Tate, Natalyn Alchesay and Rachel Alchesay. Funeral services will be held Saturday, March 12 at Canyon Day Miracle Church with burial in the Canyon Day Cemetery. Fletcher's Mortuary handled arrangements. Larold Duane Billy Larold Duane Billy died March 6, 2005. Larold was born Jan. 28. 1969. He worked at Sunrise Ski Resort, loved children and was a great babysitter. In past years he also worked with the forestry. He liked to go fishing and be with and help out his friends. He will be dearly missed by all. He is survived by his parents Tommy and Rena Billy; brother Tommy Billy Jr.; sister Lisa Cassadore; companion Venelda Altaha and her son Aaron Altaha; and grandmothers Irene Billy, Mae Loas. A wake will be held Friday, March 11 in Rainbow City, house no. 2 in Whiteriver with home funeral services to be held Saturday, March 12 at 10 a.m. Burial will be in the Whiteriver Cemetery. Silver Creek Chapel Mortuary handled arrangements. Copyright c. 2005 White Mountain Independent. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Thelma Lee Serawop, age 46 1959 ~ 2005 Thelma Lee Serawop, age 46, of Neola, passed away March 1, 2005, at the Uintah Basin Medical Center from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. She was born February 3, 1959, in Roosevelt, to Robert Hank and Elaine Pigeon Lee. She married Hank Lee "BearBoy" LaRose, they later divorced. She then married Lucas Santio, and that marriage also ended in divorce. She married Emerson Serawop in December of 2001 at Ft. Duchesne. Thelma was a hard worker and had many jobs throughout her life including cook at the Care Center, janitor, firefighter, housekeeper, and road construction worker. She a happy person and enjoyed traveling, attending Pow Wows and Sun Dances, going fishing and hunting, singing, scrapbooking, doing beadwork, and quilting. She was a former member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary. She was always cleaning and loved to be around her kids and grandkids and they loved to be around her. She was a member of the LDS Church. She is survived by her husband, Emerson Serawop, Neola; children, Robert (Naomi Navanick) Lee, Vernal; Babes LaRose, Neola; Henry (Cory Shirley) LaRose, Neola; Keanna (Armondo Ruiz, III) Santio, Ogden; Kenneth Santio, Neola; grandchildren, Kaylon, Gavyn, Jessyn, Lanedon Lee; Kerstine Jim; Isabella and Aaron LaRose; Armondo Ruiz IV, Keanu Ruiz; mother, Elaine Lee, Neola; brother, Virgil R. Lee, Neola, a special cousin whom she called " sister", Linda Garcia, Neola; and numerous, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and others who called her "grandma." She was preceded in death by her father, Robert Lee, brother Gordon Lee, and two grandchildren, Cimmerone WhiteOwl Ruiz and Tauvi LaRose. Funeral services held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 5, 2005, at the Neola LDS Chapel. Interment in the Ft. Duchesne Cemetery under the direction of the Hullinger Mortuary. Copyright c. 2005 Uintah Basin Standard/Roosevelt, UT. -=-=-=- February 24, 2005 Bonnie Edmo Coby Bonnie Lou Edmo Coby 54, of Fort Hall, loving mother, grandmother, and wife died Monday February 21, 2005 in Salt Lake City, Utah due to complications from surgery, with her father, son, and husband of 20 years at her side. Bonnie always had a smile and warm greeting for her friends and family. Bonnie was born December 25, 1950 in Pocatello to Hugh (Buster) Edmo and Dolores (Nickie) Blair. She was a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. She attended schools in Pocatello and later achieved a GED. She attended Community College in Glasgow, Montana. She later attended Idaho State University Business College where she received a degree in marketing. Bonnie married Richard Louis Sisneros they later divorced. She married Delbert Wayne Coby in 1986. She is survived by her husband Delbert, father Buster, one son Adrian Sisneros, grandsons Derrick Sisneros and Jarrod Sisneros, and foster daughter Valentina Batt, all of Fort Hall. She is also survived by one brother, Michael R. Smith, Norfork,Virginia, sisters Diane LeClair, Ponca City, Oklahoma, Patricia Ray, Kathy Pongah, of Fort Hall, Julie Durfey, Utah, and step sister Donna McArthur, Blackfoot, and numerous uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews and cousins. Bonnie was employed by Shoshone-Bannock Gaming Enterprises in the Surveillance Department, FMC as a Security Officer, Headstart Program, Clothes Horse, and various construction. Over the years, Bonnie and Delbert Coby were foster parents for numerous children and relatives. She was proceeded in death by one brother Hugh Edmo, her mother Dolores Blair , and grandparents Edward Edmo and Annie Jane Graham, and Ida and Harry Blair. The family will greet friends and family at the Coby residence on Reservation Road beginning Tuesday. A prayer service will be held at the home Wednesday at 6 p.m.. Traditional services will begin Thursday with a sunrise service. Church services will 10:30 a.m. at Good Shepard Mission Church in Fort Hall. The services are family directed. Allene Leeanna Martinez FORT HALL - Allene Leeanna Martinez, 29, of Fort Hall, died Wednesday, February 16, 2005, at her home, after a brief but courageous battle with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. She was born August 13, 1975, at Pocatello, Idaho, to Allen Edward and Lynn Stone James. She was raised in Fort Hall and attended school in Fort Hall, Blackfoot and Pocatello. On April 16, 1998, she married Marco Antonio Martinez at Fort Hall, Idaho. She was a member of the Episcopal Church. Allene worked for Indian Health Services in Fort Hall as a dental tech for eight years, until briefly before her death. She previously worked as an emergency medical tech with the Fort Hall EMS and as a teacher in the Head Start Program in Fort Hall. She enjoyed sewing, cooking, traveling, pets, and loved attending powwows to watch her children compete in Native American dance contests. She is survived by her husband, Marco Antonio Martinez; one son, Emilio Martinez (5); two daughters, Jessi Rae Cruz (12), Kessa Martinez (2), all of Fort Hall, Idaho; her father, Allen James, of Lapwai, Idaho; her mother, Lynn Stone; one sister, Kelly (Bryan Plentywounds) James; one uncle, Doyle (Madelyn) Punkin; four aunts, Lousandra Pubigee, Virgilena (Lonny) Leclair, Elaine (Steve) Hatch, all of Fort Hall, Idaho; her parental grandfather, Edward James, of Lapwai, Idaho; traditional grandparents, Princess Small, Lavida (Willard) Ballard, all of Fort Hall, Idaho, and LaVon (Lillian) Jackson, of Arbon Valley, Idaho. She was preceded in death by her stepfather, Everett G. McConnell, her maternal grandparents, Leonard and Lydia Stone, one aunt, Marcella Edmo, grandmother, Adeline C. Burns, and grandmother, Rose Ellenwood Diaz. A funeral services was held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, February 19, 2005, at the Good Shepard Episcopal Mission in Fort Hall, Idaho. The family met with friends and relatives from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, February 18, 2005, at the Hawker Funeral Home, 132 S. Shilling Ave. Blackfoot, and again from 10 a.m. until time of service at the Good Shepard Episcopal Mission Saturday. Interment was in the Gibson Cemetery. Copyright c. 2005 Sho-Ban News. All rights reserved. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Belgarde, Rita Mary "Red Eagle" BROCKTON - Rita Mary (Red Eagle) Belgarde passed away Saturday, March 5, 2005, at her home in Brockton. She was born Oct. 14, 1918, to Harold and Lucy (Little Crow) Red Eagle in Fort Kipp. She lived most of her life in the Brockton/Fort Kipp area. On March 17, 1942, she wed Ernest Belgarde in Poplar. Rita's faith kept her all the years of her life. She is a member of the Red Eagle Dakota Presbyterian Church in Fort Kipp and enjoyed the services and activities. She was also active in and continued to support the Red Eagles Ladies Aid Society. She enjoyed helping raised her grand-, great- and great-great- grandchildren. Her leisure time was spent sewing, drying meat and playing bingo. She is survived by one biological son, Kermit Belgarde of Spokane, Wash.; and one adopted son, Jacob Bighorn of Duncan, British Columbia; two daughters, Judy (Ben) Johnson and Rae Jean Belgarde, both of Brockton; one brother, Phillip Redeagle of Tacoma, Wash.; and two adopted sisters, Sybil Lambert and Vera Hollow of Brockton; eight grandchildren whom she took as her own, Darla Belgarde, Eugene (Darce) Belgarde, Noreen (Henry) Lone Bear, Melissa (Terry) Rattling Thunder, Olivia (Ira Track) Johnson, Terrence Johnson, BJ Johnson and Myrna (Doug Runs Through) Walking Eagle, all of Brockton; and one adopted grandson, Rodney Tuttle of Poplar; 21 great- grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Preceding her in death were her parents; her husband; two sons, DeWayne and Eugene; four sisters, Alice Buck Elk, Clara Blount, Virginia Spotted Bird and Kathleen Blount. A wake will be held in the Cultural Center in Brockton at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9. Funeral services on Thursday, March 10, at 10 a.m., at the Brockton Cultural Center, with burial at the Riverview Cemetery in Brockton, with Reverend Enright Bighorn officiating. Bell Mortuary of Glasgow is in charge of the services. Michael Wayne Shields CULBERTSON - Michael Wayne Shields, age 19, of Culbertson, died Sunday, March 6, 2005, as the result of a one-vehicle rollover accident three days after his spring break began. Michael was born Oct. 27, 1985, in Poplar, the son of Lloyd Granley and Lida Susan Buck Elk. He attended grade school in Culbertson. At the age of 17, his mom passed away and he was raised by his Grandma Darlene Left Hand. Michael graduated from Culbertson High School in 2004 with honors. He was attending Rocky Mountain College on an academic scholarship. Michael is survived by his father, Lloyd Granley of Bainville; one brother, Christopher; and one sister, Christy Shields and favorite niece Nortila, all of Ft. Kipp. He is also survived by his grandmother, Darlene Left Hand, Ft. Kipp; two half-brothers, Aaron and Tyler Granley of Bainville; uncles Vernon Buck Elk, Donald Buck Elk, both of Ft. Kipp, William Dupree and John Turning Heart, both of Poplar; and aunts Sharon Buck Elk of Ft. Kipp and Ashleigh Dupree of Bozeman; grandmother Serena Good Soldier of Ft. Kipp; great-grandmothers Susan Red Boy of Poplar, Winifred Thomas of Ft. Totten, N.D.; grandmothers Mary Jane Bear of Cando, Canada, Ernestine Red Boy of Poplar, Gloria Yankton Feather of Minot, N.D. ; grandfathers Duane Engen, Everett Buck Elk, both of Ft. Kipp, Harold Buck Elk of Brockton, and Robert Buck Elk of Dickinson, N.D., Albert Granley of Culbertson; grandparents, Henry and Violet Buck Elk, Sr. and Louie and LeAnn Buck Elk, all of Ft. Kipp, Warren and Geraldine Buck Elk of Rapid City, S.D., Michael and Michelle Buck Elk of Wolf Point and Arthur and Bernadine Mandan, of New Town, N.D., and Gale and Bonnie Menz of Ft. Kipp; and adopted mother Marilyn Johnston of Culbertson. He is also survived by many cousins and friends. Wake services will be held on Friday, March 11, at 7 p.m., with funeral services on Saturday, March 12, at 10 a.m., all at the James Black Dog Activity Center. Interment will be in Fort Kipp Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at csmc@nemontel.net or www.stevensonandsons.com. Clayton Stevenson Memorial Chapel has been entrusted with arrangements. March 11, 2005 Pauline Whiteman Runs Him-Small CROW AGENCY - Pauline Whiteman Runs Him-Small (Strikes Twice In One Summer) passed away on March 9, 2005, at Crow Agency. Pauline was born in Lodge Grass on Nov. 30, 1924, the daughter of Blake and Florence Annie Blaine Whitemanrunshim, granddaughter of the famed Crow Indian scout, Whitemanrunshim and his wife Horse, as well as granddaughter of William Blaine and Goes Over the Camp. Her Crow name was given to her by her grandfather, Packs the Hat, which he selected before her birth. She is a child of the Big Lodge Clan and member of the Greasy Mouth Clan, the Night Hawk Society, Tobacco Society and Our Lady of Loretto Catholic Church and Little Portion Franciscan Fraternity Third Order. Pauline attended Albright Country School on Good Luck Creek, St. Ann's on Lodge Grass Creek and graduated from Lodge Grass High School in 1944. She attended Haskell Indian College and Sheridan Business College. Pauline married Ivan J. Small, Sr. on April 15, 1948, in Hardin. Together, they ranched and raised four sons and one daughter on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations, settling on Rotten Grass Creek. Pauline dedicated her life to her family, the Catholic Church, serving the Crow Tribe and promoting educational opportunities. In 1966, Pauline served as Crow Tribal Vice-Secretary, the first woman elected as a Crow Tribal official. She was also a member of the Crow Tribe's 107th Committee, from 1996 to 2000. She held positions on the National Historical Preservation Society/Historical Sites, National Congress of American Indians and the Montana Historical Society. Pauline was also employed at the Crow Hospital, Crow Tribal Housing Authority, Director of Neighborhood Youth Corp, and JTPA and BIA Reality. She served 10 years as a Lodge Grass School Board Member, and was a member of the Crow Tribal Education Committee. For over 75 years, her family camped at the same location during the annual Crow Fair celebration. She would parade at Crow Fair in traditional old-time saddle, usually on a paint horse. It was important to Pauline to participate in the Parade Dance celebration of the four seasons. In 2004, she paraded horseback with her family at age 79. Ranching and rodeo were a way of life for Pauline. She was a charter member of the Crow Cattle Association and Tri-State Indian Livestock Association. Pauline traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada. Pauline was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Ivan; son Eugene; sister, Clara; and brother, Blake, Jr.; and adopted daughters, Monica Falls Down and Diane Old Elk. Pauline is survived by her children, Ivan Jr. (Lucille) of Poplar, Blaine (Beldean), John (Francine), Veronica (Sidney) and Henry (Sarah), all of Lodge Grass; and adopted Tobacco Society children, Kevin and Carrie Old Coyote of Crow Agency; her stepchildren, Simon Small of New Mexico, Dennis Shoulderblade of Lame Deer, Ruby Harte of Pennsylvania; and sisters, Louella Johnson, Reggie Stewart, Rosella Whiteman, Marjorie Pease; and brothers, Oliver Pease and Joe Medicine Crow; 22 adopted sons, Jeffrey Packs the Hat, Joe, Pete and Allen Bruised Head, Sam and Tim McDonald, Levando Fisher, Manuel Chase, Gus Harris, Larry and Everett Whiteman, John Myron Stewart, Leland Rock, George Old Elk Jr., Leland Walking Bear, George, Leroy and Barney Cummins, Butch and Mark Small, Myron Shields and Charlie Colombe; 15 adopted daughters, Connie Tail Feather, Janet Beck, Carla Brien, Bernadette Stewart, Victoria Three Irons, Evangeline Blacksmith, Marlene Whiteman, Monica and Tami Bruised Head, Joyce Little Mustache, Viola Colombe and Deena McDonald; her Tobacco Society adopted brothers and sisters, Corky Old Horn, Pamela Nanampkin, Ronnie Yellowmule, Eddie Little Light, Lucy Stops, Marilyn Caplett; her grandchildren, Louie, Letty, Scott, Tina, John, Stacey, Denise, Vaughn, Jarvis, Dennis Jr., Harding, Michelle, Courtney, Walker, Kelsey, Paula, Clinton, Calley, Roxanne, Kurrie, Tracie, Jessie, John James, Cecile, George, Hannah, Emily, Holly and Paulee; 23 great-grandchildren; godchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Rosary and wake services will be held 5 p.m. Sunday, March 13, in the Lodge Grass Our Lady of Loretto Catholic Church. Funeral Mass will be celebrated 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 15, in the Church. Interment will follow in the Small Family Cemetery on Rotten Grass Creek. Bullis Mortuary of Hardin has been entrusted with the arrangements. March 12, 2005 Emma Jean Little Bear BUSBY - Maheo came and took Motseone e (No Name Woman) by the hand and led her home on March 8, 2005. Emma Jean Little Bear, our mother, sister, aunt, grandmother and friend, died peacefully, surrounded by her loved ones and friends, at her home in Busby, at 11:30 a.m., after a long, hard battle with diabetes. She was born in the Birney Village on June 28, 1942, to Raphael and Ruth Sooktis Big Left Hand. She was the oldest of five children. She graduated from St. Labre Indian School and later attended two years of nursing school in Miles City. Emma married Perry Little Coyote and to this union, Monte Kato and Allen Ray Little Coyote were born. Emma and Perry also adopted and raised Judy Little Coyote Tall Bull and Mervin Little Coyote. She married Raymond Little Bear on Feb. 14, 1984, at the Lame Deer Mennonite Church and have been married for 21 years. She worked for ITAC in Sheridan, Wyo., as a Director, as a Cheyenne bilingual director for four years and most recently for the Northern Cheyenne CHR Program for the past 31 years. She enjoyed traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and her Native American arts and crafts and going to powwows. She also liked gardening and spending time visiting her family, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, who all loved her very much. We will miss her beautiful smile and laugh, but will carry them always in our hearts. Her parents; daughters, Frankie Lou and Helena Little Coyote; brothers, Perry and Alvin Big Left Hand; and two twin granddaughters preceded Emma in death. Survivors include her loving husband, Raymond; her adopted mother, Cecelia Kinzel Limberhand; her sons, Monte and Allen (Elizabeth) Little Coyote; adopted daughters, Judy Tall Bull, Claudia Washington and Monica Big Left Hand; adopted son, Mervin Little Coyote; stepsons, Regis and Vernon Little Bear; stepdaughter, Leanne Little Bear; her brothers, Silas (Alice) and Edwin (Philomena) Big Left Hand; sister Viola (Ike) Washington; grandchildren, Monte, Jr. (Letha), Desirea, Allarie, Stacibeth, Faith, Aryn, Floyd, Wahena, Chris, Kaitlyn, Torrie, Sherese, Hershal, Gabriel, JP, Kevin, Josie, Keisha, Quinn, Lawrence, Larrisa, Destiny, Tommyrose, Kelly, Jericho, Sabette, Starlyn, Sachene, Emmett, Jr.; aunt, Emma Hart of Oklahoma; numerous nieces, nephews, grandchildren, one great- grandchild; and her very special friends and caregivers, Tetona and Walt Lashley. Wake services will be held 7 p.m. Monday, March 14, at the White River Cheyenne Mennonite Church in Busby. Funeral services will be held 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 15, in the Church. Private interment will be held in the Family Cemetery. Bullis Mortuary of Hardin has been entrusted with the arrangements. Delores Solis Medicine Horse CROW AGENCY - Delores Solis Medicine Horse passed away Friday, March 11, 2005, at the Awe Kualawaache Care Center in Crow Agency. She was born July 24, 1957, in Sheridan, Wyo., the daughter of Joseph Gonzales Solis, Sr. and Josephine Ann Littlemouth. She grew up in Wyoming and received her education in Sheridan. She married Adrian Medicine Horse in 1997, and the couple made their home in Hardin. Delores loved music and played the guitar. At one time, she tried to start up a small band to play her music. She was an artist, specializing in cartoons. She adored children, especially her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Delores loved being a wife, mother and grandmother. She loved to attend Sheridan rodeo, family reunions and tribal social gatherings. Her parents and one brother, Joseph Solis, Jr., preceded her in death. Survivors include her husband, Adrian; four daughters, Danielle Castro of Texas, Jessica and Dawn Castro of Hardin, and Adrianna Medicine Horse of Hardin; three sons, Jarrod Solis of Great Falls, Jesse Castro of Hardin and Adrian J. Medicine Horse, Jr. of Hardin; six sisters, Rosita (Leroy) DeTavernier and Jolene (James) Ekis of Sheridan, Juanita (Myron) Solis and Mary Cummins of Lodge Grass, Betty (Ronnie) Big Lake of Billings and Leah (Darren) Bixby of Lame Deer; five brothers, Carlos Solis, Gilbert (Evangeline Hijisk) Solis and Steve Solis of Lame Deer, John (Sister) Solis of Sheridan and Jess Solis of Lodge Grass; seven grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Wake services will be held 7 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday, March 15, at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Mass will be celebrated 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 16, in the Church. Interment will follow in the Lame Deer Cemetery. Bullis Mortuary has been entrusted with the arrangements. Joseph F. Broken Rope Sr. Joseph Fredel Broken Rope Sr., 61, passed away March 9, 2005, at his home in Billings. He was born Jan. 30, 1944, in Pine Ridge, S.D., the son of Godfrey and Lucy (Brown Thunder) Broken Rope. Joe received his GED and attended EMC in Billings. Later, he received a welding certificate and an Art degree. He worked various jobs during his lifetime. He did landscaping, welding and worked in shipping and receiving. Joe lived in Pine Ridge and Kyle, S.D.; Phoenix; and Crow Agency and Billings. Joe was a talented artist who painted traditional dancers in water color. He enjoyed doing sculpturing and playing Bingo. Joe is survived by his children, Loretta Ennis, Rose Maria Ennis, Dorinda Broken Rope, Joe (Angelita) Broken Rope Jr., Roberta Broken Rope, Thomas (Dawn) Broken Rope and Lorraine Four Colors, Beverly (Lloyd) Lone Elk, Thomas Fry; sister, Mercy (Daniel) Makes Good; brothers, Alvin (Kathy), Frank and Raymond Broken Rope; grandchildren, Jamie Broken Rope, Nakiah Black Hawk and Constance Broken Rope; many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, John and Vine; and sister Edna. Visitation will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at the Dahl Funeral Chapel. Wake will be 5 p.m. Saturday until 9 a.m. Monday, March 14, at Hope Center, 3212 First Ave. S. A prayer service will be 7 p.m. Sunday, March 13, and funeral services at 10 a.m. Monday, both at Hope Center. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery. March 13, 2005 Katie Froze Pretty Weasel CROW AGENCY - Katie Froze Pretty Weasel, 78, of Crow Agency passed away Wednesday March 9, 2005, at Billings St. Vincent Healthcare. She was born Jan. 18, 1927, in Crow Agency, the daughter of Fred and Eliza White Fox Froze. She was a member of the Big Lodge Clan and a child of the Sore Lip Clan and Peigan Clan. She married Owen Pretty Weasel, Jr., on Aug. 28, 1948. Owen passed away Oct. 10, 1988. Her parents; son, Fred; grandson, Hank Blacksmith; sisters, Freda Froze, Jewell Froze, Betty LaForge, Janie Teeter, Vera Froze; brothers, Darrell Froze, David Plenty Hoops, Hugh Plenty Hoops, Claude Dawes; uncle, Herbert White Fox; and niece, Lavina LaForge Funjal, preceded her in death. Katie was politically active with the Crow Tribe. Through lobbying in Washington, D.C., she, Minnie Ellen Fritzler, and Pauline Small were instrumental in obtaining funds for the creation of the Little Big Horn College, Head Start, Lodge Grass High School, and Plenty Coups High School. They also lobbied for the Indian Health Service and license plates exemption for Crow Tribal members. She worked for Crow BIA Realty, as well as various jobs with the Crow public school system as a teacher's aide. She also worked as Crow Tribal Housing Director and Personnel Officer for the Crow Tribe. She enjoyed being with her family and friends. Survivors include her four daughters, Stephanie (Joe) Pretty Weasel Christie of Albuquerque, N.M., Brenda Pretty Weasel of Crow Agency, Jewell (Hugh) Pretty Weasel Blacksmith of Eagan, Minn., and Kathryn Pretty Weasel of Billings; her sons, Harold (Twilla) Pretty Weasel of Black Lodge, Darrell Pretty Weasel of Crow Agency, Howard Pretty Weasel of Hardin, William Pretty Weasel and George (Oma) Pretty Weasel of Crow Agency, and Edward Pretty Weasel of Billings; her nieces and nephews she took as her own children, Dwayne (Renee) Yellowtail, Janice (Alex) LaForge, James (Linda) LaForge, Beldean (Dillard) Birdinground, Thomas (Gloria) LaForge, Leonard Teeter, Russell Teeter, Billy (Omeda) Froze Red Hawk; three grandchildren she raised as her own, Billie Kaye (Lind Hogan) Tall Bull, Veronica Pretty Weasel and Brian Pretty Weasel; 52 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren who affectionately called her "Grandma Grapes" (Grandma Grapes especially loved all her grand and great-grandchildren;) and her sister, Bernice Jefferson. She also adopted and raised Leland Stewart, Roy, Stanford, and Cary Grant Rides Horse, and Kenneth (Jennifer) Turns Plenty. Other children she helped raise and/or adopted and loved include, Carl (Edwina) Venne, Tilton (Sarah) Old Bull, Hugh (Karen) White Clay, Donna (Harold) Stewart Hill, Linda (Tom) Little Owl, Karen (John) Old Elk, Clara Rides Bear, Al Big Hair, Carlton, Clifton, and Clayton Big Man, John Jefferson, and Gary Reed; other children she adopted and were special to her include, Ruth Roper Brown, Steve and Paul Roper, Irma Jane (Ed) Bird Hat, Iva Bull Shows, Gloria Burgess and Lance Pedersen. Katie also held a close and special relationship with Rev. James (Marie) Roper and the late Sister Dorothy Roper, Rev. Juanita Humphrey, Rev. and Mrs., Harry Turner and Rev. Kirby (Flavina) Bromley. She is also survived by her cousins, Lizzie and Eleanor White Fox, Carol (Vernon) White Clay, Alice M. Tobacco, and Marie Wallace. Her extended family includes White Fox, Dawes, Pretty Paint, Bear Cloud, Rides Bear, Fitzpatrick, Horn, Stops, Williamson, Plenty Hoops, Tobacco, Ten Bear, Singer, Stray Calf, Hill, Medicine Horse, White, Not Afraid, Bear Claw, Black Eagle, Bad Horse, Three Irons, Spotted Horse, Jefferson, and Takes Enemy families. During our time of grief, we might have forgotten some of our family and friends. Please forgive any oversights. Wake services will be held 7 p.m. Monday, March 14, at the St. Dennis Catholic Church. Funeral services will be held 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 15, at the Crow Multi Purpose Building. Interment will follow in the Crow Agency Cemetery. Bullis Mortuary has been entrusted with the arrangements. March 14, 2005 Rena Mary Berg HARDIN - Rena Mary Berg, 81, of Hardin, passed away Saturday, March 12, 2005, at the Awe Kualawaache Care Center in Crow Agency. She was born March 17, 1923, the daughter of Mike Schlittler and Evangeline Booth Cooper. Rena grew up and attended schools in Hardin and Billings. She graduated from high school with honors in Helena. She played the violin and piano. After graduation she lived in Helena and worked as a bookkeeper. Rena married Emmett Davisson. They lived in Rottengrass and Hardin areas, working at various cow camps. They were divorced in 1960. Rena lived in Hardin and worked as a telephone operator. On May 3, 1963, Rena married Donald Berg in Billings. They made their home in Billings and later moved to Hardin. She was a cook at the Chuckwagon Cafe' for many years. After the Chuckwagon closed, she worked various jobs in Hardin until she retired. Rena had many friends and acquaintances. Rena enjoyed playing cards, camping and fishing with her family. Her door was always open to her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and anyone else who would stop by. She will be greatly missed. Her husband, Donald, daughter, Sarah and parents preceded her in death. Rena is survived by her two sons, Juell (Donna) Davisson of Hardin and Robert (Jane) Davisson of Homer, Ala.; two sisters, Grace (Les) Lessard and Bonnie (Lawrence) Vandersloot of Hardin; seven grandchildren, Joel Davisson, whom she raised, Rhett (April) Davisson, Dale (Brenda) Davisson, Wanda Nevins, Lynette (Gary) Vandersloot, Julie Davisson and JayDee Davisson; and 18 great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Thursday at the Bullis Funeral Chapel. Cremation will follow the services. Bullis Mortuary of Hardin has been entrusted with the arrangements. Copyright c. 2005 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 9, 2005 Charlotte Mad Plume Charlotte Dorothy (Guardipee) Mad Plume, age 70, a longtime homemaker, mom and grandmother from Browning, passed away Wednesday, March 2, 2005, at the Blackfeet Community Hospital due to natural causes. A wake and rosary were held Friday, at the Robert Mad Plume residence in Browning. Funeral Mass was Saturday at the Little Flower Catholic Church. Burial followed in the Holy Family Mission Cemetery at Two Medicine. Whitted Funeral Chapel of Shelby was in charge of arrangements. She was born Feb. 18, 1935, in Browning to Pete and Rose (Morgan) Guardipee II, and attended school at Cut Bank Boarding School. Dorothy lived her whole life in the Browning area where she raised her large family. She was a member of the Little Flower Catholic Church and enjoyed watching TV, playing cards and spending time with her family. Survivors include daughters, Donna Redhorn and Berva Roundine, both of Browning; sons, Darrell Mad Plume, Karl Mad Plume, Robert Mad Plume, Vernon Mad Plume, Sr., Kenneth Mad Plume and Harold Mad Plume, all of Browning; sisters, Rose Marie Fitzgerald, Martha Kittson, Betty Jean Bennett, Pauline Vaile, Sandy Savage and Joyce Bennett, all of Browning; brothers, Anthony Guardipee and Clarence Guardipee, both of Browning; as well as 33 grandchildren, and 36 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Emery Mad Plume; a son, Harlan Mad Plume; her parents; and several brothers and sisters. Violet C. Cobell Violet C. Guardipee Cobell, 97, passed away Saturday, March 5, 2005, at the Blackfeet Community Hospital of natural causes. Rosary Services will be Thursday, March 10, at 7 p.m. at Little Flower Catholic Church. Funeral Mass will be held Friday, March 11, at 2 p.m. at the church. Burial will follow in Holy Family Mission Cemetery in Two Medicine. Pondera Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Violet was born Jan. 20, 1908 at White Tail to Thomas and Cecile (Pepion) Guardipee. She came from a large family having five brothers; Manny, Jack, Coleman, Wayne, and George, and two sisters, Gladys Kimball and Eva Billedeaux. They are all deceased. She was educated at the Holy Family Mission in Two Medicine and Genoa Indian School in Nebraska. Violet had many occupations in her lifetime. She worked on many ranches as a cook when she was younger. During the depression she worked for the W.P.A. She later worked at the Cushman Hospital in Tacoma, Wash. and Libbey's Cannery in Yakima, Wash. When the Green Thumb program started, she worked at the local jail as a secretary. During this time she enjoyed making quilts and other sewing projects. Her favorite hobbies were making quilts, sewing, crocheting, and embroidering. Violet loved bingo and was very well known and liked at the bingo hall. She was very ambitious and independent. Violet was very generous and kind hearted and always willing to help someone in their time of need. She was very well known and liked and will be greatly missed. Survivors include her sons, Jerome T. Marble, Gary "Chub" Cobell, and Donald W. Cobell all of Browning; her daughters, Saye Ann (Robert) Grant, Carole (Merlin) Hale Kipling, and Karen (James) Bond all of Browning; two grandchildren that she raised, Galela R. Cobell and Duane D. Kemmer Jr.; 33 grandchildren, 56 great grandchildren, and seven great-great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Cobell; her children, Joann Marble Buchanan, Galela Lynn Cobell, and Baby Hale. Merle James Marceau Merle James Marceau, 51, a licensed chemical dependency counselor and Marine veteran, died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis early Wednesday morning, March 2, at his home in Browning. Merle's Indian name was Aa-so- ta-ko (Comes Around in a Good Way). Merle was very proud of his Indian heritage and actively participated in sweats and other traditional ceremonies. He was very proud of his sobriety and his desire to further his education, and he turned his life completely around by accomplishing both. Merle is survived by his wife, Liz Sherman; his mother, Bonnie Lytle; his brothers, Alan Edward Marceau and Brian Marceau; his sisters, Marla Augare, Noma Lee and Wanda Marie Marceau; his uncle and aunt DeMerle and Jan Fitzpatrick; and numerous nieces and nephews. His father, Merlin "Dutch" Marceau, preceded him in death. Merle earned his Master of Arts degree in counseling psychology/addictions from Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Ore. in June 2001. He specialized in mental health/addiction counseling. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Marylhurst University, Portland, Ore. in 1998, and earned his Associate of Applied Science in chemical dependency counseling from Clark College, Vancouver, Washington in 1996. Merle's professional experience includes student wellness/character education/visions coordinator at Browning Public Schools from Feb. 28, 2002, to November 2003, when he had to resign due to his health; mental health/substance abuse counselor at the Native American Rehabilitative Association (NARA), Portland, Ore., from Aug. 2001 to Feb. 15, 2002; mental health intern at Department of Veterans Affairs, Career Experience Program, Medical Center in Vancouver, Wash.; and intern, substance abuse counselor at the John Owens Recovery House, Vancouver, from March to June, 1996. A few of his many academic achievements include the dean's list at both Clark College (3.7 GPA) and Marylhurst University (3.7 GPA); Alaskan Indians Native American Scholarship, 1996; Philip and Penny Knight Opportunity Fund Scholarship 1997-98; Veteran's Administration Multicultural Diversity Award, 2002; Good Conduct Medal; Expert Rifle Badge; and Honorable Discharge from the United States Marine Corps. He served on the advisory committee to the Chemical Addiction Rehabilitation Services (CARS) Program located at the Veterans Administration, Vancouver; a color guard with the Northwest Indian Veterans Association; and also the vice-chairman of the Native American Association at Clark College, Vancouver. Merle James Marceau was a very outgoing, people person. He was cordial and friendly to everyone he met; both young and old people like him. He was an advocate for the children, the elderly and for preserving the Blackfeet language and culture. Every program that Merle James worked for benefited greatly from his ability to treat individuals from different backgrounds with great dignity and respect. Merle James always maintained professionalism and fairness in his dealings with students, parents and people in the community. Merle was an avid bingo player, and he traveled to all of the various Indian casinos just to play. Merle attended car shows and entered his 1966 Ford Fairmont. He liked to read and travel. He will be missed by all of those who knew him. Rosary was held Friday, March 4, at the Old Eagle Senior Citizens Center. Mass was held Saturday, March 5, at the Little Flower Catholic Church. Burial followed in the Willow Creek Cemetery. Day Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Copyright c. 2005 Golden Triangle Newspapers. -=-=-=- March 10, 2005 Robert P. Pan Wa Tak Shuckahosee MAYETTA, Kan. - Robert P. Pan Wa Tak Shuckahosee, 47, of Mayetta, died Sunday, March 6, 2005 at Stormont Vail Regional Health Center in Topeka from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident on Friday. He was born Sept. 6, 1957, in Topeka, the son of Isaac Shuckahosee, Jr. and Ruby Wahbnum Shuckahosee. He attended Royal Valley Schools and graduated from Sequoiah High School in Tahlequah, Okla. He took classes at Highland Community College and Washburn University and received his Certified Nurses Aide certificate in 1990. Robert worked for the Topeka Independent Resource Center until 1999 and later for the American Indian Disability Technical Assistance Center at the University of Montana until 2002. He was currently in charge of the Independent Living Center for the Prairie Band Potawatomi. He was a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and the Drum Religion. He served on the National Council on Independent Living, was a consultant for the National Council on Disabilities, served on the board of the Prairie Band Boys & Girls Club, and was a member of the parent committee of the Johnson O'Malley program. In 1997 he received the Martin Luther King "Living the Dream" Humanitarian Award. Robert married to former Mission Valley resident LaDonna G. Kirkaldie Fowler in 2000. She survives. Other survivors include his parents, two sons, Sos-ti Witch-e-wah, in Michigan, and Kyle Fowler, Nespelem, Wash.; two daughters, Ahshani Witch- e-wah, Topeka, and Andrea "Mouse" Fowler-Shuckahosee, Mayetta; six brothers and six sisters. He was preceded in death by three brothers. Drum services were held March 8 on the dance ground west of Mayetta. Burial was March 9 in the Mitchell Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to the Robert P. Shuckahosee memorial Fund, c/o the Chapel Oaks Funeral Home, 524 Pennsylvania, Topeka, KS 66436. Madeline Barnaby RONAN - Madeline Barnaby, 77, went to join the ancestors on Thursday, March 3, 2005, in Missoula at St. Patrick Hospital. Born to Andrew and Ann (Joseph) Barnaby at Post Creek in 1927. Madeline was raised on the family farm and attended Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius. She met Joseph Weaselhead and they started their family in 1947 and lived in the Mission Valley and in Heart Butte. Madeline believed in the traditional values and was a firm Catholic. She loved making flowers and beading hats. She loved all her children and grandchildren and raised "Moose" Joshua. Madeline was the last surviving Barnaby of her generation. Preceding her in death were three brothers, Pete, Dave, Tom; most recently, Margaret Finley; two sons, Marven Weaselhead and Allan Weaselhead; one daughter Stella; one grandson, granddaughter and great- granddaughter. Surviving are Francis and Nightwind Weaselhead of Sumpter, Ore.; Joseph and Linda Weaselhead, John Arnold and Gerald Weaselhead, JoAnn Hammer, all of Ronan; Betty Van Haverbeke and Madeline Weaselhead of Pablo, David Weaselhead of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Dalon and Susan Weaselhead of St. Ignatius, Violet Weaselhead of Charlo, and Anthony Weaselhead of Missoula and "Quai," her faithful companion; 23 grandchildren, numerous great- grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and a very large extended family. Mass was celebrated March 7 in the St. Ignatius Catholic Mission. Interment was in the St. Ignatius Catholic Cemetery. Copyright c. 2002 Lake Country Leader Advertiser/Polson, MT. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Violet C. Cobell BROWNING - Violet C. (Guardipee) Cobell, 97, of Browning, who enjoyed making quilts, sewing, crocheting and embroidering, died of natural causes Sunday at the Blackfeet Community Hospital. Rosary is 7 p.m. Thursday at Little Flower Catholic Church in Browning. Funeral Mass is 2 p.m. Friday at Little Flower Catholic Church, with burial in Holy Family Mission Cemetery in Two Medicine. Pondera Funeral Home is handling the arrangements. Survivors include sons Jerome T. Marble, Gary "Chub" Cobell and Donald W. Cobell; daughters Sage Ann Grant, Carole Hale Kipling and Karen Bond all of Browning; two grandchildren that she raised, Galela R. Cobell and Duane D. Kemmer Jr.; 33 grandchildren, 56 great-grandchildren, and seven great- great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Cobell and her children, Joann Marble Buchanan, Galela Lynn Cobell and Baby Hale. Michael Wayne Shields CULBERTSON - Michael Wayne Shields, 19, of Culbertson, a student at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, died Sunday from injuries he received in a one-vehicle rollover near Culbertson. Wake services are 7 p.m. Friday, with funeral services 10 a.m. Saturday, all at the James Black Dog Activity Center, with burial in Fort Kipp Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at csmcnemontel.net or www. stevensonandsons.com. Clayton Stevenson Memorial Chapel is handling arrangements. Survivors include his father, Lloyd Granley of Bainville; a brother, Christopher Shields; a sister, Christy Shields; grandmothers Darlene Left Hand and Serena Good Soldier, all of Fort Kipp, Mary Jane Bear of Cando, Canada, Ernestine Red Boy of Poplar and Gloria Yankton Feather of Minot, N. D.; grandfathers Duane Engen, Everett Buck Elk, both of Fort Kipp, Harold Buck Elk of Brockton, and Robert Buck Elk of Dickinson, Albert Granley of Culbertson; grandparents, Henry and Violet Buck Elk, Sr. and Louie and LeAnn Buck Elk, all of Fort Kipp, Warren and Geraldine Buck Elk of Rapid City, S.D., Michael and Michelle Buck Elk, of Wolf Point, and Arthur and Bernadine Mandan, of New Town, N.D. and Gale and Bonnie Menz of Fort Kipp; great-grandmothers Susan Red Boy of Poplar, Winifred Thomas of Fort Totten, N.D.; his adopted mother, Marilyn Johnston of Culbertson; and half brothers Aaron and Tyler Granley of Bainville. March 10, 2005 Rita Mary Belgarde BROCKTON - Rita Mary (Red Eagle) Belgarde, 86, who lived most of her life in the Brockton and Fort Kipp area and who enjoyed sewing, drying meats and playing bingo, died of natural causes Saturday at her Brockton home. Her wake has taken place. Funeral service is 10 a.m. today at the Brockton Cultural Center with burial in Riverview Cemetery in Brockton. Bell Mortuary of Glasgow is handling arrangements. She is survived by one biological son, Kermit Belgarde of Spokane, Wash., and one adopted son, Jacob Bighorn of Duncan, British Columbia; daughters Judy Johnson, and Rae Jean Belgarde, both of Brockton; a brother, Phillip Red Eagle of Tacoma, Wash.; adopted sisters, Sybil Lambert and Vera Hollow of Brockton, Evelyn Littlehead and Mae White Hawk; nine grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ernest. March 12, 2005 Gerald Lee Little Head Sr. WOLF POINT - Wolf Point native Gerald Lee Little Head Sr., 42, a heavy equipment operator who also often worked on deep sea fishing vessels in Alaska, died in a car accident Monday in Missoula. Visitation is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Clayton Stevenson Memorial Chapel in Wolf Point. His funeral is 10 a.m. Monday at United Dakota Presbyterian Church in Wolf Point, with burial in Greenwood Cemetery. Survivors include his wife, Lisa Little Head of Ronan; a son, Gerald Little Head Jr. of Wagner, S.D.; his mother, Elaine Cantrell of Wolf Point; a sister, Evelyn Little Head of Wolf Point; and brothers Arnold Little Head of Portland, Ore., Gordon Little Head Sr., Alvin Little Head and Curtis Cantrell, all of Wolf Point. Victoria Skunk Cap BROWNING - Victoria Mad Plume Skunk Cap, 92, a homemaker, died of natural causes Thursday at a Browning hospital. A wake is in progress at Glacier Homes Center in Browning. Her funeral is 2 p.m. Monday at Starr Full Gospel Church in Browning, with burial in Willow Creek Cemetery. Pondera Funeral Home of Conrad is in charge of arrangements. Survivors include sons Leroy Skunk Cap, Everett Skunk Cap and Gayle Skunk Cap, all of Browning; daughters Darlene Skunk Cap Wall of Seattle and Barbie After Buffalo of Browning; a sister, Annie Wall of Browning; a brother, Roy Bennett Sr. of Browning; 23 grandchildren, 42 great- grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, James Skunk Cap; and a son, Dewey Skunk Cap Sr. Copyright c. 2005 Great Falls Tribune, a division of Lee Enterprises. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Dana Notti, 49 Anchorage Lifelong Alaska resident Dana G. Notti, died March 4, 2005, at his cabin in Sutton. A funeral will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at First Covenant Church, 1145 C St., with a potlatch afterward at the church. Pallbearers will be Dario Sr., Dino and Dana Notti, Paul Katchatag, Ransom Bradley Jr., and Mike Thomas. Honorary pallbearers will be Orville Huntington and Marvin and Dario Notti Jr. His ashes will be spread in the Nenana and Unalakleet rivers at a later date. Flowers are welcome. Mr. Notti was born July 26, 1955, in Anchorage. He was recently employed by Johnson Diversity. He also worked at Wingfoot, the Bureau of Land Management in Galena and Fairbanks, the Alaska Native Medical Center, Raytheon and Allied Building Supplies. His family wrote: "Dana loved spending time with his family and friends. He never knew a stranger. He enjoyed camping, going to the cabin, riding his motorcycle, boating, snowmachining, traveling, music, conversation and a good laugh. "He also immensely loved his granddaughter, Kayln Notti, who in his words was the light of his life and shining star. He loved and was loved by his family very much." Mr. Notti is survived by his wife of 30 years, Rose Notti; daughter, Tami Dietrich and son-in-law Eric Dietrich; daughter, Madeline Notti and fiance Mike Thomas; son, Dana Notti; mother, Joan Notti of Anchorage; father and stepmother, Fred and Gail Notti of Georgia; sisters, Kimberley and Pamela Notti; brothers and sisters-in-law, Dario and Cherry Notti of Bethel and Dino and Renee Notti of Michigan; mother-in-law, Annabel Bradley of Unalakleet; and brother-in-law, Ransom Bradley Jr. He is also survived by uncles and aunts, Emil and Rena Notti and Matt and Bev Hundiff; and other family members, including Mary Olin, Carol and Lonnie Ivanoff, Debbie and David Katongan, Gloria and Bruce Johnson, and Karen Bradley; and many other relatives. He was preceded in death by his father-in-law, Ransom Bradley Sr., and brothers-in-law, Paul Olin and Allan and Gary Bradley. Memorial comments may be left for family and friends at www.mem.com. Arrangements are with Witzleben Funeral Homes & Crematory. March 9, 2005 Virginia Kvasnikoff, 74 Anchorage Anchorage resident Virginia Margaret Kvasnikoff, 74, died March 5, 2005, at Alaska Native Medical Center from heart disease. A funeral will be at 9 a.m. today at Muldoon Road Baptist Church with the Rev. Jim Thrash officiating. Pallbearers will be Jack Kvasnikoff Jr., Gene Alvin Johansen, Larry Matson, Robert Ward, Herman Moonin, Jonathan Liebensthal, Bruce Oskolkoff, Greg Encelewski, Ivan Encelewski, William Fisher and Gary Oskolkoff. A graveside service will be at 3 p.m. today at Ninilchik American Legion Cemetery. A potluck will be held after the service at the Subsistence Building in Ninilchik. Mrs. Kvasnikoff was born June 6, 1930, in Squaw Harbor, where she attended Unga High School. She later went to school to become a certified health aide. She resided in various places in Alaska, including Unga, Kodiak, Ninilchik, Kenai and Anchorage. She also served on the Alaska Native Health Board and was an active member of Muldoon Road Baptist Church. She enjoyed knitting, embroidery, crochet and spending time with her family and friends. "As a wife and mother of 13 children, she was a matriarch who held the family together through good times and bad," her family said. "She will be missed." Mrs. Kvasnikoff is survived by her husband, Jack; sons and daughters-in- law, Jacob Johansen Jr., Benjamin Johansen, Stanley Johansen, Gene and Sally Johansen, and Jack and Marla Kvasnikoff Jr.; daughters and sons-in- law, Shirley Manzel, Ramona Kvasnikoff, Cheryl and Larry Matson, Sandra and Robert Ward, Jacqueline and Bill Fisher, and Karen and Herman Moonin Jr.; sisters, Florence Gilbert, Christine Mitchell, Meryle Gundersen, Alice Irorsen, Rosa Wallace, Frances Doran, and Laiv Gundersen; brothers, Glen Brandal, Sam Brandal, Danny Brandal and Bjorne Lee; 20 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Lillian Johansen, and her son, Jack Johansen. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Muldoon Road Baptist Church, 382 Muldoon Road, Anchorage 99504. Memorial comments may be left for family and friends at www.mem.com. Arrangements are with Witzleben Family Funeral Home. March 10, 2005 E. Irene Reed, 74 Automba, Minn. E. Irene Reed "IItaruaq," 74, died March 5, 2005, at home in Automba, Minn., surrounded by her family. She never fully recovered from injuries sustained in a fall at her home in Fairbanks in July 1996. She moved to Minnesota in 1997. "IItaruaq" is the Yup'ik name bestowed on her by Yup'ik colleagues and friends. Ms. Reed was born in February 1931 and raised in Automba, Minn., the daughter of the Rev. Matt and Edna Reed. She received her bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Washington in 1961 and her master's degree in anthropology and linguistics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1972. In May 1998, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for her contributions to Alaska Native language education. She authored the Yup'ik Eskimo Grammar book and compiled the original card file for the Central Yup'ik Lexicon, which led to the first full dictionary of any Native language in Alaska. An early advocate of Native language preservation, she documented Alaska's Native cultures and Native languages. She helped create the first bilingual Native language program in Alaska schools and was instrumental in establishing the Eskimo language workshop in Fairbanks. It moved to Bethel, where it became the Yup'ik Language Center. She is the former director of UAF's Alaska Native Language Center. She authored or co-authored several published works and nearly 200 titles were produced under her direction at the Yup'ik Language Workshop. She was a professor of Yup'ik at UAF. Ms. Reed and her Yup'ik colleague, Marie Meade, traveled to Japan as guests of the government during the U.N. celebration of the Decade of the Indigenous People. She donated the body of her work to the Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska archives in 2003. At the dedication of the archives, Alan Boraas, who teaches anthropology at Kenai Peninsula College said, "One hundred years from now, the work of the ANLC will be recognized as the most significant scholarship undertaken in Alaska during our lifetime -- in any discipline." She is survived by her sisters, Gladys Dart of Manley Hot Springs, LaVerne and Betty Jane of Minnesota; brothers, Ernest and Arnold; and canine companions, Max and Star. Copyright c. 2005 The Anchorage Daily News. -=-=-=- March 11, 2005 Lloyd Frederick Redsky, of Shoal Lake #40 Lloyd Redsky, a resident of Shoal Lake #40, passed away on March 11, 2005 at Lake of the Woods District Hospital. Visitation will be 7:30 - 8:00 p.m. Monday, March 14, 2005. Services will be held Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 1:00 p.m. at Shoal Lake #40. A full and complete obituary to follow. Brown Funeral Home & Cremation Centre entrusted with arrangements. Copyright c. 2005 Kenora Daily Miner and News. -=-=-=- March 10, 2005 Raymond Sinclair SINCLAIR, RAYMOND - Went to meet his Creator on February 28, 2005. Predeceased by his parents, two brothers Peter and Jamie, and foster father William Supynuk. Survived by wife Bernice, son Brayden, daughters: Naomi of Beauval, SK, Tina and family, Saskatoon, SK, Tracey (Darwin) and family of Weyburn, SK and Tanya and family of Moose Jaw, SK. He also survived by sister Bev (Larry) and family of Prince Albert, SK and foster mother Helen and Foster sister Sharon (Dennis) and family of Regina, SK. He was laid to rest in Beauval, SK on Friday, March 4th, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. A memorial service will be held in Regina at the Regina Metis Sports and Cultural Centre at 1235 2nd Avenue North on Saturday, March 12th at 2:00 p.m. March 12, 2005 Vernon Clarence Brass BRASS-On Friday, March 11, 2005, Vernon Clarence (Merdo) Brass of Regina, Saskatchewan passed away at the General Hospital, Regina, SK. He was 63 years of age. Vernon was born April 26, 1941 at Key First Nation. He was predeceased by his mother Mary Brass, father Russell Brass and stepfather Gordon Papequash, his brothers Wilbert Brass and Peter Brass; sister Amelia Brass; sons Charles Brass, Frederick Brass, Clarence Brass, Marshall Brass and daughter Delilah Brass. Vernon leaves to mourn his wife of 45 years Edith Brass; three daughters, Cyndi of Regina, Elaine (Calvin) of Piapot and Kathy (John) of Regina and his father-inlaw Frank Keshane. He is also survived by his grandchildren who he loved very much, Lila, Myron, Emily, Pamela, Kelly, Kayla, Kyle, Kalene, Nicole, Leatta, R.J., Freddy, Joshua, Jacob, Alexander, Ty, Carla, David, Calvin, Carrie, Sheriese, Anthony, Maria, Darian and Brayden; great grandchildren, Ethan, Delilah, Angel and Brianna; brothers and sisters, Lillian Shingoose of Prince Albert, Lorne (Margret) Brass of Yorkton, Vera (Robert) Cote of Yorkton, Mable (Harvey) Chernoff of Kamsack, Phyllis (Steve) Bourassa of Sturgis, Rita (Fred) Radchuk of Preeceville, Victreen (Darrell) Cote of Regina, Bernice Fleury of Saskatoon, Sandra (Robert) Lafontaine of Yorkton, Calvin (Nicole) Brass of Yorkton, Carleen Brass of Regina, Richard and Patsy both of Edmonton. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. A Wake will be held Sunday, March 13, 2005 from 12:00 noon to 12:00 midnight at the Indian Metis Christian Fellowship Hall, 3131 Dewdney Ave., Regina, SK. A second Wake will be held Monday, March 14, 2005 commencing at 2:00 P.M. in the Saulteauxplex, Key First Nation. The Funeral Service will be held Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at 2:00 P.M. in the Saulteauxplex, Key First Nation. Burial will follow in the Key First Nation Cemetery. Arrangements are in the care of LEE FUNERAL HOME 757-8645. March 14, 2005 Kimberly Anaquod ANAQUOD (BEAUDIN) - Kimberly passed away suddenly on Thursday, March 10, 2005. Kim was predeceased by her grandparents Victor and Kathleen (Gunn) Beaudin, special uncles Little Man (Vic Jr.) and Louis Gene; great grandparents Fidele and Marie Beaudin and Louis and Florence (Delorme) Gunn. Kim is survived by her partner Glen Phillip Pelletier and his two beautiful boys Jacob and Kaleb Pelletier. Also left to mourn are Kim's parents Larry and Denise Anaquod and Kim's "special " baby Cheyenne; Kim's traditional Nokum Lena O'Watch, and her grandparents Cecil and Marguerite Guest of Pangman. Also left are Kim's siblings Heather-Lauri and Andre; brothers Darcy and Aaron and sisters Lori-Ann and Tara. Also saddened by her passing are Joe and Rena Pelletier as well as a special helper Debbie Pelletier. Additionally, Kim's loss will be felt by numerous relatives and friends. Prayers will be held for Kim at Lee Funeral Home, 3101 Dewdney Ave. on Monday, March 14 (tonight), at 7:30 pm with Pastor Joseph Pelletier officiating. The Wake will be held Tuesday night March 15 at the Gordon First Nation (Gymnasium). Burial services will follow on Wednesday, March 16 at 2:00pm with interment at the BirdPelletier Cemetery, Gordon First Nation. Kim was a superb student and athlete who earned track awards for St. Gregory School. Early in her life she accepted Christ as her Savior. She enjoyed helping at Emanuel Ministries Church. Her traditional upbringing allowed Kim to participate in the Fancy Shawl Dance. Kim's booming laugh will be missed, but the family's faith is Christ's witness that, "we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life " (Romans 6:4) Arrangements are in the care of LEE FUNERAL HOME Ph: 757-8645. Julia Pewan PEWEAN - (nee Nahbexie), Julia passed away surrounded by her immediate family on Friday, March 11, 2005 in Arcola. Saskatchewan. Julia was born on the White Bear First Nations October 11, 1924. She was predeceased her brother, Frances; son, Russell; parents, Pete Nahbexie and Elsie Haywahe. Julia leaves behind, her loving husband of 49 years, George; daughter, Susan; grandson, Anthony; Adopted son, Tim Delorme (Brenda); adopted daughter, Angeline Sheepskin (Chris). Special mention of Timothy Eashappie (whom she called her son), her uncle Percy Nahbexie (Frieda), Pat (Marjory) Nahbexie, Austin Nahbexie, Charlie Nahbexie, uncle John Haywahe, and Wallace Haywahe. Julia really enjoyed Powwows, Round dances, Feasts and Giveaways. She was also a Champion Ladies Traditional dancer. She had many close friends through the Powwow circuit in Canada and the United States. She also leaves to mourn numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some Loving Words From her Husband: Julia was a very good friend, wife and companion. She supported me in every way, through sickness and health. We worked together in overcoming all the obstacles in this life never once leaving me in spite of my many faults. I have had a good wife for 49 years and I will never forget her. May the Lord accept her into his kingdom. She has done everything that our Father in Heaven has asked her to do. Our trust has been in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now and forever more. Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Some Loving Words From her Daughter: My mother Hupe-Waste-Wiya. She was a good mother, friend and confident. I loved her and cared for her until the end. I will miss her dearly. She will not be forgotten. I've learned so much from her that I will carry with me throughout my life. Throughout her illness with Alzheimer's, although rough I hung in there for her because of my love for her. I'm sure that she is smiling down at us from Heaven where I know she is happy. I love you mom, always and forever. Viewing for family and friends will be held between 7:00 and 9:00 P.M., Tuesday, March 15, 2005 at Paragon Funeral Services, 521 Victoria Ave., Regina, SK. Wake will be held at 5:00 P.M., Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at Ocean Man Band Hall, Ocean Man First Nation, SK. Funeral Service will be held at 2:00 P.M., Thursday, March 17, 2005 at Ocean Man Band Hall. Paragon Funeral Services entrusted with arrangements. 359-7776 Copyright c. 2000-2005 Regina Leader Post Group Inc. -=-=-=- March 8, 2005 Charlotte Lavallee LAVALLEE - On Saturday, March 5, 2005, Charlotte Veronica Lavallee (Ashdohonk), Regina, Sask. died at the age of 54 years. The funeral service will be held in St. Mary's R.C. Church, Carry The Kettle First Nation on Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. Interment in the South Cemetery. Prayers will be held in the Chapel of Tubman Funeral Home, Wolseley, Sask., Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. Charlotte was predeceased by her first husband, William G. Dubois; her second husband, Kenneth Lavallee; her mother, Violet Ashdohonk; one brother, Cyril Ashdohonk; one nephew, Jeremy Hotomani and is survived by her son, Pallid (Phyllis Runns) Ashdohonk; three grandchildren, Destiny, Jessica, and Delaney; her father, Jerome Ashdohonk; three brothers: Bernard (Lyna), Joel (Brenda) and Elroy; two sisters, Audrey (Noel) and Connie (Wallace) and numerous nieces and nephews. Arrangements entrusted to Tubman Cremation & Funeral Services, 1-800-667-8962. Michelle Netowaysin NETOWAYASIN - On Friday, March 4, 2005, Michelle Leah Netowayasin late of Regina, Sask., passed away along with her unborn daughter Melina. Michelle was 21 years of age, and her baby daughter was yet to begin her life's journey. She was predeceased by her mother Victoria and sister Alvina. Michelle and Melina are survived by her loving companion Scott Stephenson; children Alvina and Sterling; father Charles, step-father Allan McNab and mother-in-law Linda Stephenson; grandfather Michael Silverquill & grandmother Janet Silverquill; brothers Lyle and Bobby (Katie); sisters Charlene (Craig), Olivia (Marlyn) and Nikki and special great aunt Annabelle as well as numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and other relatives. Prayers will be said on Tuesday, March 8, 2005 at 7:00 P.M. in the Chapel of Lee Funeral Home, 3101 Dewdney Ave., Regina, SK. The Wake will be held on Wednesday, March 9, 2005 commencing at 5:00 P.M. in the Kelmore Hall, Kelmore, Sask. The Funeral Service will be held on Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 2:00 P.M. in the Fishing Lake Anglican Church, Fishing Lake First Nation with burial to follow in the Fishing Lake Cemetery. Arrangements are in the care of LEE FUNERAL HOME 757-8645. March 11, 2005 Irene A. Kaisowatum KAISOWATUM - Irene A. Kaisowatum (nee Rockthunder) ("Ka-pesewe- kisikoiskwew" Ringing Sky Woman) passed away on Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at the age of 62 years. She is predeceased by her parents, John and Mary Louise Rockthunder; inlaws, Pius and Minnie Kaisowatum; children, Wendell and Hannalor, both in infancy. Irene will be lovingly remembered by her sons, Leon (Kelli), Shane (Nadine), Preston (Kristin); daughters, Denise and Leona; grandchildren she raised, Daniel, Danielle, Leon Manhas, Sara Johnstone; 12 grandchildren; great-grandchildren, Tyrese and Trinity; brothers, Charlie (Ann), John (Modesta); sisters, Alice (Charlie), Margaret, Barbara (Al), Marie, Grace Okemow and Lucy Francis as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Irene went through a lot pain but never complained. She was a very generous woman to everyone and helped out in every way she could. Irene will be truly missed by all who knew her. Wake will be held at 4:30 p.m., on Friday, March 11, 2005 at Piapot Band Hall, Piapot First Nation. Traditional Funeral Service will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 12, 2005 at Piapot Band Hall with Elders officiating. Irene's family would like to thank the staff of ICU, at the Pasqua Hospital for the special kindness and care given to Irene. Paragon Funeral Services entrusted with arrangements. 359-7776 March 12, 2005 Clarence William "Billy" Singer II CLARENCE WILLIAM "BILLY" SINGER II passed away suddenly on March 7th, 2005 in Cardston, AB at the age of 64 years. Clarence was born January 15, 1941 in the Cardston hospital and was raised on the Blood Reserve. After his schooling at St. Paul's Residential School, he worked in Raymond for a number of years as a farm hand on the Schneider farm. When he moved back to the reserve, he had a small confectionery at the Moses Lake Hall. He moved to White Sulpher Springs, Montana before he returned to the reserve and contracted with Andrew Nelson of Cardston. He then did contract work for the Blood Tribe Housing for a number of years and contracted on his own. Clarence was known for his kind words, encouragement, and welcomed everyone that came to visit. He was a strong believer in our native tradition. He always made everyone laugh and had a sense of humor. Everyone enjoyed being around him. He was known for his own unique trademark wearing his derby hat. He is survived by his mother, Adeline Singer; brother Pierson; sisters Loretta (Brandon) Eagle Tail Feathers, Marie (Dan) Stimson of Siksika, Arlene (Campbell) Eagle Child; his loving children Van (Natalie), Willliam III (Lori), Carl, Leslie (Rolanda), Crystal (Dan) MacDonald of Vermillion, AB, and Clarence Eldon Singer, all of the Blood Reserve; his grandsons Leighton, Willie, Bert, Brandon, CJ, Tygan, DJ, and Rocky; adopted son Wes Heavy Runner; companion Deanna Mountain Horse; aunties - Mary Singer, Alvina Crop Eared Wolf, Louise & Florence Brave Rock; uncles Jim Black Plume and Mervin Brave Rock; cousins too numerous to mention from the reserve and from Browning, Montana. Clarence was predeceased by his wife Angela, twin sons, daughter Marlene, father Billy, brothers Merle, Peter, Eldon, Burton, and Theodore; sister Florine; uncles Walter, Reid, Lambert, and John Singer, Sam & Donald Black Plume, Ted & Wilfred Brave Rock; aunties Florence Black Plume & Annie Brave Rock; grandmothers Annie Black Plume & Maggie Brave Rock; grandfathers Walter Singer Sr. & Ernest Brave Rock. The family apologizes to any family or relatives that were not mentioned. The Wake Service will be held on Friday, March 11th at St.Mary's Catholic Church, Blood Reserve from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. The Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, March 12th at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blood Reserve at 2:00 p.m. with Canon Allan McCuaig officiating. Interment in St. Paul's Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to Salmon Funeral Home, Cardston, AB, 653-3844. Copyright c. 2005 Alberta Newspaper Group, Inc./Lethbridge Herald.