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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2007)
News from Indian Country Page 9 Spilyay Ty moo March 1, 2006 O'odham basketball player reigns supreme on, o ff court Sioux chiefs descendants want his remains moved TU C SO N , Ariz. (AP) - At 6, Wynona Peters was in sistent. A nd even though Grandm a was often busy co o k jn g dinner or doing chores at their home in Mis sion View RV Park, she al ways caved. Grandma and her dark haired, dark-eyed litde bas ketball player often lost track o f time as the girl launched two-handed shots into the night. “We would plan on going for 30 minutes, and it would end up being like two, three hours,” said Verna Miguel, P e te rs' g rea t-a u n t, but know n as her grandm a. “That's about all we ever did. I enjoyed it. I knew right from the start that she was going to be a big bailer.” She was right. Peters, now a senior at Salp oin te C a th o lic H igh School, is arguably the best girls basketball player in southern Arizona. She also has become an ex p ert in the T o h o n o O'odham tradition. T h e 17-year-old is the tribe's reigning Wa:k Pow Wow Princess and a member o f the Wa:k tab basket danc ers, a group that performed last Ju ly F o u rth at the Smithsonian's Museum o f the A m erican In d ian in Washington, D.C. A nd thanks to her grandma and Tucson bene factor Dan Frost, Peters will head to college soon. Peters would not o ffer any o f this information with out p rom p ting . H er Salpointe classmates learned o f her tribal honors only a few months ago, when she was profiled in the school's student magazine. She kept quiet about her achievements for more than three years. B I L L IN G S , M ont. (AP)— Four descendants o f Sioux Chief Sitting Bull want the bones o f their famous an cestor moved from what is believed to be his resting place in South Dakota to the Litde Bighorn Battlefield in Montana. Ernie LaPointe o f Lead, S.D., the spokesman for the four family members, said that for 50 years, Sitting Bull’s grave on the Standing Rock Siou x R e serv a tio n near Mobridge, S.D., has been ne g lected and d ish on o red . Now, L aP ointe said, new owners o f the property plan to e x p lo it the legendary Lakota leader’s memory. LaPointe and his sisters, Marlene Litde Spotted Horse Andersen, Ethel Litde Spot ted Horse Bates and Lydia Little Spotted H orse Red Paint, sent letters Wednesday advising governm ent and tribal officials in North D a kota, South Dakota and Mon tana o f their intent to have the remains moved. “This is to notify you and other interested parties o f family right and authority to re-inter our great-grandfather Sitting Bull to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monu ment, Montana,” it says. “We do this because N orth D a kota, South Dakota and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have n o t h o n o red th eir promise for proper care and m ain ten an ce of our grandfather’s burial site.” Darrell Cook, superinten- “As O 'odham people, we don't like to show emotion,” she said. “We like to keep it inside. That's how we are.” Peters lives with the 59-year- old Miguel while her mother, V iv ian , w orks. H er fath er, David, is a member o f the Ak- Chin tribe. He lives on the res erv a tio n , in the tow n o f Maricopa. The family travels to Peters' games on money earned from operating an Indian fry bread stand outside the San Xavier del Bac Mission on Sundays. Miguel enjoys watching her protege m ost. M iguel, who never had children o f her own, taught Peters both basketball and O'odham tradition. Peters won the Litde Miss Wa:k crown at age 5 after singing a song about four children who sacri ficed their lives to stop a flood. She won similar tides at ages 10 and 13. Peters was named Pow Wow Princess last March after a pag eant that required her to display both traditional and modern O'odham talents. She's since represented the tribe at the Gathering o f Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque. Peters sees herself as an am bassador for the O'odham. “W hen I play basketball, I guess it's more exposure for me on the court. When I dance, I get more exposure for my tribe. Both o f those things ... let non- Native Americans know who I am and what I stand for.” T he once-shy girl has be co m e a m em b er o f the Salpointe community, an exclu sive group that few from her tribe have the opportunity to join. She was accepted to the school after attending grade school at the San Xavier del Bac Mission School. Her tuition is paid for by Frost, an 85-year-old philan thropist who has long spon sored students from the mission school. Frost first met Peters when she was in sixth grade; he has since followed her aca demic and athletic achieve ments closely. “It brings joy to me,” Frost said. “There have been some great kids to come through the m ission sch o o l, but Wynona is very, very special. She has that maturity and spirituality about her. “I don't know how she does it.” What basketball brought out in her, she gave back to the team. Peters averages 16 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. “ She makes everything go,” said Scott Moushon, the Lancers' first-year coach. “She doesn't ever get a rest, and she doesn't ever come out.” Those who know Peters the best paint her as a quiet, willful girl who exudes the grace befitting a Wa:k prin cess. She will leave the reserva tion soon, and basketball. A hardworking student who has a 3.2 grade-point average, she's set on attending the University o f San Diego. “I'm close to everybody on the reservation, so leaving will be hard,” she said. Peters also will give up bas ketball to concentrate solely on school. She plans on re turning to the reservation as a pediatrician after medical school. Frost, her benefactor, has agreed to pay for all her edu cational expenses. He has ac counted for Peters in his will. “Some people just know who they are,” Frost said. “She has this inherent wis dom , self-co n fid en ce and leadership. Because o f what she is and how she is, she can be a great leader.” Reservation drug dealer gets almost 30 years in prison RA PID CITY, S.D. (AP)— The son o f a woman who has been accused o f being the ring leader o f a cocaine trafficking ring on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has been sentenced to almost 30 years in prison. U.S. D istrict Judge K aren Schreier gave Colin Spotted Elk 352 months in prison and urged him to do his best to live up to his potential after he is released. Sp o tted E lk , 2 6 , and his mother, Geraldine Blue Bird, have been convicted o f con spiracy to distribute cocaine and o f firearms and marijuana dis tribution charges. Blue Bird’s sentencing was delayed until next month. W itnesses have identified Blue Bird as the leader o f a ring that distributed at least 15 kilo grams o f cocaine on the reser vation and has resulted in 27 indictments to date. At Spotted Elk’s sentencing on Tuesday, a 15-year-old boy who had shot and killed another teenager at Blue Bird’s home tes tified that he and other juveniles held m oney and distributed drugs for Blue Bird and Spot ted Elk. The boy testified that teen agers had packaged drugs with their parents, users traded fire arms and sexual favors for co caine, and toddlers had access to handguns. Schreier ordered that the juvenile be referred to by his initials, C.C. C.C. said he started using co caine at age 13 and often stayed at Blue Bird’s doublewide trailer house in the Igloo Housing af ter dropping out o f school in the fourth grade. He said he helped “break up” marijuana that.Spotted Elk sold and cut “papers” out o f maga zines that Blue Bird used to re package cocaine for sale on the street. C.C. said he sometimes held marijuana or stacks o f cash for Spotted Elk. C.C. named several other ju veniles who he said sold drugs for Spotted Elk or Blue Bird. He told o f seeing two teenagers doing cocaine with their mother at Blue Bird’s house. C.C. is serving a one-year sen tence for involuntary manslaugh ter at the Western South Dakota Juvenile Services Center. He has admitted pointing a gun and shooting his friend Apollo White Calf, 16, late in 2005. Catawba author donates collection R O C K H ILL, S.C. (AP) — The author o f a new book about the Catawba Indian tribe has also donated his collection o f historical docu ments and other materials relating to the tribe to the University o f South Carolina Lancaster. “There's nothing else like this in the state, not this quantity,” university archivist Brent Burgin said o f author Thomas Blumer's collection. “Basically, Tom has created a body o f work where none existed. “It's a huge set o f material related to the Catawba Nation, history and other American In dian tribes in the area.” The collection includes 1,600 photographs and a series o f taped interviews. B lu m er's la te st b o o k , “Catawba Nation: Treasures in History,” will be released this week. dent at Litde Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, said the battlefield has agreed to help LaPointe and his sisters. “We recognize Sitting Bull’s legacy and that it is at the Little Bighorn,” Cook said. Sitting Bull led an alliance o f Sioux, Cheyenne and others in defiance o f government orders to settle on reservations. His struggle culminated in the de feat o f the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. The National Park Service and Sitting Bull’s direct descen dants have a long-established working relationship that dates to planning for the new Indian M em orial at the B attlefield , Cook said. “I think that’s why they felt comfortable coming to us about this,” he said. Sitting Bull, who was killed in a battle with Indian police in 1890, was originally buried near Fort Yates, N.D., in the north ern part o f the Standing Rock Reservation. S ittin g B u ll’s a n ce sto rs moved his remains to South Dakota in the 1950s, although some contend the bones were not his, but those o f another man. Part o f the site’s attraction is the mystery and controversy. T he catalyst for the great grandchildren’s decision appar ently was a proposal by the non profit Sitting Bull Monument Foundation, which recently pur chased the gravesite from a pri vate owner. According to its Web site, the foundation’s plans include preservation and protec tion o f the gravesite and de velopment o f an educational and cultural center and mu seum. It would also include a riverfront recreational devel opment, amphitheater, snack bar, restaurant and gift shop. LaPointe said he and his sisters were not consulted about the plans and don’t want to see a restaurant and gift shops at the gravesite. Reached by The Billings Gazette by telephone, Bryan Defender, a member o f the Standing Rock Tribe and one o f the founders o f the Sit ting Bull Monument Founda tion, said commercialization was never his intent. “Our motivation behind this is very sincere,” he said. “The development is a very positive thing. The only thing I want to do is display out- culture, our history in an au thentic, positive way and to pay tribute to a leader who has never been properly paid tribute.” T he foundation already has co m p leted a m ajo r cleanup at the gravesite and has installed electricity and lighting. L a D o n n a Brave B u ll Allard, tourism director for Standing Rock, said Wednes day that she had not heard about LaPointe’s letter. Her first reaction to hearing o f his plan: “I don’t think that’s possible.” She said that although LaPointe has rights, he is not enrolled at Standing Rock and she doesn’t know what rights he has on reservation lands. Cherokee group cuts acres for Goosepond cultural site SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (AP)— In an effort to make a proposed cultural center on Goosepond Island more appealing to the S co ttb o ro City C ouncil, an American Indian tribe has cut the size o f the land it seeks to build the tribal complex on. Leon Williamson, a member o f the United Cherokee Ani-Yun- Wiya Nation, told the council Monday night the tribe wanted to build the center on 55 acres on the southern tip o f the island, mainly to educate people about the American Indians who once lived on the island. W illiam son said the tribe would eventually like to expand the site to the 300 acres it had initially requested if the project becomes a big tourist draw. He believes the complex, in cluding a museum, gift shop and veterans memorial, would attract thousands o f visitors annually. “T h e re ’s no reason why Scottsboro cannot attract that many visitors,” said Garry Mor gan, a council-appointed commit tee member. But council President Keith Smith said the project demands more research. He said he was concerned that turning the land over to the tribe would lead to a gambling operation. But Williamson said he and other tribal leaders vowed they would never pursue gambling, with education their main goal in creating the cultural center. CTS TIRES 915 SOUTH HWY 97, SUITE B C om e in and ch eck ou t ou r selectio n of A m erican m ad e P ro d u cts Compare Great Prices, Great Service We support America and American jobs, by selling American made products. Monday-Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. 475-9111 Saturday: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
