News from Indian Country
Pge 16 Spilysy Tytnoo December 22, 2005
Cherokees
CIIKROKr.P., N.G (AP)
Cherokee tribal leaders say
stepped up enforcement and
expanded treatment for drug
addicts arc part of a scries of
signs the tribe is fighting the
growing use of mcthamphet
amine on the reservation.
As hundreds of meth labs
have been discovered across
western North Carolina this
year, the F.astcrn Band of
Cherokee Indians made changes
in treatment, law enforcement
and public awareness that ob
servers credit as a model for
other communities.
The Eastern Hand's anti-drug
efforts arc among the most ef
fective in the region because it
has encouraged the public to
help police, Western Carolina
University professor Gordon
Mercer said.
"They have had one of the
very best education programs,"
said Mercer, director of the
university's Public Policy Insti
tute, which is preparing a report
on western North Carolina's
Refinery would
be a first
MAKOTI,N.D.(AP)
- A draft environmental
impact statement for a
proposed tribal refinery
here is expected to be
ready for public com
ment at the end of
March.
Three Affiliated
Tribes officials an
nounced in 2003 that the
refinery was proposed
for about 10 acres of
land west of Makoti.
More land was purchased
later and now the tribes
have a total of 469 acres
in that area. The Makoti
refinery would be the
first refinery built in the
U.S. in about 30 years,
and the first one owned
" by an Indian tribe and
located on a reservation.
Group wants judge to rethink
order to return Hawaiian artifacts
HONOLULU (AP) - A
group is asking a federal judge
to reconsider ordering them to
retrieve Native Hawaiian arti
facts from a Big Island Cave,
saying it has new evidence that
gives a "full picture" of the case.
Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O
Hawaii Nei has refused to com
ply with a Sept. 7 order by U.S.
District Judge David Ezra that
instructs the group to give the
83 items back to Bishop Mu
seum. The order was reaffirmed
this week by the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.
Hui Malama, which repatri
ates artifacts and human remains
found around the world, claims
to have buried the items - in
cluding a human-hair wig, con
tainers with human teeth and
carved wooden statuettes of
family gods - in a cave after
borrowing them from the mu
seum in 2000.
Alan Murakami, an attorney
widi the Native Legal Hawaiian
Corp. who is representing Hui
Malama, said during a news con
ference on Friday that the court
needs to consider new evidence
on the case.
Among the new material, the
group said, is a statement from
a masonry contractor who used
concrete to seal the cave hous
ing the artifacts.
According to the contractor,
the cave could collapse if mem
bers of Hui Malama or others
tried to enter it, though that ar
gument has been rejected by the
fight meth with policing,
meth problem.
Principal Chief Michcll
I licks credits progress in the
tribe's fight against meth on the
Cherokees' community spirit.
'Our community is pretty
tight-knit," he said, "and I think
that has really helped us with our
approach."
The tribe has adopted a law
regulating the sale of cold medi
cine tablets containing ephc
drinc and pseudocphedrine that
is stricter than the one North
Carolina passed this year.
The Cherokee law passed in
July requires buyers to get the
drugs, which are ingredients in
making meth, from a pharma
cist. Unless the Tribal Council
votes to keep that version of the
law, however, the less restrictive
state version will replace it on
Jan. 15.
A police hotline has gener
ated tips that led to more than
50 drug arrests, Cherokee Indian
Police Chief Uric Pritchctt said.
The tribe has hired a private
company to test confiscated
Tribes show interest in
targeted naval air station
' BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) - Maine's Penobscot and
Passamaquoddy Indian tribes have expressed interest in the
Brunswick Naval Air Station, which is to be redeveloped after its
closure.
The tribes are ruling out such controversial ideas as a casino or
a liquefied natural gas terminal at the site, which is being decom
missioned as part of the base realignment and closure process.
The Navy is scheduled to leave the more than 3,000-acre site in
2011.
"We're not interested in being mavericks," said Tim Love, an
economic development adviser to the Penobscots.
Craig Francis, general counsel for the Passamaquoddies, said,
"The tribe's thinking is that it's an opportunity that could be a win
win for everybody."
The two tribes expressed their interest in letters to the U.S. In
terior Department.
The Penobscots appear to have a clearer idea of what they'd do
with the property, such as manufacturing a wood-based product,
doing aviation maintenance and manufacturing airplane parts, or
production of renewable energy. Love said the tribe intends to
form a partnership with an existing business.
The Passamaquoddies aren't yet publicizing any specific busi
ness plans.
appellate court and also by Ezra.
Hui Malama also said a letter
from the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatria
tion review committee stated the
items should remain buried.
"There are good grounds for
Judge Ezra to look at this infor
mation and really consider
whether or not he truly had the
complete picture," said
Murakami.'
The items, known as the
Forbes Collection, were taken
from the Kawaihae Caves on the
Big Island in 1905. Hui Malama
contends that the items were
looted from the cave and ille
gally given to the museum.
During the news conference,
Hui Malama complained that
the items' fate is being decided
"in a Western court" that has no
understanding of Hawaiian tra
ditions. Hui Malama is one of 13
Hawaiian groups with claims to
the objects. Sherry Broder, an
attorney for the groups Na Lei
Alii Kawananakoa and the Royal
Hawaiian Academy of Tradi
tional Arts, which sued Hui
Malama for the objects' return,
said the courts are clear on what
they want.
"They need to comply,"
Broder said. "There are federal
court orders against them. It is
not what they wanted and I can
understand that. They have
lost"
Ezra has scheduled a status
hearing on the case for Dec 20.
drugs rather than rely on the
State Bureau of Investigation.
The agency's backlog of cases
can delay court proceedings for
months, a problem confronting
other North Carolina police de
partments. The Cherokee police force
has expanded from one narcot
ics specialist to three and started
a canine unit with three drug
dogs. The police also created a
task force to work with Swain
and Jackson counties and the
I 111 to arrest suspects who flee
the reservation.
Pritchctt pointed to declines
in police calls for service this
year as evidence that the tribe's
anti-drug efforts arc working.
Calls dropped from 4,647 in die
first seven months of 2004 to
3,923 calls in the same period
of this year. Burglaries a crime
that increased on the reservation
because of drugs, were cut from
82 last year to 66 this year.
I)w levels of income and
education help explain the ap
peal of drugs for some mem
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treatment
bers of the tribe, said Mickey
Strother, manager of the behav
ioral health program A Na
NiSgi(ahNAIIIaNHr.shgee).
In the Cherokee language, the
name means, "they arc begin
ning." Nearly one in five families on
the reservation lived below the
poverty line in 1999, more than
twice the 9 percent of North
Carolina families living in pov
erty. More than 8,000 people
lived on the reservation in 1999.
"When you have generational
hopelessness, when you have
people who have been put down
and left on the fringes of soci
ety," Strother said, "drug deal
ers prey on these people because
they want to alter their percep
tions and the way they feel."
A Na Le Ni Sgi, started in
September 2004 to serve drug
addicts and mental health pa
tients, averaged 478 meetings
with patients per month from
January to August, up from 91
in the program's first four
months.
Wishing You a Very Merry
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Rehberg turns back money
from Abramoff, clients
1 1F.LF.NA, Mont. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg has
relinquished $ 19.9(H) in campaign donations received from
indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients, a spokes
man for the Montana Republican said.
The $2,000 from Abramoff himself has been given to
domestic violence centers on Montana's Fort Belknap and
Fort Peck Indian reservations, spokesman Hrik Iverson said.
Other donations were returned to the American Indian tribes
that were Abramoff'g clients, Iverson said. None of the
tribes arc in Montana.
"It's all done," Iverson told the Lee Newspapers of
Montana. "The checks are out the door."
Rehberg's announcement came a day after Sen. Conrad
Burns, R-Mont., said he was returning $150,000 in
Abramoff-related donations. The senators possible actions
on behalf of Abramoff clients are under examination.
Abramoff is at the center of an ongoing U.S. Justice
Department investigation into lobbying practices. The in
vestigation focuses on allegations that Abramoff cheated
tribes out of millions of dollars for lobbying and directed
them to make contributions to lawmakers and political
groups.
Records show Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., received
56,000 from Abramoff's tribal clients in 2001 and 2002.
Baucus will be "more than happy" to return money if an
analysis by his staff finds anything questionable, spokes
man Barrett Kaiser said, adding the senator has not met
Abramoff nor worked with him.
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