News from Indian Country
Pqge 9 Spilyqy Tymoo December 23, 2004
Gaming decision will affect all of Wyoming
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -A
federal court's ruling that
tribes do not have to negotiate
with the state on the types of
gambling they offer will affect
all of Wyoming, Gov. Dave
Freudenthal says.
With the 3-0 ruling by the
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in Denver, the Northern
Arapaho tribe is moving ahead
with the Wind River Casino,
which is to be built about two
miles south of Riverton on
Wyoming 789.
"It may change the dynamic
of the travel and tourism indus
try," Freudenthal said in a recent
interview.
State law doesn't support
gambling except for "social gam
ing" and charitable bingo. But
enforcement has been uneven,
Freudenthal said, depending
upon the attitudes in different
communities.
Voters 10 years ago rejected
a ballot proposal to allow local
option gambling. Freudenthal
said that confirmed existing
policy.
He said he is not personally
a gambling advocate, but intends
to follow the appeals court de
cision if a state petition for the
entire appeals court to rehear the
case is denied.
State lawmakers say they
know of only two gambling bills
so far that will go before the
Legislature this winter. One bill
sponsored by the Joint Travel,
Recreation and Wildlife Com
mittee would ban electronic
bingo. Another, sponsored by
Rep. Dave Edwards, R-Douglas,
would allow Wyoming to join
the multistate Powerball lottery.
Both Lynn Birlcffi, executive
director of the Wyoming Lodg
ing and Restaurant Association,
and Mike Moscr, director of the
Wyoming Liquor Dealers Asso
ciation, said they have not heard
of any push in the Legislature
to expand legal gaming so Wyo
ming businesses can compete
with the reservation casino offerings.
I think it's a little early,"
Birlcffi said. "I don't know
where everyone would come
down now on some proposal to
expand gambling in Wyoming in
general."
The issue can be divisive, she
said, because most people in the
hospitality industry cannot take
advantage of gambling unless
they are set up for it.
"The challenge is if casinos
are allowed to have full-scale
gambling, I think there will be a
push out of just fairness. In
some states, when you have
Native American gambling, it
can start affecting other busi
nesses that don't have it," she
said.
Wounded Army
heme's welcome
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -An
Army private wounded in
Iraq returned here Thursday to
a hero's welcome, complete with
presentation of an eagle-feather
bonnet and a traditional Indian
smoke cleansing.
"I Ie left as a young boy," said
his uncle Lcland Spotted Bird.
"He has come back as a war
rior, a wounded warrior.
"He defended his country.
He defended his homeland. We
honor our warriors when they
come home."
Pfc. Joseph Yellow Hammer,
a 20-year-old Sioux Indian,
hobbled into the baggage claim
area, his feet covered in medi-
pnvate gets
from reservation
cal dressing.
The former high school bas
ketball star on the Fort Peck
Indian Reservation supported
his lanky 6-foot-7 frame on a
pair of crutches, still not adept
at using them.
I lis parents were there, along
with five of his sisters.
I lis grandmother dabbed at
the tears in her eyes and his.
She presented him with a red,
white and blue star quilt with an
eagle in the middle and made
special for him by master quiltcr
Loretta Bearcub.
"I wanted to have something
to give him," she said.
Group hopes
to gain tribe
recognition
LITTLE ROCK (AP) -With
hopes of securing land
and legitimization, a group
of people have opened an
office in the Ozark Moun
tains, calling themselves the
Lost Cherokee tribe.
They claim to be descen
dants of those who refused
to leave their homeland in
the 1800s and move farther
west. Based in northern Ar
kansas, the Lost Cherokee
of Arkansas and Missouri
organized in April 1999,
with an office in Clinton in
the Ozark Mountains, where
their ancestors once lived.
The group has conducted
a census to identify descen
dants of those who remained
in the region instead of
heading west on the "Trail
of Tears." Curtis Smith of
Texarkana, the group's presi-.
dent-elect and a founder,
says the census was part of
the application process in
seeking federal recognition
as a tribe.
Commodities:
program serves
a large area
(Continued from page 1)
"We have almost as many
inactive files as we have active
files," Brown said.
"You never have a situation
where you have the same
people," Finch said.
The Commodity program's
shift toward Crook County
came about because of a sig
nificant number of Warm
Springs tribal members in the
county, but also because of lo
gistics. Aside from its program
based giveaways at the
Soroptimists Senior Center in
Prineville on the first Friday of
each month, participants must
come to Warm Springs pick up
food through the program.
"We're serving about 40 fami
lies where there's at least one
Native," Brown said, adding that
along with economic, need
based, guidelines, participants
must have at least one member
of a recognized American Na
tive tribe originating from any
where in the U.S.
"We did a census this year
and got some feedback, and we
found that there were 120 Na
tive individuals total (in Crook
County)," he said. "We're getting
the word out (on the programs
visits to Prineville)."
For participants who travel to
Warm Springs (even Native
Americans living in Breitenbush
and Idanha, west of the Warm
Springs Reservation, are eligible
due to the program's 15-mile
radius around the reservation),
many tie their visits to the Com
modities storehouse with
planned trips to Indian Health
Services, Brown said.
In addition, the Commodi-
Buffalo moving from California
island to South Dakota nrairt'p
SANTA CATALINA IS- Rosebud Lakota reservati
LAND, Calif. (AP)-After a life
spent on a balmy Pacific island,
98 buffalo are being sent back
to an authentic - and frigid -home
on the range.
The buffalo began their jour
ney Wednesday from Santa
Catalina Island, off the coast of
Southern California, to South
Dakota, where they will live on
traditional rangelands of the
Rosebud Lakota reservation.
The animals, some standing
5 feet at the shoulder and weigh
ing several thousand pounds, are
the descendants of an original
herd of 14 brought from the
prairie to appear in the 1920s
silent movie "The Vanishing
American." Once the film was
completed, the buffalo were
simply left behind on the island.
Rawhide Western Town relocating
to Gila River Indian Reservation
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -The
Gila River Indian Commu
nity and its development author
ity will assume ownership and
operation of the Rawhide West
ern Town on Feb. 16.
The theme park, located in
Scottsdale for 33 years, will
close on Sept. 9 and open on
the reservation in south Phoe
nix around Nov. 1, tribal offi- ;
dais said. The deal calls for the
transfer of the Rawhide name
and most of its famous clap
board facades.
A new 2,100-foot train ride
will be added as well as an
American Indian Village adjacent
to the town.
Portions of the existing facil
ity - including antiques, the
4,000-capacity pavilion and the
rodeo area - will be recon
structed at the new location.
Don Antone Sr., former Gila
River community governor and
chairman7 'df the development
authority, said Rawhide should
create as many as 300 new jobs
for tribal members.
Devontre Thomas, 7,
and Rabe Clements, 12,
are active youths, and they
both enjoy sports.
Second-grader Devontre
likes basketball. Seventh
grader Rabe likes wres
tling. Devontre, who attends
Warm Springs Elementary
School, also likes going to
the Boys and Girls Club.
Rabe attends Jefferson
County Middle School.
1 Pl vr
Rabe Clements and Devontre Thomas
KKKKKr
ties program has conducted nu
trition education and cooking
classes in the past. Brown said
he plans to have nutrition edu
cation once again but will need
one more working sink to go
with the two it has, along with a
larger hot water tank.
The department also distrib
utes two cookbooks, including
dishes that call for many of the
ingredients available through the
Commodities Department.
Nutrition education is espe
cially appreciable, Finch said,
because of the increasing de
pendence on packaged and pro
cessed foods like pizza and
burritos and a general loss of
even simple cooking skills.
Brown, who has worked for
the Commodities department
since 1992 and has held his cur
rent position since 1995, ap
proaches his work with a heart
to help tribal members.
"I enjoy this line of work,"
he said, "helping the people,
helping the community."
Brown seems a natural for his
position. Working toward an as
sociates degree in a business-related
field, he said his goal is to
open his own business, not only
for the sake of being his own
boss, but to put tribal members
to work.
"I would like to open my own
business and then offer employ
ment to tribal members seeking
work for the first time," he said.
"There are a lot of individuals
who have had a hard time find
ing employment these days."
Brown is a member of the
Umatilla Confederated Tribes
and moved to Warm Springs
since 1990 after attending
school and living in Portland.
One catch of the USDA
tribal commodities program is
if one participates in that pro
gram, he or she can't participate
in the USDA's food stamp pro
gram or participate in Oregon's
state-run program.
"A household can receive
one or the other within a month's
period," Brown said. "For ex
ample, if a household applies
December 1, of course, we
have to do our verification, and
determine that they're not par
ticipating in the food stamps."
"There's a lot of uncertainty
with a lot of the community. I
think they tend to believe or
want to believe that they can get
both benefits."
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