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News from Indian Country Page 11 Spilyay Tymoo March 4, 2004 Remains ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) - Human remains found be neath a downtown building site : are likely those of American "Indians and could be one of the ' most significant finds in the his tory of the nation's oldest city, " according to the city archaeolo ' gist. r ' The bones were found when 1 the city conducted a routine ar chaeological excavation at the 1 location of an eight-unit site. BIA staff has ties ' PLYMOUTH, Calif. (AP) - A once-tiny, nearly destitute American Indian tribe is push 'ing hard to build a $100 million 'casino - but it's not traditional tribal members gunning for ' 'riches. 1 Hundreds of people have ! been newly added to the lone ,! Band of Miwok Indians' mem bership rolls, which were i' opened up by regional Bureau V 'of Indian Affairs officials. Among the new members are several BIA employees and doz : ' ens of their relatives. Four congressmen have '"called for an investigation, 'though federal officials have so '' 'far declined to intervene. Rep. ' Nick Rahall, ranking Democrat ' on the House Resources Com '" 'mittee, called the BIA's move an apparent "coup d'etat" that : 'should make other tribes '"tremble with fear." ' Regional BIA officials opened the membership against ' ' the traditional leaders' wishes to ' include members from two other bands in the area. The federal officials then oversaw an Aug. 10, 2002, election that swapped the' old leaders for a c pro-casino group that includes some of the BIA employees themselves. Before the Bureau of Indian Affairs became involved, the , lone Band had about 70 mem bers living on land near lone, Experts differ on what ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Ex perts still differ on what to do with the remains of American Indians collected by researchers despite a federal law designed to return the remains to their . original resting places. f Some archaeologists say the ( bones provide vital clues to the : , way ancient Indians lived and .should be studied more. Others note that for some Indian tribes the bones represent the sacred I remains of their ancestors and therefore they should be rebur ied as called for under federal law. University of Georgia ar chaeologists are still waiting to find out what they must do with , the earthly remains of about oUU people in a Museum or Natural History storage building. The bones were recovered during archaeological digs of centuries-abandoned Georgia tj: ..1 -.1 1 luuiiiu sciucmciHs, men urougnu back to Athens for analysis, cata loging and storage. UGA's collection includes re mains of at least 248 people. Hundreds of others in climate controlled storage on the UGA campus are officially in the cus tody of agencies such as the U.S. li which contracted with UGA to ' store the bones and associated materials. UGA archaeologist David Hally completed an inventory of , UGA's burial remains and arti- , tacts more tnan a aecaae ago, then sent out notices to 10 tribes that could potentially have claims. He's yet to get a response from any of them, he said. Few tribes have much money Urn found at City Archaeologist Carl I lalbirt said his team of volun teers identified four or five sets of remains. They probably be long to Yamassee Indians who were in St. Augustine in the 18th Century, he said. "From a historic standpoint, this is one of the most signifi cant finds we've ever made in St. Augustine," Halbirt said. A mission called La Punta, with a church and scattered about 40 miles east of Sacra mento in the rolling hills of one of California's wine regions. Now the band's official mem bership has swelled to 535. None of the new members is related to the original 70. Amy Dutschke, a member of another American Indian group whose family has roots in the lone area, was the BIA's acting regional director in June 2002 when she authorized the lone Band's last leadership election, documents show. Now Dutschke and 68 of her relatives are on the tribe's official list of registered voters. They include her uncle and a niece, who also work for Indian Affairs, according to tribal rolls, a BIA employee list and opposi tion members. The election was overseen by Indian Affairs employee Carol Rogers-Davis, whom the BIA named chair of the elections board. She now has three rela tives on the tribal roll, records show. The election produced five new tribal leaders, four of whom are related to Dutschke. Matt FrankKn, the new tribal . chairman recognized by the BIA, said he could provide documents proving the legiti macy of the tribe's expanded membership. However, Franklin did not produce the documents after or time for the often-complex repatriation process. Many tribes have only re cently designated people to deal with the repatriation process. For some, it's become a monumen tal task. Joyce Bear, cultural preser vation officer for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, now has inventories from about 250 museums and universities that may have remains of Creek I Your income tax f' " 90 Ford Thunderbird 2-door $2,995 $299 off 330 SW Culver nation's oldest city farmsteads, stood at the site between ,1720 and the late 1750s, Halbirt said. The mission was home to 40 to 60 people. No one knows if the bodies were buried under the church or in an open graveyard because there isn't historical documen tation, he said. Halbirt said the University of Florida will verify if the re mains are indeed American Indian. to conflicted tribe repeated requests from The Associated Press over several weeks. Dutschke's standing with the tribe dates to a June 1994 letter from a BIA colleague to her brother, asserting that "the his tory of your family and its as sociation with the lone Band appears to be quite substantial and would certainly justify your inclusion in the reorganization process." Tribal rolls and opposition members say a second cousin of Dutschke, Harold Burris, was once allowed to live on the lone Band's property near lone because his sister was married to the tribe's chief, Villa's father, at the time. In Washington, the Bureau of Indian Affairs relied on the tribal election committee's deci sion to refuse to investigate its own employees' involvement. The Department of Interior's inspector general also declined to investigate, telling die complaining congressmen that it was an internal tribal matter. A BIA spokeswoman in Washington, Nedra Darling, said she'touldn't comment because the Sacramento regional office did not respond to her repeated inquiries over more than a month. Regional officials, including Dutschke, similarly did not re turn repeated telephone mes to do with ancestors. It was only last November that the tribe had its first repa triation in Georgia, Bear said. That was at Fort Benning, a U.S. Army military base near Colum bus. The remains from 31 Indian burials exhumed by construction crews and archaeologists over seven decades were quietly re buried at an undisclosed location on the base. A Michael Johnigean, owner of Empire Development Group LLC, the property owner, said the discovery won't set his project back. The find was only on one lot, Johnigean plans to install a plaque at the site telling its his tory. And he wants to see the remains get a proper burial. Reburial details have not been worked out. sages left by the AP over a mat ter of weeks, or respond to a letter sent last month. The tribe is now potentially eligible for millions of dollars in federal benefits. Its new leaders have been given $1.9 million from the state's Tribal Revenue Sharing Trust Fund, in which tribes with casinos contribute to non-gambling tribes. The tribe says it is using that money to offer members emergency assis tance with housing, health care and energy bills, If the tribe opens its pro posed casino with 2,000 slot machines, opponents say it could bring in $185 million a year, based on the experience of other tribes. The lone Band is seeking permission to acquire 208 acres in Plymouth for the casino. Per mission has to come from Inte rior Secretary Gale Norton and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose office has been asked to consider granting the tribe a gambling compact. The issue has split rural Amador County's 31,000 resi dents. County supervisors want Congress and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to block the ca- sino. Plymouth City Council mem bers support the casino, and face a May recall election because of their backing. remains "Native Americans used to view archaeologists as grave rob bers," Bear said. "Now we real ize archaeology is a tool to en sure our sites will be protected." Mark Williams, curator of the natural history museum's Indian materials, said that rather than cataloging bones and burial objects, today's archaeologist is more apt to study the way the people laid out their homes and towns. Refund is CASH in hand With this coupon off any vehicle purchased thru March 8th Hwy, Madras 475 Alcohol ban stays in place on Pine Ridge Reservation MANDERSON, S.D. (AP) -The Oglala Sioux Tribal Coun cil has defeated a proposed or dinance that would have let tribal members vote whether to make alcohol legal on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. As tribal President John Steele read the results of the 10 2 vote, cheers erupted from 150 students and tribal members who had gathered to protest the ordinance and the referendum. They came to the community center holding signs that read, "Remember Our Children," "Vote No to Beer," "Please Don't Bring Poison to Our People" and "Protect Our Trea ties." Alcohol has been banned on the reservation for years. But those voting for the or dinance said the people, not the council, should decide whether to make alcohol legal. They also argued that money raised through alcohol sales could help youth and other programs on the reservation. Lyle Jack was one of two council members who voted for the ordinance. He represents the Pine Ridge District, which is close to Whiteclay, Neb., where and estimated 4 million cans of beer are sold each year, mostly to Indians from the Pine Ridge Reservation. "We're not for alcohol, but we're tired of seeing people making millions off of our mis eries," said Jack. "Realistically, there's not enough votes on the council to support the ordi nance," he said. "The resolution was a way for letting the people decide. People asked, 'Let us decide for ourselves.'" n" '"; Emmett Kef!?;, oV -'the I Tribes want help with V a th PR H T .7 Vp MISSOULA (AP) - The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will offer a bar gain fishing license for their por tion of Flathead Lake this year. It will cost $10 and will be good for the entire year. "We want anglers to help us suppress nonnative fisheries in Flathead Lake," said Tom McDonald, manager of the tribes' Division of Fish, Wild life, Recreation and Conserva tion. Many tourists shy away from buying a rather pricey year-round tribal license just to fish the lake for a day or two during a summer visit, 93 Ford Ranger 2-door $2,800 $280 off Wounded Knee District said al cohol wasn't the point because bootleggers already operate on reservations. The tribe struggles financially, and with a $13.6 million treat ment center being built, it now must find funds to pay operat ing costs, he said. "We don't have any revenue to put in place for it," Kelly said. Eileen Janis of Pine Ridge asked the council to reconsider its vote.' Local youth groups as well as high school teams are invited to regional and out-of-state tourna ments - tournaments that they'll never attend because of lack of money, said Janis. Many more, however, spoke against the ordinance. Alex White Plume of Manderson said alcohol is an other strike against the Lakota. To grow up healthy, maintain ing spiritual ties and traditional ways, the tribe needs to adhere to its alcohol-free status, he said. Phillip Good Crow of Por cupine said the council should consider what has alcohol has done to families on the reserva tion. "Our problems would only triple if we began selling liquor on the reservation," Good Crow said. As the council gathered to make its decision, a rally to pro test the ordinance was held at tribal offices in Pine Ridge, about 30 miles away. Tribal officials said elders from as far away as Martin at tended the rally along with mem bers of Ikce Wicasa Ksapa Ta Oklakiciye, a newly founded men's organization formed to oppose alcohol sales on the res ervation'. " '' f'imjo- VtTPd A tCiY fl McDonald said. Others are un aware that any tribal fishing li cense is needed to fish the Flat head Reservation portion of the lake, he said. The southern half of the lake is controlled by the tribal government, while the state of Montana controls the waters to the north. State officials said the state will not offer a correspond ing bargain for the state-controlled northern half of the lake at this time. The new tribal license was not initiated to increase revenue - although that is a likely result, said McDonald. - 6618
