Native Unity

Hopi At Crossroads Of Their Traditional Way Of Life

2010-12-29T20:55:00.002-07:00

Village Leader Says Sipaulavi Will Not Participate In Tribal Council.
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Sipaulavi Village Traditional Leader Gerald Numkena says Hopis are at the crossroads of maintaining or losing their traditional way of life. He has refused to certify any Council representatives and has issued a directive stating that the village no longer will participate on the Hopi Tribal Council.

With the vote on Hopi Constitution Draft 24A little more than a month away, battle lines are being drawn between progressive and traditional Hopis. In a Nov. 18 letter to Council representatives, Numkena admonished them for their “continued gross and deliberate violations of your constitution.”

He said some members of Council have tried to conform with the mandates of the constitution but are overruled by the majority. “Mr. Alph Secakuku, Mr. George Mase and Mr. Cedrick Kuwaninvaya continue to be illegally on Council and must be removed immediately ...,” he said.

According to a press release from the Chairman's Office, however, on Dec. 1, Lorena Charles, clan mother of the Bear Clan, presented and certified the representatives, which were sworn in by Chairman LeRoy Shingotewa.

Dennis Koeyahongva, spokesman for Numkena, said they have had a lot of problems with the Tribal Council. “I think the basic point of the matter, and our whole problem, is the separation of state and religion.” Koeyahongva said that in his opinion, they implemented the constitution prematurely back in 2008 when the Village of Sipaulavi used the election process to place Charles, a woman, in a leadership role.

“We don't have that in our tribe. To me it was a total destruction of our way of life as Hopis. We're from the Bear Clan and we're the village leaders; but a male is the one to hold that position. A woman is not to hold that through Hopi common law. They did that because we would not succumb to what they wanted to do as far as seating representatives on the Council,” he said.

Koeyahongva said that Hopi politics and the revised constitution are destroying the unity and reverence and serenity in religious places such as the kiva. “It's affected everything that we are as Hopi. ... As I understand it, we are supposedly the stewards of this place. Well, how can you be stewards if you're destroying things?

“Even on TV they have the History Channel where they talk about the days of end, and they mention Hopi. Obviously we have our link to 2012 and what's going to happen. In my opinion, we're hurrying this process along by what we're doing as Hopis, which we shouldn't. We should be enhancing life. I thought that's what Hopi was all about. What happened to the friendly and peaceful Hopi? We've deviated from that to this point,” Koeyahongva said.

Numkena said that in 1934, the U.S. government passed a law called the Indian Reorganization Act and soon after wrote constitutions for non-treaty tribes to adopt. “Our history tells us most Hopis resisted this new foreign government.” Some of the traditional authorities were incorporated into the Hopi constitution to influence their acceptance of it, including an acknowledgment that autonomous, self-governing Hopi villages would be allowed to continue under the traditional form of government.

“We were told by our elders that we would be the last tribe to hold on to our traditions,” Numkena said. “If we choose to hold on to our traditions, ceremonies, and Hopi way of life, we will stand for the sovereignty of all Native people. We have much to lose to deviate from our own way of life and village governance.”

Numkena said that ever since he inherited the role of “Village Traditional Leader,” soon after the passing of his late uncle, Perry Honani, he has faced opposition and challenges.

“Most of you know the village leadership has always belonged to the Bear Clan. It has always been our sole responsibility to determine the appointment of this position,” he said, adding that a male member of the Bear Clan has always held that position since it includes sacred ceremonial responsibilities. “I will now again inform you I hold this position and will act according to the authorities vested in my position as the Sipaulavi Village Leader.”

Though Numkena had requested that his letter to village members be read into the record at Council, his secretary, Monica Kahe, said there was objection from the three representatives.
“The second letter contained details about their village no longer participating on Tribal Council because of all this dissension that's been going on in the Tribal Council, so it was Gerald's decision to pull out the representatives until further time when it was his choice to put them back in or just remain out, such as the Village of Shungopav

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Utah Navajos - Mrs. Sleepy, Little Wagon, Tom Mustache and Yellow Hat - Want Land Issues Resolved

2010-12-26T16:32:00.006-07:00

They Have Been Waiting 52 Years For Their Rights.
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – It's been 52 years since the federal government enacted law to designate land use rights for McCracken Mesa. To date, residents are still waiting for the Navajo Nation and the federal government to officially establish rights that were supposed to have been carried out by January 1963.

In 1989, the Navajo Nation identified 27 individuals who were to have been given preference to occupy McCracken Mesa in San Juan County, Utah – residents with names such as Mrs. Sleepy, Little Wagon, Slim of the Mexican Clan, Tom Mustache and Yellow Hat.

The priority-list occupants have since passed on, but dozens of their descendants showed up at a Dec. 14 Resources Committee meeting to request that this unfinished business be made a priority for settlement, and that the issue not get lost in the January transition of administrations.

“I'm one of the offspring of the people that are on priority listing,” Chester Benally said. “My grandpa and my dad are listed on this. ... We have always resided and lived there, centuries, and that is our original lands. The 27 families, we are the offspring of those people and it's very important to us that we be given legally what is due us.”

He said the residents want to be involved all the way through the process in the issues that affect them. “We need the Resources Committee to be a part of that and to direct the BIA and the Navajo Nation to come forth so that we can work with them.”

According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and local Navajo historians, Dine people were the only inhabitants of McCracken Mesa and the surrounding region prior to European settlement. With the influx of settlers, Navajos were thrust into a world of a formal organized system of government and land use that was foreign to them.

As early as 1885 and continuing into the 1940s, Navajo hogans and corrals were burned. In the 1930s, Anglo stockmen attempted to move the Navajos off the mesa, an effort supported by federal officials. When the feds began issuing grazing permits on public domain lands in 1934 under the Taylor Grazing Act, Navajos were denied equal rights to use those lands.

Residents say their ancestors have always lived on McCracken Mesa. Traces of hogans, shade houses, sheep corrals, sweat lodges, farming plots and deteriorated eating utensils remain. They used the area year-round for agriculture, grazing and residence and developed natural springs and water wells for daily use.

Their ancestors and leaders – Kayelli, Bah, Asdzann Ki diilidi, Hosteen Bagodi and Biighaanii – never surrendered to Kit Carson, nor were they imprisoned at Fort Sumner. In addition, residents say there is significant evidence to indicate they lived in the areas of Bear Ears, LaSalle Mountain, Green River and Blue Mountain, stretching out into Salt Lake Valley.

After passage of the Taylor Grazing Act, they said, Mormon ranchers seized their ancestral lands used and they were forced to relocate to south of the San Juan River, yet their ancestors kept migrating back to the Mesa and beyond.

Horses and burros belonging to Navajo residents were confiscated, impounded and destroyed, including a tame family horse that was mutilated with a machete and shot. An estimated 116 horses and 38 burros were rounded up and destroyed, their remains taken to a meat-packing plant outside Provo, Utah, where they were processed into fish food. In 1952, families of the destroyed animals filed a federal lawsuit known as Hatahley v. United States and in 1956 were awarded a lump sum of $100,000.

Physical altercations occurred between Navajo families, state and county law enforcement and Mormon ranchers. Thirty individuals from eight families were “scuffled down, handcuffed and incarcerated” at San Juan County Jail, including the elderlies, young women and men.

Since 1958, when McCracken Mesa was added to the Navajo Reservation, current residents and their ancestors have waited for their lands to be restored. “I think this time is probably right to say that all the people that are involved, that are impacted by the issues of McCracken Mesa, are probably finally in the position to want to resolve and to take care of the issues that we're talking about here,” Benally said.

Though the action is looked at by regulators as a “resettlement,” Benally said, “We have always lived where we live and we have always used that land – so there's no resettlement. We all know our place up there and where we stand as far as the land base is concerned. I think when you say resettlement, there's a lot of people that come in and want to be part of the action, and that shouldn't be the case. Let's not call it resettlement. We know where we're at already.”

He said they have outlived the policies, regulations and laws that were proposed in the early stages regarding use of the land. Each time a different administration has come in to address the issue, he said, “It has never taken place simply because it was just all one-sided from the standpoint of the Navajo Nation. The people were never, ever really informed.

“I think that is the problem. I think these people here (residents) are with one mind. Hear us out. Work with us and we should be able to work with you to take care of the issues at hand,” he said.

Chester Johnson said although residents were forced off the land by the Mormon ranchers, “Our ancestors didn't give up. They continued to be on the land.” He said a tribal resolution was passed in 1959 to create the land order. “A mandate was written into that law to get it done by January 1963. But to this day it hasn't been done for some reason. I don't know why.

“The situation has changed from 1958 up till now. The population growth has increased over 100 percent. So how do we fit this 1958 land order? It really doesn't fit. It's more irrelevant to how we're living on that mesa. We want to modify it in such a way that it fits our present living,” he said.

Sanford Jones, whose father, S.B. Jones is on the priority list, told the committee, “My dad got a letter from Washington, D.C. How many of these people that live up there have that? We come talk to people. People don't want to listen. It's a hot issue. There's a lot of frustration.”

Resources Chairman George Arthur reassured residents. “We don't want it to stop here. We don't want it to be put on the back burner. We will figure a way how to keep this discussion going.”

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ChrIstmas Cheer From The Midwest

2010-12-22T15:56:00.004-07:00

MAY THE CREATOR LIGHT YOUR WAY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON AND THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
-YOUR FRIENDS AT NAPT

SMSC Donates $229,600 To Brighten Holidays
by Tessa Lehto
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – To share in the holiday spirit and make the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays a little brighter for those who are less fortunate, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community awarded $229,600 in charitable donations for the 2010 holiday season. The donations, which went to 43 social service organizations mostly in the Twin Cities, are providing toys, clothing, food, activities, and other gifts for families this holiday season.

“The holiday season can be hard for those who are less fortunate so we like to help out where we can. We've been blessed, and we're grateful for the opportunity to help others,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley Crooks.

The largest amount given to one organization was $20,000 to the CAP Agency in Shakopee, Minnesota, serving Scott, Dakota, and Carver Counties for their annual Christmas programs for families needing assistance. The CAP Agency is a non-profit organization serving children, families, and senior citizens. The SMSC grant supports the CAP Agency Hope for the Holidays annual “adopt-a-family” holiday gift sponsorship project.

Parents are invited to create a wish list for each member of the family so that each child receives their special gift and the parents have the joy of giving it to them. In 2009 the program was able to provide gifts for 3,517 individuals from 998 families.

The project also makes gifts available for families that are not able to register. In addition, the CAP Agency provides a wide variety of services to help meet other needs that families have during the holidays, including food.

“The generous contributions of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community have been critical to the success of this program,” wrote CAP Executive Director Carolina Bradpiece.

The Salvation Army in Minneapolis received $12,000 for their Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and gifts. The Little Earth Residents Association in Minneapolis received $12,500 for their holiday program.

A $10,000 donation was also made to Union Gospel Mission, the Minneapolis American Indian Center, and the American Indian Family Center for the holidays.

The Department of Indian Works (St. Paul) and the Dorothy Day Center each received a donation of $9,000 for their holiday programs. The Division of Indian Work in Minneapolis received $8,000 for their program.

Women of Nations received $7,000, and Kateri Residence received $6,500, both of the Twin Cities area. St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota, received $6,000 as did People Serving People of Minneapolis.

On the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, the Yankton Sioux Tribe received $7,000 for turkeys and $5,000 for the Housing Authority.

Other organizations in the Twin Cities receiving SMSC holiday donations are: 360 Communities, Ain Dah Yung, Akina Community Church, All Nations Indian Church, American Indian Services, the Carver Scott Educational Coop, Elders Lodge, First Nations Recovery Center, Intertribal Elders Services, Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center, Minnesota Compassion, St. Joseph's Home for Children, the Prior Lake Lion's Club, and Upper Midwest American Indian Center.

In areas outside the Twin Cities, the SMSC made holiday donations to: Ain Day Ing, Bad River Head Start, Boys & Girls Club of the Three Districts, Boys & Girls Club of Lower Brule, Brown’s Valley Family Service Center, the Cass Lake Family Center, the Cheyenne Children Services, the Cheyenne River Youth Projects, Fond du Lac College Human Services Club, the Haskell Off-Campus Club, He Sapa New Life Ministries, Indian Youth of America, Sisseton Toys for Tots Committee, and Tiwahe Wakan.

The SMSC will also donate grocery gift cards to low-income Native American families living in Scott County. In addition to the financial contributions, SMSC members and staff participate in a Giving Tree Program, which gives presents anonymously to children in Native American families in need that live in the county.

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.

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 $192.7 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.

This press release and other information may be downloaded from the SMSC website at www.shakopeedakota.org.

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Oneida Indian Nation and HELP USA Feed New York's Homeless At Thanksgiving

2010-12-20T15:50:00.005-07:00

November 23rd Event A Huge Success
Submitted by Melanie Klausner
melanie@conundrummarketing.com

Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation CEO and HELP USA Chair, Maria Cuomo Cole were on hand on Tuesday, November 23rd for the Oneida Indian Nation and HELP USA's "Our Heritage of HELPing" Meal Service event In New York City feeding hundreds of homeless men. women and children from 4 to 8 pm.

Other New Yorkers assisiting at the event were celebrities: Ukrainian Olympic Figure Skating Champion, Oksana Baiul; Comedian, Mario Cantone; Actors - Margaret Colin, Jill Flint, Lauren Glassberg, Cheyenne Jackson, Michael B. Jordan, Joey Pantoliano, Chris Riggi, and Brittany Underwood.

TV Journalists Chrisptopher Cuomo, Deborah Roberts, and Cheryl Willis also participated in the event.

Guests enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal prepared by New York City chefs Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez, Cesare Casella, Michael Lomonaco, Dave Martin, Missy Robbins, and Bradford Thompson while listening to a sneak preview of “Our Country” performed by country sensation Crystal Shawanda, First Nation's Member of the Ojibwe Band.

Shawanda's single made its national debut on the Oneida Indian Nation’s “True Spirit of Thanksgiving” float in the 84th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City on Thursday, November 25, 2010.

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1,200 Year Old Tibetan Prophecy Shared With Hopi People

2010-12-18T15:22:00.004-07:00

MAY THE CREATOR LIGHT YOUR WAY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON AND THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
-- Your Friends at NAPT

War Chief Requests Prayers For Preservation of Hopi Traditional Ways
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

CHINO VALLEY, Ariz. – About 1,200 years ago a great Tibetan master called Guru Rinpoche made a prophecy. He wrote an inscription and hid it in the rocks. It was found just recently. The prophecy said, “Later, when the iron bird flies, then the red-robed ones will go to the red rocks and meet with the tradition there and unite again.”

Surrounded by prayer flags which send out blessings for all beings every time the wind blows, this prophecy was shared with Hopi Snake Priest and War Chief Radford Quamahongnewa at Garchen Buddhist Institute following a meeting with His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche, founder and spiritual director.

Some say Hopi and Tibet are connected, and that if you stick a pin through a globe where Hopi is located, on the other side you will find Tibet. Because of their connection, Quamahongnewa traveled to the monastery on behalf of the Village of Shungopovi Kikmongwi Lee Wayne Lomayestewa to request prayers and support for the Hopi people from Rinpoche and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Quamahongnewa, spokesman for the Kikmongwi, said the Hopi traditional way of life is threatened by a revised constitution which separates church and state. The Hopi people will vote on the constitution Jan. 27 in an election set up by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Rinpoche, a Drikung Kagyu lama, at the age of 22 was imprisoned for 20 years during the political turmoil of China's Cultural Revolution. Since his release from prison in 1979, he has made great effort to rebuild the Drikung Kagyu monasteries, reestablish the Buddhist teachings, and build two boarding schools for local children in eastern Tibet. He is known for his vast realization, as well as for his great kindness.

During the hour-long meeting, Quamahongnewa presented Rinpoche with a prayer feather. “This is a new breath for him to continue leading the good, well life,” Quamahongnewa said. Through his translator, Ina Bieler of Austria, Rinpoche said that in the Tibetan tradition, the prayer feather is considered very precious.

Quamahongnewa then delivered his message from Kikmongwi Lomayestewa. “We have come here because of a situation that the Hopi is having currently. It is similar to what the Tibetans have gone through – turmoil, greed, disrespect, not respecting the elders and their religious people on Hopi.

“We have a covenant. I'm pretty sure Rinpoche has a similar covenant that we have made with our Great Spirit. That's what we are living by. We have a religion, we have a belief, and we have a balance in our lives as close to nature as possible. That is now diminishing as well. We are losing our grounds. Along with that, our religious activities are diminishing, too,” he said, due to greed and those hungry for power.

Quamahongnewa explained that the Hopi have two systems of governance, the tribal government which is duplicative of the U.S. government, and then the Hopi's own traditional government and the traditional way of life. “The tribal government is dominant. We have a constitution that was developed back in 1934. There was a lot of work put into it and it was almost following our traditional way of government, but now that is going to be changed.”

If the new constitution is approved, he said, “Our highest priests would have no authority whatsoever among its people, among its village, among its land. It's going to desecrate the whole religious function of the Hopi because everything is tied to our government. The Hopi way of life is intertwined with common living. We don't have such a thing as separate religion and government. It's all put together and it's been like that since time immemorial.”

On behalf of the Kikmongwi he asked Rinpoche for his support through prayers and a message to the Hopi people, or even the world. “We don't want this change to happen because it's going to destroy our way of life,” Quamahongnewa said.

Rinpoche said there are many relations between Hopi and Tibetan traditions, but in this world there are mainly two traditions: the mundane worldly systems and the religious systems. “We are witnessing some changes in many of the religious systems and also the worldly systems as the science develops and so on. But from our perspective, what we consider most important is not the external development but the internal development of the mind.”

Like Hopi, he said, in Tibet they have experienced a similar fate. “The Tibetan religion has been expelled from Tibet so we had to experience a lot of change. ... Everything has been taken from us. Our monasteries have been destroyed. But, still, our tradition, our belief system has not disappeared.

“You cannot hold on to outer circumstances. This is what we have learned in Tibet,” Rinpoche said. “We had to let go of our place. We could not hold on to it. Even though we tried to keep our freedom, we could not keep the external freedom of the country. But we did not lose the inner freedom of the mind.”

What it boils down to is trust in the dependent relation of karma cause and effect. “If the cause in the mind and the heart is love, then everything will become peaceful in this world,” Rinpoche said, explaining that the mind is connected to five elements. When the mind gives rise to negative emotions, then this disturbs the external elements. If the mind gives rise to love, then this will bring about peace and balance of the external elements.

“We must make some effort to go hand in hand with external traditions, but then we cannot really hold on because everything takes its natural course. Due to the afflictive emotions, the negative emotions of many beings, the external elements have been disturbed and we have witnessed many disasters in this world,” he said.

“There's nothing that we can voluntarily do about that but cultivate the opposite of that to influence the elements in a positive way, or to cultivate love. ... Wherever there is aversion, wherever there is anger, it will disturb the environment, the elements and everyone around, and there will be great ruin from that.”

At Rinpoche's request, Bieler read a passage from a 20-page booklet, “The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas.”

“Everything we believe in is in there, especially this one verse,” he said. “It says, 'If outer foes are destroyed while not subduing the enemy of one's own hatred, enemies will only increase. Therefore, subduing one's own mind with the army of love and compassion is the bodhisattvas' practice.'

“Therefore, we say it is not so much important what we experience externally, but what we cultivate internally that will determine the external in the future, in the long run. Therefore, all that we hold on to is a mind of love and compassion.”

Rinpoche said there are many people in this world who hold corrupt views and engage in negative activity. While they can take some temporary advantage, even take away one's physical freedom, what they cannot eliminate, even if they try, is love.

“As long as we have love in our heart, even if we experience some temporary difficulty, ultimately we cannot be destroyed,” he told Quamahongnewa. “I will make many prayers for you. I believe a lot in prayers. I think prayers are very powerful. When you make prayers, it is powerful because it is made with love, and all happiness comes from love. This is where the power comes from.”

Rinpoche gave Quamahongnewa “blessing pills” made from a very precious substance thousands of years old, which can be burned in a smoke offering. He also used the blessing pills and juniper to make a smoke offering for Hopi.

“We make this offering every day. We think that if we make this offering to others in this way, then all of our aspirations and work will be accomplished,” he said.

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

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'GRAB' - A 2nd Award For Director, Billy Luther, At Sundance?

2010-12-15T17:15:00.008-07:00

Native American Director Documents His Community
Submitted by Rudy Garcia –Tolson

Film director, Billy Luther, Is looking at the Sundance Film Festival – January 20-30, 2011- for a second chance for a documentary film award. His first award came with “Miss Navajo” (2005-2006, Crystal Frazier) which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Festival. His mother , the role model for the winning independent documentary, Sarah Ann Johnson Luther was Miss Navajo, 1966-67.

In his second time at Sundance, with “GRAB”, Luther gives audiences an intimate look inside one of his own Native American tribes, where cameras have never been allowed before. He is Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo.

Each year residents of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico honor individual family members by throwing food and gifts from the rooftops of their homes to the community that gathers below.

Photographing with great visual flair, Luther sculpts an emotional tribute to his community, a community that’s filled with abundant generosity and rooted in tradition. As the seconds tick away leading up to the moment of the "grab," the arms of children reach to the sky to prepare for being showered with water, gifts, and blessings.

GRAB is an intimate portrait of the little-documented Grab Day in the villages of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, who annually throw water and food items from the rooftop of a home to people standing below.

A community-wide prayer of abundance, thanks, and renewal, Grab Day exists at the intersection of traditional Native and contemporary Western cultures. Luther’s film, which is narrated by Parker Posey, follows three families as they prepare for the annual event, chronicling their lives for the year leading up to this day.

With GRAB, Luther confirms his place as one of today’s most exciting filmmakers portraying the beauty of the modern Native American experience

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'Cowgirl Days, Frybread Nights' A Fun Read

2010-12-13T17:42:00.004-07:00

Book Review
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff Writer
The Independent, Gallup N.M.
Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2010, page 25

WINDOW ROCK – When newspaper reporter Kathy Helms decided to write a book about her experiences in Navajoland, she knew her efforts would include uranium, water and some of the social ills prevalent in one of the only places left in the U.S. that still can be considered a third-world country.

You can't leave it out.

But you can make it humorous and fun to read, and that is what Helms did in her book “Cowgirl Days, Frybread Nights,” Kathy L. Helms, 2010, Blurb Inc.

“You always hear about 'freedom of the press,'” Helms writes in her preface. “What they don't tell you is that the freedom usually ends when you step on the all-powerful toes of politicians, Big Business, Big Brother or advertisers.”

Helms studied journalism at East Tennessee State University, against her mother's wishes. Her mother called journalism “witchcraft.”

She combines witchcraft with her extensive knowledge of uranium mining in the book, where she tells the reader about the subjects she has covered for the Independent. She has been a reporter, based in Tuba City and Fort Defiance for longer than a decade and is well-known for her stories on uranium, water, and Navajo issues. These issues have changed over the years and she keeps on top of the change and throws into her book many of her flashes of insight, her dreams and her connection with Keanu Reeves.

Keanu Reeves?

Keanu Reeves helps pull the book together in some kind of weird parallel analogy and brings in the humor full-front. Somehow, Helms connects uranium mining and “The Matrix” together.

Helms discusses tribal connections, Navajo politicians, Council sessions and horseback rides through some of the more desolate parts of the reservation. She writes about the legacy of uranium and what it has done to the Navajo people.

Although uranium mining has been banned on the Navajo reservation, it is still a big part of Dine' life, with piles of mining waste still close to communities and a huge clean-up process going on north of Churchrock. She tells the story of Phil Harrison of the Blue Gap Chapter, and his attempt to lead the fight to get compensation for Navajo radiation victims.

“Phil, who is a member of the Navajo Nation Council, grew up in Red Valley in uranium mining camps, watching children playing on waste piles and drinking water from the mines. The water also was used to mix infant formula,” she writes in her chapter titled, “Winning the Battle, Losing the War.”

“We are not anti-uranium,” Helms quotes Linda Evers of Milan, a Post-'71 uranium miller who formerly worked for Kerr-McGee and United Nuclear Homestake. “We are anti-killing people to get uranium. There's a big difference.”

Helms writes about her experiences with medicine men, who help her recover from sickness; aliens, who seem to have an effect on the local population; and of course, Keanu Reeves, who figures into almost every scenario.

Helms finds odd medicine bundles stuffed in her overheating vehicle and under her residence and believes people are trying to “witch” her for some of the stories she wrote and her activities on the reservation. The medicine men help her recover from the witching and she knows now not to touch the bundles. “That's the 'black witchcraft' mother warned me about,” she writes.

The book is fun to read, especially if you're familiar with this area, or have lived here for some time.

“Cowgirl Days, Frybread Nights” is $12.95 (shipping is extra) and available for order at www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1774508.

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Obama Signs Cobell, Water Settlements Into Law

2010-12-11T15:10:00.002-07:00

Elouise Cobell Attended Signing Ceremony
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – President Barack Obama signed into law Wednesday the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 which provides funding for settlement of the Cobell lawsuit brought by Native Americans; the Pigford II lawsuit brought by African American farmers; and four Indian water rights suits.

“While I am pleased that this Act reflects important progress, much work remains to be done to address other claims of past discrimination made by women and Hispanic farmers against the Department of Agriculture as well as to address needs of tribal communities,” Obama said in remarks released by the White House.

Elouise Cobell, who was present for the signing ceremony, charged the Interior Department with failing to account for tens of billions of dollars that they were supposed to collect on behalf of more than 300,000 of her fellow Native Americans, Obama said.

“Elouise’s argument was simple: The government, as a trustee of Indian funds, should be able to account for how it handles that money. And now, after 14 years of litigation, it’s finally time to address the way that Native Americans were treated by their government. It’s finally time to make things right,” he said.

The bipartisan agreement will result in payments to those affected by the case and the establishment of a scholarship fund for Native Americans. It also will help put more land in the hands of tribes to manage for their members.

“After years of delay, this bill will provide a small measure of justice to Native Americans whose funds were held in trust by a government charged with looking out for them. And it represents a major step forward in my administration’s efforts to fulfill our responsibilities and strengthen our government-to-government relationship with the tribal nations,” the president said.

In addition, the act includes money to settle lawsuits over water rights, giving seven tribes in Arizona, Montana and New Mexico permanent access to secure water supplies year-round, he said.

The legislation resolves the Nambe-Pojoaque-Tesuque Valley litigation known as the Aamodt case, which has been unsettled for more than 40 years. It also resolves and provides funding for the Taos Pueblo water-rights claims, known as the Abeyta case, and provides direct funding of $180 million for a Navajo-Gallup pipeline, which is part of the Navajo Water Rights Settlement in New Mexico.

“The support of our New Mexico's U.S. congressional delegation helped make this funding a reality,” said New Mexico State Engineer John D'Antonio. “This is a huge achievement for the state of New Mexico as these settlements provide certainty of water rights for Indians as well as non-Indians. It also provides future economic benefits by creating jobs to build water infrastructure for critical drinking water needs.”

Obama said signing of the Claims Act wasn't simply about making amends, but about restoring a sense of trust between the American people and the government.

“Here in America, we believe that all of us are equal and that each of us deserves the chance to pursue our own version of happiness. It’s what led us to become a nation. It’s at the heart of who we are as a people. And our history is defined by the struggle to fulfill this ideal – to build a more perfect union, to ensure that all of us, regardless of our race or religion, our color or our creed, are afforded the same rights as Americans, and the fair and equal treatment under the law.

“I think all of us understand that we haven’t always lived up to those ideals. When we’ve fallen short, it’s been up to ordinary citizens to stand up to inequality and unfairness wherever they find it. That’s how we’ve made progress. That’s how we’ve moved forward. And that’s why we are here today – to sign a bill into law that closes a long and unfortunate chapter in our history,” he said.

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Hopi To Vote On Revised Constitution To Establish A 4th Branch Of Government

2010-12-07T16:48:00.004-07:00

BIA Resorting To 'Religious Genocide'
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – The Hopi people will go to the polls Jan. 27 to vote on a revised Hopi Constitution which would establish a fourth branch of government and impact villages that are governed by traditional spiritual leaders, or Kikmongwis.

The Secretarial Election, approved by the Hopi Tribal Council in August, is sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A key federal requirement for the election is that all enrolled Hopi tribal members who will be 18 years of age or older by Jan. 27 must register to vote, however, traditional Hopis shun the voting process.

“The Hopi Appellate Court and the BIA's own commissioner acknowledged traditional Hopis do not register or vote,” said Ronald Wadsworth, spokesman for the Hopi Nation Sovereign and Traditional Office at Shungopavi Village. “To register and vote is to force us to accept the dominant culture's methods and system of government.

“BIA has not once consulted with the leaders of our sovereign and independent village. Our village does not participate in the Council form of government. BIA has agreed to an election that infringes on our right to practice our religion and violates our recognized inherent aboriginal sovereignty. BIA is resorting to religious genocide,” he said.

The BIA system requires 30 percent of the people to vote in order to validate an election, according to Wadsworth. “Refusing to vote tells the BIA and Council, ‘No, you do not own the villages or the Hopi people.' For years BIA has attempted to force Hopi traditional people to enroll,” but it has not worked, he said. “So now BIA is saying you must register and vote. This is another method BIA will use to track every Hopi and what they do. It is an invasion of our privacy.”

Former Hopi Tribal Chairman Ben Nuvamsa, who previously worked for BIA, disagreed. “People need to register and vote against it. Staying away and not voting is the worst thing people would do,” he said. “Remember, in 1936, people that objected to the new Constitution stayed away and did not vote. The proposed constitution passed anyway because of the number of people voting.”

Wadsworth said Draft 24A of the Hopi Constitution is nothing more than a “power grab” by the Hopi Tribal Council. “The Hopi Appellate Court recently issued an opinion acknowledging Hopi’s 12 villages are independent entities and that each holds aboriginal sovereign governmental powers. The proposed changes to the Hopi Constitution strip the religious protections in the current Constitution and strip all villages of their aboriginal sovereign powers,” he said.

For decades Council has chipped away at village powers, he said. “The Council has long held that they hold the power – not the villages. The Hopi Appellate Court said the Council has limited powers and affirmed aboriginal sovereign powers are held by each village; and the Kikmongwi holds the power in the traditional villages.”

The Kikmongwi role is deleted in the revised Constitution, Nuvamsa said, leaving the village chief out of politics in a “separation of church and state.”

In 1936 the Indian Reorganization Act allowed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to establish a tribal council form of government at Hopi, intended to force the Hopi people to assimilate to the outside cultures, Wadsworth said. In contrast, the Hopi system starts at the grassroots level and is based on consultation, negotiation and consensus.

“The BIA experiment has not worked. BIA assimilation has not worked. The BIA council form of government does not work. Maybe it is time for all Hopi villages to once again join hands and work together as we did before the BIA arrived at Hopi. None of the villages attempted to tell the others what they could or could not do on their land. We consulted with each other; and on issues impacting all of us, we came together. We Hopi have used this system since time immemorial and it works,” he said.

Nuvamsa said the most serious flaw in Draft 24A concerns the proposal to make the Hopi and Tewa villages the fourth branch of government. “Nowhere in the United States do you see a fourth branch of government. The United States Constitution does not bring the 50 states in as a fourth branch of government,” he said, adding that it would relegate the villages to be on par with the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

“The power is supposed to be from the villages and the people. It kind of lowers them down. The villages may even lose those powers. Then the Council would be regulating them.” He said it also brings into question who would lead the 12 villages in the “Village Branch” of government.

The draft also gives the chairman – to be called “president” – broad authority and leaves out citizen participation in their government, Nuvamsa said. “He's going to be like a czar.”

It's been years since the final draft of the Constitution was done, and while information sessions have been held in the villages, “They have not allowed anybody to have input into some recommended changes,” he said. “People are being forced into making uninformed decisions. It's a complete rewrite of the Constitution and I don't think that's what the people want.”

Hopi Tribal Chairman LeRoy N. Shingoitewa said changes to the current Constitution are the wishes of the Hopi and Tewa people. “For the past 10 years, presentations on the proposed draft Constitution have been made to the Hopi and Tewa people at various times and locations.

“Nowhere in the proposed Constitution does it mention infringing on or stripping the religious rights and practices of the Hopi tradition, religion or culture. The new Constitution gives more power to villages. In both the current and new Constitution, it states, 'Each village shall decide for itself how it shall be organized,' including the selection of its Council representatives,” he said.

Certain villages, including Shungopavi, have chosen not to have representation on the Tribal Council, Shingoitewa said. “The Hopi Tribe respects the wishes of those villages that choose to practice the traditional form of governance and not have anything to do with the tribal government. It is up to the village as a whole, how they wish to operate. This is the time for the Hopi and Tewa people to express their wishes through their vote. It is now up to the people,” he said.

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SMSC Honored With Prestigious National Award

2010-12-04T17:25:00.003-07:00

Jefferson Award For Philanthropy
by Tessa Lehto
Communucations Specialist
E-Mail: tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org
Thursday, December 02, 2010

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community was honored with a Jefferson Award for philanthropy at the Celebrate Twin Cities awards reception on December 1, 2010, at the St. Paul Hotel. SMSC Vice-Chairman Glynn A. Crooks accepted the award on behalf of the Community. From the 12 regional winners selected over the past year, the SMSC was chosen as the overall national winner for 2010 from this region.

Over the past 13 years, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has donated more than $192.7 million to charitable organizations, Indian Tribes, and Native American organizations. The SMSC has also made more than $389 million in loans to other tribes for economic development projects.

According to a statement provided by the Business Journal, “In 1972 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr., and Sam Beard founded the Jefferson Awards for Public Service to establish a ‘Nobel Prize’ for public community service. The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal has teamed up with the Jefferson Awards for the third year in a row to highlight companies and organizations in the Twin Cities that are giving back.

One Twin Cities company was featured each month. From that group of honorees, the Jefferson Awards Board chose one as the national winner. The 2010 National winner is the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. They will be honored at the national awards ceremony in Washington D.C. this June.”

The mission of the Jefferson Awards is to “recognize, inspire, and activate volunteerism and public service in communities, workplaces, and schools across America.”

As one of the national winners, the SMSC will receive the Jefferson Award at a special ceremony in Washington D.C. in June 2011 along with a handful of other winners from across the country. Representatives of the SMSC will be featured guests during the national ceremony.

“We are honored to have been selected for the Jefferson Award,” said SMSC Vice-Chairman Glynn A. Crooks. “Part of who we are as Dakota people is to help others.”

According to the website for the Jefferson Awards, “The Carnegie Endowment and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, among many others, are concerned that America's tradition of civic engagement is eroding.

They see a startling decline in the number of citizens joining hands to address community needs. From the beginning, the Jefferson Awards has been based on a simple idea. One of the most powerful ideas in the world. One person can make a difference. That is the heart of democracy at work.”

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.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need. 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.

This press release and other information may be downloaded from the SMSC website at www.shakopeedakota.org.

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Navajo Nation Could Get Millions To Resolve Environmental Liabilities

2010-12-02T17:42:00.004-07:00

Minimum Of $14.5 Million To Cleanup Abandoned Uranium Mines
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Tronox Inc., created through a spin-off from Kerr-McGee Corp., has agreed to resolve its environmental liabilities for $270 million cash and 88 percent of Tronox’s interest in a pending litigation. If approved, the Navajo Nation stands to get a minimum of $14.5 million for cleanup of abandoned uranium mines.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the bankruptcy settlement Nov. 23. Under terms of the settlement, EPA will be reimbursed for past cleanup costs and future cleanups at contaminated sites across the country. Claimants include 22 states and a number of municipalities.

“It's a very good deal for the Navajo Nation. I'm excited about it,” said David Taylor of Navajo Department of Justice.

Under terms of the agreement U.S. EPA would receive $1,263,956 for cleanup at Quivira Churchrock Mine, and $12,039,562 for uranium mine sites in or near Navajo Nation territory. The Navajo Nation would receive $1,231,978 for the Shirprock Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action site, where contaminated groundwater is an ongoing problem.

The majority of the former Kerr-McGee mines are in the Cove area, with the remainder in the vicinity of Ambrosia Lake.

Tronox and 14 of its affiliates filed for Chapter 11 on Jan. 12, 2009, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Several months after the Tronox spin-off was completed, Anardarko Petroleum Corp. purchased Kerr-McGee for $18 billion.

Tronox is currently involved in litigation against Anadarko and Kerr-McGee over allegations that those companies imposed years worth of legacy liabilities, including environmental obligations on Tronox, leaving the company insolvent and under-capitalized. The trial is expected to begin in late 2011 or early 2012. Eighty-eight percent of any settlement awarded to Tronox as a result of that litigation will be used to fund additional cleanup efforts.

The settlement calls for a 30-day comment period. “Assuming that there are no huge problems in the public comment period, then approximately $14.5 million should be available in a matter of months,” Taylor said. But the most important part of the settlement, as far as he's concerned, is the assignment of an interest in the litigation that Tronox has against Kerr-McGee and Anadarko.

“It's all speculative as to how much that would be, but we're potentially talking about a lot of money in addition to the $14.5 million. We get 23 percent of whatever that settlement is. It's a good day for Navajo,” Taylor said.

Stephen B. Etsitty, executive director of Navajo EPA, said the Navajo Nation is following the lead of the federal government and will be issuing a 30-day public notice for comment on its particular part of the settlement. Kerr-McGee is the potentially responsible party in multiple sites on the Navajo Nation, notably in the Northern Agency and the Eastern Agency, he said.

“U.S. EPA will receive most of the settlement dollars for numerous sites on the Navajo Nation where Kerr-McGee was a responsible party, but that amount will be specifically designated to assist with the cleanup of those sites on the Navajo Nation,” he said.

“There were about 40 sites initially, and then we found that about a handful of them actually were not on the Navajo Nation but just outside the Navajo Nation boundaries in New Mexico. We're still concerned about those as well,” he said.

Etsitty applauded Taylor for his work on behalf of Navajo. “Dave Taylor's not even a bankruptcy lawyer, but at least he got our foot in the door.”

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SMSC Holiday Blood Drive - Helms Book Review

2010-11-30T15:07:00.006-07:00

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

2010-11-28T16:24:00.006-07:00

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

2010-11-25T17:42:00.003-07:00

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

2010-11-22T14:02:00.005-07:00

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.

2010-11-20T17:16:00.006-07:00

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

2010-11-18T17:16:00.005-07:00

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

2010-11-15T19:10:00.003-07:00

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

2010-11-13T16:29:00.002-07:00

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

2010-11-11T17:40:00.006-07:00

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'

2010-11-08T16:11:00.004-07:00

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

2010-11-05T15:21:00.002-07:00

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

2010-11-04T16:12:00.004-07:00

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.

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UFOs Love New Mexico

2010-11-01T16:04:00.002-07:00

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.

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Thanksgiving Comes Early For Homeless In New York City

2010-10-30T16:19:00.005-07:00

Recognizing that millions of Americans are struggling with homelessness, and looking to increase it’s already strong commitment to housing America in these challenging economic times, the Oneida Indian Nation and HELP USA recently pledged to support all those who fear job and home loss in America.

On Tuesday, November 23, 2010, the Oneida Indian Nation and HELP USA will serve hundreds of Thanksgiving meals to the homeless at Genesis RFK Apartments just off Union Square at 13th Street and 4th Avenue in New York City from 4 pm to 8 pm.

Given the current economic conditions and the hard hitting facts of rising unemployment in America, the homelessness crisis is being exacerbated. November is National Homeless Awareness Month tied with the symbolic significance surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, which dates back to native people providing this country’s first newcomers with food and shelter.

Ray Halbritter, current Oneida Nation Representative and CEO of Oneida Nation Enterprises wanted to give back in a meaningful way that represented the culture and history of his people.

The Oneida Indian Nation approached HELP USA with a joint effort to feed hundreds of homeless for the holidays, as well as support the American Indian Empowerment Fund, which builds upon the Nation’s long-standing tradition of sharing resources to benefit others.

Halbritter has helped pull together a cast of celebrities including Comedian Mario Cantone; Actors Jill Flint, Giles Marini, Amy Carlson and Leven Rambin; Thomas Jones, Kansas City Chiefs; Justin Tuck, New York Giants; Evan Lysacek, Champion Figure Skater; and Poet Jesse Metcalfe among others to join him in a PSA Campaign and Thanksgiving meal serving to raise awareness on homelessness and HELP USA.

The November 23rd meal serving event will be streamed live on line. Readers can visit HELPUSA.org, Facebook.com/HELPUSA, twitter HELPUSA, and Holiday HELP Feed the Homeless on http://www.crowdrise.com/heritageofhelping/fundraiser/HELPUSA1.

Ray Halbritter literally rose from the ashes after a fire killed his aunt and uncle in 1976 when the local fire department refused to come to the reservation. The fire served as a catalyst and from that moment on the Oneida’s knew they needed to be in control of their fate as the Nation was not thriving.

From personal tragedy Ray continued to emerge as a leader working to create opportunity for his people. Making important decisions in their future, Ray has created hundreds of jobs bringing prosperity about for the community and enabling them to give back.

Partnering with HELP USA offered an opportunity to create a powerful platform to drive awareness of homelessness and provided a compelling opportunity to get back to the essence of Oneida heritage by renewing its commitment and history of helping others as the Nation has always done.

Together, Oneida Indian Nation and HELP USA bring greater awareness and a renewed sense of urgency to the homeless crisis. In joining forces, they pledge to support all who live in America who are fearful of job and home loss, and empower them with resources to reclaim their lives.

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Lynda Lovejoy's Political Rival Pleads Not Guilty To Misdemeanor Charges

2010-10-28T14:25:00.005-07:00

Navajo Vice-President, Delegates Arraigned
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly was arraigned Thursday in Window Rock District Court and pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of fraud, conspiracy and theft stemming from improper use of discretionary funds.

Shelly, a former Navajo Nation Council delegate who is running against Lynda Lovejoy for Navajo Nation president, was one of 14 individuals scheduled for arraignment. Shelly's running mate, Delegate Rex Lee Jim, reportedly is on the list of delegates to be served with a criminal summons.

Though a press release issued Wednesday by Navajo Nation Attorney General Louis Denetsosie said delegates could call the Office of the Chief Prosecutor to find out whether a complaint had been filed against them by the special prosecutor, and if so, that they could pick up their complaint and summons before 5 p.m. Friday, that was not the case Thursday morning.

Some delegates were served between 8 and 9 a.m., while attending their caucus meetings at Quality Inn. Shortly after 10 a.m., Navajo Nation Police entered the South Conference Room carrying clipboards, and as instructed, served the remaining delegates with criminal summons notifying them that they were being arraigned in district court at 11 a.m. Some were served with additional complaints upon their arrival.

Council convened and immediately went into executive session. Police returned around lunchtime and stood outside the north entrance waiting to serve additional summons.

When court reconvened after lunch, delegates David Rico and Peterson Yazzie pleaded not guilty during arraignment before Judge Carol K. Perry. Both men face charges of theft, conspiracy, fraud and forgery.

Other delegates had their arraignments continued. Among them were: Tim Goodluck, Hope MacDonald-LoneTree, Harry Claw, David Tom, Leonard Teller, Ervin Keeswood Sr., Cecil Eriacho, Harry H. Clark, Raymond Berchman, Amos Johnson, and Nelson Gorman.

Keeswood told the judge that the Navajo Nation Council was in session and that Title 2 commanded that they be in the Council Chamber. “We're in contempt there right now,” he said. Council met until around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, then went into executive session again. It is expected to complete the two remaining agenda items Friday morning.

A number of delegates questioned the rush to serve criminal complaints just days away from the General Election. Rumors have been circulating for weeks that delegates were either about to be arrested or subpoenaed over investigation into use of the discretionary funds.

“It's just all political and the timing is great in terms of the upcoming election,” Johnson said.

Albuquerque attorney James W. Zion, former Solicitor of the Courts of the Navajo Nation, said Thursday evening that it is not standard procedure to serve summons a few minutes before an arraignment. “What I have seen is that summons will be served and usually they can have a couple weeks to appear. Precisely why they are doing it this way I don't know.

“I think they wanted to get everybody taken care of and just simply get them in, get pleas and get them moving. The clock is going to start ticking now. They've got speedy trial rights that apply, then the clock starts ticking the minute they appear in court and give their plea,” he said.

Though a comprehensive list of individuals being served criminal complaints is not yet available, the district court has scheduled additional arraignments Monday for Harry Williams, Orlanda Smith-Hodge, Andy Ayze, Jack Colorado, Leonard Chee, Lena Manheimer, Young Jeff Tom, Tom Lapahe, and Joe M. Lee.

Arraignments scheduled Oct. 27 include Jerry Bodie, Roscoe Smith, Tommy Tsosie, Bobby Robbins, Herman Morris and Lawrence Platero. Arraignments also are set Nov. 1 for Leonard Teller, Evelyn Acothley and Herman Daniels; on Nov. 3 for Larry Noble and Lorenzo Bedonie; and Nov. 8 for Danny Simpson and Kee Allen Begay.

More complaints are expected to be filed, including some against individuals who are not part of Council.

“This news will compromise the people’s confidence in its government; thus, it is incumbent on us as officials of the Legislative Branch to cooperate to the fullest extent of the law so that due process can take its course,” Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan stated in a press release.

“To this end, the Legislative Branch to the fullest extent of its abilities will work cooperatively with the proper authorities in the interest of upholding the public’s trust in their government.”

Considering the allegations are of a criminal nature and served on an individual basis, the Legislative Branch, as this point, cannot comment further on the nature of the allegations, so as to not infringe on the rights of each person served, the release stated.

Discretionary funds are appropriated to many Navajo citizens who request for financial assistance through documentation to meet hardships such as student education, funeral expenses, emergency funding or assisting individuals on fixed income.

According to the Associated Press, court documents allege that Shelly conspired with six others to benefit himself, his wife, grandchildren and a sister, in 2005 and 2006. At least $500 of the $8,850 Shelly is alleged to have received was from five council members who helped him with burial expenses when his mother died in 2006. Shelly's daughter also received a payment for educational expenses.

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Native Community Announces $1.7 Million In Grants

2010-10-25T17:57:00.004-07:00

SMSC Grants To Support Native American Boys & Girls Clubs And National Indian Gaming Association
by Tessa Lehto
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org
October 25, 2010

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community today announced two grants and two pledges to the National Indian Gaming Association, headquartered in Washington, D.C. The two grants came at the very end of fiscal year 2010 which ended September 30, 2010, and the two pledges were made as fiscal year 2011 began October 2, 2010.

A $1 million matching grant for fiscal year 2011 follows a $325,000 grant late in fiscal 2010, both targeted to constructing a new headquarters building for the National Indian Gaming Association. Since 1997, NIGA had its headquarters on Capitol Hill across the street from the Madison Building of the Library of Congress.

Their new building is located two blocks from the United States Capitol Building in the historic Waterston house, built in 1806 as the first residence of the Library of Congress. With the growth of Indian gaming, NIGA needed more space. They plan to build a new tribal leaders’ center in the large plot behind this historic building.

“This new center will accommodate meeting space for 150 tribal leaders, a board room to accommodate 40 people, and several new offices. This project is expected to cost between $2.5 and $3 million and will ensure that NIGA’s headquarters are available as a meeting resource for tribal leaders for decades to come,” said NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens, Jr.

An additional $375,000 matching grant for a NIGA Boys & Girls Club initiative was presented by SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks, SMSC Vice-Chairman Glynn A. Crooks, and SMSC Secretary/Treasurer Keith B. Anderson at a NIGA Mid-Year Membership meeting October 19, 2010, at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Prior Lake, Minnesota, owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. A previous $50,000 grant was also made to support this project at the end of fiscal year 2010.

The Native American Boys & Girls Clubs are a positive force for Indian Country, reaching out to Native youth by assisting over 200 Clubs in Indian Country with a service population of 140,000 Native American youth, locations in 25 States, and 86 Native American communities.

“Boys & Girls Clubs provide a valuable service to all children, but especially in Indian Country,” said Shakopee Chairman Stanley Crooks. “To ensure our sovereignty and to ensure the health and well-being of our tribes, we need to have opportunities for our children to get good educations and enjoy positive activities so that they will be able to support their families and protect tribal sovereignty for future generations.”

The National Indian Gaming Association is a non-profit trade association comprised of 184 unique or individual Tribal Nations and other non-voting associate members. The common commitment and purpose of NIGA is to advance the lives of Indian people – economically, socially and politically.

NIGA operates as a clearinghouse and educational, legislative and public policy resource for tribes, policymakers and the public on Indian gaming issues and tribal community development.

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.

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 $180.8 million to charitable organizations and Indian Tribes and Native American organizations.

This press release and other information may be downloaded from the SMSC website at http://www.shakopeedakota.org/.

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Pollution From Coal Development Threatens New Mexico River

2010-10-23T18:26:00.002-07:00

Endangered Fish In San Juan River: Lawsuit Says Two Species Affected By Project
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Conservation and citizen groups Tuesday filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining for failing to conduct Endangered Species Act consultations prior to authorizing renewal of an operating permit for BHP Billiton's Navajo Coal Mine.

Two of the groups were party to another lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Denver, also against the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement, for withholding records related to renewal of Peabody Energy Co.’s permit for the Kayenta Mine.

OSM was required to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to avoid impacts to threatened and endangered species from the mining of coal at Navajo Mine, its combustion at Four Corners Power Plant, and coal-combustion waste dumping, according to the Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango, which filed the notice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and San Juan Citizens Alliance.

The groups’ lawsuit will be substantiated by newly obtained government records showing how mercury and selenium pollution from regional coal development is driving endangered fish in the San Juan River toward extinction, according to the law center.

A draft Fish and Wildlife biological opinion for the proposed Desert Rock Energy Project concludes that mercury and selenium pollution from regional coal combustion would be likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker – two endangered fish species in the San Juan River, a tributary to the Colorado.

Mike Eisenfeld of San Juan Citizens Alliance said the draft provides “solid evidence” that the San Juan River watershed and the continued viability of native species has been severely impaired because of coal and other energy development. “Recovery of this river and ecosystem is imperative. Downstream communities rely on San Juan River water, and the agencies must take action to reduce and eliminate the impacts from industrial pollution,” he said.

“At stake are two species of fish, millions of people’s drinking water, and one of the West’s loveliest rivers,” said Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological Diversity.

In 2009 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency withdrew its air-pollution permit for the Desert Rock Energy Project, citing the need for completion of Endangered Species Act consultations. The Oct. 15, 2009, draft biological opinion was prepared as part of that consultation, and its “jeopardy” determination is believed to have been a harsh blow to Desert Rock, which is now on hold, according to the law center.

Like the Four Corners plant, Desert Rock would burn coal from BHP's Navajo Coal Mine located south of Fruitland.

“OSM’s permitting decision does not evaluate the hydrological impacts of BHP’s nearly half-century of permanent disposal of over a half-billion tons of coal combustion waste at the mine and contribution to mercury cycling in the San Juan environment,” said Anna Frazier, executive director of Diné CARE.

“Water is life; water is sacred to the Navajo people living in the Four Corners area. Our survival has been dependent on the river for irrigation, for fishing, for watering animals, a place of prayer and offering. The legacy of coal development and waste disposal at the mine threatens our health, our plants and animals, and the very existence of the Diné,” Frazier said.

Brad Bartlett, an attorney with the law center, said OSM’s decision to renew operations at BHP’s Navajo Mine without consulting with Fish and Wildlife and addressing the findings of the Desert Rock biological opinion violates the Endangered Species Act. “With the ESA consultation demanded by today’s notice letter, BHP’s Navajo Coal Mine will be faced with the same facts that Desert Rock faced in consultation,” he said.

Citing EPA data, Bartlett stated that beginning in 1971, BHP began accepting approximately 1.9 million cubic yards of coal combustion waste from the Four Corners Power Plant annually for use as “minefill.” The waste consists of fly ash, scrubber sludge and bottom ash, which contain arsenic, mercury, lead and selenium. As of 2000, BHP had permanent disposed of 50 to 55 million tons of coal combustion waste in the mine.

The biological opinion does not consider the contribution of mercury from 40 years of disposal at the mine, Bartlett stated in the notice. By continuing to combust coal from Navajo Mine, the Four Corners plant will continue to emit 600 pounds of mercury annually into the San Juan River basin through 2020, when it is expected to increase 35.5 percent. Desert Rock would add approximately 0.1 percent, or 171 pounds per year.

The Colorado pikeminnow, the top predator in the Colorado River system, once grew as large as 6 feet in length, weighed nearly 100 pounds, and lived to be 45 to 55 years old. Today, it rarely exceeds 3 feet in length or weighs more than 18 pounds. During monitoring in 2007, out of 167 fish collected, only two were greater than 15 inches. One was 11 years old.

Major declines in their populations occurred after construction of a number of dams in the upper and lower Colorado River basins, including Navajo Dam on the San Juan River.

The razorback sucker was added to the endangered list in 1991. Adults often exceed 6 pounds in weight, 2 feet in length, and like the Colorado pikeminnow, may live more than 40 years. The San Juan River from the Hogback Diversion to Neskahai Canyon and Lake Powell are considered critical habitat.

“Their long-term viability remains uncertain because of the relatively limited or degraded habitat available to them between Navajo Dam and Lake Powell, competition and predation from non-native fishes, water quality issues, and the uncertainty
surrounding the changes that climate change will bring to the San Juan basin,” according to Fish and Wildlife.

The agency's opinion shows that 64 percent of Colorado pikeminnow in the San Juan River currently exceed mercury contamination thresholds for reproductive impairment; it predicts that number will rise to 72 percent by 2020 with additional pollution. The document also predicts that selenium pollution from agricultural discharges and ongoing coal combustion would cause 71 percent of those fishes’ offspring to be deformed in a way that harms growth, reproduction or survival.

Similarly, the opinion predicts that 85 percent of razorback sucker offspring would be deformed by selenium pollution and notes 40 percent of razorback suckers in the San Juan River already meet contamination thresholds for those deformities.

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

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NATIVE AMERICA, DISCOVERED AND CONQUERED
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Controversy Over Historic Mission Dolores Art

2010-10-21T15:31:00.005-07:00

Forgotten 18th-Century Mural
By: Octavio Lopez Raygoza
October 19, 2010

When freelance artist Ben Wood and archaeologist Eric Blind heard about a hidden 18th-century mural at Mission Dolores in 2004, they wanted to see it. With permission from the church, they lowered a camera into a 3-by-3-foot trap door in the attic.

“Wow,” was Wood’s first reaction when they saw the digital images of faded abstract patterns and Catholic imagery, including hearts with daggers.

The church projected the images on the dome, and a media storm followed. It was front-page news in the San Francisco Chronicle, postcards were created, and NBC and others picked up the story. Restoration appeared possible.

But today — some 94 years after the mural was first discovered by policeman Charles Fennell as he watched workmen “buttressing the walls of the building” and noticed streaks of color, according to a San Francisco Examiner article from 1918 — the mural is no closer to being restored. Instead, it continues to fade and flake.

Mural paraphernalia is no longer sold at the gift shop. Andrew Galvan, the curator of Mission Dolores, said the cost of restoring the mural outweighs the benefits to the community. Producing the paraphernalia is also a cost the Church can’t afford as people showed no interest to acquire it.
Historians said the issue is the expense and difficulty of moving an 18th-century altarpiece that was set in front of the mural in 1796.

The baroque-style wooden piece with niches for statues arrived from San Blas, Mexico, that year, and historians said it was probably placed in front of the mural at that time.

Wood beams connect the altarpiece to the wall, and separating the two without damaging either would require the surgical precision needed to separate Siamese twins. It would also cost an estimated $2 to $5 million.

“In the current economy, there are other issues more important,” said Galvan, who is a descendant of the native Ohlone people.

Although Galvan called the reredos “a unique piece that can’t be found anywhere else in the United States,” he thinks the church should focus its efforts on helping the community.

According to Sherry P. Parrish, a research associate at UC Berkeley’s Archaeological Research Facility, the mural was probably created by new converts among the Ohlone, “either by direction or inspiration, and was probably produced in the interim before the altar arrived.”

“Both pieces are equally fascinating and intertwined,” said Blind. “It’s an incredibly difficult and costly task to separate them.”

Historians disagree about which is more important, the altarpiece or the mural.

“The painting was believed to be used temporarily until they could afford a nicer altar,” said Tina Foss, vice president of the Missions Foundation.

Wood agreed that the altarpiece is significant, but added, “The mural is an essential part of native history…. [It] is very important because it shows the collaboration of native people and Franciscans.”

In an article for FoundSF, a website that compiles stories, images and videos of San Francisco past and present, Wood wrote that in the late 1980s, Dr. Norman Neuerburg, a noted mission historian, “crawled behind the altar in the cramped space to draw a sketch of the mural.”
Wood heard about Neuerburg’s sketches from Mission Dolores’ previous curator, Guire Cleary, and with the church’s blessing created the first digital images of the mural.

Since then, Wood and Blind have become advocates for its restoration. One option is to restore the mural digitally, but only a 20-by-5-foot stretch of the 32-by-20-foot mural can be photographed; wood beams prohibit access to the lower portion.

Today, the biggest threat to the mural is that most people have forgotten about it, Wood said.
Few experts are hopeful. “It’s a shame that this rare and unusual piece of cultural California history cannot be saved,” said Parrish.

Donations earmarked for the mural’s restoration can be sent to the Missions Foundation or Mission Dolores.

This entry was written by Octavio Lopez Raygoza

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Can Lynda Lovejoy Lead The Navajo Nation?

2010-10-18T15:45:00.003-07:00

Candidates Rhetoric Long, Answers Short
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

FORT DEFIANCE – About the only straight answers that came out of Tuesday evening's Navajo Nation presidential and vice presidential candidate debate were that the Navajo Nation Council should not act on the proposed Northeastern Arizona water rights settlement, and it's OK for a woman to lead the Nation if she is qualified.

Presidential candidates Lynda Lovejoy and Ben Shelly, and vice presidential candidates Earl Tulley and Rex Lee Jim fielded questions from students for nearly two hours about jails, gangs, role models, traditional values, lack of jobs, transportation needs for handicapped individuals, obesity, teen suicide, and ill-treatment of Navajos who go to tribal offices for assistance. Based on candidate responses, there are no easy answers.

The event was presented by the Beautiful Life with Hope Coalition and moderated by former Miss Navajo Nation Jocelyn Billy and “DJ Abel Rock” Jason Allison of the Office of Youth Development.

Window Rock High School student Mathew Coonsis, 17, asked the candidates how they felt about the possibility of the Navajo Nation losing their water rights to the United States government. Allison, who moderated the question, left it up to the candidates as to who would respond.

Vice President Ben Shelly told the audience that there are 57 chapters that would be impacted by the proposed water rights settlement, now on tabled status pending a special Navajo Nation Council session, and the Navajo people are saying 31,000 acre feet is not enough.

“If the water rights are approved at 31,000 acre feet, then what happens in the future when we need more water? This is where a lot of people out there in the Arizona area are concerned,” he said. “The dilemma is what is the tribal Council going to do. ... My recommendation to the tribal Council is they need to put this aside for now and educate the people, then see what is the right thing to do.”

In addition, Shelly said that if Council approves the settlement, “it also means we stop complaining about the energy companies like Peabody and other people that are coming on as energy companies. We cannot complain about them because once we approve the water rights, that's it. We have 31,000 acre feet.”

Tulley, formerly a member of of Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, said the water that would be given to municipalities in southern Arizona amounts to 325,851 gallons. Divided among 300,000 Navajos over 365 days, that gives a person only 93 gallons.

“That is only those that are living here. Once that water right is signed, those new Navajos that are going to be born into the tribe, they have no water. It is imperative that the Navajo Nation quit giving away its resources. ... We roll over, and we're good Indians. In our particular administration, any negotiation is going to benefit Navajo,” he said.

The Lovejoy/Tulley administration will have “Navajo minds, Navajo intellect, Navajo know-how to negotiate on behalf of Navajo, he said. “It is important that we tell this Navajo Nation Council, 'Do not act on this until the next administration comes in,' because they have had this for some time. The people only heard about this in August.” He said pages 54 and 55 of the document limit Navajo.

Shelly said his administration's position is “we're not approving this water right. We want to take another look at it and have input and see what is it that we really want.” Navajo should not be pushed into approving it in the final hour, he said.

Tulley told the audience, “Water is sacred. Water is not a secret. For that very purpose we need to take care of our water. That is liquid gold. If you take a look at Navajo Generating Station, we give up 34,000 acre feet of water. If we were to sell that at $250 per acre foot, that is $8.2 million for youth employment, for scholarships.”

Skyler Morgan of Window Rock High School told the presidential candidates, “We always hear of our Navajo Nation not having jail space and people who commit crimes get out too soon. Do you think this is a problem and how will it be addressed? The reason for this is some of our peers think nothing will happen to them if they commit crimes.”

Lovejoy said the Navajo Nation has struggled with inadequate jail space and funding issues, and her administration plans to address that. How, she didn't say exactly. “Just building jails is not enough. We need to look at our laws and see how we can redefine or modify our laws to include harassment, include crimes on youth, include laws and policies that will truly protect our families, our children from crimes. Those are things that we intend to look to immediately. We tend to make family a priority. With healthy families there's less crime,” she said.

Shelly said he believes that one of the things they need to take another look at is k'e. “The Dine way of law versus the statutory law is very hard to deal with at this point in time. How do we change the law from Dine Fundamental Law to statutory law to make it work?” He said it was going to be tough and they needed to have public hearings on that.

Moderator Allison told the candidates he didn't think either of them addressed Morgan's question. “As a moderator I have a right to say that.”

Hannah Yazzie, a student at the University of New Mexico, asked candidates, “Do you think we have a gang problem? Tell us about it and what will your administration do to stop it.”

Shelly said the problem with gangs goes back to the home environment. “We need to love our kids and hug them every morning, because gangs are looking for something like love – lack of love – and they're the ones that are providing that. A lot of young kids are seeking love.”

He said the way to prevent gangs is to expose them. “A lot of us are too afraid to report this, and it's happening right under our nose. We do not tell on them and we are afraid of them, and they know we're afraid of them. That's why they do what they do. They also know our laws are very weak.” If a child feels loved, he said, gangs would have a hard time recruiting them. He also recommended educating the community on how to handle gangs.

Lovejoy said she believes there is a gang problem. “Our administration, our platform is about strengthening families. Gangs learn from adults who model bad attitude, poor attitude. They also learn from dysfunctional families, and so our children pick up from things that are modeled. We want to put a lot of effort and a lot of attention to correcting or making a strong initiative in correcting gangs and abusiveness by also bringing in elders and parents who can redevelop our value system.”

She said that if they can go back and re-educate families on values such as k'e, “then the next generation, we can begin to change a lot of those bad habits and bad attitudes.” She said gangs are a problem because parents are not paying attention to their children and are not disciplining them.

Vice presidential candidates were asked how they felt about a woman running for Navajo Nation president when it goes against Navajo traditional values for women to hold a position of a nataani.

“There are different views,” Jim said, “and for me, as a medicine man and an educated Navajo, I truly believe that all people should be given the opportunities and chances based on their qualifications and not because they're a woman or they belong to a certain religious party or political party or they come from a prestigious family. All people should have the opportunity to advance themselves.”

Tulley said there have been many sacrifices that have been delivered to all Navajos. “The women that walked back from Hweeldi, do you think that they spoke less of women? No, they did not. Their whole point was Navajo is going to lead Navajo. This country desires what you and I have as Navajo people. There is no other ethnic group in this country where only tribal members will lead. Other people are looking up to us as well.

“One of the difficulties that we often have is the translation and the interpretation thereof. There are many, many different stories. I have three young ladies that I have raised, my wife and I. We do not expect them do anything other than their best,” he said. “The Creator has given us a destiny. It is up to us to make manifest our particular talents.”

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SMSC: Two Million In Tribal Grants - Wrong 'Kanietakeron' In Native Unity Militia Story - Rep. Kirkpatrick Joins Navajos In Veterans Act Celebration

2010-10-14T19:52:00.010-07:00

Yankton Sioux Tribe, White Earth Nation To Receive Funds
By Tessa Lehto
October 12th, 2010

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community today announced $2 million in grants to two Indian tribes for fiscal year 2011, which began October 1, 2010.

The Yankton Sioux Tribe of Marty, South Dakota, will receive $1 million from the SMSC for a new tribal hall to replace the previous building which was severely damaged in a flash flood. In use since the early 1930s, the tribal hall was first used as a convent by the Catholic Church and then turned over to the Yankton Sioux Tribe in the 1980s.

Showing its age long before this flood, the building was also damaged in several previous floods. Seven inches of rain in the early morning hours of June 12, 2010, resulted in a flash flood which caused severe structural damage to the building. The flood ruined computers, kitchen and office equipment, files, and furniture. The tribal hall functions as an administrative building, housing tribal programs and services.

Sixty-three tribal families in Marty were also displaced in the flood which destroyed homes and buildings. Immediately following the flood, the SMSC donated $100,000 for relief efforts funding direct needs of affected families. This was in addition to the $1 million grant the YST received from the SMSC in fiscal year 2010.

A small portion of the fiscal year 2011 $1 million grant will be used for pre-construction funds for a youth treatment facility, the Lake Andes Community Center, and to build a new football field at the Marty Indian School complete with seating and concessions.

“On behalf of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, we give you a heartfelt thank you for your kind and generous donations,” wrote Tribal Chairman Bobby Cournoyer.

Known as the "Ihanktonwan Dakota Oyate" or "People of the End Village," the Yankton Sioux Tribe has its lands along the Missouri River bottom, in Charles Mix County just across the river from Nebraska. Tribal headquarters are located at Marty, also home to the Marty Indian School, which also sustained damage from the flood. Of the 12,246 tribal members, about a third live on the 43,000-acre reservation.

The White Earth Nation of northern Minnesota will receive $1 million for a health facility and for a new fire truck. Two-thirds of the grant ($663,580) will be used along with a U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant to complete a new diabetes center wing at their tribal health offices building. (The SMSC has also committed to a $1 million grant for fiscal year 2012 for the same project.)

With the remaining funds, the White Earth Volunteer Fire Department will replace their 38 year old fire truck which is now obsolete. The department has 15 volunteer fire fighters who provide services for an area covering 100 square miles. A small portion of the grant will be used for training classes for fire fighters in comprehensive drivers training and pump operations.

The new diabetes center wing will help the White Earth Nation in their fight for wellness. While diabetes affects people of all ethnic groups, it is four to eight times more prevalent among Native Americans than in the general population. And a staggering 68% of Native American children will come down with Type 2 Diabetes, which is entirely preventable.

The White Earth Reservation is located in northwestern Minnesota and is one of six member reservations which comprise the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. The boundaries of White Earth encompass Mahnomen County, portions of Becker and Clearwater Counties, and 35 townships over 1,300 square miles.

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. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need.

Native Unity Article: Wrong Identity In 'Camel's Eye Treaty' Story
Sekon,
My name is David Kanietakeron Fadden. I recently discovered an article on your blog dated November 2 , 2009 entitled; Militia Movement Infiltrates Six Nations - Part 1. The author, Al Carroll, to my astonishment, named me as a promoter of the "camel eye treaty" group.

There is another Mohawk with the name Kanietakeron. His English name is Larry Thompson. He is one of the main promoters of the Camel group. I have absolutely no connection to this group and their members. I do not believe in this camel treaty theory. Larry Thompson and his followers are not helping the cause for unity here in Akwesasne.

My grandfather, Ray Tehanetorens Fadden, my father, John Kahionhes Fadden and myself have dedicated our lives to teaching the traditional philosophies and values of the Haudenosaunee people to Native and non- natives at the Six Nations Museum in Onchiota, NY.

For 56 years my family has related the story of the peacemaker and formation of the Kaianerekowa (Great Law of Peace). The premise of the Great Law is unity and peace. There are no camels or Egyptians mentioned in this story.

All the elders I have spoken to about the camel eye story have never heard of this story. I am extremely disappointed to see my name associated with this camel group. I would appreciate a note from the editor or author retracting my name from this article. Perhaps, a little more research would have avoided this error.

Correction And Apology From Al Carroll
There are TWO Mohawk men using the name Kanietakeron. One has the legal name of Larry Thompson, the other the legal name of David Fadden.

Thompson is a supporter of the Camel's Eye Treaty theory.

Fadden is not, and has no association with CET supporters whatsoever, and strongly condemns this theory and its supporters.

I deeply regret the error and offer my apologies to Mr. Fadden for any harm done to him or his reputation.
Al Carroll

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick Joins NHA In Celebrating, Recognizing The Signing Into Law Of The Indian Veterans Opportunity Act of 2010
Submitted by Christian Bigwater, NHA

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) is pleased to announce the passage of the Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act of 2010 (H.R. 3553), signed into law by President Barack Obama on the evening of Oct 12.

NHA is thankful for the passage of H.R. 3553 and would like to commemorate the occasion by hosting an event to celebrate and recognize the signing into law of H.R. 3553.

The event is scheduled to be held on Oct 18 at the Navajo Nation Veterans Memorial Tribal Park from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) will be attending the event as an invited guest speaker. Kirkpatrick, last September, introduced H.R. 3553, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 20. Senate efforts were jointly led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator John Thune (R-SD); and H.R. 3553 won the unanimous approval of Congress on Sept 27.

“For over a decade, Native Americans who fought for this Nation watched as their Veterans’ benefits actually created new burdens for them, and that’s unacceptable,” Congresswoman Kirkpatrick said. “This outrageous defect in the law demanded action, and I am grateful that the Navajo Housing Authority brought it to my attention.”

H.R. 3553 amends the definition of “income,” under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act to exclude payments and survivor benefits received from the Veterans Administration for service-related disabilities from counting as income, making it easier for Native American Veterans, their families and survivors to qualify for housing assistance.

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Interior's OSM Sued For Withholding Peabody Coal Records

2010-10-11T14:23:00.002-07:00

According to the proposed Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement, the Navajo and Hopi Tribe would release claims for injury due to water quality, and Peabody would retain existing permanent mining structure and-
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Several Native American and conservation groups have filed suit in federal court in Denver under the Freedom of Information Act against the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement for withholding records related to renewal of Peabody Energy Co.’s permit for the Kayenta Mine.

To date, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining has refused to publicly release records relating to Peabody’s coal-mining operations, including a copy of a current, valid operating permit, according to Brad Bartlett, managing attorney for the Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango.

Bartlett and Travis Stills of the law center are representing plaintiffs Black Mesa Water Coalition, the Center for Biological Diversity, Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (Dine CARE), Sierra Club and To’ Nizhoni Ani.

“OSM is going through a permit renewal process for the Kayenta Mine, which serves the Navajo Generating Station. As part of that process, what citizens with the organizations did was request a copy of the complete renewal permit that was under consideration. That would make sense. OSM is about to renew this operating permit, they should at least be making it public,” Bartlett said.

The request was submitted April 4 under the Freedom of Information Act, however, the agency at first denied the request and the groups appealed administratively. The public comment period ended June 4 without OSM releasing the requested records, including a copy of Peabody's operating permit.

“We got a favorable decision from the appeals office, but then the agency proceeded to not release the permit. In fact, the agency said it would take them about 18 months before they could actually release the permit, he said. “So, it's not clear to me what the hold-up is and why the agency appears to be playing a shell game with permitting documents that should be readily available.” The group filed suit Sept. 30 in U.S. District Court.

There was no immediate response from the Solicitor's Office.

“For decades, OSM has quietly issued permits to Peabody in a way that has thwarted meaningful public involvement and community understanding of Peabody’s mine operations,” said Nikke Alex, executive director of Black Mesa Water Coalition. “OSM’s permitting actions have a direct and irreparable impact on our community. These records must be released to the public.”

Peabody runs the 40,000-acre Kayenta Mine and adjacent 18,000-acre Black Mesa Mine on Navajo Nation and Hopi tribal lands. Using Navajo aquifer water, coal from Black Mesa Mine was slurried via a 273-mile pipeline to the Mohave Generating Station from 1970 to 2005, when Mohave closed. The Kayenta mine has supplied coal to Navajo Generating Station since 1973.

Despite the lack of documentation, the groups submitted comments June 4, stating that the main question raised by a permit renewal application is whether terms and conditions of the existing permit are being met, yet due to OSM's failure to make the existing Kayenta Mine permit available, there is no way the public can reach such a determination.

“The records requested under FOIA are integral to public understanding of OSM’s renewal of Peabody’s operating permit,” Bartlett said. According to the June filing which cites water permit information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 21 of Peabody's existing 158 impoundments are not in compliance with water quality standards.

According to the proposed Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement, the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe would release claims for injury to water quality, and Peabody would retain existing permanent mining structures and impoundments within the company's leaseholds after mining is completed. The tribes would not be allowed to challenge this, and Peabody would be allowed to relocate the impoundments as long as overall storage capacity is not increased, and build new temporary impoundments.

“By denying and delaying public release of the operating permit, OSM protects Peabody and unjustly shuts out impacted communities and the public in Peabody’s permitting process,” said Cynthia Pardo of the Sierra Club’s Plateau Group. “By filing this lawsuit with our tribal partners, we are seeking greater transparency and accountability by the Obama administration for Navajo and Hopi communities impacted by Peabody’s coal mining on Black Mesa.”

Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity, said, “OSM’s inability to produce a valid operating permit for Peabody raises a whole host of questions. This lawsuit will force full disclosure.”

Information: www.blackmesawatercoalition.org

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Pollution Solution: Reduce Harmful Emissons At Coal-Fired Power Plant

2010-10-09T19:48:00.007-07:00

EPA Proposes 80% Cut In Emissions At Four Corners Plant
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed Wednesday to require the Four Corners Power Plant near Farmington to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions 80 percent by requiring additional pollution controls.

EPA’s proposal will require plant operators to install the most stringent pollution control technology available for this type facility, known as selective catalytic reduction, on all five units. These controls will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides from approximately 45,000 tons per year to 9,000 tons per year.

The installation and operation of selective catalytic reduction is estimated to increase the electricity bill for the average Arizona Public Service residential customer by about 70 cents per week. APS is sole owner of units one, two and three, and owns 15 percent of units four and five at the 2,040 megawatt coal-fired power plant located on the Navajo Nation.

“We know this is an important ruling that is coming out, but we're just in the process of evaluating it,” said Arvin Trujillo, government relations manager for APS.

Mark Schiovani, senior vice president of Fossil Generation at APS, in reports to various standing committees of the Navajo Nation Council, has said that installation of selective catalytic reduction is estimated to cost $828 million. That, coupled with Southern California Edison's plan to divest its 48 percent share by 2016 and other proposed EPA regulations, presents a “very complicated scenario” for the future of the generating station, he said.

EPA also is proposing a particulate emission limit for units one, two and three – put in service in 1963 – that will require additional controls for fine particles and may help reduce the visible secondary plume often seen emanating from the three units.

“Everybody is in support of cleaner air and a healthier environment, but we certainly hope it doesn't throw out of work hundreds of Navajo workers who have nowhere else to go,” George Hardeen, communications director for President Joe Shirley Jr., said late Wednesday. “EPA could have initiated this a dozen years ago and helped move us in this direction. But the main concern is the resulting unemployment in a place that already experiences extreme poverty.”

The reduction in emissions is designed to achieve cleaner, healthier air while improving the visibility at 16 of the country's most pristine national parks and wilderness areas. Each year, more than 280 million people visit these areas, yet many aren’t able to see the spectacular vistas because of the veil of white or brown haze that hangs in the air, reducing visibility and dulling the natural beauty, EPA said.

In addition, nitrogen oxides react with other chemicals to form ozone and small particles harmful to the public’s health. Children, the elderly, people with lung diseases such as asthma, and those who work or exercise outside are at risk for adverse effects from ozone and particulate matter.

"The Four Corners Power Plant is the largest source of nitrogen oxides in the nation,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest Region. “Adding new pollution controls at this 45-year-old plant will reduce these emissions by 80 percent. We will all be able to see the results and breathe cleaner, healthier air.”

The Clean Air Act’s Regional Haze Rule requires the use of Best Available Retrofit Technology at older coal-fired power plants to reduce haze and improve visibility. The Four Corners plant would have five years to add the controls.

“We're very pleased that EPA has issued a rule that we believe will improve visibility in the national parks, improve health for people living in the San Juan Basin, and is consistent with the requirements under the Clean Air Act,” said Roger Clark of Grand Canyon Trust. “It's good for the visibility in the parks, it's good for the health of the people, and it's the right legal thing to do.”

As the result of a lawsuit filed by the National Parks Conservation Association in 2008, in addition to Wednesday’s proposed rule, EPA must finalize a regional haze cleanup plan for every state that does not have one by Jan. 15, 2011. Specific cleanup plans for the Four Corners Power Plant also must be in place by that date.

“The Navajo people have suffered for decades from this dirty coal plant and EPA’s announcement today is an important step at restoring environmental justice and the health of the Navajo people and surrounding communities,” said Andy Bessler of the Sierra Club in Flagstaff. “It is further proof that we need to transition our economy off dirty coal and look toward cleaner forms of energy from the wind and sun.”

Elouise Brown, president of Dooda Desert Rock, an organization opposed to construction of the proposed Desert Rock coal-fired power plant near Four Corners, said, “The air we breathe has been polluted by the Four Corners plant for far too long. This air pollution causes respiratory problems like asthma, emphysema and bronchitis; it aggravates heart disease and it damages lung tissue. It is the Navajo people living near this plant who suffer the effects of this pollution and we thank the EPA for standing up against this threat to our well-being.”

EPA will continue to consult with the Navajo Nation and other affected tribes, and the federal land managers before taking any final action. There will be a 60-day public comment period on the proposed action as well as two public hearings in the Four Corners area. Additional details will be provided at least 30 days prior to the hearings.

Information:
http://www.epa.gov/region9/air/navajo/index.html#proposed

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Navajo Resources Reject Sempra Offer To Create 500 Megawatt Wind Farm

2010-10-07T18:27:00.004-07:00

"Looking For A Sweetheart Deal"
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Like unwanted suitors, Sempra Generation and International Piping Products Inc. keep coming back to the Navajo Nation with a proposal for a wind farm on Gray Mountain, and the Resources Committee keeps spurning their advances while continuing to look for a sweetheart deal.

During a meeting Thursday, Western Navajo Agency Council Delegates Bobby Robbins, Raymond Maxx and Jack Colorado presented Resources with 10 resolutions – largely supporting documents pertaining to the project – from Cameron Chapter dating from April 2007 through March 2009, and two from the agency council from June 2007 and March 2009.

Yet despite local support and warnings on the magnitude of “the sky is falling,” Resources has found little affection for Sempra/IPP's initial purchase option. Under the terms and conditions proposed, the companies would erect up to 350 wind turbines on up to 45,000 acres at Gray Mountain in Cameron to create a 500 megawatt wind farm.

IPP received a conditional use permit from the Division of Economic Development in June 2007 but that has now expired and the companies are seeking a site lease so they can respond to requests for proposals coming out in October and November for renewable energy power-purchase agreements. The Navajo Nation is being offered the option to purchase 20 percent equity interest in the Gray Mountain project with Sempra/IPP retaining 80 percent.

Resources Chairman George Arthur and committee member Norman John II have said repeatedly that they believe the Nation can do better than 80/20, but as Maxx pointed out in June when Council voted 27-37 against approving the lease negotiations, “People are saying we can get a better deal. We keep asking, 'Where's the better deal?' There's nothing on paper.”

The proposed resolution also calls on Navajo to cease negotiations with other energy companies and to form a five-member negotiating team for the sole purpose of negotiating a lease with Sempra/IPP. The team would be comprised of one member selected by the president, one by the speaker, two from Cameron Chapter, and the attorney general or his designee.

Robbins said they want to take the resolution to the Navajo Nation Council for consideration during fall session.

Delegate Colorado, who represents Cameron Chapter, said that because they don't have an electrical service line they received a grant from Sacred Power in Albuquerque for 110 solar panels. Someone from Eastern Agency read about it and tried to get registered at Cameron Chapter so they, too, could get a solar panel. “Throughout the reservation our people are in need.”

IPP President Bruce McAlvain said the community held a workshop and chapter meeting since Council's last action. “They asked us to come back and see if we can work through the lease structure.” In his presentation to the committee, McAlvain talked about the uncertainty in the California renewables market and the impact it will have in the Southwest, such as a decline in the marketplace and projects going forward.

“In the next couple years, there is over 3 gigawatts of planned infrastructure going into place that we're directly competing with here in Arizona,” he said.

California has 70,000 to 80,000 megawatts of proposed renewable energy projects. Currently in infrastructure, they've got 19,000 megawatts, he said, adding that for the state to meet a proposed 33 percent renewable energy standard, they will only need 25,000 megawatts.

“We've run out of time. If this construction window of opportunity that we have for projects is going to stay open, we need to have something in the ground or started by 2012 or the first quarter of 2013.” After that, renewable energy will hit a plateau and stay there until 2019 or 2020, stalling projects in Arizona going to California, which pays the highest purchase rate for renewable energy, he said.

Steve Atkins, a research engineer at Northern Arizona University which put up the first meteorological tower on Gray Mountain to measure the wind, said Gray Mountain has possibly the best wind in the entire state, second only to Navajo 's Big Boquillas Ranch.

“Gray Mountain has the capacity to produce a 500 megawatt wind farm,” Atkins said. “This amount of power is going to have to go to some larger state that can accept it, and that state is essentially California.” However, Atkins warned that the only transmission line to export the electricity is the El Dorado 500 kilovolt line, and that line is becoming saturated.

“There are a lot of projects that people are trying to push through, so time is of the essence. If this project doesn't go rapidly, what will happen is the El Dorado will get filled up to its capacity and will not be able to accept any more electricity and it won't matter what you do with Gray Mountain. There will be no way to get the power out of Gray Mountain,” 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.

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SMSC Wind Turbine Completes Successful Year

2010-10-04T19:11:00.003-07:00

Generating Electricity With Low Environmental Impact
By Tessa Lehto
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org
October 4th, 2010

Prior Lake, MN – For one full year, the SMSC Wind Turbine has held its post overlooking the SMSC Pow Wow Grounds and The Meadows at Mystic Lake. Residents, staff, visitors, and neighbors have enjoyed watching it spin, commenting often on its direction and rate.

“This wind turbine fits nicely into our goal of self-sufficiency in terms of energy production,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks. “It is part of our plan as a sovereign nation to take care of our own needs wherever possible. The wind turbine is also a green technology so the environmental impacts are minimal.”

The First Year -
At 386 feet from foundation to the tip of a blade fully extended vertically, the wind turbine is the equivalent of a 38-story tall building. It is visible for miles around and has quickly become a landmark on the horizon near Mystic Lake Casino Hotel. Its first year has brought a new understanding of wind technology to the SMSC and its staff.

According to Stan Ellison, SMSC Manager of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, “The first six months were without issue. At that point there was a warranty issue with a slip ring. This was repaired by the manufacturer along with some other minor items including replacing the batteries in the blade 1 pitch motor system. The turbine has been operating well since that repair.”

When asked said about the lessons learned in this first year, Ellison replied, “Modern wind turbines are complex machines with thousands of moving parts. Computers control the operation using data from multiple sensors including wind speed, wind direction, gust speed and variation, vibration in the nacelle, blade vibration, bearing and oil temperature, nacelle interior temperature, and many others. They are not ‘start and forget’ machines but require regular maintenance and supervision.”

One exciting addition to the wind turbine this past year was the installation of an antenna by a multi-department team of Community staff. A wireless connection was added using staff from the Land and Natural Resources Department, Maintenance, Mdewakanton Emergency Services, Property Services, and Information Technology. Land staff defined the equipment specifications working with Information Technology.

The Low Voltage staff wired the turbine and Public Works Building. Maintenance set up the antenna at the Public Works Building and helped with the wiring in the turbine. Mdewakanton Emergency Services and Property Services welded the antenna on the tower using the Aerial ladder truck.

“We now have remote control and a data site available for internal use,” Ellison said. “This provides us easier access to data and the ability to control the wind turbine remotely.”

Energy ProductionIn its first year the SMSC Wind Turbine generated 1.8 million kWh, enough for all residences on the reservation. Energy created by the turbine is metered as it enters the nearby Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative substation that provides electricity to the SMSC and the surrounding area. The generated energy is offset against Community energy costs.

Why Isn't It spinning? -
The question asked most frequently about the wind turbine is, “Why isn’t it spinning?” The wind turbine operates around the clock throughout the year. The only time it stops is if the wind is not blowing or is too variable in direction, it’s blowing over 47 mph or under 8.75 mph, the blades are in the process of changing direction, or excess vibration (like from a thunderstorm) causes it to shutdown.

The blades are not expected to spin all the time because this is an area of moderate to low winds for commercial wind development. The SMSC Wind Turbine was installed as a test of its efficiency in these known wind conditions. It is only expected to spin about 30% of the time.

All wind speeds are measured at the nacelle height (262.4 feet). Generally the wind speed is greater at higher elevations but it is lower on rare occasions. Excess vibration will also cause a shutdown. A nearby lightening strike and resultant thunder has caused this to happen several times. The turbine is lightening protected including the blades, nacelle, and tower.

The turbine is pitch controlled with mechanical yaw. The direction of the blades is varied to start or stop the machine. To turn into the wind it must shut down, rotate, and start up.

Background -
After more than 10 years of planning and several years of wind studies and other research, the SMSC Wind Turbine was assembled at the SMSC Pow Wow Grounds over the weekend October 3-4, 2009, using a giant crane. Testing and commissioning of the wind turbine then took several weeks before it became operational.

The $1.8 million wind turbine, which has a payback period of about 15 years, has a life expectancy of 30 years. The SMSC wind turbine will also demonstrate that wind energy is viable in areas of moderate to low winds.

Wind energy is a low-cost emerging renewable energy resource which does not contribute to global warming. The only pollution that is produced by a wind turbine comes during the manufacturing and transport process. Once erected, the wind turbine has no negative impacts and the sound is negligible to residents in nearby homes and enterprises.

The blades produce a soft whoosh as they cycle which sounds like a whisper to those in close proximity. The crackle from the pre-existing sub-station is louder to the untrained ear than the wind turbine itself.

Minnesota is the third largest producer of wind energy in the nation, behind Texas and California. The state of Minnesota has set renewable energy standard that requires 25 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2025. The SMSC wind turbine is another example of the effort to meet that goal.

Other Energy And Environmental Projects Underway -
Like many, the Community is faced with growing energy demands and dependence on outside sources for that energy. Environmental impacts associated with conventional energy sources can be destructive to the earth. In response, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has actively been exploring local options to supply its energy needs.

Most of the solutions being pursued by the Community do not require extensive infrastructure. Since initial investment costs are recouped over the life of the project, especially with rising conventional energy costs, these other options are preferred by the Community.

The wind turbine is one of several Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community energy initiatives already underway. The SMSC is a major partner in Koda Energy, a joint venture with Rahr Malting of Shakopee to produce heat and electricity by burning agricultural by-products such as wood chips, barley dust, and oat hulls, and grown energy crops. This stable, clean energy production facility was operational in mid-2009.

In 2010 the SMSC received Silver Level LEED Certification for the building which houses South Metro Federal Credit union. A geothermal heating system for temperature control captures heat and cooling from the ground.

Another innovative project converts the Community’s waste motor oil and vegetable oil to heat buildings. Some Community spaces were partially heated by waste oil starting in the winter of 2008-2009. Using waste oil for heat reduces the use of natural gas. A project to convert 18,000 gallons of waste vegetable oil each year into biodiesel for use in Community vehicles and equipment also became operational in 2009.

Solar energy is used to heat water for showers and equipment washing at Mdewakanton Emergency Services, the SMSC’s Fire Station, reducing the use of natural gas. Skylights also use the free energy of the sun to light a training room and equipment bay, reducing daytime energy usage.

Dakotah! Ice Center, which opened in late 2008, also features skylights specifically designed to complement the arena use. Between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. weekdays, the arena typically does not have a lot of use. By using skylights and daylight harvestings during these non-peak hours, energy consumption for lighting has been reduced by about 50%.

Another energy saving feature of the Ice Center is the capture waste heat from the refrigeration compressors used to cool the rink floor and use it to heat the arena seats. Dispersing heat in spectator spaces reduces the need to heat the entire arena. This reduces energy consumption and makes the arena more comfortable for guests.

As a steward of the land, the SMSC engages in a number of restoration activities to preserve and protect the land for future generations. The SMSC Land and Natural Resources Department has re-established native prairies and wetlands on more than 500 acres of former farmland.

Prescribed burns are used to maintain and improve native prairie conditions on the reservation. Wild rice is sowed in Community wetlands. Maple sap is collected from Community trees, and maple syrup is made. Trees and other native flora are planted.

Environmental specialists are also active in restoring and managing wetlands, surveying wildlife, and taking an inventory of existing natural communities. Hydrologists assess water quality, coordinate the Community’s Wellhead Protection Program, plan projects to improve water quality, and implement erosion control.

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

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Columbus Never Stepped Foot On Turtle Island, So

2010-10-02T15:27:00.009-07:00

Why Celebrate Columbus Day?
Opinion
Submitted by Mark Reed

Native actor and film director Mark Reed is currently the Republican candidate for the 27th Congressional District of California.

This column is a rewrite, first published in Native Unity on October 14th, 2005 and still is the most popular article on the Native Unity Blog.
Columbus Day will be celebrated on October 11th, 2010.
Bobbie Hart O'Neill, Native Unity Editor

1. Columbus sailed into the Caribbean and never even set foot in what is now known as the United States. So, why do we, in the United States, give him one of our 8 Federal holidays?

2. Why would Columbus be given credit for "discovering" the Americas anyway, when we all know those lands were already inhabited and had been for thousands of years? Didn't the inhabitants of those lands discover them?
Look at any map of the US and see the many, many, many states, cities and towns that all bear the Native American names of people and peoples who once populated those regions: Illinois, Oklahoma, Cheyenne, Nantucket, Milwaukee, Yuma, Omaha, Wichita, Tallahassee, Mississippi, Muskogee, Tennessee, Allegheny, Missouri, Kentucky, Huron, Tuscaloosa and on and on and on.....

3. Knowing that Native Americans were already here, and Columbus never was here, why does anyone go along with the myth that "Columbus Discovered America", when we all know it is not true?

4. Why aren't we taught the whole truth about Columbus' actions and the devastating consequences of those actions?
Why are we only told about Columbus, who as a boy who always wanted to sail and then when he got older Spain provided him three ships & he sailed across the ocean andDISCOVERED A NEW WORLD! (where millions of Taino had lived for thousands of years and which we now call the Caribbean
Why are we only taught about that FIRST voyage, and not the other 3 voyages, when all hell broke loose?
Why aren't we taught about how on the second voyage, unlike the first when Columbus only had 3 small old ships, Columbus was given 17 large ships and 1,500 armed men eagerly signed up for the chance to go to the "New World" with hopes of getting rich quick on the gold to be found there?
Also, why aren't we taught about the greed and brutality of the Spaniards against the Taino (who have been remembered as " naked savages" in our history books, if at all), and how the Taino were murdered and enslaved on that second voyage?
Why are we not taught about the third voyage & how when King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella of Spain heard about Columbus' actions in the "New World" he was sent back toSpain in chains to stand trial for his crimes, was convicted and stripped of his titles?
Or, how the Spaniards tricked 80 of the Taino leaders into a hut and burned them alive? Isn't to omit the ugly part ofthe truth considered LYING BY OMISSION? Then, that is what our schools are doing when they only teach about the first voyage, they are lying by omission to our students, and we as a improperly educated country have a holiday for an evil, greedy, slave-trading, murderer.

5. Some people say he is worthy of the honor of a holiday for his nautical genius, but the Vikings sailed across the ocean to North America 500 years before, Marco Polo sailed to China & India 300 years prior and the Chinese set foot upon the very shores that Columbus did 71 years prior to the arrival of Columbus, the difference being, Columbus "claimed" the land and cites the Papal Bulls with giving him the authority to do so if no one disputes the action, and Columbus accordingto his journal, was careful to add that no one disputed it at the time, while admitting at the same time that they could not understand each other, so how could they be expected to understand what his flag-planting and pronunciations meant?

6. Many people will argue that Columbus brought Western Civilization to what is now known as the United States, and that is the reason the US bestowed upon him the honor of a holiday. But how can we make that correlation when Columbus, working for Spain, came in 1492 and the European colonizers who came here TWO HUNDRED years later, came fromEngland? If Columbus is worthy of being given credit for this "achievement", wouldn't it have happened 200 years earlier and wouldn't we all be speaking Spanish now as the countries he invaded do?

7. Some people will argue that Columbus Day is a day for recognition of Italians, an Italian Pride Day. Are Italians more worthy of recognitionthan other ethnic groups in this country we have proudly (?) nicknamed"The Melting Pot"? I have heard Italians say that Germans have Oktoberfest, the Irish have St. Patrick's Day and Mexicans have Cinco deMayo, but none of those are FEDERAL holidays.
The only two ethnic groups worthy of recognition for their contributions and sacrifice in this land are those who were ALREADY HERE when the Europeans came and those who the Europeans BROUGHT HERE IN CHAINS. All other ethnic groups came here voluntarily.
It was long overdue but African Americans finally got their holiday - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January.... but Native Americans still don't have a holiday (urge your congressmen and women to support House Bill #167).

8. Some people think he is deserving of the honor because he proved the world was round, but this was already a widely accepted belief by educated people at the time as Ptolemy, the ancient astronomer and geographer from Egypt, declared that the Earth was spherical in the second century. Why do 17 states refuse to recognize and/or celebrate Columbus Day? Why do protesters gather and march at every Columbus Day Parade?

9. And, WHY is Columbus honored with one of our 8 federal holidays in the US when,
(a). He didn't "discover" us, or anything previously undiscovered or uninhabited
(b). He never set foot on what is now U.S. soil.
(c). His legacy is greed, theft, destruction, brutality, slave-trading and murder
(d). It is offensive to Latin American, African American and Native Americans
( e). Native Americans, who were here and are worthy of a holiday, still don'thave one.

10. And why have the Taino people of the Caribbean and those in the US,whose ancestors have paid such a huge price for the misfortune of being"discovered", been erroneously declared extinct and are therefore denied legal recognition by the government?

To learn more about the truth, read:
*In Defense of the Indians by Bartolome de las Casas
*A People's History by Howard Zinn
*Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Louwen
*Rethinking Columbus by Bigelow and Peterson
*The Voyages of Christopher Columbus by Rex and Thea Rienits
*The Log of Christopher Columbus by Robert H. Fuson
*The Journal of Columbus by Clarkson N. Potter
*1421,The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies
*America Discovers Columbus by John Noble Wilford
*The Conquest of Paradise by KirkpatrickSale
*The Columbus Dynasty in the Caribbean by Troy S. Floyd
*The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov

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

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http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america/

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'Forgotten People' Slam Bennett Freeze Redevelopment Plan - 'Web Of Life' Serves Native Youth

2010-09-30T19:43:00.008-07:00

"ONHIR Is The Fox Guarding The Hen House"
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick picked the “worst agency” to oversee redevelopment activities in the former Bennett Freeze area when she proposed assigning those duties to the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, according to the Forgotten People.

Kirkpatrick, D-1st District, Arizona, recently sent draft legislation to tribal leaders and local officials asking for their comments by Sept. 29 on a “Former Bennett Freeze Area Redevelopment Act.” Comments from former Bennett Freeze residents apparently were not solicited and the draft was not posted to Kirkpatrick's Web site.

“ONHIR is the fox guarding the hen house,” Don Yellowman, president of the Forgotten People, said. The group is comprised of relocatees and former Bennett Freeze residents who were prohibited from building new homes or making repairs to existing homes for more than 40 years as a result of federal policy imposed due to a land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi tribes.

“ONHIR is in the business of relocating people, not rehabilitation. Many of our members have been waiting for 30 years to receive relocation housing while people that never lived on Hopi Partitioned Land benefited,” Yellowman said. “While ONHIR says they have no money to repair relocation housing and build new housing, apparently they have millions of dollars to loan the Navajo Nation to construct casinos and develop more cluster housing without any infrastructure to host communities.”

Kirkpatrick's draft bill would allow the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe to contract redevelopment activities from the relocation office through Public Law 93-638.

“The additional promise that '638' programs could be contracted from the office is not a meaningful one for the people of the Bennett Freeze, who have not seen any benefit from existing 638 or Housing and Urban Development programs,” James W. Zion of Albuquerque, attorney for the Forgotten People, said.

“The Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation is the coyote that has been stealing and killing our sheep,” said Robert Begay, a member of the Forgotten People board of directors. “To put ONHIR in charge of rehabilitation is like inviting the coyote to take charge. No matter what you do to that coyote he will steal and kill our sheep. That is his instinct. There is no honesty with that coyote.”

Begay said what they need in the former Bennett Freeze area is development planners to work with the people and grassroots groups such as Forgotten People to develop a holistic plan, rather than a Band-Aid approach.

“A past study of a proposed plan for rehabilitating the Bennett Freeze was announced with a great deal of fanfare, and the thick study has never been adopted, much less acted on,” Zion said. “My requests for a copy from the CEO of the Navajo Housing Authority were ignored.”

Navajo Nation Design and Engineering Service and planning consultants from WHPacific Inc., began conducting workshops in 2008 in the nine chapters impacted by the freeze and came up with a regional recovery plan. In 2009, Zion filed notice of intent to sue the Navajo Nation for public disclosure of the nearly $1 million “Former Bennett Freeze Area Recovery Plan.”

Kirkpatrick's draft legislation would establish a “Former Bennett Freeze Area Rehabilitation Trust Fund” to be used solely for purposes which would contribute to the continuing rehabilitation and improvement of conditions for impacted families and communities through 2025. Upon receipt and approval of a plan to use the funds, they would be transferred to the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office or its designee.

On Aug. 4, the Forgotten People filed an accounting lawsuit against the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission to find out where monies from the current Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Trust Fund are, as well as collected fees for easements and rights of way. While the suit is pending, Forgotten People want an injunction on all 638 and HUD contracts and all land purchases by the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission.

Kirkpatrick's plan additionally would authorize the Navajo Nation to negotiate and approve an accommodation agreement with the Hopi Tribe for Navajo families still residing on Hopi Partitioned Land who intend to remain. “The proposed Act would do some tinkering with accommodation agreements with Navajo families without mentioning the due process implications of impairing existing contracts. The Hopi Tribe might have something to say about that,” Zion said.

Marsha Monestersky, program director for Forgotten People, said the organization also wants the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Commission on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to intervene and assess health impacts.

“Too many people in the former Bennett Freeze have died from living in substandard housing, drinking uranium- and arsenic-contaminated water and living in and around abandoned uranium mines and mills,” she said.

New Mexico Non-Profit To Increase Outreach To Native Youth
Albuquerque, NM - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that $155 million in teen pregnancy prevention grants are being awarded to states, non-profit organizations, school districts, universities, and others.

These grants will support the replication of teen pregnancy prevention programs that have been shown to be effective through rigorous research as well as the testing of new, innovative approaches to combating teen pregnancy.

McClellan Hall, Executive Director and founder of the National Indian Youth Leadership Project, was notified that NIYLP's application for "Web of Life", an adaptation of Project Venture, has been awarded approximately $2.75 million over 5 years.

Congratulations From Senator Udall
Yesterday afternoon Senator Tom Udall's office contacted NIYLP to express congratulations and support conveying that Udall believes NIYLP's programming is important to prevention in New Mexico.

Learn more...

Nest Steps - Following a six-month planning period, NIYLP will be implementing the "Web of Life" in several communities, schools and agencies serving Native American youth.

"Teen pregnancy is a serious national problem and we need to use the best science of what works to address it," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "This investment will help bring evidence-based initiatives to more communities across the country while also testing new approaches so we can expand our toolkit of effective interventions."

The "Web of Life" is an adaptation of Project Venture, the first Native American, evidence-based program to be included on the National Registry of Evidence-basded Programs and Practices list (NREPP)

More About Project Venture - National Indian Youth Leadership Project
NIYLP is a non-profit organization started in Gallup, NM over 25 years ago. NIYLP uses a combination of service-learning, outdoor education, experiential education and culture and tradition to empower generations of youth to realize a more positive future.
Website: http://www.niylp,org/

National Indian Youth Leadership Project
Beth Wonson
Director of Operations
email: info@niylp.org
phone: 505-554-2289

National Indian Youth Leadership Project
McClellan Hall
Executive Director and Founder
email: info@niylp.org
phone: 505-554-2289

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Legislation For Navajo Nation And Veterans Submitted By U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick

2010-09-28T15:35:00.007-07:00

Legislation Drafted To Redevelop Bennett Freeze Area
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick has sent draft legislation to tribal and local officials which she says would give them the authority and resources they need to redevelop the former Bennett Freeze area.

“Congress sat idly by for years while Native American families paid the price for the federal government’s failed policies. I will not let the Navajo and Hopi nations be ignored again,” said Kirkpatrick, D-1st District, Arizona.

U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert Bennett imposed the Bennett Freeze on July 8, 1966, as the result of a longstanding dispute over Navajo and Hopi reservation boundaries. The former freeze area consists of nine Navajo Nation chapters in Western Navajo Agency and encompasses 3 million acres.

More than 12,000 Navajos living in the area were subjected to a 41-year freeze on development, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They suffered socially, economically, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually as a result of being prohibited from building new homes, making repairs, constructing infrastructure for water and electricity, and developing roads. The freeze was lifted officially last year.

Kirkpatrick's proposed “Former Bennett Freeze Area Redevelopment Act” calls for establishing the Former Bennett Freeze Trust Fund which would be used to improve economic conditions, housing, infrastructure, health, and educational and social conditions of affected families and communities.

The bill also enables the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe to take on the work of the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation through contracting, and authorizes the office to oversee a rehabilitation program for the former Bennett Freeze area.

The bill would extend the authorization of the Navajo Rehabilitation Trust Fund and repeal the obligation of the Navajo Nation to repay money advanced to the trust fund. It also would authorize the Navajo Nation to negotiate and approve an accommodation agreement with the Hopi Tribe for Navajo families still residing on Hopi Partitioned Land who intend to remain there.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said it was 17 months ago that Congress officially repealed “this dark chapter” in the Nation's relationship with the federal government.

“Thanks to the efforts of our Navajo Hopi Land Commission and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, the promise of this legislation is another great day for my elderly, my medicine people, my young, and my grandchildren who have been affected by the Bennett Freeze for more than 40 years,” he said.

Attorney James W. Zion of Albuquerque, who filed suit in August on behalf of the Forgotten People seeking an accounting of Navajo Rehabilitation Trust Fund monies, wasn't quite so enthusiastic.

“The draft is a disappointment,” Zion said Wednesday. “First, it is authorization legislation, not required by the Constitution, and all it would do is set up a new trust to be funded from sources that are not likely, and authorize appropriations that will never come.

“It is curious that a new trust fund is being proposed when we don't know what the situation with the current one happens to be,” he said. “Navajos should not be given false promises of 'authorization' legislation unless the means to back it up in appropriations are there.”

Meanwhile, the Forgotten People, a grassroots group made up of former Bennett Freeze residents and relocatees, have stopped waiting on the tribe and the federal government to begin rebuilding. Through community-led redevelopment projects in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Home Depot of Flagstaff, they have constructed safe drinking water systems, and with the help of Indian Health Service and EPA, have built bathrooms sanitation systems for nine homes in Black Falls.

Navajo Hopi Land Commission Office Executive Director Roman Bitsuie, who was named in the suit filed by Zion, said there is not enough time this year to see Kirkpatrick's bill through to passage, but he hopes it will be introduced soon and that congressional action will be completed by early 2011. He estimated redevelopment costs at $1 billion to $4.5 billion.

Zion said no real money is identified in the draft legislation. “Set-asides of small percentages from the BIA Indian Programs budget, the Indian Housing Block Grant Program, and Rural Development Program are really an attempted earmark, and the other beneficiaries of such programs will likely block any such measure.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs' proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011 includes an increase of $1.2 million to begin redeveloping the former freeze area. The funds would be used to implement rangeland inventories, set stocking rates for grazing permittees, maintain and replace water storage tanks and windmills, and develop stock ponds and springs.

Congress Passes NHA Legislation To Expand Housing Assistance For Native Veterans And Families
Submitted by Christian Bigwater
Navajo Housing Authority

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The United States Senate voted unanimously last night to pass the Navajo Housing Authority’s (NHA) top legislative priority for the 111th Congress, a bill that expands housing opportunities for disabled Native Veterans and family members of deceased servicemen and women.

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick introduced the Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act of 2010 (HR 3553), last September at the request NHA’s Board of Commissioners. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives on April 20 meaning that last night’s Senate vote sends the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature. The President is expected to sign the bill into federal law within days.

“At first glance this is a very technical bill, but the impact on Veterans and their families will be tremendous,” NHA CEO Aneva J. Yazzie said. “I want to personally thank Congresswoman Kirkpatrick for her leadership on this issue. She really was the driving force behind passing this bill.”

HR 3553 amends the definition of “income” under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, the 1996 statute governing the Indian Housing Block Grant program. By excluding payments from the Veterans Administration for service-related disabilities and survivor benefits from counting as income, more Veterans will qualify for assistance.

“The Navajo Housing Authority and other leaders in the Veterans, tribal, and housing communities have fought long and hard to get this done, and I am honored to have had the chance to stand with them and make their voices heard,” Rep. Kirkpatrick said. “The passage of the Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act is a great victory for Indian Country and a critical step in the ongoing struggle to make Washington keep its promises to our military men and women.”

Senate efforts were spearheaded by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator John Thune (R-SD) making it a truly bi-partisan and nation-wide effort.

NHA Board Chairman Leonard Teller, himself a Veteran of the U.S. Marine Corp, shared his praises for Congresswoman Kirkpatrick and her efforts as well as those of other Members of Congress including retiring Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND).

“Some people complain about how hard it is to get things done in Washington, but complaints are no substitute for leadership. We are very lucky to have Ms. Kirkpatrick working for us in Congress and her ability to get others to rally around this cause was amazing,” Teller said. “Capitol Hill is a tough environment, but as we can see today, sometimes it’s worth a fight to do the right thing.”

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'Peabody Coal Plan' To Eliminate Energy Poverty, Inequality - McClellan Hall Named To National Committee

2010-09-26T18:36:00.008-07:00

Black Mesa Residents Claim Mine Related Illnesses
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Peabody Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory H. Boyce outlined a multi-step plan Tuesday to eliminate energy poverty and inequality by unlocking the power of coal to advance energy security, generate economic stimulus and create environmental solutions.

Boyce unveiled the “Peabody Plan” during a keynote address before the 21st World Energy Congress in Montreal. The Congress is a gathering of global energy leaders from nearly 100 member nations convened every three years.

Boyce called for creating energy access for all by 2050, noting that there are 3.6 billion people in the world – more than half the global population – who lack adequate energy access.

Many Navajo Nation residents living in the shadow of Peabody's Black Mesa and Kayenta mines still do not have electricity or running water. A number of them spoke out during recent public hearings to oppose Navajo's lease reopener with Peabody.

According to the lease agreement, the 1987 amendments provide for a reopener to negotiate increased royalty rates and royalty-tax caps for each successive 10-year period after 1987. The coal royalty rate for the Kayenta Mine is 12.5 percent, set in 1977, and 6.25 percent for the Navajo-Hopi Joint Use Area.

Many Black Mesa residents claim they have asthma and other illnesses they believe are related to the mines. Navajo medicine man Norris Nez in a December 2009 declaration, said, “Peabody's desecration of the land has devastated our ability to heal through ceremony and relocation has denied us new generations of medicine men that would have continued to practice traditional ways.”

Boyce said, “Study after study – and pure common sense – tell us that access to electricity helps people live longer and better. Yet each year, we lose more than 1.5 million people to the effects of energy poverty. We can no longer turn our heads from these brutal statistics. We must put people first. This is the first value.”

The Peabody Plan calls for:
· Working to eliminate energy poverty and propelling global economies by ensuring that at least half of new generation is fueled by coal;
·
· Replacing the 1,000 gigawatts of traditional coal plants with supercritical and ultra-supercritical plants, which are more efficient and carbon capture-ready;
·
· Developing at least 100 major projects around the world that capture, store or use carbon dioxide from coal-based plants within 20 years;
·
· Deploying significant coal-to-gas, coal-to-chemicals, and coal-to-liquids projects around the world over the next 10 years; and
·
· Commercializing and deploying next-generation clean coal technologies to achieve continued environmental improvement and ultimately near-zero emissions.

“Coal is the only sustainable fuel with the scale to meet the primary energy needs of the world's rising populations and economies,” he said. Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company, had 2009 sales of 244 million tons and $6 billion in revenues. Peabody fuels 10 percent of U.S. power and 2 percent of worldwide electricity.

Mac Hall Named Founding Member To NSSP
Albuquerque, NM

Pamela S. Hyde, J.D., Administrator for SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) appointed National Indian Youth Leadership Project's Executive Director and Founder, McClellan Hall, M.A., as a founding member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention's Executive Committee.

Hall attended the Alliance's formal launch at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on September 10, 2010. The event was hosted by Secretary of Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and other senior leaders.

The mission of the "Action Alliance" is to advance the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP) by: -championing suicide prevention as a national priority. -catalyzing efforts to implement high priority objective of NSSP. -cultivating the resources needed to sustain progress.

About NIYLP - NIYLP is the developer of "Project Venture", the first Native American prevention program to be designated a "Model Program" by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and listed on the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. Project Venture is implemented in over 15 schools and agencies in NM and in over 71 sites nationally.

"I am honored to be selected for this important committee. The suicide rate for Native American youth is alarming. I value the goals and work of this committee and utilizing the experience and learnings of NIYLP and our 25 plus year history of working with youth", Hall said.

Learn more...About National Indian Youth Leadership Project
NIYLP

924 Park Ave. Suite A , Albuquerque NM, 87102, 505-554-2389
National Indian Youth Leadership Project
Beth Wonson
Director of Operations
email info@niylp.org
phone: 505-554-2289

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New Mexico's Native Vets Tax Settlement Fund - BUT Only in New Mexico

2010-09-23T17:13:00.010-07:00

Native American Veterans' Income Tax Settlement Fund Now Accepting Claims -
SANTA FE, NM—The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services (NMDVS), the New Mexico Department of Taxation and Revenue department and the New Mexico Department of Indian Affairs have teamed up to launch the Native American Veterans’ Income Tax Settlement Fund.

This fund was created by the State of New Mexico to address the issue that state income tax may have been withheld from the paychecks of Native American soldiers while they were on active duty and legally domiciled on tribal land.

Claim forms can be found on the NMDVS website or can be picked up at selected NMDVS field offices. Visit the NMDVS website at http://www.dvs.state.nm.us/. On the home page, click on the Native American Veterans’ Income Tax Settlement link on the left-hand side.

A copy of a separation document (DD-214 or similar document from the Department of Defense) must also be attached to the completed claim form, which can then be sent to the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services.

The NMDVS will then verify if a form is accompanied by the separation document, and then send everything to the Department of Taxation and Revenue for processing and ultimate payment of refunds.

“The state of New Mexico wants to correct something that may need correcting for some of our Native American veterans,” said NMDVS Secretary John Garcia. “We will help any veteran who had any state income tax withheld while they were on active-duty but exempt from this because they were living on tribal land.”

According to the findings by the NMDVS, there may be more than 9,000 Native American veterans who may have had New Mexico income tax withheld from their military pay while they were living on tribal land here in New Mexico. Widows can also apply on behalf of their deceased veteran-spouse.

“The only way we can verify if a veteran did indeed have their military salary taxed by the state of New Mexico is for that Native American veteran or dependent to fill out a claim,” said Secretary Garcia. “If you can’t find your separation papers, we will help you request a duplicate copy. But we can’t help you if you don’t first fill out that claim form.”

Claim forms along with an attached DD-214 or other separation papers can be mailed to:
The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services
Alan Martinez/Deputy Secretary
PO Box 2324
Santa Fe, NM 87504-2324b

Pottawatomi Vet: Soldiers Wrongly Taxed
By JoKAY DOWELL
nativetimes.com

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – While browsing the Internet, Prairie Band Pottawatomi tribal citizen and U.S. Army veteran Richard Adame was surprised to find a news article about New Mexico legislation and subsequent negotiations with American Indian veterans in that state to restore state taxes wrongly deducted from their pay by the Department of Defense.

“This story concerns all Native Americans who ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces. We were unjustly and illegally taxed by our individual states while serving in uniform,” Richard Adame said.

Adame immediately began to search for information on the law and contacted national media outlets, some veteran’s representatives and politicians. Adame said with the exception of Native American Times he was ignored because, he thinks, the law protecting American Indian military pay is virtually unknown by all.

“Two years after I retired, I found out that I and every other Native American who claimed the reservation as our homes were illegally taxed. But, no one seems to know. . . I contacted a few vet reps and they never heard of this. This injustice was not even known to us ground pounders. We were just doing our jobs. How were we supposed to know that we were being illegally taxed?” he said. “I grew up in Kansas on the reservation and joined the Army out of a sense of patriotism and pride in my country. Most of the men and women in my family served in the Armed Forces.

Deduction of state income taxes from the pay of American Indian veterans living on reservation land at the time of their entrance into active duty service was first prohibited by federal law under the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940, Section 514, and continued under the newer version of the law, the Service members Civil Relief Act of 2006, section 511e. Other laws and legal opinions uphold the protection of that pay.

But according to language in HR 5275 introduced to the United States 108th Congress in October 2004 by New Mexico Democratic Senator Tom Udall, the DoD withheld state income taxes anyway. HR 5275 intended to restore the pay of all American Indian veterans across the country from whose pay state taxes were wrongly deducted.

“The law is now well established that this policy was wrong and, in keeping with tribal sovereignty, the policy of withholding state taxes on these soldiers’ pay was changed. This position is reflected in administrative opinions, Fatt v. Utah, 884P2d 1233 (Utah 1994), a 2000 Department of Justice opinion, a Department of Defense policy instituted in 2001, and most recently, in Public Law 108-189, a law that passed this House unanimously,” Udall said in his introduction of HR 5275 to the House Armed Services Committee.

While the DoD stopped the improper taxation of those veterans in 2001, the changes did not apply retroactively for veterans whose pay was taxed prior to that year. A statute of limitations could present obstacles as well.

“The result is that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tribal members whose state taxes were improperly withheld during their service to our country are unable to recover the money that is owed to them,” Udall stated.

Sadly, HR 5275 faced immediate death in the 108th HASC for lack of support. Since then, no action has been taken to restore the pay of reservation-based American Indian veterans outside of New Mexico.

Adame has questioned whether restoration of the veterans’ pay might be settled legally with a class action lawsuit but would rather see Congress step up to reintroduce legislation like HR 5275 and bring justice to all American Indian veterans.

“This story concerns all Native Americans who ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces,” he said. “We were unjustly and illegally taxed by our individual states while serving in uniform.”
In Oklahoma, the topic of taxation of American Indians has always been controversial but was settled unanimously by the U.S Supreme Court in the 1993 case, “Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Sac and Fox,” filed by attorney William Rice, associate professor of law and co-director of the Native American Law Center, University of Tulsa College of Law.

“The state lost,” Rice said. “How the veterans’ case would play out is arguable. But obviously Oklahoma has no authority to levy the tax in the first place and the SSCRA should protect them in the second.”

Rice said the Court generally has ruled that the Constitution and federal law place the tribal relationship with the federal government and not states, at least in areas defined as Indian Country, a legal term applying to allotments, tribal lands, reservations and other categories of Indian-owned properties.

Oklahoma Tax Commission law now states active duty pay is exempt when:
“The income is compensation paid to an active member of the Armed Forces of the United States, if the member was residing within his tribe’s “Indian Country” at the time of entering the Armed Forces of the United States, and the member has not elected to abandon such residence.”
Rice thinks there would be even more affected veterans in Oklahoma than in New Mexico.
“I suggest many of them would be residents of Indian Country when they joined up,” he said.
Adame wants his pay and that of all other American Indian veterans restored and is hoping affected veterans will contact tribal, regional and national veterans’ organizations to make them aware of the law. He said veterans should also contact their Congressional representatives to request they reintroduce and support legislation like HR 5275. He also posted online a petition to restore the veterans’ pay..

Adame hopes the new Obama administration will walk its talk as it promised to respect Indian sovereignty and honor tribal nations’ government-to-government relationship.

First Lady Michelle Obama told employees at the Interior Department in February that American Indians have a “wonderful partner in the White House right now,” and her husband plans to improve that relationship even more, according to an Associated Press story.
Adame wants American Indians in political office to help rectify the wrongs against him and other veterans.

“These newly appointed government Native American politicians and advocates must also stand up for us, the cheated veterans.”
JoKay Dowell
Quapaw/Cherokee
http://jokaydowell.blogspot.com/

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Cancer Saga Continues For Uraniuim Cleanup Worker

2010-09-22T16:29:00.005-07:00

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: No Benefits For Navajo Uranium Mill Cleanup Workers
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

SHIPROCK – Phillip Lee, a former Navajo Engineering Construction Authority employee who helped clean up radioactive soil at the former Kerr-McGee uranium mill in Shiprock, has just begun his second week of chemotherapy for renal cell carcinoma, diagnosed in August 2009.

Though the disease has spread to his pancreas and his cancer is now in Stage 4, Lee, 51, counts himself lucky. As much as he was dreading chemotherapy, he hasn't had any of the 13 possible side effects associated with the new treatment. He and his doctor see that as a good sign.

“Sutent is a chemo drug but it's a newer type. There are two types that they are giving folks with advanced renal cell carcinoma and he's giving me the one that he thinks will suit me. It's the strongest dose available,” Lee said. He travels to the oncology clinic in Farmington for a 28-day supply.

“It's expensive. It's like $8,006 for 28 pills,” he said, but he and his doctor are hopeful it will stop the cancer from spreading and slowly dissolve the growth on his pancreas.

Lee is just one of an undetermined number of workers who helped clean up radioactive contamination at four uranium mills on the Navajo Nation. He worked from June 1985 to around September 1986, operating a scraper and hauling contaminated fill for disposal at the Shiprock Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action site.

The NECA job with its $500 a week paycheck was like striking it rich to a young Navajo man in his 20s with a family to support. It wasn't until 25 years later when his left kidney was removed due to cancer that Lee began to have questions. Despite his illness, he began what has become a fruitless quest for compensation from federal programs designed to benefit sick uranium workers.

Lee attended a Post-'71 Uranium Workers Committee meeting in June in Gallup, hoping that the 2010 amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act introduced in the U.S. Senate and House by Sen. Tom Udall and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico meant that he finally would qualify for federal aid because the amendments call for compensating uranium workers employed after 1971. The short answer: No. Remediation workers aren't covered under RECA.

Jennifer McCall of the Killian and Davis law firm of Grand Junction, Colo., which has been lobbying Congress for years on behalf of Navajo victims, made some inquiries to the U.S. Department of Labor on Lee's behalf. But as it turns out, he and others who worked on Navajo UMTRA sites also fail to qualify under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

According to the Department of Labor, the Navajo Nation owns the Shiprock site. It was not owned or operated by the Atomic Energy Commission or the Manhattan Engineer District and therefore does not enjoy the same coverage as other mills and ore-buying stations.

The Mexican Hat uranium mill, formerly operated by Atlas Corp., reverted to the Navajo Nation after the lease expired in 1970. The Monument Valley mill closed in 1968 and control of the site revered to the Navajo Nation. The Nation also retains title to the 145-acre former Rare Metals disposal site in Tuba City.

“Because the land parcels where the uranium mills were initially constructed or remediated under the Uranium Mill Tailings Remediation Control Act were owned and operated by private companies rather than by the MED or AEC, they are not covered under EEOICPA,” according to Janet Kapsin of DOL's Office of Workers' Compensation Program.

The Manhattan Engineer District-owned ore-buying stations and facilities such as the Durango, Colo., green sludge uranium plant was MED-owned and its workers are covered. The Moab UMTRA site and its reclamation workers also are covered because after Atlas declared bankruptcy in 1998, the land was transferred to the Department of Energy for cleanup.

When first authored, EEOICPA was intended to dovetail into a program for those workers not compensated by RECA, and to provide monies for DOE contractors affected by the handling of beryllium, Kapsin said. But when the legislation came out of committee and was approved by the president, it changed.

“The law is very concise about property or building ownership and the contract relationship that must be in place with the government to qualify,” she said, and because the mill properties were owned by private companies, the UMTRA workers are not covered.

“RECA only covered the mill workers and ore transporters; no provision was written into that law to compensate remediation workers. Work involved with waste tailings on non-government owned property is not covered by EEOICPA, which is where Shiprock falls because the site is part of the Navajo Nation and the land is not owned by DOE,” she said.

In August 1953, Kerr-McGee Oil Industries Inc., signed a contract with the Atomic Energy Commission for a uranium processing mill to be built at Shiprock. In March 1963, Vanadium Corporation of America purchased the Shiprock mill from Kerr-McGee and continued its operation until August 1967 when VCA was merged into Foote Mineral Co. Foote operated the mill until it was closed in May 1968. Control of the former mill site reverted to the Navajo Nation in 1973 when Foote’s lease for the land expired.

NECA then used about 40 acres of the site, including mill offices and buildings, as a training facility to instruct students to operate and maintain earthmoving heavy equipment. In January 1975, NECA began decontamination activities under an Environmental Protection Agency plan to reduce the radiological exposure to employees and trainees.

Lee said he thought that between the proposed RECA amendments and EEOICPA, he finally would be eligible for compensation, “but now it's just like another step thrown my way. It seems like they would think way into the future about it and have some recourse for us to follow, those of us that do get sick. But now it's just like a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' kind of thing.”

Lee is disheartened that the RECA amendments are being held up in the Judiciary committees of Congress. “I was hoping they would pass it and in November I could get on. With all the cancer going on among the Native people, they just turn a blind eye to it. It's crazy. But the Lord has still got me here, so I guess I got more fighting to do.

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'Broken Promises': Documentary on Cobell's 25 -Year Fight For Native Justice

2010-09-20T17:31:00.004-07:00

Shakopee Mdewakanton Award $50,000 In Grant For Cobell Documentary
By Tessa Lehto
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org
Monday. September 20. 2010

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces a grant for $50,000 to support a documentary about the largest class-action lawsuit ever filed against the United States government. Broken Promises: Indian Trust is the story of a 25-year fight for justice led by Blackfeet Nation member Elouise Cobell, who grew up hearing the stories of missing checks and dwindling funds from Individual Indian Money (IIM) account holders.

The individual Indian trust accounts held by the U.S. Government relate to land, oil, natural gas, mineral, timber, grazing, water, and other resources and rights on or under individual Indian lands.

SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks commented on the film, “This is an important story to be told. It clearly illustrates the nature of the historic relationship between the federal government and Indian people. We felt it was important to support this project to show our solidarity with our Indian relatives and to help educate the public on a significant part of American history.”

For 118 years the Department of Interior failed to live up to the trust placed in them by engaging in a “shocking pattern of deception,” according to Federal Judge Royce Lamberth who oversaw the case for many years. Billions of dollars belonging to some of the most impoverished people in America remain unaccounted for.

The Film Broken Promises: Indian Trust is a film about the relationship between the United States government and American Indians. This relationship began in 1887 when the United States government broke up Indian reservations, parceled out millions of acres of land to American Indian families, and promised to manage the land.

They established the Indian Trust Fund to oversee the revenues collected from leases of the land. Checks for these revenues were sent out periodically to tribal land holders but an accurate accounting of those funds has never been available.

Fire in the Belly Productions, a privately owned California corporation behind the project, produces independent, feature length documentary films. Producer/director of Broken Promises is Fire in the Belly founder Melinda Janko. High profile supporters of the project include Robert Redford, former Senator Tom Daschle, and the Native American Rights Fund.

Janko wrote, “Throughout my film making career, I have always been attracted to stories about the triumph of the human spirit, and people overcoming the odds. So when I went looking for a story in March 2002, I looked for one that would inspire, make a difference, and maybe even change the way we see the world. What I found was a story that has its roots in the 19th century but still continues today. Some call it the ‘Enron of the U.S. government.’ The truth is --- it is bigger than Enron! This little known story has evolved into Broken Promises: Indian Trust.”

She continued, “During my research and investigation, it was shocking to find that most Americans do not know about the largest class action lawsuit ever brought against the federal government. How can billions of dollars belonging to one of the most impoverished people in America be unaccounted for and not be front page news?”

The CaseOn June 10, 1996, Indian plaintiffs including Elouise P. Cobell, Mildred Cleghorn, Thomas Maulson, and James Louis Larose, filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government for its failure to properly manage Indian trust assets − monies belonging to individual Indians − on behalf of all present and past individual Indian trust beneficiaries, including over 300,000 current IIM account holders. The named defendants are the Secretaries of the Interior and Treasury and the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs.

This matter has been pursued under four specific defendant names, depending upon the individuals heading the Departments of Interior and Treasury in successive presidential administrations from 1996-2010, including Cobell v. Babbitt, Cobell v. Norton, and Cobell v. Kempthorne. The current case is Cobell v. Salazar.

The Plaintiff class challenged the government's longstanding failure to account for individual Indian trust funds. It asserted that the federal government had breached its legally-mandated trust responsibility to prudently manage trust assets belonging to individual Indian trust beneficiaries.

It further claimed the government consistently refused to fix an accounting system that is fundamentally flawed and ineffective in accounting for these assets, with the result that billions of dollars belonging to individual Indians remain unaccounted for.

The Plaintiffs’ two objectives are 1) To require the federal government to create and maintain an adequate system to properly manage and accurately account for the trust assets of individual Indians, going forward and 2) To require the federal government to provide a full and accurate accounting to individual Indian trust beneficiaries, and to restate IIM account balances accordingly.

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.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has a charitable giving program which comes from a cultural and social tradition to assist those in need.

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Navajo Nation: 'No Uranium Mining Within Our Boundaries'

2010-09-18T16:35:00.003-07:00

Udall Addresses Navajo Uranium Issues
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

CHURCHROCK – The Navajo Nation says it doesn't want any uranium mining within its boundaries, and U.S. Sen. Tom Udall respects that, but Udall said he is not going to lie to the Navajo people and tell them there will be no more nuclear plants built in the United States.

Udall, D-N.M., dropped by Churchrock Chapter Friday afternoon at the request of Teddy Nez and the Red Water Pond Road Community Association to explain his views on the U.S. energy policy after receiving a letter from Nez.

Joining Udall were representatives from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Navajo EPA, Indian Health Service, grassroots organizations and a number of candidates seeking election to state and tribal positions in November.

Udall addressed the proposed 2010 amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, the five-year plan to tackle legacy uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation, and the energy future overall.

“I know there is great concern on the Navajo Nation for additional uranium development and what's going to happen there. And this isn't just a Navajo Nation issue,” he said, adding that there are companies around Grants and Gallup that want to also develop uranium. “We have to accept the reality,” he said.

And the reality is that there are 104 nuclear power plants in the United States which run on uranium and nuclear fuel. They supply 20 percent of the country's electric power, and many more nuclear plants are proposed. “We're going to have those plants for awhile because if we took them away tomorrow, we wouldn't be able to replace that type of energy very quickly.

“But I totally respect the position of the Navajo Nation to say, 'We don't want any uranium mining going on, on the Navajo Nation.' I'm going to back the Navajo Nation up on that if that's the position of the Navajo Nation or individual chapters. We want to work with you to make sure that there's fairness in that situation. But I'm not going to come here and represent to you that I can stop nuclear power dead in its tracks,” he said.

Teddy Nez, president of the Red Water Pond Road group, said he had a concern with the federal energy policy. “You're talking about support for the Navajo Nation and chapters, what about the grassroots people, do you support them?”

“Yes, I do support the grassroots people,” Udall said.

Nez also said that U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., called for health studies. He wondered whether there were any dollars attached.

Stephen B. Etsitty, executive director of Navajo EPA, said that the five federal agencies assigned to the project have been meeting with the federal Office of Management and Budget.

“There is more openness and more receptiveness to work with the agencies as they develop their budgets to put more money in place for these activities.” However, it's tough because the country is in a down economy, still engaged in two wars, and responding to natural disasters in other parts of the United States.

Udall said the most effective way to get the job done is for the federal agencies to get the president to put it in his budget. “The president gets almost everything in his budget,” he said.

Linda Evers of the Post-71 Uranium Workers Committee, who will be calling on members of Congress this week during a trip to Washington to lobby for the proposed RECA amendments of 2010, said they are stuck in the Judiciary Committee.

“What do we need to do to get these moving? I know our survey has shown that we lose 10 workers a year, but if you read the Gallup and Grants obituaries every week, our communities are losing five to 10 people a month. How are we going to get these bills moving?”

Udall said there are two ways to work a bill. “You work it through the House, you work it through the Senate. ... So contacts there are tremendously important,” as is bringing media attention to the issue. He said that he, Etsitty and Navajo Nation Council Delegate Phil Harrison take every press clipping and show Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of Judiciary, that there is a lot of concern and they need to move the amendments along.

“There are not very many things in Washington that are bipartisan right now. We have Republican senators that are on this bill.” He said they are doing everything they can to get a hearing but it probably will be more fruitful after the election.

According to the amendments, uranium workers who worked after 1971 finally would qualify for federal compensation for their illnesses. Funding also is authorized for universities and non-profits to research the impacts of exposure on communities and families of uranium workers.

The amendments would allow for increased use of affidavits for documenting work history; allow work histories to be combined; expand downwind counties to include New Mexico, Idaho, Montana and Colorado; and include the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico for downwind and on-site worker compensation.

“I know there is frustration in the room, and I know people are saying, 'Why does this take so long?' Udall said. “My father started back in the 1970s working on Navajo uranium miner cases ... He fought in the courts and couldn't win anything in the courts even though the courts would say there was incredible injustice.”

It took Stewart Udall 20 years to pass the first RECA law in 1990 and another 10 years before they were able to get it amended.

“You're entering a process which has taken a long time, and I know it's frustrating, but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, I'm not giving up until we bring justice to this situation and to ever single individual,” the senator said.

Kathleen Tsosie, who grew up in Cove, told Udall, “Today I am sick. I'm a breast cancer survivor, and now they have found something else in my body. When the doctor tells you, you have cancer, so many things go through your mind. ... Our children, our grandchildren are affected. It runs in the genes now. So please fight for us from the heart.”

Udall told her, “I very much feel strongly what you're saying and it's the reason I've stuck in there on this battle for the last 30 years; and if it takes another 30 years to do it, I'll still be there.”

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

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Native Owned Business Contracts With Navajo Housing Authority

2010-09-16T19:15:00.004-07:00

Tonemah Signs Contract With NHA To Provide Code Inspection Services
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. -– On Sept. 9, representatives from the Gilbert, Ariz. based construction company, Tonemah Construction, were on hand to sign a two year contract that would grant Tonemah the privilege of providing code inspection services to the Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) for all ARRA projects, additional plans and design reviews.

David C. Tonemah (Kiowa tribe), president and principle owner of Tonemah Construction, attended the event which was held in front of the NHA Central Office. Tonemah was joined by two of his Senior Project Managers, Todd Wenger and Jennifer Clack.

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Navajo Housing Authority.” Tonemah said. “We are looking forward to bringing quality service to them (NHA) as well.”

Together, the company’s core team has over 235 years of combined experience in code inspection services.

“We believe we are going to bring some added value that they (NHA) are not accustomed to,” added Tonemah.

Aneva J. Yazzie, NHA CEO and Contracting Officer, added that, “NHA’s expectations will be high for Tonemah Construction to do its job to ensure code compliance is achieved by general contractors as NHA will not accept poor quality or noncompliant work.”

Tonemah’s first code inspection assignment will be for the ARRA Arizona furnaces projects.

“We have 200 furnaces that need the code inspections,” said Robert Sandoval senior project manager for NHA’s Planning and Engineering Department. “Tonemah has a full team ready to go.”

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No Money For Navajo Code Talkers Museum

2010-09-14T17:53:00.009-07:00

Effort To Fund Code Talkers Museum Hits Snag!
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – It's difficult for the Navajo Nation Council to say no to a request for funding anything having to do with Navajo Code Talkers, but when there's no money, well, bottom line – there's no money.

Several of these World War II-era warriors, assisted by walkers or supported by the arms of young relatives, made their way to the Council chamber Wednesday afternoon to back Delegate Larry Anderson as he offered an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2011 comprehensive budget.

Anderson requested a grant of $5 million from the income of the Veterans Trust Fund for the initial phase of construction of the Navajo Code Talkers Museum and Veterans Center. He had attempted the amendment during Tuesday's opening day of the budget session but later withdrew the motion after confusion arose over the funding source.

“The museum and veterans center will be a multifaceted complex,” Anderson said. “The campus will also provide direct service for veterans that served our country.”

Delegate Lorenzo Bedonie said the matter was discussed at length Wednesday morning at the Chinle Agency caucus. Any set-aside that would be diverted could result in some account going into deficit, he said. “There are risks involved. These are monies that are just projected.”

The projected amount for the Veterans Trust Fund is 4 percent of Fiscal Year 2011 revenue, estimated at $7,885,000.

Delegate Leonard Chee said the amendment also was discussed during his caucus meeting. “One concern was consultation and input from the local veterans organizations and the chapters. That was the question posed, but it was unanswered.”

Another question Chee had was if they were to take the interest income from the trust fund, would that mean that the chapter veterans would not be getting any funding this year or even in years to come.

“What is the interest income this year? Is that enough to cover this $5 million that we are proposing to take from this fund?” he asked. “Lastly, a constituent from Coalmine Mesa came to say that there are other pressing needs of the Navajo veterans, such as housing, such as access to medical and health services.”

Controller Mark Grant responded to Chee's questions. “The interest income for this year is $743,000. Last year it was $704,000. The year before it was $372,000, so there is insufficient income to cover the $5 million.”

Regarding the second part of the question about the impact of distribution to chapters, Grant said the policy on the Veterans Trust Fund is that 4 percent of the market value is available for appropriation.

“Right now the fund has a balance of $28.8 million. If we take 4 percent of that out, that equals $1.1 million. Out of that amount, 95 percent is available for appropriation for operations and other needs. That is where the chapter distribution will come from.” He said the chapters still would be able to make their distribution but it probably will be slightly less because of the loss of the $5 million.

However, he added that even if the amendment passed, the Controller's Office would not be able to transfer the $5 million to the Code Talkers because the amendment called for taking the funds out of the income. “There's only $700,000 (approximately) in income, so there's not enough income in this fund,” he said.

Anderson's funding attempt failed, 17-43.

Following the vote, Delegate Young Jeff Tom made a motion to table the comprehensive budget until March 31, 2011. The tabling motion passed 43-25. Council then spent the remainder of the afternoon debating a continuing resolution to keep the tribal government running, also offered by Tom. It eventually passed, 51-24.

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SMSC Charitable Grants for 2010

2010-09-13T16:17:00.007-07:00

SMSC Grants Total $527,020
By Tessa Lehto,
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org
Monday, September 13, 2010

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community today announces several grants for fiscal year 2010.

The Lower Sioux Indian Community in Redwood County, Minnesota, received a tribal economic development grant for $309,075 for several projects. The most extensive project is a casino remodel at Jackpot Junction. Cleaning and inspection of a water tower along with parts replacement, roof repair for leaks at the community center, and a traditional Pow Wow were also funded.

The Lower Sioux Indian Community is located in south central Minnesota near Morton with the Community Center located on the southern bluffs of the Minnesota River valley. Approximately 145 families live on 1,743 acres of tribal land. A total tribal population of 982 resides throughout a 10-mile service area and beyond.

The Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota received a grant for $100,000 for relief efforts following a flood on June 12, 2010. Over 60 tribal families were displaced, many of them losing all their possessions. SMSC funds were used for direct needs of affected families.

Following the flood, YST Chairman Robert Cournoyer said, “At this time, we must work together to make sure we address the immediate needs of the families displaced by this flood and to restore basic governmental services for the people. While the days ahead will be long, on behalf of the Ihanktonwan Nation, I offer our sincere appreciation for all of the help and assistance. We are truly grateful that we have not lost any lives and for the generosity and courage shown by all.”

The Minnesota Land Trust received $50,000 as part one of a three year grant for its work preserving natural and scenic land throughout the state. Specifically, the major new strategic initiative will help preserve more land and water resources based on sound analysis and planning, using conservation easements and other land-protection tools.

“Thanks to the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, the Minnesota Land Trust has been able to accelerate the protection of Minnesota’s precious natural heritage and help advance a shared land stewardship effort. We greatly appreciate the Tribe’s support,” said Minnesota Land Trust Executive Director Kris Larson.

The organization has completed 387 conservation projects that have protected 36,000 acres of land and 730,000 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.

The Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs received a $50,000 matching grant for operating support to make up for budget shortfalls. The grant matched funds from the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, and the Santee Sioux Nation.

The Commission on Indian Affairs was established in 1971 and consists of 14 Indian commissioners appointed by the Governor. Additionally, the Commission has one "ex-officio" member representing the Pawnee tribe. The Commission's statutory mission is "to do all things which it may determine to enhance the cause of Indian rights and to develop solutions to problems common to all Nebraska Indians."

The Commission is the state liaison between the Omaha, Ponca, Santee Sioux, and Winnebago Tribes of Nebraska. It helps ensure the sovereignty of both tribal and state governments are recognized and acted upon in a true government-to-government relationship.

The Commission serves off-reservation Indian communities by helping assure they are afforded the right to equitable opportunities in the areas of housing, employment, education, health care, economic development, and human/civil rights within Nebraska. All goals of the Commission are accomplished through advocacy, education, and promotion of legislation.

“This donation will help ensure that the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs can effectively continue to act as liaison between state government, sovereign Nebraska tribes, and tribes from neighboring states,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks.

A grant for $17,945 went to the City of Saint Paul for scholarships for American Indian Youth enrolled in their 2010 EMS Academy which ran June 14-August 20, 2010. The intensive, 240 hour Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and firefighter awareness program is designed for low income youth ages 18-21 that are residents of Ramsey County.

Through the Parks and Recreation Department Youth Job Corps and Ramsey County Workforce Solutions the participants were hired and paid to attend the ten week certification and job competency program. At the completion of the program graduates were eligible to apply for EMT positions and take future Saint Paul Firefighter entrance tests.

Participants received college credit for successfully completing the academy. The goal of the program is to build an EMT workforce that is reflective of the communities that EMS serves in Saint Paul. Recruitment is targeted to low-income youth of diverse ethnicities, women, and bilingual ability.

“On behalf of the stakeholders involved with the Academy, I thank you for your commitment to the EMS Academy,” wrote Luz Maria Frias, director of the Saint Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity.

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.

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 $180.8 million to charitable organizations.

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Report: Grand Canyon Faces Challenges

2010-09-09T19:58:00.002-07:00

Park Faces Threats From Water Diversion, Overflights, Mining, Power Generation
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – The Grand Canyon, with rocks more than a billion years old, has withstood the test of time. However, despite the many protections provided it, Grand Canyon National Park faces many threats to its resources from water diversion, overflights, mining and power generation.

An August “State of the Parks” report from the National Parks Conservation Association analyzes the complex problems facing the 1.2 million acre World Heritage Site and provides recommendations on how to meet those challenges. The association has been working to protect the National Park System since 1919.

Colorado River management actions that are not protective of fish, river flows, habitats, cultural and archaeological resources; management of air tour overflights; the filing of new mining claims, including uranium, and contamination from past mining activities; air pollution from coal-fired power plants and other sources that obscure scenic vistas; damage from grazing and water development; and potential impacts due to climate change are among the problems cited in the report.

The General Mining Act of 1872, which regulates mining on public lands, opened public lands to mineral exploration and development. When uranium prices hit $133 per pound in 2007, it spurred renewed interest in uranium mining on public lands around the Grand Canyon.

There are currently hundreds and possibly thousands of uranium claims staked on Bureau of Land Management lands just to the north of the Grand Canyon and to the west of Kaibab National Forest. Hundreds more lie within the boundaries of the Tusayan Ranger District to the south. Many are in watersheds and on aquifers that feed tributaries, seeps and springs within the park.

Cataract Creek, which flows through the Havasupai Reservation on the canyon's south rim could serve as a conduit for contamination of the Colorado River, which provides drinking water to 25 million people, because much of its drainage comes from the Tusayan Ranger District.

Last summer, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar temporarily barred the filing of new claims on nearly 1 million acres of public land surrounding the canyon. The two-year moratorium is designed to provide an opportunity to study potential impacts to public lands adjacent to the canyon.

Roger Clark, Air and Energy director for Grand Canyon Trust in Flagstaff, said a draft environmental impact statement addressing whether to extend the moratorium to 20 years was due out this month but has been delayed until October.

“That's an administrative withdrawal. That would affect new claims but it wouldn't affect claims that have valid and existing rights. So while this is going on, uranium mining has started up. It started in December of last year at the Arizona One mine in the Kanab Creek drainage on the north side, and we're fighting that legally.”

Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Department of the Interior after the Bureau of Land Management allowed the mine to reopen without redoing the environmental assessment, which was completed in 1988. “A lot of things have changed since 1988,” Clark said, including the list of endangered species.

BLM manages land on the north side of the canyon; the U.S. Forest Service manages the land on the south side. The Forest Service has determined that mines such as Arizona One which were partially mined out in the 1970s and 1980s have to go through a new, full environmental impact statement. “So you've got two federal agencies in conflict, and we're using that in our legal argument before the federal district court judge.”

“There are some places you shouldn't mine uranium,” Clark said. “We hear this baloney about it being important for national energy security and we say, 'Tell me how that is when it's Canadian and British companies mining out uranium and they have long-term contracts for the processed ore to go to France and Korea.

“Tell me again how this is good when you have foreign companies that do not pay anything to the federal government because it's considered hard rock mining. There's no royalty payment; it's zero that the federal taxpayer gets except for the toxic waste they leave behind. Yes, there's some jobs and some state taxes and equipment taxes; but it's boom and bust and they're gone. We're still trying to deal with the legacy of the last uranium boom.”

The National Park Service has spent about $10 million to restore the Orphan Mine site after the federal government was left holding the bag, he said.

Horn Creek, below Orphan Mine, has springs feeding onto Tonto Trail. “The Park Service has advised backpackers for years not to even think about using that water,” he said. “Even if you filter it, it doesn't get out the radionuclides. When you get the groundwater damaged, there's no turning back.” Grand Canyon Trust is trying to get a canyon watershed protection act passed by Congress.

The report recommends the remaining environmentally sensitive areas surrounding the park be permanently withdrawn from mineral extraction, including the Tusayan Ranger District and BLM lands in the Kanab Creek drainage and House Rock Valley.

In addition to mining, the report cites air quality as a threat. More than 4.5 million people visit the canyon every year and about a quarter of those visitors stay only a few hours to experience the canyon from the rims, thus, the view may be the single most important factor influencing their experience, the report states.

Fog, smoke from nearby fires, regional haze, and high winds all can mar visibility and diminish the visitors' experience of the park. The National Park Service does not have direct authority over external sources of pollution and the report recommends it communicate concerns about emissions to regulators.

Coal-fired power plants contribute to air quality issues at many national parks in the region, including the Grand Canyon. Navajo Generating Station, the eighth largest in the country, is less than 12 miles from the canyon and emits fine, haze-causing particles and excessive amounts of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, according to the report.

The Four Corners Power Plant, about 200 miles east of the canyon, has the highest annual emission of nitrogen oxides of any plant in the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the midst of rule-making that may affect the emissions of both plants and, ultimately, visibility in Grand Canyon National Park.

“There is the pending regional haze rule on Navajo Generating Station which, if EPA requires the Selective Catalytic Reduction on Navajo Generating Station, it will reduce the impact of that power plant on visibility at the Grand Canyon,” Clark said, though the plant's owners diagree.

“But even if this current rule-making goes awry, we've got a backup hammer, which is a more stringent rule under the Clean Air Act.” Clark said the Park Service has evidence showing that Navajo Generating Station is impairing visibility at Grand Canyon.

“That may sound like the same thing as contributing to regional haze,” he said, “but it's a more specific finding that has tighter rules and requirements that basically say that if we don't get Navajo to clean up under the regional haze rule, we're going to get them under the visibility rule.”

Information: www.npca.org/stateoftheparks

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SMSC Mobile Health Unit Fall 2010 Schedule

2010-09-07T16:43:00.006-07:00

SMSC, Scott County, Twin Cities, Red Lake Reservation
by Tessa Lehto,
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – This fall the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Mobile Unit will be kept busy providing services to Minnesota residents. In addition to the already announced collaboration with Scott County, the Mobile Unit will travel to northern Minnesota tribal communities on several occasions and provide services in the Twin Cities as well.

The SMSC announces the upcoming fall schedule for its Mobile Unit, a combined project of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community's Health Department and Mdewakanton Emergency Services.

The SMSC Mobile Unit is both a mobile medical clinic, which provides health screening, mammograms, prevention and education, treatment services, and a mobile incident command center which can be used to handle emergency situations like search and rescue, lost children, Incident Command support, and Medical Support for events.

“We’re happy to be able to provide our Mobile Unit to provide mammograms and other services to people who need them,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks.

In 2009 1,861 mammograms were performed aboard the SMSC Mobile Unit. More than 2,550 mammograms have been performed since operations began in 2007. In addition, health screenings, dental services, vision services, and a diabetes management clinic have been held. The Mobile Unit also provides services to SMSC Community members, Native Americans who live in Scott County, and employees during monthly health screening events.

Fall 2010 Mobile Unit Schedule:
Scott County Public Health Deployments: 2:00 – 6:00 p.m.
September 9 Savage Library
September 23 Shakopee Russian Church
October 14 Jordan Fair Grounds
October 28 Savage Library
November 4 Shakopee Russian Church
November 18 Jordan Fair Grounds
December 2 Savage Library
December 16 Shakopee Russian Church
December 30 Jordan Fair Grounds

Other Deployments:
September 10, City of Saint Paul, “Grand Opening” of their new Head Quarter Fire Station 1-

September 13-17, Red Lake Band of Ojibwe, Red Lake School, Well Child/ Lead Screening/Vision-

September 21-22, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Bug-o-nay-ge-shig School, Cass Lake, Dental-

September 27, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Ne-La-Shing Clinic, Mammography-

September 28, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, McGregor Clinic, Mammography-

September 29, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Lake Lena/Sandstone Clinic, Mammography-

September 30, Fremont Clinic System, Minneapolis, Sheridan Clinic, Mammography -

October 3, Twin Cities Marathon, Saint Paul-

October 5-6, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe, Tower/Nett Lake (TBD), Mammography -

October 13, Native American Community Clinic, Minneapolis, Mammography -

October 15, Brainerd Dispatch Think Pink Campaign, Brainerd -

October 21, Indian Health Board, Minneapolis, Mammography -

October 27, United Family Clinic, Saint Paul, Mammography-

November 8-12, Grand Portage Band of Chippewa, Grand Portage Clinic,Dental/Diabetes/Vision

For more information about the SMSC Mobile Unit visiting your community, go to http://www.smscmobile.org/
or call SMSC Mobile Unit Coordinator Christine Michael at 952-233-2964.

*Schedule subject to change

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.

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

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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/

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 http://www.nativecelebs.com/

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

'Sewer Water' For Snow-Making Approved For Flagstaff Snowbowl

2010-09-05T15:09:00.003-07:00

Forest Service Ignores Possibility of Human Ingestion
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – The Flagstaff City Council voted 5-2 Thursday not to amend the contract for the Arizona Snowbowl to allow the use of drinking water for artificial snow-making on the San Francisco Peaks.

“They're going to make snow with sewer water,” Arizona Sen. Albert Hale, D-2nd District, said Thursday afternoon.

The contract calls for 1.5 million gallons of treated wastewater per day to be used for snow-making three months of the year, from November through February, at the ski resort located on the San Francisco Peaks, a mountain sacred to 13 Arizona Indian tribes, including the Navajo and Hopi.

“It's unfortunate that city council did not amend the contract to allow for the use of drinking water,” Hale said. “The use of drinking water to make snow seemed to be the least offensive to Indian tribes. But I think there are still options that need to be explored.

“The option that remains is the possibility of buying out the Snowbowl. That would satisfy the concerns expressed by Indian nations,” he said. Representatives of the different nations would have to come together and figure out how to come up with the money for the buyout, which could run as high as $80 million.

During Thursday's meeting of the Navajo Nation Council, Delegate Raymond Maxx attempted to have Council authorize attorney Howard Shanker as the Nation's lawyer, to legally challenge the Flagstaff City Council authorization in court “using any available legal means necessary.”

The letter by Maxx was introduced by Delegate Raymond Joe. However, they were told that any authorization would have to go through the Office of the Attorney General. Maxx said he would proceed on that recommendation.

Hale, who was Navajo Nation president from 1995 to 1998 and also served as an assistant attorney general, said that in his view, “The court has run its course. There needs to be an exploration of other options. That's my feeling.”

The city council met Monday on whether to amend the existing contract between the city and the Snowbowl partners. That was the only issue, Hale said, “But what I was hearing a lot of, especially from Indian nation representatives, was we don't want any more expansion, we don't want development, we don't want snow-making. As I understand it, we're beyond those issues. The better option would have been for the Indian nations to get together and buy out the permit.”

Hale said that before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' en banc decision in 2009, he conveyed a buyout offer to the Navajo Nation leadership. “There was an offer that was made from the partners. I left it with the leadership and they didn't do anything. If they had pursued that option we wouldn't be at this point.”

Cora Maxx-Phillips, executive director of the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services who has been on special assignment with Council Delegate Thomas Walker Jr., visited 20 Arizona Indian tribes in the past week in a three-day meeting marathon to discuss options.

“The tribes have steadfastly maintained a united position to not do any kind of snow-making,” she said. “This fight has been going on since the 1970s, so this is like a 30 year ordeal for me, being a part of the effort and the struggle to preserve the Peaks in its pristine condition.

“Back in the 1970s when we lost the (Snowbowl) battle, we walked away quietly. My message to the tribes has been that we can no longer walk away quietly because there are so many issues at stake.”

Maxx-Phillips said she is pushing for a centralized focus group from the tribes that will take a serious look at the issues. “We need to begin a very concerted effort in establishing a law that will protect sacred land. There is no such law at this point.”

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was tried twice back in the 1970s and again recently by Shanker. “We know that it still is not strong enough to represent our interests, so it needs to be amended,” she said.

Snowbowl General Partner Erick Borowsky Tuesday that he was asking the city council to use recovered-reclaimed drinking water “because I understand it's an issue with the tribes from a religious standpoint. I prefer to respect that and come up with the best possible solution. I really feel bad, and it's very unfortunate, that the elected officials of these tribes have basically messed up a federal compromise that I think was the best possible solution.”

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said in a statement Thursday that from time immemorial, Dook’o’osliid, the mountain known to the foreigners as the San Francisco Peaks, has been sacred to Diné – the Navajo People – and to all the indigenous people of northern Arizona.

“To Diné, the sacred mountain of the West represents life itself. Our sacred deity, Changing Woman, placed this mountain here for us and bound it to the Earth with a sunbeam when the world was made for the five-fingered, intelligent, Earth-dwellers called homo sapiens.”

Ever since that time, and centuries before the multitude of foreigners first saw it, Diné journeyed to this sacred mountain to collect herbs and to make their offerings and prayers. The reverence for which Diné hold Dook’o’osliid has never ceased, never waned, Shirley said. “Dook’o’osliid is one of our strengths. It is our essence. It is us.”

Walker said recently that asking the Navajo Nation whether they prefer potable or effluent water “is essentially asking us if we are willing to negotiate our identity as Navajos. Dook’o’osliid is inextricably tied to our identity, much like one’s family
members are part of one’s identity. It is like asking us to turn our back on a family member. As such, this is a matter that we cannot negotiate.”

Judge Mary H. Murguia at U.S. District Court in Phoenix refused to rule in July on Shanker's request for an injunction to keep the Snowbowl from starting construction. Instead, she asked the parties to come to an agreement. With Thursday's action by the city council, Shanker could ask for a ruling on the injunction.

The case known as Save the Peaks Coalition, et al. v. U.S. Forest Service focuses on potential public health risks of human ingestion of snow made from reclaimed wastewater. The suit asserts that the Final Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the Forest Service ignores the possibility of human ingestion of snow made from treated sewage effluent.

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!!!!

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/

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 http://www.nativecelebs.com/

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC.
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NAPT Announces Open Call For Proposals For Filmmakers - Hidden World Of Girl's Series

2010-09-03T15:28:00.007-07:00

Increase Diversity Of Voices In Public Media
Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT) proudly announces its annual Open Call for proposals from filmmakers. With funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the NAPT Public Television Program Fund will award support to video projects with significant Native involvement--including documentary, performance, cultural/public affairs and animation--and help bring the projects to national broadcast on public television.

Submitted proposals must be postmarked by March 16, 2011.

"The purpose of the Program Fund is to increase the diversity of voices in public media," said NAPT Executive Director Shirley K. Sneve (Sicangu Lakota). "There are very few avenues open to documentary filmmakers, and NAPT believes that our organization has a great responsibility to support the creation, promotion and distribution of Native media."

NAPT also believes that support from NAPT can help open other doors for various forms of other funding." Projects in any phase of production are eligible to apply for funding with NAPT. Awards for research and development range from $10,000 to $25,000, and awards for production or completion can be up to $100,000.

NAPT does not fully fund programs, and awardees are required to seek additional funding from other sources. Projects funded through NAPT will be considered for home and/or educational DVD distribution through NAPT's service VisionMaker Video.

"First and foremost, NAPT is looking for compelling Native stories," Sneve says. "Second, NAPT would like to see programs that accurately illuminate aspects of contemporary Tribal cultures or peoples. The primary audience is PBS viewers, so NAPT wants stories that transcend cultures."

A five-person anonymous panel of public television professionals, independent producers, and Native history and resource experts review submissions and recommend proposals for funding. Additionally, NAPT assists producers with fundraising, navigating the public television system, marketing efforts and thinking beyond the broadcast.

"Many folks who would be interested in this content may not watch television, but they do use the Internet," says NAPT Assistant Director Georgiana Lee (Navajo). "There is more to many of these stories than can be told in an hour-long television program, and NAPT can show that on the Web via our soon-to-be-launched educational microsite, downloadable podcasts and more."

For program fund guidelines and application materials, please visit nativetelecom.org/program_fund.

Contact: Jessica Kinser
(402) 472-8607
jkinser2@unl.edu

Brave Heart Women's Society
A new piece from our Hidden World of Girls series will be aired this Monday on NPR's Morning Edition.

We think our story, which is about recovering tradition and building unity within the Native American community, might be of interest to Native Unity readers!

In this piece, we look at The Brave Heart Women's Society, and coming of age rituals on a reservation in South Dakota.

The Hidden World of Girls is a year-long collaboration between public radio producers, The Kitchen Sisters, NPR, artists, musicians, writers, anthropologists, photographers and our listeners.

We hope that you will be able to pass on this invitation and tune in Monday to Morning Edition on your local NPR station or NPR.org.

Intern, The Kitchen Sisters
http://www.hiddenworldofgirls.org/

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/

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

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Navajo Nation: 'Forgotten People' Want Action

2010-09-01T16:48:00.006-07:00

Relocation Victims Tired Of Status Quo
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – It's election time on the Navajo Nation and everywhere, people are talking change. Politicians promise better times ahead, but the Forgotten People say they have been hearing the same stories for more than 40 years. They are tired of the talk. They want action.

John Benally is the Water Flows Together Clan, born for Water Edge People Clan. He was raised in a remote area of Black Mesa known as Big Mountain.

He traveled to Window Rock Wednesday for the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of the Forgotten People against the Navajo Hopi Land Commission, the Navajo Nation and others regarding an accounting of the Navajo Rehabilitation Trust Fund of 1974.

Trust fund monies were supposed to help Navajos displaced by the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute, but Benally, a resister still living on Hopi Partitioned Land, said, “It's been many years now that we hear the same story.

“I feel for the people that have relocated. I feel for the people that have been displaced through various towns and are walking the street to panhandle. They gave up their way of life which was once Beauty. ... They had ceremonies, they had kinship, and they had a land base.

“It's a lot of suffering – mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. What it does to you as a human being, it messes with your mind and you give up hope.”

Benally wants to know what happened to the money that was to be used to provide housing, economic and educational improvements. “If people are honest ... they would bring it to say, 'This is what the fund was used for.' If they're honest enough, they say, 'I misused it.' What's wrong with telling the truth?”

Robert Begay is Towering House Clan born for Red House People Clan. Originally from Coppermine, he found himself displaced because of the Bennett Freeze. His story is similar to that of the relocatees – uprooted from his homeland by government politics.

(Bennett Freeze Law -In 1966, the commissioner of Indian Affairs, Robert Bennett, halted development on 1.6 million acres of tribal land in northeastern Arizona that was claimed by both the Navajo nation and the Hopi tribe. Bennett imposed the ban to stop either tribe from taking advantage of the other while they negotiated ownership.

The ban became known as the Bennett Freeze. It meant the 8,000 or so Navajos living on the land couldn’t erect homes, open businesses or even repair their roofs. No roads or schools were built, no electric, gas or water lines were permitted.

On May 8. 2009 President Obama signed SB 39, a bill that officially repealed the Bennet Freeze Law.)

“Begay continued, I was compelled to go serve in the Korean Conflict because the draft law was in place then. I tried dodging the draft and I was threatened by the draft board that they would send FBI after me and I would sit in jail. So I decided, 'Well, if I go and survive, I will get the FBI off my back,' he said.

“When I came back, the Bennett Freeze took place. I built a hogan at Coppermine. When my hogan was halfway completed, I had a visit from the Hopi, and they said, 'You're in the Bennett Freeze, you can't do that.' So we left there and we went to Bodaway and we built a stone house there.”

Just as that house was completed and they were digging a water line, they had another visitor who told them the same thing: “You're in the Bennett Freeze.” But at that time, he said, the boundary was not carved in stone and no one really knew where the line of demarcation was.

“Everybody just said, 'Well, we think it's over there,' or 'We think it's this way.' We always selected an area that we thought we were outside, but both times we ended up in the Bennett Freeze.'” By that time, he and his wife had a family and moved to Page, where they rented a house from the city, and later Kayenta, where they also rented.

“I had children that were going to school and they had to have a place to live,” he said. They also stayed for awhile in Moenave near Tuba City. “We lived in a tent. We hauled our water and we built a fire for our cooking. We used to haul water so our little ones could take a bath and go to school and do their laundry by hand.”

They ended up in Tuba City at Rare Metals, a former uranium mill site, and then learned that it was contaminated. Eventually they bought a used trailer and put it south of Tuba City, where they live now.

“My children do not have a piece of land. They do not have a home of their own,” he said. “When I went to the Korean war I was told that I was fighting for my country and my right and religious right and all that. But that was denied because of the Bennett Freeze.”

Glenna Begay is Red Running into Water People Clan, born for Red House People Clan. She was born in Black Mesa where her family has lived for eight generations. She grew up as a sheepherder and farmer, living in an area now known as Hopi Partitioned Land. Even though she lives near Peabody Western Coal Co., she said she has no running water and no electricity.

“We were taught by our elders if we have our sheep we will always be taken care of and live a good life. ... Our family used to have 400 to 500 head of sheep,” she said, and migrated throughout their customary use area. From 1963 to 1974, Begay's family raised cattle. They had about 70 head of white-faced cattle and three horses.

In 1974 the land was partitioned with barbed wire and Hopi Rangers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs began monitoring the livestock. They were forced to reduce their herd.

“Everything I built came out of my pocket,” she said. My roads are not graded and my water wells are capped off. ... I want water and housing for me and my children that are living near me.” She said the government only recognizes her residency. Her children and grandchildren are not included.

Due to the political situation, families that have remained together and tried to endure the conditions, are cramped because they can't expand or build new homes, Begay said.

But no matter what happens, she's not going to leave her homeland. “I'm not going to leave no matter who comes around and tells me to leave,” she said, speaking through interpreter Don Yellowman, president of Forgotten People. “I would love for them to pack up and leave.”

Begay told Yellowman she is inspired by the fact that the Forgotten People are questioning the Relocation money.

“She's tired of hearing 'you can't do this, you can't do that,' and looking over her left shoulder to see if somebody's checking on her. She just wants to build and get on with life like anybody else,” he said.

Betty Scott, 75, lives in a small cinder block house about 20 miles east of Flagstaff and about 2-1/2 miles from the Navajo Nation's proposed Twin Arrows casino site. Scott is Red House Clan born for Edgewater Clan. She was raised in Canyon Diablo where her family has lived for five generations.

She believes the Navajo Nation is using monies from the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission and Office of Navajo and Hopi Relocation to get the casino under way. “I do not know how this use of money is supposed to help people,” she said through Yellowman.

“She does not view the casino as a positive energy and she is very disappointed for the fact that it is going to be right in her back yard,” he said.

Norma Scott, the seventh of Scott's eight children, said her mother advocates for many people across the Navajo Nation who are in dire need, especially with housing.

“People should be given the basic amenities of housing, water and electricity. We need to see that and we need to have it visible. She wants to make sure the monies are accounted for and returned and used to improve the lives of the people,” Norma 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/

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

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'Cache Girl Saves The World' - A Novel In Visions

2010-08-30T16:41:00.004-07:00

"Cache Girl" DVD To Be Released September, 2010
"Bold, provocative, and highly experimental, Cache Girl Saves the World introduces a new medium for literary fiction: the 'novel in visions,' which combines audio of the novel's text with still photographs of some of its action, packaged in DVD format.

“The novel tells the story of Ta'li, a young runaway whose Cherokee ancestors died on the Trail of Tears. Searching for peace for herself and the world, Ta'li finds herself in the swamps of Southern Illinois' Cache River, where, with the help of the Swamp Asp and the legendary Big Muddy Monster, she embarks on a daring quest to bring her vision of empathy, empowerment, unity, social justice and ecological wisdom to a humanity seemingly bent on self-destruction.

"Shot predominately on location in Southern Illinois by principal photographer Sarah Dalby, Cache Girl Saves the World features stunning photographs–both abstract and concrete–of the area's natural beauty, and of Grammy Award-winning musician, American Indian Film Award-nominated actress, storyteller, and renowned dancer Thirza Defoe, of the Ojibwe and Oneida Nations, who portrays Ta'li.

“Ms. Defoe co-produced the novel with the author, Adam E. Stone, whose previous novels are Xamon Song, Kingston Fugue, and The New Harmonies."

Here is a link to the Internet Movie Database, where you can view 3 short excerpts from the project:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684623/

More information about Thirza is available at:
http://www.thirzadefoe.com/

More information about me is available at:
http://www.adamestone.com/

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/

Check Out NATIVE PRIDE- It's a great site!
http://letstalknativepride.blogspot.com/

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

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

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Navajo Nation: Two New Casinos

2010-08-28T20:20:00.002-07:00

Casinos To Offer Electronic Bingo
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Class II casinos in Chinle and Tse Daa K'aan are just a few spins away following the signing of loan documents last week by Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., Controller Mark Grant and Navajo Gaming Enterprise CEO Robert Winter.

“This is a historical moment for the Nation,” Shirley said. The president also signed documents that would extend the loan initially put up for the Navajo Nation's first casino, Fire Rock, located in Churchrock.

The $5.3 million loan includes $3.5 million for the Tse Daa K'aan gaming facility, to be located about 25 miles from Farmington in a modular building near the chapter house; and $2 million to fund the Chinle casino, which will be located in the shopping center.

The two Class II casinos will offer electronic bingo. “It's like a slot machine but it's run on the same odds basis as a bingo game is run,” Winter said Monday.

“Fire Rock Casino has been refinanced which, based on its profitability, has freed up a substantial amount of money. Combined with the four loans that the Investment Committee has supported and the Budget and Finance Committee has approved, it allows for the financing of four additional projects,” he said.

The combined loan plus equity from Fire Rock allows for $110 million to be allocated to build Twin Arrows. The first phase includes the casino, a four-star hotel and conference center.

“It also allows for $40 million to be spent to build a casino in Upper Fruitland outside of Farmington, and allows for the two small Class II casinos,” he said.

The Tse Daa K'aan casino is expected to open Oct. 1, followed by Chinle around Oct. 15 or Nov. 1. Groundbreaking also is expected in November at both Twin Arrows and Upper Fruitland, he said. Upper Fruitland is expected to be completed in November or December 2011, followed by Twin Arrows in early spring 2012.

“There will be small eating establishments in both Class II's. At the Twin Arrows there will be a 24-hour restaurant, an upscale steak house, a sports bar, a cabaret, and a food court,” Winter said, adding that they hope to build a European mineral bath spa shortly after completion of the hotel.

“I'm very happy to be part of this. This is a very big accomplishment by the Navajo Nation. It's all self-financed. There's no fees going to banks. All the interest goes back to the Nation, all the jobs are for the Nation. It's one of the largest self-financed projects undertaken by any tribe in the nation.”

Budget and Finance Committee Chairman LoRenzo Bates said that when the committee initially passed legislation to develop the casinos, a feasibility study conducted by gaming officials showed that all the casinos would be profitable. However, all parties agreed to conduct another feasibility study with regard to Upper Fruitland and Twin Arrows.

When that was done, in light of the economic downturn, the results showed that the two casinos were not expected to be as profitable as originally determined. A concern arose that in the event one of the two casinos was not profitable, where would the money come from to subsidize those losses.

“Based on that question, it was determined that all the other casinos that were up and running, including Fire Rock, could help subsidize the losses. That was a concern – a major concern,” Bates said Monday. “So you had two possibilities: One is to not do it, or figure out a way to do it. So the decision was that each of the facilities would downsize.”

Adding to the mix was getting the land for Twin Arrows into trust. “Usually it takes up to two years if not longer,” Bates said. The Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act and its requirements came into play, along with the ultimate decision to use $3.7 million of Navajo-Hopi money to buy the land.

Under the act, any land acquired must benefit Navajo relocatees who resided on Hopi Partitioned Land as of Dec. 22, 1974. Once selected, the land becomes a mandatory acquisition and the Secretary of the Interior does not have the discretion to deny the request for trust status, speeding up the process.

Another part of the fee-to-trust process requires the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, or ONHIR, which oversees relocation and has a trust responsibility to the relocatees, to approve selection of the lands which will be used to benefit the relocatees.

In 1980 Congress created the Rehabilitation Trust Fund, to be used for various purposes, including education and economic development. Oversight of the fund was given to the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission. Because under Title 12, gaming revenues cannot be distributed as per capita payments, rental revenues from the casino business will be given to the relocatees for their use and will be deposited into the fund.

During negotiations on use of the $3.7 million, the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission had its idea of terms and ONHIR had its idea, Bates said. “When those ideas came forward and you applied those ideas in terms of dollars to the overall cost of Twin Arrows, it didn't pencil out. It went into a loss.”

Language which mentioned payments “in perpetuity” caused financial problems in relation to whether Twin Arrows would be profitable. That put everything on hold, because if it wasn't profitable it would have put the burden on all the other casinos to subsidize the losses.

All parties involved sat back down and worked out the terms. “Everybody's happy at this point,” Bates said, and Twin Arrows now is expected to show a profit.

“I want to make it clear that Budget and Finance Committee and the Investment Committee stood back during this time because it was not within our authority to get into those negotiations,” he said. “It was the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission, ONHIR, and Gaming that had to work out those details.”

New legislation came forward and was approved by Budget and Finance, basically reducing the loan amounts for Twin Arrows and Upper Fruitland. Resolutions approved by the committee in May called for $125 million for Twin Arrows and $50 million for Upper Fruitland, compared to the reduced funding amounts of $110 million and $40 million, respectively.

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/

Check Out NATIVE PRIDE- It's a great site!
http://letstalknativepride.blogspot.com

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

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.
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Illinois Group Has Eco-Friendly Vision for Arizona Snowbowl

2010-08-25T21:09:00.002-07:00

No Artificial Snow For San Fransicso Peaks
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – A Glen Ellyn, Ill., organization has presented “a new vision” for the Arizona Snowbowl to Flagstaff city officials which includes a non-snow-making alternative that could lead to creation of “the most eco-friendly ski resort in the world.”

“We were asked to sponsor and facilitate the formation of a non-profit partnership that would purchase the permit and assets of Snowbowl and manage it as an eco-friendly ski resort, which means no snow-making in the process,” Drew Glassford, a founding member of Tribal Wisdom Foundation, said Tuesday.

The USDA Forest Service, which leases the land to the Arizona Snowbowl, granted permission for the use of reclaimed wastewater to make artificial snow at the ski resort, located on the San Francisco Peaks. The mountain is considered sacred by 13 Arizona Indian tribes.

The Flagstaff City Council will vote Aug. 30 on whether to amend a contract to sell either potable water or reclaimed wastewater to the Snowbowl for artificial snow-making. The foundation wants the city council to consider its no snow-making option as well.

Glassford said the new non-profit group that would be established would have an advisory board made up of traditional indigenous elders who would have significant input in the decision-making process on how the mountain would be used. “They would have the final authority. That's the intent of the partnership,” he said.

The group has not yet approached Snowbowl owner Eric Borowsky with an offer, according to Glassford. “We are in the process of acquiring commitments from the different tribes and conservation organizations in order to be able to fund it. At the point that we feel that we have the funding secured, then we will approach Mr. Borowsky's group.”

Glassford said the foundation has had discussions with both the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Navajo Nation regarding the proposal. “I can't yet release the form of commitment that we have received from them, but we will shortly,” he said. “We wouldn't have gone public if we didn't feel that we had significant support that was needed.”

George Hardeen, communications director for President Joe Shirley Jr., said, “Nobody's mentioned it to me. That idea has been floated around, but the Navajo Nation is facing a $22 million deficit. I don't know where we'd come up with any money.”

Former Hopi Tribal Chairman Ben Nuvamsa, who is on the foundation's list of potential advisers for the project, said he believes both Hopi and Navajo should study the merits of the proposal and see whether an agreement can be reached.

“The Peaks are our sacred mountain where the Katsinas live. It's really essential to our culture, our way of life. In a perfect world there shouldn't be any skiing. The purity and the sanctity of the mountain has been interrupted already, so what's a middle ground or a compromise? I think that's what this is about.

“The Hopi perspective is we oppose any form of artificial snow,” Nuvamsa said, adding that the Tribal Wisdom Foundation is offering to continue the ski resort, but allow the snow to come naturally. “I think there is a fair middle ground that can be reached if the city would listen, if the Forest Service would listen, and if Borowsky would listen.”

He said the Hopi have some real issues with any kind of artificial snow, not only based on their culture and beliefs, but health-wise and environmentally as well.

“I'm sure there are a number of people that live in the Flagstaff area that are concerned about their domestic water source,” he said, adding that he lived in Flagstaff a number of years and there was always concern about the dwindling water supply.

“The part I have a problem with is paying for a permit. It's kind of like buying our sacred mountain back. I don't know where the money would come from,” he said, but added that if there is any way to preserve the sacredness of the mountain while protecting the water supply for Flagstaff, “I think it would be a good thing.”

According to the foundation, the “no snow-making” alternative involves creating a collaborative effort between the city, indigenous nations, conservation organizations, the ski industry, and the USDA to protect water sources, cultural resources, and the natural environment.

In an Aug. 2 letter addressed to the Flagstaff mayor, city council and Flagstaff residents, Beth Huss, secretary, said the Tribal Wisdom Foundation has financially supported indigenous people at local, regional and national levels to
have their voices heard.

One meeting was held April 16 with President Obama as he signed the America’s Great Outdoors Presidential Memorandum to encourage local and state governments, tribes, and private groups to come together in the spirit of collaboration to be more responsible stewards of both tax dollars and natural world, Huss said.

“We invite you to consider this non-profit alternative and its benefits to the Flagstaff residents in-depth prior to your decision to allow the use of potable water, reclaimed water, or recovered-reclaimed water for snow-making at Snowbowl.”

According to the foundation, if a non-profit group is created to manage the Snowbowl, making a profit would no longer be an issue and artificial snow would not be used. Flagstaff would maintain its potable water for its own use and potentially hazardous reclaimed wastewater would not be introduced into the mountain’s eco-system.

“We feel this proposal offers the opportunity for the mayor and city council of Flagstaff to create a legacy of significant future benefit, rather than one of perpetual controversy and potential future liability,” Huss said.

Citizens would have a model resort to enjoy outdoor activities, the cultural resources of indigenous peoples would be protected, tourists would be intrigued, and Flagstaff would be seen as a city looking toward a positive future for all its citizens by protecting their water resources, the environment and cultural needs, according to the foundation.

Kevin Ordean, chair of the Northern Arizona University Student Environmental Caucus and President of the NAU Campus Climate Challenge, voiced his support for the alternative.

“With the global trend toward sustainability, and the many majors and focus areas at Northern Arizona University, an eco-friendly ski resort in close proximity to the campus would allow for an active engagement between the resort and the university,” he said.

Glassford said members of the foundation have talked to the mayor and vice mayor about the proposal and will have a representative at the Aug. 30 meeting to answer questions. The public meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at Sinagua High School, 3950 E. Butler Ave.

Tribal Wisdom Foundation, a not-for-profit organization supporting traditional indigenous lifeways and the natural environment, was established by a group of non-native adult students enrolled in the Native American Studies Program at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill. The foundation is comprised of teachers, administrators, therapists and business professionals.

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Can A Woman Lead The Navajo Nation? - Mary Kim Titla To Run For San Carlos Apache Chairman

2010-08-23T16:08:00.004-07:00

Many Tales Are Being Told
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – Depending on who you talk to, Lynda Lovejoy's landslide victory, coupled with a tornado in Many Farms and dams bursting in the Tsaile/Wheatfields area, either herald the end of civilization as we know it, or it is a sign that Navajos are on the right path to restoring balance to the Nation.

Lovejoy won the most votes in the August 3rd Primary and will face Ben Shelley, incumbent Nation vice-president, in the November 2nd General Election.

As results of the presidential primary election poured in Tuesday evening at the Sports Center and it became evident that Lovejoy was going to be the top vote-getter, the whispers began.

“A woman don't belong in office as a leader. The world will come to an end,” one medicine man said he was taught. He viewed the tornado sighting and days of torrential rain and flooding as a warning.

But Delegate Ralph Bennett of Crystal said Wednesday, “The leadership song gives credit to the earth, Mother Earth, a woman. She's a leader opposite to the Sky, the father. ... You have male leaders, you have female leaders, and these are songs brought by the Holy People.” You can't exclude women as leaders, he said.

One man who watched the election night results and listened to the talk at the Sports Center said there are many stories about First Man and First Woman, and their child, Changing Woman, whose sons Monster Slayer and Born for Water rid the land between the four sacred mountains of dangerous monsters.

One of those monsters was a tornado. Here is the story he shared:

Monster Slayer and Born for Water went to their dad, the Sun, and were given tools to fight off all the monsters. They were able to successfully kill most of the monsters, but one of them – the tornado – was coming from the south and they couldn't kill it using the weapons the Sun gave them, so they had to go back into the house to their mother.

They said, “Mom, we cannot kill this monster. It's too much for us. Even with the weapons that were given to us, it's not doing the job.”

Their mother said, “OK.” She didn't even look outside. She got her spindle and her tools that she was using to weave a rug and she made a bow. Next, she used her stirring sticks. There are seven of them, and she gave three to one son and three to the other and said, “I'm going to keep this one, just in case.”

The stirring sticks became arrows; her big grinding stone a shield. With those tools they were able to fight off the tornado.

“The male and the female are equal,” he said. “The male warrior is given the right to be out there to fight off the enemies and the woman will stay behind. That is the Beauty Way side of it. But that tells you that even on the Beauty Way side they have weapons. The end result is that they need each other.”

One story foretells of chaotic times when the Navajo male leaders go the wrong way and a woman has to come in and use her weapon to straighten things up. That is the time when there will be tornadoes and earthquakes, he said.

“But there's no story that says the woman continued to be the leader. So this next four years might be the time for a woman to come in and do this, and then relinquish that leadership and give it back to the male folk while she returns to the Beauty Way side again.”

Another interpretation of present events, he said, is that the Holy Ones are actually acknowledging that Navajo is moving in the right direction, saying, “Listen, we told you so. Now we're letting you know that you're going the right way.”

When Lovejoy ran for president four years ago, some said that if she really wanted to lead the way, she should get endorsement by the Diné Medicine Man Association and the Diné Hataalii Association, he said.

“Another man said that if she is going to be the leader, she should stay home here and let the vice president – who should be a male – do everything outside the four sacred mountains.

“There are different versions,” he said.

Titla: It's Time To Take A Stand!
San Carlos, AZ—Mary Kim Titla, San Carlos Apache, has announced she will run for Chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

Titla, who was born and raised on the San Carlos reservation, moved back to her hometown a few years ago and is employed there. “Numerous people encouraged me to run. They don’t like what they’ve seen in the last four years. They want change. A lot of thought and prayer went into my decision. I understand where the people are coming from. I’ve lived in similar conditions.

“The San Carlos Apache Reservation is my home. It always has been and always will be. I care deeply about the people, especially the youth, and I’ll work hard to make improvements. It's time to take a stand,” said Titla, who is of the Te’nolzhage’ (Descending into water in peaks) clan, born into the K’ainchiidn (Red Willow) clan.

Running for public office is nothing new for Titla. In 2008 she came in a strong 2nd to Ann Kirkpatrick out of four candidates in the primary race for Congressional District 1.

The former TV News Reporter has worked over the past two years as a substitute teacher and now as Communications Officer for the San Carlos Unified School District.

She also serves as Tribal Liaison for the Gila County Board of Supervisors. In addition, Titla is publisher of Native Youth Magazine online, a website focusing on the talents and lifestyles of Native youth.

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'Walking Into The Unknown' - Overcoming Health Risks

2010-08-21T22:09:00.005-07:00

"Walking Into The Unknown", an Influential Documentary about Overcoming Health Risks, Comes to Public Television in Fall 2010
Conract: Jessica Kinser
(402) 472-8607
jkinser2@unl.edu

Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT) proudly announces the release of a new, Emmy-nominated documentary that brings you into the personal life and medical chart records of an Ojibwe man upon his impending 50th birthday.

Walking into the Unknown traces the intimate journey of a middle-aged American Indian male through the health care system as he gains a deeper understanding of himself and the health risks he faces.

A graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School-Duluth, Dr. Arne Vainio--a physician and national health columnist--works on the Fond du Lac Reservation in northern Minnesota. Frustrated by middle-aged Native men not coming in for health screenings, Dr. Vainio came to the realization that he was also avoiding the necessary screenings to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Co-produced by Ivy Vainio, Visumm Media and presented by Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT), Walking into the Unknown will have viewers building a personal connection with Dr. Arne Vainio--feeling the health risk burdens and analyzing thought-provoking questions that are faced in the most critical turning point of one's life.

"My husband knew that he needed to make a change. He had avoided it for some time, but came to realize that he needed to be here for his child, myself and to fulfill his destiny and life-long mission to help others. He was not going to let himself become a statistic," said Ivy Vainio, Producer of Walking into the Unknown and wife of Dr. Vainio.

The hour-long documentary addresses five main topics--diabetes, heart disease, stroke, suicide and alcoholism. This documentary film took two years to make and it has been shown to a number of Native American audiences throughout the United States with Dr. Arne Vainio being on hand to answer questions about health care issues and about the film.

"Our sincere hope is that we can spread the word that it's never too late to begin caring about your well-being. The breadth of resources and informational health facts stated in the film are purely to educate, engage and inspire men and women to take action regarding their futures," said Nate Maydole, Director and Editor for Walking into the Unknown.

In addition to the up-close footage of Dr. Vainio's physical and emotional journey, the documentary also showcases several powerful testimonials from community members who have experienced pre-mature loss of Native men in their families, as well as descriptions of several diagnostic tests from the patient's perspective.

"Arne did a courageous thing--he led by example. He did what all Native Americans should do-he looked in the mirror and started to fix what he saw," said Sam Maday, a member of the Bad River Band of Ojibwe.

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Homestake Gets Temporary Permit to Irrigate With Contaminated Water

2010-08-20T16:35:00.003-07:00

Bluewater Group Asks Sens. Udall And Bingaman To Intercede
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

MILAN, N.M. – Homestake/Barrick Gold Corp.'s plan to resume irrigating fields with contaminated water associated with cleanup activities at the former uranium mill has not been met with favorably by a local community group, especially in light of monsoon rains, recent flooding and the breach of a tailings wall at the site.

Members of the Bluewater Valley Downstream Alliance have asked Sens. Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico to intercede on their behalf.

Homestake received temporary permission Aug. 4 from the New Mexico Environment Department's Ground Water Quality Bureau to apply approximately 1,026 gallons per minute of water with elevated levels of uranium, selenium, sulfate, and total dissolved solids on a parcel of land known as Section 34.

The land is located about a mile southwest of Homestake, in and south of the Felice Acres subdivision. Alan D. Cox, Homestake Mining Co. project manager, stated in a letter to NMED that the temporary authorization is necessary to assure the company continues to make progress on required groundwater remediation in the Section 3 area, where cleanup activities have been ongoing for several years. Cox did not return a phone call from the Independent.

Candace Head-Dylla sent a letter to the senators on behalf of the Bluewater group stating, “With no input from our community – or even notice of the process – the New Mexico Environment Department has agreed to allow Homestake/Barrick Gold Corp. to discharge contaminated water in their fields located in our community.

“This multi-billion dollar company needs this permission because they are too cheap to invest in enough reverse osmosis equipment to actually clean the contaminated water and remove it to safe, permanent storage,” she said. “This would be unbelievable if it were not the same thing that has been going on for over 30 years here.”

Head-Dylla said she has not yet had a response from the congressmen.

William Olsen, chief of the Ground Water Quality Bureau, said Wednesday that Homestake has permission to discharge the contaminated water for 120 days from the date of first application. The company had been discharging contaminated water for a number of years to four parcels of land it owns, but last year NMED directed Homestake to cease irrigation activities.

In 2007, a more stringent standard of .03 milligrams per liter for uranium in groundwater was adopted by the state, from a previous high of 5 milligrams per liter, and preexisting facilities such as Homestake were given a temporary exemption to come into compliance. That recently ended.

“The discharge out there in the past was determined to not need a permit because the discharge they were doing was below standards. but with the change in the standards it now requires a permit,” Olsen said. “They have a much higher standard they now have to achieve for protection of groundwater quality.”

Homestake was given temporary approval for irrigation activities because NMED believes it is necessary in order for them to maintain the hydraulic containment of the southern plume. “If they don't pump from that area, those contaminated waters are going to migrate,” he said.

“They need to be able to operate portions of that remediation system and this is where they need to be able to put that water out because they can't handle it through the rest of their system. So as far as we know, nothing has happened yet on any irrigation out there. I would expect that if the ground is saturated, there's not really a reason to be putting water out there.”

Jerry Schoeppner of the Ground Water Quality Bureau said the only difference from previous years is that this year Homestake is not pumping the alluvial southern and western plumes because they don't have a disposal method for the water.

“They're not able to irrigate, following our letter to them last year, so they're trying to figure out how to deal with that component of reclamation. The rest of the remediation system is operating as it has in the past.”

Asked whether he thought there might be an impact from irrigating with water which exceeds the maximum contaminant level, Schoeppner said, “If you did that for a very long period of time, yes, you potentially could impact groundwater. Based on 120 days and the historical application from 2000 and 2008, we don't see any impacts to groundwater.

“The concentrations in the irrigated water are going to be below background standards so we don't anticipate that that temporary permission is going to be a problem. We still have to look at that long-term,” he said.

According to Head-Dylla, the background standard allowed for Homestake/Barrick Gold is based on the idea that the company is only partly responsible for the contamination and that other polluters also contributed.

“It is wrong – morally, ethically, and technically – to say that just because Homestake/Barrick Gold is only held partly responsible for the contamination, they can continue contributing to the problem. We had clean water before,” she said.

Water removed predominantly from 18 wells in the southern alluvial plume, five in the Chinle plume and one well in the San Andreas will be blended and applied to the Section 34 land where selenium and uranium are limited to the upper 5 feet of soil. Depth to water is about 35 feet.

“The water they were putting out before was actually higher in concentration and we didn't see impacts in groundwater from that. Now they're going to be putting out better quality water,” Olsen said.

Homestake has applied to the state to continue the irrigation process on a long-term basis, however, Schoeppner said they still have a long way to go before they can evaluate all four parcels.

“The other three parcels are more sandy and we've seen vertical migration to a much greater degree, so those are going to be much more problematic for continued operation,” he said.

Head-Dylla said the bottom line is very simple. “The New Mexico Environment Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should force this multi-billion dollar corporation to commit the resources needed to actually clean our water and move the existing piles to safe permanent storage so we are no longer subjected to high radon doses.

“Homestake/Barrick Gold's money scares these regulators to death because the regulators are afraid of this giant corporation. Our community has suffered for more than 30 years and continues to suffer. Homestake/Barrick Gold is a bully no one – at least no one in the state or federal government – has the nerve to stand up to,”

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