News from Indian Country
Page 9 Spilyay Tymoo
Tribe sues to protect ancient maze
LOS A NG ELES (AP) - A
Native American tribe has filed
a lawsuit against a California
agency over a g ro u n d w ater
cleanup plan n ear N eed les,
claiming it is harming an ancient
maze that members believe is
critical for spirits to get to the
afterlife.
The lawsuit filed in Sacra
m ento last week is p art o f a
years-long dispute between the
F ort Mojave Indian tribe, the
D e p a rtm e n t o f Toxic S ub
stances Control and Pacific Gas
& Electric. The utility is named
as a real party o f interest in this
latest suit.
The tribe filed its original law
su it in 2005 to p ro te c t the
Topock Maze and a year later
entered into a setdement agree
ment with the state agency and
utility.
As part o f the agreem ent,
the utility and state agency apolo
gized for desecrating the sacred
site and pledged to remove a $15
million water treatment plant as
soon as another could be built.
In exchange, the 1,200 member
tribe agreed to drop the suit.
Attorneys for the tribe say
the agency is in violation o f the
setdement agreement.
The lawsuit is asking for the
agency to remove the plant or
justify why it must remain and
to revise the cleanup plan’s en
vironm ental im pact report to
take in to c o n sid eratio n the
tribe’s concerns. The tribe is also
asking for the agency to provide
mitigation measures for the po
tential harm that the cleanup
could cause.
“Instead o f the polluter pay
ing for the damage, it’ll end up
being the tribe’s religious prac
tices and cultural values that take
the hit and that’s not right,” said
attorney Courtney Ann Coyle.
“PG & E and DTSC can do bet
ter.”
Charlotte Fadipe, a spokes
w om an fo r th e state toxics
agency, said they do not com
ment on ongoing litigation.
The ma%e forms a series
o f lines that tribal
ancestors are believed to
have used as a place o f
purification or a path
way fo r their spirits to
reach the afterlife.
The maze, which is a pattern
o f pebble berms and furrows,
forms a series o f lines that tribal
ancestors are believed to have
used as a place o f purification
or a pathway for their spirits to
reach the afterlife.-
The site which is located near
Needles, about four hours east
o f Los Angeles, is believed to
be hundreds o f years old and is
on the National Registry o f His
toric Places.
M uch o f it has been d e
stroyed by developm ent but
about a third o f it remains.
The w ater treatm ent plant
began operations in July 2005
and was built to clean ground-
water under a natural gas com
pressor station that had been
contaminated with cancer-caus
ing h ex av alen t chro m iu m .
P G & E had dum ped an esti
mated 198 million gallons o f
contam inated w ater in to the
ground from 1951 to 1969.
S tate o fficials w ere c o n
cerned that the contam inated
groundw ater could eventually
make its way to the Colorado
River and the drinking water
supply for millions o f people
in Southern California and Ari
zona.
P G & E sp o k esm an J e f f
Smith said their goal is to con
tinue to work with the tribe to
wards a solution.
“Certainly we do regret our
historical operations that caused
the chromium 6 contamination
in the Topock area and that’s
w hy w e’re c o m m itted to
remediating the area and clean
ing it up,” he said.
Luther enjoys film success on festival circuit
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -
Excitement was in the air as
hundreds filed into theatres
at the Sundance Film Festi
val for special screenings o f
films directed and produced
by Native Americans from
the Four Corners region.
J u s t h o u rs b efo re th e
screenings began, Park City,
U tah , was b u zzin g w ith
speculation on how “Grab”
and “The Rocket Boy” would
be received by journalists'
from around the world.
Billy Luther, 35, who di
rected “Grab,” said he grew
up without seeing any images
o f Native Americans on tele
vision o r th e bid screen.
Luther is part Navajo, Hopi
and Laguna and has family
members who live in Forest
Lake, a small community west
o f Chinle, Ariz., on the vast
N avajo, reservation.
“A lo t o f artists create
from struggle, pain or suffer
ing. N ot me. The film is about
the ‘grab day’ celebration that
happens year-round in pueblo
com m unities,” L u th er ex
plained just prior to a screen
ing.
“ My d o cu m en tary ex
plores the Laguna Pueblo
community. The film follows
three families as they live and
work around their community,
preparing for this event.”
“Grab” is Luther’s second in
dependent film to premiere at
Sundance.
The film graduate o f Hamp
shire College in Amherst, Mass.,
debuted “Miss Navajo” in 2007
at the festival. Luther said “Miss
N avajo” was inspired by his
mother’s life growing up during
the 1960s. Luther’s mother, Sa
rah Ann Johnson Luther, was
Miss Navajo from 1966-67.
T he film w en t on to win
fam ed p ro d u c e r M ichael
Moore’s Special Founders Prize.
“Miss Navajo” also won Best
Indigenous Film at the Santa Fe
Film Festival and is the center-
piece o f an upcoming stage pro
duction called “Miss Navajo:
The Musical.”
“Miss N avajo w o rld -p re
miered at Sundance in 2007. It
was kind o f a different experi
ence then. N ow I ’m much more
calm and relaxed about it all,”
said Luther o f the second time
around.
L uther said h e’s elated he
chose filmmaking as a profes
sion. H e said his relationship
with Sundance started in 2006
when he was selected to partici
pate in a Sundance In stitu te/
New tribal relations
secretary pushes for unity
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -
South Dakota’s new secretary o f
tribal relations says he wants to
continue the process o f recon
ciliation betw een the state's
American Indian and non-Indian
populations.
Leroy “J.R.” LaPlante was
appointed to the new Cabinet-
level position by Gov. Dennis
D augaard. LaPlante tells the
Rapid City Journal that he was
inspired by former Gov. George
Mickelson’s “Year o f Reconcili
ation” two decades ago.
LaPlante is a 42-year-old na
tive o f the Cheyenne River Sioux
Reservation. He says his depart
ment can look for partnerships
and ways to maximize resources
on impoverished reservations like
Cheyenne River, which includes
Z iebach County, the p o o rest
county in the United States.
D augaard said earlier this
m onth that LaPlante’s appoint
m ent is part o f a larger effort
to connect with tribes. T he gov
ernor says he has “a lot to learn”
about American Indians.
State may act on school nickname
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A
N orth Dakota Senate commit
tee has scheduled a hearing on
legislation to require the Univer
sity o f N orth D akota to keep
its Fighting Sioux nickname.
T he bill w ould require the
University o f N orth Dakota to
keep its Fighting Sioux nickname
and an American Indian head
logo. The Board o f Higher Edu
cation has ordered U N D to re
tire the name and logo, and the
school is planning to do that in
August. The board is opposing
the bill.
Ford Foundation Fellowship.
“I wouldn’t be doing anything
else,” he said. “Sitting behind a
desk and working from 9 to 5
would irritate me. I waited tables
and did the retail thing through
out college. I’d write a lot when
I was working. Waiting tables
with many creative people was
a highlight. We (fellow filmmak
ers) can now look back and
think about how much more we
were struggling back then. I
think waiting tables also helps
you see into people— good and
bad. R ude, bad tip p ers, ego
freaks and the fun outgoing
ones, too. M eeting so many
crazies gave me a lot o f mate
rial to work with in my writing.”
A t the Jan. 24 screening o f
“ G rab,” L u th er th an k ed his
mentor, N. Bird Runningwater,
associate director o f Sundance's
N ative A m erican and Indig
enous Initiative, which provides
a developmental platform for
Native American filmmakers.
“Grab” showcases the time
o f the year when residents o f
Laguna, about 25 miles east o f
G rants, N.M ., pay tribute to
family m em bers by throw ing
food and gifts from the ro o f
tops o f their homes to residents.
The film follows three different
Laguna families.
Students
to assist
Lumbee
PEM BROKE, N.C. (AP) -
S tu d en ts from Wake F o rest
University School o f Law are
spending their spring break pro
viding legal assistance to mem
b ers o f th e L um bee In d ian
Tribe.
A group o f law students will
travel to P em b ro k e startin g
Monday, and will w ork w ith
Legal Aid to help members o f
the tribe and other area residents.
The students plan to hold a
legal clinic for an Indian mili
tary veterans group along with
other services.
The spring break trip contin
ues work began last fall, when
th e law sc h o o l’s P ro B ono
Project launched the Pembroke
Legal Services student group.
That group is committed to
providing free legal assistance to
members o f the Lumbee tribe.
“I don’t make films to win
awards. You never remember
who won the year before and
it only ends up in your bio or
some image on your DVD
cover,” Luther said. “I don’t
th in k th e average film
watcher goes to see films just
because they won an award.
Maybe they do. But I bet a
lot o f them are disappointed
after they watch it.
“Sundance is fun because
I get to reconnect with film
m akers an d frien d s I ’ve
known for the past 10 years
since I ’ve been attending.
There is nothing better than
being cold and waiting in line
at 8 a.m. to see a film with a
group o f friends,” L uther
said.
“T he R ocket Boy” also
screened at Sundance was cre
ated by three young Navajo
filmmakers and was one o f
seven such films premiering
during the festival’s Indig
enous Shorts Showcase se
ries. The film is directed by
Donavan Seschillie, 22, the
youngest N ative American
director in Sundance history,
festival officials said. The 30th
annual Sundance Film Festi
val, founded by actor Robert
Redford, ended Jan. 30.
March 9, 2011
Tribe’s investment since
track purchase tops $15M
O K L A H O M A C IT Y
(AP) — A subsidiary o f the
Chickasaw Nation plans to
unveil its multimillion dollar
refurbishment o f Remington
Park on Thursday, a day be
fore the start o f the track’s
quarter horse meet, includ
ing an infield video board
with what track officials de
scribe as the largest at any
American racetrack with a
casino.
W hen R em ington Park
opened in 1988, it was con
sidered a crown jewel among
U.S. horse-racing tracks, but
it fell into disrepair before
Global Gaming RP LLC, a
subsidiary o f the Oklahoma-
based American Indian tribe,
bought it 14 m onths ago.
When the company applied
for a racing license, it prom
ised the O klahom a H orse
Racing Commission it would
spend $12 million on refur
bishment.
G lo b al G am ing C E O
J o h n E llio tt said the
Chickasaw Nation’s gaming
arm has spent more than $15
million on Remington Park
since buying it in January
2010 from bankrupt Magna
E n te rta in m e n t C orp, for
$80.25 million.
“We’ve approached it as
an entertainm ent facility,”
Elliott told The Associated
Press. “The more amenities,
th e m o re e n te rta in m e n t
you’ve got for people, the
m ore likely you are to get
them out here.”
State regulators and local
horsem en had high hopes
for Remington Park and its
casino
u n d er
G lo b al
Gaming’s ownership because
o f the Ada-based tribe’s lo
cal roots and its success in
operating casinos elsewhere
in Oklahoma. Those expec
tations have been exceeded,
said Constantin Rieger, the
executive director o f the
state racing commission.
“I have to say, as a. regu
lator, everything they told us
they were going to do has
already happened at warp
speed,” Rieger said. “They
are continuing to upgrade
the facility, to make it as aes
thetically pleasing to patrons
as they can.”
In 2010, Remington Park
set an attendance record,
drawing 1,756,616 fans. To
tal wagering on thorough
bred racing at the track last
year w as $54,179,243, a
jump o f 48.3 percent com
pared to 2009.
It’s no secret the racing
industry is struggling in
many parts o f the U.S. and
Remington Park’s success
under G lobal G am ing is
gaining notice, Rieger said.
Along with the new owner
ship, he credited the passage
o f State Q uestion 712 in
2004, w hich allowed for
casinos at Oklahoma race
tracks in an attempt to keep
them financially viable.
“People see the n um
bers, obviously,” he said.
“They call and ask, “What
the heck is going on?’ I just
said, ‘W hatever was sup
posed to happen, it’s com
ing to fruition.’ It’s taken
somebody to say, ‘We’re go
ing to make this happen.’
This group is strong enough
and committed enough to
get it done.”
Remington Park’s suc
cess “is an anomaly, but it's
wonderful,” Rieger said.
T he new video board
touts a 30-foot-tall by 60-
foot-wide main screen and
a 17-foot-tall by 60-foot
wide second screen, giving
Remington Park more than
3,100 square feet o f video
display space. Track offi
cials say the big screen,
made by Daktronics, is the
largest at a N orth American
racetrack that has a casino.
“I t ’s g o rg eo u s,” said
Scott Wells, the track’s gen
eral manager. “It’s going to
heighten the entertainment.
In today’s world, people ex
pect a video presentation to
be part o f their entertain
m en t w hen they go to a
sporting event. We’ve been
working for months on pro
gramming and content and
how to maximize its use.”
As recently as this week,
crews were pulling out tele
vision sets that dated to the
track’s opening, replacing
them with large flat-screen
models. Major renovations
have started on the track’s
clubhouse level and on the
ground floor, the current
concession area is being
transformed into a Mexican
fo o d eatery. E llio tt said
plans still remain to build a
hotel at the track within a
few years, b u t G lo b al
Gaming's initial concern was
bringing the physical plant
up to w hat the c©mpany
deems an acceptable level.
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