Multiple Issues & Indigenous News (Part 1)

Multiple Issues & Indigenous News (Part 1)
Feds acknowledge withholding permits for Snowbowl
Nov. 25, 2009
http://www.azcentral.com/news/..articles/2009/11/25/..20091125skiflap25-ON.html
FLAGSTAFF - The U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday it was withholding snowmaking permits for a northern Arizona ski resort as a way to promote settlement talks in a long-running dispute between American Indian tribes and the resort's owners.
The permits were delayed despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that upheld the Arizona Snowbowl's right to spray man-made snow on San Francisco Peaks.
In addition, Snowbowl owner Eric Borowsky said talks aimed at reaching a deal had ended a month ago.
"So far, there have been no new ideas, so we're just waiting for the notice to proceed," he said.
The stalemate marks the latest development in the dispute in which tribes insist making snow with wastewater would desecrate land they hold sacred and infringe on their religious beliefs.
Snowbowl officials counter the man-made snow is necessary to ensure the survival of the ski area, which opened in 1937 on Forest Service land and has struggled with short seasons because of a lack of snow.
Sen. John McCain and other members of the Arizona congressional delegation have been pressuring the Forest Service for months to explain why the permits haven't been issued. The Forest Service said in a brief prepared statement that it hoped ongoing talks between the tribes and the Snowbowl's owners would end in a mutually beneficial agreement.
"Ongoing conversations between Native-American tribes and the ski area operator may resolve outstanding concerns for the more controversial aspects of the Snow bowl improvement request," the statement said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, did not answer several phone calls seeking additional comment.
Borowsky said his talks with Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. have ended and no further discussions were planned. Even so, he said he expects to have the necessary permits "in the very near future."
The Forest Service is allowing the Arizona Snowbowl Limited Partnership to move forward with plans for conveyor belts to take skiers up the beginner slopes. Other improvements, however, including clearing about 100 additional acres of forest at the 777-acre resort, remain on hold.
Boronsky's talks with tribes included a possible sale of the resort. He maintained Snowbowl is not for sale but added he has an obligation as a general partner to present any valid offers to the limited partners for a vote.
The current owners purchased the Snowbowl in 1992 for $4 million. Any sale price could be much higher.
Navajo lawmaker Raymond Maxx said he and other tribal lawmakers were encouraged by the Forest Service's delay in granting permits.
"We're glad that there are some people that are still respectful of our native culture within the United States and trying to help us preserve what's sacred to us," he said. McCain, Sen. Jon Kyl, and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick said the USDA is simply dragging its feet in permitting the improvements upheld by the courts.
"There doesn't appear to be any defined point when the USDA will move forward," said McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan.
A pending lawsuit in federal court in Arizona seeks to halt the project, saying the Forest Service failed to consider the human health risks of ingesting artificial snow.
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Please Watch~~Ple..ase Help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?..v=sBrYdu7HXdg

I have talked about this situation with my Uncle many times. I have an ever increasing need to do something. Maybe "Save Our Tribal Youth" (SOTY) can help me out with contacts. Or, maybe NativeProgress.org.

Ya know how sometimes you get a feeling that you really need to do something? Well, this is one of those times for me. I cry, I tie, I pray. But you are well familiar with protocol so I am not about to just show up.

www.youtube.com

If you have trouble just clicking on the link, you can type the URL in
or I have added it to myspace page and am about to put in on the Foundation's page.

I love you all.......................

"Life is of the good road I follow and the road of difficulties you have made me cross; and where they cross is a holy place where I have learned much."
Black Elk

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Did You Know?

I hope you can open this link. You may have to put it in your brrowser. Interesting about which actors/actresses, atheletes and singers have NA blood. I was surprised at some..............


http://www...nativeamericanmusicawards.com/..didyouknow.cfm




“The Great Spirit knows that I have spoken the truth.”
--STRUCK BY THE TREE,
YANKTON SIOUX, 1865
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1. Report Human-Ecological Rights Abuses to the UN(with thanks to Brenda Norrell and Elouise Brown) The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recently took particular note of problems in areas of "spiritual and cultural significance to Native Americans" (Report CERD/C/USA/CO/6,29,30 of May 2008 - http://tb.ohchr.org/..default.aspx). To quote,
"The Committee is concerned about reports relating to activities, such as nucleartesting, toxic and dangerous waste storage, mining or logging, carried out or planned in areas of spiritual and cultural significance to Native Americans, and about the negative impact that such activities allegedly have on the enjoyment by the affected indigenous peoples of their rights under the Convention"
The UN committee recommends that the U.S.:". . . ensure that activities carried out in areas of spiritual and cultural significance to Native Americans do not have a negative impact on the enjoyment of their rights under the Convention.. . . recognize the right of Native Americans to participate in decisions affecting them. . . consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned before adopting and implementing any activity in areas of spiritual and cultural significance to Native Americans.
and even further
. . . take appropriate legislative or administrative measures to prevent acts of transnational corporations . . . which negatively impact on the enjoyment of rights of indigenous peoples in territories outside the United States."
In its response (CERD/C/USA/CO/6/Add.1), the United States
"recognizes, as a historical matter, that indigenous people throughout the world have been unfairly deprived of lands they once habitually occupied or roamed. Such ancestral lands once constituted most of the Western Hemisphere"
but did not address the recommendations above

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Help the US hold itself accountable! Report government activities that result in negative impacts on areas of spiritual or cultural significance to:
Petitions Team
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
+ 41 22 9179022 (particularly for urgent matters)
tb-petitions@ohchr.org

cc (if writing): Julian Burger
Indigenous & Minorities Unit CoordinatorUnited Nations High Commissioner for Human RightsGeneva OfficePalais Wilson, Room 4-0811211 Geneva 10SWITZERLAND

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/..bodies/petitions/individual...htm

Reference the quoted UN recommendations above and the "Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination"

For more information on UN action, please also see the International Treaty Council athttp://www.treatycouncil.org


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2. Assorted News

In looking backward, yesterday, the Organic Consumers Association gave special thanks to the indigenous farmers and wildcrafters of the Western Hemisphere for cultivating and preserving our food, fiber, medicinal herbs, and biodiversity for thousands of years. Today, the Friday after Thanksgiving, was officially declared Native American Heritage Day by June 2009 decree of the Obama Adminstration.

And in looking foward, NASA has identified nine planetary boundaries with. . . quantifications for seven of them:

"- climate change: CO2 concentration in the atmosphere <350 ppm and/or a maximum change of +1 W/m2 in radiative forcing;
- ocean acidification - mean surface seawater saturation state with respect to aragonite ¡Ý 80% of pre-industrial levels;
- <5% reduction in statosphere ozone concentration from pre-industrial level of 290Dobson Units
- limit industrial and agricultural fixation of N2 to 35 Tg N/yr and annual P inflow to oceans not to exceed 10 times the natural background weathering of P;
- global freshwater use (<4000 km3/yr of consumptive use of runoff resources);
- land system change (<15% of the ice-free land surface under cropland); and
- the rate at which biological diversity is lost (annual rate of <10 extinctions per million species)."

http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-..bin/abstract.cgi?id=ro06010m

Our collective work is to keep within these limits.
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[Lenapehok..ing_Long_H..ouse] 400 years later, Collegiate Church apologizes to Lenape, a Native American tribe
Whether or not their apology be sincere or not, at least the church made an attempt on recognizing my tribe to be valid. A long story but condensed;the United States government does not and nor is it likely to acknowledge the New Jersey Lenni Lenape. This occurred when my ancestors refused to be marched to Oklahoma behind the Cherokee. 1904 came and went and part of our ancestors refused to be there hense the Lenape in New Jersey does not exist. Regardless, at least the church chose to do the right thing. Hopefully, the Federal Government will follow suit and give us the recognition that we proudly deserve.

There is a ton of wrong doings that need to be dealt with; this, within our Tribe. Two people from the Oklahoma Lenape stopped a conversation with me in an elevator when they found that I was a New Jersey Lenape. We do have a bit of a journey to go but this jesture gives us a starting point.

Wanishi Grandfather!




400 years later, Collegiate Church apologizes to Lenape, a Native American tribe

BY ERICA PEARSON AND OWEN MORITZ
NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Saturday, November 28th 2009, 4:00 AM

Exchanging wampum in a gesture of reconciliation, members of New York's oldest church apologized Friday to Native Americans for their suffering that began 400 years ago.

http://www.nydailyn ews.com/ny_ local/2009/ 11/28/2009- 11-28_400_ years_later_ collegiate_ church_pologizes _to_a_native_ tribe.html
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Historic Feature Film, to be released in 2010

The Diary
"Canada's Anne Frank Story"
Directed by Louie Lawless
Based on a story by Kevin and Lori Annett and Louie Lawless,
Producers of the award-winning documentary film UNREPENTANT


The Diary is the only feature film ever to shed light on the horrible truth of genocide and murder in Canada's Indian Residential Schools - and one man's struggle to hold his church and country accountable. Filmed on Vancouver Island, on the very land where these crimes occurred and continue, and featuring native people and actual residential school survivors, The Diary goes where no film has gone before.

Based on the life and books of Rev. Kevin Annett, The Diary is set for release in 2010.

To view the trailers of this amazing film, go to:

www.thediarymovie.com/trailer



For more information and to assist in the distribution and release ofThe Diary, contact Louie Lawless at : louie0@telus.net or Kevin Annett at hiddenfromhistory@yahoo.ca .



www.thediarymovie.com



Read and Hear the truth of Genocide in Canada, past and present, at this website:www.hiddenfromhistory.org , and see the trailer to Kevin's award-winning documentary UNREPENTANT film on the same website.

Soon to be released feature film, THE DIARY, based on Kevin Anett's epic struggle to bring to light genocide in Canada - see the trailer at:
www.thediarymovie.com/trailer

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Blanding artifacts arrests on line
The KUED Utah Now program on the Blanding artifacts arrests can be viewed on line at

http://www.kued.org/..productions/utahnow/?action=..viewShowDetails&id=187

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Bear Butte Update: Upcoming Hearing Meade County Commission..ers 12/2 [1 Attachment..]
There will be a hearing at Meade County Commissioners on Wednesday, December 2nd at 3:00 p.m. This hearing will be for the retail on-sale liquor/package liquor licenses renewals, which will include all the locations near Bear Butte. This includes the large venues we have been battling against including Glencoe, Broken Spoke Campground, Buffalo Chip, Monkey Rock and Full Throttle.

There are some major new developments with the Bear Butte issue. Full Throttle Saloon, which is currently located on hwy 34 & 79, is proposing to move locations further to the east. They have purchased a property just east of Bear Butte off 9 mile road. This location is directly east approximately one mile from the mountain. See attached map for details.

This hearing will include Full Throttle’s request to transfer their liquor license to the new location. The reason they are attempting this is, the City of Sturgis has proposed an annexation of city limits, which will include up to hwy 79, the venues affected are Full Throttle, Glencoe and Monkey Rock. If the City is successful in this annexation, they will begin to regulate liquor sales and property taxes will sky rocket. It appears that this is an attempt to avoid the regulation, moving just outside the proposed annexation boundaries.

Each year things are progressively getting worse, with more attempts at expanding further east towards the sacred mountain, Bear Butte. The 2010 Sturgis Rally will potentially be the largest rally in years, since it is the 70thanniversary. The City has already expanded the Rally beginning in 2010 from 7 to 10 days.

It’s time to take a stand a show a mass presence at this upcoming hearing, to let the Meade County Commissioners know this needs to stop NOW!

If you are able to attend the hearing, please come and show your support and oppose these licenses and the transfer request from Full Throttle Saloon.

If you can not make it and would like to send the Commissioners a letter of opposition, please see the contact info listed below.


When:
December 2nd @ 3 pm

Where:
Meade County Commissioners Courthouse
1425 Sherman St
Sturgis, SD 57785
605-347-2360
605-347-5925 fax
Email: meade@meadecounty.org


For more information, please visit our website atwww.protectbearbutte.com or contact me directly attamra@protectsacredsites.org


Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
Protect Sacred Sites Indigenous People, One Nation
www.protectsacredsites.org
www.protectbearbutte.com

PROTECT BEAR BUTTE!!!!!!!!
Our Sacred Ground is NOT Your Playground!

"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands.. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?" ......excerpt from One Nation, One Land, One People by Tamra Brennan, 2006