Indigenous People Ask: 'Where Is The Outrage?'

By Tim Giago
Last week the Jesuits of Oregon Province in Alaska filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Why were they forced into this action? Because more than 60 lawsuits alleging sex abuse by Jesuit priests have been filed against them and in all, there are 200 known claimants in the five western states covered by the Province. Most of the victims are from Alaska. Where is the outrage?

It is contended by many of the abused Natives of Alaska that long before it became a state it was the dumping ground for pedophile priests. For a couple of generations the stigma attached to the abuse kept the victims silent, but when the roof fell in on the Anglican Church in Canada and the horrifying details of sexual abuse against the Natives of that country came to light, the buried secrets of abuse by several churches, the Mormons, Methodists, Episcopalians and others went unpublished, but not undocumented.

Ken Roosa, the attorney representing the abuse victims in Alaska, said he expects more claimants to come forward. "By the time this is over, it wouldn't surprise me to see the number double. And these all will of course involve childhood molestation by Jesuit priests and brothers, or people who were being supervised by Jesuit priests and brothers."

The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, isn't talking publicly about filing for bankruptcy. In a press release the Society said it believes Chapter 11 reorganization is the only way all of the claimants can receive a fair settlement. The Jesuits say they have less than $5 million in assets and their liabilities come to nearly $62 million. Roosa said those figures will be a major point of contention during the bankruptcy proceedings. He said, "There will be debates about whether the Jesuits own the universities and high schools, whether those universities and high schools are assets that can be held accountable or used to pay the claims. All of that will be argued before the bankruptcy judge."

Elsie Boudreau, Yu'pik Eskimo and Alaska Native, a sexual abuse victim who sued a priest and the church in a separate lawsuit and won, said of the bankruptcy filing by the Jesuits:

The day has come for Native people to free ourselves from the bondage of shame and secrecy that kept us powerless within the Catholic Church because we are no longer a people sitting idly on the sidelines while Jesuits continue their deceptive maneuverings to shield heinous crimes of sexual abuse of our innocent children. We are speaking loudly and clearly.

"The era of gross and deliberate human rights violations by those neglectful and careless men hiding behind the cloak of Christ has come to an end. We, as a Native people, will no longer tolerate the scarring of our souls by those entrusted to protect and nurture our spirituality."

Clearly upset by all she has been through over the years, Boudreau added, "The Oregon Province filing for bankruptcy is a clear admission on their part that our Native people have been the recipients of an evil so great, so inconceivable, so out of this world, that it would bring Jesus Christ to tears."

Boudreau has made it her life's mission to encourage other Native victims of abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church to put away any guilt or fear they may feel and to speak out. She said, "Our ancestors' wisdom tells us we do not treat our people that way -- we take care of our people. Why then would we tolerate the abuse of those entrusted to save our souls? It is time for Native people to hold on to our teachings and secure a place of honor and respect for our children for generations to come."

In the warm climes of San Diego, CA, the Diocese of San Diego is about to make an appearance in bankruptcy court in order to minimize the damages done to it by clergy accused of sexually abusing Native children there.

And so the beat goes on. Long hidden crimes by the Catholic Church and its Jesuit priests, brothers and their minions are now revealed to the light. The deep, dark secrets now out in the open are apparently still too gross and vile to be stomached by the rest of America. When the victims of these heinous crimes were white, the horror was on every front page of every major newspaper and on the prime time news of every television station in America.

When it comes to Native Americans and Alaskans, where is the outrage?

Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was the founder and publisher of Indian Country Today, the Lakota Times, and the Lakota Journal. He can be reached at najournalist@msn.com.

© 2009 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc.

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$600 Million Breach-Of-Trust Case Before Supreme Court, Again - NIEA Fall Convention

Trust Battle Heads Back To Supreme Court
February 23rd, 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. will join Attorney General Louis Denetsosie and the Nation’s outside attorneys, Paul Frye and Carter Phillips, for oral arguments today before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Navajo Nation’s $600 million breach-of-trust case.

This is the second time the 10-year-old case, Navajo Nation v. United States, is before the Supreme Court. In March 2003, the court ruled 6-3 against Navajo, saying it did not prove a breach of trust under the Indian Mineral Leasing Act, which gives tribes control over their trust assets.

In September 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a federal claims court decision and found that the U.S. Department of the Interior breached its trust responsibility by not disclosing critical information to the Navajo Nation regarding coal royalty negotiations with Peabody Coal in 1987.

The appeals court found the Navajo Nation had a “money-mandating claim” against the federal government and upheld its assertion that there is a substantial network of laws and regulations to establish specific trust responsibilities.

“Four former Interior secretaries have filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of Navajo,” Hardeen said, including Cecil D. Andrus, Bruce Babbitt, Manuel Lujan Jr. and Stewart L. Udall. Eight law professors, attorneys general for New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, and the National Congress of American Indians also have filed supporting briefs.

“A lot of people are going to be watching this one,” Hardeen said.

The Navajo Nation first leased land on Black Mesa to Peabody Coal and its predecessor in 1964 with approval by Interior. The lease established a schedule of royalty payments not greater than 37.5 cents per ton with a provision for a “reasonable adjustment” by the Interior secretary in 20 years — 1984. That rate was deemed an “inequitable deal,” and “substantially lower” than the 12.5 percent minimum royalty set by Congress in 1977 for coal mined on federal land.

In 1984, Navajo asked Interior Secretary William Clark to adjust the royalty payment. About three months later, Navajo Area Director Donald Dodge adjusted the rate to 20 percent. However, in July 1985 Peabody requested Interior Secretary Donald Hodel, who succeeded Clark, postpone the decision on the 20 percent royalty rate or rule against it.

The undisputed facts of the case state that Peabody retained former Interior executive Stanley Hulett, a former aide and friend of Hodel’s, to represent the company before him. The court found that Hulett met with the secretary without Navajo being present, and that shortly afterward Hodel signed a memorandum prepared by Peabody on Interior letterhead that directed the company and the Nation to return to the bargaining table. The Nation, facing the alternative of receiving unadjusted flat royalties, was compelled to agree to the 12.5 percent royalty rate.

“As a result of these actions, Peabody Coal was able to reduce its royalty payments by nearly 50 percent … Thus, the Navajo were deprived of hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of the lease,” the former Interior secretaries wrote in their brief.

“Interior Department regulations specifically require the department to act in the Navajos’ best interest,” they said.

“The Interior Department’s conduct in this case fell far short of the standards that department officials normally observe. As the Court of Federal Claims observed, the department has ‘no plausible defense’ for the actions at issue in this case.”

In a brief filed in December 2008 by Peabody Western Coal Co. and Southern California Edison in support of the United States, the parties state that the 12.5 percent coal royalty rate approved by the Secretary of the Interior “is, and has been, the customary and prevailing rate in federal and Indian coal leases for more than 20 years.”

They claim that the court’s previous decision “should have ended this case. There the court decided that the tribe is not entitled to recover damages relating to the Secretary’s approval of the coal lease amendments at issue here.”

Because the Indian Mineral Leasing Act does not contain “any trust language with respect to coal leasing,” the court held that it imposes no fiduciary duties, they said.

After Dodge issued an opinion letter in June 1984 recommending the 20 percent royalty rate, the parties state, he then sent two separate letters: one to the tribe explaining that the recommendation was made “in consultation with the Navajo Nation’s Minerals Department and the Department of Justice,” and another to Peabody which omitted that language.

The Navajo Nation will argue today that, among other things, the Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Act of 1950, which addresses the leasing of tribal land, specifically requires the federal government to consult with and keep its Native American beneficiaries informed in dealing with their mineral resources as part of tribal self-determination.

Peabody and Edison, in their brief of support for the United States, contend, however, that the court “squarely rejected the tribe’s economic argument in Navajo I, and there is nothing about the present context that would yield a different result.”

The former Interior secretaries said the Interior Department not only violated its duty of candor to be truthful but also failed to communicate facts that the Navajo Nation needed to know for its protection in dealing with third parties. “This conduct is indefensible,” they wrote.

The National Congress of American Indians said the Interior secretary cannot have it both ways.

NIEA Fall Convention
The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) marks its 40th anniversary during the 2009 NIEA Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 22-25, 2009.

This is a unique opportunity to showcase your talent before a membership of 3,000 plus educators, tribal leaders, administrators and all education community from all across Indian Country.

You may view the NIEA website at www.niea.org/ for detailed information.

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Indian Country Gets $2.5 Billion In Stimulus Package - Oil And Gas 'Sucked Out' From Navajo Country

INDIAN COUNTRY PROVISIONS
From Falmouth Institute - American Indian Report

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved by Congress Friday includes approximately $2.5 billion to create jobs and economic opportunity in Indian Country. Below is a summary of Indian Country provisions.

INDIAN HEALTH CARE
· Indian Health Facilities – $415 million
o New construction - $227 million
o Maintenance and improvements - $100 million
o Sanitation Facilities - $68 million
o Medical Equipment - $20 million
· Indian Health Services - Health Information Technology - $85 million

BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
· BIA Office of Indian Programs - $40 million (housing improvement and workforce & training)
· BIA Construction - $450 million (schools, roads repair, jails, irrigation, dams)

PUBLIC SAFETY AND JUSTICE
· Department of Justice Grants (DOJ) - Indian Jails construction - $225 million (coordinate with BIA, consider violent crime rates and detention space needs)
· DOJ Community Oriented Policing Services – tribes eligible to compete - $1 billion program
· DOJ Violence Against Women Prosecution Grants - $22.5 million (result of a 10% tribal set-aside)

TRIBAL ROADS AND BRIDGES
· Indian Reservation Roads (DOT) – $310 million
· Tribal Transit Set-Aside (DOT) – $17.25 million

INDIAN HOUSING
· Indian Housing block grants (HUD) – $510 million (conference note to use funding to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency in houses maintained by Native American housing programs)

EDUCATION
· Head Start - $10 million (tribal set-aside)
· Early Head Start - tribes eligible for a portion of the $1.1 billion program
· Special Education (IDEA) – tribes eligible for a portion of the $12.2 billion program
· Impact Aid – language urges targeted funding to military and Indian reservations from the $100 million program

ENERGY AND WATER
· Bureau of Reclamation Tribal Water Projects – $60 million for water intake and treatment facilities
· Safe Drinking and Clean Water Revolving Funds – $120 million (permissive set-aside)
· Tribal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Black Grants - $56 million (result of a 2% tribal set-aside)
· Weatherization Assistance Program – tribes are eligible to compete for competitive grants under the $5 billion program

OTHER PROGRAMS
· Indian Reservation Food Distribution (USDA) – $5 million
· Native Elder Nutrition (DHHS) - $3 million (Older Americans Act, Title IV)
· BIA Indian Loan Guarantee Program - $10 million
· Tribal Community Development Financial Institutions (Treasury) – $10 million

BONDING AUTHORITY FOR TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS
· Tribal economic development tax-exempt bonds - $2 billion in bonding authority
· Qualified Indian school construction bonds - $400 million in bonding authority

OTHER NOTES
· Bill language permits Indian Tribes to contract and compact to build projects and create reservation jobs pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Self-Governance Acts

NAVAJO LOOKING AT OIL, GAS DRAINAGE
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – Are oil and gas being sucked out from under Navajo lands like a milkshake through a straw without the Nation's or individual allottees' knowledge, and if so, where are the federal agencies that are supposed to protect them?

These are a couple questions raised Monday during a report to the Resources Committee regarding the drainage of oil and gas from within the San Juan Basin.

Kevin Gambrell, who has worked as a trust manager of Indian allotted lands and was hired by Eastern Navajo Land Commission to provide an update on the drainage issue, told the committee that the Bureau of Land Management has looked at 811 drainage cases in Eastern Agency since 1979.

Out of those 811 cases, “there are 300 cases out there on the BLM list that there has not been any conclusions,” he said. “The San Juan Basin is one of the most developed basins in the world, the second largest gas basin in the United States and the most complex natural gas basin in the country.”

Due to the number of operators and the different formations in terms of gas, oil, and the type of land status – such as tribal trust, Navajo allotted, federal, fee and state lands – management of the basin is very complex and requires a lot of monitoring, he said.

Typically, an oil and gas operation drills a well next to a property and the oil or gas migrate across the property and are drained, especially in areas where there are highly porous rock formations.

“I saw one case back in 2002 where an Indian allottment had a trespass. We went out and looked at the property and within 100 feet of the property line was a well. We went back out to BLM to do the drainage review and they hadn't looked at the property ever,” Gambrell said.

When they did the review, the well actually was draining the Indian allottment and had been for 20 years, he said. “We then tried to lease the Indian allottment, because if you don't lease the property, there is no protection. It's what they call the rule of capture.

“The rule of capture basically says if this person drilled a well and they start producing oil and gas, they have a right to capture as much as they want, and it's up to the entity of the adjacent property to build a protective well and to lease that property, or to develop a compensatory royalty agreement in order to protect that mineral asset.

“In this case where we have Indian allottments and we have a federal lease, we have to lease that property in order to protect that Indian allottment's minerals,” he said.

Out of the 811 cases, only 415 actual properties – Indian allotted and tribal lands – have been reviewed, according to Gambrell. “In the last nine years, BLM has reviewed 188 drainage cases. In all those cases, there are actually five cases that BLM has determined drainage did occur. Within those five cases, there are two unleased properties and three leased Indian properties that were being drained back in 1994 and 1984.”

Gambrell said he looked at 60 cases where BLM performed an administrative review and the result was positive for drainage occurring. “They did not go on to the geological review. At that point, it stopped. That's potentially 60 more cases that were not completed in terms of the logical process.

“If you start a drainage case and you fail to go through the process and fail to go through the administrative, geologic, engineering and the economic reviews, and you just stop at one point, that case is still open, still pending. However, on BLM's spreadsheet it shows there are 129 cases where they didn't complete all the steps.”

Now that they have BLM's spreadsheets on the case reviews, he said, they need to go back and look at the actual files for each case to determine whether they have potential drainage implications. If there was a withholding of information where the damaged party did not see the data to know they were being harmed, then the statute of limitations would not apply.

Phil Harrison of the Resources Committee remarked that energy development exploitation has been going on for years. “We're getting robbed in daylight.”

Committee Chairman George Arthur said there have been Navajo individuals who have expressed drainage concerns over the past several years. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has generally failed in protecting interests of this nature, he said. “We are quite aware that they have mismanaged individual accounts in the past.”

Larry Rodgers of the Eastern Navajo Land Commission said the Bureau of Land Management also raised the question of who protects the rights of the individual allottees. “They know that Window Rock is not necessarily the main protector; it's BIA. They have the responsibility to make sure those lands are protected.”

Arthur told Resources Committee members, “It's this committee's responsibility to step up to the plate and become aggressively engaged in discussions and express an elevated concern that individual Navajo real estate owners may be being shortchanged. I think it falls to this committee to pursue this discussion in a more aggressive environment.”

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Stimulus - Who Gets What? - AZ Women Physicians At Exhibit, Available To Discuss Health Issues - Money Held For You

Stimulus - Who Gets What: Billions For Clean Water, Parks
Submitted by Native Workplace

By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer Dina Cappiello, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 11, 3:50 pm ET
Feature…

WASHINGTON – The 20 million visitors who travel the Blue Ridge Parkway each year could have a smoother drive along a stretch of the scenic road in North Carolina.

Across the nation, some of the 102,798 leaks at storage tanks beneath gasoline stations could finally be cleaned up.

And a network of gauges used to predict floods along America's streams and rivers across the country might get enough funding to literally stay afloat.

These are just some of the environmental projects that could be funded when Congress passes the economic stimulus package.

The plan includes more than $9 billion for the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. The money would be used to shutter abandoned mines on public lands, to help local governments protect drinking water supplies, and to erect energy-efficient visitor centers at wildlife refuges and national parks.

The Interior Department estimates that its portion of the work would generate about 100,000 jobs over the next two years."Most of the construction work we do, whether it is major repairs or building a visitor center — those are all contracted out," said Jeffrey Olson, a spokesman with the National Park Service. That means private firms would handle the projects, not state or federal workers.

Yet the legislation will not go very far when it comes to erasing the backlog of cleanups facing the EPA and the long list of chores that still need to be completed at the country's national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands. It would be more like a down payment.

The refuge system, an assemblage of more than 150 million acres set aside to protect wildlife, fish and plants, has a $2.5 billion maintenance backlog. The stimulus bill would provide $300 million, enough to cover the more than 600 projects on its to-do list in the next couple of years.

When it comes to national parks, the plan sets aside about $750 million for road repairs and maintenance. But that's a fraction of the $9 billion worth of work needing funding. The projects include fixing a visitor center at the Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah-Colorado border that has been condemned for two years and upgrading a sewage treatment plant at Yellowstone National Park that can't handle the number of flushes from visitors to Old Faithful.

At EPA, the wish list is even more expensive. A 2003 report by the agency estimated that $276.8 billion was needed over the next 20 years to repair and improve the nation's drinking water systems. The stimulus package includes around $6 billion, and more than half of the money would be used to fund projects that protect bays, rivers and other waterways used as sources of drinking water.

Other big-ticket items at the EPA include about $200 million for a fund that is used to remove soil and groundwater contamination caused by leaky gasoline storage tanks and an estimated $600 million for cleanups at the nation's most hazardous waste sites.

In 2008, according to agency documents, the EPA ran out of money and could not take additional steps to address contamination at 10 sites in nine states.

More than 100,000 spills under gasoline stations need cleaning. But at a cost of about $125,000 each, according to EPA estimates, the stimulus money will only be able to pay for roughly 1,600 of them.

Arizona Women Physicians Featured In Exhibit At Health Science's Library - Available To Discuss Women's Health Issues
Feb. 12-March 27
Several are Native American Women

The UA College of Medicine has many women physicians and researchers available to discuss women’s health issues, including aging, arthritis, cancer, heart disease and others.
To make arrangements, please contact Jean Spinelli,
AHSC Office of Public Affairs,
(520) 626-7301.

“It is clear that all of us in the scientific community have a lot of breaking to do -- especially old rules, self-defeating habits, and glass ceilings,” said Bernadine Healy, MD, former head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in the March 13, 1992, issue of Science magazine.

"The difficulties and triumphs of American women physicians who have done some of that breaking in the medical profession are the focus of “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians,” an interactive, multi-media exhibition at the Arizona Health Sciences Library, Thursday, Feb. 12 through Friday, March 27.

The traveling exhibition -- based on a larger exhibition that was displayed at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in Bethesda, Md., from 2003-2005 -- is nearing the end of its nationwide journey.

The exhibit includes 11 Local Legends from Arizona, plus UA College of Medicine faculty and graduates, a UA graduate, and other women physicians in Arizona and across the country who have UA College of Medicine ties. Several are Native American and Hispanic women.

Unique to the Tucson exhibit is a collection of women physician memorabilia belonging to Marlys Witte, MD, professor in the Department of Surgery at the UA College of Medicine and a faculty member since 1969.

More information about the exhibit, biographies of the Arizona women physicians in it, and facts about the UA College of Medicine’s women medical students, faculty, health research and clinical care, is at www.opa.medicine.arizona.edu/newsroom/calendarText.cfm?storyID=1552.
-----------------------------
Local Legends:
Ÿ Tamsen Bassford, MD
Ÿ Leslie Boyer, MD
Ÿ Mindy Fain, MD
Ÿ Gillian Hamilton, PhD, MD
Ÿ Ana Maria Lopez, MD, MPH
Ÿ Joy Mockbee, MD, MPH
Ÿ Jessica Moreno, MD
Ÿ Myra Muramoto, MD, MPH
Ÿ Kathryn Reed, MD
Ÿ Cecilia Rosales, MD, MS
Ÿ Eve Shapiro, MD, MPH

Other UA College of Medicine Faculty:
Ÿ Yvette Roubideaux, MD, MPH, (Rosebud Sioux).

Other UA College of Medicine Graduates and UA Graduate:
Ÿ Bernadette Freeland-Hyde, MD, (Navajo), UA College of Medicine Class of 1987, a pediatrician in Tempe.
Ÿ Victoria M. Stevens, MD, (San Carlos Apache), UA College of Medicine Class of 1976, an orthopedic surgeon in Globe.
Ÿ Patricia Nez Henderson, MD, MPH, (Navajo), UA Class of 1990, assistant professor with the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs at the University of Colorado and vice president of the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health in Rapid City, S.D.

Other Women Physicians With Ties to UA College of Medicine:
Ÿ Patricia StandTal Clarke, MD, (part Eastern Band Cherokee-Wolf Clan), a family practitioner in Flagstaff.
Ÿ Paula Stillman, MD, who taught pediatrics at the UA College of Medicine in the 1970s, during which time she developed a way to evaluate medical students’ clinical competence using “standardized patients.”

Jean Spinelli,
Information Specialist Coordinator
Office of Public Affairs
Arizona Health Sciences Center at The University of Arizona
PO Box 245095
Tucson, AZ 85724-5095
email: jspinell@u.arizona.eduph:
(520) 626-2531
cell ph: (520) 307-2639

Money Being Held For You?
U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians
http://www.doi.gov/ost/index.html

The Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) is seeking current addresses for the Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders. All Whereabouts Unknown (WAU) accounts have funds to be disbursed to the rightful owner.

If you are, or you know of, an account holder whose whereabouts are unknown to OST, please contact OST and provide the information below. OST will send the accountholder the required forms to update the IIM account.

Click Here to search for your name:
http://www.doi.gov/ost/index.html

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'Action' On Pechanga Disenrollment!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Submitted by Original Pechanga
UCLA Student addresses Sen. Byron Dorgan on Tribal Disenrollments

DISENROLLMENT ISSUE BROUGHT TO SENATOR'S ATTENTION
Senator Byron Dorgan (SD- Dem), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, held a listening session for tribal leaders at UCLA earlier today. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs which is responsible for hearing issues affecting Indian tribes and Indian .

The purpose of the listening session was to allow tribal leaders from the region to address Senator Dorgan regarding their priorities and concerns. Representatives from Pechanga, Morongo, San Manuel, and other regional tribes talked about a wide range of issues pertinent to their communities. However, it may have been the remarks of a non-tribal leader that drew the most attention.

An unexpected speaker, a UCLA student, caught many tribal leaders off guard as he came forth and addressed Chairman Dorgan regarding the growing number of disenrollments occurring in Indian Country in general and California in particular.

While tribes have the authority to determine their own membership, there is a growing concern that many tribes have violated the basic human and civil rights- such as those set forth in the United States Constitution, the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, and other tribal, state, and federal laws- in the disenrollment and denial of membership of thousands of California Indians.

The issue of disenrollment, as well as civil rights violations in Indian Country, had not been addressed by any of the tribal leaders in their presentations to the Chairman. And it was apparent that some tribal leaders wish the issue would have not been brought to the attention of Chairman Dorgan at such an event.

It is now up to the Chairman and the Committee as to how they will take the information gathered from today's listening session and address the issues brought forth. More importantly, how will the Committee address the concern regarding disenrollment and basic rights violations now that it has been formally presented to them in an open forum.

Original Pechanga

UCLA STUDENT IDENTIFIES HIMSELF
Comments Section:
My name is Andrew, and I am the UCLA graduate student who addressed Sen. Dorgan regarding the growing number of tribal disenrollments taking place in California and across the United States. First, I need to give credit to the work of John Gomez Jr., Original Pechanga's Blog, and Pechanga.info for laying the ground work and educating the public to the plight of those who have been disenrolled.

Please keep up your good work, there are people such as myself who are paying attention to what you write. I have to admit that I sat there a bit nervous and for a moment there I was unsure if I should get up and speak -- knowing that my topic may be uncomfortable for some present, however, in these situations I often ask myself, what is the right thing to do? I draw strength from the courage of my elders and ancestors, they were never silent.

In my remarks I tried to make the connection that families make up clans, clans in turn make up a tribe, and in California large families are being disenrolled thereby altering the religious-political make-up of that tribe. I pointed to the San Pasqual case as an example where a "scholastic-administrative" review process was used by means of the BIA, and the process worked.

Now, I would prefer the tribes take a direct approach toward implementing a review process in connection to their disenrollments as a means of self-regulation. On the other hand, I don't see tribes doing this. I also don't see Congress altering Martinez v. Santa Clara in the near future, but I have to admit that there is growing "chatter" among politicians that something needs to be done, they just don't want Congress to be the ones to do it.

Once again, I believe that it will take a community of people to continue to press this issue. I ask that you continue to stay active.
Best,
Andrew

Repost of Letter To Senator Dorgan;
Please send in a request
February 17, 2009
Senate Indian Affairs Committee
838 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington , D.C. 20510
(202)228-2589 fax

Re: Request For Committee And Field Hearings On Civil Rights Violations In Indian Country

Dear Chairman Dorgan and Honorable Committee Members:
I respectfully submit this letter as a request to your Committee to hold hearings on the growing number of civil rights abuses occurring in Indian Country.

The number of civil rights violations in Indian Country has reached epidemic proportions. Thousands upon thousands have been stripped or denied the basic due process and equal protection rights provided for in the United States Constitution, the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (“ICRA”), and tribal laws.

Most recently, a report by the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) referenced the fact that internal tribal disputes “seem to be occurring more and more frequently”. In response to the growing number of these types of disputes, the GAO felt it was necessary and appropriate that nominees to the Secretary of Interior be asked how they would address such issues.

The responsibility to address this issue does not lie with the Secretary alone. The number of civil rights violations in Indian Country will continue to grow unless Congress once again takes action, just as it did in enacting the ICRA, to further protect individuals from the “arbitrary and capricious” actions of tribal governments.

Considering the current situation and an environment which rewards the villain and punishes the victim, I ask you, “How do you plan to address this problem?”

I believe that hearings on the current civil rights situation in Indian Country are not only warranted, they are long over due. Therefore, I respectfully request that your Committee hold hearings as an initial step to further action that will uphold and enforce the rights of those who, to date, have been stripped of or denied the basic rights guaranteed by law.

I trust you will thoughtfully consider my request, and I will eagerly await your response.

Respectfully submitted,
--------------------------

A RECAP OF PECHANGA CASINO'S PER CAPITA HISTORY
check on site below:
http://originalpechanga.blogspot.com/2008/12/fifteen-years-after-pechanga-announces.html

“The Pechanga tribe voted that 90% of all net profit goes to per capita.“

1000 members at 15,000 per month is 15,000,000 pot to split. If you cut 130 down, you split the 15,000,000 with 870 people. You cut another 95 and you split that same 15,000,000 with 775 people.

“The tribe is currently paying $30,500 per month in per capita.”

Original Pechanga
http://originalpechanga.blogspot.com/

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Nighthorse Campbell: Change Means Involvement - Pechanga Casino's Per Capita History - 'Cah Ching!'

Campbell: Government Change Means Being Involved
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – Ben Nighthorse Campbell rolled into town recently looking a lot like Grandpappy Amos McCoy of the popular television series, “The Real McCoys.”

Dressed in what he called his “tractor-driving clothes,” Campbell said he hopped on his tractor in Colorado at 4 a.m., to clear the road out to the highway so he could venture down to sunny southern Arizona for a few days. But first he stopped off at Quality Inn in Window Rock for a cup of coffee, where he was noticed by some Navajo Nation Council delegates and invited to the winter session.

“I didn't bother changing clothes, so I apologize for being in what I call my tractor-driving clothes instead of appropriate wear for Council,” he said.

One side of the chamber was packed with students from Red Valley High School, prompting Campbell to note the “great variety of age groups represented here.”

A layman student of history, Campbell recalled a comment from Madam Chiang Kai-shek. “Her husband was the leader of nationalist China who escaped when Communism took over China, and they moved to what is called the island of Taiwan and set up the national Chinese government in Formosa.

“When asked about the importance of different ages one time in her later life when she came to this country, she had a very succinct comment. She said, 'We may live in the present and we may dream of the future, but we must learn from the past.

“As I look around the room, I see a few people of my own age group. I sometimes refer to them as keepers of the old ways. ... I think it's extremely important to keep those old ways alive. When Madam Chiang talked about the dreams of the future, these are the young people and keepers of our dreams, because those old ways and sacrifices that the people that went ahead of us made, were for you,” he told the youth.

Having served in the U.S. Senate, the House, and the Colorado state legislature, Campbell told delegates that as politicians, there are many decisions they have to make that are very difficult and very complicated.

“It takes a great deal of courage to run for any level of public office, and sometimes you will lay awake at night, as I did for so many years, wondering if you did the right thing. But with the help of the Creator and people that are wiser than I was, and perhaps wiser than you, you will have done a good job when your tenure is up.”

Before his political career, Campbell was an artist and craftsman – painting, sculpting, and making southwest-style jewelry. He used to travel to a lot of Native American events, “powwowing some and dancing a little bit, doing some things I had great pleasure in.”

Along the way he met a very well-known Oklahoma Seminole by the name of Enoch Kelly Haney. “Kelly and I used to talk about many of the problems our Native people face nationwide, and he convinced me that the time is over that you can sit by the sidelines and just complain about things. If you want to make change, you've got to be involved,” he said.

“When I got involved over a quarter century ago, I talked to some of my more militant friends. They asked me, 'Why do you want to be involved with a government that took everything away from us?' Frankly, the bottom line is, to not be involved could make things worse than to be involved,” he said.

“So I ran for the legislature in Colorado and was the second person of Native ancestry to win a seat there; and then I ran for Congress.”

Many young Indian people now ask him how to go about running for office. “They're becoming more interested in getting involved, and so I always tell them: First you've got to show up, you've got to be willing to take some heat and do the hard work, and if you have some good ideas and you want to help make it a better country and a better nation for all of our young people, people will vote for you.”

As the first person of Indian ancestry to chair the Committee on Indian Affairs, Campbell, a Cheyenne, said he was very proud of the bills they authored and had signed into law that were helpful to Indian people – bills to strengthen the tribal courts, to create jobs, to do Indian sections on the highway bill and the energy bill of 2005.

But the thing he is most proud of is the National Museum of the American Indian. “I was on the House side when I wrote that legislation almost a quarter century ago. The great senator Dan Inoyue from Hawaii wrote the Senate version.

“My version was a little different from his because I noticed that the Smithsonian Institute had the remains of over 14,000 of our people. It's a long story of how they got those remains, but it's always been a burr under the saddle of every Native person I know that they had the remains of our people warehoused in boxes and bins and on shelves and not returned to the Mother Earth and their tribal group.”

Campbell's version required the Smithsonian start giving those remains back to tribes, “and they have been doing so, and it has been good,” he said. “So we built that beautiful facility which is sometimes called the monument to Indian people in this nation. If you haven't been to it, you should, because it's your house, your building and your museum.”

PECHANGA CASINO'S PER CAPITA HISTORY
Submitted by Original Pechanga
Tuesday, December 30, 2008

FifteenYears After Pechanga Has Opened Its Casino
1993 - Nov. 24: Pechanga announces plan to open Casino. 96 years after the death of Paulina Hunter and 14 years after open enrollment of 1979. There were NO plans for casino in 1979, and Hunter descendent some of the lowest enrollment numbers.

1995 - Dec. 31: Pechanga per capita checks total $1,075 for the year.

1996 - Pechanga per capita checks rise to $3,360 yearly.

1997 - Pechanga per capita checks soar to $20, 204 a six-fold increase. Pechanga establishes a moratorium, keeping rightful members from joining the tribe. Pechanga announces it's to allow the enrollment committee to "catch up" on applications. 11 years later, the moratorium is still in place.

2000 - Pechanga per capita checks total $47,744 for the year. Former Pechanga Spokesman imprisoned for child molestation. Pechanga later uses his hearsay testimony over scientific research.

2001: Enrollment committee sends notice to general membership that there are no plans to disenroll anyone, that the rumor of plans to disenroll hundreds of tribal members is just that, a rumor.

2003 - Pechanga checks now total: $187,302. CPP (Splinter group calling themselves Conderned Pechanga People) pushes for disenrollment of the Manuela Miranda family. They claim it’s NOT ABOUT THE MONEY. Read about Pechanga’s Paper Trail of Tears. Chairman Mark Macarro tells Press Enterprise: "What goes on internally at Pechanga is of no business to the white man, enrollment included"

2004 - Pechanga per capita checks rise from $15,000 to 17,662 per MONTH after Manuela Miranda family is ejected from the tribe. Over 800 adults get an additional $2600 per month.
Tribal Chairman Macarro says it’s NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.

Enrollment committee receives the report they commissioned from Dr. John Johnson, whom THEY hired to research the background of Paulina Hunter. He states that Paulina Hunter was born Pechanga to Mateo Quisicac, who has Pechanga referenced in his census record. The ONLY one on record.

2005 - Pechanga per capita totals $238,000 for the year, elders receive a larger stipend. There are 25 elders in the Hunter clan, CPP pushes for disenrollment of the only Pechanga ancestor who has Pechanga listed in her lineage in the 19th Century. It’s not about the money?

Tribal general membership meets in one of there largest gatherings to date and overwhelmining votes to STOP all disenrollments and remove the disenrollment process from tribal law by a HUGE margin.

2006 – Council decides to cancel all tribal general membership meetings for several months, not the usual custom and gathering in secret behind closed doors decides to overturn the vote of the general membership and continue with the disenrollment process. March 20, Hunter family receives notice of disenrollments

2006 - April, Dr John Johnson sends enrollment committee letter reiterating his findings that Paulina Hunter was an Original Pechanga Person.

http://originalpechanga.blogspot.com/2008/12/fifteen-years-after-pechanga-announces.html

“The Pechanga tribe voted that 90% of all net profit goes to per capita.

“1000 members at 15,000 per month is 15,000,000 pot to split. If you cut 130 down, you split the 15,000,000 with 870 people. You cut another 95 and you split that same 15,000,000 with 775 people.

“The tribe is currently paying $30,500 per month in per capita.”

Original Pechanga
http://originalpechanga.blogspot.com/

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'$2.5 Billion For Indian Country In Stimulus Package'

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'Interior' Welcomes Michelle Obama - Stimulus Bill Benefits - Environmental Law Conference - Defenders Of Black Hills

Secretaty Salazar, DOI Employees Welcome First Lady
Submitted by Native Workplace
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar welcomed First Lady Michelle Obama to the Department of the Interior, hailing her as “a rock for the future of the nation.” The third visit of the First Lady to a federal department since President Obama’s inauguration featured a ceremony rooted in Interior’s responsibilities to Native Americans--Indian drum rolls and presentation of a shawl marking her achievements.

Joined by some of the department’s longest-serving employees on stage, the First Lady and Secretary thanked all employees for their service and reaffirmed President Barack Obama’s commitment to investing in conservation to help put people back to work as well as his commitment to respecting sovereign Indian nations.

“At a time when so many Americans are out of work, sound energy and environmental policies are going to create thousands of jobs through the economic recovery and investment plan,” Mrs. Obama told a capacity crowd of employees who had lined up for several hours to see her in the departmental auditorium. “You are at the center of one of this Administration’s highest priorities: securing America’s energy future, protecting our natural environment and using the natural resources as responsibly as we can,” she said. “It is not only vital for the survival of our planet as we work to combat climate change but also incredibly important to strengthen our economy and the well being of our families.”

In recognition of Mrs. Obama’s accomplishments, she was welcomed by “the Honor Song” sung by Traditional drum singers, the Black Bear Singers, an inter-tribal group representing American Indians who live and work in the Washington, D.C. area.

Employees presented the First Lady with a traditional American Indian woman’s shawl with an appliqué horse pattern-- a mark of respect to honor women of high achievements and distinction. Nedra Darling, Director of Public Affairs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, presented the shawl, which was made by Marian Hansson, curator of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Darling is a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, while Hansson is a member of the Kiowa Nation.

While thanking employees for the honors, the First Lady reiterated the President’s commitment to appoint an American Indian policy advisor on his senior White House staff.

In thanking the First Lady for her visit, Secretary Salazar said that from the time he met Barack and Michelle Obama in 2004, when he and Mr. Obama were both freshmen senators, the couple have exhibited the “calm, coolness, confidence and resolve that really will bring about the change that America and the world need so much.”

Breaking News
Indian Benefits From the Passage of the Stimulus Bill -
The breakdown of spending in the final stimulus bill assures that Indian country was, indeed, allocated some long overdue assistance.

* Highway infrastructure funds for the Indian Reservation Roads program ($550,000,000);

* Native American housing block grants ($510,000,000);

* Bureau of Indian Affairs construction of roads, schools and detention centers ($450,000,000);

* Indian health facilities ($415,000,000);

* State and local law enforcement assistance to Indian tribes ($225,000,000);

* Community Development Financial Institutions Fund for financial assistance, training and outreach to Native American, Hawaiian and Alaskan native communities ($100,000,000);

* Indian Health Service information technology and telehealth services ($85,000,000);

* Bureau of Indian Affairs job training and housing improvement programs ($40,000,000);* Bureau of Indian Affairs - Office of Inspector General ($15,000,000);

* Indian guaranteed loan program ($10,000,000);

* Food distribution program on Indian reservations ($5,000,000).

The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference
Submitted by Eleanore Fanire
This is the premier annual gathering for environmentalists worldwide, distinguished as the oldest and largest of its kind.

The Conference historically unites more than 3,000 activists, attorneys, students, scientists, and concerned citizens from over 50 countries around the globe to share their experience and expertise.

Join us in Eugene, OR, Feb. 26-Mar. 1, 2009.
http://www.pielc.org/.

Defenders Of The Black Hills
The SD Department of Environment and Natural Resources has sent a Notice of Hearing on the Nominations of Lands to the Preliminary List of Special, Exceptional, Critical, or Unique Lands.

The following is a summary of that information.
"Notice is hereby given that the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources has received three petitions to nominate land for inclusion on the preliminary list of special, exceptional, critical, or unique lands.

These petitions were received from Charmaine White Face and the Defenders of the Black Hills, Debra White Plume, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe, through its attorney, Elizabeth Lorina.

The nominated area includes land 12 to 17 miles northwest of Edgemont, South Dakota..

"[To see the nominations go to http://denr.sd.gov/des/mm/powertechsupage.aspx ]

"In accordance with SDCL 45-6B and SDCL 1-26, a consolidated hearing on the petitions to nominate the land to be included in the preliminary list.will take place before the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment on February 19, 2009, at 11:00 AM CST. The hearing will be held at the Matthew Environmental Education and Training Center, 523 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, South Dakota.

Please attend the hearing if you are able. It is open to the public.

"This hearing is an adversary proceeding. Those wishing to intervene may do so by filing a petition to intervene in accordance with ARSD Chapter 74:09:01. The final date for filing a petition to intervene and become a party to the contested case hearing is February 17, 2009.

Any person that becomes party to the proceeding has the following rights at the hearing: to be present, to be represented by a lawyer. These and other due process rights will be forfeited if not exercised at the hearing. The decision of the Board may be appealed to the Circuit Court and State Supreme Court as provided by law.

"Persons interested in presenting data, opinions, and arguments for or against any of the nominating petitions may do so by appearing in person at the hearing or by sending such information to the Minerals and Mining Program, 523 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501-3182.

Written objections to, or statements in support of the nominating petitions should be submitted to the Minerals and Mining Program no later than Feb. 18, 2009..."[Please send in a statement supporting our nomination of the lands to protect the archaeological sites, the bald eagles, and the ground water.

Thank you.

If you wish more information regarding this hearing, you may contact either
Eric Holm or Roberta Fivecoate, Minerals and Mining Program,
523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, SD 57501-3182, or by calling (605) 773-4201.

Submitted by Charmaine White Face, Coordinator
P. O. Box 2003, Rapid City, SD 57709
Phone: (605) 399 -1868

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'Who's That "Nuking" At My Door?' Asks The Navajo Nation - Native Policy Advisor

Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly is in Paris, France, this week to look at renewable energy and the recycling of nuclear fuel.

Sherrick Roanhorse of the Vice President's Office said Shelly is one of nine tribal leaders invited by the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management in Denver. “The trip is purely educational. It's to educate tribal leaders about energy policy, energy technology, and it's to make the tribal leaders aware of energy projects.

“The United States currently does not recycle spent fuel rods by the United States' 104 reactors,” Roanhorse said.

According to its Web site, the Institute and Areva – the world leader in nuclear power – organized a series of site visits to Areva energy facilities in France for a tribal delegation from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Osage Nation, and Navajo Nation.

Also in the delegation are representatives of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes and Sinte Gleska University in Mission, S.D. The site visits are intended to further inform tribal leadership on the wide range of energy and sustainable development issues that already are the focus of national and international energy and climate policies and programs, the announcement states.

Areva has manufacturing facilities in 43 countries and a sales network in more than 100. The nuclear giant has a front-end division that deals with uranium ore exploration, mining, concentration, conversion and enrichment, nuclear fuel design and fabrication.

The company also designs and constructs nuclear reactors, while its back-end division specializes in the treatment and recycling of used fuel and cleanup of nuclear facilities. It also has a transmission and distribution division that provides systems and services designed to transport and distribute electricity from the power plant to the final user.

The Arizona Legislature is considering House Bill 2623, to add a renewable energy standard. Under the bill, nuclear energy would be considered renewable energy. The “Renewable Energy Policy” would include tax credits and incentives relating to the production and distribution of solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, nuclear, hydro generation, agricultural waste and landfill gas power.

“Renewables is one answer. It's not the whole answer, but it's one answer to economic development,” Roanhorse said. “What's driving our whole energy policy is just to try to develop what we have, as well as bring more jobs to our people, and we're looking at different avenues.

“But we're not building a nuclear plant. We're not discussing it, we're not thinking about it, and it's not on our agenda because the Navajo Nation Council and the Navajo Nation as a whole oppose uranium mining and milling. It's the law of the land. We follow that.”

When asked whether the Nation was looking at selling uranium to a foreign entity, Roanhorse said, “I can't answer that. There's no talks of uranium mining or anything of that nature. It's too premature to talk about uranium mining or future nuclear facilities.” He said the group is looking at biomass – the burning of wood fuels – and wind energy, and that the vice president did tour a nuclear recycling fuel site.

Due to the projected Navajo Nation budget shortfall of more than $15 million, the executive branch imposed travel restrictions for its staff on Feb. 6, according to George Hardeen, communications director for the Office of the President/Vice President.

Roanhorse said the vice president's round-trip plane ticket on United Airlines from Albuquerque to Paris cost only $646 and was paid for by the Division of Natural Resources, with the Institute footing the bill for all other costs. The initiative was spearheaded by the Division of Natural Resources, he said. “They're looking at all sorts of energy. Our primary interest is renewable energy, but we also wanted to learn more about nuclear recycling.”

Hardeen said the Navajo ban on uranium mining and processing is the law of the land and will remain so until the Navajo people decide otherwise.

“That's not to say that Navajo leaders should close their eyes when invited to learn about the latest technology, but it will be the Navajo people who will change that law, if they change that law. It's not something that the vice president can do or the president can do, or that they would choose to do.”

Resources Committee Chairman George Arthur, who was unaware of the vice president's trip or that it was being paid for out of the division's budget, said, “That's interesting, because I'm getting my education right here on Navajo with people that are party to some of these discussions and I don't have to travel very far to get good information on renewable energy like wind power and solar energy. It's just next door to us.

“As far as nuclear interest is concerned, I'm kind of puzzled that one particular leadership should be having to travel abroad to expand on the industry or to be educated in respect to nuclear development when that in itself has been very devastating to our own Navajo people. I, for one, took the initiative to put forth a legislation that I assume the Navajo Nation leadership upholds and will uphold in respect to the banning of nuclear development, either mining or processing activities.”

Budget and Finance Committee Chairman LoRenzo Bates also said that the Navajo Nation has spoken on the uranium issue “and before any possibility of that being considered, it most definitely has to be brought back to the Nation for consideration. But given the lack of any further revenue outside of the casinos, outside of Desert Rock that has yet to become a reality, a president may end up looking at some sort of involvement with uranium.

“But up until then, that president cannot be beating around the bush. A president has to come out and let the people know that this is what's being considered. This back-room tactics doesn't cut it with the Navajo people. At some point there will be a president that's going to have to deal with the matter.”

Obama to Appoint Senior Policy Advisor on Native American Issues
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
Falmouth Institute - American Indian Report

Yesterday First Lady Michelle Obama told staffers that the President plans to appoint a policy advisor to his senior White House staff dedicated to Native American issues.

“He will soon appoint a policy adviser to his senior White House staff to work with tribes and across the government on these issues such as sovereignty, health care and education, all central to the well being of Native American families and the prosperity of tribes," Mrs. Obama said, speaking from prepared remarks.

To read a blog on Mrs. Obama’s visit to Interior, go here.

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Billionaire's Cattle Donation Questioned - Time To Look A 'Gift Longhorn' In The Eye! - Native Disunity

By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – Texas billionaire B.J. “Red” McCombs, who is aspiring to do business with the Navajo Nation, donated 10 Texas longhorn cattle valued at $10,000 to the Nation in 2007, prompting some to question why such news never made headlines.

The cattle were delivered Nov. 14, 2007, to Fort Wingate High School, along with pertinent veterinary health documentation submitted by Larry Foster, according to a Dec. 18, 2007, letter from McCombs to Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan.

The donation reaffirmed a commitment made at a meeting and discussions held May 4, 2007, in Johnson City, Texas, McCombs said.

In a Dec. 17, 2007, letter to Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., Morgan notified the president that 10 longhorn cattle were delivered Nov. 30, 2007, and were penned at the Fort Wingate High School rodeo ground.

“As you may know, cattle are an important part of advancements in agriculture. One aspect is animal husbandry, which is simply breeding and raising livestock. The cattle could be given to BIA operated schools that have agriculture programs for use in veterinary science,” Morgan said.

The longhorns now are reported to be at one of the Navajo Nation ranches, referred to as Slash B, and managed by John Berry, according to the Speaker's Office, which provided documents on the donation.

Acceptance of the cattle did not need to go through the Ethics and Rules Office, according to Joshua Lavar Butler, communications director for the Office of the Speaker, because it wasn't a gift to an individual. “It was a gift and a donation to the Nation. If it was given to Speaker Morgan as a gift, anything given to him has to be under $100.”

Butler said the Nation already was starting a program for longhorns and McCombs knew that, so that's why he gave the cattle to the Nation. “We didn't do a press release for it because it was just a gift,” he said.

The Government Services Committee, chaired by Delegate Ervin Keeswood, concurred in the acceptance of the gift on Dec. 20, 2007, about a month after the cattle were delivered, according to a resolution approved 7-0 on a motion from Roy Laughter and a second from Orlanda Smith-Hodge.

A May 14, 2008, issue of E-Trails, an electronic publication of the Texas Longhorn Trails, displays photos from the 30th Anniversary Red McCombs Fiesta Sale held May 3, 2008, at McCombs' ranch in Johnson City, Texas.

The article shows a photo of McCombs presenting a plaque to Speaker Morgan, and states:

“Before the sale, Red McCombs introduced representatives from the Navajo Nation. McCombs had arranged for several Texas Longhorns to be donated to the Navajo Nation from many prominent breeding programs. He also presented the Navajo representatives with an exact replica of the gavel used in the Texas legislature and two plaques commemorating the event. Lawrence Morgan, speaker for the Navajo Council, thanked McCombs and each of the contributors for their generous donations.”

A 2007 Fiesta Sale photo shows McCombs, Navajo Enterprises President and CEO Bob Honts – a business partner of McCombs – and special guests from the Navajo Nation, including Morgan, Keeswood, and Larry Foster of Native Energy Development.

Honts said Wednesday evening that McCombs donated the cattle with legislative approval because he wanted to encourage Navajos to get involved with the longhorn breed. “He is very much an advocate for the longhorn herd. He's kind of built the entire breed up because of the fact that he is.”

Fritz Roanhorse with Navajo Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that the cattle were delivered to Fort Wingate, “but Fort Wingate has failed to upkeep and care for the animals.” He said they were transferred to the tribal ranch a couple years ago.

“We're taking care of them, they're on the tribal ranches, they're reproducing and will be a part of the tribal enterprise. We'll probably register them and start a good herd. Right now we're just taking care of them for the Speaker's Office,” he said.

In a November presentation to the Resources Committee, Honts said Navajo Enterprises entered into a non-binding agreement with the Nation in May 2007 – the same month McCombs committed to donate the cattle -- which gave them the right to do full feasibility studies on many trust and fee properties.

“Those studies, and the results of those will come back to you soon in this committee, with recommended plans of action for major developments for large resorts, for co-development plans around gaming facilities which we've been working with the Navajo Gaming Enterprise on, and for a number of other projects,” he said.

“And I wasn't shot between the eyes by Mr. McCombs when I told him I just had a plan for him to guarantee a loan for $76 million. He's very interested. We believe that if Big Bo Ranch can be pledged as security to the loan on a long-term basis, it would be perfectly secure, but it will make a loan package that will allow this to happen.”

Edison Mission Energy and Foresight Wind Energy, a venture partner with Edison, are seeking a modification to the Big Bo master lease for a three-phase wind project. If they get the modification, construction of Phase I, Aubrey Cliffs, is expected to begin by Fourth Quarter 2009 and generate 70 to 99 megawatts of renewable energy.

Honts said that he, McCombs and Foster hoped to prepare modifications to the Big Bo master lease agreement after which “Red and I would start on some of the most lucrative, promising ways for Big Bo to make money in other ways, like proving out a water development on that ranch which could be even bigger than wind if we could find the right amount of water.”

LeChee Chapter recently gave unanimous approval to a resolution denouncing the potential development by Navajo Enterprises of 50,000 acres along Navajo Canyon in LeChee, Kaibeto and Inscription House chapters for private home sites, hotels, casinos, and possibly other business ventures. LeChee Chapter is located adjacent to Lake Powell.

“We, the people of the LeChee Chapter, adopt this resolution to put the central government on notice that we will resist any move to take our land. The chapter calls upon the central government of the Navajo Nation, specifically Speaker Lawrence Morgan and Delegate Ervin Keeswood to disclose any discussions on such a venture before proceeding further,” the resolution states.

LeChee resident Ivan Gamble has questioned McCombs' cattle donation as well as legislation sponsored by Morgan and approved by Council to rescind a 1970 memorandum of agreement regarding the Glen Canyon Recreation Area. Morgan has said that the agreement limited development of the Navajo side of Lake Powell.

There has been no presentation to LeChee Chapter members regarding the proposed Navajo Canyon development and possible long-term leasing of home sites to non-Navajos, according to Gamble. “In the Dine' way, even when the 'hataalii' (medicine man) need suds to wash their patient, they must ask the permission of the yucca bush before they remove one spindle,” he said.

Navajo Canyon development plans have not progressed beyond the “conversation over coffee” stage, according to Resources Chairman George Arthur.

Native Disunity
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Original Pechanga Blog

Indians don't need to receive full Due Process Says Judge
Judge rules Indian Housing Agency does not have to provide full due process in eviction of disenrolled IndianValley Center, CA-

The judge for the Intertribal Court of Southern California granted a request by the All Mission Indian Housing Authority (AMIHA), a tribal housing consortium in Southern California, to evict a disenrolled member of the Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians from here home on the Santa Rosa Indian Reservation.

The AMIHA instituted the eviction of the disenrolled member based on a January 9, 2008 request by the Santa Rosa Tribal Council seeking action against the disenrolled member and other occupants of her home. Based on an investigation by the AMIHA, the disenrolled member was served with a Notice of Termination on January 23, 2008. Subsequently, the AMIHA instituted an eviction proceeding against the disenrolled member.

In the Answer to the AMIHA's Complaint for Eviction, the disenrolled member denied the grounds listed for eviction and further claimed that the AMIHA violated the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the Mutual Help and Occupancy Agreement (MHOA) which governs the lease agreement between herself and AMIHA.

The Answer specifically pointed to procedural requirements contained in the MHOA which a housing authority must comply with before issuing a notice of termination. The procedural requirements at issue specifically protect lessees from arbitrary and unjust termination actions by requiring Indian housing authorities to follow certain steps prior to issuing a notice of eviction.

In spite of the AMIHA's failure to comply with the stated procedural requirements and case law from other tribal courts which state that a housing authority must comply with the procedural requirements set forth in the MHOA, the judge stated that it was not necessary for the AMIHA to provide due process and equal protection under all aspects of the MHOA as long as they did so after the termination.

The ruling and the judge's reasoning could have far reaching affects on all AMIHA lessees and other HUD program beneficiaries as it clears the way for tribal housing agencies to violate specific procedural requirements, without fear of legal consequences, meant to protect lessees from arbitrary termination actions.

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Canada & Big Tobacco Try To Terminate Indigenous Trade

Six Nations And Tyendinaga Illegally Invaded On Feb. 5th
Mohawk Nation News,
Feb. 6, 2009
Last summer two Canadian tobacco giants agreed to pay the largest criminal fines and civil settlements in Canadian history for their role in cigarette smuggling and tax evasion. Revenue Minister Gordon O’Conner announced the biggest “sweetheart” deal ever.

Three companies were involved – R.J. Reynolds, Imperial Tobacco and Rothman. The fine is $4 billion. Reynolds and Imperial will pay $1.1 billion for mass criminal tax fraud. Where will the rest come from? Ordinary people who don’t pay their fines are harassed and jailed. But not these guys!

Nine R.J. Reynolds executives were charged. None went to jail. Ever wonder why? Paul Martin, former Prime Minister, was on the IMASCO board that owns Imperial. Tobacco industry executive, Paul Finalyson, says Imperial initially set up the operations and the rest followed. There will be no trial. The exact nature of the involvement of these companies and their executives will remain hidden from the public.

The tobacco companies planned and set up the “contraband” market in the early 1990s. They shipped truckloads of product to Buffalo and Syracuse in New York State, supposedly for sale in the U.S. No taxes had to be paid to Canada. This product was then sold to middlemen. They brought the product back to Canada for sale at very low prices. Sales rose from $800 million a year to $6 billion by 1993. Everybody was involved, police, judges, stores, cigarette companies and so on.

Cigarettes became cheaper and sales and profits soared. In Canada one in three was a smuggled cigarette. The big tobacco companies taught the indigenous people how to run this business in a sophisticated way. Now successful Indigenous business people are being called “organized crime” for manufacturing and selling the very same product that Canada and big tobacco are dealing in.

In 1994 the federal government weaned itself off the “golden teat” by dropping the price on cigarettes. Overnight smuggling stopped because it wasn’t profitable. The deal between Canada and big tobacco was a business arrangement between two partners. The Canadian government has an interest in keeping tobacco sales high to collect more taxes, while at the same professing to cut down cigarette smoking to bring down medical care costs. Smoking is on the decline.

But these big companies and their corporate protector, Canada, want to keep the money rolling in. They are trying to do this by putting legitimate indigenous tobacco manufacturers out of business. They do not want legitimate Indigenous traders to legally sell tax free products. So they have to illegally stop our trade by bullying, charging, threatening and fining us. Big tobacco companies are waiting to start up again big time. Canada does not want to “shoot the goose that laid the golden egg” but it does want to steal any eggs laid by Indigenous people.

In the meantime, the tobacco companies have moved all their assets off-shore. British colonization of Turtle Island was founded on piracy. Throughout we have asserted our sovereignty including the duty to look after our families according to our traditional laws and governance. Tobacco trade was always a part of our traditional culture. Today the colonists want the valueless paper currency we are getting in exchange for our legitimate products.

Who’s the counterfeiter here? We are accountable to our mothers, grandmothers, aunties, sisters, clanmothers, chiefs, clans and nations. Crown employees take an oath to uphold the colonial way of life which is aimed at destroying us. They obviously want to stop us from having any means at all to look after each other and our families. Most Ongwehonwe communities in Canada are so poor that people don’t have adequate nutrition.

It really sticks in their craw to see that we have found a way to feed our families and live decently. On February 5 2009 our "smoke shops" and businesses in Six Nations and Tyendinaga came under fire. Canada decided to once again try to illegally enforce its colonial jurisdiction on us and our territory. Squads of Six Nations Police and the Tyendinaga Mohawk Police, which are set up by the Canadian government, acted under the direction of the colonial band councilors.

They set out to remove all products from a smoke shop and even tried to remove the building itself. Our men and women stopped them. Marked and undercover police hid out in Caledonia behind Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire parking lots and elsewhere. An OPP cruiser that got “lost” in Six Nations was turned back.

In a former "dry run" the police would feign being lost in our community “accidentally”! The OPP were actually testing our response so they could figure out the number, type of officers, weaponry and media required to attack us and make us look bad. They are also testing their communications equipment in all these operations now. Martial law can’t be brought in until all the kinks are ironed out.

The band council police told us that if they can't "get the job done", outside authorities will be brought in. We wanted to see proof of their rights to invade us and try to shut us down. The band council and its goons are part of the colonial “bankster” apparatus, no matter how dark their skin is under their uniforms. The same day, on February 5th, in Tyendinaga, six rez cops, with OPP SWAT Team backup 500 ft. down the road, went into a local bar claiming to have a warrant which they refused to show. They seized some cases of beer and whisky.

The owner is accused of not paying Ontario provincial taxes even though there is no agreement for us to pay any taxes to foreigners. This is really a “protection racket”. At the other end of the community towards the Trans Canada Highway 401 were parked SUVs, vans and a tactical team. They hesitate to come in as they know they have no jurisdiction over us in any way. We have no agreement with the colony of Canada to pay any taxes to them. By international law we require a valid agreement contracted with our full knowledge and consent, which does not exist.

That can’t and will never happen. It looks like Canada and big tobacco have made a deal to raise prices, collect the taxes and kill their biggest competitors, the Indigenous people. It isn’t gonna work, guys. Unilaterally making laws, then forcing them down our throats by sending in your para-military death squads is illegal. You know it!

Ia’koha:kowa

MNN Staff Mohawk Nation News
www.mohawknationnews.com
Contact: 613-813-1017, 514-269-1400

kittoh@storm.ca
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kahentinetha2@yahoo.com

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Proposed 'Port Of Navajo' - Utah Wilderness Saved, Again!

Intermodal Rail Port Proposed For New Land
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK – Von K. Jenson, general manager of Rolling Hills Ranches, is hoping to partner with the Navajo Nation to create an intermodal rail port and Foreign Trade Zone on land adjacent to Nahata Dziil Chapter.

Jenson purchased land formerly known as the Lombardi Ranch in Navajo, Ariz., which consists of private and state lands, according to Ernest Hubbell, former Navajo Nation Council delegate for Nahata Dziil, or New Lands, and liaison with the project.

The intermodal rail port and distribution center tentatively would be called the Port of Navajo, Hubbell said, “just like the Port of Los Angeles where all of these cargoes and shipments are coming in from overseas.” What he and Jenson would like to see is some of those shipments that come in by rail, load off and on at the Port of Navajo.

The developer hopes to connect to a Salt River Project-owned rail spur that ties in to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. The spur is used to transport Navajo coal to power plants in St. Johns and Springerville, according to Hubbell.

“Our intentions are to connect off of that spur and develop that area eastwardly into the New Lands and run a railroad spur through there,” he recently told the Resources Committee.

Rolling Hills is willing to give up its state lands to Navajo in order to generate a foreign trade zone. Jenson said he has spoken with two senators and they see no problem with Navajo getting a Foreign Trade Zone designation.

“Without the support of the Navajo Nation this project isn't going to go. With the support of the Navajo Nation it will go,” he said. “We are giving up state property. Mr. Roman Bitsui (Navajo-Hopi Land Commission) met with the state and it was his suggestion that we work out a lease basis, changing it from an agricultural lease to a commercial lease, and look at purchasing it from the state.

“We would like to have the Nation involved to help grow the area and make sure whatever goes in there is clean industry,” he said. “Working together we can probably make a very successful business venture.”

Foreign Trade Zones are considered to be outside of U.S. Customs Territory for the purpose of customs duty payment. Therefore, goods entering Foreign Trade Zones are not subject to customs tariffs until the goods leave the zone and are formally entered into U.S. Customs Territory. Merchandise that is shipped to foreign countries from a Foreign Trade Zone is exempt from duty payments.

“We're located in very prime area and we would have traffic from Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Albuquerque trucking industry. We've got pretty close to $5 million expended on this project already,” Hubbell said. A site plan of the project shows multi-modal-, terminal-, and warehouse/distribution facilities, and a future 1,000-acre Navajo Commerce Park to be registered as a Foreign Trade Zone.

In addition to rail access, the Port of Navajo would provide interim warehousing scalable from 30,000 to 1 million square feet, as well as 35,000 square feet of below 0 degrees (F) storage. Rolling Hills Ranches would develop the project with its own funds and employ largely Navajo workers.

Hubbell said some roads and cattle guards have been developed and they have been working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the railroad to build a four-lane, $17 million bridge which would span the river and the railroad tracks.

Jenson said potential funding sources have told him that once he has the backing of the Nation and the chapter, they are willing to start putting the project together. “The Navajo Nation can do in a day what would take me 25 years or never,” especially in dealing with the state and SRP, he said.

Nahata Dziil Chapter voted 26-0-0 last August to support the project. “This is a gateway to opportunity,” Arnold Begay, chapter president, told Resources Committee.

Jenson said Burlington Northern is interested in bulk storage in the area, Wal-Mart could use a distribution center, and Swift Trucking also has expressed interest. Other investors have looked at establishing a major truck stop, a possible casino, and a hotel, none of which would be at Navajo's expense, he said.

SRP will not consent to connect to the railroad spur until the Navajo Nation expresses its support for the project, Hubbell said. “That's the only thing we're asking the Navajo Nation, the Resources Committee – to direct and probably tell Salt River Project to allow us to connect to that spur.”

Rolling Hills Ranches also is offering a special discount program for Homeland Security deployed military personnel in Arizona as they protect the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant west of Phoenix, the Hoover Dam on the Nevada border, and shore up the Mexican border, a Dec. 11 press release states.

“According to Rolling Hills Ranches, it seems clear that there is a move under way to assign U.S. troops. As an act to support our troops, Rolling Hills Ranches in Navajo, Ariz., has decided to offer a discount on property purchased by military personnel stationed in Arizona in an effort to encourage and strengthen the position of the Department of Homeland Security in the state.

“It is the hope of Rolling Hills Ranches that this affordable ranch land will ease financial burdens and offer a place of respite for off-duty military personnel as they move their families to the state of Arizona.”

Ranches from 10 to 40 acres are available for purchase and most of the property is priced from $3,000 to $5,000 per acre, depending on views and location, according to Rolling Hills' Web site.

Sec. Salazar Cancels Sale Of 77 Oil And Gas Leases In So. Utah
Hi Bobbie:
We've got more great news to share with you! Today Interior Secretary Salazar canceled the sale of 77 oil and gas leases on wilderness-quality lands offered for sale in December 2008 by the Bush administration.

SUWA and our environmental partners filed suit to stop the leasing, and in January a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order that prevented the Bureau of Land Management from finalizing the sale. Secretary Salazar's decision is a tremendous step forward ensuring that spectacular public landscapes like Desolation Canyon, areas near Arches and Canyonlands National Park, Dinosaur National Monument and Nine Mile Canyon will be given a reprieve from the chopping block.

The December lease sale was only made possible because of the wildly unbalanced Resource Management Plans that the Bush administration left us with before leaving office. These plans open large swaths of Utah’s wilderness quality lands to oil and gas leasing, drilling and destructive off road vehicle use.

Yesterday we amended our legal action and refocused the litigation to challenge not only the December 2008 lease sale, but also the Resource Management Plans that led to the sale, including the off road vehicle (ORV) travel plans, the lack of consideration of climate change, the failure to designate Wild and Scenic Rivers, and the refusal to consider designating new Wilderness Study Areas.

Secretary Salazar's action today is a critical first step in remedying the disastrous environmental policies of the Bush administration, but there is much more to be done. Until the six flawed Resource Management Plans are revised, the Utah BLM will be able to proceed on auto-pilot, selling more oil and gas leases in special places and allowing ORVs to damage wild landscapes. We’re hopeful that Secretary Salazar’s strong decision on the December 2008 sale is a sign that he’s ready and willing to tackle the real source of the problem.

Thank you for your concern about this issue. Working together, and with support from great activists like you, we can provide permanent protection for Utah's wild lands!
The Staff at SUWA

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California Tribal Gaming In Dispute - Natives Could Reap Almost $3 Bil In Stimulus - Facebook's 'Name Game'

The Dark Side Of Indian Gaming

News Release -
What: Press Conference and Testimony
When: February 5, 2008 @ 11:00 am
Where: California State Capitol Building –
North Side10th St & Capitol Mall-
Sacramento, California

An epidemic is sweeping through Indian Country, and in its wake, it is leaving thousands of victims struggling for basic rights protections.

"The civil rights of Indian people need to be protected from and enforced against the illegal acts of tribal officials. Until such a time, thousands more Indian people will be victimized as corrupt tribal officials violate tribal and federal laws to deny or strip them of the basic rights all other United States citizens enjoy," commented John Gomez Jr. of the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization.

"Tribal officials will continue to violate civil and human rights laws as long as they can escape prosecution for such actions by hiding behind tribal sovereignty."

Read the FULL story at Original Pechanga's Blog
http://originalpechanga.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tribal Gaming NO JACKPOT for California
Submitted by Original Pechanga’s Blog

In his article Tribal Slots NO JACKPOT for California Peter Hecht discusses how Tribal Gaming is not all it's cracked up to be.

Is it time for Gambling to be legalized throughout the state?

Schwarzenegger tried to keep Californians from voting on expanded gaming last year. The tribes ALSO tried to keep us from voting, remember? Now, both the tribes and the Governor are NOT delivering on the promises made to us.

The solution? EXPAND gaming to all Californians. Let it be run like Nevada and let's get the competition STARTED. The tribes, who promised self-reliance, yet destroyed many of their own people, have the advantage of a head start.

Let's get California MOVING forward by building casinos near population centers and airports.

More jobs, more income, more taxes.

American Indians Could Reap Almost $ 3 Billion In Stimulus
By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer Mary
Clare Jalonick, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – American Indians stand to gain almost $3 billion as part of the economic stimulus moving through Congress, money that could help some of the nation's poorest communities rebuild roads, improve health care and boost employment that has lagged behind the rest of the country for decades.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday included $2.8 billion for Indian tribes in its portion of the nearly $900 billion economic stimulus bill, and a House version to be voted on Wednesday includes a similar amount. That includes hundreds of millions of dollars for schools, health clinics, roads, law enforcement and water projects.

Dante Desiderio, an economic development policy specialist at the National Congress of American Indians, which has lobbied for the money for the past year, calls the bill a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for tribes.

"It really has the potential to lift our communities out of poverty," Desiderio said.

Indian Country has a long way to go in terms of reviving tribal economies. According to the National Congress of American Indians, real per-capita income of Indians living on reservations is still less than half the national average, unemployment is twice that of the rest of the country, and eight of the 10 poorest counties in the United States are on reservations.

That group originally asked for $6.1 billion in the stimulus, an amount that they said would generate more than 50,000 jobs.

"It's not going to allow them to catch up, but its a significant boost," said North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee who inserted the money into the stimulus. "This is a group of Americans who have been left behind in many of the basic needs of life."

Julie Kitka, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, asked Congress for stimulus dollars at a Senate Indian Affairs hearing earlier this month. She describes chronically underfunded Indian and Native Alaskan communities as "emerging economies" similar to developing countries around the world that can be hardest hit by an economic downturn. She says this is a chance for tribes to boost their economies for years to come

"It's an opportunity to do things right," she said.
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Facebook's 'Name Game'
Monday, February 2, 2009
Airblog – American Indian Report

Facebook "Real-name Culture" Runs up Against Native Culture
Robin Kills The Enemy is getting back in touch with her friends since her Facebook account was reinstated on Friday. For awhile she was banned from the social networking Web site – a communications lifeline for young adults – because it wrongly flagged her for registering under a false name.

When news of Kills The Enemy’s ban got out, other people with Native American surnames emerged to share similar stories. Many just gave up on the idea of using Facebook because it would not accept their names. A Facebook group called “Facebook don’t discriminate Native surnames!!!” has more than 1,000 members.

Facebook spokesman Simon Axten, said this in an e-mail to The Argus Leader “Facebook is based on a real name culture . … ” Sometimes mistakes are made he said, and, as in the case of Kills The Enemy, people need to contact Facebook to be reinstated.

Read the story here.

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