NOTICES
Cobell Receives Award from
Women’s Leadership Group
NEW YORK — Native American
monies that the government has held in
leader Elouise C. Cobell, who has led
Individual Indian Money accounts for
the fight for a full accounting of trust
decades,” she said. “Despite repeated
funds held by the federal government court orders, it is shameful that the
for thousands of American Indians, was
government still has yet to provide
one of four women honored in November
a complete accounting of the first
by the Women’s Leadership Exchange.
Indian account.”
Cobell, a member of Montana’s
Cobell, who lives in Browning,
Blackfeet Tribe and executive director
Mont., is the lead plaintiff in a class
of the Native American Community
action lawsuit that has secured court
Development Corp., received the
rulings that the Interior Department
exchange’s Compass Award during a
breached its trust responsibilities to
conference in New York.
American Indians by its incompetent
Lesley Visser, a CBS-TV sports
handling of Indian trust accounts.
analyst; Dr. Kathy Magliato, a heart
The accounts were established in
transplant surgeon from Los Angeles;
1887 to handle the proceeds from
and Renetta McCann, chief executive government-arranged leases of Indian
of Starcom North America, a Chicago
lands in the west. Lawyers for Cobell
based advertising agency, also were
and the Indians say that the government
cited by the group.
owes the Indians billions of dollars.
“I am honored to be in the company
Cobell, a winner of the 2002
of these women,” said Cobell. “And I am
International Women’s Forum award
happy to accept this honor, not for myself,
for “Women Who Make A Difference,”
but for the thousands of American
filed her lawsuit in 1996. She has funded
Indian women who have contributed so
the lawsuit with funds from a 1997 grant
much to the welfare of their tribes and
as a MacArthur fellow and from other
Native people for so many years.
foundations interested in social justice.
“I hope that with this award I can
Additional award details are available
call attention to our continuing, seven at www.womensleadershipexchange.
year fight with the federal government
com. Information on the lawsuit is
for the full and complete accounting of available at www.indiantrust.com.
Kenney Handles Indian Legal
Matters at Portland Law Firm
Kell, Alterman, & Runstein, L.L.P.,
has announced that Brett V. Kenney has
joined the firm. His practice will focus
on Native American legal matters, busi
ness transactions, and estate planning
and administration.
Kenney previously was with Legal
Aid Services of Oregon, Native Amer
ican Program, from 1997 to 2003.
A native of Oregon, Kenney
received his J.D. from Notre Dame Law
School in 1992. He also studied in the
Concannon Program for International
Law, London, England, in 1990-91. He
earned his bachelor’s degree in
sociology (urban studies) from Portland
State University in 1989.
Kenney is a member of the Oregon
State Bar, U.S. District Court, and U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Kell, Alterman, & Runstein is
located at 520 SW Yamhill, Suite 600,
Portland, OR 97204; 503-222-3531.
Brett V. Kenney
SOU Develops Digital Archives
The Southern Oregon University
Library has developed the Southern
Oregon Digital Archives (SODA), a
full-text digital library that provides re
search materials on the regional ecology
and indigenous peoples of southwestern
Oregon and northwestern California.
It’s available at http://soda.sou.edu
Funded by a congressionally
directed grant from the Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS),
this site contains fully searchable
documents, books, and articles in the
public domain, or for which SOU has
received author/publisher permission.
As of Oct. 5,2003, this growing digital
resource contained 1,220 unique items,
ranging in size from a few pages to
several hundred pages, and forms two
related collections.
The Bioregion Collection consists
of nearly 800 documents, including
environmental impact statements,
species studies, timber management
plans, stream surveys, and watershed
assessments.
The Siskiyou/Klamath/Cascade
bioregion, where four major habitat
types converge, is recognized by
scientists around the world as an area
uniquely rich in plant and animal
species and is home to the recently
established (2000) Cascade-Siskiyou
National Monument.
The Klamath basin, known for its
volcanic geology and wetlands that
support major bird migrations, includes
a national wildlife refuge established in
1908. Recently, this bioregion has been
in the news because of water issues.
The First Nations Tribal Collection
features more than 400 documents,
books, and articles relating to the
indigenous peoples of the Siskiyou/
Klamath/Cascade bioregion and
adjacent areas. Some of these groups
include the Alsea, Hupa, Klamath,
Modoc, Shasta, Siuslaw, Takelma,
Wintu, and Yahuskin nations.
Materials include treaties, native
language dictionaries, pre-1923 books
and articles, Bureau of American
Ethnology publications, and more than
50 years of annual reports of the Indian
agents from Oregon Indian agencies.
The First Nations Collection brings
together difficult-to-find ethno-
historical and federal documents about
the original caretakers of this unique
bioregion. The library consulted with
tribal representatives to determine
scope and appropriateness of material
for this comprehensive database of texts
on the ethno-history, government
relations, and cultures of these nations.
All documents in the digital
archives are fully searchable by
keyword and phrase. The SODA
database is best accessed using Mozilla
1.0 or later, Internet Explorer 5.0 or
later, or Netscape 6.0 or later.
Many documents are quite lengthy
and a high-speed connection is recom
mended. Links to help screens provide
search tips and an on-line user’s manual.
Voting by Mail in Oregon
In
1998,
Oregon
voters
overwhelmingly passed a ballot
measure directing that elections be
conducted by mail, commonly called
vote by mail. This replaces traditional
polling place elections.
Vote by mail is a method of
distributing ballots for an election.
Instead of using traditional polling
places where voters go to cast ballots
on election day, a ballot is automatically
mailed to each registered voter. The
ballot is then voted and returned to the
county election office to be counted.
Every county provides privacy
booths where you can mark your ballot.
Usually, you can drop off your com
pleted ballot at the same location. Call
your county election office if you need
to locate and use a privacy booth.
Call your county election official
for more details on Oregon’s vote-by-
mail system. Each office will be more
than happy to assist you.
This information was obtained from
www.sos.state.or.us. Visit this site for
additional details on voting in Oregon.
I
I
You can’t vote if you
don’t register!
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For more information on 1
| registering to vote, visit www. I
’ SOS.state.or.us/elections/votreg/ I
I vreg.htm and www.co.lincoln.or.us/ I
I clerk/registration.htm.
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January 2004 □
Siletz News
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