Knw
Steatfa Her Qkouad
"I have fohed here forever, through my
ancestors,* says Margaret Palmer the Yakama
t r ix ii member who has headed the protection
of traditional fishing scaffolds sites of her
people at "The Pomt*, a spiritual and cultural
site and sacred bunal grounds located on the
CcLunbia R iver in Washington State T h is b
where ftoh come to give qp th e ir spirits It is
s a c re d *
Known in the Native Sahoptin os Nanainmi
Watobtaulklt. T h e Point’ has been used by
fishing people fo r thousands of years Abo,
because of Us location above the KhLtotal bar,
the Pomt has long served as a roosting area
fo r a colony of Bald Eagles that nest a mile or
so Mp the K H l total River
"The Point* is targeted fo r the development
of S3 tots by the CoLunb» Gorge Investors
Limited Portnershgi, whose representative »
H enry Sbencer Phone, water, sewer, and
electric hues are in place, with projected
selling prices ranging from $72,000 to
$215,000
Spencer has stated that he has followed the
proper prox «tores far acquiring the acreage
"I've talkrd with the Yakima Trtoal Council and
County Commissioners and there were no
objections * But a Cultural Committee member
of the Yakama Nation says, T h e Nation is not
in agreement with Spencer's terms *
Upon response to an earlier request lo r
prelim inary plat approval, six agencies,
incbdm g the BIA, the Yakama Indian Nation
and State Arch®otog»ts all responded with
comments to the effect that there were
arch ®o tog c a l, cultural, and wildhfe resources
there, tm tid in g two teryeis of Indian bunal
sites and rem nants of the histone Lyle period
They commented that the proposed
development would have sitostantiaily negative
effects qpon these resources
At a Moy 13, 1933 Khctatat County
environm ental review committee meeting,
with sta ll members in attendance as well as
members of the Yakama Nation, C h ef Johnny
Jackson, Klickitat-Caseade, did state that Lyle
Pomt is a sacred historical bunal site Yet a
Dectaratton of Non significance was issued by
the Khctatat County Planning Department
The Yakama Nation challenged the
development in Federal Court as a v u h t n ii of
their Treaty of 18S5 Federal Judge Alan
McDonald in a ruling March 24th, 1994,
accepted the Yakama treaty rights case at the
Federal level stating that "This court
considers the plaintiffs' federal claims to be
substantial in nature and import ’ A Federal
Court date of March 1995 has been set for the
trial
The Yakama Nation's request fo r a
temporary Inunction to halt the housing
devetodment wu3 not granted, p re s u m w h
becaush the developer suspend«! operations at
the site Though leaving Henry spencer rree
to resume developing the site. Judge McDonald
let in be known that "this Court's equitable
powers are broad, indeed, extending as far as
ordering demolition of any houses found to
impair the exercise of plaintiffs'
treaty protec ted rights, reopening any roads,
and providing .sufficient space necessary for
the ei«rcw e of histoncal rights *
Seattle attorney Grant Deginger,
representing Spencer, successfully argued that
peqple not entitled to the trtoal fishmg
easement are trespassing This denied access
to the contested site to all but members of the
Yakama Nation of Washington and the Warm
Springs Nation of Oregon
To protect her fishmg scaffolds, Margaret
Palmer started an encampment on September
27, 1993, with the bght of a ‘ sacred fire * The
fire was to burn for os long as the octxpatMJh
continued T h e Pomt* was occxpied by both
Indian and non Indian stgjporters u n til July of
1994 when Spencer, (burning fire hazard h a i
deputies extinguish the sacred fire, which was
found burning unattended
Also removed at about the same time were
a tonghoise, sweat lodge, and shelters around
the sweat lodge and the now extinguished
sacred fire T he ir remnants were found,
p a itn ily txirned, in a ‘ no (tamping* site
Khctatat County Sheriff Jim dtaoson says
that on July 13 Spencer asked that non Indians
and some visiting Native Americans from the
Shoshone Reservation in Idaho be asked to
leave T h o s e he's allowed to be there are not
a liiw rd to invite others to trespass,* Gtooson
said
Yakama Trtoal Councitor Bill Yalkp S r ,
qccted in the Dalles C h ro n tta on August 5.
says "Spencer has a nght to remove
non Vakamas, so to speak * He went on to say
that "they'd actually be violating his property
rights tiy trespassing
We don't want to I** a
port of t h a t " But having said that, Yalkp
noted that the Council s till supports an
encampment by Yakamas
Y a lip s a il further that trtoal elders are
displeased with the "interference of
non Indians and non Yakamas* in the
encampment Yakama trtoal council
representatives would go down to the
encampment and find non Indians in tepees
and the sacred fire not being attended by
Yakamas
Margaret Palmer and C hef Johnny Jackson
welcomed sqpport from whoever wished to
co n trtw te Chief Johnny Jactoon says that
this B more than just T h e Pomt", a local
isaie. o r a trtia l issue "This b a global «sue
and w must incorporate it mto the bigger
picture ’
Thcwgh both Margaret and Chief Johnny
Jac kson consatently bring ip the issue of the
area being a state hBtoncal bunal site, to the
Yakama Tnbal Council the «sue « s tn c tly one
UFPCR LEFT M t OCTOBER )W
of trtoal access to fBhtng in "usual and
accustomed" twtung sites
Fbr the week end of Ajgust 27, Margaret,
C h e f Johnny and the Lyle Point Alhance
an noun i od that they w juid begin the process
of resurrecting the encampment, after the
pfqpvi prayers and dedication < eremonies
T h e ir intentions were to reconstruct the tepee
Village rehglit the sar red fire, and begin to
rebuikl the sweattodge and tonghouse
Greenpeace's portable solar electnc generator
Cyrus, was to be on hand to showcase clean
efectnc power which b not proxtoced by the
salmon destroying dams of the Cotomb«
Khctatat County Sheriff Jim Gleason said
that deputies w u ld be on hand, altowmg only
members of the Yakama and Warm Springs
trtoes onto the property
Trtoal members and Ureir invited guests
viewed this action as a threat to th e ir c iv il
rights becaise they w re not allowed to
practic e th e ir religion Protestors say they are
going m, o r gomg to jail
Satunlay. Aug/ut 27. brought four arrests,
and a skirm ish between sheriff's deputies and
non trtia l protestors, both sides claiming that
they vwre assailled Sheriff Gleason t bums
that protesters were only a rre s t^ i after they
had been told "IS to 20 tim es’ what the
consequences w j i i l be
Over the week end law enforcement
officers from 10 agencies, tnctodtng the totnt
Wasco County Sheriff City of the Dalles Pohce
SERT team were called to secure the arrest of
24 protestors
All t u t one of those arrested wore
non Indians Ronald True, an Alaskan Hatia.
arrived from Portland, Oregon with two friends
to attend the religious ceremonies and support
the encampment Finding the road blocked,
they wnlta*d a short distance and soon
encountered a Yakama trt«al pobceman who
escorted them m his vehicle to where sheriff
officers m»re stationed Havmg questions to
ask the Sheriff, the trio qaprooched him, and
were immediately a rre st«! for trespassing
One of those who accompanied Ron True to
T h e Pomt" says that the Tribal officer went
d l l of h « way to deliver them to Sheriff
Gleason, and that they received no warning
about the no trespassing none Many of those
arrested at the main gate assert that they
wpre entk e<l over the hue and that the
officers who were present treated the whole
affair like a job*
According to Trout lAke resident Steve
White he had been invited by members of the
Yakama Indian Nation to observe the spintual
ceremony and take paid in a peaceful protest
Havmg no intention of crossing the property
barrier, he nonetheless found himself
arrested, as was fc« 17 year old son
Some local residents eiqoressed outrage at
the magnitude of p o ire response, both in
terms of manpower and the e)qx*nse involved,
to patrol a peaceftil protest Sheriff Gleason
made the usual claim that h a office heard
rumors that vmqpons might be involved in the
protest
Jerry "Doc* Dierker. a paralegal fo r Shawn
Newman, an attorney hired by kx.al titoai
members to represent them and their
non trtia l » ^p o rte rs, filed charges with th»-
U S Justice Department the second week of
September The compkunt was filed in his
c ip a ity of research and investigations
director of Media b la n d Intent atonal, an
Olympia hosed watchdog group
And the charges go wav leyond ‘ conspiracy
to violate the c iv il rights of persons under
Freedom of Rehgtan, Press, Speech and
Association’ , o r the use of excessive force
In a crim inal complaint to the Civil Rights
Division of the U S Department of Justice,
Dierker also charges "Rae tai Hate Crime
destiur bon, theft, and burn mg of tepees and
Native American Long House
used fo r religious ceremonies and Treaty
Rights puiposes
' Dierker asserted that,
though Chief Johnny Jackson and others
reported the c nine immediately to Sheriff
Gleason, no action has as yet been taken by
Khctatat County officials
T h e tangh(*ise and sweattodge are s a red
They are our church," says Chief Johnny
Jackson "We go mto it to cleanse ourselves,
not just to sweat and re tax ’ Warren Spencer,
another trtia l fisherman and no relation to
Henry Spencer, likens the sweattodge
destiurtion to the desecration of a church
If officials determine a violation posstoiy
occurred, the Federal Bureau of In v e s tig a te
w ill be asked to investigate
Fbr now Henry Spencer « in control of
T h e P o in t" At least until March of 1995 HB
wirol. particutarty with the SLpport of the
Yakama T rtia l Council and Sheriff Gleason, is
law
But much has yet to be determined It has
been found that two northwest corners,
hundreds of feet apart have been surveyed
fo r the tow nshp of Lyle, the firs t in 1896 and
the second in 1905 And there b some
questxm as to where county property ends
and Henry Spencer's begins And local
conservntkjnists and treaty rights sip ptirters
raise questions about the county
commissioners' m ow ? to ■^nprove homes sites
wiLhui 100 feet of the Columbia. an apparent
violation of Washington state taw
CNN had 3 mmutes of the confrontation on
their Sunday, August 28, 1994 Headline News
w h rh ran several times TBS had five
mtnutes on their 9uiay. August 28, 1994. 11 00
PM News All three network TV stations in
Portland, OR. Channels 6, 8, and 12, had
reporters and cameras on the scene on August
28 KIRO TV Channel 7 m Seattle Washington
also covered the story
All this exposure has brought so much
attention to the situation that things are
beginning to h ^ » * n A number o f lawyers
have contacted the sip port groqp with offers
of "pro bono" assistance, including a Yakama
Indian lawyer and the American Civil LtoerVes
Unmn And the Northwest Cn»hunn Against
M ahc«is Harassment B interested m
investigating the sweattodge desec ration as a
Hate Crime
Margaret Palmer and Chief Johnny Jackson
continue to resist the development of the
property at Lyle Pomt, here referred to as
T h e Point * As Margaret Palmer soys, ’As
aboriginal people we m n t to exercise our
reserved and inherited right, as we know d, to
p ra c tre our wary of hfe and our walk of hie *
C h rf Jackson in disagreement w ih the
Yakama Trtaal Council, .wrys that we need to
come together now and act as a body one
txxiy of petpk? There « to be *no more
chvision, no more Indian versus non Indian *
[ •
-• t
••• -<
Fbr miormaUon about the resistance
please call o r write to
Lyle Pom t Support Group
PO BoxS36
Lyle Washington, 98635
(5D9) 365-5177
Wes Lawson
Organic Gardening
<& .Maintenance
438 064ft
P () B<n MOO
Toiovana Part. OK 97145
Licetued A Bonded
«89168
We dos t v a a l a a t k ia g b at (ha
C o B s liiu lia a bo « a r e . bo less
Dick G ra g a ry
American Indian
i
Association of Portland
1827 ME 44th Suite 226
Portland, OR 97213
CORVALLIS
L W IR O S 'M L M A L
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1
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l
R
in th e S p ir it o f C ra z y H o r s e
M a rc h O n T h e U S /C a n a d ia n B o r d e r
A Cull fo r S o lid a rity—October 17-211
eonard Peltier ha« b«*n in prison for ovar eighteen w ars Even
though th ree appeals by Leonard have disproven the
government's case against him, the federal courts refuse to
grant him a new trial The Parole Board, last January, turned Leonard
i -'n ^nd stated that he could not couia back for oiiotli«-* fifteen yaons
Leonard's fate is now m the hands of the people, for only a ftrong
unified voice from the people demanding that the US government
grant clemency will free huu now Leonard is in prison for standing up
to the crimes of the US government against the people of the First
Nations nl tins land The policies of genocide against the First Nations
mu t come to an end, and we are asking tluit the US government take
.« bold step for peace and justice and free Leonard PelUer
W<- a k f >r your help m this, not only as a statem ent of solidarity
with the First Nations, but also because Leonard’s case is a clear
example of the US government suppressing the voice of an activist As
long a i the US government keeps Leonard in prison there exists the
danger of all aonal activists, labor, human rights, peace, environmental
etc , of ending up in the same place as Leonard
I he Northwest Leonard Peltier Support Network is planning a
march on the US,Canadian border in October US supporters will tie
marching north to the border and Canadian supporters marching
south to the bonier We are s king endorsements from organizations,
publications, and groups This march on the broder is a part of the
L
“ In te rn a tio n a l Ieo n ard P eltier S olida rity Week” , Octoher 17-23 1994
If you wish to add your voice to this call for ;mpport for Ixonard Peltier,
plea .- fill out the form below and send it back to us Thank you
Name
_
Address
___
.___ ________
P h o n e ------------------- 1.
Contact Person
M a rc h O n (h e B o r d e r
c o NW LPSG Network. PO Box 5464
Tacoma, WA 98415-0464
Phone (2061-383-9108