News from Indian Country
PzqelO Spilygy Tymoo February 5, 2004
Tribal studies proposed
OLYMPIA,Wash.(AP)-An
American Indian lawmaker
wants the state to require tribal
studies in all Washington public
schools.
Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip,
said his bill would encourage
diversity and promote local his
tory by requiring K-12 school
districts to work with the state's
29 federally recognized tribes to
develop such courses.
"Tribes in the state of Wash
ington have a lot to offer and
we're willing to share it," McCoy,
a Tulalip tribal member, said
Monday as the bill went before
the I louse Education Commit
tee. McCoy's bill would require
school districts to develop
classes in local tribal history and
culture for each grade. Schools
would collaborate with the tribes
with reservations inside district
boundaries, or those whose tra
ditional lands and territories fall
within a 100-mile radius.
To graduate from high
school, Washington students
Tribe plans multibillion-dollar complex
LOS ANGELES (AP)-The
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians is seeking permission to
turn a square-mile portion of
downtown Palm Springs into a
multibillion-dollar complex fea
turing high-rises, shopping malls,
restaurants, a theme park and a
second casino.
The controversial develop
ment plan is to be submitted
Wednesday to the city planning
commission,
"The city should have a great
run from this plan because it's
in the downtown area, and it
gives the city a focus in terms
bfwhat'it is We're lBbkirig'fer,"
Ul auu K.uuM.igiu!,
Agua Caliente Chairman Rich-
ard Milanovich told the Los
Angeles Times.
The tribe unveiled last week
an initiative for the November
ballot that would boost payments
to the state in exchange for
more gambling rights. The pro
posal would remove state restric
tions that allow a maximum of
2,000 slot machines and two
South Dakota to
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -An
advisory group will meet
this month to lay the ground
work for an office of Indian
Education within the South Da
kota Department of Education,
The 15-member group will
include representatives of the
nine American Indian tribes in
South Dakota and state school
officials, said Rick Melmer, state
education secretary.
Melmer hopes to have the
new office operating by summer.
The state will include Bureau
of Indian Affairs schools in its
planning process, even though
South Dakota has no jurisdic
tion over those federally funded
schools.
Students from those schools
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must take at least one-and-a-half
credits of state history and gov
ernment - areas of study that
may include information about
the state's first inhabitants.
But McCoy said such
coursework often contains inac
curacies, or focuses on tribes in
other regions. He called
Washington's American Indian
population "the state's best kept
secret." Martina Whelshula said she
still fields questions about tee
pees - a form of housing North
west Indians didn't use - when
she and her husband visit
schools to perform tribal dances
and share their American Indian
heritage.
"It's just because of a total
lack of cultural understanding,"
said Whelshula, a member of
the Arrow Lake Nation, part of
the Colville Confederated
Tribes, who coordinates
Gonzaga University's Indian
Education Outreach Project.
Supporters also hope the bill
will help curtail high dropout
casinos per tribe.
The 412-member Agua
Caliente Band is already the only
tribe in the state with two casi
nos, including a $95-million
downtown Palm Springs gam
bling palace that opened in No
vember and one in Rancho Mi
rage. "If everything in the plan
manifests it will be a glory day,"
Palm Springs City Manager
David Ready said. "If only a
third of it happens, it would have
a huge positive impact on the
entire city."
Not everyone, however, is
thrilled.! Homeowners,. hotel
, ".iiif-Y r, lyrryvarsrajr-
owners and others say they ob- fends its plan", calling it a vision
ject to the size, design and loca
tion of the complex, which
would be on a 640-acre site a
short block east of Palm Can
yon Drive and a mile west of
the city's international airport.
Bill Gonzalez, president of
the Palm Springs Allied
Homeowners Assn., was among
a group of residents who com-
have Indian education office
often move back and forth be
tween BIA and public schools,
educators say.
"We want to try to bridge that
division even though clearly we
have jurisdiction over the pub
lic and not the other schools,"
Melmer said.
Roger Bordeaux, superinten
dent of Tiospa Zina School, a
BIA school in Agency Village,
said there hasn't been much
cooperation between state and
tribal schools.
"I think that it's something
that's long overdue," Bordeaux
said of the state's invitation to
talk with tribes.
With No Child Left Behind
data being broken down by
race, there is more incentive to
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for Washington schools
'There's kids that live
within the reservation
boundaries that don't
even know what tribe
they belong to, "
Denny Hurtado
rates among the state's more
than 30,000 American Indian
students.
Those students often cite a
lack of connection to their class
room studies, said Marsha
Wynecoop, whose daughters
dropped out of school in the 7th
and 8th grades, respectively.
"It has nothing to do with
who they are as individuals and
as a people," said Wynecoop, a
member of the Spokane Tribe.
State Indian Education Di
rector Denny Hurtado said ef
forts are already being made to
bring American Indian culture
into classrooms.
Wynecoop and Whelshula
belong to the First People's Lan
guage and Culture Committee,
plained to the city attorney that
the project would affect prop
erty values of homes and bed-and-breakfast
inns that now en
joy a measure of solitude and
serene desert views.
"The attorney insisted the
money generated by this project
will help the city," Gonzalez said.
He also said, The tribe is a sov
ereign nation and there's not
much we can do about it.'
"But we say: 'Let's take back
our city. Let's not allow the tribe
to get away with this. Let's turn
the tribe's power and gas off if
necessary.'"
yT fgua alienttjl jie
for "a unique and cohesive dis
trict with its own identity, which
is separate but linked to down
town Palm Springs."
The tribe compares it to Plea
sure Island in Orlando, Fla., an
entertainment complex that in
cludes eight nightclubs and
evening street parties set off by
music and fireworks.
work together because the in
formation is reflective of each
school, Bordeaux said. The 2-year-old
No Child Left Behind
Act requires all children to meet
standards in reading and math
by 2014.
BIA schools, which serve
more than 7,000 students in
South Dakota, collectively are
the lowest-performing schools in
the state on standardized tests.
Scores for public schools on or
near reservations historically
have been lower than other pub
lic school test results, too.
Education experts say pov
erty' is the leading cause of poor
performance among children
who attend BIA schools in
South Dakota.
23 YRS IN BUSINESS
a group that successfully peti
tioned to the Legislature for cer
tification of tribal members as
language and culture experts.
The three-year pilot program has
certified nine people since law
makers adopted it last year.
The state Indian-education
office has developed tribal cur
ricula for kindergarten through
second grade, Hurtado said. The
three units - drumming, hunt
ing and gathering, and canoes -actually
can be applied to any
culture, he said.
Those courses could be ex
panded for use by all grades and
school districts, according to
Hurtado.
"This needs to happen," he
said. "There's kids that live
within the reservation bound
aries that don't even know what
tribe they belong to."
Nobody testified against the
bill, though it could draw resis
tance from local school districts,
especially since the measure
doesn't include funds for the
new programs.
Report details
gaming fines
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)
The National Indian Gaming
Commission has assessed almost
$21 million in fines and settle
ments against Oklahoma's gam
ing tribes since 1993, according
to a published report.
Many violations identified by
the commission were for oper
ating illegal gaming machines,
and more than half of the fines
and settlements are still due, The
Oklahoman reported in a story
in Sunday's editions.
Oklahoma gaming tribes
have been in conflict with the
? Jfqderal. agency jqvij the, legality
,0f their electronic games, which
''J'd opetm hke slot L- ,"'
operate
chines. Tribes have contended
the games are a legal, souped
up version of bingo.
The agency could have far
less responsibility in regulating
gaming facilities operated by
tribes under a proposal an
nounced by Gov. Brad Henry
last week.
It "will give legal certainty to
many of the games already of
fered in existing casinos," Henry
said.
"It's ... important to point out
this proposal would not bring Las
Vegas-style casino gaming to
Oklahoma. It would simply ad
dress the same type of games
that have been played at tribal
casinos across the state."
The agency's regulatory docu
ments were provided to The
Oklahoman in response to a
federal Freedom of Informa
tion Act request.
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Federal judge dismisses
DiacKteet housing lawsuit
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP)
- A federal judge has dismissed
a lawsuit seeking repair or re
placement of 203 houses on the
Blackfeet Indian Reservation
that residents claim made them
sick.
An appeal is expected.
U.S. District Judge Sam
Haddon recently granted mo
tions to dismiss the lawsuit filed
in August 2002 against the fed
eral Department of Housing
and Urban Development and
the Blackfeet Housing Author-
Martin Marceau, a lead
plaintiff, said the case likely will
be appealed to the 9th U.S. Cir
cuit Court of Appeals.
Marceau and his fellow plain
tiffs bought the houses, built in
the late '70s and early '80s, un
der a rent-to-own program with
the tribal housing authority.
They say their families have
suffered medical problems from
asthma to sinusitis because the
homes were built with treated
wood foundations unsuited for
the area.
Kloisture problems caused by
the wooden foundations have
exposed residents to mold, and
the wood itself was treated with
toxic chemicals, the plaintiffs
contend.
The suit asked for unspeci
fied monetary damages and for
the homes to be repaired or re
placed, an undertaking esti
Tabacco shop
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -The
Narragansett Indians have
filed an appeal of a federal court
ruling that said the state was in
the right when it shut down their
tax-free tobacco store.
.une or tne triDes attorneys
Valil':the:appeal'aM'trie;l'Ck.
.bne'bf the "tribe's, attorneys
cult Court of Appeals in Bos
ton to take another look at
whether the state had the right
to execute a search warrant on
tribal lands.
"There are very important
questions here of tribal sover
eignty," attorney Jack Killoy said
of the December ruling issued
Lawsuit suffers
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -A
federal prosecutor said Kan
sas Attorney General Phill Kline
has no jurisdiction to file law
suits against two federal agen
cies and has asked that the suits
be dropped.
Kline sued the National In
dian Gaming Commission and
the U.S. Department of the In
terior last fall after the Wyan
dotte Tribe of Oklahoma
opened a casino in downtown
Kansas City, Kan., next to the
old,
- ; i t
mated to cost $30 million.
Haddon ruled that HUD
can't be sued under the various
laws that apply to the housing
projects and the Blackfeet
Housing Authority has "sover
eign immunity."
He said responsibility for
maintenance of the homes falls
with the housing authority and
the plaintiffs.
"We think he's dead wrong,"
said Tom Towe of Billings, at
torney for the plaintiffs.
HUD had a trust responsi
bility to maintain the homes be
cause it funded construction and
imposed long-term rules and
regulations on the project, Towe
said.
At a hearing in mid-November,
assistant U.S. attorney Timo
thy J. Cavan, who represented
HUD, argued the federal agency
has no authority over the sov
ereign Blackfeet nation and,
therefore, did not force the tribal
housing authority, which built
the homes, to do anything.
The new ruling, filed Jan. 12
in federal court in Great Falls,
suggests that the proper venue
for the suit would be the Court
of Claims in Washington, DC.
It typically decides contract dis
putes involving the federal gov
ernment. Other plaintiffs named
were Candice Lamott, Julie Rat
tler, Joseph Rattler Jr., Mary
Grant, Gary Grant and Deana
Mountain Chief.
case appealed
by the U.S. District Court.
In July, the state police ex
ecuted a warrant and seized the
smoke shop's merchandise.
The raid turned violent when
tribal police and other tribe
.member:
r'lice 0$
Jtxhep&
ers resisted the State1 Po-
the tribe's lands in Charlestown.
The Narragansetts filed suit,
claiming the state's actions vio
lated their rights as a federally
recognized tribe.
, Killoy said the tribe also
wants the appeals court to take
another look at whether it can
sell tobacco tax-free, '
major setback
tribe's historic Huron Cemetery.
Kline accused the federal
agencies of allowing the casino
to open without adhering to en
vironmental and historic pres
ervation guidelines. He com
plained that state officials had
not been consulted beforehand.
But Eric Melgren, U.S. Attorney
for the District of Kansas, said
that environmental and historic
preservation laws did not apply
in the case and that Kline should
have sued the tribe instead.
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