News from Inclín Country
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Comanches hope to acquire
building lease ror museum
LAWTON, Okla. (AP)— The
/Lawton City Council may act
upon a lease agreement with the
Comanche Nation that would
allow them to open the
Comanche National Museum
and Archive in a building.
T h e C om anch e B u siness
Com m ittee approved a lease
agreement this week between
the tribe, the Percussive Arts
Society and the City o f Lawton.
“We’ll finally have a museum,
which tribal members have been
asking fo r fo r 20 or m ore
years,” said John Plata, tribal
lawyer.
The agreement will require
the tribe to pay the Percussive
Arts Society $250,000 for all
Pdge 9 Spily^y Tymoo
rights to the existing lease.
The agreement also requires
a one-time $100,000 donation
to the City o f Lawton for bik
ing, walking and running trails
around the community, officials
said.
In return, the Com anche
Nation will be able to occupy
the building rent-free for the
remainder o f the existing lease
agreement, including all lease
extensions. The Percussive Arts
Society, which is moving to In
dianapolis, has a 99-year lease,
which includes an option to ex
tend the lease an additional 99
years.
The tribe has wanted a place
to archive and display their arti-
facts, Plata said. Plans include
cataloging artifacts and opening
an office that deals solely with
Native American Graves Pro
tection and Repatriation Act
(NAGPRA) issues, officials said.
Plata said if all goes well at
the council meeting on Tuesday,
things should move forward
very quickly in a way that will
benefit the tribe and the city.
“It (the museum) fits in with
the city’s downtown renovation
project,” he said.
Officials hope the doors to
the museum will be opened and
some exhibits placed on display
for the Comanche Nation Fair
in September 2007.
December 21, 2006
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Girlfriend named in death of
former Colville tribal chairman
SPO K A N E, Wash. (AP) — Jude Clarence
“Jude” Stensgar Sr., a former chairman o f the
Colville Confederated Tribal Business Council
Chairman, is dead, and his girlfriend told the
F B I she shot him in self-defense.
Stensgar, 77, was fatally shot Nov. 27 at his
home in Inchelium, and his death was reported
to tribal police by his girlfrien d , Lisa
Denobrega, 46, a tribal member also known
as Lisa Trevino, according to an affidavit for a
search warrant filed in U.S. District Court.
In the warrant, F B I Agent Wesley Floyd
wrote that Denobrega told tribal police she
opened fire after Stensgar tried to choke her
during an argument. She was wiping up blood
near the head o f Stensgar, who was lying in a
hallway, when officers arrived and directed
them to a pistol in the living room, Floyd added.
Investigators have taken a .357-caliber Mag
num pistol, a .22-caliber rifle, spent shell cas
ings and a “dream catcher” decoration with a
bullet in it as potential evidence, according to
the affidavit.
The document indicated Denobrega is un
der investigation for first-degree murder. The
F B I is handling the probe because the shoot
ing occurred on an Indian reservation.
Stensgar, a native o f Inchelium on the east
ern end o f the sprawling reservation, spent
20 years in the Air Force before retiring as a
technical sergeant and returning to the reser
vation in 1971. He served on the tribal coun
cil for 18 years during the 1980s and '90s
and was chairman in 1989.
A funeral Mass was held Dec. 4 at the
Inchelium Community Center.
Hurdle cleared for Catskill casino
Cherokee leader forsees Indian governor
OKLAHOMA C ITY (AP)—
The former chief o f the Chero
kee Nation believes the time will
come when an American Indian
serves as governor o f Oklahoma.
“Someone just needs to step
up,” former Cherokee Nation
P rin cip al
C h ie f
W ilm a
Mankiller said.
Mankiller, 61, was formally
sw orn in as c h ie f o f the
country’s second-largest tribe on
Dec. 15, 1985. Since she retired
in 1995, M ankiller has been
asked more than once to run for
Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional
District seat, now held by Rep.
Dan Boren, D-Muskogee. She
always declines.
“It’s just not in my way o f
thinking. My vision, my life is in
the tribe,” she said.
As Oklahoma’s centennial ap
proaches, Mankiller said state-
tribal relations are improving,
although a* certain tension is
unavoidable because o f ques
tions o f jurisdiction, tax author
ity and gaming.
“I ’m hopeful in the future
there will be more o f a partner
ship,” she said.
Mankiller said it will be hard
for her to celebrate the centen
nial because “that period o f time
was so tragic and so difficult for
so many o f the tribes.”
Instead, she sees the centen
nial as an opportunity to edu
cate people about Indian con
tributions to the state, histori
cally and now.
W hen Mankiller governed
the Cherokee N ation, it had
about 140,000 enrolled mem
bers, an annual budget o f more
than $75 m illion and about
1,200 employees. Bingo was the
tribe’s only form o f gaming.
Today, Principal Chief Chad
Smith presides over a tribe o f
more than 232,000 members and
a $377 million annual budget fu
eled largely by seven casinos.
“We came to gaming a little
late,” Mankiller said. ‘W e tend
to be a little cautious, and we
took our time deciding how we
wanted to do it, whether we
wanted to do it and where we
wanted to do it.”
She thinks the move, while
controversial, was the right one
because it gave the tribe an un-
restricted revenue stream.
“It allows them, for the first
time, to set their own priorities,”
she said.
While an honored guest at
many C herokee fu n ction s,
Mankiller said she is “almost
never” asked to advise the cur
rent administration.
“I don’t want to muck around
in what they’re doing. Our man
agement styles are probably dif
ferent,” she said.
At the time she assumed of
fice, she was the first female chief
o f a major tribe and one o f only.
83 female tribal leaders among
550 federally recognized tribes.
Today there are about 130.
Economic growth fueled by
gaming has allowed tribes to ex
pand services, and many women
have stepped in to head those
programs, creating a pipeline
into tribal leadership, she said.
“They get good experience as
administrators. That’s what hap
pened to me,” said Mankiller,
who was the founding director
o f the Cherokee Nation Com
munity Development Depart
ment.
U.S. government intervenes in Indian voting case
ity voting.
Frem ont County Attorney
Ed Newell on Friday referred
q u estio n s to the M ountain
States Legal Foundation, but
! efforts to reach lawyers there
| were unsuccessful.
In its notice o f intervention
filed in the lawsuit this week, the
Civil Rights Division o f the U.S.
Departm ent o f Ju stice stated
that the United States has a right
to intervene in any lawsuit in
which the constitutionality o f
federal laws is questioned.
Laughlin McDonald, director
o f the ACLU’s Voting Rights
Project in Atlanta, said Friday
that he believes abolishing at-
large elections would help every
one in Fremont County.
“I think if we succeed in
th is su it, n o b o d y lo s e s ,”
M cD onald said. “I f we suc
ceed, and if we get a system
that allows all the groups in
that county to participate in
that process, that really fulfills
the premise o f democracy.”
McDonald said the lawsuit is
set for trial in February before
U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson
in Lander.
Federal appeals courts have
already rejected M ountain
States Legal Foundation’s argu
ment that the Voting Rights Act
is unconstitutional in a Montana
case. The U.S. Supreme Court
ultimately declined to review
that case.
In last month’s general elec
tion, Frem ont County voters
elected Keja Whiteman, a mem
ber o f the Turtle M ountain
Band o f Chippewa, to one o f
three open seats on the county
commission in an at-large elec
tion. The ACLU announced that
it would continue with its law
suit nonetheless.
“It frequently happens that
minorities won’t get elected un
til a lawsuit is filed, it’s happened
in a num ber o f cases,”
McDonald said, adding that the
fact that a minority person was
elected didn’t resolve the issue.
Frem ont County Attorney
Newell last m onth told The
(Riverton) Ranger newspaper
that W hitem an’s election “a
great thing for Fremont County.”
Newell said Whiteman’s elec
tion was proof that the county
“isn’t full o f racists who vote
along racial lines.” And he said
he believes Whiteman’s success
has weakened the ACLU’s case.
“The entire premise o f that
lawsuit was an American Indian
couldn’t get elected, and this is
clear p r o o f that prem ise is
false,” Newell said. “She clearly
got support from many Repub
licans and non-Indians to win
like she did. She deserved to get
elected, and she did.”
In a field o f six candidates,
W hitem an received 6 ,4 2 2
votes— more than 18 percent o f
all votes cast. She won four o f
the six precincts in Lander,
where most o f the voters are
not American Indians.
Legal Aid Services of Or-
eqon which provides free le-
gal advice and representation
to low-income Oregonians, is
in Warm Springs the first Mon-
day of every month, from 1 to 4
p.m.,atthe Family Resource Cen-
ter, 1144 Warm Springs Street. To
contact Legal Aid Services of Or-
egon, write to it at Legal Aid Ser-
vices of Oregon, Central Or-
egon Regional Office, 1029
N.W. 14th Street, Bend, Ore.,
97701; or call (800) 678-6944,
or (541) 385-6944.
C H EY EN N E, Wyo. (AP)—
The U.S. Department o f Justice
is intervening in a federal law
suit in which five American In
dians are challenging Fremont
County’s system o f holding at-
large elections. The department
filed notice Thursday that it is
intervening in the case for the
limited purpose o f defending
the constitutionality o f the fed
eral Voting Rights Act.
Five members o f the East
ern Shoshone and N orthern
| Arapaho tribes, represented by
the Am erican Civil Liberties
Union, sued Frem ont County
last year. They claim the county’s
system o f holding at-large elec
tions violates Voting Rights Act
by impermissibly diluting the
American Indian vote.
The Mountain States Legal
Foundation, based in Lakewood,
C olo., is defending Frem ont
County. In its answer to the law
suit filed late last year, the foun
dation argued that it would be
unconstitutional to hold F re
mont County to the section o f
the Voting Rights Act which pro
hibits practices that dilute minor
M O N T IC E L L O , N.Y.
(AP)— A proposed Mohawk
casino in the Catskills re
ceived environm ental ap
proval from federal o ffi
cials, bringing the long de
layed $600 million project a
step closer to reality, tribal
representatives said Friday.
The Interior Department
approved an environmental
review o f the St. Regis
M ohaw k Indian, trib e ’s
project, said tribal spokeswoman
Leslie Logan. That means the
agency found the proposed ca
sino on 30 acres n ext to
Monticello Gaming and Race
way in Sullivan County would
not have a significant environ
mental impact.
“It’s a terrific Christmas gift
fo r the trib e ,” Logan said.
“That’s how we’re feeling.”
The Mohawks, whose res
ervation straddles the U.S.-Ca-
nadian border, are among a
number o f groups that have
been trying to build a casino
in the B o r s c h t B e lt fo r
years. Proponents say casino
gambling will bring back tour
ists to an area where big old
hotels sit boarded up.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-
Hurley, said Friday the casino
would bring thousands o f
construction jobs and then
employ thousands more.
Indian education act headed for Legislature
cm;
RAPID
S.D. (AP) - A state Indian Edu
cation Act would guarantee a long-term commit
ment to American Indian students, according to
state Secretary o f Education Rick Melmer.
“The Indian population is growing in our state,”
Melmer said. “We recognize it as a significant
part o f our population today in out schools. It
will only grow in the future.”
Melmer began previewing the proposed legis
lation with Indian education leaders throughout
the state the past week. Melmer discussed it Thurs
day at a Rapid City forum that included Keith
Moore, the state director o f Indian education,
and Stacy Phelps, o f Oglala Lakota College.
The legislation would ensure the continuation
o f duties that the Department o f Education is
already handling and adds other duties necessary
to improve Indian education, Melmer said.
It would Authorize the Office o f Indian Edu
cation and an advisory council on Indian issues,
both o f which were created at Gov. Mike Rounds'
request in 2003.