FROM THE ARCHIVE

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In The Hoop
THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

Sovereign Stupidity
Attorneys for Leonard Peltier gave Indianz.Com a shoutout in the lawsuit they filed today accusing former FBI director Louis J. Freeh and others of making false statements in their campaign to oppose clemency for the imprisoned activist.

Indianz.Com might be getting another kind of shoutout in litigation soon, if the threats of a person with very close ties to some former (and formerly imprisoned) Navajo Nation officials pan out. Upset over a recent April 1 article, the person called up our offices in Nebraska to complain to employees.

Winnebago tribal officials and leaders were also called up and it was suggested how the situation might be "taken care of." Freedom of the press (nor humor) wasn't on the mind of the caller apparently.

See you in tribal court!

Somebody Save Me
Congressional candidate, federal recognition critic and Mormon At-Large Jeff Benedict appears to be launching a desperate bid to keep his campaign alive.

After accusing Paucatuck Eastern Pequot chairman James Cunha of not inviting him to play in the local sandbox, he is now challenging party delegates who didn't vote for him. The author of Without Reservation needs it, since he trails Democratic opponent Joseph Courtney by a huge margin (Courtney has a reported 203 delegates to Benedict's less than impressive claim to 48).

But the man who campaigned heavily outside his district doesn't see it that way. "I don't think a few politicians in Hartford should be the ones to decide who the Democratic candidate is," he told The Norwich Bulletin. "I think the people should choose who they want."

Right.

Study This!
Yankees apparently love to study. So much that they have arranged for studies to assess the impact of tribal casinos in Maine and Rhode Island.

But where some people see stacks of white paper, others see green. "I do not believe a casino is the devil," a Maine businessman told The Portland Press-Herald, saying the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe would be welcome in his community.

That has opponents worried because they weren't aware people actually have a pulse and like to gamble. And tribal attorney / savior / lobbyist / lover Tom Tureen is actively shopping around.

But if anyone deserves a casino, it is Maine tribes because maybe this will make the state and its industry pals clean up the rivers. Because if you can settle land claims with gaming compacts, you can settle everything else.

Or so Gov. George Pataki would have us believe.

In Your Hoop
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