This is very interesting and I Lost It!

In my e-mail I received an article about a video documentary that presents the idea that there was back and forth sailing over 2500 years ago between the Americas and Ireland. The name "Flynn" is from a clan name "Flan" which means red-skinned. The family symbol had a red hand and a rattlesnake on it.

Does anyone have any information on this?

EDITOR'S NOTE: We all know how George Carlin talks. He taught Richard Pryor. Some parts of this are missing and you may fill them in to suit your vocabulary. I'm prissy, at least in print. Also you will find quotes in here from the person who forwarded this e-mail and an answer at the bottom. Here we go:

This is taken from a portion of the book "Braindroppings" by George Carlin. He's talking about politically correct names.

"...Now the indians. I call them Indians because that's what they are. They're Indians. There's nothing wrong with the word Indian.

"First of all, it's important to know that the word Indian does not derive from Columbus mistakenly believing he had reached 'India.' India was not even called by that name in 1492; it was known as Hindustan.

"More likely, the word Indian comes from Columbus's description of the people he found here. He was an Italian, and did not speak or write very good Spanish, so in his written accounts he called the Indians, "Una gente in Dios." A people in God. In God. In Dios. Indians. It's a perfectly noble and respectable word.

"So let's look at this --- phrase, Native Americans. First of all, they're not natives. They came over the Bering land bridge from Asia,

**(Well, George, this has been largely disproven since you said all this--FSS**)

"so they're not natives. There are no natives anywhere in the world. Everyone is from somewhere else. All people are refugees, immigrants, or aliens. If there were natives anywhere, they would be people who still live in the Great Rift Valley in Africa where the human species arose. Everyone else is just visiting. So much for the 'native' part of Native American.

"As far as calling them 'Americans' is concerned, do I even have to point out what an insult this is? ----- We steal their hemisphere, kill twenty or so million of them,

** (Before 1492 there were 25 million people in Central America alone!! By 1579 there were 2 million.--FSS)**

"destroy five hundred separate cultures, herd the survivors onto the worst land we can find, and now we want to name them after ourselves? It's appalling. Haven't we done enough damage? Do we have to further degrade them by tagging them with the repulsive name of their conquerers?

"And as far as these classroom liberals who insist on saying 'Native American' are concerned, here's something they should be told: It's not up to you to name people and tell them what they ought to be called. If you'd leave the classroom once in a while, you'd find that most Indians are insulted by the term Native American. The American Indian Movement will tell you that if you ask them.

"The phrase 'Native American' was invented by the U.S. government Department of the Interior in 1970. It is an inventory term used to keep track of people. It includes Hawaiians, Eskimos, Samoans, Micronesians, Polynesians, and Aleuts. Anyone who uses the phrase Native American is assisting the U.S. government in its effort to obliterate people's true identities.

"Do you want to know what the Indians would like to be called? Their real names: Adirondack, Delaware, Massachuset, Narraganset, Potomac, Illinois, Miami, Alabama, Ottawa, Waco, Wichita, Mohave, Shasta, Yuma, Erie, Huron, Susquehanna, Natchez, Moblie, Yakima, Wallawalla, Muskagee, Spokan, Iowa, Missouri, Omaha, Kansa, Biloxi, Dakota, Hatteras. Klamath, Caddo, Tillamook, Washoe, Cayuga, Oneida, Onodaga, Seneca, Laguna, Santa Ana, Winnebago, Pecos, Cheyenne, Menominee, Yankton, Apalachee, Chinnok. Catawba, Santa Clara, Taos, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Blackfeet, Chippewa, Cree, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Comanche, Shoshone, Two Kettle, Sans Arc, Chiricahua, Kiowa, Mescalero, Navajo, Nez Perce, Potawatomi, Shawnee, Pawnee, Chickahominy, Flathead, Santee, Assinboin, Oglala, Miniconjou, Osage, Crow, Brule, Hunkpapa, Pima, Zuni, Hopi, Paitute, Creek, Kickapoo, Ojibwa, Shinnicock.

"You know, you'd think it would be a fairly simple thing to come over to this continent, commit genocide, eliminate the forests, dam up the rivers, build our malls and massage parlors, sell our blenders and whoopee cushions, poison ourselves with chemicals, and let it go at that. But no. We have to compound the insult.

"Native Americans! I'm glad the Indians have gambling casinos now. It makes me happy that dimwitted white people are losing their rent money to the Indians. Maybe the Indians will get lucky and win their country back. Probably they wouldn't want it. Look at what we did to it."

EDITOR'S NOTE 2: Here is a response. It is not me.

Ya Ta Say, Shila Aash - -
I normally do not respond to messages of this type. In this instance, I make an exception because of the nature of the contents. It is true, and because it is, it is infuriating.

"Una gento in dios" is an apt phrase for any peoples. It means "A PEOPLE IN GOD." The term Indian, though a mispronunciation of the last two words, is an apt description of the first people of this country.

I am, and I have always been, proud to be called Indian. I resent the term "native American" (lack of capitalization intentional) with an equal feeling. It is a slam against the Indian, and in true political fashion, an attempt to continue segregation.

The other 'politically correct' labels are also an attempt at the same thing. A Mexican-American, An Irish-American, An Afro-American, and any of the so called _____-Americans, is nothing more than a way of saying each group is alien.

The attempt to make the public believe these descriptions are a way of showing respect is nothing but a subversive lie. The pity is, it is working. I see the term native American as an insult.

This is only one of many reasons all Indian people need unity. Not to eliminate or dilute the culture of any, but to form a union strong enough to withstand these types of propaganda attacks as well as the overt attacks on us.

The Red nations lost this land because of a lack of unity that allowed us to be crowded onto reservations that were (and still are) little more than glorified prisons. Gaming and some of the industries have helped, but even those are now being undermined by betrayal. In some instances, that betrayal is by our own people, but I cannot help but think that is because of the pressure from outside special interest groups.

Let us all stand together as one. Realize what is happening to us and fight back. Let each of us feel the pride in ourselves and who we are.

I sign my name to this plea with pride

Hataita, Mescalero Apache - - INDIAN

Just one more EDITOR'S NOTE: Our friend Mark Silversmith is Navajo. We call him "Mark" - he calls us "Mike" and "Sheilah."

The Navajo have received much publicity for their code talking in World II, but new information shows that there were are least 17 other tribes involved in this clever ruse in both WWI and WWII.

In some uses the talkers used their language as a code in itself, and in other cases the language was further encoded.

The Choctaw were the first code talkers in WWI.

The U.S. government has never officially recognized this contribution, but in 1989 France awarded the tribes or the individuals their highest military honor.

World War I:

• Cheyenne
• Comanche
• Cherokee
• Choctaw
• Osage
• Yankton Sioux

• Chippewa
• Choctaw
• Comanche
• Creek
• Hopi
• Kiowa
• Menominee
• Muscogee-Seminole
• Navajo
• Oneida
• Pawnee
• Sac and Fox
• Sioux: Lakota and Dakota dialects

Without their consent no Indian tribe can be sued for business dealings either on or off their land. So says a Supreme Court decision of 6-3.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote:
"Tribes enjoy immunity from suits on contracts, whether those contracts involve governmental or commercial activities and whether they were made on or off the reservation."

The court states that sovereign immunity is federal law, and only the tribe can waiver that immunity. This equates with the same rights of the Federal government and states rights. They cannot be sued unless they consent.

Tribal immunity existed before the United States were ever united.

The White House had said that allowing commercial lawsuits would be a serious threat to the 320 tribes that are recognized by the U.S.

Senator Slade Gorton, a Republican of Washington, had been blocking funding for all Native American Indian programs and demanding that sovereign immunity be done away with. He released the money after he was promised action on his American Indian Equal Justice Act in this session of Congress.

Senator Gorton has said that "sovereign immunity is an anachronism in today's society." He has, however, said he will come up with measures to deal with specific issues.

Recently a gray wolf was killed in Arizona. My view is that these things happen and that we should see each incident for what it is: people and animals in the same place at the same time and a frightened or threatened person reacting according to the moment.

Here are the basics of this occurance. A camper killed a gray wolf to protect his pet dog who was in the woods with him. Also in camp was a three- year-old child.

That camper is now being censured by a group that wants to protect the wolf, and there is talk of a possible law suit.

I love animals, they are left alone in my presence and on the little space we call home. This includes wasps, bumblebees, and snakes of all kinds. Yes, we have rattlesnakes here.

But, I could not guarantee what I would do if I felt a true threat to me and mine, including a dog or a child, or a food crop.

Is that unreasonable, or have humans been given the same "fight or flight" response found in all creatures?

There is a phrase "playing possum" for a most unusual response from that critter.

Have you ever seen the teeth on a possum?

Come, let us reason together. We have enough foolishness in the courts of this land, and at a time when we need these courts to deal with truly important issues.

In a past article in the Clamor it was noted that the Grizzly bear (aptly known as "horribulis horribulis") has been re-introduced to the wilds along the Arizona border.

I'm all for the grizzly bear and the gray wolf and the bison. They are part of the All-Wise, All-Loving Creator's plan. So am I.

What is needed is an education of the wolves' place in the plan. Here are some Web sites that are dedicated to understanding the wolf.

The Fish and Game Commission may consider the removal of the gray wolf from the endangered list.

Once nearly extinct, the gray wolf is now doubling its population every year in some areas.

Much of this is due to restoration of the deer, elk, and moose which the wolves prey on, and better management and habitat. A program called Defenders of Wildlife has been repaying stock loss if any kill can be proven to be by wolves.

Secretary of the Department of Interior Bruce Babbitt has said that the DOI is considering whether or not the wolves need the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark said the Service will consult with States and Tribes to publish a proposal in the Federal Register this winter. There will be time for public comment and reclassification will not take place this year.

Clark stated that "perpetual protection is not the goal." Once any species can survive on their own they will be removed from the list.

For clarification of the terms: "Endangered" means in danger of extinction and "threatened" means likely to become endangered.

Wolves that have been reintroduced are classified as "non-essential, experimental."

If the wolf is taken off of the list, the Tribes and States will be responsible for wolf management and conservation.

The Red wolves of eastern Tennessee and North Carolina are not affected by this proposal, and Alaskan wolves have never been on the Federal list.

Current wolf populations are:

Three family groups of Mexican wolves were released in March of 1998 into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery area, 7,000 square miles in the Apache and Gila national forests of New Mexico and Arizona.

This is the first time the Mexican wolf has been in the wilds since their near-extinction in the 1950's. The current Mexican wolf population in captivity is 175.

The environmentalists see this as a step in repairing a damaged ecosystem; ranchers say that this action is a threat to their livelihood and a "nightmare." They had sued to stop the release, but the Fish and Wildlife service was unaware of the suit and the release went ahead.

The wolves have radio collars and indications are that they have begun to explore and increase their range. The goal of the program is a population of 100 wolves in the forests.

The three family groups are still being supplied with road-killed deer and such until they can survive by hunting, and that is the phase of the program that threatens the ranchers.

Fact is, in areas where wolves and livestock co-exist less than one-tenth of one percent of the livestock are taken by wolves. In these areas an organization called Defenders of Wildlife will repay the rancher for any proven wolf kills.

From the Blue Eagle Newsletter:

For centuries, Navajos returning from war were welcomed back to their homeland with ceremonies to restore them to harmony and get thoughts of war and death out of their minds.

But since the end of World War I, Navajo veterans have been fighting the federal government, arguing that the cost of these ceremonies was a legitimate medical need that should be paid for by Veterans Affairs.

On Tuesday, VA officials in Phoenix signed an unprecedented agreement with Navajo Nation President Thomas Atcitty, making the reimbursement of certain medicine-man expenses a reality.

"By this agreement, for perhaps the first time ever, our traditional Navajo beliefs will be acknowledged and affirmed by the federal government," Atcitty said.

Navajo officials said much of the credit for getting this agreement approved by the federal government had to go to John Fears, director of the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix.

Fears said that when he mentioned the idea to his superiors in Washington, D.C., three years ago, the response was one of disbelief, with many saying, "You want to do what?"

But his efforts were bolstered by studies indicating that Native Americans, and especially the Navajo and the Sioux, came home after serving in war with psychological problems stemming from their military service.

So 18 months ago, a pilot project got under way to see what kind of effect reimbursement of medicine-man expenses would have on the mental health of Navajo veterans. The results were better than expected, according to Leo Chischilly, director of the Navajo Veterans' Office.

"Sometimes when a Navajo veteran went to a doctor, the doctor could not detect anything wrong. This is when the veteran was urged to go to a medicine man and see if they could help," Chischilly said.

But with an unemployment rate exceeding 50 percent in the Navajo Nation, he said, many of the Navajo veterans couldn't afford a medicine man.

Willie Keeto Sr., a Window Rock-area medicine man, said Tuesday that many of the estimated 6,000 to 10,000 Navajo veterans are unwell and in need of medicine-man services. "This should help more veterans come forward to get (that) help," he said.

The agreement between the VA and the tribe paves the way for Navajo veterans to be reimbursed $50 when they go to a hand trembler, crystal gazer or stargazer, all of whom are traditional Navajos who diagnose the patient and determine which of the 23 or so Navajo ceremonies or hundreds of Navajo herbs are needed for a cure.

The government also will reimburse Navajos for all or part of the expenses if any of nine ceremonies - all of which aim to restore harmony in a returning warrior - are required for the well-being of the veteran.

For example, a hand trembler may say that a Flint Way (or Beesheeji) is needed. This is a five-day ceremony that is done to heal wounds from enemy weapons. Tuesday's agreement provides a reimbursement of up to $750 for this ceremony.

Other ceremonies that may be needed include the Evil Way (which purifies warriors affected by the dead), the Monster Way (to counteract the effect of coming in contact with the destruction of war) and the more widely known Yei Bei Chei (a nine-night ceremony that, among other things, can heal hearing problems stemming from explosions, shock and gunfire).

Fears said the government is agreeing only to pay the cost of the medicine man and his supplies. The Yei Bei Chei, for example, actually costs $3,000 to $4,000 to perform because there are a number of indirect expenses, including providing food for those involved in the ceremony and the payment of dancers.

Fears said there has also been talk about allowing Navajo veterans to be reimbursed for a healing ceremony performed within the Native American Church. But that is on hold until he gets some feedback from VA attorneys, he said, since part of the ceremony requires the ingestion of peyote, a hallucinogenic drug. Peyote use is restricted to Native Americans who are using the substance in traditional religious ceremonies.

"It's one thing for the federal government to allow the use of peyote; it's another when the federal government would actually pay for it," Fears said.

The program probably will be expanded in upcoming months, he said, to include other tribes in Arizona. Tribes outside Arizona will have to contact their area VA hospitals to see whether they can receive the same kind of benefits.

Do you have $5 million? Maybe you know someone?

That is the asking price for the famous Navajo "Little Sister" rug, which is also being called the "Clinic Rug."

The Chilchinbeto Health Clinic is in desparate need of funds: operating costs are $300,000 a year and the services of the clinic are critical to the Navajo.

The flag of New Mexico is not its own. So claims the Pueblo of Zia.

The red sun has origins in "time immemorial" and is sacred. It has been used for 74 years by New Mexico and the pueblo is asking one million dollars for every one of those years.

In 1995 the pueblo requested $70 million for licensing of the Zia sun and the meter is still running. This symbol is said to be at the "very core of our religion."

Both an Alamogordo drug company in 1995, and recently a motorcycle tour agency have applied to have the Zia sun used as trademarks, but both have withdrawn.

The pueblo has been giving permission to several businesses for use if the applicant will write a letter stating that the Zia sun is the property of the pueblo. These letters will be used to further substantiate their claim.

Governor Gary Johnson is using the sun to form the second letter "o" on his re-election campaign logo, and says, "It behooves us as a state to work out a solution without a lawsuit."

Spirit Talk Press
The Blackfoot Nation
P.O. Box 390
Browning, MT 59417

SPIRIT TALK: An Anthology of Indian Voices, seeks Indian authors to submit stories and articles for publication. A fee paid to those whose work is published.

Send only copies of work. Include illustrations. Send $5 for sample copy of Spirit Talk. This is a high quality color periodic book. Every bit as good as any national publication.

Best Western Novel:

• The Kiowa Verdict by Cynthia Haseloff, Five Star Press

• Cloudy in the West by Elmer Kelton, Forge Books
• The Diary of Matti Spenser by Sandra Dallas, St. Martin's Press

• Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry, Simon & Schuster

• Black Gold by Fred Bean, Forge Books
• Tallgrass by Don Coldsmith, Bantam Books

• Leaving Missouri by Ellen Recknor, Berkley

• Cossack Three Ponies by J. L. Reasoner, Berkley
• Brandish by Douglas Hirt, Leasure Books

• Danger Along the Ohio by Patricia Willis, Clarion Books

• The Trickster and the Trail by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, University of Nebraska Press
• The Last Rainmaker by Sherry Garland, Harcourt Barce & Co.

• Rattlesnake Dance by Jennifer Owings Dewey, Boyds Mills

• Dennis Banks: Native American Activist by Kae Cheatham, Enslow
• Homesteading on the Plains by Mary Dodson Wade, Millbrook

• Death's Deceiver by Lynn Bridges, University of New Mexico Press

• Barry Goldwater: Native Arizonian by Peter Iverson, University of Oklahoma Press
• John Ringo by Dave Johnson, Barbed Wire Press

• El Llano Estacado by John Miller Morris, Texas State Historical Association

• Thomas Moran by Nancy K. Anderson, Yale University Press
• The Mormon Battalion: United States Army of the West, 1846-1848 by Norma Baldwin Ricketts, Utah State University Press

• Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas, Simon & Schuster

• Sandstone Sunsets by Mark Taylor, Gibbs Smith Publisher
• Mining Cultures: Men, Women and Leisure in Butte, 1914-1941, by Mary Murphy, University of Illinois Press

• Keepers of the Earth by LaVerne Harrell Clark, Cinco Puntos Press

• Dark Trail to Dodge by Cotton Smith, Walker

They are at it again, and it sounds good on the surface as usual. Bigger trout, the Triploid, is being stocked along with regular hatchery trout.

These triploids are the result of fertilized trout eggs being subjected to heat and pressure, which results in three sets of chromosomes rather than the usual two. Hence the name "triploid."

The result is bigger, faster growing, longer-lived fish, with "better flesh quality." Sounds great, but there is a small drawback.

The trout cannot reproduce. Aha! Messing with the food chain again! Can't leave these guys alone for a minute!

The Jicarilla Tribe has stocked 7,000 triploids at Stone Lake, and the rationale is reasonable enough. Conditions at Stone Lake do not allow trout to spawn, as a gravel- bottom stream is necessary for success.

The Jicarilla Apache Tribal fish biologist, Jim White, says that the fish will not reach maturity for at least two years.

Because the fish are sterile there will be no mixing of species.

OK, all of this is obvious. But . . .

Food for thought: The diet of trout includes smaller fish and fish eggs. The bioligists in charge assure us that results will be closely monitored.

Senator Slade Gorton is definitely after a new America. There are five new proposals before Congress that would change the entire relationship between Federal government and the Sovereign Native American Tribes.

Gorton wants to waive tribal sovereignty:

• For suits to collect state cigarette taxes.
• For the enforcement of the Indian Civil Rights Act.
• For enforcement of Federal environment laws.
• For torts (damages).
• For suits against tribes on contracts.

"A misinformed and and racially motivated attack on Indian sovereignty and sovereign immunity.

"Our sovereignty and our right to define the limits of our sovereign immunity predates the foundation of the United States.

"As true sovereigns, tribes have many sovereign powers not stated in treaties."

EDITOR: To answer some of Gorton's proposals specifically:

• One nation cannot tell another nation whether or not to collect taxes; neither can one nation collect taxes from another nation. That is one of the definitions of sovereignty.
• The Indian Civil Rights Act was hard-won, and there are still contests going on that affect political prisoners. The danger in that one is easy to see.
• If conflict in Federal environmental laws and sovereignty re-opens many people will go hungry on the Rez, and many religious ceremonies will be blocked. We are back to hawks, eagles, buffalo, and wolves again - and water, and oil and coal and uranium and waste dumps. And lives.
• Torts and contracts: The United States government cannot be sued by its citizens unless it consents. This is a source of much anger to many people, but that's the way it is. And it's the same for Tribal Sovereignty, except this is still under the discretion of Congress. Still an entanglement in that one.

Navajo Nation President Albert Hale. I used to start every other story in the Four Corners Clamor that way.

And now its:

Senator Slade Gorton, Republican from Washington state.

I'll tell you, President Albert Hale was a lot more fun.

Gorton's new idea is to cut 50 per cent of the funding from the top ten "lower 48" tribes and redirect the savings of about $12 million to the bottom 20 per cent of the tribes.

The math confuses me: Does this mean that the total money to the top 10 is $24 million, and that the bottom 20 are going to get about 50 bucks apiece? $12 million is a movie budget - a cheap movie.

Whatever, it has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Within the bill is the stipulation that the tribes must open their books to show revenue. As Senator Pete Domenici reminded, no state in the U.S. has to reveal its income. Hmmm.

Here are some interesting comparisons:

• Navajo Nation: Not in the top 10 - not in the bottom 20. Just about in the middle. Per capita income on the Rez: $750 a year. No help there.
• Southern Ute: In the top 10. Would lose half of its funding.
• Ute Mountain Ute: Just out of the top 10, with only a $53 difference in the Southern Ute's per capita income. No change for them.

The senators from Colorado and New Mexico are strongly opposed.

We need more imagination on these committees and I nominate Navajo Nation ex-President Albert Hale.

Senator Conrad Burns of Montana has written a bill to exempt non-Indians living on Indian land from jurisdiction by the tribe.

This is a quoted page of an interesting study of dinosaurs at University of Texas in Austin:

The Age of Dinosaurs is designed to introduce non-science majors to the methods and practice of natural science, using the systematics of dinosaurs as an example.

Systematics is the study of biological diversity and its organization.

Here's a good idea. Scientists from Japan, Russia and Britain are going to Siberia to find frozen mammoth sperm.

Though these hairy critters have been extinct for over 30,000 years the plan is to bring them back by fertilizing elephants and creating a hybrid.

Now follow this: The experts claim that by cross-breeding through many generations eventually a "pure" mammoth will result.

I guess "pure" is reckoned differently with animals than it is with humans. Think about it.

And by the way, how did the U.S.A. miss out on this one?

ALABAMA POW WOWS & CULTURAL EVENTS:

• Late July/early August: Indian Summer Craft Classes at Moundville Archaeological Park, Moundville. Info: (205) 371-2234
• Sept. 18-20: Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama Fall Festival & Pow Wow, at Sequoyah Caverns, between Ider & Valley Head. Info: (205) 681-0800.
• Sept. 19: Trail of Tears Commemoration Day & Motorcycle Ride. For location & details, call (205) 740-4141.
• Sept. 22-26: Moundville Native American Festival, Moundville Archaeological Park, Moundville. Info: (205) 371-2571.
• Last weekend in September: Re-enactment of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek & Cultural Festival, at the MOWA Choctaw Reservation in Mt. Vernon. Info: John Byrd (334) 929-6502, or Choctaw Tribal Office (334) 829-5500.

For a listing of Native American activities, contact Alabama Indian Affairs Commision, 669 South Lawrence St., Montgomery, AL 36104 or (334) 242-2831.

• Aug. 1: Native American Games Workshop at Toltec Mounds State Park. (Reservations required) Info: Toltec Mounds Arcaeological State Park, 490 Toltec Mounds Road, Scott, AR 72142 (501) 961-9442.

GEORGIA POW WOWS & EVENTS:

• Aug. 1: Reptiles Alive (10 am & 2 pm), at Panola Mountain State Park, Stockbridge. Meet & learn about live snakes & other reptiles. Registration begins July 1, and there is a program fee. Info: (770) 389-7801.
• Aug. 14-16: Doc Holliday Days Native American Festival, Kiwanis Fairgrounds, Griffin. Head Man: Marty Wabindato; Head Lady: Arlene "Powell" Arnold; Emcee: John "Winterhawk" Johnson. There will be exhibition, intertribal & competition dancing; Native arts & crafts; a round robin Saturday nite for vendors & dancers. All dancers & all drums welcome. Times are: Friday, 5am -9pm; Sat., 10am - 7pm; Sun., 10am - 6pm.
  Info: Jerry or Sandra Denton (770) 467-9848 or Bill Dunn (770) 412-9180.
  For those who are interested, along with the powwow, the Doc Holliday Society's other activities run Aug. 13-16, and include Western Re-enactments, Antiques, Civil War Re-enactments, Bands, a Birthday Banquet & Wild West Bar-be-que.
• Aug. 15: (1 - 4pm) Flintknapping, Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site, Cartersville. (Admission charged) Info: (770) 387-3747.
• Aug. 15-16: (9am - 4pm) Native American Heritage Days at Crooked River State Park, St. Mary's. Native American encampment includes games, food demonstrations, dances & crafts. Admission charged. Info: (912) 882-5256.
• Sept. 5-6: Running Water Pow Wow, Cherokee Homecoming & Ripe Corn Festival, at Ridge Ferry Park in Rome. Head Man: Bullit Standingdeer; Head Woman: Laretta Weaver; Emcee: Rick Bird; Arena Director: Jamie Pheasant; Host Drum: Bird Chopper Bird Family Singers. Story telling by Fred Bradley. Competition, intertribal & social dancing. Honor Guard: Kusa Warrior Society. Presented by the Native American Preservation Association of Georgia. Info: NAPA, P.O. Box 565, Rome, GA, 30162-0565 or Brenda Yancey (770) 926-0753.
• Sept 12: (2pm) Native American Lecture on the Creeks, Cherokees & Pre-Columbian Mississippian People by Dr. Max White, professor of history at Piedmont College & author of Georgia's Indian Heritage. Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site, Cartersville. (Admission charged) Info: (770) 387-3747.
• Sept 26: (10am) Mushroom Mania at Smithgall Woods-Dukes creek Conservation Area, Helen. Join a U. of GA professor on this hike to learn about fungi. Bring a basket to collect edible mushrooms (permitted only on this hike), and watch a slide show. Info: (706) 878-3087.
• Sept 26-27: Fall Festival, McIntosh Reserve, Whitesburg. Info: (770) 830-5599.

Historic sites do not charge for parking, but may charge a small admission fee.

For more information, or a free brochure on Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, contact:
Georgia Department of Natural Resources,
205 Butler St., Suite 1352,
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 656-2770 [TDD: (770) 389-7404]

INDIANA:

• AUGUST 8, 9: 4TH ANNUAL INDIANA INDIAN MOVEMENT POWWOW - GLENN HILLS WOOD CAMP GROUND - 2.5 MILES SOUTH OF DERBY, IN, NW OF TELL CITY - 812. 836 2014
• AUGUST 15, 16: 16TH ANNUAL AICI TRADITIONAL POW WOW - BOONE COUNTY FAIR GROUNDS - LEBANON, INDIANA - 765 - 482-3315 NANCY MALATARE - 765 - 545-5057 S. DEEM
• SEPT.4, 5, 6: 37TH ANNUAL TECUMSEH LODGE POW WOW - TIPTON 4-H GROUNDS - TIPTON, IN - 317 - 773-4223 BARBARA SCOTT - 317 - 745-2858
  THEY ARE ESTIMATING 600 DANCERS THIS YEAR
• SEPTEMBER 12-21: NATIONAL MUZZLELOADING RIFLE ASOCIATION OF AMERICA FALL SHOOT - ( RENDEVENOUS) - FRIENDSHIP, INDIANA
• OCTOBER 9, 10, 11: REBIRTH OF THE BUFFALO FALL FESTIVAL - NEEDMORE, IN (JUST OUTSIDE ELIZABETH) - 812 - 968- 3473
• OCTOBER 10, 11: FEAST OF THE HUNTERS MOON - FORT QUIETON - WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - 317 - 742- 8411 FERN MARTIN

KENTUCKY

• AUGUST 8, 9: CAVE CITY POW WOW - CAVE CITY, KY - (EXIT 53 OFF I-65) - IVAN JOHN, ANITA BASS (502) 453-2947
• AUGUST 29, 30: NATIVE AMERICAN FESTIVAL - WESTPORT, KY - (502) 222-5057 DAVE
• SEPT. 12,13: TRAIL OF TEARS INTERTRIBAL POW WOW - TRAIL OF TEARS PARK - HOPKINSVILLE, KY - (502) 886-8033
• SEPTEMBER 17, 18, 19, 20: SHADOW OF THE BUFFALO NATIVE AMERICAN GATHERING - LAKE SHELBY PARK - SHELBYVILLE, KY - (502) 451-0384 DON
• SEPTEMBER 25, 26, 27: LAKE REBA RICHMOND POW WOW - IRVING MCDONALD - PARKRICHMOND, KY - (606) 622- 1063 - JAN QUIGG
• OCTOBER 2, 3, 4: OHIO RIVER NATIVE MERICAN INTERTRIBAL COUNCIL FESTIVAL (ORNAIC) - BULLITT COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS - 25 MILES SOUTH OF LOUISVILLE, KY - OFF I-65 - (502) 947-5032 RED KELLEN OR (502) 257-2886 FRANK COOK
• OCTOBER 9, 10, 11: ALL NATIONS INTERTRIBAL COUNCIL (ANIC) TRADITIONAL POW WOW - SIMPSONVILLE, KY - 12 MILES EAST OF LOUISVILLE I-64 - SHELBY COUNTY FLEA MARKET - EXIT 28 SIMPSONVILLE, KY - (502) 231-2341 OR (502) 752-2618 - FRANK LUNA
• OCTOBER 10, 11: CALHOUN COUNTY INDIANA HERITAGE FESTIVAL - MYERS CREEK PARK - CALHOUN, KY - (502) 926-8686 TERRY WELOUNE - (502) 273-3092 BARBARA WIGGINS
• OCTOBER 17, 18: DAY OF THE WOLF INTERTRIBAL POW WOW - NELSON COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS - BARDSOWN, KY - (606) 545-9252 EDDIE AGE

TENNESSEE:

• SEPTEMBER 25, 26, 27: WILSON COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS - LEBANON, TENN - (615) 444-4899 DON YAHOLA
• OCTOBER 23, 24, 25: ANUAL CLARKSVILLE INTERTRIBAL POW WOW - AUSTIN PEAY STATE UNIVERSITY - CLARKSVILLE, TENN - (931) 326-5837 DAVID OR INGRID BAKER
• OCTOBER 24, 25: WOODLAWN PARK, TENN BENEFIT POW WOW COMPETITION - MICHELLE WAY (615) 431- 3057 - OR WRITE VANESSA WHITMAN - 2592 DOVER ROAD - WOODLAWN TN 37191

Wolf Soldier Three Crows Memorial Powwow,
Hendrickson Park
Merrick Road
Valley Stream, N.Y.
Sunday, October 11, 1998
11 am to 4 pm
Rain date: Sunday, Oct. 18, 1998
Northeeastern Native American Assoc.
Host Drum: The Native Drum Circle
For info call:
Little Fawn: 516 - 226-5306
Winter Flower: 718-978-7057
Vendors and Dancers welcome

Aug 9- Roasting Ears of Corn Festival
Museum Of Indian Culture,
2825 Fish Hatchery Rd.
Allentown Pa (610) 797-2121

Aug 8-9 11th Annual Mountain Springs Powwow,
Shartlesville, Pa.
Host Drum: Otter Trail (610) 488-6859

Aug 15-16- Carlisle, Pa Powwow
Carlisle Fairgrounds
1000 Bryn Maws Rd
(717) 243-7855 or (252) 257-5383

Aug 15-16 4th Annual Big Circle of Life Powwow,
Fairfield Fire Co,
Fairfield, Pa

Aug 21-23- 18th Annual Flying W Ranch Powwow.
Flying W Ranch,
Kellettville, Pa.
(814) 463-7663

Aug 21-23 Baltimore American Indian center Powwow,
Baltimore, Md
(420) 675-3535

Aug 29-30 Traditional Native American Festival
Rt 15 Trout Run, Pa
(15 mi S. of Williamsport, Pa)
(717) 995-5177

Sept 4-7 Tradition Native American Festival Gathering of the People,
located on City Island,
Harrisburg, Pa
(717) 995-5177

Sept 5-7- 5th Annual Fishing Creek Powwow,
Camp Levigne, Benton, Pa
Host Drum: Eagle Spirit

Sept 12-13- 5th Annual Lenape Honoring Festival,
Myrick Conservation Center,
West Chester, Pa.
info: Jane Bailey- (610) 793-1861

Sept 19-20- Nause Waiwash Band of Indians,
Native American festival,
Sailwinds Park, Cambridge, Md
(410) 376-3889

Sept 26-27- 16th Annual Native American Festival,
Indian Steps Museum, Airville, Pa

Sept 26-27- Council of Three Rivers American Indian center, 20th Annual Powwow
200 Charles St. Dorseyville, Pa (412)782-4457

Sept 25-27- 2nd Annual Gathering of the People Festival& Powwow,
Penns Cave, On Rt 192 east of State College (717) 566-9644

Sept 26-27- Turtle Island Powwow,
Greene Co Fairgrounds, Greene Co., Pa Host Drum: Eagle Spirit

Oct 11- A time of Thanksgiving, Museum of Indian Culture,
2825 Fish Hatchery Rd, Allentown, Pa. (610) 787-2121

Oct 10-11- 4th Annual American Indian Powwow,
Juniata Springs Bison Farm, Mifflintown, Pa.

Oct 17-19- Hagerstown, Maryland Powwow,
Hagerstown Junior College, 11400 Robinwood Dr (252) 257-5383

EDITOR: I surely admire the folks who put all of this information together, and I suggest you see the links page and get on the mailings lists, because I am NEVER going to do this again!

You don't think water can be juggled? Watch this.

On June 19, 1998 the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development presented a check for $2,941,400 to the Consolidated Villages of First Mesa.

This is for the upgrading of water and wastewater systems, primarily for fire protection and drinking water for the shopping area, and will serve 291 families in the Polacca area of the Hopi Rez.

Thomas Jefferson, who spilled the beans, long ago reminded us that the goverment cannot give you something that it hadn't taken away in the first place.

The Hopi have had over a billion gallons of water pumped from under their land to be used to move coal slurry through the pipelines to Albuquerque and Nevada.

It looks like this juggling act dropped a lot of the balls.

"When mankind is not respectful to the earth or one another there is a disruption of balance, and harmony is restored when the artifacts and sacred items are returned."

That statement by Forrest Cuch, a member of the Northern Ute Tribe, who is also the director of the state Division of Indian Affairs, is the feeling that led to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

The bill was passed in 1990, but it took two years for inventory of musuems. Tim McKeown, who was foremost in coordinating the act, says that 700 tribes have reclaimed more than 300,000 items, which are classified as religious, funeral or patrimonial.

What began as a chore for Duncan Metcalfe, curator of artifacts at the Utah Museum of Natural History, has become a labor of love.

The grave of a young child found in Glen Canyon revealed the baby wrapped in a rabbit skin robe, with a basket covering and small vessels placed in the grave.

"This was a much-loved child. That changed my views. We are doing the right thing," says Metcalfe.

The Utah museum has the largest collection, which dates back to the 1800's. So far 2,000 items have been identified but none have been reclaimed yet.

The process began by having the room blessed by a Shoshone holy man.

A closer relationship has grown between museums and tribes, there is better communication, and several displays have been corrected by this new cooperation.

A little respect can do wonders for all.

This e-mail tells you how to register your ancestors in the Native American Ancestors Roster. Hope it's helpful.

The weekend of July 4th, 1998, the Third Annual Walnut Valley Inter-Tribal Pow-Wow was held at Cowley County Fairground in my home town of Winfield, KS.

So I loaded a small box with camera, tape recorder, note pads and pens.

I came home with not one sound bite, not one picture, and an empty note pad.

Powwows are not about tourism, though there were many booths offering food and crafts.

They are not about competition, though the dancing was of top quality.

Powwows are about being there, sitting quietly and letting the rhythms transport you to a simple place of understanding.

They are the largest family reunions in the world.

And a good time was had by all in the welcoming community of Winfield, KS.

Here is an e-mail quote fron John Garret Crow.

"Dear Fellow Native American or Friend of Native Americans:

My name is John Garret Crow and I am a full-blooded American Indian.

I am a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

To be an Indian in these times of high-technology is strange and new. It has always been hard to be an Indian, but now we have computers, fax machines, modems, so forth. Still, the opportunities and possibilities of this new technology are exciting. Exciting for our World and our People.

I am using the Tool of Technology to convey this message. I want to tell you about two books I and my wife Martha have researched and written.

Our books were made so Indian Country could better communicate, connect, and network together as a Circle of Nations. Our books were also made so we could give non-Indians authentic sources/resources to find information about our Native World.

When we have a better Talking Circle, we are less likely to be divided and conquered by the things that have tried to overcome us in the past.

Our books are empowerment tools as knowledge really is power. Knowledge is the fuel we need to infuse and enable this Talking Circle.

1997-98 Indian Country Address Book: A very comprehensive, national directory of Indian Country. With over 12,000 entries, it has 64 chapters, beginning with Agriculture and ending with Youth.

It sells for $55. If you mention this e-mail letter, shipping will be free.

Native American Internet Guide: A directory with almost 1,500 listings of Internet sites about/by/for Indigenous People of the Western Hemisphere.

It contains 30 chapters and we made this book so people can find Native sites easily and instantly.

It costs $30. Again, if you mention this e-mail letter, the shipping will be free.

I receive a lot of interesting e-mail and am privileged to have met many people whom I call friends on-line.

When Ray Theis was thoughtful enough to send me an invitation to Jay Gentle Sky's Seminar I wrote to ask him to tell me more, and we compared a few notes on religions.

Ray is solid in his belief that Wah' Kon is a true power of healing and self-fullfillment. I hope I said that well.

So here is an offering of some of the words of Jay Gentle Sky, who practices and teaches the Way of the Osage.

Wah' Kon, the Mystery Power.

"Power of thought - power of consciousness - power of mind - and the connection.

"Your right to be in control of your life as we enter this new age of knowing what we are and who we are.

"Your right to manifest a thought at will, instantly fulfilling your created right to be in control of the physical, emotional, and mental states.

"Experience the inner world of peace and simplicity at will - experience love of all at will - be what you want at will. This is your created gift.

"Jay Gentle Sky taught his first students 26 years ago. He has done seminars from Houston to Calgary on "What Man Is" and the "Power of Thought".

"Many speak and talk of these things, but we believe Jay Gentle Sky is the only one to demonstrate these things with the audience, allowing them to participate and experience the power of thought as a personal experience of choice.

"Jay Gentle Sky is an Osage Tribal member. The Osage Indians were the first to study thought, "as far as we know," and the power behind every thought, and it's given name was WAH'KON, an Osage word meaning " 'The Mystery Power.' " End quoted article.

There is an upcoming seminar in Bartlesville, OK, this October.
The old link was gone - this link was updated on November 28, 1999.

When I read of this amazing woman I just had to share it.

Dr. Annie Dodge Wauneka was so busy in her lifetime, when her daughter, Irma Bluehouse, unpacked all the awards in 1984, Annie Wauneka herself was surprised.

And the awards are still coming in, though Dr. Wauneka passed on November 10, 1997.

As a tribute to Dr. Wauneka, the Navajo Nation Museum presented a display of the achievements and personal memorabilia on April 9 - 10. She was born on April 10, 1910, in Sawmill.

Irma Bluehouse recalls her "mother's tireless efforts to eradicate tuberculosis on the reservation." Here is a list of some of the honors paid to Dr. Annie Wauneka.

• 1951: First woman delegate to the Navajo Nation Council.
  She was also the Health and Social Services Committee chairperson.
• 1963: Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• 1972: Doctorate of Humanities degree from University of Albuquerque
• 1980: Doctorate of Humane Letters from College of Ganado
• 1984: Legendary Mother Medal. An award from her Navajo people,
  and her "most cherished honor."
• 1985: Doctorate of Humane Letters, Honoria Causa from University of New Mexico.
• 1996: Honorary Doctorate of Law degree from University of Arizona

Dr. Wauneka's daughter has said that there are more than 120 awards and she is planning a display in July.

The only information I have for contact is (505) 871-6627, which was for the April tribute.

In February of 1998 a U.N. rapporteur was sent to Arizona to investigate human rights offenses against the Navajo and Hopi. Since then the conditions and offenses have been called "the greatest abuse of human rights in the western hemisphere."

Peabody Coal of England has been one of the main players in this drama, as they have been charged with pumping over one billion gallons of water from under the reservations in order to send coal slurry to Albuquerque and Nevada.

Other charges have been the forced relocation of Navajo onto radioactive land.

Well, we are not talking $$$millions$$$ here, just one lone Navajo woman.

Maxine Kescoli refuses to move and the Peabody Coal Company has the mining rights to her traditional home, which is one mile from the Kayenta Mine.

Small matter to most, because there is monetary compensation provided for in the agreement between the Navajo Nation and Peabody. It is all legal and to their credit, Peabody builds excellent houses with solar power and plumbing.

So what's the big deal? The hogan is the center of Navajo life.

Maxine Kescoli says, "My umbilical cord is buried here."

That isn't a very nice way to say it, is it? Well, actually they skipped the country.

With all the controversy and and the new deals done amd pending, Peabody Western has solved it's problems by selling out.

The deal was literally a two-step: Texas Utilities Company bought the British-based Energy Group and then sold the Peabody Group of companies to Lehman Merchant Banking. The Kayenta and the Black Mesa coal mines are part of the deal, and the new company says that there will not be any changes in the business of daily coal mining.

Stay tuned.

Want a shot of good news? Here you go.

Aaron Casey Ben, three years old, went out early on a Sunday morning to practise roping goats. He heard a strange noise and turned to look, and said, "Oh, no, my house!"

He ran back into the house and told his parents that he wanted a new house "because this one is burning."

It was. They put it out quickly and with minor loss.

A three-year-old hero.

There is a lot of discussion and dispute about sovereignty, and some important legislation has recently been passed to give all tribes an edge in business dealings.

Wow! Somebody knows what they are doing.

Navajo Nation total investments:

• End of 1997: $952.3 million.
  Previous year: $756.6 million.
  Up $196 million.

• End of 1997: $408.9 million.
  Up $85 million.

• End of 1997: $141.2 million.
  Previous year: $113.6 million.

The Pequots have gambling, the Navajo don't.

The Accommodation Agreement had its first anniversary on March 31, 1998. This is a three year trial period for another band-aid, quick-fix, no-true-help "solution" to the federal Relocation Act of 1974, which is an outgrowth of the 1882 Navajo/Hopi Partition.

The full duration of the agreement is 75 years, and states that those who have signed do not have to relocate or adhere to the 20-year construction freeze.

Here is the miserable history of the ongoing Hopi/Navajo dispute that traditionalists claim was not a dispute until the U.S. government made it so. Both tribes had been living among each other, in some cases sharing sacred sites.

Generations of Navajo have told the story of the Treaty of 1868 that began the return of the Navajo to their homeland.

Now, for the first time in nearly 130 years, the treaty is back within the Four Sacred Mountains.

This important document will be only display at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff for one year beginning June 1, 1998,

Originally there were three copies of the Treaty of 1868, but one is believed to have been buried with Barboncito, who was the lead chief of the Navajos in 1868.

The third copy was in the possession of General William Sherman, but is feared lost as it is not in the Sherman Museum.

In April the Navajo Nation Council passed the Local Governance Act (LGA), which is to give local chapters of the Navajo Nation more self-government.

Previously each chapter had to wait on a central and slow bureaucracy to implement plans and changes locally.

The centralized government that has developed with the Navajo was influenced by long contact with the Anglo ways. There appears to be a polarization within the Hopi and Navajo, just as within the U.S. example of state's rights versus the Federal umbrella. END NOTE.

The Navajo have drafted the governance act to be applied in three phases which expire on set dates.

• Phase One: This is a transition period as the original government stays in place and this phase expires September 30, 1998.

• Phase Two: This is the period of time from October 1, 1998 until September 30, 2000 in which the local chapters will work for certification.
  This involved process will require the local chapters to develop their own structure and show financial and operational responsibilty for three months.
  After evaluation and approval by the Navajo Nation Auditor General, the Transportation and Community Development Committee decides on certification.
  Upon certification the responsibilities and duties of the central government will be transfered to the chapter. This may result in the elimination of some positions and the re-classification of others.
• Phase Three: From October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2002 the self-governing process will be evaluated under the watchful eye of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee. Once satisfied, this committee will transfer the Community Services Program (CSP) to the local government.

There is no such term as "fool-proof" and here is the proof.

The inherent design of the Creator as stated in Genesis, (for those prone to seeing for themselves) has been circumvented by the very clever people at Delta Pine and Land Company. And a patent has been granted.

First the background.

The Creator of All, foreseeing the need for folks to be able to eat from year to year, "brought forth" grass, herbs, and fruit "whose seed was in itself."

Makes sense to me, but let's play with this a bit.

The original system that has been working very well until now is a network of wind, birds, animals (squirrels come to mind) that carries the seeds far and wide to insure the continuing propagation of food.

About 12,000 years ago (bet I get mail on that one) man entered into the wisdom of this and saved the seed with the most desirable traits to plant next year's crop.

Sometimes we're smart.

But the USDA has decided that they are smarter. That august organization now shares the patent with Delta Pine and Land for a new technique to "genetically-disable" seeds.

Their product will produce the first crop, but seed cannot be saved from that plant. So far they have only been "successful" with cotton and tobacco seeds, but they're working on it.

I say anybody dumb enough to buy this stuff deserves to go out of business.

Or go hungry! Maybe this is "natural selection" at work. The dumb people will die.

The Black Hills of South Dakota are sacred to the Sioux. A sculpture of Chief Crazy Horse was begun 50 years ago and dedication took place on June 3. Here is how the Lakota feel about that:

More than 50 years ago the Oglala Sioux Tribe filed a suit against the United States of America for the illegal taking of the mountains held sacred to them. The suit was eventually joined by all of the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation.

Fifty years ago a man named Korczak Ziolkowski started the huge task of carving a statue to honor Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux. He began to sculpt in the mountains still under litigation.

The suit would continue until 1981 when the U.S. government would make a monetary settlement for the theft of the sacred Black Hills of the Sioux.

The award of $105 million has now grown to more than $500 million since 1981 and the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation have rejected the cash offer. They have maintained since 1877, when Congress took the land without permission, that the Black Hills are not for sale.

In the late 1980's Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ) offered to sponsor a bill to be known as the Bradley Bill to return 1.3 acres of the 7.5 million acres making up the Black Hills to the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation so they could use it for religious purposes and to name it the Sioux Nation National Park.

Up stepped a millionaire claiming to be Sioux, Mr. Phil Stevens of California, making enough noise to divert the attention from the Bradley Bill. Sen. Bradley eventually became so fed up with the infighting that he withdrew his support of the bill.

Mr. Stevens, with all of his money, managed to destroy what it took the Sioux more than 60 years to accomplish, a bill to reclaim a small portion of their Black Hills and the money to make it work.

While the Sioux Nation was fighting for the legal title to a land stolen from them, a case described by Justice Harry Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court as " a ripe and rank case of dishonest dealings," by the United States, Gutzon Borglum and Mr. Ziolkowski were carving up the sides of two mountains.

One was carving the faces of four American presidents largely responsible for so much of the harm done to the American Indian and the other the face of a great Lakota warrior who would never have granted his permission to have his likeness deface his sacred Black Hills.

Fifty years ago World War II had just ended. Many Lakota warriors were just returning to their homes on the reservations of North and South Dakota. Many never returned and are buried far from their sacred Black Hills after giving their lives defending America.

These returning warriors brought with them a different attitude. They had seen the world. They had learned new laws. Their eyes had been opened to new ways of solving old problems.

They immediately took up the fight for the Hills and attacked the government-sponsored "relocation" programs and the termination programs that followed. They fought in the courts to stop further incursions upon reservation lands. In South Dakota they fought and won the battle to prevent state jurisdiction on tribal lands.

Some found it appalling that an organization such as Freedom Forum, headed by the founder of USA Today, Allen Newharth, a native of South Dakota, would honor Ruth Ziolkowski, the widow of Korczak, when so many Indians were totally opposed to the carving known as Crazy Horse Mountain.

The great-great-granddaughter of Black Elk, has been an outspoken critic of the Ziolkowskis. Charlotte Black Elk considers the carving of Crazy House to be an insult to all Lakota and Dakota people.

The great-great grandson of Chief Red Cloud is also aghast. Oliver Red Cloud said, "These white people are not helping anybody. They are just using Crazy Horse's name." He said, "His spirit (Crazy Horse) will not let them use his name. His spirit isn't going to let that monument live long. It will be destroyed by lightning or whatever. It will crumble."

I have often wondered who is being honored by the carving. If one visits the monument one will learn an awful lot about Korczak Ziolkowski, but very little about Crazy Horse or the Sioux Indians. I believe the monument is a tribute to the sculptor, not an honor to Crazy Horse.

The quiet Lakota warrior would never have allowed his likeness to be carved on the face of his beloved Hills.

Ruth Ziolkowski is a good woman. But times have changed since her husband began his project 50 years ago. The Lakota people, thought to be a dying race then, has grown considerably in numbers and political strength.

Ninety percent of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota people will never accept a dime for the theft of the Black Hills. They still hope to introduce legislation to get a portion of the Black Hills back.

It is even more insulting for a U.S. Senator who claims to be an Indian, Ben Nighthorse Campbell,(R-Colo), to climb up on his soap box and offer praise for the monstrosity being carved at Crazy Horse Mountain.

This is the business of the Sioux people and Sen. Campbell should keep his nose out of their business. Who else would have the power to stop the construction of the highway passing in front of her precious monument so that it would not interfere with the 50th anniversary celebration except Ruth Ziolkowski?

The construction was stopped for the summer.

And the carving and the celebration will continue as scheduled.

Editor Here: I apologize: This article was done - I thought - but while sorting my e-mail this came to light.

From Blue Eagle Newsletter: April 11
Crazy Horse Sculpture.
Date: 98-04-11 21:17:29 EDT

Ruth Ziolkowski says this summer's 50th anniversary of the start of carving Crazy Horse Memorial, the world's largest sculpture, is not an end.

It's a celebration of what the family has accomplished and the beginning of what's needed in the next 50 years, she said. "We have a long, long way to go and a lot of work left," Mrs. Ziolkowski, 71, said.

That may be the case, but certainly the humanity of Crazy Horse is starting to show. Workers have nearly finished his face, which will be dedicated June 3. Even from the visitor's center a mile from the carving, the features are clear - right down to the chin, nose and eyes.

The goal is to turn a granite mountain into a sculpture 563 feet high and 641 feet long portraying Lakota warrior Crazy Horse astride a stallion, pointing to his sacred land.

It will be taller than the Washington Monument and almost twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. It's so big that all four presidents from nearby Mount Rushmore National Memorial could fit inside Crazy Horse's head.

The idea was born in 1939 when Lakota Indian Chief Henry Standing Bear wrote to Mrs. Ziolkowski's husband, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski. Standing Bear had learned that Ziolkowski helped Gutzon Borglum that summer on the Mount Rushmore carving.

American Indians wanted their own monument.

Ruth Ziolkowski said one line from Standing Bear's letter to her husband persuaded him to take on the task of carving Crazy Horse: "Will you carve us a mountain so the white men will know the red men had great heroes, too?" the letter read.

Though Crazy Horse was a Lakota warrior, the monument is a symbol to all North American Indian tribes.

Ziolkowski always favored the underdog and believed the nation's treatment of Indians was one of the darkest marks on its history, Mrs. Ziolkowski said.

After volunteering to fight in World War II, Ziolkowski moved his family to Custer and set off the first blast June 3, 1948.

Korczak Ziolkowski died in 1982, but his wife and seven of the couple's 10 children took over the project, which is financed solely through entrance fees and donations.

"When Korczak died, the world thought the project died with him," Robb DeWall, who handles public relations at the memorial, said this past week. "He said to Ruth, 'I can't carve it from the grave. You're going to have to make some hard decisions.' And she has."

One of those decisions was to change the focus from carving the horse first to working on Crazy Horse's face. Visitors have a much better idea of the project's size since the face has taken shape, DeWall said.

They now comment less on its magnitude and more on its emotion, he said. "Korczak called it storytelling in stone. And the face has let the storytelling begin," DeWall said.

And as the memorial's physical mission takes shape, so is the cultural goal of improving racial relationships. The Native American Education and Cultural Center opened three years ago next to the visitor's center.

Flags from Indian tribes across the nation hang in gallery. And during the summer, artists from various tribes sell their works and talk with visitors from around the world. That breaks down cultural barriers, said Donovin Sprague, the center's assistant director. He also gives speeches and college classes on Indian culture.

New to the memorial is a bronze replica of Ziolkowski's "Fighting Stallions."

Mrs. Ziolkowski gave the state permission to use the carving to create a memorial in Pierre for Gov. George Mickelson and seven other government and business leaders who died in a 1993 airplane crash. She said the Crazy Horse Memorial should also have a replica of it. Mrs. Ziolkowski said she is enthusiastic about the project.

The 50th anniversary of Crazy Horse is June 3, but the celebration is under way all year at the memorial near Custer.

Some of the people who plan to attend the 50th anniversary are descendants of Chief Henry Standing Bear, who asked Korczak Ziolkowski to build the memorial.

Billy Mills, a Lakota Indian from South Dakota who won an Olympic medal in 1964 in the 10-kilometer run, plans to attend. When Mills struggled during the Olympics, he thought of Crazy Horse and was inspired, Mrs. Ziolkowski said.

Three buses of Indians from Tennessee also plan to attend, as do several non-native people who attended the first blast on June 3, 1948.

The memorial will host its annual Volksmarch June 5-7. Last year, 13,000 people hiked 6 1/2 miles up the memorial and back.

Ziolkowski hopes the 50th anniversary celebration brings the Crazy Horse project back into the forefront.

EDITOR: Well, for all I know I'm in some kind of copyright trouble. I have enclosed an e-mail with a copyrighted enclosure inside my copyrighted page.

This must be how all the people concerned about the Crazy Horse Memorial must feel: Who did what and who said they could do it?

My excuse is laziness; not wanting to bother to type it myself, or investigate further. Maybe that is the rationale with some of these folks.

I do know that a general attitude in various tribes is that if an individual was not present (say for the signing of a treaty) then the decision is not binding on that individual.

Also maybe that is the source of all the conflict with the broken treaties and the struggles today between the "tribal representatives" and the traditionalists:

We are trying to make a Democracy work within a Republic. Can't be done!

Too lazy to retype this too, so here it is. If there is a copyright on it, oh well!
The first person "I" is not this editor, but it could be.

"We are all suspended in language."

This is a quote from the great physicist, Neils Bohr. When I first read it, it did not mean much to me. But as I began to reflect, I realized that language is not reality anymore than computer generated images.

Language is a conceptual representation of reality. And as a culture chooses and defines these concepts, so will it be directed in it's world view. Thus a man is suspended in his own language, and thus will he view his world through the filter of that language.

How brilliant an insight Bohr had, and how brilliantly he expressed it--in his language. Thank you for sending this article.

HOOPA, Calif. -- At age 88 and blind in one eye, James Jackson Jr. keeps a crystal clear memory of a tiny linguistic skirmish in a continental campaign that has brought most of North America's Indian languages to the brink of extinction.

"The teacher at the Indian school grabbed my friend by the arm and said, 'You're speaking your language -- I'm going to wash your mouth out with soap,"' Jackson recalled. "That's where we lost it."

Eight decades later, Jackson told his story, in English, to a small circle of Hupa language students. Although the tribe has about 2,000 members, the room contained the four people who make up about half of the world's fluent Hupa speakers: Jackson, his younger sister, Minnie, and two elderly friends. Two others died in February.

Despite five centuries of population decline, assimilation and linguistic oppression, North America's Indian languages have survived surprisingly well: 211 still exist today; there were about 300 such languages when Europeans first arrived in what is now the United States and Canada.

But with the impact of television and radio and increased mobility, North America's Indian languages are suffering their sharpest free fall in recorded history.

Of the 175 Indian languages still spoken in the United States, only 20 are still spoken by mothers to babies, said Michael Krauss, a linguist at the University of Alaska who surveys native languages. In contrast, 70 languages are spoken only by grandparents, and 55 more are spoken by 10 or fewer tribal members.

"This is a major American tragedy that people are generally in a state of denial about," Krauss said. Noting that the federal government spends only $2 million a year to save endangered Indian languages, he said that under the Endangered Species Act, "we are spending $1 million a year per Florida panther to save the species."

Belonging to 62 language families, American Indian languages are as dramatically different as German, Chinese and Turkish.

With the rise of a global economy and increased communications, about half of the world's 6,000 languages are expected to disappear over the next century. Among American Indians, that process is unfolding today.

"We just gave a grant to study Klamath," said Douglas Whalen, a Yale University linguist who directs a new nonprofit group, the Endangered Language Fund. "When the proposal was made, Klamath had two speakers. Now, it is down to one."

Rapid erosion is also affecting the largest tribes.

In Arizona among the Navajo, the most populous tribe in the United States, the portion of native speakers among first-graders has dropped from 90 percent in 1968 to 20 percent today.

In Montana, the 9,300 enrolled Crow members display a classic American Indian linguistic profile: 77 percent of Crow Indians over 66 years of age speak the language, while only 13 percent of preschoolers do.

EDITOR'S Interjection (The Mike Smith): It sounds like the grandparents aren't doing their job.

On paper, California has the most linguistic diversity in the nation: 50 Indian languages are still spoken there, down from 80 in the pre-colonial era.

"But not a single one of those languages is now being spoken natively by children," said Leanne Hinton, a linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley. "We are heading toward a state where we will have no native speakers of any of the California languages in 10 or 20 years.

"We are entering an age when speakers of the California languages will be learning in school, or as adults, rather than at home."

As the language circle at the Hupa community center suggests, however, there is a belated movement among American Indians to rescue their languages from extinction.

"It's part of our culture; it contains how a Hupa person views the world -- to lose the language would be to lose our identity," said Daniel Ammon, a Hupa high school teacher who is one of several dozen adults studying the tribe's complex language. "I will talk to my kids all the time in Hupa."

At the regional high school in Hoopa, a town of 1,000 people on a bend of the Trinity River in northwestern California, classes started last fall in the three languages of Indians in this area: Hupa, Karuk and Yurok.

"I want to know Karuk because it is my language, because I want to teach it to my children," Nisha Supahan, 15, said after class as her twin sister, Elaina, giggled in assent.

(The Mike Smith again): These are the new grandparents.

Their 27-year-old Karuk teacher, Susan Smith, contrasted their attitude with her detribalized upbringing. "I never heard my language as a child," she said. "I didn't even know how to pronounce my tribal name."

Ammon and Ms. Smith learned their native language through an innovative effort to stave off linguistic extinction. Since 1992, the Native California Network, a nonprofit group based in Visalia, in the state's south-central region, has sponsored 50 "apprentices" to undergo intensive language immersions, sometimes for up to 500 hours, with "masters," tribal elders who speak the language.

The language revival effort is taking many forms. Last year the Crow Tribal Council adopted resolutions declaring Crow the official language of the reservation, honoring fluent speakers as "tribal treasures" and encouraging all tribal members to speak the language.

Elsewhere in Montana, the Northern Cheyenne are offering tribal children a summer language camp, taught by the five elders who still speak Cheyenne fluently. In Missoula, summer language classes are offered in Blackfeet.Across Montana, a recent state decision to ease the certification of Indian language instructors has led to an upsurge in language instruction.

Idaho State University now offers Shoshoni for foreign language credit.

"At least one quarter of the 30 tribal colleges now require language study," David Cournoyer, a director of the American Indian College Fund, said in Denver. "Today, 25 different languages are taught, plus Plains Indian sign language."

In Connecticut, the Mohegan and Pequot are studying written records in their languages in an effort to revive languages that have not been spoken since the early 1900s. Due to the work of missionaries and anthropologists, virtually all of the Indian languages in North America have dictionaries and written texts.

While official language extermination policies have stopped, the main threat today, said Krauss, the University of Alaska linguist, is "the cultural nerve gas of television."

Putting electronic communications to work, the Hopi of Arizona have expanded Hopi language radio broadcasting, the Choctaw of Oklahoma have produced native language video dramas, the Sioux of South Dakota maintain a Lakota language internet chat room, and the Skomish of Washington have produced a Twana language CD-ROM.

"There has been an almost total inversion in attitudes toward the native language," said Victor Golla, a linguistics professor at nearby Humboldt State University, who started visiting here 30 years ago.

"Before, people were unconcerned about their native language. Now there is a very strong feeling among almost all the people that the loss of their language would be a tragic and very damaging thing."

Indians interested in reviving traditional ways say they cannot pray to their ancestors in English.

"A number of people have learned how to pray in their language," said Ms. Hinton, the Berkeley linguistics professor, who runs a summer program for Indians in California seeking to revive their languages from recorded field notes and tapes. "They are starting to reinvent their languages so they can pray at ceremonies and funerals."

Linguists caution that the language revival movement may only delay inevitable extinctions. But here in Hoopa, a change can already be felt.

"Before, on the bus, I used to say to my sister in Karuk, 'Look at that guy's shirt,' and nobody knew what we were talking about," Nisha Supahan said. "Now that's not true anymore."

SMITH SPEAKS: I love the diversity of language. When I lived in California (and those rare times I had a car), two of my car radio buttons were welded to Mexican stations. Mexican is the word the Mexican people use.

I do not understand Spanish, so I had no clue as to what the words meant. But it was music, and the unexpectedness of the rhythm was good to hear.

Concerning programs to "save the language." Good! But aren't the speakers of the language the protectors of that language?

If someone has to be paid to protect something that they claim they already value what is the true value to them?

In 1837 the Chippewa gave over 13 million acres of tribal land to the U.S. Federal government with the agreement that the tribe could continue to hunt and fish on that land.

The State of Minnesota has since claimed that that right was lost when Minnesota became a state in 1858.

The Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa brought suit against Minnesota in 1990, claiming that the state has no right to regulate hunting and fishing by the tribe.

A federal ruling in 1994 stated that the Treaty of 1837 still exists, and that was upheld by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997.

In the appeal Minnesota had claimed that treaty rights were lost in an 1850 executive order signed by President Zachary Taylor, and by an 1854 treaty.

The case has gone to the Supreme Court.

Until this year (1997) the Chippewa were blocked from any large fish harvest. In the first nine days after the court decision three Chippewa tribes have harvested about two tons of walleyes.

California voters have passed Proposition 227 by a two-to-one margin and shown their demand that bi-lingual education cease in public schools.

An immediate response from civil rights groups, educators, and immigrant advocates have asked a Federal court for a temporary injunction.

They claim the initiative violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974.

The new program will be a one-year fast track English course and then English-only classes. This sounds like a reasonable quick-fix until the full consequences are understood.

About one and a half million California children rely on bilingual programs, and opponents claim that the initiative will block access to science and math classes.

Many Hispanic and other immigrant children will be left behind very quickly.
Read that as "children of the California agricultural work force."

In 1994 a vote to deny education and medical care to undocumented aliens (read that as "same as above") was contested by civil rights advocates. They won.

This time the protesters include the San Francisco Unified School district, who have declared that they will not enforce Proposition 227.

The Los Angeles school district is working on a plan to comply.

Ron Unz, the Silicon Valley software millionaire who wrote the Proposition 227, is happy with the outcome.

EDITOR'S NOTE: That is because Ron will be able to afford the rise in price of fruits and vegetables. Who's gonna pick 'em? America owes a lot to the bracero.

NOTE: The supplies have already been received.