News from Indian Country P$ge 9 Spilyqy Tymoo . August 5, 2004
Winnebagos position for Nebraska casino Remains of 24 from
EMERSON, Neb. (AP)-On
the main street of this tiny north
east Nebraska town of 800
people, sandwiched between a
1 medical clinic and an abandoned
store front, sits the Iron Horse
Bar & Casino.
Inside, past the bar and its
half-dozen tables, Greg Werners
, punches buttons on the Cash
Cow electronic bingo machine
and tests his luck. A couple other
locals are positioned at two of
the 38 other similar machines
, lined up around the cramped
J room.
"If it hits me pretty good, I
j like it," said Werners, a brick
layer from Fremont, explaining
j how he decides where to sit.
The nickel games he and the
others are playing look like slot
machines found in casinos in Las
Vegas and in states across the
( country, but they are not
Those machines are illegal in
Nebraska.
The bingo machines at the
Iron Horse are classified as a
different form of gaming that
is legal.
Slot machines, roulette
wheels, blackjack tables and the
other forms of gambling cur
rently against the law in Ne
braska would be legalized if
voters approve a proposed con
stitutional amendment on the
Nov. 2 ballot.
Nebraska's Winnebago Tribe
is carefully eyeing that vote.
The Iron Horse, which
opened July 9, is owned by the
Beadwork connects past to the future
LAWTON, Okla. (AP) - To
a curious 6-year-old, there's
something mesmerizing about
watching nimble fingers create
art with tiny, multicolored beads.
When Paul McDaniels was 6,
he remembers watching his
grandmother make round me
dallions from hundreds of tiny
beads. He remembers thinking,
"I want to do that someday."
Although typically beadwork is
done by the small hands of
women, some men have also
acquired the interest and per
fected the craft.
"My sister and I sat and
watched as Grandma placed one
bead in the center of a medal
lion and then surrounded it with
seven," McDaniels said. "We
watched her so closely she was
afraid she might stick us with
one of her needles, so she
started us on our own medal
lions. I've been doing it ever
since."
I The opportunity to watch his
I grandmother and learn the craft
j came when, at age 3, he and his
jj parents, Paul McDaniels Sr. and
ij Maude Mausape McDaniels,
I and his siblings, Cruz, Gina and
jj Pam, all moved back to
jlAnadarko from Cortez, Colo.,
where McDaniels was born.
The days he spent watching
his grandmother ignited some
thing in the young boy and he
developed a lifelong interest and
knack for beadwork. McDaniels
said beadwork came much easier
and much quicker for his sister,
but that eventually, he caught on.
He dabbled and worked at it.
He had a lot of help from those
around him.
Luckily, his life experiences
led him to experts.
The knowledge and love he
developed for the craft fully
developed around 1980. Before
then, he worked at it, but knew
he had things to learn.
"It was just something I re
ally wanted to learn to do," he
said. "My desire to learn how
to do it just made me more per
sistent, even though I was slow
at it I wanted my work to be
perfect My sister and I learned
it together. We worked closely
together."
tribe. It is one of two Indian
casinos with bingo machines in
the state. The other, run by the
Santee Sioux, has been operat
ing since 1996.
The tribes know if expanded
gambling is approved in Novem
ber, the stakes become a lot
higher.
A legislative plan on the bal
lot would legalize two casinos,
located anywhere in Nebraska.
Another gambling measure,
which would authorize two ca
sinos in Omaha and slot ma
chines at bars and restaurants
across the state, also likely will
be on the ballot. Petition signa
tures submitted to get the issue
before voters are in the process
of being verified.
Under either plan, the state's
four American Indian tribes -Winnebago,
Omaha, Santee
Sioux and Ponca - would be able
to compact with the state to
operate full-fledged casinos on
their land.
But that's not where the real
money is.
Because the high rollers are
likely to shun the out-of-the-way
reservations, and instead gamble
in glitzier casinos expected to be
built in Omaha, the Indian casi
nos are in danger of being at
best an area attraction.
The Winnebago are deter
mined not to have that happen.
The tribe is putting together
a plan to make a push to run a
casino off reservation land,
most likely in downtown Omaha.
In the early 1980s,
McDaniels received his most
valuable instruction. His big
break came when he went to
work for Kugee Supernaw's In
dian Store in Anadarko.
While employed there,
McDaniels learned about beads
and techniques for making dif
ficult pieces.
"Kugee taught me while I
worked in his store," McDaniels
said. "I was in high school at the
time. He taught me about dif
ferent kinds of beads. He used
beads imported from Czecho
slovakia." It was there that he started
doing his work seriously.
"I sat down and made my
first medallion with him and it
took eight to 10 hours to do 10
rounds of beads. After I made
my first medallion, everything
fell into place for me after that,"
McDaniels said.
"You have to learn how to
thread the needle the right way;
that's really the biggest part of
learning to do beadwork. Every
thing has to be just right."
Today, he works much faster.
He has obtained knowledge that
guides him through his work.
He can create a 2-inch set of
earrings in about three hours. He
spends much longer on more
detailed projects.
"I like creativity," McDaniels
said. "I like to take the time to
do it right I've just gotten much
better at it. I like pieces that will
mean something to the people I
make them for. I go out and
learn about their lives and get
designs from their background.
This makes it very special to
those who pay for my work. It
isn't just a piece, it means some
thing to them and me."
Besides his beadwork,
McDaniels has acquired several
other skills.
"While I was still at Kugee's
store, during high school, I saw
a box of A-shaped metal pieces,
McDaniels said. "With these I
learned to make German silver
cones."
Several other people helped
teach McDaniels their craft
skills as welL
"My mother taught me to do
" see no reason why
we should be stuck on
the reservation like
100 j ears ago. "
Lance Morgan
Chief executive officer
Ho-Chunk Inc.
It is there, the largest city in
Nebraska, where the money is
to be made, not on the remote
reservation in a county of 9,000
people, tribal leaders say.
"I see no reason why we
should be stuck on the reserva
tion like 100 years ago," said
Lance Morgan, chief executive
officer of Ho-Chunk Inc., the
tribe's business arm.
The Winnebagos have had
discussions about possibly team
ing up with a large gaming com
pany or a large gaming tribe,
Morgan said. He declined to
reveal any other details.
State lawmakers were wowed
by a presentation made at a leg
islative hearing by Las Vegas's
Venetian Casino, said Winnebago
tribal chairman John
Blackhawk, but it doesn't make
sense to send casino profits back
to Nevada.
"Our message is pretty
clear," Blackhawk said. "We
want this for Nebraska. We want
to keep the money here."
It will be a hard sell.
The Venetian casino was
heavily involved in lobbying the
loom work," McDaniels said. "I
learned gourd stitch from Alice
Chaddleson and featherwork
from Max Silverhdrn :t;
Around 1996, he began mak
ing a buckskin dress, which took
about three years to complete.
"Like any artist, I hit dry
spells, when I just can't do it,"
said McDaniels.
"In 1998, 1 lost my father and
my sister and I didn't do much
for about a year."
McDaniels' work has won
many prizes over the years.
"In my first show ever, I won
a first place award," McDaniels
said. "It was at the American
Indian Expo in 1986. 1 also won
Best of Show that year. In
1999, I entered the buckskin
dress I spent three years on and
won first place, again, in the expo
show."
McDaniels will create most
any piece requested. He does
beadwork logos for organiza
tions such as the Indian Arts and
Crafts Board, beaded dance ac
cessories, including crowns,
chokers and pins. He creates
braid ties and all sorts of jewelry.
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Legislature to put the gambling
measure on the ballot. The
casino's owner has said he wants
to develop a casino and hotel
for Omaha's riverfront property
- an estimated $300 million in
vestment - that he believes
could attract as much as 75 per
cent of Iowa casino patrons.
The alternative petition drive
was backed by Coast Casinos,
also of Las Vegas. Its owner has
also said he is considering build
ing a casino in Omaha.
The Winnebago think they
can come up with a plan that
will be competitive.
State Sen. DiAnna Schimck
of Lincoln, who tried for years
to get gambling legalized for the
tribes alone, hopes they can, but
she remains skeptical.
"That would take a lot of
' negotiating and a lot of minds
would have to be opened,"
Schimck said. "I don't think the
tribes will have the kind of clout
to have something like that hap
pen. Indian gambling is huge busi
ness nationwide. It brought in
more than $16.7 billion in 2003,
according to the National Indian
Gaming Commission report re
leased in July. That is an increase
of 13.7 percent from 2002.
Twenty-three states have Indian
run casinos.
15 off
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Aug 1-31
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ron vncienr era rouna
PETERSBURG, Ky. (AP) -Archaeologists
have found re
mains of 24 Native Americans
apparently dating back more
than 400 years.
The site is near the Ohio
River, where historians say two
occupations of Fort Ancient
Indians settled from the 1200s
to the 1500s. Petersburg sits on
a bluff along the river in rural
northwestern Boone County.
"There's a good chance"
more bones will be found, said
David Pollack, an archaeologist
with the Kentucky Heritage
Council who is working at the
site.
The archaeologists converged
on the site last week after a con
struction crew digging out the
foundation for a house uncov
ered two leg bones. After deter
mining the bones were ancient
$1 million jackpot at casino
WORLEY, Idaho (AP) -Coeur
d'Alene Casino gave away
its biggest jackpot ever when a
Spokane, Wash., man won more
than $1 million on a Megabucks
machine.
The lottery-type game con
nects machines in about 150
American Indian casinos around
the United States, Coeur d'Alene
Casino officials said.
Lift Chairs
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Currently a
special
order item.
Ralph's
and not the result of foul play,
archaeologists sealed the site and
began digging deeper.
Pollack, who is director of
the Kentucky Archaeological
Survey, said Tuesday that what
was first thought to be a family
burial ground now appears to be
the burial site for a community
of Fort Ancient-era Native
Americans dating back to the
late 1500s.
The remains are being taken
to the University of Kentucky
for further study. There, scien
tists will likely spend months
analyzing them, said Matt
Becher, Boone County historic
preservation planner.
David and Mary Holdcraft,
who own the property, said last
week they hope to have their
new house built by October.
The man, whose name was
not released, bet $3 on the ma
chine while he was waiting for
his tee time, according to a ca
sino press release.
"After only four days with
this game, it's a great pleasure
to have such a big winner," said
Jerry Krieg, the casino's chief
operating officer.
Furniture & T.V.
(541)475-2578
525 S.E. 5th St.
Madras, OR 97741
Edward & Donna
Hagedorn, owners