SMSC Holiday Blood Drive - Helms Book Review

Public Invited To Donate Blood
by Tessa Lehto
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org


Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community will hold a holiday blood drive on Tuesday, December 7, 2010, from noon to 7:00 p.m. at Dakotah! Sport and Fitness. The public is invited to participate.

Blood donors are desperately needed. Typically during the holidays blood donations decline while demand increases. It only takes one hour to give one pint of blood and that pint could potentially save as many as three lives.


All blood types are needed, but especially Type O, the universal donor. In order to give blood you need to be healthy, weigh at least 110 pounds, be at least 17 years old, and not have donated blood in the last 56 days. Other health matters are discussed as part of the health history and brief examination.


To help encourage donors during the holiday season, Memorial Blood Center will donate the equivalent of one pound of food to Second Harvest Heartland for area food shelves for every pint of blood donated between November 15, 2010, and January 9, 2011.

Please make an appointment to give blood by calling the SMSC Wellness Coordinator at 952-233-2965. A limited number of walk-ins will also be accepted. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has sponsored blood drives for more than 23 years. An employees only blood drive will also be held in December.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux CommunityThe SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for the 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 13 years, the SMSC has donated more than $193 million to charitable organizations and Indian Tribes and Native American organizations. The SMSC has also made more than $389 million in loans to other tribes for economic development projects. Since 1996 the SMSC paid more than $6.6 million for shared local road construction projects and an additional $5 million for road projects on the reservation.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized Indian Tribe in Minnesota, is the owner and operator of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Little Six Casino, Playworks, Dakotah! Sport and Fitness, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, and other enterprises on a reservation south of the Twin Cities.

Book Review - 'Cowgirl Days - Frybread Nights' By Kathy Helms
This is a book about radioactive shamanic warriorship: the journey of a brave soul in quest of the thin border within respect, freedom and justice.

Miss Kathy Helms packed it with the kind of humor which only a true modern Visionary American Fighter can express. It is a pleasure to have this book as a tranquil companion in a soft reading evening near the fireplace … because there is something about American Tradition and American Future inside it, inextricably mixed up.

Yes. Put Uranium Dark Witches versus Nuclear Light Shamans … and so The Adventure can start. Google it. Buy it & enjoy it!
Gary Kurtz

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UN Asked To Help Protect San Francisco Peaks From Reclaimed Waste Water

Shades Of Frank Zappa!
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
ST. MICHAELS – The Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission is urging a U.N. official to submit a letter of allegation against the United States in an effort to get the federal government to uphold its human rights obligation as a U.N. member-state.

Having exhausted all domestic remedies through the U.S. judicial process to protect and preserve Dook’o’osliid – one of four sacred mountains that mark the boundary of the Diné aboriginal homeland – the Commission submitted a formal complaint to James Anaya, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, regarding the use of reclaimed wastewater to make artificial snow at a ski resort located on the San Francisco Peaks.

“We are very confident that the Special Rapporteur will thoroughly investigate the sacred sites violation as it pertains to the desecration of the San Francisco Peaks and fully consider the Diné and other indigenous nations' concerns,” Duane H. Yazzie, Commission chair, said.

The Commission first sent a formal complaint to Anaya in May, alleging the United States violated and continues to violate the human rights and fundamental freedoms to preserve and protect the sacred sites, cultural and religious beliefs, and practices of Navajos and other indigenous peoples.

The “mountain that always glitters on top” is regarded as a single, living entity. It is also home to the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort, which will begin making artificial snow this month using reclaimed wastewater, according to the Commission.

On June 8, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to weigh in on the matter of Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Service, regarding expansion of the Snowbowl and the use of reclaimed water for artificial snow-making, despite the Coconino National Forest Service’s admission that use of reclaimed water would contaminate the natural resources needed to perform ceremonies that continue to be the basis for the cultural identity of a number of Arizona tribes.

In a Sept. 2 statement prior to Flagstaff City Council approving the use of reclaimed wastewater for the Snowbowl, Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said that each day, Navajos witness the chipping away of their way of life and culture.

“Over the past eight years, we’ve seen the U.S. Forest Service, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court, and now our neighbors in the city of Flagstaff miss opportunities to help us to perpetuate our ancient way of life, for the enjoyment of skiers and the benefit of one developer instead.

“It is irrefutable that these decisions hurt indigenous people in ways unseen and unfelt by our neighbors, as Navajos watch that which they’ve always known to be holy, immutable and consecrated, sacrificed for money, with little empathy shown to us or to our beliefs.”

On Nov. 5 in Geneva, Harold H. Koh, legal advisor to the U.S. Department of State, said religious rights are upheld by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and made reference to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 27.

“It is rare that the U.S. acknowledges international binding treaty to be applicable on indigenous peoples,” Navajo Human Rights Commission Executive Director Leonard Gorman said.

To date, however, the United States has not adopted the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In their response to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Nov. 9, the U.S. delegation said the United States is reviewing its position in response to calls from tribes and other indigenous groups and individuals.

“We certainly believe that signing the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, without reservation, would signify that the United States is committed to rectify the abuse suffered by Native peoples,” Yazzie said.

Information: http://www.nnhrc.navajo-nsn.gov/

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AZ Public Service To Buy Edison's Share In Four Corner's Coal Plant

Three Units Close If Deal Is Inked. Cleaner Energy - Jobs?
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Arizona Public Service Co announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Southern California Edison’s ownership in Units 4 and 5 of the Four Corners Generating Station near Farmington for $294 million.

If approved by state and federal regulators, APS will close Four Corners' older, less efficient Units 1, 2 and 3, and install additional emission controls on the remaining units. APS, the plant operator, owns 100 percent of those three units, which are subject to significant environmental upgrades under rules proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in October.

“These rules would present a major economic challenge for continued operation and require us to look at alternatives for Units 1, 2 and 3,” Mark Schiavoni, APS senior vice president of Fossil Generation, said. “This course of action represents the best alternative for APS and its customers and provides a cleaner environment while preserving a needed reliable and affordable supply of energy for the Southwest.”

There will be no layoffs at the plant, which employs 549 workers, 74 percent of whom are Navajo, Schiavoni said. The Four Corners plant and the supporting mining operations at BHP Billiton have a $225 million annual impact on the New Mexico and Navajo economies, according to APS.

“This proposal enables us to continue to support the Navajo Nation and the Farmington area with high-quality jobs that are important economic drivers for the region,” Schiavoni said. Continued operation of Units 4 and 5 is expected to provide more than $6.3 billion in economic value to the region over the next 30 years, at least 70 percent of which will benefit the Navajo Nation and its citizens, APS said.

As a result of the anticipated shutdown of Units 1, 2 and 3, capacity at the coal-fired station, one of the nation’s largest, would be reduced by 560 megawatts, to 1,540 megawatts, of which APS would own 970 megawatts. Emissions of nitrogen oxides would decline by 36 percent, mercury by 61 percent, particulates by 43 percent, carbon dioxide by 30 percent and sulfur dioxide by 24 percent.

APS would replace the energy lost through the closure of the three older units with 739 megawatts from Southern California Edison’s 48 percent share of the newer, more efficient Units 4 and 5. APS currently owns 15 percent of the two units. Other owners include Public Service of New Mexico, Salt River Project, El Paso Electric and Tucson Electric Power. California state law requires Southern California Edison to end participation in the plant by 2016, when the current lease with the Navajo Nation expires.

“Closing the three smaller, less efficient units and keeping the cleaner, more efficient Units 4 and 5 in operation would dramatically reduce the carbon footprint in the region and enable the plant to remain compliant with state and federal environmental standards,” Schiavoni said.

APS' transaction requires approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In addition, the acquisition is contingent on the Navajo Nation approving a lease extension for the plant beyond 2016. It also requires successful negotiation of a new fuel contract with mine-operator BHP Billiton for the post-2016 period. Assuming timely receipt of required approvals and extensions of the land-lease and fuel contract, the companies are targeting closing the purchase by the end of 2012.

APS will submit a filing with the ACC in mid-November followed shortly thereafter with a filing at FERC.

George Hardeen, spokesman for Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., said, “The Navajo Nation is negotiating a lease extension and we want to do everything we can to ensure jobs and revenue to the Nation are preserved. We do know it's an old power plant, but it's got a few more years of life, and the Navajo people are depending on the employment that they have there.”

Budget and Finance Committee Chairman LoRenzo Bates said his committee, the Navajo Nation Council and others had been made aware of the cost to retrofit the older units, built in the 1960s. “It didn't pencil out, so rather than expending those dollars, I'm going to assume that it was a business decision on APS' part.”

As for Navajo, it definitely will impact revenue, Bates said. “I would imagine that Minerals Department people, as we speak, are crunching those numbers. You're looking at maybe as high as 30 percent.” With the Nation's current annual budget at $146 million, if the shutdown took place today, assuming a 30 percent loss of revenue, that would be $12 million to $15 million, he said. “That's severe.”

In addition, services funded by virtue of BHP and APS also will get cut, he said. “It has a trickle-down effect. The Nation is going to have to adjust itself. We'll feel the hurt in terms of the people that could get laid off or early retirement; we'll feel it in the lost revenue and the direct services that are funded by this revenue.

“To add insult to injury, we as the Navajo Nation from the Investment Committee on several occasions have asked APS to consider the Nation to be a part-owner. To hear that they're going to take full ownership of Southern Cal's share without coming to the Nation to see if we would consider being part owner is disappointing,” Bates said. “That door is still open. I'm sure the Nation would like to at least look at it and see if that's what we want to do.”

Not everyone was disappointed at APS' decision, however. “It's a good start and we look forward to Four Corners power plant transitioning to renewable energy that would go a long way in significantly curtailing health problems created by the pollution by Four Corners power plant,” Lori Goodman of Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, said upon hearing the news. “For too long our Navajo people are left with asthma and heart diseases from coal dust and power plant emissions,” Anna Frazier, also of Dine CARE, added.

Brad Bartlett of the Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango, who has represented the group along with San Juan Citizens Alliance in various lawsuits, said, “After spending 40 years as one of the nations dirtiest polluters, APS now recognizes that it is going to have shut down significant portions of this facility in order comply with Clean Air requirements which have been in place for decades. Whether these minimum efforts will be enough to protect human health and the environment in the Four Corners from the long term regional effects of coal development remains to be seen.”

Roger Clark of Grand Canyon Trust, which has been advocating for nitrogen reductions and pollution controls on all five units, said the EPA haze rule is the driving regulatory action; and though APS said it would install additional pollution controls, it is not committing to what those controls will be.

“It looks like this is step in the right direction in the transition to clean energy. We're glad that APS is thinking about preserving Navajo jobs. We're interested in seeing how they intend to replace Four Corners coal capacity. We think it's important to begin to look at opportunities for Navajo ownership of renewable energy replacement power.”

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Lakota Nation Elders STILL In Urgent Need Of Heating Assistance

Elders Being Denied Home Heating Assistance: Snow, Wind Chills Below Zero
November 22, 2010
Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Lakota Nation

Cante Tenza, the Strong Heart Warrior Society of the Lakota Nation is issuing a second emergency appeal for heating assistance for a group of 13 traditional Elders on Pine Ridge, Reservation in South Dakota.

Lakota Grandmothers and Grandfathers are in dire need of propane heating fuel and small electric heaters for the winter. Already, temperatures are plunging below zero, and just last night a foot and a half of snow fell on Pine Ridge.

At the same time, these Elders, many who speak limited English, have been denied assistance from Oglala Tribal Government due to racist requirements in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

These are the same Grandmothers who stood against tribal government a few weeks ago and nearly went to jail defending the children. Some in Tribal Government may be using their influence to withhold money from these Grandmothers who stood for justice and tradition.

Cante Tenza needs emergency donations to buy propane for these Elders. We also need small electric heaters or gift cards to buy heaters at Home Depot or Walmart.

As Strong Heart does not have a bank account in our name, please address all checks and donations to Cante Tenza Headsman Duane Martin Sr. at:
Duane Martin Sr.
c/o Strong Heart Warrior Society Elder Care
Box 512
Hill City, South Dakota 57745

Duane Martin Sr. can be reached at 605-454-0449 if you need additional information or verification.

Thank you for your donation! It is both needed and appreciated!

Pine Ridge, SD Weather Forecast
http://www.wunderground.com/US/SD/Pine_Ridge.html

Cante Tenza Okolakiciye - Strong Heart Warrior Society
Free & Independent Lakota Nation
Box 512,
Hill City, South Dakota, 57745
605-454-0449 or 605-517-1547

http://www.lakotaoyate.net/
PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY ---

Cante Tenza Okolakiciye also known as the Strong Heart Warrior Society of the Lakota Nation is an ancient Lakota warrior society as well as a broad-based civil rights movement that works to protect, enforce and restore treaty rights, civil rights, and sovereignty of Native people and their communities across Turtle Island.

In addition to activist efforts to protect the land and people, each year Cante Tenza collects and freely distributes shoes, winter coats, school supplies, food, and other support to Oglala Lakota elders, children and families.

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Supreme Court Upholds Nuclear Regulatory Commission's License For Uranium Resources Inc.

Navajo Community's Drinking Water At Risk
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

CHURCHROCK – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review an appeals court ruling which upheld Uranium Resources Inc.'s license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct in situ leach uranium mining at its Churchrock/Crownpoint project.

In an order issued Monday, the high court refused to hear arguments from Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining and Southwest Research and Information Center, along with Navajo petitioners Grace Sam and Marilyn Morris from Pinedale Chapter.

The two organizations have been fighting the NRC, Uranium Resources Inc. and it's subsidiary, Hydro Resources Inc., for the last 16 years over protection of the community drinking water supply where the NRC has licensed the mining operation.

“Today’s announcement was significant in that it clears the last remaining legal challenge to our NRC license,” Don Ewigleben, URI president and CEO, said. “We have long maintained our belief that our license was valid and have continued to move forward toward the final development of the Churchrock/Crownpoint project.

“Our feasibility study is ongoing and in October, we filed the necessary documents with the NRC to reactivate our license, which is currently in timely renewal status. Once active, the license may be utilized according to its present terms and conditions while URI completes its license renewal. We will also continue to educate the community on the project, our focus on safety and the environment as well as the economic opportunity it creates for the area,” he said.

Petitioners questioned whether the NRC could ignore radioactive emissions from waste already present at the site in determining whether public radiation doses from new mining would exceed health and safety standards.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in March upheld the NRC’s decision that HRI does not have to clean up existing Cold War-era radioactive waste on its Churchrock Section 17 property, which includes the abandoned Old Church Rock Mine. Existing radioactive contamination is nine to 15 times the regulatory limit, according to court documents.

Eric Jantz of New Mexico Environmental Law Center, who filed for review on behalf of Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining and Southwest Research and Information Center, said though they didn't actually expect to get review, the court's decision was disappointing.

“But I will say the fight isn't over by a long shot, and I think the Independent's readers need to understand that this isn't the end of the line at all. They still have to get their temporary aquifer designation permit reviewed with the New Mexico Environment Department. We're going to challenge that as far as we can take it,” Jantz said.

“Based on the information I got from EPA, they were denied an aquifer designation for the Crownpoint site, so there isn't going to be mining there unless something changes dramatically.”

The 10th Circuit recently ruled that URI's Section 8 property is not in Indian Country, however, Jantz said, the same court ruled in 2001 that Unit One and Section 17 are on Indian Country land. “They're going to have to take a run at the Dine Natural Resources Protection Act to get at those,” he said. “Section 17 is trust land, so it's the equivalent of reservation land; and Unit One is allotted land, and that's squarely under the definition of Indian Country. “

URI stated in a press release that its New Mexico feasibility studies are expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Assuming that the NRC license renewal moves forward in a timely manner, that appropriate financing is available and that there is a sustained recovery in the price of uranium, the company should be in a position to begin construction of the facilities in 2012 and begin mining in 2013.

The NRC license allows for the production of up to an initial 1 million pounds per year from the Churchrock/Crownpoint project until the company is able to successfully demonstrate restoration of groundwater, after which the quantity of production can be increased to 3 million pounds per year.

Thanksgiving Dinner Is Nov. 23rd For New York City Homeless
The Oneida Indian Nation and HELP_USA will serve hundreds of Thanksgiving meals from 4 pm to 8 pm at Genesis RFK Apartments just off Union Square at 13th Street and 4th Avenue.

Ray Halbritter, CEO of Oneida Nation Enterprises, has helped put together a cast of celebrities, among others, to serve the meals to New York's homeless. The group includes: Comedian, Mario Cantone; Actors Jill Flint, Giles Marini, Amy Carlson, Levin Rambin, and Jesse Metcalfe; Evan Lysacek, Champion Figure Skater; Tomas Jones, Kansas City Chiefs; and Justin Tuck, New York Giants.

The November 23rd event is a campaign to help raise awareness of homelessness and HELP_USA.

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Ethics Complaint Filed Over Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement

77 of the 88 Navajo Nation Council Members Face Criminal Charges
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Concerned Navajo citizens with the Dine Water Rights Coalition have filed a complaint with the Ethics and Rules Office contending that the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights settlement passed Nov. 4 by the Navajo Nation Council should be declared null and void because of pending charges against 77 of the 88 delegates.

“With so many of the Council delegates facing criminal convictions for fraud, theft, forgery and conspiracy, the Navajo people cannot be confident that this important decision was made with clear minds, in their best interests,” according to the complaint filed Friday by Kimberly Smith of St. Michaels on behalf of the group.

They said Council approved the settlement 51-24 with 13 abstaining, “despite this ethical cloud,” and because many of the delegates who voted for the bill will soon no longer be in office, “the Navajo people are left to wonder whether delegates may have been illegally enticed to vote for it in exchange for some future compensation.”

The lame-duck Council's decision terminates the tribe's inherent aboriginal water rights and reserved rights in clear violation of the ratified Navajo treaties of 1849 and 1868, the Winters Doctrine of 1908 and the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. California, they stated in a press release.

“The concerned Dine citizens of the Dine Water Rights Coalition believe that those in leadership positions with pending criminal charges do not have ethical standing to make a decision with such long-lasting significance for future Dine generations,” they said.

The group is in agreement with an Oct. 1 resolution from the Navajo Human Rights Commission that adequate time was not provided to educate the Navajo people about the complex document. They said it was impossible for delegates to cast a responsible vote on behalf of their chapter members between the time the 400-plus page document made its appearance in late September and the Nov. 4 vote.

Concerned Navajo citizens and grassroots group members are scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Joe Shirley Jr. in hopes of persuading him to veto the resolution.

Though the agreement is billed as an Indian water rights settlement, only two of the 33 parties are actually tribes. The remainder are non-Indians. In addition to Navajo, the Hopi Tribe also must sign off on the settlement agreement, however, Hopi Tribal Chairman LeRoy Shingoitewa said last week that Hopi is not ready to make a decision.

“There are still a lot of unresolved issues on the table and until the Hopi Tribal Council is more informed and at a point to go before the Hopi people to present and answer their questions, we cannot approve the agreement,” Shingoitewa said. “More public educational forums need to be provided with input from the Hopi people.”

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SMSC - $617,000 Grants To Charitable Organizations

Fifteen Organizatons Receive Grants
by Tessa Lehto
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community today announced grants totaling $617,000 to 15 charitable organizations. The largest grant was a second installment of a $1 million grant over three years to the Saints Healthcare Foundation of Shakopee, Minnesota, which supports both St. Francis Regional Medical Center and St. Gertrude’s.

"We are grateful to the SMSC for their tremendous support, which is making it possible to add 30 beds to St. Gertrude's Rehabilitation Center and serve 60 more patients each month who need rehabilitation services to return home safely following discharge from a hospital.

SMSC's support is also helping to expand St. Gertrude's Physical Therapy Center, which was designed to serve a 20-patient facility, rather than the 120 patients now served at St. Gertrude's. Finally, SMSC's support inspired other donors to give, which enabled us to meet the project's $2 million fundraising goal--an impossible goal during our recent recession," said Saints Foundation Executive Director Mary Clem.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton gift of $333,000 supported construction of a 36,565 square foot addition to the existing St. Gertrude’s to house expanded rehabilitation services. Thirty beds dedicated to rehabilitation will be added, and existing rooms and physical therapy space will be remodeled.

A grant for $50,000 went to Children’s Hospital, Minneapolis, Minnesota, to support capital construction and programs. The gift will support private rooms on the medical/surgical floor. Children’s Hospital has more than 100,000 emergency room visits and more than 14,000 admissions each year. Approximately 245 children are hospitalized every day. Children’s Hospital is the seventh-largest children’s health care organization in the U.S., with 332 staffed beds at their two hospital campuses in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The Minnesota Land Trust was pledged a matching grant for $50,000 for its work with conservation easements and other land-protection tools to preserve natural and scenic land throughout the state. The organization has completed 404 conservation projects that have protected 37,061 acres of land and 760,003 feet of shoreline.

These projects provide benefits to the public by conserving important plant and animal habitats, protecting water quality, and preserving scenic landscapes that contribute to a community’s sense of place. The Minnesota Land Trust preserves Minnesota's natural and scenic heritage through public and private partnerships working with landowners, communities, and conservation partners.

A donation of $39,000 to Minnesota Public Radio helped sponsor the program Midmorning with Kerri Miller, a morning show hosted by journalist Kerri Miller, broadcasting 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. weekdays on all Minnesota Public Radio stations. Kerri Miller has won distinguished awards from the Society of Professional Journalists National Achievement Award, Minnesota Broadcasters Award, the Associated Press Award, and a Gracie award from the Association of Women in Radio and Television.

A grant for $25,000 went to Twin Cities Public Television's program Almanac at the Capitol, a public affairs program which airs twice a week. Political topics, including guest interviews, highlight this local issues-based live program hosted by Mary Lahammer while the Minnesota State Legislature is in session. Shows also review important legislation and report on their progress as well as give behind the scenes looks at the political players.

Known for its strict nonpartisanship, Almanac at the Capitol is popular with politicians, legislators, and with the general public. Almanac at the Capitol is a spin-off of the popular Almanac show which has aired for more than 20 years on Twin Cities Public Television.

The SMSC donated $25,000 to the American Diabetes Association for education to target diabetes treatment and prevention in Native Americans in Minnesota and for research. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Together these diseases represent some of the most critical health concerns among American Indians.

ADA is the leading organization working to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. They fund research to prevent, cure, and manage diabetes; deliver services to hundreds of communities; provide objective and credible information; and give voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes.

The Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota received an unrestricted grant for $25,000. Established in 1991 to provide the community and the country with cutting-edge prevention strategies, detection techniques, and treatment options, the Cancer Center brings together 500 physicians and research scientists from a variety of disciplines, representing nine university colleges and schools and eight area hospitals and clinics. The Cancer Center cares for more than 1,700 patients every year while ensuring that they remain on the forefront of research and innovation.

St. Mary's Health Clinic in Shakopee, Minnesota, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet of the St. Paul Province, received a donation of $25,000 from the SMSC for free health care for low-income patients without insurance or medical assistance. The Shakopee Clinic is one of 14 clinic sessions each week which provide patient visits to the clinic, lab tests, x-rays, diagnostic tests, and most medications. Specialty referrals are also available without charge.

For a nearly two decades St. Mary’s Health Clinics, a ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph, has provided free primary health care to the uninsured in the seven county metropolitan area of St. Paul, Minneapolis, and their surrounding suburbs. In that time over 72,500 visits have been recorded at the St. Mary’s Health Clinics.

A grant for $10,000 went to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International of Bloomington, Minnesota, for their Imagination Ball Gala to raise funds for diabetes research and patient support. JDRFI is committed to finding a cure for the disease that afflicts more than 22 million men, women, and children, killing one American every three minutes.

Shakopee Public Schools received a grant for $10,000 for construction of solar panels or a greenhouse for the Shakopee Educational Learning Center at the high school. The SELC will benefit students in construction, environmental ethics and ecology, engineering and drafting, and physical education classes as well as local contractors and residents.

Grants of $5,000 each also went to the American Cancer Society, Catching the Dream, Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Cheyenne, Como Zoo, and Dunwoody College of Technology.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux CommunityThe SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for 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.

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Navajo OKs Water Rights Settlement

Grassroots: Council Has No Consideration For Navajo People
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Surrounded by murals of their ancestors, the Navajo Nation Council voted 51-24 Thursday to approve the Northeastern Arizona Water Rights Settlement in front of an overflow crowd of grassroots opposition that filled the historic Council Chamber.

Jones Benally, an internationally acclaimed hoop dancer and traditional Navajo medicine man originally from Black Mesa, came from Flagstaff with his family to stand strong for his people. He offered a prayer to the four directions.

“Our future is water, so we're here to make sure that they vote 'no' and our Council hears us,” Clayson Benally said.

“Within our traditional history as Navajo people, the very traditional belief of our people is that the reason the previous world was destroyed was because the coyote – the ma'ii – stole the water babies, and that's the future of our water. And today these politicians, who are exactly ma'iis, or exactly coyotes, they're crafting these laws, basically to get at money or whatever, and they're acting with that same kind of trickster nature of coyote; and here we go once again where the coyote is trying to steal the water babies,” he said.

Jeneda Benally, Clayson's sister, said it's important that Navajo elected officials understand that they are the voice of the people. “And our people say 'no,' that we don't want our water rights sold out underneath us, because our future generations – my daughter's great-great-great grandchildren are going to be affected by this decision, and 31,000 acre-feet of water is not enough. We need to be able to sustain ourselves as a people, and for that we need water. Water is life.”

Council Delegate Thomas Walker Jr. said that according to an Indian Health Service Report from January, there are 61,700 homes that need water on the Navajo Nation. “The Navajo Nation has always maintained that water and sanitation are priorities” he said.

“The water supply projects in the agreement will provide resources for community development such as addressing the Navajo Nation’s highest health priorities: the construction of health care facilities, providing safe drinking water and the availability of sanitation. The Navajo Nation government is responsible for these pragmatic issues and the passage of the water settlement will help in protecting and improving the quality of life for our Navajo people,” he said.

But a group of students from Fort Lewis College in Durango disagreed. Dawn Murphy said about 10 of them drove from Durango to just say “no” to the settlement. The students arrived in Window Rock around 3 a.m., slept a couple hours, and then joined in the protest march to the Council Chamber.

“Basically they're just taking our rights as Navajos. They want us to settle for 31,000 acre-feet per year, and that's not good at all for our future, so that's why we're out here to protest,” Murphy said.

Chad Yen, also a student at Fort Lewis, came to support his Navajo friends. “The reason why I'm against the water rights settlement agreement is because the water is going to be diverted to help with the Navajo Generating Station, which is one of the most polluting power plants in the country,” he said.

Arnold Yellowhorse, 70, from Tuba City also came to protest. “People want more water than 31,000 acre feet. It should be in the millions. We're growing each day. We need more for our young people. The future is what we're looking at. We want this one voted down.”

Robin Jackson of Wheatfields, who is a member of Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, addressed the crowd outside before the vote. “I am from the Near the Water Clan,” she said. “We realize how precious water is, but do the cities of Tucson and Phoenix realize how precious it is? No, they don't. They have a ton of swimming pools, spray mists. Do we have that? No, because we realize that water is sacred. ... We're thinking of the generations who have yet to come. I'm 23 years old, but I have three nieces and two nephews. What's going to be left for them?”

Inside the Council Chamber, delegates said they also were thinking of the Navajo people.

Roy Laughter told the crowd, “I know this is a sensitive subject. We're not going to please everybody.” But, he asked, “What's the guarantee we're going to get a bigger portion if we say no?”

Leonard Chee said the good thing about the settlement is there is money for water projects. “Leupp, Birdsprings and Tolani Lake would benefit the most,” he said. “I would encourage our young people to get involved at the chapter level rather than at the tail-end.”

Leonard Tsosie said the other Native American party to the settlement, the Hopi, “are always opposite us. We can't have whatever Hopi does be a driving force.”

Raymond Joe said his chapter of Blue Gap told him, “Go ahead. We need the water,” and Harold Wauneka of Fort Defiance told delegates that if the settlement is not passed, they would have to go back to the drawing board with federal and state litigation.

“It requires water to create jobs, so we cannot just continue to say no. We need to go forward,” said Lorenzo Bedonie. “The Navajo Nation Council, whether it is this Council or the next Council, it makes decisions for the good of the Navajo people.”

GloJean Todacheene said negotiations on the water rights has been occurring since 1994. “There's 33 stakeholders, two are Native Americans, which are the Hopis and the Navajo Nation ... These people get together and they negotiate,” she said, and Navajo has people such as hydrologist Jason John, Bitah Baker of the Department of Justice, and John Leeper of Water Resources in there fighting on its behalf. “This has to move forward for the next generation,” she said.

Hope MacDonald-LoneTree said she had serious concerns. “Let's be clear it is wrong to connect the right to our water and the need for water lines, We, the Navajo Nation need to determine the current and future water needs of our people, not the non-Indian parties that Miss Todacheene read off. ... The construction of waterlines should not mean the surrender of the birthright of future generations. Let's not fool ourselves, there is no funding for these pipelines that are attached to this document.”

Navajo water rights attorney Stanley Pollack said there has been a lot of confusion about whether the funding is guaranteed. “There is no way for any particular Congress to guarantee that any funding will be made by subsequent Congresses. As a result, the best that Congress can do is to authorize projects to be built and authorize funding to be spent on projects.” For this reason, he said, the settlement contains what they call a poison pill. “If Congress doesn't spend the money, no deal, and you haven't waived anything.”

Following the vote, protesters gathered outside the Council Chamber. Marie Gladeau of Black Mesa said she was really sad for the people. “I'm sorry that our leaders were not wiser today. I'm sorry that they didn't have the strength to stand up and to speak for us. What I see is they want to get rid of the biggest Indian nation here in the United States, which we are. We're the largest tribe, we're the one with the largest land base. And until a moment ago, we were the one with the largest water rights.”

George Kee of Tuba City, a former U.S. Marine with 20 years' service, who hauls water for many of the Forgotten People in the former Bennett Freeze area, said, “The councilmen have no consideration for their people. Council should have said no.”

Ed Singer, president of Cameron Chapter, said, “I guess a lot of the confusion is from the Council not being educated about this.” He said he thought they should have delayed the decision.

Norman Brown, a Navajo filmmaker and long-time activist, told the crowd, “What has happened now today is evident of why this government was created. It was created to give away our most valuable and precious resources. This is what this government has done.”

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Minnesota Tribe Announces $650,000 In Grants

SMSC Grants To 11 Native American Organizations
by Tessa Lehto,
Communications Specialist
Tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has announced grants totaling $650,000 to 11 organizations which serve American Indians or offer information and services to the larger Community about American Indians.

The Division Of Indian Work of Minneapolis, received two grants totaling $135,000 for program support and winter coats, hats, gloves, and mittens for American Indian students in the Minneapolis Public Schools who are eligible for free or reduced lunches. 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 other 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.

Native Report, a television program out of WDSE-8 in Duluth, Minnesota, received a grant for $100,000 for operational support. The Native Report series is an entertaining, informative magazine style series that celebrates Native American culture and heritage, listens to tribal elders, and talks to some of the most powerful and influential leaders of Indian Country today.

The series promotes understanding between cultures, tribes, and reservations; offers a venue for the stories of challenge and success coming from tribal communities; and educates public television viewers about the culture and traditions of native citizens.

The Native Report series is offered at no charge to all public television stations in the United States and is currently seen in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, California, Wisconsin, Virginia, Alaska, California, New York, Florida, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

Great Plains Gaming Association (GPIGA) of Bismarck, North Dakota received a grant for $95,000. Founded in 1997, GPIGA currently is composed of 28 Indian Nations within the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana. The grant will be used to assist the GPIGA in protecting, preserving, and expanding their treaty rights through legal representation and for their annual trade show.

The Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center received $75,000 to support the Cherish the Children Learning Center. Offering childcare and Early Childhood Education primarily for women receiving services from the MIWRC, the Cherish the Children Learning Center is one of only a few culturally based early learning centers for Native American children in Hennepin County. The Center is currently licensed for up to 70 children and includes two infant rooms, a toddler room, a preschool room, and a “latchkey” room.

The staff includes a child development coordinator who assesses the children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, provides follow-up screenings and documentation, develops individual learning plans in collaboration with classroom teachers, and schedules and implements education groups for special needs children. Although the center is open to all children, it is designed with an American Indian culturally appropriate atmosphere.

Flandreau Indian School received a grant for $65,000 for a behavior incentive program, senior class activities including a Commencement Pow Wow, and extracurricular activities including rodeo club, culture club, basketball, volleyball, golf, and cross-country. The Flandreau Indian School is the oldest continually operated federal Indian boarding school maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U. S. Department of the Interior and is the only non reservation high school in the region. The Flandreau Indian School has had over 10,000 graduates since 1873.

Native Children's Survival was pledged a $60,000 matching grant for their efforts to raise awareness about critical issues facing Mother Earth, her children, and the seventh generation to come. Their mission is achieved through the international language of music and film, and sustainable product development. Founded by musician Robby Romero in 1989, NCS creates award winning music, music videos, public service announcements, and rockumentary films that have reached millions of people from all walks of life through broadcasts on MTV, VH1, Sundance Channel, CNN, SABC Africa, and other networks around the world. (Funds for this grant will be released when a match has been made.)

The American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) of Duluth, Minnesota, received $50,000 for its 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 about 200 Native American homeless women and children a year, many of whom are fleeing from domestic violence.

A grant for $25,000 to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts helped fund the Thaw collection, a visiting Indian art collection, which opened November 2, 2010 and will run through January 9, 2011. The exhibition consists of 110 of the most outstanding works of art drawn from the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of North American Indian Art, which comprises more than 800 masterpieces of Native American art from across North America spanning more than 2,000 years. The Thaw Collection, organized by the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, is a broad survey that samples Native artistic accomplishment before and after the arrival of Europeans.

A donation of $20,000 to the American Indian Family Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, supported programs including women’s health, family support, youth, and employment services. In all programming the AIFC views each participant holistically, in the philosophy of the medicine wheel, which teaches that the four parts of each human being are important: physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual. AIFC serves 700 families a year, bringing traditional values to bear on modern challenges.

Naytahwaush Community Charter School was awarded a matching grant for $15,000 for iPad Touches and other Information Technology equipment for seven classrooms. This elementary school serves children grades kindergarten through sixth on the White Earth Reservation.

A $10,000 SMSC grant supported St. Stephens Kateri Residence, a halfway house in Minneapolis, which provides safe and sober housing to American Indian women recovering from chemical dependency. Kateri blends traditional recovery methods such as Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs with a focus on American Indian culture and spirituality as a means of healing.

About the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community The SMSC utilizes its financial resources from gaming and non-gaming enterprises to pay for 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.

Update On Kathy Helms Book - To View or Order, Google "Cowgirl Days, Frybread Nights".

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Award-Winnning Journalist, Kathy Helms First Novel - 'Cowgirl Days, Frybread Nights'

Erin Brockovich Meets Tony Hillerman - Wrapped In Humor!
"Cowgirl Days, Frybread Nights" is a tale of adventure and self-discovery.

When a bored newspaper editor living in inner-city Nashville finds a token coin with a picture of an eagle on one side and the words "No Cash Value" on the other, she takes it as a sign that she should pack up her daughter and dog and follow her bliss 2,000 miles across the United States so she can live on an Indian reservation and write about the Navajo uranium legacy.

Who knew there was black witchcraft and white witchcraft and people running around at night in animal skins?

Kathy Helms' career as a writer began in a small town in Upper East Tennessee when she was a teenager and sold a story to American Girl magazine about her disastrous first date. When she received a check for $10 …, simply for writing, she figured it beat working in a factory and decided to make a career of it, despite her mother's protestations that journalism was "witchcraft."

She has since become an award-winning investigative reporter.

“If it sells, then I thought I would put aside a dollar or more to help individual Navajos that are struggling. There are so many families that need help, especially the elderly . That way, it will serve a good purpose. ... And it's not going to any organization that takes money off the top.”

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1705765

You can read numerous articles written by Kathy Helms in the Native Unity Digest – http://nativeunity.blogspot.com - detailing the ongoing exposure to radioactive materials, soil, water and health problems of the Navajo people due to poisoning from the 1970s abandoned uranium mines.

Publish Date - November 05, 2010

Dimensions Black and White Text Pocket 238 pgs
Category Humor
Tags Navajo, uranium, witchcraft, UFO, Keanu, cowgirl, nuclear …, Post-71, Tennessee, journalism, Appalachian, medicine man, horse ride

Comments
janeoverman says
Kathy Helms is one of the most talented gals that I know! She writes, weaves, makes beaded jewelry & does anything she sets her mind to! She has won awards for her talented journalism. She is a wanderer after my own heart, seeking the truth and helping those around her. I can't wait to have the book in my hands to read, I know it will be a best seller!

ozarknature says
Kathy Helms wrote important stories on the nuclear industries in Tennessee for years before hitching up her horse and wagon for the wild West country where much of the nation's uranium legacy originated and where that legacy has caused grave harm to the indigenous inhabitants and to the fragile environment of the Colorado Plateau region. Kathy is a talented journalist with a strong feel for the places she writes about. I'm looking forward to reading this new work.

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Veterans Day To Honor Navajo Code Talkers In New York City

Code Talkers To Participate In Veteran's Day Observances At New York Stock Exchange
Submitted by Mary Kim Titla
For Immediate Release
Contact: Allison Jaffe, NativeOne Financial
732.291.2600
or ajaffe@nativeonefinancial.com

New York, New York
On Veteran"s Day, November 11, the Navajo Code Talkers will be presented on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to participate in New York City"s Veteran"s Day observances.


The Navajo Code Talkers are the invited guests of NativeOne Financial, a Native American Financial Service Co., in partnership with Raymond C. Forbes & Co., Inc., a member of the NYSE, ARCA, AMEX, FINRA, ISE, NASDAQ, and SIPC.

The Navajo Code Talkers were young Navajo men, numbering nearly 400, who created an unbreakable code from the ancient language of their people and transmitted secret communications during WWII, changing the course of modern history.

At a time when America's best cryptographers were falling short, these modest sheepherders and farmers were able to fashion the most ingenious and successful code in military history.


The Navajo Code Talkers drew upon their proud warrior tradition to brave the dense
jungles of Guadalcanal and the exposed beachheads of Iwo Jima. Serving with distinction in every major engagement of the Pacific theater from 1942-1945, their unbreakable code played a pivotal role in saving countless lives and hastening the war's end.

"We are humbled to host the Navajo Code Talkers at the NYSE, the symbol of financial freedom that they helped protect and preserve," said Donald Lyons, CEO and Founder of NativeOne Financial and a member of the California-based Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

After participating in the New York City Veteran"s Day Parade, NativeOne Financial/Raymond C. Forbes & Co., Inc. will host the Code Talkers at a reception at the Cornell Club, 6 East 44th Street from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.


The Code Talkers will be available to sign copies of Navajo Weapon, by Sally McLain, a gripping
account of Navajo Tribal men who . . . created the only unbreakable code in modern military history.

Donations to the Navajo Code Talkers Museum (www.navajocodetalkers.org) will be accepted.

Additionally, you can visit our website for more details regarding the Museum they are creating.

About NativeOne Financial
NativeOne Financial offers services and products to all Tribes and Canadian First Nations, Institutional Fund Managers, State Treasurers, Pension Funds, Endowments and other institutional investors.


NativeOne is structured to deliver the highest quality of financial service, while giving back to the Native Community, in the form of contributions for Native American educational scholarships and other charitable causes.


For more information, please visit
www.nativeonefinancial.com.

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Lynda Lovejoy Loses Presidential Bid - Judge Blocks Expansion Of Navajo Mine

Ben Shelly Beats Lynda Lovejoy For Navajo Nation President
VOTE:
33,692 - 52.6% for Shelly/Jim
30,357 -47.4% for Lovejoy/Tulley

Coal Mine Will Affect Culture, Health And Navajo 'Way of Life'
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – BHP Billiton has temporarily suspended operations in a newly permitted area of its Navajo Mine after Senior U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane voided a permit for the 4,800-acre expansion, citing numerous failures by a federal agency in evaluating the environmental and cultural impacts.

As a result of Thursday’s 46-page decision, the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement will have to reassess how expansion of the northern New Mexico coal mine will affect culture, health and the way of life of Navajos who live in the area slated for mining.

BHP Billiton said Thursday’s decision by the U.S. District Court in Denver vacated an approval issued by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining in 2005 to allow mining in the Area 4 North section of Navajo Mine and remanded the permit revision to OSM for additional work.

“At this time, BHP Billiton is reviewing the decision in order to understand the specific impacts of this decision on Navajo Mine,” Pat Risner of BHP Billiton Media Relations in Farmington, said Monday. “We are in consultation with OSM on the appropriate next steps.

In the meantime, BHP Billiton has temporarily suspended operations in Area 4 North to allow
time to understand the implications of the decision. Operations at Navajo Mine in all other areas will continue with no interruptions.”

The Navajo Mine supplies coal solely to the Four Corners Generating Station. In early October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed an 80 percent reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions at the plant by requiring additional pollution controls, including selective catalytic reduction, estimated to cost $828 million, and controls to limit particulate emissions on units one, two and three. Southern California Edison plans to divest its 48 percent share in units four and five of the 2,040 megawatt plant by 2016.

“We will continue to watch this case and are supportive of a prompt resolution to this issue,” Mark Schiovani, senior vice president for Arizona Public Service Fossil Generation, said Monday from Phoenix. “The long term viability of Four Corners Generating Station is critical to the region economic well-being, the Navajo Nation and to our customers, and anything that may impact this viability is of a concern to us.”

In his decision, Kane agreed with the tenets of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and San Juan Citizens Alliance, a Four Corners conservation group. They alleged that OSM failed to meet the basic requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, including how the mine would impact relocation of residents, sacred burial grounds and historical sites in the mine area, in its approval of the 2005 permit revision application.

“In approving the huge mine with such little oversight, OSM demonstrated their cozy relationship with mining industry which appears to take precedent over the concern of the health, culture or history of the Navajo people,” said Lori Goodman of Diné CARE. “Obviously, their methods didn’t fly with the law or the judge. This mine expansion would have a huge impact on many people, on our water, our health and our way of life. We are very grateful for the outcome,” she said.

The court faulted OSM for failing to notify Navajos who would be affected by the proposed expansion and noted that its lack of effort resulted in OSM receiving no public comments on the 2005 application. The court compared the public notice efforts provided in advance of the 2009 permit renewal application, which resulted in “significant public comment” and said it demonstrated the inadequacy of the 2005 notice.

OSM was directed by the court to provide “meaningful public notice” in both English and Navajo in all future actions related to Navajo Mine.

“What OSM did was appalling,” said Mike Eisenfeld of the San Juan Citizens Alliance. “A project of this size requires a full-scale environmental review, yet the agency somehow thought they could get away with a simple check list. This was a complete lack of regard for the public trust.”

The judge found that OSM failed to take the requisite “hard look” at the continued permanent disposal of coal combustion waste as minefill at Navajo Mine and the impacts to scientific, cultural and historical resources in Area 4 North.

In the new environmental review OSM will have to analyze the impacts of disposing of coal-ash waste by dumping into unlined areas of any proposed mine expansion, and the impacts on at least 73 cultural sites, 34 of which are eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as several Traditional Cultural Properties, including burials.

“Judge Kane’s decision was a significant rebuke of the federal agency charged with protecting communities, land and water from the harms of Western coal mining,” said attorney Brad Bartlett who represented the organizations in the litigation. “OSM has failed to meaningfully involve the public in its decisions regarding the Navajo mine for over 30 years. Judge Kane’s decision sends a clear signal that it is time for the agency to turn the corner, do its job, and stand up for impacted communities and the environment.”

In addition to supplying coal to Four Corners power plant, BHP's Area 4 North expansion is designed, in part, to supply coal for the proposed 1,500 megawatt Desert Rock power plant and a coal-processing facility, Bartlett said.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

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UFOs Love New Mexico

From Lights In The Sky To A Tale Of Abduction: New Mexico's A Magnet For Aliens
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

GALLUP – From Roswell to Crownpoint to the Plains of San Agustin, there's nothing foreign in New Mexico about UFO sightings or tales of alien abductions. And this past weekend during the 7th annual UFO Film Festival at El Morro Theatre the message was clear: The United States needs to come clean.

Jacques Cyril Tixier, 58, of Gallup, has been attending the film festival for several years and is a firm believer in UFOs. A renowned metal artist, Tixier's sculpture of a coal miner, “The Cowboy and the Mermaid,” and Jerry Garcia's guitar stand alongside the massive “We the People” by Armando Alvarez in Miyamura Park.

Tixier attends the annual UFO festival just to see if there's anything new. This year they watched a couple films on crop circles, talked about the Mayan civilization, the pyramids, and the composition of metal fragments found at what is believed to be a UFO crash on the Plains of San Agustin, which happened around the same time of the Roswell incident.

“But the gist of the conference, I think, is France already has released their information about UFOs to the public. The United States needs to come clean with what they know, what they've seen, and turn that loose to the public because there's people out here that can tell them answers,” Tixier said.

He has his own theory about metal fragments from the crash and how a spaceship might be built. He attributes this insight and knowledge of metal to an event that occurred years ago when he was a teenager.

“I grew up on a ranch, 92,000 acres in northeastern New Mexico – Tucumcari/Logan area. All the time when we were out there at night, we'd always see lights and little things in the valley glowing, so we always knew something was up,” he said.

Tixier was no more than 17 years old when, one evening coming back from Logan on his motorcycle, he experienced one of those unexplainable weird events they make movies about. It was right around dusk but he could easily see a hundred feet or so ahead.

“I was halfway home on a 30-mile dirt road. I crossed this creek and then I got up on the plain again and took off real fast. This black cow just jumped out of the bar ditch and ran up on the road where I smacked her. I hit her right in the neck.

The next thing I knew, I'm picking up my motorcycle. I stood it up and I'm holding on to the handle bars and there's no cow. And it's really dark then. All the sudden I see these pickup lights coming down the road a hundred miles and hour, and then it just skids right up to where I'm at,” Tixier said.

“It was my sister there in the pickup. She started screaming when she saw me. She goes, 'Where did you come from? What's going on?' I said, 'I was standing right there. I thought you saw me.' She goes, 'No, no, no. I saw a big bright light coming at me and I slammed on the brakes.'

He asked her what time it was. “It's after midnight,” she said. “Where have you been?”

“And right there at that moment it just flashed where I had been,” he said. “I could see the inside of a spaceship, and looking out the windows, I knew exactly where we were in that spaceship. It was like five miles from where I was at. We were on the creek in that spaceship, and when she asked me that, I just photo-flashed back to where I could see inside that spaceship and I remember seeing all the gauges and stuff. It was a small space craft.”

To this day, his sister can verify his story, he said. “She didn't know where I came from and she didn't know where that light came from. It was like I was in that light, motorcycle and all. The cow probably was too, I don't know. I just saw it impact, I knew it was a cow, I smacked it and that was the end of it,” he said.

Overnight, a dyslexic Tixier suddenly discovered he had new talents. “Mechanical stuff is second nature to me. I can just look at anything and I know how it works. I don't have to read the instructions on complex machinery and stuff, I can just put them together. Everything has its own vibration with the world and I know how to take things apart using that,” he said.

And it is his affinity with metal that has given him insight into metal fragments from the crash site and how a spaceship might be put together. “They're all baffled why this metal has microscopic pieces of silica in it. If you melt aluminum all of the silica would boil out and you couldn't get it into the aluminum,” he said. But it wouldn't be a problem if the metal were vaporized and the space craft put together in a room built in outer space in zero gravity.

“You've got five or six holograms that have the blueprints. They're hologrammed into this room, and there's your spaceship – you can see it. Then you interject the vaporized materials – titanium, mercury, lead, everything that you need – and it goes to the designated areas that it's supposed to and solidifies itself there.

That's where you add in the silica and all these other things that you cannot put into metal. You pour in all your metal lines, your fuel lines, your communication lines, your wiring, your printed circuits. Everything is vaporized and put in there,” he said.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes 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.

Native Unity Digest stories are now appearing on the BeforeIt'sNews.com site under the Native American News category. Check them out!!!!

News Blog - American Indian Report - AIR BLOG
http://falmouth-air.blogspot.com

THE BUFFALO POST - Missoulian Montana's Native News Blog about Native People And The World We Live In.
http://buffalopost.net/

NATIVE AMERICA, DISCOVERED AND CONQUERED
http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america/

NATIVE VOICES BOOKS: TRADITIONAL & CONTEMPORARY NATIVE BOOKS
http://nativevoicesbooks.com/

PATHOLOGY.ORG - Up-to-date informmational database on general health and disease information, medical schools and medical resources.
http://www.Pathology.org

FOR ANNIE'S NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC.
http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.