And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Carlson, John. "Salmon Initiative I-696 Has Loophole For Tribes," The News
Tribune (Tacoma, WA), July 28, 1999, Wednesday, A13.
["It was only a matter of time. Everyone has a plan to save the salmon. The
federal government has a plan, the state has a strategy, the county has a
program, even the cities are getting into the act. Now the voters will have
some direct input when Initiative 696 appears on the ballot this fall...
the fight over I-696 will be... intense... and it could signal the future
direction of this state in shaping environmental policy to preserve salmon
runs. Calling for a "net-free Washington," the I-696 forces are primarily
sport fishers who are appalled at the diminution (some would say the
decimation) of salmon runs that they blame primarily on the use of
commercial nets in Washington rivers and Puget Sound... There's just one
problem: They've exempted Indian tribes from the ban. Talk about a
loophole. Twice in the short text of I-696, Indian gillnets - which take
about half the fish netted in Washington waters - are permitted to stay in
the water. "Nontribal commercial net fishing is by all standards and with
few exceptions known to be a wasteful and harmful fishing practice," states
Section 1 of the initiative. Only "nontribal" nets do harm? In one of its
brochures, the I-696 campaign includes a blurb from a Seattle newspaper:
"Protected or plentiful, all fish look alike to a gill net." Why then does
it matter if the net is being handled by a tribal member or a commercial
fisherman? Section 2(1) of the initiative states, "Commercial net fishing
in Washington State fresh or marine waters is prohibited. This ban does not
extend to those tribal fisheries conducted under a valid treaty right." The
quick explanation, of course, is that state law can't override a legally
binding treaty. True, the state has both a legal and moral responsibility
to abide by treaties. But the courts have made it clear that Indian tribes
have to abide by government efforts to conserve the salmon, and that was
even before the federal government listed six salmon runs as endangered."]
http://www.tribnet.com/
******************
Demer, Lisa. "Panel Combats Native Rape Rate," Anchorage Daily News July
28, 1999, Wednesday, A1.
["An alarming rate of sexual assault against Alaska Native women in
Anchorage is pushing downtown bars, victim advocates, the police,
social-service agencies and others to reach for new and better ways to
combat the problem. Alaska Natives make up about 8 percent of the Anchorage
population. But Native women are the victims in 40 percent to 45 percent of
the reported sexual assault cases, according to the Anchorage Police
Department. Members of the 6-month-old Alaska Native Women Sexual Assault
Committee held a press conference Tuesday to talk about the assaults and
what to do about them. The committee includes representatives of more than
a dozen organizations, including Standing Together Against Rape, or STAR;
the Alaska Native Medical Center; the municipal Safe City program; and the
Southcentral Foundation, the health arm of Cook Inlet Region Inc... So far,
the most visible strategy is showing up in downtown bars. Five
establishments with a largely Native clientele are putting up signs warning
women to be careful and men to behave. The signs, crafted with the help of
STAR, started going up a couple of weeks ago in the 515 Club, The Hub, the
Gaslight Lounge, the Avenue Bar and the Panhandle Bar... One sign targeting
potential perpetrators says, ''If you think that waking up with a hangover
is bad . . . imagine waking up as a rapist. Using alcohol or drugs is no
excuse for sexual assault.'' The committee is also asking for help from
community councils, the Community Service Patrol and the downtown security
ambassadors program, said Lt. Tom Nelson, who commands the downtown police
district. An earlier task force generated headlines in 1997 but faded away
after issuing its findings. The new committee promises to be more active."]
http://www.adn.com/
****************
Dewar, Helen, and Juliet Eilperin. "Senate Lifts Limits on Dumps; Other
Efforts to Roll Back Environmental Restrictions Blocked," The Washington
Post, July 28, 1999, A4.
["The Senate voted yesterday to overturn federal rules limiting mine waste
dumps on federal lands to five acres, although several other Republican
proposals to roll back environmental restrictions were sidelined because of
a Senate rules change a day earlier. The Senate rejected, 55 to 41, a
Democrat-led effort to eliminate language in a proposed $ 14 billion
appropriations bill for the Interior Department that would wipe out the
five-acre limit. The vote reversed department policy and legal rulings.
Proponents of the provision argued that it was necessary to protect the
U.S. mining industry and the jobs it creates, while foes contended it would
lead to a proliferation of toxic waste dumps on public lands and Indian
reservations. To confine mining operations to five-acre dumps would "kill
the American mining industry" and send its jobs abroad, Sen. Frank H.
Murkowski (R-Alaska) said. To lift the limit "gives the mining industry
everything they want and the American people more dumps," countered Sen.
Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who led the effort to retain the five-acre
restriction. The vote came shortly after four other contentious
environmental provisions were stricken from the bill as a result of action
by the Senate's Republican majority Monday to reinstate a rule barring
legislating on appropriations bills."]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
****************
"Fishing Protest Not A Native Rights Issue: Members Of The Cheam Band
Fished Because They Wanted a Bigger Share of the Threatened Early Stuart
Sockeye Run. They Should be Prosecuted For Defying Conservation
Measures,"The Vancouver Sun, July 28, 1999, A12.
["Try as we might, we fail to see the altruism in the Cheam Indian Band's
recent illegal fishing campaign, and support the department of fisheries
and oceans' efforts to prosecute 25 or more band members caught in the act.
The band's chief, June Quipp, has cloaked the catch of early Stuart sockeye
in the language of constitutional rights, in between mentions of the band's
''needs.'' Still, it is hard to see anything but short-term self-interest
at work here. Encouragement from Phil Fontaine of the Assembly of First
Nations and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs notwithstanding, the Cheam are
acting alone in their so-called protest fishery. Even other Sto:lo bands
(who, like the Cheam, have no agreement in place with DFO this year) are
conforming with regulations by using selective fishing methods to protect
the depleted sockeye. DFO's early Stuart ban is based on conservation, the
only thing that takes priority over aboriginal fisheries. These priorities
were established by the Supreme Court of Canada's Sparrow decision of 1990
and reaffirmed in the Delgamuukw decision last year. Conservation is a
justifiable infringement on aboriginal rights to fish. To this the Cheam
respond, ''Whose conservation?'']
http://www.vancouversun.com/
**********************
Imrie, Robert. "Bad River Band Wins Dispute Against Former Casino Manager,"
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 28, 1999, Wednesday, PM cycle.
["WAUSAU, Wis.-- A state appeals court ruling has reinforced the power of
tribal courts and saved the Bad River Chippewa band several hundred
thousand dollars. The case involves the Bad River band's dispute with its
casino manager, who was fired in 1995. The 3rd District Court of Appeals
said Tuesday that the Bad River Indians were wrongly ordered to pay $
400,000 to former casino manager Jerry Teague because a tribal court had
jurisdiction in the dispute, even though the disagreement began in state
court. The three-judge panel said the tribe reached a decision on Teague's
employment contract first, ruling it was invalid and nenforceable, thus
the American Indian court's decision was binding in the matter. "We can
find no authority for the proposition that the circuit court is empowered
to deprive the tribal court of the authority to address issues that are
properly raised before it," Judge Gordon Myse wrote. Ashland County Circuit
Judge Thomas Gallagher erred when he refused to recognize the tribal
court's ruling, the panel said. The panel noted Teague's concern over
partiality of tribal courts when lawsuits pit tribal members against
non-tribal members."]
http://www.ap.org/
******************
Reid, Betty. "Navajo Women Lay Claim to World of Fashion," The Arizona
Republic, July 28, 1999 Wednesday, D1.
["A feather on the front of a sky-blue sleeveless dress. Tiny, shiny silver
concho buttons with coral drops that line a white cotton blouse. Intricate
beadwork that accents the collar of a sage-colored silk blend, velvet
tunic. A line of silver turquoise concho buttons that snake diagonally from
the neckline to the side. Designer tags are sewn to the finished clothing,
but they bear names far less familiar than Versace or Calvin Klein.
Instead, they say Navajo Spirit, Yucca Fruit Design, or Aresta LaRusso,
with Flagstaff's Deerwater Designs. All are gaining a toehold into the
fashion world, a place where Native Americans are usually not found. "I
think more people are discovering that we live in a diverse culture,"
LaRusso said. "They want to be different, they want to express it through
clothing, and there is an element about my line that says, it's Native
America." LaRusso cuts contemporary patterns and uses fringes, beadwork and
shiny silver to detail her clothing. She strives to sew functional pieces
so that a customer may wear the item many times. Laura G. Shurley-Olivas, a
Navajo designer who lives in Pacoima, Calif., calls her clothing line Yucca
Fruit Design. The one-woman business operation sells vests, shirts, pants
sets, jackets, duster coats and shoulder bags, each designed with a
distinct tribal influence. Shurley-Olivas creates and cuts clothing
patterns with silver and turquoise jewelry in mind. That means a long,
black felt polyester dress with a scoop neck that could be worn to a
black-tie dinner with a silver necklace. Or it could be a silver-colored
sleeveless blouse and skirt set with pale rug patterns. The Yucca Fruit
line is heavily influenced by the three-tiered calico skirts and collared
shirts still worn today by many elderly Navajo women. At tribal fairs,
sports events, rodeos and ceremonies, women exhibit their best and wear
colorful satin or velvet... Yazzie-Ballenger, owner of American Indian
Fashions by Virginia, sews pieces called Navajo Spirit. She sells both
modern and traditional Navajo dresses, contemporary clothing with an Indian
touch, as well as bags for jewelry, coins and makeup... If time permits,
the three women travel to festivals with their goods and pick up customers.
The Heard Museum Fair, the Pueblo Grande lndian Market or the Santa Fe
Indian Market are excellent outlets."]
http://www.azcentral.com/
*****************
"Statue of Indian Leader Won't Join Statuary Hall Soon," The Associated
Press State & Local Wire, July 28, 1999, Wednesday, AM cycle.
"A statue of Pope, a leader of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against Spanish
colonists in New Mexico, won't be added to the U.S. Capitol's National
Statuary Hall anytime soon because there isn't enough money to sculpt it.
Less than $ 11,000 has been raised by the Statuary Hall Commission, created
by the 1997 Legislature when Pope, pronounced Poh-Pay, was chosen as the
subject of the state's second and final statue for the hall... Little is
known about Pope, a San Juan Pueblo medicine man flogged in 1675 as one of
several Indians indicted by the Spanish for sorcery. Also known as Po'Pay,
he is credited as a leader of the Pueblo Revolt. Indians, provoked by
Spanish attempts to erase Pueblo religious customs, united and killed
hundreds of priests and Spanish settlers before laying siege to Santa Fe
and diverting its water supply. After five days, Spanish Gov. Antonio de
Otermin surrendered and fled to El Paso, Texas, with more than 1,000
colonists. Indians deposed Pope before the Spanish returned in 1692. No
historical drawings or paintings of Pope exist, so the finalists must rely
on their imaginations and whatever research they can find in crafting their
proposed statues. New Mexico's other statue, of the late U.S. Sen. Dennis
Chavez, was placed in the hall in 1966."
http://www.ap.org/
*****************
"Tribe Offers First Timber Sale From Federal Purchase," The Associated
Press State & Local Wire, July 28, 1999, Wednesday, PM cycle.
"COOS BAY, Ore. -- The Coquille Tribe is offering the first timber sale
from forest lands it acquired last year from the federal government as part
of an economic self-sufficiency program... Varner said the logging must be
carried out under the standards of the Northwest Forest Plan, which was
adopted by federal land managers to protect fish and wildlife habitat.
Under an act of Congress, the tribe acquired 5,400 acres of U.S. Bureau of
Land Management timberlands in January 1998."
http://www.ap.org/
****************
Tysver, Robynn. "2nd Charge Against Indians Criticized," Omaha
World-Herald, July 28, 1999, 17
"Lincoln -- The decision to file a second criminal charge against the
"Whiteclay Nine" only heightens racial problems in northwest Nebraska, an
American Indian activist said Tuesday. The first court appearance of the
nine men, who were arrested during a march protesting beer sales in
Whiteclay, was delayed Tuesday to Aug. 31. The men were arrested earlier
this month for storming a police barricade in the Nebraska village. On
Monday, Sheridan County Attorney Dennis King charged each man with two
misdemeanors, even though the original police citations listed only one
criminal offense, failure to obey a lawful order. The second offense filed
by King alleges that each of the nine obstructed the work of police
officers. That carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $ 1,000
fine... Frank LaMere of Winnebago, who was one of the men arrested, called
the filing of the second charge "untimely and unfortunate." "It only
exacerbates an already divisive and unfortunate situation," LaMere said.
"They are putting the Whiteclay Nine on trial for bringing the issue (of
Whiteclay) to the people of Nebraska. They don't like that in Sheridan
County. They've lied to themselves so long that they can't see what's wrong
around them and on the streets of Whiteclay."
http://www.omaha.com/Omaha/OWH
****************
Whaley, Sean. "Highway to Take Name of American Indian Veteran," Las Vegas
Review-Journal (Las Vegas, NV), July 28, 1999, B4.
"CARSON CITY -- While the request technically violated agency policy, Gov.
Kenny Guinn and other members of the transportation board voted unanimously
Tuesday to name a portion of a Northern Nevada highway after decorated
World War II veteran and American Indian Arthur S. Jackson. The request
came from James Inman, an officer with the Veterans of Foreign Wars in
Sparks who said Jackson was deserving of the honor. The Department of
Transportation board supported the proposal to name the portion of state
Route 447 between Nixon and Wadsworth on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian
Reservation after Jackson. Jackson, a Paiute born in Nixon in 1924,
enlisted in the Army in 1943 and became a paratrooper with the 101st
Airborne Division. By the time he was 21, he had received 32 war
decorations from five different countries: the United States, France,
Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg...Jackson died in 1957 at the age of 33
when he fell from the roof of a shed he was building for his mother in
Sparks."
http://www.lvrj.com/
****************
Woodward, Colin. "Patent a Plant? Americans Do, Irking Shamans," The
Christian Science Monitor, July 28, 1999, 1.
"The shamans were unhappy. Querubin Queta Alvarado and Antonio Jacanamijoy
Rosero, spiritual leaders of their Amazonian tribes, stood incongruously in
the headquarters of the US Patent & Trademark Office wearing traditional
garb - beads, feathers, and teeth. But under their arms were official
protest documents prepared by their attorneys. The shamans say the Patent
Office has helped steal their most important and sacred cultural property,
an Amazonian plant called ayahuasca. So in March they came to Washington to
request that US authorities review their decision to award an American
researcher the patent for the plant. "Some indigenous people say the
patenting of this plant is the equivalent of somebody in their group
patenting the Christian cross," says David Rothschild of the
Washington-based Coalition for Amazonian Peoples and their Environment.
"It's also offensive to them that someone in the US is claiming the
intellectual property of the knowledge of this plant, which they see as
being theirs." The ayahuasca case is just one in a series of international
controversies triggered by the awarding of US patents on living matter...
America is unusually liberal in determining what is eligible for patent
ownership. Many countries do not award patents on living things, except
crop strains. But under US patent law almost anything that has been
modified or manipulated by human invention is eligible for consideration -
including microbes, plants, animals, even products created from human
tissues, cells, or DNA. Supporters say such "life patents" are essential to
encourage the development of new crop varieties, livestock,
pharmaceuticals, and medical procedures. But a number of interest groups
oppose such patents on moral, ethical, or social grounds. Most argue that
life patents effectively steal intellectual property from their rightful
owners, or that the commodification of life - especially human genes and
tissues - has disturbing implications that society is profoundly unprepared
to tackle... Ayahuasca is the most recent case and one of the more clear
cut. Amazonian shamans were outraged to learn that the plant had become the
intellectual property of an American researcher, Loren Miller, under a 1986
patent. How, the shamans argued, could a naturally occurring plant be
"owned" by anyone, particularly someone living where it does not grow? The
shamans had a point. Under US law, natural plant varieties are in the
public domain. Mr. Miller, who wanted to research the plant for its
medicinal value, was awarded a patent for an allegedly altered strain of
ayahuasca. But botanical experts say the patented plant is exactly the same
as the natural variety. The shamans asked that the validity of the patent
be reviewed on these grounds, and that request was recently approved."
http://www.csmonitor.com/
*******************
"Water Trucks Filling Up Santee Tribe's Reservoir," The Associated Press
State & Local Wire, July 28, 1999, Wednesday, BC cycle.
"SANTEE, Neb. -- The Santee Sioux Tribe's reservation water system may not
be operating again until the middle of next week, state officials said.
Flooding polluted the northeast Nebraska reservation's public water supply
last week and the tribe has been forced to truck in drinking water from
other communities. The tribe's main, 100,000-gallon reservoir was 75
percent full by Wednesday. Four 6,000-gallon trucks continued to haul water
to the reservoir from Creighton, about 30 miles away... The water is being
put in the reservation's reservoir to keep the contaminated water from
backflowing, Augustine said. "We've been able to get ahead of the demand
but the reservation is still being asked to conserve and boil water," said
Jack Daniel, an environmental health director for the Health and Human
Services System... Bacterial contamination was found in preliminary test
results of water taken from one of the reservation's two wells located nine
miles south of Santee. State and tribal water officials were back-flushing
and chlorinating the well and water pumping system."
http://www.ap.org/
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
UPDATES: CAMP
JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/
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