Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
December 25, 2003
News from around Indian Country
Page 8
Yakama veteran finally receives
TOPPENISH, Wash. (AP)
Arthur Shilow remembers wak
ing up in a French field, sur
rounded by farmers, and unable
to move his legs after his B-17
bomber was shot down during
World War II.
The farmers gave the ball
turret gunner, who was on his
first mission, a bottle of wine
and took him to a home. Ger
man soldiers discovered him,
though, and Shilow was taken
to a prison camp in Krems,
Austria, where he remained un
til the end of the war.
Shilow never received medi
cal attention for his wounds, and
it wasn't until just recently that
he received recognition for his
valor.
The Yakama Warriors Asso
ciation presented Shilow with
seven medals recendy at a spe
cial breakfast.
The medals include the
Kickapoo women take over headquarters in protest
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)
A sit-in at the Kickapoo tribal
headquarters stretched into its
second day Saturday, as a hand
ful of female tribe members
protested a recent election rul
ing and practices of the tribe's
chairman.
Coming in through an un
locked back door at the
McLoud headquarters, the
women began their protest at
about 4 a.m. Friday, said pro
tester Glenda Deer from inside
the tribal headquarters.
Protesters say they plan to
stay in the tribal headquarters
through the weekend or until
the1 Bureau of Indian Affairs
decides if it will mediate the dis
pute. The women, most of them
I0W
Children's clothing, Toys, Furniture,
& Customized gifts
35 SE C Street, Madras, OR 475-2528 or 350-1815
9CaC. a 3Capptj, &
Colonic iJOU Jot. ijQWl
Chilkat Enterprise Inc.
P.O. Box 535
Warm Springs, OR 97761
553-1471
BRING IN BONUS COUPON (ON FIRST
VISIT) TO QUALIFY FOR HOME
PURCHASE OR REFERRAL FOR $500 CASH!
ASK FOR SUNNY 541-504-1402
(Tear off coupon at dotted line)
n n n n n nnnnnnnn n n n
AK03692603A
Kll
fl Will
H.nmma T tmmmitJtmmmmuimmSmiktm
Purple Heart and POW. Medal.
A Bronze Star is expected to ar
rive in the mail.
"Boy, I'm glad I made it. I
didn't expect this much atten
tion," Shilow said to the crowd,
many of them his relatives. The
enrolled Yakama Nation mem
ber now lives in Cascade Locks,
Ore.
Shilow was honorably dis
charged from the Army on Oct.
6, 1945, as staff sergeant. He
was awarded the Purple Heart
upon his discharge, but had to
return it months later because
his wounds were not docu
mented. Documented or not, his in
juries left their mark. Shilow
battled chronic pain for years
from bone splinters and chips
in his knees and ankles, as well
as damaged vertebrae.
"The doctors would just write
it up as bursitis," he said. "They
grandmothers, say the Kickapoo
tribe is being poorly run and its
leaders are corrupt. They have
spent the past day pouring over
tribal documents, that they say
show questionable practices, said
Auchee Wahpepah, a tribal el
der participating in the protest.
Before the fax line to the
building was cut at about 3:30
p.m. Friday, the women sent out
voluminous faxes of tribal
documents to various media
organizations and die BIA.
"I would love for the BIA to
come in and seize this building
and go through everything,"
Wahpepah said. "They would see"
what's going on."
Wahpehpah said some of the
supporters would meet with
community members at 2 p.m.
cBaj
MAMMAA,
CJGGD EXTRA CASH
FD TC3G KieUBAYS?
' J
AK
"I know I'm darn lucky
to have gotten back. I'm
lucky to be alive. "
Arthur Shilow
didn't even connect it with my
military service."
In 1991, Shilow suffered a
heart attack and then was en
couraged to apply for veterans
disability.
It took him years to get his
military and medical records
together to document his inju
ries, a paper trail that not only
led to Shilow receiving full dis
ability benefits, but also the
Purple Heart and other medals.
"It's a relief," he said. "It's a
relief because everyone I talked
to said I'll help you and noth
ing" Robert Harcum, a represen
tative of the Yakima Valley Vet
Saturday in front of the tribal
offices.
When they began their pro
test, the women piled desks and
filing cabinets up against doors
and held at bay tribal police who
tried to enter the building at
about 8:30 a.m. Friday.
The women said they re
ceived a letter promising no
charges would be filed against
them if the vacated the premises
by 5 p.m. Friday.
The group ignored the letter
because it was from tribal Chair
man Tony Salazar's administra
tion, Deer said.
Late Friday, fhe'FBr arrived
at tribal headquarters but the
protesters weren't arrested. Deer
said federal agents told the
women they wouldn't be
Highway plan opposed
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP)
Federal officials have given fi
nal approval to the route of a
new highway that will carry com
muters around southern
Lawrence - and directly through
wetlands prized by environmen
talists and American Indians.
Word that the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers has granted
a permit for the South
Lawrence Trafficway brought
an immediate pledge from op
ponents that lawsuits will be
filed.
As approved by the Corps of
Engineers, the highway would be
built along a 32nd Street align
ment and cross ground that of
ficials of Haskell Indian Nations
rop
i vrn:i status
iiai.i:iciv
03692603 A
medals
erans Coalition, pinned the
Purple Heart on Shilow.
"There's only a few of you
left as far as World War II vet
erans," Harcum said.
"If it weren't for you, young
sters like us wouldn't have been
able to serve. Us younger vet
erans really honor our older
veterans."
Reflecting on his military ex
perience, Shilow said only three
members of the 10-man crew
survived when the bomber went
down May 29, 1943.
He spent 23 months in a
POW camp with his tail gunner,
Harry Boegahloz, who died in
1962. Shilow's not sure what
happened to his navigator,
Edwin Martin, the other survi
vor. "I know I'm darn lucky to
have gotten back," he said. "I'm
lucky to be alive."
harmed.
The women want results
from a Dec. 13 recall election
to be certified and for Salazar
to be removed from his posi
tion, Salazar lost the election 168
150 but challenged the results,
claiming 20 percent of the tribal
membership had not voted as
required by the Kickapoo con
stitution. Members of the tribal elec
tion board voted in favor of
Salazar's protest, 2 to 1.
Two of the voting members
of the election board are related
to I Salazar,' and Wahpepah said
thosei!challerigihg: Ssiteacan't
get a fair chance in tribal court,
or with the election board.
University say is considered
spiritually, culturally and histori
cally significant.
But even with the federal ac
tion, state officials said Friday
they could not afford to build
the $110.2 million road now.
"Given the fact that the bud
get continues to be extremely
tight, we do not anticipate fund
ing this project for quite some
time," said Sally Howard, chief
counsel for the Kansas Depart
ment of Transportation.
Maine casino
campaign expensive
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)
The contentious fight over
whether to allow a casino in
Maine was the most expensive
campaign ever waged in Maine,
according to new finance re
ports released Tuesday.
Think About It, a political
action committee that promoted
the casino, spent nearly $7 mil
lion on the campaign through
Dec. 9, Casinos No!, the lead
ing opposition group, reported
spending more than $3.1 million,
By a 2-1 margin, voters on
Nov. 4 rejected a referendum
that would have allowed the
Passamacuoddy and Penobscot
Indian tribes to build a casino
in Maine.
This Holiday Season
we thank you
for your support of
Eberharts
vairy
Products
'Trail trees' may have
been native guideposts
NORCROSS, Ga. (AP) - Unusually shaped trees found
around the state may be more than just an interesting photo
graph subject or child's hobbyhorse.
Some say the trunks - some bending at 90-degree angles
or with knobs pointing out in the distance - are remnants of
a time when American Indians would use them as guideposts
to navigate through the continent.
Members of woodlands tribes, including the Cherokee,
Creek and Algonquin, are believed to have traveled through
a series of paths, using the specially formed hardwoods to
keep them headed in the right direction.
"They had their own interstate system in place, with signs
directing the way," said Judy Dyer, who has photographed
more than 30 trail trees, as they're called, near her Norcross
home.
But skeptics say many of the unusual trees are too young
to have formed more than a century ago. They also question
whether American Indians, renowned for their woodland skills,
needed signs to tell them where to go.
Gaming talks at a standstill
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A conflict between the Cherokee
and Choctaw nations over the purchase of Blue Ribbon Downs
racetrack might endanger an Indian gaming compact that could
pump as much as $80 million into Oklahoma's budget.
The proposal would allow limited use of Las Vegas-style slot
machines at race tracks and Indian casinos, otherwise known as
Class III gaming.
But the compact is in danger of dying before it reaches the
Legislature because of the rift, said state Finance Director Scott
Meacham, the governor's point man for compact negotiations.
"I don't see how you can move forward with the gaming com
pact without the state's two largest tribes," Meacham said.
Meacham, along with negotiators for Oklahoma's American
Indian tribes, racetracks and horsemen's groups, has been working
since May to make a compact more palatable than the one that
failed at the end of the last legislative session.
Casino reopening delayed
TAMA, Iowa (AP) Officials with the Meskwaki tribe have
scuttled plans to reopen their casino by Christmas, and now
say a February opening date is more realistic.
The casino, one of Tama County's biggest employers, has
been shut down since May when federal regulators closed it
for violating federal tribal gaming rules.
Tribal attorneys say the National Indian Gaming Commis
sion is not expected to allow the casino to reopen until the
Bureau of Indian Affairs rules on the legitimacy of tribal elec
tions held in October and November.
A review of the elections now underway is expected to
take four months, officials say.
The elections were held to resolve a leadership dispute that
began in March when the elected tribal council was ousted by
a new group of leaders hand picked by the tribe's hereditary
chief.
The elected leaders were accused of ignoring valid recall
petitions and tribal members grew frustrated with the council's
leadership.
The appointed council, led by chairman Homer Bear Jr.,
took control of government and casino operations until a fed
eral judge upheld an NIGC order to close the casino, which
employs about 1,300 workers and earns about $3 million a
week in revenue.
Donation to protect mounds
JEFFERSON,Wis.(AP)A
40-acre plot of southern Wis
consin woodland containing In
dian mounds is destined to be
come a nature preserve after
being donated to Jefferson
County in a move that left some
officials sounding stunned.
Theo Garman of Waterloo
is donating the land in honor of
her late husband, Dr. J.S.
Garman.
"I don't even want to guess
at what the. Garman family
could make selling this property
on the real estate market," said
County Board member
Kathleen Groskopf, a former
real estate agent. "This piece of
property is just gorgeous and it's
an extraordinarily generous of
fer." "This is a magnificent piece
57 - U ft
of land that's never beor
farmed and Mrs. Garmen's c f
fer is just amazing," said Parks
Director Joe Nehmer just be
fore the County Board accepted
the donation Tuesday.
The property near Waterloo,
at an elevation of 950 feet, is at
one of the highest points in the
county.
Nehmer described the prop
erty as a classic glacial drumlin
- a type of hill formed by the
movement of glaciers that once
covered parts of the state.
Personnel from the Wiscon
sin Historical Society visited the
parcel Oct. 30 and surveyed the
Garman Mound Group, a
group of 22 Indian burial
mounds on the site.
All the mounds have been
looted, Deputy State Archaeolo
gist John Broihahn said in a let
ter to Nehmer.
But he said the looting has
been limited, and it is not un
usual to find undisturbed human
burials and other cultural depos
its under looted areas.
Ad for the Spilyay?
Call 553-3274.