Indianz.Com News Archive: June 12, 2006 Archives

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June 12, 2006
Cherokee Nation council debates blood quantum
The Cherokee Nation council will consider proposals to add an "Indian" blood requirement to the tribal constitution. Citizenship is currently open to anyone whose ancestor appeared on the Dawes Roll. This standard includes Cherokees, Delawares, Shawnees and Freedmen, the descendants...

Choctaw Nation health center takes on diabetes
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma hopes to tackle diabetes by encouraging more people to become active and change their diets. The tribe's Diabetes Wellness Center in Talihina offers a fitness center where tribal members can exercise. The tribe is planning...

Jodi Rave: Native family gets help with first home
"Sylver and Craig Belcourt - and their three children - recently moved into the family's first home, a spacious four-bedroom purchased in Billings. The couple recently became the first in Montana to use a popular Native home loan program outside...

Field of 10 shapes up for Navajo presidency
Ten candidates are seeking election as president of the Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the country. Incumbent Joe Shirley Jr. is seeking re-election. His vice president, Frank Dayish Jr., is also seeking the job. Other candidates include Jon Reeves,...

Methamphetamine at crisis level in Indian Country
Methamphetamine has reached a crisis level in Indian Country, according to tribal and federal officials. Leah Fyten, the director of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe's Housing Authority, said every family on the South Dakota reservation has been affected by the...

Tribal fishing tradition tainted by new pollutants
Fishing is a way of life for the Sokaogon (Mole Lake) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa but a new pollutant is causing many to change how they practice their tradition. Tina and Rick Van Zile now consult a color-coded map...

Appeals court blocks critical trust fund reports
Three reports that criticized the Bush administration's trust reform efforts were suppressed by a federal appeals court on Friday. The reports were produced by the special master in the Cobell trust fund case. One detailed how negative information about an...

Mother of girl killed at Red Lake slowly recovers
The mother of Chanelle Star Rosebear, one of the victims of the March 21, 2005, shootings on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota, is slowly recovering from the tragedy. Sandra Rosebear felt guilty that Chanelle, 15, died in the...

John Fund: Defeat for Sen. Akaka on Hawaiians
"A longtime wheelhorse of Hawaii's rusting Democratic machine could lose his U.S. Senate seat because of what happened on the Senate floor Thursday. For six years Sen. Daniel Akaka's signature legislation was a bill that would give Native Hawaiians their...

Seven wanted for incidents at protest site in Canada
Canadian police have issued arrest warrants for seven people accused of a string of incidents at a Native protest site in Caledonia, Ontario. The suspects are accused of hijacking a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle, attempting to run over a Canadian...

Ex-Table Mountain members protest at powwow
Former members of the Table Mountain Rancheria in northern California held a protest at the tribe's powwow over the weekend. The protesters say they were kicked out of the tribe for financial reasons. The tribe operates a lucrative casino and...

Rep. Hayworth says he only met Abramoff twice
Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Arizona), the co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, says he's only met Jack Abramoff "socially I think twice." "He has never come to my office," Hayworth told The Washington Post. But Hayworth went to Abramoff's luxury...

Upcoming Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearings
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has schedule three hearings in the coming weeks. On June 14, this Wednesday, the committee is holding a hearing on S.374, the Tribal Parity Act. The bill would add money to the trust accounts of...

Crazy Horse Ride honors past and present warriors
About 200 people participated in the ninth annual Crazy Horse Ride in honor of military veterans and Lakota leader Crazy Horse. The riders started in Fort Robinson, Nebraska on June 5. They arrived at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, on...

Jodi Rave: Athletes ready for 2006 Indigenous Games
"Russell Dixon is about to compete against some of the best indigenous athletes in North America, but the self-assured teenager isn't thinking about the track and field competition. “To me, I don't even race other people,” said Dixon. “I just...

Dispute over Sun Dance led to clash in Oklahoma
A clash at the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes powwow grounds stemmed from a dispute over the Sun Dance, The Oklahoman reported. A non-Indian woman who is married to a Cheyenne-Arapaho man said his family decided to hold the Sun Dance in Oklahoma...

White supremacists charged with hate crimes
Three white supremacists have been charged with federal hate crimes for threatening and assaulting an American Indian man and assaulting a Hispanic man. Shaun A. Walker, Travis D. Massey and Eric G. Egbert allegedly threatened and assaulted the Indian man...

Harjo: Mascots preferred over real Indian people
"It seems that you have to be an ''Indian'' mascot or an Abramoff-like high roller in a skybox to get the attention of some members of Congress. At the same time that Native Americans are still denied full access to...

Mark Trahant: No economic paradise in America
"Welcome to another day in paradise. Last month President Bush signed into law the Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005. This measure -- and all the zeal of Republican tax cutting -- has stuffed some $880 billion into the...

Yellow Bird: Laughter the best Native medicine
"In Indian country, there is that same kind of group gathering where a "funny" starts and then grows and grows until you're laughing so hard you can't breathe. Of course, as you get older, not being able to breathe puts...

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