IHS To Monitor Uranium Exposure - Koda Energy Wins SMSC Award

IHS To Participate In Uranium Exposure Monitoring Project
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Indepemdemt

WINDOW ROCK – By the end of the year, Indian Health Service will begin medical monitoring clinics across the Navajo Nation to screen individuals for non-job-related exposure to uranium.

Dr. Douglas Peter, chief medical officer and deputy director for the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, said IHS was charged with conducting the study during discussions with U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and the former House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as part of a five-year plan to address uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation.

Among those to be included in the study are volunteers from Red Mesa, Dennehotso, Steamboat, Lower Greasewood and Ganado chapters referred by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who participated in a 2008-2009 water contamination household survey.

Individuals in other areas who believe they have non-occupational exposure to uranium also can volunteer to enroll in the monitoring project. Over the next couple months, Indian Health Service staff will be working with focus groups in various communities to ensure they are capturing the type of information people in the communities feel most strongly about.

“We also want to capture data that potential researchers may be interested in getting information on so that it's part of the medical record as we go forward,” Peter said. He discussed plans for the screening during a recent Navajo Uranium Contamination Stakeholder's Workshop in Gallup.

One of the issues was whether to train all of the 4,500 Indian Health Service staff to do the monitoring or try another approach.

“The important thing, I think, for assessing the health study is you have the same individuals conducting the same work at all of the locations,” Peter said. This ensures consistency in the data-gathering process. They decided to move ahead with a centralized approach and are currently in the process of hiring staff.

After Congress approved the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in the 1970s, Indian Health Service, in consultation with the Navajo Nation, established RECA-derived clinics to screen for uranium in former miners, millers and, later, downwinders.

“That was done by the same individuals providing the services in all the locations,” Peter said, “so we're building on that same model that was successful back in the 1970s and '80s.” Preliminary work is being done to identify clinics. Tentative locations include Tuba City, Kayenta, Chinle, the Four Corners area, and some place in the Gallup area.

Indian Health Service has been diagnosing and treating health conditions among Native Americans since the mid-1950s and has a substantial database of more than a quarter million medical records.

When Peter first came to the Navajo Nation about 35 years ago, he said, “I knew what I knew from my medical training, but that didn't involve much discussion on uranium or heavy metals or anything like that. That's true of most providers when they come to the reservation. They're not familiar necessarily all the time with hantavirus, plague, and uranium issues.”

Part of IHS's role and effort in the last couple years has been to educate its clinicians and other providers on issues related to heavy metals – in particular, uranium – and the health effects of what's known and what isn't known, he said.

“Thirty-five years ago we were discussing lung disease and occupational exposure and trying to identify all the people we could. As it turns out, there were thousands of them that were exposed or living by tailings piles, or were drivers or historical miners or exposed in the homes.

“More recently we've had to fill in the gaps of knowledge regarding risk exposure, whether it's vicinity exposure or whether it's direct exposure of a non-occupational nature,” he said. “Not a lot is known yet about non-occupational exposure.”

Peter and IHS clinicians get questioned all the time about unique diseases such as Navajo neuropathy and stomach cancer and whether it's related to uranium exposure, he said, “but there's nothing much in the (medical) literature about stomach cancer and uranium. What association is there between uranium and the unique genetic situations we see sometime on Navajo? Those questions remain to be answered.”

Indian Health Service is involved in ongoing discussions with tribal, federal and state agencies and universities and Peter said he is hopeful the study they are going to be participating in will help answer some of those questions. “We've proposed to the committee a longitudinal long-term study that would look at all kinds of health effects.”

Johnnye Lewis, director of the Community Environmental Health Program and principal investigator for the Dine Network for Environmental Health (DiNEH) Project, is spearheading the first study of health effects from community exposure by looking at integrated exposures in 20 chapters of the Eastern Navajo Agency.

Peter said Lewis' group is trying to better define whether diabetes and kidney disease are made worse by exposure to uranium. With the consent of study participants, it is hoped that they will be able to work together to fill in some of the informational gaps.

The Navajo Uranium Assessment and Kidney Health Project, a National Institutes of Health-funded research project awarded to the University of New Mexico specifically for Eastern Navajo Agency residents, now has more than 1,000 participants.

“Based on the feedback we were getting from clinicians from IHS and the service units we work with, the cases we were seeing even relative to other indigenous populations were a much earlier onset and a much more severe form of the disease, and we were concerned that uranium might be contributing to the disease,” Lewis said.

Though there was a significant potential for exposure, none of the studies on uranium toxicity had been done in Native American communities, she said. However, based on the results of an occupational lung cancer case study, it was known that Native Americans – primarily Navajo miners – were far more susceptible because the structure and shape of the lungs caused increased deposition and retention of inhaled particles.

“So we know that those types of differences exist and that different populations respond differently to different toxicants, but we have no data on this population,” she said.

As Indian Health Service moves ahead with its medical monitoring screening program, it will be building on the work already under way in Eastern Agency. “We work hand-in-hand with Dr. Lewis in defining what that screening should look like,” Peter said.

Koda Energy Winds First Award
By Tessa Lehto
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Shakopee, MN – On November 12, 2009, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Rahr Malting were honored by Friends of the Minnesota Valley at the Friends’ 2009 annual dinner for their joint venture Koda Energy. They were awarded the Leadership in Stewardship Award for their corporate leadership on conservation issues in the Minnesota River Valley.

This was the third year of the award, which is presented to an area business or organization that demonstrates a commitment to the conservation of natural resources in the Lower Minnesota River Watershed. The Leadership in Stewardship Award derives its name from Friends of the Minnesota Valley’s comprehensive conservation programs designed to conserve and enhance wildlife habitat, improve water quality, and promote increased community investment in and stewardship of the Minnesota River.

Lori M. Nelson, Executive Director of Friends of the Minnesota Valley, talked about the award. “Koda Energy demonstrates the kind of conservation partnership, innovation, and leadership that characterizes the Leadership in Stewardship Award and the mission of Friends of the Minnesota Valley. We see benefits not only in the reduced carbon footprint resulting from the operation of the Koda plant, but we are also confident that Koda Energy will provide landowners in the Minnesota Valley with an economically and environmentally-beneficial production alternative to traditional row crop agriculture. Ultimately, this can help improve the water quality of the Minnesota River.”

SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks who is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Koda Energy, commented on the award. “We are pleased to have been honored along with Rahr Malting for Koda Energy. Together we have devoted a lot of resources to this project, and we are happy this biomass plant burns renewable fuels as a valid alternative to fossil fuel based energy.”

Koda Energy, which began operating in May 2009, is an environmentally friendly energy project. Considerably cleaner than a coal plant and considered CO2 neutral, this combined heat and power plant is the only facility in the United States which burns exclusively natural, non-manmade materials. Using a suspension boiler for maximum efficiency to burn only renewable products, its heat conversion rate is approximately 87% compared to coal, which is about 63%.

Products burned in Koda Energy are agricultural and plant seed byproducts, materials which do not deter land from use as row crops. A combination of barley malt waste, oat hulls from General Mills products like Cheerios, and wood chips are currently burned to generate energy. This biomass energy generation project provides energy for Koda Energy and Rahr Malting, with excess sold to Xcel Energy.

Koda Energy requires 170,000 tons of biomass fuels per year. By-products from Rahr Malting contribute 50,000 tons of fuels; the remainder is provided by contractors who supply Koda Energy with local agri-business by-products, dried wood waste, and other fuels. Future plans are to use dedicated energy crops such as switchgrass as a major fuel source.

The Friends’ Watershed Initiative Coordinator, Scott Sparlin, presented the Leadership in Stewardship Award to Paul Kramer of Rahr Malting, who accepted the award on behalf of Koda Energy and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Kramer is also the President of Koda Energy.

Over 1,800 members and supporters of Friends of the Minnesota Valley support programs and activities aimed at protecting and promoting the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and conservation programs directed at developing partnerships, promoting citizen engagement, and cultivating conservation leaders within the Lower Minnesota River Watershed.

For more information on the Friends, go to http://www.friendsofmnvalley.org/.

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Native American Heritage Day - SMSC Grants To Tribal Organizations

The First Native American Heritage Day: Friday, November 27th, 2009
HEALING TURTLE ISLAND
by Ellen Ryan
An Attendee At The Ceremony

The first Native American Heritage Day was marked in New York City by a reconciliation ceremony between the Collegiate Church of New York and the Lenape Indians.

The Collegiate Church of New York, the present day descendent of the Church established by the Dutch West Indies Company in New Amsterdam, expressed sorrow at its part in marginalizing Native Americans and causing great suffering. Church representatives stated their wish to be invited into a partnership with their Native American brothers and sisters. The Lenape Peoples, through Ron Holloway, accepted the apology and offer of reconciliation. Together, they stated their intent to move forward and work together.

The Lenape and Collegiate Church formally sealed their agreement to work together by the exchange of wampum. Signifying the parties’ intent to look forward, the exchange of wampum was followed by an exchange of necklaces between a Lenape child and a child representing the Collegiate Church.

One future collaboration mentioned was advocacy to have the study of Native American culture included in New York City public schools.

Music punctuated much of the ceremony. A band called Iron Feather played drum and chanted. Medicine Crow played flute and was accompanied by Ron Holloway on drum.

The hourlong ceremony was attended approximately one hundred people

The Invitation
From: Julie Minevich
To: bobbieo@digitaldune.net
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 8:09 PM
Subject: Interested in Your Thoughts About First Ever Native American Heritage Day Event

Bobbie,
This Friday, November 27th, marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's landing in New York and the first Native American Heritage Day (as established by President Obama earlier this year with the passing of The Native American Heritage Act of 2009).

On Friday morning a public ceremony – “Healing Turtle Island” (#turtleisland) – will be held by The Collegiate Church of New York, the oldest surviving institution of the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, and the Lenape, the Native Americans who met the Dutch settlers arriving here in the wake of Henry Hudson’s discovery of Manhattan.

As a blogger who covers Native American culture and issues, I thought you may be interested in speaking with representatives from The Collegiate Church of New York and the Lenape who will be available by phone tomorrow morning at 11:00am EST to talk about the significance of this long-overdue reconciliation, the current state of Native American integration within the broader framework of American culture, and the need for continued discussion about the history and legacy of Native Americans.

I believe you could lend a unique perspective to the discussion while serving as a representative for your readers. Let me know if you are interested in being a part of tomorrow morning’s call and I will send you the call-in information. I am also happy to answer any questions you may have about the call or the event.

Thanks,
Julie Minevich
On Behalf of “Healing Turtle Island”

My Response To The invitation
My dear Julie –
First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

I am very flattered that you have considered me as a representative of my readers to speak to members of your group. I am 86 years of age and am hearing impaired so I use the telephone as little as possible as a means of communication. Also suffer from allergies and a chronic sinus condition which leaves me unable to effectively use hearing aids.

I am delighted that President Obama has designated Friday, November 27th as the FIRST Native American Heritage Day. It is long overdue!

My family has always observed Thanksgiving Day with blessings for all, turkey and all of the trimmings. But, I have noticed an increasing interest in the Native Unity column from many Native Americans and others about Columbus Day and the fact that it is recognized as one of the 8 federal holidays of the year. I'm certain you are aware that South Dakota has renamed Columbus Day as Native American Day - the only state in the Union to do so.

Now, that Native American Heritage Day has been established as part of the Thanksgiving tradition I feel Columbus Day will eventually fade away into oblivion. I did note on October 12th of this year that although the banks were closed and there was no postal delivery, Arizona schools were in session and my City of Yuma trash collection truck followed its usual Monday routine in my area.

Happy "Healing Turtle Island Day". Will make note of it in my Native Unity column.

Sincerely,
Bobbie Hart O'Neill
Editor, Native Unity

Shakopee Mdewakanton Announce $800,000 In Grants To Indian Organizations
By Tessa Lehto
tmailto:tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – Grants from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community will help fund events and activities as diverse as a treaty exhibit at a national museum to a local youth center. A total of $700,000 will go to six organizations which focus on Native Americans.

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) of Washington, D.C., received $250,000 for part two of a two-year $500,000 grant for an exhibit on treaties. The NMAI, part of the Smithsonian Institution, will use the grant for an exhibition on a comprehensive history of treaties signed by the United States government and Indian tribes and tribal relations with the United States. It will include how the United States walked away from its responsibilities and treaty obligations, how Indian Nations have resisted violations of their treaty rights, and how the abandonment of the treaty relationship resulted in overbearing federal supervision of tribal affairs, and more.

“It is important for the United States to tell the true history of relations with Indian Nations,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks. “So much has been left out of the history books and what is taught in the educational system is insufficient. The result is that public knowledge on this subject is sadly lacking. People don’t realize that the 564 federally recognized Indian Tribes are sovereign nations which are not beholden to states or other subdivisions of local governments.

"We are each an independent nation with direct government to government relations with the federal government. We have retained rights which we had before the Europeans and others came to this continent, rights which are guaranteed us under the United States Constitution. We are not a special interest group. We hope that this exhibit will help correct these types of misperceptions which are often at the root of important issues which impact our people today, like having tribal land protected through the trust process.”

The Upper Midwest American Indian Center (UMAIC) of Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $150,000 to support agency programs. Specifically, $100,000 of the donated funds will be used for building needs, computer upgrades, Early Head Start, and Elder Programming. The remaining $50,000 will go for general operating expenses.

“We appreciate the past support of the Shakopee Sioux Community and the leadership you have shown in supporting projects that help Indian people as well as the larger Minnesota community,” wrote UMAIC Chairperson of the Board of Directors Faron Jackson.

The Upper Midwest American Indian Center was established in 1937 to meet the employment needs of American Indians moving to the Twin Cities. In 1961 it became incorporated making it possible to seek federal and local program funding. Its mission is "to promote the social, cultural, educational, and economic advancement of American Indians through self-determination and human service programs." In its history, the UMAIC has provided a wide range of programming designed to enhance the quality of life for American Indians in the urban community. UMAIC programs serve all ages from prenatal to elders, including: Early Head Start, after school tutoring, parenting support, foster care and adoption, mental health services, HIV and substance abuse prevention, elderly support, and emergency assistance.

To help protect Native American rights and sovereignty, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces a donation of $100,000 to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) of Boulder, Colorado, for general support. For 36 years the NARF has worked with religious, civil rights, and other Native American organizations to shape the laws that will help assure the civil and religious rights of all Native Americans. NARF is a non-profit organization that provides legal representation and technical assistance to Indian tribes, organizations, and individuals nationwide – a constituency that often lacks access to the justice system. NARF focuses on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that national and state governments live up to their legal obligations.

The Division of Indian Work of Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $100,000 for Healing Spirit, Youth Leadership Development, Horizons Unlimited (food shelf), and Strengthening Family Circles programs.

For more than 50 years the Division of Indian Work, in partnership with the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, has offered a variety of services for Native American families. Some of their services include parenting and youth mentorship programs, a food shelf, emergency assistance, a group home for boys, daily summer activities for children, after school tutoring, cultural activities, holiday meal baskets, foster parents' licensing, and cooking classes.
The American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) of Duluth, Minnesota, received $50,000 for part two of a $100,000 grant over two years. The donation will be used for 29 units of permanent supportive housing and an American Indian cultural and community resource center. Gimaaji Mino-Bimaadiziyaan is the name for the housing project that means “together we are beginning a good life” in the Ojibwe Language.

AICHO is a non-profit, community based social service and housing development organization committed to improving the lives of Native American families in Northeastern Minnesota. Since its inception in 1994, AICHO has provided supportive housing, emergency shelter, advocacy, and culturally appropriate services to over 1,800 women and children in need.

The National Congress of American Indians received $100,000 for their Embassy of Tribal Nations project in Washington, D.C. SMSC Secretary/Treasurer Keith B. Anderson presented the check in mid-October 2009 at the NCAI Annual Conference in Palm Springs, California.
“On behalf of the community and its people, I would like to present NCAI a check for $100,000,” he said. “We want to commend NCAI for its tireless work. I know the issues never end and all are equally important and it’s a tireless job. ”

The Embassy is a permanent presence for the NCAI and other tribal organizations. The National Congress of American Indians is the oldest and largest tribal government organization in the United States. NCAI serves as a forum for consensus-based policy development among its membership of over 250 tribal governments from every region of the country. NCAI's mission is to inform the public and the federal government on tribal self-government, treaty rights, and a broad range of federal policy issues affecting tribal governments.

The SMSC donated $50,000 to Little Earth of United Tribes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for its Youth Development Center. The Center offers academic tutoring, computers, and activities in a culturally sensitive, safe environment. Little Earth’s Youth Development Center (YDC) is a holistic educational center for students available in off-school hours. The YDC provides access to computer technology, mentoring services, financial literacy programs, and educational programs for residents. The aim is to improve educational outcomes while promoting cultural and linguistic development.

Little Earth was founded in 1973 to create affordable housing for the growing urban American Indian community in Minneapolis. It is the only urban American Indian owned, subsidized housing complex in the United States with American Indian preference. Located in the East Phillips neighborhood, Little Earth spans a multi-block area with 212 housing units home to more than 900 residents. Almost half of Little Earth residents are under the age of twelve.

“As you know, we at Little Earth are working tirelessly to lead residents to better school performance, permanent housing, gainful employment, and to end the generational cycle of poverty. Ultimately, we are committed to creating a higher quality of life in the American Indian community through self-determination. Exciting things are happening at Little Earth, and with the support of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and the Tribal Council, we are one step closer to achieving our long-term goals. Thanks again for partnering with us in our efforts,” wrote Little Earth President/CEO Bill Ziegler.

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Navajo Relocation Still Stings! - Stacy Leeds For Cherokee Nation Leader

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM NATIVE UNITY

Trauma Of Relocation Echos Through Generations Of Dine
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – The Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act of 1974 separated the Navajo people from their homeland, their livestock, and their way of life. Politicians say it's history, but resisters and relocatees told the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission this week that the effects are just as real today as they were then.

The commission was in Bird Springs and Dilkon conducting a series of public hearings to assess the impact of the settlement act, which divided thousands of acres of Joint Use Area land into Hopi Partitioned Land, or HPL, and Navajo Partitioned Land, NPL. About 100 Hopis were relocated from NPL and approximately 10,000 Navajos were required to move from HPL.

Duane H. Yazzie, chair of the commission, said some Navajo Nation Council delegates tell them, “That issue is dead. Why are you bringing it back up?” But, he said, “The bottom line, and what we're saying, is forced relocation is a human rights violation. That's why we have the responsibility to see what we can do, even though Window Rock is saying don't bother.”

Thousands of Dine were chased off their land and scattered to the winds, resulting in feelings of desperation, isolation, suicide, joblessness, alcohol abuse, physical abuse, and family abuse, he said. Some refused to move.

Ida Mae Clinton, 82, and her daughter Verna of Star Mountain Valley are resisters. Ida Mae would not sign the 75-year lease agreement because there were too many limitations, Verna said. “Public Law 93-531 has destroyed people who have never done anything wrong. My grandmother died saying, 'I've never done anything wrong except care for my family and my sheep and my horses and pray every day.'

“That law was passed by Congress, senators, congressmen holding up the United States Constitution to kill my people,” Verna said. “It is vital that the Navajo Nation Commission of Human Rights do something with these hearings. I hope that we can see some sort of peace for the people that are refusing to sign.”

Clinton said she returned home from San Francisco in 1973 and went house to house, pleading with friends and family not to take the government's money. “I tried to educate them on what the relocation meant and what it would be like to live in a city where they did not know how to manage their lives.”

She said her father, a medicine man known as “Dr. Clinton,” used to say, “'I will not leave my land. I will not abandon my people, the remains of my family, my relatives, my community members. It is not right.' So we stayed, and to this day we still are there.

“We still have sheep, we still have horses. But we are surrounded by fencing. We have no rights. We are under Hopi jurisdiction and Hopi rule. We are under surveillance by the Hopi Rangers every day. They come around, they look at us through binoculars; we look at them through our binoculars. After 35 years, I'm charging the Hopi Tribe and the United States with genocide,” she said.

Despite the official lifting of the Bennett Freeze on May 8, Ida Mae said they are still unable to make repairs to their homes. “Our houses are falling apart. That's just the way life is out here. That's the way it's always been.”

In addition, the Hopi Rangers keep close tabs on her livestock, she said. “I was told you can only have five sheep and one horse. I told the Hopis I have 13 grandchildren. Are they all supposed to ride this one horse?” She said the document that she was given by the Hopi, she threw in the fire, and the person that delivered the document stormed out of the house.

“I'm not afraid to share my stories, my experiences,” she said. “What took place (with relocation) was illegal. They had people approaching households asking them to put their thumbprint on documents. I witnessed all that.”

Norris Nez, a traditional medicine man from Coalmine who has been “across the ocean” to speak before the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, said attorneys have told him that it is possible to file suit against the federal government and the Hopi on the land issue.

Nez travels all over the Navajo Nation to conduct ceremonies. “I see the impact of the Dine people not knowing where to go,” he said. “Many of our children are displaced. They're just wandering, they have no place to go, no place to stay. Many of our grandchildren have no place. They don't know where to even get a meal.”

People are constantly coming to his home, asking him to perform a ceremony. “Our medicine men are not being produced like they used to be. We've left our culture behind, we've left our ways behind and looked into the future, to the Western ways ... We need to come together, we need to be one. We need to unite, we need to get our water back, we need to get our land back. We need to get our way of life back.”

Caroline Tohannie of Red Lake, said that when she was a young girl it was told by the elders that some day the land would be an issue. “You may even be bickering over the land among yourselves,” she said. “In my old age, I realize that is what we are experiencing. I have observed that the land is tired, the land is frustrated over this bickering.

“Black Mesa is like a food basket. There are many food items there. There are many herbs and plants to cook with, but all these things are viewed as useless. It's given no value,” she said. “That's how I feel Washingdoon views our way of life. Some day we will have no sheep. Some day the land will not be viewed as our own to design and plan our future.”

When Tohannie attended boarding school, she experienced some abuse. “Washingdoon says you don't abuse elderly, you don't abuse children. It is a law that they stand by. So why then does the federal government abuse us? That's a double standard. Why is it that they run us off our land? To me that's a form of elderly abuse, and abuse of children and families.

“We want to go back to the way of life that we once knew – the life where we were self-sufficient, where we grew our own foods, we raised our own animals and harvested things that grew in the wild. I don't understand why our livestock is a problem. Why do they want to eradicate our ownership of livestock?”

Chelsea Chee of Teesto said her father was relocated and because of that she feels out of balance. “Since my dad was moved from where he grew up, I'm not familiar with the land that he grew up on. I'm not very familiar with my nali's strong side of the family.

“As a Navajo woman and a Navajo person we talk about having a male and a female balance inside of us to do things. These are some indirect effects that relocation has had on some of the people from my generation,” she said.

Her father talks about herding sheep and riding horses and having cattle, “but I never had that. I grew up with TV and video games and basketball. ... I'm 25 years old now and it's the first time I've ever ridden a horse. There are a lot of teachings and traditions that come along with livestock. It's been 25 years now that I haven't had those teachings.”

Cassandra Martinez-Allen, 37, of Cudeii said it was only recently that she came to accept that she has depression, anger, resentment. “You get angry,” she said through tears.

Now working and living in Pinon, she remembers when her grandparents thought about relocating. She went with them to Sanders to take a look. “They decided not to move there. Instead, they just came down the hill and hopped the fence. You can see their homestead. The foundation from the hogan is still there. I keep telling my dad, 'What if I just move back, who would know?' And he said, 'They would throw you in jail.'

“I want to have some homestead for my children. I want to grow old as a grandmother with sheep. I want to have my own horses, I want to have my own cows. And I don't know when that's supposed to happen,” she said.

The Human Rights Commission will assess the testimonies and evidence presented at the relocation hearings and will offer recommendations to the Navajo Nation and other governments as well as in an international forum. The hearings will continue in mid-December at Tonalea, Piñon and Nahata Dziil chapters.

Cherokee Nation Group To Draft Professor Stacy Leeds
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Opinion
Origina Pechanga

Cherokee Nation Group Seeking to Draft Prof. STACY LEEDS to Oust Chad Smith
A Facebook Group to draft Stacy Leeds for Cherokee Nation Chief has sprung up. Many believe it's time to relieve Chad "Our Slaves Were Treated Well" Smith.

Join in the group to show Stacy that she is needed.

Just who Is Stacy Leeds?
Stacy Leeds serves as Professor of Law at the University of Kansas School of Law and directs KU’s Tribal Law and Government Center. She also serves as adjunct faculty for the School of Business at Haskell Indian Nations University.She has published numerous law reviews, book chapters and essays. Her forthcoming book American Indian Property will be published by Carolina Academic Press later this year.

Leeds has served on several tribal courts including: Prairie Band Potawatomi District Court, Supreme Court for the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, Kaw Nation Supreme Court, Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Court of Appeals, and a Special Judge for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation District Court.

Our friend JOHN CORNSILK says: Stacy is the Leader we Cherokee People need, because of her commitment to the Cherokee and their law.

WE NEED STACY AS CHIEF IN 2011!!

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Diabetes: Another Navajo Killer - SMSC Tribal Grants

Yazzie: Diabetes 'Killing Our People'
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Eddie Scott Yazzie used to have a 56-inch waist and weigh around 433 pounds. That was before his doctor told him, “Change your diet or you're going to die.” Now he's down to 300 pounds and has become the media spokesman for the Navajo Nation Special Diabetes Project.

“When the doctor puts it to you that way, it hits you right down in the heart. I carry that with me every day. I don't want the doctor saying that to anybody,” Yazzie said recently during a free screening offered to Navajo Nation Council delegates.

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. On the Navajo Nation, diabetes is three times higher than in the U.S. population. In 2007, diabetes prevalence among Navajo was at 11 percent. It is increasing each year and at a much faster rate than for the rest of the country.

The American Diabetes Association, the nation's leading voluntary health organization in the fight against diabetes, brought together community leaders from around the country Nov. 18-19 in Virginia for a two-day meeting to address health disparities faced by minority populations in the prevention, detection, and management of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

“When it comes to the impact of diabetes and obesity in minority populations, the statistics are daunting,” said Sue McLauglin of the American Diabetes Association. “The challenges are great, but the urgency to stop diabetes and obesity is even greater.”

Diabetes, the leading cause of kidney disease, has moved closer to affecting one in four Medicare beneficiaries nationally. New data confirms the rate of chronic kidney disease is inching upward, keeping pace with the rising rates of diabetes. Kidney disease in the U.S. Medicare population is now 9.8 percent, up from 8.7 percent last year, according to recent data.

“Diabetes does not discriminate; and it's killing our people,” Yazzie said. When he talks to clients, the common answer he gets is, “My aunt, my mother, my brother, my grandfather have died from diabetes.”

Yazzie believes the increase among Navajos has a lot to do with the introduction of foods which had no part in the traditional diet of the Dine.

“The average meal pre-1940 was mutton and corn-based. Everything was corn-based – corn meal, kneel-down bread. They did the slaughter of horses in 1940 in Gamerco at the slaughterhouse and introduced the 'bacon slab' program – the people were working for slabs of bacon instead of paychecks, so that was introduced to the Navajo diet.”

In the 1950s along came federal commodities, which were high cholesterol foods that contributed to heart disease and diabetes, he said. “A lot of the elders refused to even eat commodities because they just figured it was from the government, it's not good for you. Others didn't have a choice. They had to eat it.”

Spam was first introduced by Hormel in 1937. In the mid-1950s, Burger King and the first McDonald's franchise opened their doors, followed by the introduction of new, more spicy foods in the 1970s and 1980s, Yazzie said. “The average human body wasn't used to a lot of that, so it was getting all the shock.

“With children, you have a child's body which is barely growing, trying to burn off all of the new foods. Mothers are buying them potato chips, candy, soda – energy drinks are the worst. Your body is breaking down all this sugar and your insides are going, 'No, no, no, you're killing me!”

Because the body cannot burn off all the sugar, it starts to store it, and that's where obesity comes in, he said. “The sad part is it's all preventable.”

Because of the poverty rate, Navajos have been living in survival mode. They buy big bags of potatoes rather than apples and oranges, he said. “They're adapted to it for survival purposes, but studies show it costs the same amount now to buy apples, oranges, bananas, and grapes. It's just breaking that habit.”

The Special Diabetes Project has eight service units throughout the Navajo Nation in Chinle, Shiprock, Crownpoint, Gallup, Fort Defiance, Dilkon, Tuba City and Kayenta. “We're a prevention program. We're here to educate on nutrition, diabetes, and wellness, which is physical activity,” he said.

“In each one we have a field staff, which I call the troops, because they're out there every day. They're walking in the schools, they're walking into the tribal council. They're taking sugar levels and telling people what they need to do because they're getting bad readings. They're basically telling them, 'You need to change now or you're going to die.'”

For Thanksgiving Yazzie recommends getting smaller plates and smaller serving utensils. “People will put less on their plates. If they're hungry, they can go back for seconds.”

And one thing to remember over the holidays is that once consumed, white bread and potatoes both turn to sugar in the body”

Shakopee Announce $5 Million In Tribal Grants
By Tessa Lehro, Communications Specialist
Tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces their first round of fiscal year 2010 tribal grants totaling $5,000,000 to seven American Indian Tribes. Donations of $1 million each will go to the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and Yankton Sioux Tribe all of South Dakota; the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa of Minnesota; and the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe of North Dakota.

The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, Flandreau, South Dakota, will use their $1 million grant for construction of a Senior Independent Living Project. In previous years the SMSC has helped fund this project, which is desperately needed to give tribal elders a safe and comfortable place to live on the reservation. It will also help provide more and better jobs for tribal members.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will use their $1 million grant for their Turtle Creek Crossing Grocery Store. The new grocery store, which opened in 2009, has a deli, bakery, pharmacy, and, most importantly, healthy foods to help combat the diabetes epidemic on the reservation. The SMSC helped fund this project with $2.4 million in loans and $2 million in grants in previous fiscal years.

The Yankton Sioux Tribe will use their $1 million grant for energy assistance for members and for the Marty Community Center, to complete the community center in Lake Andes, building insulation for the Marty Community Center, and pre-construction design for a new tribal administration building.

The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Indians will use their $1 million grant for construction of a new 47,000 square foot administration building in Nett Lake, Minnesota. An $8 million loan from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community for the same project was announced in August 2009. The new building will house the Tribe’s administration and finance offices; its leasing, grant administration, and language preservation programs; planning, fuel assistance, information technology, a registrar, and the tribal council chambers. The previous building was destroyed by fire.

The Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe will use their $1 million grant for community improvement programs and infrastructure development, including replacement of the heating and cooling systems and for maintenance equipment at the tribal headquarters community building; equipment for the fire department, KABU radio station, utilities, and refuse control; and for the tribal housing program, emergency management funds for recovery from floods, and for youth recreation centers.

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Reclaimed Sewer Water For Snowbowl? - 'Native Unity' In The Wall Street Journal

Clarity Sought On Legislation Opposing Snowbowl Expansion
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Thomas Walker Jr. failed to get enough support Thursday from the Navajo Nation Council for legislation expressing strong opposition to a proposed expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl because, as delegate Ervin Keeswood, pointed out, it wasn't clear what aspect the Nation is opposing.

Meantime, U.S. Sens. John McCain, and John Kyl, both R-Ariz., and U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., have sent a second letter to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture asking for a briefing on why the Forest Service is delaying moving forward with the expansion.

McCain sent a letter Oct. 14 asking USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack for a meeting to discuss implementation of the May 2005 Record of Decision issued by the Forest Service for the Arizona Snowbowl Facilities Improvement Project.

McCain said the record of decision was successfully upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court was subsequently denied.

“The Justice Department has devoted considerable taxpayer resources defending Forest Service actions in Navajo Nation vs. Forest Service. Arizona Snowbowl has spent an estimated $5 million over the past eight years working through Forest Service procedures and the legal and administrative appeals process,” McCain said.

“Nevertheless, it appears that the department is seeking to indefinitely delay or outright cancel the ROD, which would be disastrous for Arizona Snowbowl and would establish sweeping precedence for all other permittees on federal lands who pursue the administrative process for project approvals.”

The administration's continued reluctance to implement the record of decision is perplexing, he said, and necessitates a briefing on the project at the earliest possible date.

Thomas Walker Jr., sponsor of the resolution to oppose the expansion, told Council, “The legislation is an emergency one. I think the situation right now warrants attention at this level.”

The legislation is basically to reaffirm an earlier position of Council taken in April.

“We took a strong position to send a message to all concerned, especially to the federal government ... that this Nation and the Council, the leadership here, strongly oppose any expansion proposals on the San Francisco Peaks,” Walker said. “We want to sit down and talk to our congressional representatives.”

Owners of the Arizona Snowbowl have proposed expanding the ski area and using reclaimed sewer water from the city of Flagstaff to make artificial snow at the ski resort, located on a mountain considered sacred and holy by 13 Arizona tribes, including the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe. The tribes have battled the Forest Service decision all the way to the Supreme Court and even sought President Obama's assistance in protecting the sacred mountain.

The Save the Peaks Coalition and nine citizens filed suit in September in federal district court in Arizona against the Forest Service over potential health risks associated with using the treated sewage effluent, alleging that the Final Environmental Impact Statement ignores the possibility of human ingestion of snow made from treated sewer water.

Keeswood said he could find no documents attached to the legislation pertaining to the expansion. “There's nothing that details what the expansion is. We have a reference to legislation CAP-16-09, which doesn't oppose expansion. Rather, that document speaks to the issue of desecration of the Peaks. So there's two different subject matters in front of us almost in the same legislation.”

In order to make it a good statement and position by the Council, he said they would need further documentation that indicates why Council on behalf of the Navajo Nation, opposes the expansion. “Without knowing the totality of the expansion, it's difficult,” he said. “We need clarity.”

Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan said Council had a choice to table the proposed legislation and wait on attachments or vote it down and ask for a new legislation.

Delegate Amos Johnson said he supported the resolution and urged Council to take a strong position to oppose any expansion, but motioned to table it until they received more documentation. The motion was seconded by Curran Hannon and the resolution tabled, 37-22, with a request for the sponsor to bring it back to Council as soon as possible.

'Native Unity' Makes WSJ!
The Wall Street Journal
NOVEMBER 16, 2009
Blog Watch
Editor, Beckey Bright

NATIVE UNITY NativeUnity.blogspot.com
Bobbie Hart O'Neill, a former journalist, hosts this blog, which she calls a place for Native Americans to discuss ways to "make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian."

Recent topics include the prevalence of smoking among Native Americans and Native American involvement in renewable-energy projects.

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Uranium Exploration Permit Request: Clean Up Plans For Two Mines - Tim Giago: 'Culturecide'

Uranium Companies Moving Forward As Old Mines Are Cleaned Up
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
WINDOW ROCK – New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division has approved Uranium Resources Inc.'s request for renewal of an exploration permit application in the Ambrosia Lake District and also has approved cleanup plans for two closed mines.

The permit for URI's Section 13 in-situ exploration project near Grants, originally approved in November 2008, allows URI to drill up to 10 holes for the purpose of extracting core samples to evaluate the suitability of the property for in-situ recovery of uranium. URI owns the Section 13 property in fee and the permit renewal is now valid until November 2010.

“This permit renewal is important in that it will allow us to determine the suitability of whether a portion of our Ambrosia Lake reserves are amenable to ISR mining methods,” URI President and CEO Don Ewigleben stated in a press release.

URI’s Section 13 property is located in McKinley County, about 10 miles northeast of Grants. The property, along with three other parcels owned in fee by URI, hold the company’s Ambrosia Lake resources, estimated at 2.4 million pounds of uranium mineralized material.

The Mining and Minerals Division also approved reclamation plans for the Section 27 Mine, once operated by the United Nuclear Corp. of Gallup and JJ No. 1/L-Bar Mine, formerly operated by Sohio Western Mining Co., and now under the responsibility of Rio Tinto Energy of America in Salt Lake City.

Both mines have provided financial assurance to the state for the cost of the reclamation, which is required by the New Mexico Mining Act.

“We are pleased that these two mining companies have stepped up to the plate and have some good reclamation plans for these sites,” said Bill Brancard, Mining and Minerals Division director.
The Section 27 Mine is located in McKinley County, 35 miles north of Grants, in the Ambrosia Lake District. The former underground uranium mine includes about 9 acres of surface disturbance that require reclamation, including two mine shafts, three vent holes, and a number of waste ore and rock piles, and topsoil stockpiles. The mine operated in the early to mid-1970s and has been inactive since 1977.

United Nuclear Corp., a subsidiary of General Electric, plans to perform reclamation in 2010, including sealing the shafts and vent holes, encapsulation of ore piles, regrading and covering old rock piles with 3 feet of topsoil, followed by revegetation with native plants, and addressing radiation hazards at the mine site.

UNC also is in the process of cleaning up the former Northeast Churchrock Mine. UNC/GE, the Navajo Nation and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are still in negotiations regarding final burial of nearly 900,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil.

The JJ No.1/L-Bar is located in Cibola County, 3.5 miles southeast of Seboyeta on the Cebolleta Land Grant. The inactive underground mine produced uranium from 1976 to 1981. Most of the mine was reclaimed in 1986-87, however 11 vent shafts remained.

Final reclamation of the mine will involve closure of the vent shafts, regrading, topsoil application and revegetation. Rio Tinto will start cleanup this fall.

In the meantime, Neutron Energy, which has leases in the Juan Tafoya Land Grant and Cebolleta Land Grant, is in the process of developing projects there.

At a recent EPA meeting in Grants to discuss cleanup of abandoned mines in New Mexico, Mike Newman, vice president of Environment for Neutron, said the company is “pretty much committed to doing things right to begin with so we don't end up with the kinds of legacy situations like we're all trying to deal with now.”

Newman said he used to work for Bear Creek Uranium in Wyoming, owned by Union Pacific. “The pits were backfilled as they were mined out, the tailings pond was properly designed and sited and constructed so it didn't leak.” The company won awards from the state for its reclamation work, he said.

“The tailings impoundment is in the process of being deeded over to DOE, just like the L-Bar site here. There's cattle grazing on it. It just goes to show that it can be done properly with minimal environmental impact.”

Michael Coleman, regional geologist for Neutron, said the company had a small program in 2007 on the west side of Mount Taylor/Ambrosia Lake. “Everything went fine,” he said.

“We're sitting on a few permits that we've acquired and we're waiting on funding. Right now there's a lot of internal work, studying our databases – nothing to be done on the ground in the very near future. But when the economy comes back, we're going to be gung-ho.”

Meanwhile, Newman said the company will be doing confirmation drilling programs. “These properties that we have were in advanced stages of exploration 20 to 30 years ago and they're pretty well drilled out. The ore bodies are pretty well known.

“It's not like we're starting all over again. We just have to do enough drilling to confirm the results that we obtained previously. We're actually in the process of doing our baseline environmental studies for the project over on Juan Tafoya in anticipation of building a mill over there. We've met with the NRC, and we've had pre-application meetings.”

Coleman said the company is planning a conventional underground mine with a mill.

Tim Giago: 'Culturecide' Began In Indian Country
Indianz.Com. In Print.
http://www.indianz.com/News/2009/017410.asp
November 16, 2009
Opinion

On this sunny November morning I find myself thinking about that tough, old Lakota chief from Standing Rock because his life exemplifies the clash of cultures.

On a day like today, Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Bull) was sitting on a bench outside of his log home on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation conversing with his two wives when a Christian minister rode up to the house in his buckboard.

The minister exchanged a few pleasantries and then got down to the business that had brought him to the home of the great Sioux leader. He told the Chief that it was un-Christian of him to have two wives. It went against the will of God. It was barbarian. It was the way of heathens.
Sitting Bull listened patiently, probably with a small grin on his face because he had heard all of this before from the white man, and said to the minister, “Well, there they are. Now you tell them which one has to leave.”

Which of these Lakota women would you deprive of a loving home? It was an answer based on plain Lakota logic. But then Lakota logic had baffled the white man for a century. And well it should because it was logic based on centuries of cultural beliefs totally unknown to the European settlers.

The problems between the two races began because by not understanding the culture of the Lakota, the white man then disrespected it. He disrespected it by trying to remake it into something he could understand. If he could not remake it, he attempted to diminish it or destroy it.

Lakota logic and European logic did not blend. It was like trying to mix water and oil.
A Lakota man took more than one wife for many reasons. Perhaps a brother had died leaving a widow with children. In the Lakota way, the surviving brother then became responsible for his brother’s wife and children. It was his duty to give them food and shelter. His brother’s children became his children and his brother’s wife became his wife. Unchristian? Uncivilized?

When the settlers moved west they saw it as their responsibility to disrupt the civilization of the Lakota. Just as the Spaniards made it an edict to either convert the indigenous people of South and Central America or kill them if they did not convert, so too did the settlers moving west try to convert a people by destroying their culture. Culturecide?

Of course, changing a culture is something that cannot be done over night. As so many conquerors have discovered in history, the best way to create a new culture in their own image is to start with the innocent children.

Institutionalization seemed to be the best way. But in order to do this the new government of the United States needed help. It turned to the many Christian churches and organizations that were already intent upon saving the souls of the so-called heathens. In the late 1800s the government and the church convinced tribal leaders donate land to the Catholic Church (and other religions) in order to construct Indian missions that would be turned into boarding schools.

Institutionalism Had Begun
In collusion between church and state, the boarding schools sprang up all across Indian country. They were precursors of the federal boarding schools like Carlisle and Haskell, schools intent upon acculturation. Stewart, Pine Ridge, Phoenix, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, were just a few of the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools that soon became familiar institutions across the west.

Hundreds of religious institutions from Arizona to Washington State to the Dakotas had already begun the tedious and intense process of destroying the different Indian cultures and traditions. The same thing was happening across Canada. They called the schools “residential schools” up there. A continent-wide, methodical destruction of language, attire, religion and culture of many indigenous tribes had begun. The same thing had already happened across Central and South America at the hand of the Spaniards.

This was done by the do-gooders and Churches. The thinking was at the time that if the Indian was made over in the image of the white man, this would bring an end to the Indian problem. The acculturated Indians would assume their roles in society and the headache they presented would vanish. They would become plain and simple Americans.

However, the process of acculturation did not provide for inclusion. Indians were not recognized as citizens of the United States. They were isolated on distant lands.

They were excluded from voting or participating in the governments of the newly formed states. The message was, “You can act like us, dress like us, speak English like us and worship our God, but you are not welcome to our table.”

The process of acculturation was not a complete failure. Many Indians converted to Christianity and became, in the eyes of the federal government, civilized citizens. Those who did not were shunned. They were often looked down upon by the converted conformists. What is worse, this stigmatization forced the traditional Indians into various stages of poverty. They became the have-nots. The good BIA jobs went to the conformists.

While those who acculturated and converted to Christianity prospered somewhat, the traditionalists remained as the poorest of the poor. And this condition exists even to this day on many Indian reservations.

Modern terminology still points this out. When someone does not conform, they are said to be “off the reservation.” And this is so ironic, because those traditionalists that did not conform were usually, “on the reservation.”

But I believe those who have been shunned for many years, the traditionalists, are winning over the hearts, mind and spirits of those who converted. The traditionalists have remained steadfast in their beliefs; they have retained their spirituality and language, and have set the example for those who thought that by abandoning their culture and traditions they would be better off. But many conformists still wonder if this is the best and only way.

When Sitting Bull told the minister to select the wife to leave his home, he spoke volumes about the upcoming assault upon the culture and traditions of the Lakota people. Sitting Bull could have said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is the publisher of Native Sun News. He was the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association, the 1985 recipient of the H. L. Mencken Award, and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard with the Class of 1991.

Giago was inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2008. He can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com. His latest book, “Children Left Behind” is available through publish@clearlightbooks.com or at amazon.com.

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Survey Says Uranium In Navajo People: Source Unknown - SMSC Announces 2010 Wacipi Date

CDC: Water Not Sole Source Of Uranium Exposure For Navajos
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – In 2006-2007 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta tested 199 unregulated water sources used for hauling drinking water in five chapters. They found widespread bacterial contamination and arsenic and uranium that exceeded safe drinking water limits.

Following up in 2008-2009 in collaboration with the Navajo Nation Division of Health and Navajo Environmental Protection Agency, the CDC surveyed 296 households within those chapters to assess human exposure to drinking water contaminants.

One finding they hope to look at further is though they didn't find much uranium in the latest drinking water samples, they did find uranium in the people – and they're not sure of its source.

“We targeted five chapters: Red Mesa, Dennehotso, Steamboat, Lower Greasewood and Ganado,” said Lauren Lewis, M.D., an epidemiologist with the CDC's Health Studies Branch. The CDC is assisting U.S. EPA and other government officials in their five-year action plan to address the impact of uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation.

The chapters were chosen because previous work with Navajo EPA showed 12 percent of the sources from which people were hauling water exceeded the safe drinking water standard for arsenic and 5 percent exceeded the standard for uranium.

The follow-up survey was done in record time – within a year after getting the initial water results – due to concerns about what the exposure might represent in terms of a health threat to the five chapters, Lewis said.

Navajo Community Health Representatives conducted interviews on water use, hauling practices, and other relevant information such as where residents obtained their water. The CHRs tested drinking water stored in the homes and additionally tested 246 household residents' urine for exposure to arsenic, uranium and other chemicals.

“The majority of participants, 30 percent, get their water from livestock wells,” Lewis said, and most of them do not treat it. “One of our more significant findings was that 73 percent of the hauled water samples had bacteria, compared to 18 percent of the non-hauled water samples.”

Rather than uranium or arsenic, nitrates most frequently exceeded the EPA drinking water limits, at 14 percent. Arsenic was second at 11 percent and was mainly concentrated in the Red Mesa area.

“In our water samples, we didn't find much uranium. Only six samples exceeded the EPA drinking water limits for uranium, or 2 percent,” Lewis said. “However, we did find uranium in people. We tested urine for exposure to a variety of inorganic chemicals and urine uranium was the most frequently detected out of all of those.”

“The drinking water contamination does not appear the sole source of uranium exposure in our population,” she said. “We could not tell from this data the source of uranium exposure.” The data does not reflect past or historical uranium exposure.

Mae-Gilene Begay, director of the CHR program for Navajo Division of Health, said that throughout the Navajo Nation, residents supplement their household heating with coal. “In the urine samples that were taken, there was some findings of coal cadmium,” she said. Cadmium and uranium are both heavy metals and coal is often found to contain trace quantities of uranium.

Lewis said Navajo participants had urine uranium levels lower than those known to cause health effects, but she added, “There's a lot we don't know. The results for Navajos were higher than the U.S. general population but comparable to what is known about other Southwest populations,” such as New Mexico.

She also cautioned that using urine biomarkers of exposure pose a variety of challenges. For one, they only reflect a short period of time – perhaps a week – “and for many contaminants, particularly uranium, we just don't have standard reference regulations to say this level found in urine represents this health effect.”

The study was not designed to link exposures and health outcomes, she added.

Navajo Division of Health and the 50 Community Health Representatives trained by the CDC on health and drinking water exposures have been back to every household tested to discuss the results face to face with residents and answer questions. Participants also were given information on enrollment in an upcoming Indian Health Service medical monitoring program.

CDC and Navajo EPA have just completed testing of additional unregulated water-hauling sources that were identified during the household study – 18 by CDC study participants and 52 identified by EPA. CDC collected water samples from 36 of the 70 for testing by EPA.

Lewis said they also are following up on bacterial exposure from water hauling and have initiated a clinical study to look at how much gastrointestinal illness is attributable to drinking water on the Navajo Nation.

Though Congress has not yet approved the budget, it has been proposed that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry receive $2 million to assess some of the health impacts on the Navajo Nation from non-occupational exposure to uranium.

“At this point, ATSDR is kind of planning so that if the money does come through, they will be able to implement it immediately,” Lewis said.

SMSC Announces Date For Annual Wacipi - August 13, 14 and 15, 2010
By Tessa Lehto, Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Shakopee, MN – Each year in August hundreds of dancers and singers from across the country gather at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community annual Wacipi (Pow Wow). This coming year the event will be held Friday through Sunday, August 13, 14, and 15, 2010. The Wacipi will be held at the Pow Wow Grounds on the SMSC reservation.

The public is invited to experience the beauty and dignity of Native American culture at this event. The Wacipi is a social gathering where friends and relatives come together to celebrate their culture and way of life. A Wacipi is a homecoming of sorts, with many choosing to return every year to enjoy the dancers in their regalia, the singers at the drum, good food, laughter, and booths with arts and crafts for sale. Traditional moccasin games will also be played by Native American teams.

The word Wacipi [wah-chee-pee] in the Dakota Language translates as "they dance." A more common meaning is "Pow Wow."

For more information on the Wacipi call 952-445-8900 or go to http://www.shakopeedakota.org/. For information about booths, call 952-496-6176.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux CommunityThe SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for all of the internal infrastructure of the Tribe, including but not limited to roads, water and sewer systems, emergency services, and essential services to its Tribal members in education, health, and welfare.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need. Over the past 12 years the SMSC has donated more than $162 million to charitabl eorganizations.

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Relax Radiation Standards? - Sioux To Receive $940,000 Grant

Suit Filed Over EPA Plan To Relax Radiation Standards
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
WINDOW ROCK – A public employee group has filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over an alleged “secret” plan to significantly relax radiation standards, and U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., has sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson expressing serious concern.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a national non-profit alliance of local, state and federal professionals, filed suit Oct. 28 in U.S. District Court in Washington. PEER submitted a request in June under the Freedom of Information Act for all comments submitted by EPA and other federal and state agency officials to the EPA Office of Radiation and Indoor Air as it prepared its updated Protective Action Guides.

On Oct.16, EPA’s Office of General Counsel directed the office to comply but conceded that the only way to enforce its order would be in court.

The suit alleges the new draft standards – signed off on in the final days of the Bush Administration, suspended by the Obama Administration prior to publication in the Federal Register and now being reviewed by Obama's EPA appointees – were made “in secrecy despite sharp controversy about allowing public exposure to radiation levels vastly higher than those EPA had previously deemed unacceptably dangerous.”

Markey, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, sent a five-page letter to Jackson Oct. 27 expressing his concern and listing a number of questions. He asked Jackson to respond to the committee by Nov. 17.

The Obama Administration vowed to put an end to the previous administration's “politicization of science,” Markey said, but noted there are several “disturbing initiatives” begun during the Bush Administration that are still pending before EPA.

PEER said the revisions would significantly increase allowable public exposure to radioactivity in drinking water, including a nearly 1,000-fold increase in strontium-90, a 3,000 to 100,000-fold hike for iodine-131, and an almost 25,000 increase for nickel-63.

Further, the guidelines propose applying a long-term cleanup approach known as “optimization” that would allow cleanup standards far outside EPA's traditional acceptable risk range, “so high that they could result in public exposures that are the equivalent of approximately 50,000 chest X-rays, with a cancer risk that EPA itself estimates at a remakable 1 in 4,” Markey said.

“EPA has bypassed open dialog on how much radiation the public will be allowed to receive in the event of a release, and is now suppressing evidence of internal dissent on these controversial proposals,” said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “Who knew that EPA had a Doctor Strangelove wing?”

Loren Setlow of EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air was in Gallup this week attending a Navajo Uranium Contamination Stakeholder Workshop. When asked about the plan, Setlow said, “I can't comment on it. I'm not a health physicist. I'm aware of the studies and their ultimate disposition, but I honestly can't comment on it.”

Reid Rosnick of EPA's Radiation Protection Division also was unable to provide comment. Clancy Tenley of EPA's Superfund Division said he was not aware of the report.

Candace Head-Dylla of Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance, a core member of the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, said the group is very concerned, especially in light of its work on cleanup of the Homestake uranium mill and tailings disposal site in Milan.

“If that includes the tailings piles, then we're concerned about our community's health. We're still trying to get some clarification and read the whole what they're proposing. But what we can't understand is why would a new administration – supposedly a progressive administration – want to roll back the standards for protecting health and the environment. We're hoping this isn't going to be the case.”

Markey said the proposed revisions would permit radioactivity concentrations in drinking water one to two years after a release of radioactive materials “that are orders of magnitude higher than EPA's long-held drinking water standards and suggests that government officials need not provide clean water until groundwater radioactivity is thousands of times higher than traditional Superfund guidance.”

In 2006, the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council issued a report, partially sponsored and funded by EPA, which found that even the smallest radiation dose has the potential to cause a small increase in cancer risk to humans.

However, in the Radiation Office's 2008 released draft “Blue Book,” which historically has formed the basis for EPA’s radiation protection regulations, it proposes using risk figures that are almost all less protective than the National Academy of Sciences had recommended, Markey said.

He asked Jackson who was responsible for making the decision to reduce the risk estimates and to provide all correspondence related to the decision.

Most of EPA's compliance standards for radiation are based on models that assume the typical exposed individual is an average-size, healthy young adult Caucasian male who has been occupationally exposed, even though pregnant women, children and other vulnerable populations could be much more impacted by radiation exposures. Markey said this is scientifically inappropriate because the vast majority of people fall outside the definition.

He asked why EPA is not enforcing regulations to protect all individuals. “Why should people who have been victimized by a nuclear attack or accident be further subjected to a relaxation of the radiation protection standards EPA has previously deemed safe? The stakes are simply too high to accept anything less than the strongest scientific recommendations.”

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe To Receive Grant Funds From Shakopee MdewakantonL
Submitted by Tessa Lehto,
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces a grant for $940,000 to the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of South Dakota for economic development and community infrastructure. The grant will fund three initiatives.

The majority of the grant, $790,000, will help fund a new convenience store in West Brule near the tribal justice center, tribal government offices, and the local Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as cluster housing areas. The 5,667 square foot convenience store will feature a four pump gas station and will provide much needed jobs and services for the community as a whole. Soil testing is underway, and the tribe hopes to continue construction during the winter so that the new convenience store can open in mid-2010.

“We’re pretty excited to get this. It’s a dream coming true because we never realized it could happen,” said Tribal Liaison Officer Michael Standing Soldier who has worked on the project for years.

Lakota Foods, owned and operated by the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, will receive $100,000 for marketing and advertising. Lakota Foods markets popcorn and buffalo products produced on the 7,000 acre Lower Brule Farm which has raised crops since 1979. It is one of the world's largest producers of popcorn. Lakota Foods also grows kidney, pinto, navy, and soybeans; sunflowers; and wheat, milo, and alfalfa for feed.

Lakota Foods offers 13 different popcorn products, buffalo jerky, and buffalo sticks. The popcorn products include ready to eat, raw, and cheddar, butter, caramel, and honey flavored, as well as gift packages.

The remainder of the funds will be used to help replace a tribal ambulance which has reached the end of its life cycle. The SMSC will contribute $50,000 towards the new ambulance which the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe will match. The new ambulance will continue to provide services to both the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Reservations. In April 2009 the SMSC gave the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe a donation of $60,000 to help complete the West Brule Recreational Youth Center.

The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe is part of the Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires of the Dakota Nation. The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, also known as the Kul Wicasa Oyate, is located along the Missouri River in central South Dakota on the Native American Scenic Byway. It is approximately 60 miles southeast of Pierre, South Dakota. Reservation population is 2,600 on a total area of 221,646 acres in Lyman and Stanley Counties.

For more information go to
http://www.lbst.org/ or http://www.lakotafoods.com/.

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Native American Heritage Month - Time To Quit Smoking

Legacy For Longer, Healthier Lives
Submitted by Sarah Shank
sshank@legacyforhealth.org
1724 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20038

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More Native Americans smoke than any other racial population in the United States. They start smoking younger and nearly 18 percent of Native Americans lose their lives to cancer. As we recognize Native American Heritage Month and Lung Cancer Awareness Month, EX® offers a free way to break the smoking addiction.

Health should be at the top of the list and this month provides a unique opportunity for Native Americans who smoke to learn more about quitting, since research shows higher smoking rates than any other group in the U.S. While sacred and ceremonial tobacco use is a major part of celebrating this culture, we know that it does not resemble the common cigarette smoking that cause tobacco related diseases, including cancer, which claims 18 percent of Native Americans each year.

Statistics:
Tobacco-related death is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States; smokers therefore need to be armed with all the available information to make the best, most informed choices about the smoking cessation medications and resources available to them.

According to the CDC, 41 percent of American Indians who ever smoked have quit, compared with 37 percent of African Americans, 43 percent of Hispanics, 45 percent of Asians and 51 percent of whites.

According to the CDC, in the U.S., tobacco use is associated with the two leading causes of death (i.e., heart disease and cancer) among American Indian and Alaskan Native adults.

BecomeAnEx.org provides a free comprehensive quit plan with tools and information that can help individuals “re-learn” life without cigarettes. The Web site serves as a convening point for smokers who want to quit and collaborate on their successes and challenges with others going through the same struggle.

With the latest research estimating that nearly six million people worldwide will lose their lives to tobacco next year[1], EX takes an innovative approach to helping the 43 million Americans who smoke to finally quit. This month, the national quit smoking program, EX, will debut the second phase of advertising and promotions designed to help smokers “re-learn” life without cigarettes.

“More Native Americans smoke than any other racial population in the United States,” said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, President and CEO of LegacySM, “and it is an extremely difficult addiction to end. EX is a free resource created by and for smokers, and I am confident that it can help American re-learn life without cigarettes.”

EX provides evidence-based tools to help smokers quit, including information that can help them prepare for a quit attempt by
1) “Re-learning” their thinking on the behavioral aspects of smoking and how different smoking triggers can be overcome with practice and preparation;
2) “Re-learning” their knowledge of addiction and how medications can increase their chances for quitting success; and
3) “Re-learning” their ideas of how support from friends and family members can play a critical role in quitting.

For smokers committed to quitting, the EX Web site (http://www.becomeanex.org/) provides a free comprehensive quit plan with tools and information that can help them form their own individual plans. The Web site serves as a convening point for smokers who want to quit and collaborate on their successes and challenges with others going through the same struggle.

Since March 2008, when the program first debuted, more than a million people have visited the site, and more than 14,000 smokers have joined the online community, forming nearly 300 customized support groups for smokers. EX tools were designed in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic and with input from former and current smokers who have lived with this struggle, in order to provide smokers with a realistic approach based on evidence-based research.

Most smokers in America – 70 percent – want to quit, but in 2000, only about five percent of smokers were successful in quitting long-term. Quitting smoking is ultimately one of the single most important lifestyle changes one can make to improve and extend their lives. Tobacco-related death is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States; smokers therefore need to be armed with all the available information to make the best, most informed choices about the smoking cessation medications and resources available to them.

In 2006-07, Legacy, the national public health foundation best known for its truth® youth-smoking prevention campaign pilot tested EX in four markets throughout the country: Buffalo, N.Y.; San Antonio, Texas; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Baltimore, Md. A new study released in the September 2009 issue of Social Marketing Quarterly found that EX was a trusted and empathetic brand and that smokers who were thinking more about quitting or were more motivated to quit were significantly more receptive to the EX brand than those who had not yet reached that point in their quit process.

As a result of the successful pilot program, in 2007, Legacy brought together several national organizations and several states to form the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation (NATC) and launch EX nationally. The NATC is a group of states, non-profit organizations, foundations and corporations, all dedicated to helping people quit smoking.

All of these organizations agree that while smokers may know why they should quit, many just don’t know how. Therefore, EX steers away from focusing solely on the reasons for quitting and instead empowers smokers to use FREE resources and methods that have been proven to increase smokers’ chances of quitting successfully.

EX® is a collaborative public health campaign presented by the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation, a partnership of the nation's leading public health organizations and states. The campaign helps smokers prepare to quit and guides them to useful resources that foster successful quit attempts including the EX plan, a free personalized quit plan available on the campaign’s Web site http://www.becomeanex.org/.

EX is the culmination of several years of research and testing, combining an understanding of the power of nicotine addiction with messages that resonate with and motivate smokers toward behavior change. The EX approach is peer to peer and focuses on "re-learning life without cigarettes" by encouraging smokers to think differently about the process of quitting. The campaign, which began airing nationwide in March 2008, includes television, radio, online AND out-of-home advertising. The EX Web site helps smokers create their own individual plan to quit and connects them to a virtual community of other smokers where they can share stories and strategies about quitting.

Founding members of the NATC include numerous states and the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the National Cancer Institute, the American Legacy Foundation, C-Change, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and clinical partner, the Mayo Clinic.

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Militia Movement Infiltrates Six Nations - Part 2

The Camel's Eye Treaty Hoax
November 04, 2009
By Al Carroll

The Camel’s Eye Treaty has become the guiding document for Sovran groups. Monica Peters of the Akwesasne Women’s Fire is perhaps its strongest advocate. Supposedly the alleged document is based on writings by the late Meredith Quinn, who at one time called herself the legal advisor for the "Dakota Empire." Yet believers in this alleged treaty have provided no evidence it ever even existed.

The contents of this document are filled with many obvious falsehoods and a great deal of, to put it kindly, incredible weirdness. These writings attributed to Quinn include many references to DNA and mitochondria, terms pulled out of thin air that are meaningless such as "self proclaiming dragon chiefs" and "divine life force delta 9 frequency." I also don't think I have ever seen divine angels of light and Interpol discussed in the same document before. It would be an unintentionally funny joke, except that believers in the document are causing quite a bit of problems in the Six Nations and elsewhere.

Believers in the treaty also write at length about “kanabosm.” This is their term for marijuana, and they provide pages of descriptions as to why it's sacred and "majik." Side by side with treaty discussions they also write dozens of pages on the witch hunts in Europe, the Virgin Mary, and the Essenes, a Jewish cult in ancient times.

The falsehoods from the alleged Camel’s Eye Treaty itself are numerous and obvious. Below are the most obvious:
1. "This treaty is known as the Treaty of the Camels Eye, The Eye of Isis and The Eagle Bowl Treaty, and it was signed July 2nd 408 A.D. upon the surrender of the Roman Empire.

"Why would a treaty supposedly written a thousand years before Columbus affect Natives? Why would it be named after camels or Isis? Rome fell in 476, not 408.

2. "Peace Pipe Treaties [These treaties cover all Indian Tribes of North and South America]The Seal of Solomon Treaty [Covers all Blacks, Arabs and Israelites]The Paladium of Troy Treaty [Covers Asia and Minor Asia]Noah’s Ark Treaty [Covers all Anglia, Saxon, Mercia and Northumbrian Groups or The White Tribes of Europe]"

Where to begin? Peace pipes aren't used by many tribes, and many tribes never signed any treaties at all. The Seal of Solomon referred to Solomon’s ring used to signify his authority, not any treaty. The Palladium (with two ls) was in Athens, not Troy. There is no such place as Minor Asia. There is only Asia Minor. Why would a treaty for England be named after Noah's Ark? And why are only the ancient peoples of England mentioned as "white tribes of Europe"? Where are the Germans, French, etc?

3. "...Remember at the time Rome surrendered it’s power in 408 AD, England was given the responsibility of fulfilling the articles of the Camel’s Eye Treaty, because England was the second Rome."England was a minor province of the Roman Empire. Most of it was never even conquered by the Romans. England certainly never took over the former territory of the Roman Empire. In 408 AD, England was divided under many rulers and would not be united for many centuries.

4. "The ROMAN EMPIRE included the Crown of England, France and Spain. To this day, should you follow the bloodlines of the ROYAL FAMILIES, you will find them to be the descendants of the OLD ROMAN EMPIRE or the ROMAKOS who are the descendants of GREEK ROYALTY."

The Roman Empire did not include the crowns of those three nations. The British and Greek dynasties are actually both German in origin.

5. "...And the name of this book can be found in the new Bible-Numbers 21:14. The Monarchy of any Tribal Government are called: Angels; Daughters of the Great Spirit or Pure Light."

What a conspiracy theory about the Bible has to do with Indians is anyone's guess.

6. "To be a member of a Signatory Tribe, you must belong to a clan that is ruled by a Clanmother who appoints Chiefs to speak on behalf of her clan. The entire Tribe ruled by Clanmothers, Angels, Pure Light, or Daughters of the Great Spirit, become the Title Owners of the Sovereign Territories."

Do they seriously believe that the US or Canadian governments required Native women to be recognized as angels of light before they could sign treaties? Actually, these governments preferred (or more often, insisted) Native treaty signers to be male.

7. "The exception to this are the 5,6, and 7 Nations that were Indian Tribes created by George Washington"

They seriously believe that George Washington somehow created tribes?

8. "The original Iroquois Confederacy was 52 Nations."

By such a bizarre claim they just called every keeper of Haudenosaunee tradition a liar.

Monica Peters of Akwesasne Women’s Fire described on their website how she came to believe in the Camel’s Eye Treaty:

“I remember when I first heard of the Camel Eye Treaty, back in June 2009. I was involved in a late night discussion with a new group of people that I did not know very well yet. We were talking about personal experiences, world events, dream symbolism, and astrology.

When I first heard about the Camel Eye Treaty, I was very tired and confused. My brain could not even process the information and how it pertained to my life today. I am very curious to learn every day, so I decided to start researching the topic.

The Orion Prophecy
Hieroglyphs
Astrology as it pertains the location of Pyramids ** See the orion prophecy
Egyptology
Eye of Isis
Obelisk in New York City, behind the Metropolitan Museum
Symbology
The Berbers….

It also makes sense to me that our ancestors have frequently changed their ‘names’ over the years as a survival tactic.I believe it is also worth our time to discover the commonalities with our Creation stories and compare those to Egyptology topics that are not government controlled knowledge.”

In other words, Peters believes that Six Nations oral tradition is false and her elders are liars.

Instead she chose to believe pseudo-science and fraudulent history that came from Black supremacists or so-called Moorish Science, and not even the profession of Egyptology as she thinks. Peters abandoned the Six Nations traditions that have been a source of strength for her people for centuries for, in her words: astrology, Egyptology, symbology, Orion prophecy, and conspiracy theories about obelisks and the government.

Not even The De Vinci Code is that unbelievable. Peters firmly denies being a cult member, but certainly she has fallen for ideas that are cult like and ridiculous, with no basis in fact and contrary to every Native oral tradition known.

For Ernestine Trudeau, she has chosen to ally herself with the militia and sovereign citizen movements that are filled with Quebec separatists, New Agers, and altmedicine quacks. Whether Peters or Trudeau realize it or not, the militia and sovereign citizen movement are a bizarre union of both Black and white supremacists. It is truly a shame that Natives who no longer believe in their people’s traditions get added to that strange alliance.

So-called Sovran groups are not tribes, nor clans, nor nations. Most importantly, they are not sovereign, never were, and never will be. “Ambassadors” of these groups are almost as delusional as their leaders. These so-called Sovran groups have no hope of succeeding in getting their dubious legal claims recognized. Deep down, I suspect the leaders of these groups realize that, even if the low level members don’t, just yet.

What these groups offer, as most conspiracy theories and pseudo-history offer, is a false feeling of being special, a naïve notion that its believers hold a secret others don’t know, and a simplistic way of seeing the world that comforts them temporarily. But only temporarily, because the law has a way of catching up with the fast buck con artists that the leaders tend to be. Its followers will likely go their own way, wiser but sadder, and perhaps poorer for any money they threw away.

The real losers, of course, will be genuine American Indian tribal nations, the actual Six Nations. Because their genuine claims, with historical and legal backing, will be much harder for the US and Canadian authorities to take seriously every time these pretenders claim to speak for Indians.

Dr. Al Carroll is a historian, Fulbright Scholar, and activist, helping found the hatewatch group New Age Frauds Plastic Shamans (NAFPS) at www.newagefraud.org. He is the author of Medicine Bags and Dog Tags: American Indian Veterans from Colonial Times to the Second Iraq War from University of Nebraska Press.

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