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News from Inciten Country Page 10 Spilyay Tyrood August 30, 2007 Sides struggle to resolve Navajo water claims P H O E N IX (AP) - A settle ment between the Navajos and New Mexico for water from a m ajor Colorado River tributary has forced Arizona and the fed eral governm etit back ¡to the table to sort out the tribe's other claims^ which include water and money to build delivery systems. T he task is tangled in a m o rass o f laws, compacts, political interests and a water supply al ready stretched too thinC But failure would thrust the issue into court and threaten water supplies for millions. “We want to settle the Na vajo and Hopi claims to the riv ers in A rizo n a,” said H erb Guenther, director o f the Ari zona Department o f Water Re sources. “It's one o f our high priorities to get this resolved, for the benefit o f not only the tribe but also for water users in Ari zona, to gjve them more cer tainty for the future.” Arizona negotiated sporadi- cally w ith the N avajos until 2003, whfen the tribe sued the federal government, accusing it o f ignoring the water needs o f the reservation. A rizona officials say they want the tribe to drop the suit b efo re the state agrees to a settlement “We've always had thè idea they'd drop* the lawsuit i f they had a settlement,” said G reg H outz, counsel fo r the state Water Resources Department. He said the state fears the suit could derail a long-sough* short age agreement among the states that rely, on the Colorado. W hat further clouded talks was the agreement reached in 2005 between the Navajos and New Mexico. The deal settled the tribe's claims to the San Juan River, a major Colorado River tributary, and proposed a system o f pipelines to help deliver wa ter. to reservation communities in eastern New Mexico. “I t was a huge accomplish ment for the Navajo,” said Lena Fowler, vice chairman o f the tribe's Water Rights Commis sion. “We're not meeting our wa ter needs righ t now. People w onder why we d o n 't have e co n o m ic d ev elo p m en t on Navajo. It's because we don't have water infrastructure. It's a constant cycle that we have to live with here.” Revelations about chairm an fuel rift within tribe B O S T O N (AP) _ The rev e la tio n th a t M ash pee Wampanoag tribal Chairman Glenn Marshall lied about his military service and was con victed o f rape in 1981 is fueling a rift within the tribe as they seek to build a $1 billion, casino in Massachusetts. O ne o f five members o f the tribe shunned by the tribal coun cil in Decem ber is calling for an emergency meeting o f the tribe Monday to discuss the situation. “Our people understand that we have been called to action and plan to follow up with Mr. M arsh all's an n o u n ce m e n t," Michelle Fernandes, one o f five members shunned by the coun cil, told the Cape Cod Times. " W e 'r e lo o k in g to p rev en t Glenn Marshall from returning to the tribal council." B u t tribal v ice chairm an Shawn Hendricks said only he has the authority to call meet ings o f th e trib a l c o u n cil. Marshall handed over his day- to-flay duties to Hendricks after the revelations were made pub- Hc in a story in the Cape God Times on Friday. “As vice chair o f the tribal council, I will call official meet ings 6 f the tribe and in fact have called for a meeting o f the tribal council to meet in executive ses sion tomorrow evening to dis cuss’ the matters o f the past week,” Hendricks said in a state ment issued Sunday afternoon. S cott Ferson, a spokesman fo r the tribe who represents Hendricks, said the tribal coun c il plans to d iscu ss G le n n M arshall's d ecisio n to step down. H e also said the council will move ahead with their plans to build a casino. , The next step for the tribe is to file a petition with the fed eral government to take more than 500 acres o f land in land Middlebórough and 100 acres in Mashpee into a trust. Beside permanently banning Marshall from the tribal coun-- cil, Fernandes and the other shunned members o f the tribe filed a lawsuit trying to force the tribe's financial records to be made more public. After the tribe received fed eral recognition in February, a state court threw out the law suit saying it n o longer had standing'to hear die case. The case has been appealed to a fed eral court. In an interview with T h e Boston Globe published Satur day, Marshall acknowleged the rape conviction and lying about his military record. “It's an apology to my fam ily, tribe, and the C om m on wealth,” Marshall said. “I could only ask that they could forgive me, because I'm not a bad per son;” Marshall had been the tribe's public face during much o f its journey to win federal recogni tion and its push to open the state's first casino. , O n Friday, T he Cape Cod Times reported that-Marshall was convicted in 1981 o f rap ing a 22-year-old visitor to the Cape. Marshall was accused o f sexually assaulting the woman in a seclu d ed sp o t in W est Barnstable after offering to drive her from a party. Marshall, 57, was sentenced to five years in state prison, but served just three months before being released on probation. The paper also raised ques tions about Marshall's military record. A t a congressional oversight heating in 2004, Marshall testi fied he survived the siege o f K he Sahn. But during the siege, Marshall was still a senior in high school in Falmouth. The Legislature still needs to approve expanded gam bling before a full-scale casino can be built. Gov. Deval Patrick, who made a surprise visit to Mashpee when the tribe celebrated its fed eral recognition, has said he would announce his gambling position around Labor Day. Eddie Palm ante», chaired Colville tribal council, dies at 75 D ISA U TEL, Wash. (AP) — Grand Coulee Dam, is dead at Eddie Adrian Palmanteer Jr., »75. a lo n g tim e . C olv ille trib al Palm anteer, form er chair- leader who helped settle a 40- man o f the tribal council, died year dispute over land flooded last Friday after a long illness at by th e re s e rv o ir "behind his home in this hamlet on the Confederated Tribes o f the C o lv ille R e serv a tio n in n o rth ce n tra l W ashington state. H is death was co n firmed last week by the cur rent tribal chairman, Michael E. Marchand. Palmanteeralso was a former superintendent o f the Colville Indian Agency under the Bureau terprises Corp., which oper- ates a dozen businesses from casinos and lumber mills to construction and tourist ac- o f Indian A ffairs and board president 6 f Colville Tribal E n - commodations. Feds look into sale of ‘tribal memberships’ W IC H ITA , Kan. (AP) — V icki Trirres, an illegal im m ig ran t w ho w orks here as a tax accountant, shrugged o ff the $80 she spent jn Ju n e to buy a tribal m em bership into the Kaweah Indian N a tion. Torres, a Mexican na tional who has been in this c o u n try fo r ab o u t 18 months, said she had been told by a tribal represen tative at a church gather ing that she could use the membership, to get a'S o cial Security number. Losing that money was a risk, Torres said, that she was willing to take: “I am always trying to find a way I can be here legally”' The tribe — which was denied federal recognition in 1984 - is at the center o f a multistate federal in vestigation into an alleged, stiarn to sell tribal mem b ersh ip s to undocu-* mented workers with the prom ise the documents would protect them from deportation. O n Monday, the Texas Attorney General's Office" sued tribal leader Malcolm L. Webber, also known as' Grand C hief Thunderbird IV, the K aw eah Indian Nation Inc. and two tribal members. The civil lawsuit alleged they frau d u len tly sold, memberships by claiming that tribal members could get a Social Security num ber, protection from de portation and U S. citizen ship once the tribe is fed erally recognized as an In dian tribe. cum Repair & Aito Sales Free towing w/engine or replacement from Warm Springs & Madras area Approved Auto Repair 475-6618 330 S.W. Culver Hwy. Madras, OR 97741 Free Battery Check & Installation with purchase
