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News from Indian Country
Page 7 Spilyay Tymoo
H o s p ita l, IH S a t o d d s o v er E R b ills
MARTIN, S.D. (AP) - The
director of a hospital in Martin
warned it will have to close if
the Indian H ealth Service
doesn't pay at least some of the
nearly $1 million in emergency
room bills for American Indi
ans who choose the community
hospital over an IHS hospital.
George Minder, chief execu
tive officer for Bennett County
Hospital and Nursing Home,
said he has asked the Aberdeen
A rea IHS to pay at least
$425,000 in past due bills, or
about half of what he says is
owed by the IHS since 2009 for
care for residents of the Pine
Ridge Indian R eservation in
southwest South Dakota.
“If we d on’t get Indian
Health Service reimbursements,
this facility will close,” Minder
said. “We’ll try to keep the nurs
ing home open, but the hospital
will close.”
Minder, who took over as
hospital CEO in October 2010,
said the situation went unad
dressed for years but the money
is needed to help m eet a
$135,000 bi-weekly payroll.
The director of the Aberdeen
Area IHS, Charlene Red Thun
der, said her agency is not re
sponsible for those bills because
they do not meet IHS guidelines
to pay only for priority emer
gency care at non-IHS facilities.
Minder said the hospital is
required under federal law to
treat anyone who seeks emer
gency care and sees about 200
emergency room patients each
month. He estimated at least 80
percent o f them qualify for
medical care from IHS.
When billed for those visits,
IHS's practice has been to deny
all but Priority I care claims un
der a policy of paying for emer
gency room charges at non-IHS
facilities only for those typically
defined as “threatening to life,
limb or senses.” In denying
other claims, the IHS said those
patients could have sought care
at the IHS hospital at Pine
Ridge.
Minder said many residents
of the reservation live closer to
Martin than they do to Pine
Ridge and some don’t have
transportation to Pine Ridge,
which is about 50 miles away.
In a prepared statement to
the Journal, Red Thunder said
IHS must ration its contract
health service funds, which are
used to pay for referrals or pri
vate sector medical care.
“If a patient goes to an out
side provider without having a
referral that is authorized and
approved for payment by the
CHS (contract health service)
program, the patient is respon
sible for payment for those ser
vices and IHS is not liable,” she
said. “By law, IHS is the payer
of last resort, so patients and
outside providers must use al
ternate resources first.”
Service’s decision to cancel the
agreement under which Native
craftsmen and artists demon
strate traditional techniques in
a wing of the park’s visitors cen
ter.
The protesters called the
Cultural Center a vital commu
nity resource and said the deci
sion to close it down with just
10 days’ notice was disrespect
ful, and lacked an adequate pub
lic process.
But there were indications
that a deal was in the works to
reinstate the Cultural Center,
with Sitka Tribe of Alaska tak
ing part in preliminary discus
sions with SNHP on a new
agreement and examining the
possibility of providing admin
istrative support for the facility.
Cultural Center board presi
dent Gary Lang said the Park
Service had agreed to let the
center stay open temporarily
while talks about its future man
agement continue.
basin in A rizona and settles
claims made by the Hopi Tribe.
As part of the settlement, In
dian communities would have
access to new pipelines carrying
more than 600,000 acre-feet of
water each year.
New Mexico State Engineer
John D’Antonio said the project
avoids expensive litigation, pro
tects non-Navajo agricultural
rights, prohibits the Navajo
Nation from selling water out
of state and w ill create jobs
while the infrastructure is being
built.
H ow ever, the San Ju an
CATOOSA, Okla. (AP) -
Cherokee Nation Businesses
says it will buy a Nowata-
based engineering and manu
facturin g com pany w ith
plans to double the company’s
workforce during the next
three years.
C herokee C h ief Chad
Smith says the purchase of
D isan E ngineering Corp.
will help the American In
dian tribe create jobs for its
citizens. The company now
em p lo ys 35 p eo p le and
tribal officials say hiring for
the new positions will start
CLAREMORE, Okla. (AP)
— How many jobs are being pro
duced by the Cherokee Nation
and who holds those positions
has become a central issue in the
campaign to see who will lead
Oklahoma’s largest American
Indian tribe for the next four
years.
The contentious campaign
will end Saturday, when voters
decide whether to keep 12-year
incumbent Chad Smith as the
tribe’s principal chief or elevate
once the sale has been com
pleted.
Disan designs and manu
factures electronic and me
chanical equipment for the
Federal Aviation Administra
tion and the Department of
Defense. It’s been in business
since 1968.
The Cherokee Nation has
long had defense manufac
tu rin g con tracts. D avid
Stewart, the CEO of Chero
kee Nation Businesses, says
the acquisition of Disan gives
the tribe a key engineering
component it had lacked.
longtime tribal councilman and
T ahlequah businessm an B ill
John Baker to that position.
Smith touts the creation of
more than 5,000 “stable jobs”
during his tenure and says al
most 60 percent of those have
gone to Cherokees and about
10 percent have gone to mem
bers of other tribes.
Baker disputes those num
bers and says the tribe needs to
ensure Cherokees who want to
work can find a job.
Crow ceremony links
disparate cultures in Wyo.
Duran Bobb/Spilyay Tymoo
Students from Madras Dance Arts Unlimited (20 from
Warm Springs) held their ballet recital at Prineville High
School on June 17 and 18.
Assistant teacher Sunmiet Minnick said the classes
are a great way for parents to be involved
“They even help with their child’s attire.”
Classes begin in September and continue until the recital
in June.
Meetings focus on Navajo water rights
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP)
— A proposed project that would
divert hundreds of thousands of
acre-feet of water from the San
Juan River is the focus of a se
ries of public meetings in north
western New Mexico.
The first meeting on the Na
vajo water rights settlement was
scheduled for W ednesday
even in g in Shiprock. M ore
meetings were planned over the
next several days in A ztec,
Farmington and Bloomfield.
The settlement quantifies the
Navajo Nation’s rights to water
from the lower Colorado River
Cherokee Nation buying
Nowata engineering firm
Jobs issue at center of
Cherokee chief campaign
Negotiators hope to
save crafter’s space
SITKA, Alaska (AP) - More
than two dozen protesters gath
ered outside the visitor center
at Sitka National Historical Park
last Thursday afternoon to chal
lenge the National Park Service’s
recent decision to shutter the
Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural
Center.
Led by G erry H ope and
Isabella Brady, the respective
presidents of the local Alaska
Native Brotherhood and Alaska
Native Sisterhood camps, mem
bers of the local Tlingit com
munity and others called on the
Park Service to reinstate the
cu ltu ral cen ter, w hich has
housed Native carvers, artists
and other cultural exhibits for
more than 40 years.
The C ultural C enter was
founded in 1969 through an
agreement between the National
Park S ervice and ANB and
ANS. Both of the Native orga
nizations adopted resolutions
last week that challenge the Park
June 29, 2011
County Agricultural Water Us
ers Association is opposed to the
settlement in its current form.
“We believe it will do irrepa
rable harm to the basin,” asso
ciation president Mike Sullivan
said.
The group’s attorney, Victor
Marshall of Albuquerque, ques
tioned whether the state engineer
would be able to stop the Na
vajo Nation from selling water
to other states and if the river
could support water users off
the reservation after diverting
so much water to other commu
nities.
POWELL, Wyo. (AP) - Na
tive culture says Heart Moun
tain contains an energy, and
members o f the Crow Tribe
tapped into that energy recently
at the mountain to engage the
30 or so people present at a
Crow Pipe Ceremony.
Crow trib al elder G rant
Bulltail presented the ceremony.
While people may have dis
similar convictions of what is
spiritual, religious or sacred, a
link was nonetheless established
between people of diverse cul
tures.
Mary Keller said the Crow
people and what she refers to
as the “settler culture,” came to
gether June 11. Keller teaches
history of religions at the Uni
versity of Wyoming’s Northwest
Regional Center in Cody.
Swinomish tribal leader passes
LA CO N N ER, Wash.
(AP) — Sw inom ish trib al
Chairman Robert Joe Sr., has
passed away.
The 7 3-year-o ld , also
known as Wa-Walton, died on
Wednesday, June 22, his sleep.
He suffered complications from
diabetes.
Joe served on the Swinomish
Indian Senate for 26 years from
1976 to 2000, with 18 of those
years as chairman.
He was known as a spiri
tual man and an influential
leader who advanced com
mercial development.
Remains found in Oak Harbor
OAK HARBOR, Wash. (AP)
— The finding of three sets of
American I ndian remains in Oak
Harbor is delaying a $7 million
construction project while tribes,
the city and the state decide how
to move forward.
But the state’s Department
of Archaeology and Historic
P reservatio n says the delay
could have been avoided if the
city had followed their sugges
tion to employ an archaeologist.
The construction site sits near
a known archaeological site. The
skeletons could be hundreds of
years old.
The Herald o f Everett re
ports that construction has been
stopped for two days after the
rem ains were discovered on
June 16, but city officials can’t
say how long the delay will be.
The project is meant to make
Oak Harbor more pedestrian-
friendly to attract more foot
traffic. Mayor Jim Slowik says
he has asked for a review of
why the recommendation was
not followed.
US attorney in ND wants to tackle Indian crime
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FARGO, N.D. (AP) - The
U.S. attorney for North Dakota
has unveiled his strategy to try
to improve the safety o f the
state's tribal communities by
cracking down on violent crime,
though he acknowledges that
the effort could take years to
have an impact.
“The statistics involving vio
lence on (American Indian) res
ervations are unacceptable,”
Timothy Purdon said Wednes
day during announcements in
Fargo and Bismarck following
months of talks with tribal lead
ers “Native Americans in North
D akota, and the rest o f the
country, are not going to be able
to overcome decades of isola
tion and poverty until they first
feel safe in their homes and
neighborhoods.”
Purdon said he wants to use
both vigorous prosecution and
prevention initiatives such as
school outreach programs to
address high rates of substance
abuse, domestic violence, drug
trafficking and assaults. The U.S.
attorney’s office has jurisdiction
over serious crimes on reserva
tions, and Purdon’s strategy
em phasizes even greater in
volvement. An assistant U.S. at
torney is being assigned to deal
with each of the state's four res
ervations, he said in stories pub
lished by The Forum and The
Bismarck Tribune.
“This will not solve all of our
public safety challenges in tribal
communities. Rather, our hope
is that the strategy is the first
step,” he said. “I do not think
this is going to be easy. I do not
think these challenges will be
solved by simple solutions. It’s
going to take many years. . But
just because this is hard, doesn’t
mean we shouldn't try.”