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News from In4¡3n Country
Page 11 Spilyay Tyrnoo April 20, 2011
Little Shell Tribe Seeks Recognition
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -
M em bers o f the Little Shell
Tribe of Chippewa Indians took
their century-long campaign for
recognition before Congress on
Thursday, with what was called
a last chance req u est for
acknowledgement.
The landless tribe of about
4,300 people was recognized a
decade ago by officials and other
tribes in Montana, where most
Little Shell five. But its petition
for federal reco gn itio n was
turned down by the Department
of Interior in 2009 after a 31-
year wait.
“For too long, w e’ve been
refugees in Montana, waiting for
the United States to fulfill its
promise,” tribal president John
Sinclair said during a Thursday
legislative hearing before the
Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs. “This is our last chance.
Litde Shell and Congress have
been having this conversation
for more than 100 years.”
Members of the tribe said
attempts to establish relations
with the government began in
the late 1800s.
In the 1930s, the govern
ment planned to buy 34,000
acres in part to setde Montana’s
Litde Shell, known by some as
the “landless Indians.” The deal
was never completed.
L eg islatio n backed by
Montana’s congressional delega
tion would mandate recognition
and direct the Department of
Interior to set aside 200 acres
for the tribe. Recognition also
would allow the Little Shell to
receive assistance with housing
and other needs.
D eputy A ssistant Interior
Secretary George Skibine told
the Senate committee Thursday
the agency would not object to
the bill sponsored by Montana
Sen. Jon Tester.
Flowever, the com m ittee’s
ranking Republican, Wyoming
Sen. John B arrasso, said he
would oppose the bill.
Barrasso questioned whether
Congress should second-guess
the Interior Department’s deci
sion in 2009.
Tester, a Democrat, coun
tered that the adm inistrative
process isn’t always perfect and
said the agency’s 2009 rejection
had ignored the Little Shell’s es
tablished presence in Montana.
“T h ey’ve been p art o f
Montana’s history and culture
for generations,” Tester said.
“Every political entity in the state
of Montana, every tribe thinks
this has to be the right thing to
do.”
The hearing was set against
a backdrop of political discord
among members of the tribe.
Two people are claiming to be
the tribe’s rightful leader.
Sinclair rival John Gilbert
was not invited to testify Thurs
day.
Both sides have accused the
other of undermining the rec
ognition bid. The tribe’s lawyers
have said the dispute has no
bearing on federal recognition
— and even underscores a com
mitment to civic participation by
the tribe’s scattered members.
The 2009 denial of recogni
tion said the Little Shell had
failed to show enough cohesion
during the early 1900s, after
many of its members had been
uprooted and were wandering
northern Montana and southern
Canada.
Members of the group who
ended up in Montana lived pri
marily in already existing, largely
multiethnic setdements, the de
cision stated.
The Little Shell are candid
about th eir m ixed ancestry.
M any also call them selves
Metis, a Canadian people with
European and Native-American
roots.
M ontana fo rm ally reco g
nized the Little Shell in 2000,
allow ing its members to get
grants for tobacco-use preven
tion and economic develop
ment.
The money was suspended
two years ago because the tribe
Oregon man sentenced for fraud
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) - A
southern Oregon man has been
sentenced to nearly three years
in prison for bilking friends and
family members out of retire
ment savings in an illegal scheme
to develop land belonging to
American Indian tribes in Mon
tana.
G ilb ert
B ird in gro un d
Pugliano of Medford planned
to buy and develop tribal land
in Montana and return the prof
its to his investors, but he later
found out his plan was illegal,
the Mail Tribune reported.
In stead o f retu rn in g the
money he collected from clients,
he used it to buy expensive cars
and vacations.
M edford
p o lice
said
Pugliano, 32, has roots in an
American Indian community in
M ontana, and it m ay have
helped him convince victims
that what he was doing was le
gitimate.
Pugliano was indicted last fall
on various counts of racketeer
ing, aggravated theft, securities
fraud and selling unlicensed se
curities.
He apologized during his sen
tencing M onday in Jackso n
C ounty C ircu it C ourt in
Medford, saying “I got caught
up in a cycle of immense greed
and bad decisions.”
But some victims in the court-
room called out “lia r” as
Pugliano spoke.
His attorney, Shaun McCrea,
blamed alcohol and what she
called a desire for a “lavish
lifestyle” by Pugliano’s wife,
Shelley Pugliano.
“She is by trade an accoun
tant. She is the one who did the
Puglianos’ taxes,” McCrea said,
adding her client was “in the
throes of alcoholism” and “try
ing to satisfy a spouse.”
Shelley Pugliano was the last
to comment during the victim
statement portion of the sen
tencing hearing. She claimed her
former husband beat her down
mentally and emotionally while
stealin g the life savings o f
people who trusted him.
“I felt guilty for bringing this
monster into our family,” said
Shelley Pugliano, adding her
own 80-year-old grandmother
was bilked out of $86,000.
“He could care less,” she said.
*
Burford resigns as Umatilla AG
PE N D LE TO N (AP) -
Christopher Burford has re
signed as the attorney general
for the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Res
ervation.
Burford’s resignation was
effective Friday. He has held the
job since November 2004 and
had been on leave since last Fri
day. Burford posted a message
on his Facebook page earlier this
month that said the tribes were
trying to force him out of his
job.
Burford declined requests
for a news interview and
Tribal Deputy Executive Di
rector Debra Croswell de
clined to discuss the depar
ture.
KU hosting tribal law conference
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -
The U n iv ersity o f K ansas
School o f Law is hosting an
upcoming conference on tribal
law.
The 15th annual Tribal Law
and Government Conference in
Lawrence is scheduled for April
21. Participants will discuss en
vironm ental sovereignty, the
U.N. Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples, and so
cial justice issues, as well as other
topics.
The university said in a re
lease Friday that federal Indian
law scholars and practitioners
from universities, organizations
and tribes across the country will
make presentations at the meet
ing. The conference was origi
nally scheduled for February but
was postponed because of bad
weather.
2 tribes want to participate in megaloads lawsuit
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) -
Two Indian tribes are asking to
take part in a lawsuit aimed at
preventing the hauling of over
sized equipment through Mon
tana to the oil sand fields in
Alberta, Canada.
The Missoulian reports that
Western Montana's Confeder
ated Salish and Kootenai Tribes,
L
as w ell as the Nez Perce of
Idaho, filed a motion in District
Court in Missoula on Wednes
day asking to have their say in
the lawsuit against the state De
partment of Transportation.
Missoula County and three
environmental groups say the
department failed to analyze or
disclose potential adverse effects
in its environmental assessment
of Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil's
transportation plan. The MDT
denies the claims.
The tribes say they share
many of the concerns of the
plaintiffs, but have some of their
own that might not otherwise be
addressed in court.
was not properly accounting for
it, stirring dissension among
members who blamed Sinclair’s
poor oversight. That helped
drive Gilbert’s election in a cam
paign that was rejected by
Sinclair and his allies as illegiti
mate.
“It’s going to be an ongoing
saga, where our tribe is just go
ing to be constandy an embar
rassment, but it’s also not going
to go away. We are committed
to bringing democracy back to
our tribal government and that’s
all we want,” said former tribal
president James Parker Shield,
who backs Gilbert.
Gilbert has been pushing for
an independent panel or Indian
court to resolve the political split.
Sinclair has said he agrees in
principal to the idea, but it has
been languishing for months.
Elected officials from Mon
tana have steered clear of the
tribe’s internal struggle, saying it
is up the Little Shell to work it
out.
T ester spokesm an A aron
Murphy said the senator would
not get involved out of respect
for principals of tribal self-gov
ernance and self-determination.
“This dispute does not impact
his push for federal recognition
of the Little Shell tribe, which
he believes is long overdue,”
Murphy said.
Fighting Sioux
merchandise continues
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -
The University of North Da
kota is going to keep licens
ing Fighting Sioux merchan
dise next year.
North Dakota University
System Chancellor Bill Goetz
says UND will also be using
its Fighting Sioux nickname
and American Indian head
logo during the 2011-12
school year.
UND had been planning
to discontinue the nickname
and logo in A ugust. The
NCAA considers the nick-
name and logo hostile and
abusive, and it says UND will
face sanctions if it keeps us
ing them.
But the North Dakota Leg
islature approved a bill that
says UND has to keep the
nickname and logo. Goetz
says because of that, UND
asked to resume merchandise
licensing.
UND had stopped ap
proving new merchandise de
signs last October as part of
the university’s plans to quit
using the logo and nickname.
Tribe pleads for hault
on restroom project
VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) _ A
California tribe wants the state
to halt construction of bath
rooms atop an American Indian
burial site in Vallejo.
The Ohlone tribe’s civil rights
complaint asks California Attor
ney General Kamala Harris to
block creation of a park with
public toilets at Glen Cove, a
3,500-year-old Ohlone settle
ment along Carquinez Strait.
T ribe m em ber C orinna
Gould tells the San Francisco
Chronicle that Ohlone ancestors
deserve a place where they can
rest forever. It’s one of the last
native village sites in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
The Vallejo park district’s
$1.5 m illion project, starting
later this month, is aimed at
sprucing a 15-acre shoreline
property. It includes extensions
of the Bay Trail, Ridge Trail and
California Delta Trail, a parking
lot and a two-stall restroom.
Meadows Ski Day
Yvonne Iverson/Spilyay
Ethan Brunoe, Annalise Whipple and Cajun Scott (from left) participate in a ski lesson
provided by Mount Hood Meadows during the recent Tribal Ski Day.
Coastal tribe seeking higher ground
LA PUSH, Wash. (AP) - The
Q uileute T ribal School is
perched just a stone’s throw
from a ru gged ocean beach
framed by sea stacks and islands
and splashed by powerful waves
at this remote northwest corner
of the United States.
At recess, the children burn
o ff energy on a playground
that’s occasionally assaulted by
logs tossed ashore during win
ter storms.
A log on the playground is an
ominous sign, but nothing like
the specter o f a tsunami that
could come crashing down on
the school and surrounding vil
lage from a m ega-earthquake
off the Washington coast or in
Japan or somewhere else in the
earth q u ake-rid d en P acific
Ocean rim where oceanic and
continental tectonic plates col
lide.
“If they’re not paying atten
tion and there's a tsunami, the
children are in grave danger,”
said school principal A1 Zantua.
Moving the school to higher
ground is a top priority of the
tribe, said Quileute tribal chair
woman Bonita Cleveland. It’s
one o f the main reasons the
tribe has been trying for decades
to reclaim some of its ancestral
land from the federal govern
ment so it can relocate the lower
village to higher ground.
More birthday wishes...
H appy
b irth d ay
to
Evaline Patt (4/20) from the
staff at the Museum @ Warm
Springs.
Happy belated birthday to
Natalie Moody. Thank you for
all of the wonderful cheer you
bring all through the year. Much
love and respect, Roberta and
Merle.
Happy birthday Juanita Majel
(4/23). Love, Brad.
H appy birth day, D em us
Martinez! From the River Crew.
H appy b irth d a y Jaim e
Scott (4/25), who is an inspi
ration and a great dad. Much
love, Quinton.
Happy birthday to Jonathan
Smith (4/27). Edday, one yea r
older! Hang in there, miracles hap
pen at the last minute. Love, Lil
Jonathan.
Happy birthday, Julia Heath
(4/27). From your wonderful
and amazing family.
Happy birthday, Julia! With
much love and respect, from
your Best Buds.
H appy b irth d ay, E rica
Parra (4/29). Love, Mom
and Dad.
Happy birthday, Erica. Love,
A.nnette and Family.
H appy b irth d ay, E rica
from Myrna Frank and Fam
ily.
H appy birth d ay, D arlene
Highfill. Love, Gerald.
H appy b irth d a y
to
D arlene H ig h fill, from
Freddie and Ron.
■
;
Submit your birthday wishes
to Spilyay by April 29, for the
May 4th edition. Email -
spilyay@wstribes.org. Or call
541-553-2307
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