Indian Country Today (Oneida, NY) articles from March 2005

Indian Country Today (Oneida, NY) archives from March 2005

Destruction of Hohokam sites draws lawsuit.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 2--PHOENIX -- The Arizona Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against a housing developer who is accused of destroying seven Hohokam sites dating back to 750 A.D., knocking down pristine saguaro cacti, causing...

World's healthiest foods: Eating to live.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 2--ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Long before the concept of toxins and degenerative diseases, American Indians hunted, fished and harvested wild plants and herbs. With the advent of trading posts and convenience stores,...

Senator upset over BIA budget.
March 2, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 2--WASHINGTON -- Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., calls President George W. Bush's budget for Indian country "outrageous" and an egregious under funding of programs for those who have the most need. Nearly all...

Traditional Cayuga representatives decry Pataki land claims deal.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Jim Adams Mar. 2--SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- New York state Gov. George Pataki's comprehensive land claims bill has created a political mess and should be abandoned, the lawyer for the Cayuga Nation council told Indian Country Today. ...

Montana legislature inconsistent on Indian bills.
March 2, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 2--HELENA, Mont. -- With Democrats' majority control of the Montana Senate and 50 -- 50 count in the state House of Representatives, the governor's office now in Democratic hands and other legislators willing to...

No nursing home for Pine Ridge.
March 2, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 2--PIERRE, S.D. -- There will be no nursing home on Pine Ridge, the country's second-largest reservation, any time soon. A bill introduced in this year's South Dakota Legislature that would allow for new...

Petroglyph lawsuit filed against city of Albuquerque.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 2--ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Pueblo tribal members and environmentalists have filed a lawsuit against the City of Albuquerque and the mayor to halt construction of the Paseo del Norte Extension through Petroglyph...

State and federal officials meet with Oglala Sioux.
March 2, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 2--KEYSTONE, S.D. -- Shadowed by a symbol that represents freedom and democracy for some people and oppression, genocide and broken promises for others, a healing process has begun. Mount Rushmore attracts...

Navajos proceed with FlexCrete plan.
March 9, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 9--ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Following warnings about the risky business venture, the Navajo Nation halted plans to build a new freight aircraft but will proceed with the manufacture of a new environmentally friendly...

2005 bison nickel released.
March 9, 2005... Mar. 9--WASHINGTON -- Amid the drama of drumming, singing and dancing, and in the presence of the revered American Bison, U.S. Mint Director Henrietta Holsman Fore presented the new 2005 bison nickel to the American people in a Capitol Hill...

Tribes and Forest Service discuss sacred sites.
March 9, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 9--CRAZY HORSE, S.D. -- Tribal leaders, elders and members met with National Forest Service officials in a two-day consultation/listening session Feb. 23 -- 24 to begin a process of forming an advisory group,...

Forest Service listens and offers hope.
March 9, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 9--CRAZY HORSE, S.D. -- By its own admission, the National Forest Service has made mistakes, ignored tribal involvement in forest management decisions and not understood the concept of consultation. Change, if...

Mining company files for NAFTA arbitration.
March 9, 2005... Byline: James May Mar. 9--SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A mining company previously at the center of controversy over the proximity of a project to an American Indian sacred site is now seeking $50 million under the North American Free Trade...

American Indian Advisory Council to help in management of Black Hills.
March 9, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 9--CRAZY HORSE, S.D. -- Plans for a Tribal Leaders Advisory Council to work with the National Forest Service are moving forward and memorandums of agreement will be signed in the near future so tribes will have...

State attorneys join to fight sovereignty in Supreme Court.
March 9, 2005... Byline: Jim Adams Mar. 9--WASHINGTON -- A shifting coalition of state attorneys general is joining the fight to sway the U.S. Supreme Court on tribal sovereignty. In a counterpoint to the defense of tribal rights launched by national...

Rhode Island trust land case lives on in appeal.
March 9, 2005... Byline: Jim Adams Mar. 9--CHARLESTOWN, R.I. -- Thirty-one acres for tribal housing may not seem like a national issue, but it has sparked a major prizefight between Interior Secretary Gale Norton and the state of Rhode Island, with a...

D-Q University closure exposes mysteries.
March 9, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 9--DAVIS, Calif. -- The closure of the American Indian two-year college D-Q University has left students occupying dorms and brought to light the university's financial crisis, a plan to drill for oil on nearby...

D-Q University students left in the cold.
March 9, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 9--DAVIS, Calif. -- D-Q University students remained in the dorms and defied an attempt by university administrators to evict them by eating donated foods and keeping warm with space heaters, after...

Pechanga plans second suit against state.
March 9, 2005... Byline: James May Mar. 9--SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- One of the two tribes to draw state scrutiny for their use of video lottery terminals announced their plan to file a lawsuit against the state of California to establish their right to use...

U.S. Supreme Court accepts fuel tax issue.
March 16, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 16--WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a fuel tax case that will have implications of sovereignty for tribes nationwide. The state of Kansas argues that it should be allowed to impose a fuel tax on...

State, Pechenga disagree on count involving multi-station games.
March 16, 2005... Byline: James May Mar. 16--SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians suffered a setback in federal court last week when a judge refused to stop the state of California from cracking down on multi-station games while the...

Unique partnership celebrates hotel opening.
March 16, 2005... Byline: Jim Adams Mar. 16--WASHINGTON -- Melodic chants of millennia-old bird songs from southern California joined the beat of a Midwestern Algonquin drum group and an Iroquoian invocation as four tribes from diverse backgrounds joined to...

Treaty may prevent nuclear storage.
March 16, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 16--LAS VEGAS -- Attorney Treva Hearne, partner at Hager and Hearne in Reno and counsel to the Western Shoshone National Council, said it is time for the United States to honor its treaties with American Indians...

Yucca Mountain lawsuit filed to halt nuclear waste dump.
March 16, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 16--LAS VEGAS -- A Western Shoshone lawsuit to halt a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, based on the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863, seeks to uphold the treaty and prevent a repeat of the...

Sacred sites on federal land are mammoth issues.
March 16, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 16--CRAZY HORSE, S.D. -- The definition of "sacred site" is open for discussion, and it all depends on which side of the cultural divide a person stands on. The Lakota have no word that means "sacred": the...

ANALYSIS: Details in N.Y. tax bill undercut gains.
March 16, 2005... Byline: Jim Adams Mar. 16--HOGANSBURG, N.Y. -- "Nothing has changed," a former leader of Mohawk tax protests said about the framework for state tax negotiations to which St. Regis Tribal Council leaders agreed when they signed a land...

Lack of funds could devastate Indian education at Si Tanka University.
March 16, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 16--EAGLE BUTTE, S.D. -- Si Tanka University officials are headed to Washington in an attempt to retrieve promised BIA funds and prevent the closure of their university, which would become the second American...

Colorado U caught in fracas over professor's remarks.
March 16, 2005... Byline: Jim Adams Mar. 16--BOULDER, Colo. -- As a deadline passed for a report that could determine the future of University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill, the fracas claimed yet another academic victim: the president of the school...

Sacred peaks to be defiled by wastewater in the name of tourism, tribes say.
March 16, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 16--FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure announced her decision to use reclaimed wastewater to make snow for recreation on the San Francisco Peaks, a plan long protested by 14...

EDITORIAL: Education milestones: Examples for the 'long run'.
March 23, 2005... Mar. 23--People dedicated to the good and proper development of the young are still too rare. There are more than a few superlative educators in Indian country, but always there is great need for more. Never before have Indian youth (and all...

Native economies move beyond gaming.
March 23, 2005... Mar. 23--WASHINGTON -- Despite considerable economic and social obstacles, entrepreneurial business activity on and around Indian reservations is gaining momentum, according to a report released recently by CFED, formerly the Corporation for...

Tribal groups balk at Gambling Control Commission increase.
March 23, 2005... Byline: James May Mar. 23--SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In the past month, two tribal groups have expressed opposition to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to expand the state's Gambling Control Commission budget. One of these groups, the...

From pipe dream to reality.
March 23, 2005... Byline: James May Mar. 23--SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Like many young women, Brenda Soulliere wanted a pony. She said she asked her parents faithfully every Christmas for a pony, knowing that her quest was fruitless. "They just had the same...

Morgan: Inside the BIA.
March 23, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 23--WINNEBAGO, Neb. -- The BIA suffers from a credibility problem, is expected to do too much and is paranoid about lawsuits. Those are some observations from Lance Morgan, a person who spent time on the...

Onondaga case disrupts proposed N.Y. settlement.
March 23, 2005... Byline: Jim Adams Mar. 23--ONONDAGA HOMELAND, N.Y. -- The Onondaga Nation's traditionalist government is filing a "land rights" suit against New York state, the last of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederation nations to start the...

Economics of trust land ownership.
March 23, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 23--WINNEBAGO, Neb. -- Economic development on many reservations is only a dream; individuals can't find capital for investments in business -- and trust land is the culprit. So says Lance Morgan, CEO of...

Morgan tells BIA: 'Get out of the trust land business'.
March 23, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 23--WINNEBAGO, Neb. -- American Indian tribes fought hard more than 100 years ago to retain their homelands, only to lose most of them and be moved onto land-based reservations. From the late 19th century,...

Wounded Knee '73 revisited.
March 23, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 23--WOUNDED KNEE, S.D. -- A handful of American Indians took over a church on Feb. 27, 1973 to protest racism and corruption in the Oglala Sioux government. A 71-day war resulted. It wasn't meant to be a...

A response to global warming.
March 30, 2005... Byline: Jim Adams Mar. 30--CLYDE RIVER, Nunavut -- When Inuit elder Zacharias Aqqiaruq tried to summarize local climate change for Harvard University researcher Shari Fox Gearheard, he used a word neither she nor her interpreter had heard...

EDITORIAL: Health of Mother Earth is our responsibility.
March 30, 2005... Mar. 30--The impact of human disregard for nature as a cohesive force that sustains the rest of all life is serious indeed. No one wants to play the fool sounding false alarms, but humankind must train itself to pay attention to these matters...

Slowing a foretold apocalypse.
March 30, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 30--SHUNGOPAVI, Ariz. -- Hopi prophecies tell of the coming apocalypse and the reasons for changes in the global climate. Ruben Saufkie Sr. and other Hopi are working to slow down the process, and bring about...

Oneida's farming defies stereotypes.
March 30, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 30--ONEIDA NATION, N.Y. -- "Science is slowly catching up to our culture," said Oneida Nation Bear Clan Representative Brian Patterson. The Oneidas traditionally planted the "three sisters" crops of corn,...

Focus on the Nisqually River: Salmon make a late run.
March 30, 2005... Byline: James May Mar. 30--TACOMA, Wash. -- A recent agreement between the Nisqually Tribe and Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge will help protect the estuary of the Nisqually River, where something unusually encouraging happened...

Grief and shock after Red Lake school shootings.
March 30, 2005... Byline: David Melmer Mar. 30--RED LAKE, Minn. -- In the days after 10 people were killed by a lone shooter at a high school here, there is more speculation about the incident than facts. Jeff Weise, 16, walked into the high school and...

Solar and wind units bring energy to Navajos.
March 30, 2005... Byline: Brenda Norrell Mar. 30--ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A Laguna Pueblo designer of solar and wind energy components is bringing lights and refrigeration for the first time to 50 homes in the eastern portion of the Navajo Nation in New...