News Archive: September 14, 2007 Archives

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September 14, 2007
Oregon tribe opposes sale of sacred meteorite
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community in Oregon is opposing the sale of a part of a 10,000-year-old sacred meteorite. Darryl Pitt owns a 30-pound slick of the Willamette Meteorite. The piece could fetch more than $1...

Blog: FBI seeks Mashpee Wampanoag documents
"FBI agents served documents on members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribal council yesterday at council headquarters demanding that they submit tribal and personal financial records to federal investigators for scrutiny, according to sources in the tribe. Presented to council chairman...

Editorial: Nipmuc recognition seems a long shot
"Federal recognition has been elusive because the family ties and other associations that bind members of both groups fall short of the requirements for tribal status. Petitioners must prove that their group has existed continuously as a distinct political and...

Editorial: Makah Nation must punish rogue hunters
"It's reassuring that leaders of the Makah Indian Tribe have denounced last weekend's unauthorized killing of a gray whale off the coast of this state. But it's not enough. They were in the nation's capital this week to convince members...

GSA won't ask EPA to remove offensive murals
EPA MURAL: "Dangers of the Mail" considered offensive by Indian employees.• Additional Photos The Environmental Protection Agency won't be asked to remove a serials of murals that depict Native people in an unfavorable light. The murals at the EPA headquarters...

Letters: Readers discuss illegal Makah whale hunt
Ann Stateler and Odin Lonning: ""The time is overdue for Makah elders, culture bearers and tribal leaders to reassess the viability of whaling in the 21st century. Imperiled by global warming, habitat destruction and other monumental threats, fragile whale populations...

DEA targets prescription drug abuse in Montana
The Drug Enforcement Agency is auditing Indian Health Service facilities in Montana in a probe of prescription drug abuse, The Great Falls Tribune reports. The DEA has completed audits on the Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap...

Rosebud Sioux Tribe receives $4M in defense bill
The Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota received $4 million in the Senate's version of the 2008 Defense appropriations bill. The money will be used to fund the Advanced Electronics Rosebud Integration Center, which manufactures components for space and missile...

First Nations blast Canada's vote on declaration
First Nations leaders criticized Canada for being one of only four countries to vote against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Canadian government said the document was too confusing and too broad. But Native...

Court denies tribal jurisdiction in ICWA case
The South Dakota Supreme Court denied the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe jurisdiction in an Indian Child Welfare Act case. The court said the tribe lacked authority over Daniel John Carlson, who is non-Indian, and his daughter. The court said the daughter...

Jodi Rave: UN votes for indigenous rights
"After a 25-year effort, the U.N. General Assembly's vote Thursday was swift in support of the rights of indigenous people throughout the world. Steady applause spilled through the assembly hall as the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples...

Court: Navajo Nation owed money for bungled lease
The Interior Department breached its trust to the Navajo Nation and must pay damages for mishandling a coal mining lease, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday. In a unanimous decision, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said the "undisputed...

Column: Dancing brings communities together
"Years ago, when I was even more naive, I made a serious, if short-lived, cross-cultural attempt to get Anglos, Hispanics and Pueblo Indians to dance together regularly. I wasn't talking about your "American Bandstand" style of dancing but about traditional,...

DOI won't release Cason's performance evaluations
The Interior Department is refusing to provide details about associate deputy secretary Jim Cason's job performance evaluations, Indian Country Today reports. The Schaghticoke Tribal Nation of Connecticut requested Cason's evaluations for 2004 and 2005. At first, Interior rejected the request...

Editorial: Kevin Gover, experience and NMAI
"The long-awaited proclamation of a successor to W. Richard West as head of the National Museum of the American Indian is over. The Smithsonian on Sept. 11 announced its selection of former BIA Chief Kevin Gover, Pawnee from Oklahoma, to...

Harjo: Anti-Indians rear their heads on whale hunt
"Five Makah citizens harpooned and shot a gray whale Sept. 8 in tribal waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the northern boundary of the Makah Reservation. Within hours, hundreds of bloggers, posters and reporters let out a stream...

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