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More News from Inclín Country
Pgge 9 Spily^y Tymoo July 27, 2011
Recond salmon ran at Kenai River
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)
- An astonishing number of
red salmon were counted in the
Kenai River to the delight of
dipnetters who were hauling
them in two and three at a
time.
On one Sunday, 230,600
salm on— nearly all o f them
reds— passed the sonar counter
19 m iles upstream from the
mouth of the river.
Those are the fish that got
past the commercial nets, the
dipnetters and the rod-and-reel
fishermen in the lower river.
“It was unbelievable. I’ve
heard stories but I never ex
pected anything like this,” Chuck
Pratt, 46, who works as a fish
biologist at the Fort Richardson
hatchery, said.
“People were getting doubles
and triples,” Pratt said. “I had a
trip le, three doubles and a
single” in a short time span.
A noth er large batch o f
salmon was counted midday the
following day, with about 73,000
salmon reaching the counter,
compared with 79,000 by that
time the previous Sunday.
Fishery managers estimated
Crittenden tops Soap in Cherokee race
O KLAH O M A CITY
(AP) — While a new election
has been ordered in the close
and hard-fought race for
p rin cip al
c h ie f
of
Oklahoma’s largest American
Indian tribe, one thing is cer
tain: If incumbent Cherokee
Nation C hief Chad Smith
wins another term, he won’t
serve with his running mate.
Tribal councilman S. Joe
Crittenden defeated Smith's
running mate, Chris Soap, in
a ru n o ff for the deputy
c h ie f’s post, according to
vote totals the tribal election
commission certified Sunday.
Crittenden received 6,478
votes, or 53.2 percent, while
Soap, received 5,706 votes.
C ritten d en lik ely w ill
serve for a time as interim
principal chief because the
tribal Suprem e Court has
ordered a new election be
tween Smith and longtime
tribal councilman Bill John
Baker and it's unlikely to be
held before Sm ith's term
ends Aug. 14. The court or
dered the new election after
four vote counts in the prin
cipal ch ief’s election each
yielded different results.
Soap, the stepson of the late,
legen d ary C herokee C h ief
Wilma Mankiller, led a four-can-
didate field during the original
Ju ne 25 election for deputy
chief with about 47 percent of
the vote. Crittenden received
only about 36 percent, but the
other two candidates in the race,
Callie Hathcoat and Raymond
Vann, endorsed him in the run
off, as did Baker, who cam
paigned without a running mate
during.the general election.
Baker celebrated Crittenden’s
victory in the runoff and used
it to take another swipe at Smith
as the two look ahead to the
principal chief’s election.
“I think Joe’s win... further
proves that Cherokees are ready
to take our nation from good
to great,” Baker said in a state
ment. “As Soap ran hand-in-
hand with Chad Smith I think
this is yet another blow to
Smith’s attempt to hang onto
power for a fourth term.”
Soap acknowledged “the vot
ers have chosen a different di
rection for the Cherokee Na
tion” and said he respected that
decision.
“The future of our people
is far more important than
any one election,” Soap said
in a statement. “There is no
doubt that we are facing a
difficult time in the history
of our nation. But we have
endured difficult times be
fore, and we have p re
vailed.”
The most recent recount
in the tribe’s election for prin
cipal chief put Smith ahead
by four votes. But the tribal
Supreme Court threw out
that election’s results Thurs
day, saying it was impossible
to determine with a math
ematical certainty which can
didate won. Smith is respon
sible for setting the date of
the new election, but hasn’t
yet done so.
Tribal Attorney General
Diane Hammons said in an
opinion dated Friday with a
new election unlikely to be
held before Sm ith’s third
term ends, the office will
becom e em pty and the
deputy chief will serve as
principal chief until a new
one is installed.
that less than a third of the num
ber of salmon expected to make
it into the riv er had com e
through by late that day.
“There are going to be plenty
more good days of dipnetting
to come,” Pat Shields, acting
area management biologist for
Upper Cook Inlet commercial
fisheries, said.
Navajo casinos exempt from
reservation tobacco ban
W IND OW ROCK, A riz.
(AP) — Navajo Nation lawmak
ers have voted to prohibit smok
ing in public places on the vast
reservation with an exemption
for tribal casinos.
But Navajo Nation President
Ben Shelly has said the measure
doesn’t go far enough to pro
tect the health of tribal mem
bers.
The Tribal Council voted 14-
5 in favor .of the measure last
week during its summer session
in Window Rock.
Under the bill, tribal lawmak
ers can reconsider the casino
exemption once gaming officials
pay off their financing debts.
The bill now heads to Shelly
for his consideration.
Tulalips unhappy with Microsoft project name
TULALIP, Wash. (AP) -
Washington’s Tulalip Tribes are
unhappy that M icrosoft has
decided to use their name as the
internal label for a new social
media project.
Tribal officials are discussing
the issue with company officials,
and Microsoft Corp. said the
name was never intended to leak
outside the Redmond software
company.
“Tulalip is an internal project
code name for the online site
Socl.com, which is an internal
design project from one o f
Microsoft’s research teams that
was mistakenly published to the
Web,” a Microsoft spokesman
said in an email to The Daily
Herald. “We have no more in
formation at this time.”
Democratic state Rep. John
McCoy, a Tulalip tribal member,
heard that some Microsoft em
ployees involved in the project
live on or near the Tulalip res
ervation.
“By all accounts, it’s an in
ternal project at Microsoft and
not a public thing. But in reality
they should not have named it
Tulalip,” McCoy said. “I have no
idea what our tribal officials plan
to do, but techn ically these
Microsoft employees infringed
on the Tulalip name.”
John Echohawk, the execu
tive d irecto r o f the N ative
American Rights Fund, agrees.
The Colorado-based nonprofit
law firm he oversees is dedicated
to d efen d in g the righ ts o f
American Indian tribes and in
dividuals.
“It’s really a matter of com
mon courtesy, not to say any
thin g o f the le g a litie s,”
Echohawk said. “It’s the tribes’
name and nobody should run
off and use the name without
permission.”
McCoy laughed when a re
porter floated the idea of a new
casino game called “Microsoft.”
“Well, they take plenty of
people to court over intellectual
property rights,” McCoy said.
Last week, bloggers from
around the world speculated
that
perhaps
M icro so ft
launched “Tulalip” as a social net
working service to compete with
Facebook and Google+.
The intro ducto ry page at
Socl.com said, “With Tulalip, you
can Find what you want and
Share what you know easier
than ever.”
Spring Chinook quota nearly met on Imnaha River
(AP) — The state of Oregon
last week ordered an emergency
closure of fishing of spring Chi
nook on the Imnaha River.
The Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife ordered the
closure to go into effect at sun
down last Saturday.
The C hinook quota was
nearly met the previous week-
end, as a four-fish bag limit was
put in place to make up for poor
fishing conditions earlier in the
season.
Claims Filing Assistance
in the $760 million Keepseagle Indian Farmer/Rancher Settlement
DATE: August 2-3,2011
TIME: Between 9:00 a.m. • 5:00 p.m.
DATE: August 5-6,2011
TIME: Between 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Klamath Tribes
501 Chiloquin Blvd.
Chiloquin, OR
LOCATION: Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs
1233 Veterans Street
Warm Springs, OR
What is this About?
The class action settles claims that the USDA discriminated against Native American farmers and ranchers see king farm loans
or loan servicing.
Who is Included?
The Settlement includes:
• Native American farmers who:
o Farmed or ranched (or attempted to) any time from 1981 to late 1999.
, o Tried to get a farm loan or loan servicing from the USDA.
o Complained about discrimination to the USDA either directly or through a representative.
• Heirs of the above.
How Much Money Can I Get?
You may be eligible fora payment of up to $50,000 or more and full or partial loan forgiveness.
To receive a payment, you must file a claim by December 27.2011
To get help in filing a claim, attend a meeting or call: 1-888-233-5506
or visit: www.lndianFarmClass.com