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News from Indian Country
Page 9
Spilyay T y m o o
M arch 7, 2 0 1 2
Wampanoags plan Taunton casino
TA U N TO N , Mass. (AP) B
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe
has entered into an option to buy
land in Taunton on which it in
tends to build a resort casino,
the tribal chairman and mayor
said last week.
The announcement “is a tan
gible step toward our goal o f
eco n o m ic self-su fficien cy ,”
Chairman Cedric Cromwell said
on the tribal website.
U nder the state’s new gam
ing law, the tribe must get ap
proval for a casino from voters
in the southeastern Massachu
setts city and also reach an agree
ment with state officials.
The Cape C od-based tribe
intends to build a destination
casino, including hotels, restau
rants, entertainment space and
other amenities on one o f sev
eral tracts o f land the tribe is
lo o k in g at alo n g R o u te 24,
Cromwell said. The resort w ould,
cost at least $500 million.
“This is the beginning o f
many conversations to bring a
world-class, best-in-class desti
nation resort casino to the city
o f T a u n to n ,” an excited
Cromwell said at a City Hall news
conference. “I can say I have
goose bumps.”
“This could potentially be a
Elwhas won’t release
hatchery steelhead
shot in the arm our city needs
to once again be the gem o f
southeastern M assachusetts,”
said Mayor Thomas Hoye, who
said a casino could provide thou
sands o f jobs and create revenue
streams that could be used to
improve city schools and public
safety. Previous tribal efforts
to
b u ild
a casin o
in
Middleborough and Fall River
have fallen through.
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -
The Lower Elwha Klallam
Tribe has agreed not to re
lease any h atch ery -raised
steelhead into the Olympic
Peninsula’s Elwha River this
year.
The tribe is facing a law
suit brought by the WUd Fish
C o n serv an cy and o th e r
groups arguing that the non
native steelhead wEl hurt the
recovery o f protected native
salmon once the river's two
dams are removed.
The dam removal began
late last year and is the larg
est dam removal project in
Natives strive for homemade businesses
P IE R R E , S.D. (AP) —
N othing has been easy about
Charlotte Almanza’s work as the
owner o f Char’s Café.
A few m o n th s ago a fire
forced her Peever-based busi
ness out o f its building. Fortu
nately she had insurance, and
she’s preparing to open in a new
space.
But maintaining the business
before the fire was a challenge
as well. When Almanza wanted
to make some improvements,
she needed a loan— and her at
tem pts w ith her local banker
were not heartening.
“It w asn’t m uch m oney I
needed,” said Almanza, who be
longs to the Sisseton Wahpeton
O yate trib e in n o rth e a ste rn
South Dakota. “I was asking for
$5,000. W hen you don’t have
that support o f people believ
ing in you, it really discourages
you.”
But Almanza, who Eves just
outside the border o f the reser
v a tio n fo r th e S isseto n
Wahpeton Oyate, found another
Source. She to o k o u t a loan
from a Native community de
velopm ent financial institution
(CDFI) caUed the Four Bands
Business AlEance has recently
produced an expansive report
chronichng some problem s—
and solutions— encountered by
Native American entrepreneurs
on the reservations.
“We noticed the mainstream
business development programs,
especially the mainstream fed
eral program s— we just kept
seeing a trend that there was Etde
or no activity on the nine reser
vations,” said Tanya Fiddler, the
SDIBA chair.
Fiddler is also the executive
director o f Four Bands Com
m u n ity F u n d , a n o n p ro f it
founded especiaUy to assist en
trepreneurs o f the Cheyenne
River Indian Reservation.
The CDFI is one type o f re
source recom m ended by the
SDIBA, which came together in
2007. CD FIs can provide much-
needed financial training, and
they can also issue loans and help
Native American business own
ers— or would-be owners— es-
tabEsh credit. Fiddler said there
are about six Native American
CDFIs in the state.
O ne issue that looms espe
cially large is estabEshing the
credit to start a business in the
Community Fund, and her busi
first place. Fiddler said the op
ness was on track.
T he South D akota Indian
portunity to estabEsh credit in
extremely rural parts o f the state
can be slim.
O n the reservations, the task
is even tougher since the banks
often do n o t rep o rt to credit
bureaus. The cost and the po
tential EabiEty involved in re
porting credit, Fiddler said, are
factors that make reporting dif
ficult for the banks.
T he SDIBA’s rep o rt notes
other obstacles Native Ameri
cans can face when they try to
obtain loans. O ne is the trust
status o f land on the reserva
tions, which prevents it from
being used as collateral when
taking out loans. Because reser
vation land is held in trust sta
tus by the federal government,
the land cannot be repossessed
by banks offering loans. T hat
means Native Americans Eving
on reservations lack a source o f
coUateral available to others who
might be seeking loans to start
new businesses.
Fiddler said members o f the
SDIBA noticed, in recent years,
a dearth o f Native-owned busi
nesses on reservations. She said
T percent o f the businesses on
the Cheyenne River Sioux Res
ervation were owned by Native
Americans in 2001. It’s a reser
vation, she said, with a popula
tion that is 80 percent Native
American.
Since that time, though, Fid
dler said 100 N ativ e-o w n ed
businesses have emerged. Fid
dler noted training and techni
cal assistance, access to capital
and increased credit-worthiness
as factors in helping the new
businesses to develop.
T h e inability to establish
credit, Fiddler said, can affect
everyday purchases as well as
business development.
“Indian people are poor for
some reaUy good reasons,” she
said. “N o t having access to af
fo rd ab le p ro d u cts is one o f
them.”
Scarcity o f jobs is another.
A nd for many N ative Ameri
cans who Eve on or near reser
vations across the state, the best
path to a good job is not the road
to the nearest large retailer. It’s
creating a local business— or
working for one that's recently
surfaced.
“This is a path out o f pov
erty,” Fiddler said.
F or A lmanza, th at path is
strewn with home-cooked food.
She’s hoping to reopen Char’s
Café in April) and she’s especiaUy
looking forward to rekindEng
the café’s legendary “pie days.”
“Everything is homemade,”
she said, “and that’s what makes
it good.”
the country. Before the dams
were built a century ago, the
Elwha River had some o f the
m ost impressive salmon runs
in the Northwest.
U nder an agreem ent in
U.S. District Court in Tacoma
this w eek, the tribe said it
won’t release steelhead from
its new C ham bers C reek
hatchery this year as the law
suit proceeds.
An attorney for the Wild
Fish Conservancy says that
will give the sides more time
to work out a settlement or
for a judge to decide the
merits o f the case.
San Diego County tribe
says sacred site bulldozed
FALLBROOK, Calif. (AP) -
A San Diego County tribe claims
developers bulldozed a sacred
site during construction o f a
road. T h e P aum a B and o f
Luiseno Indians has occupied
lan d in F a llb ro o k w here
P alom ar College is building
H orse, R anch Creek Road to
serve its future cam pus and
three future housing and com
mercial developments.
Tribal officials say that buU-
dozers cleared an area consid
ered sacred before monitors re
quired by state law arrived.
The tribe says it’s guarding
several uncleared sites where
ancient human remains and ar
tifacts were found.
A college statem ent says it
wEl work with the Native Ameri
can community as the road work
continues.
3 accused of embezzling
$900,000 from Yuroks
EUREKA, CaEf. (AP) - Two
c o n tra c t b io lo g ists an d the
former director o f forestry for
the Yurok tribe are accused of
embezzEng nearly $900,000 in
money intended for spotted owl
research over the p ast three
years.
Court documents indicate the
m en conspired to charge the
tribe for phony spotted owl sur
veys on tribal forests, and the
purchase of iPads, car repairs,
gasoline, and cleaning suppEes.
Totem pole to honor woodcarver
SEATTLE (AP) - A me
morial totem pole in honor
o f J o h n T. W illiam s was
raised at Seatde Center as a
symbol o f justice and com
munity.
A procession o f hundreds
o f community members car
ried the totem pole from Pier
57 to the Seattle C enter,
Calif, tribe
faction
takes over
tribal office
C O A R E S E G O L D , Calif.
(AP) — The dispute between two
factions o f a Central CaEfornia
casino tribe has escalated.
The Fresno Bee reports that
a b o u t 40 su p p o rters o f one
group in the fight at the Pica
yune Rancheria o f Chukchansi
Indians broke into a tribal of
fice and refused to leave.
T he group claims it repre
sents the tribe, and its members
were denied their rightful place
on the tribal councE foEowing
an election in December.
Members o f the tribal coun
cil currentiy in power dispute
that.
> The
trib e
ow ns
th e
C hukchansi G old R esort and
Casino in the Sierra foothills
near Yosemite National. Park. It
has expeUed dozens o f m em
bers since around November.
■ Madera County Sheriff’s of
ficials say they are treating the
dispute as a famEy matter and
have not made any arrests.
where it was gifted to the city
o f Seattle.
Jo h n WilEams was shot by
Seatde poEce Officer Ian Birk
in 2010.
He had just crossed a street
while holding a knife and a block
o f w ood w hen Birk ord ered
him to drop the knife and then
shot him to death.
The killing outraged many,
who saw it as an unnecessary
use o f force. Birk later re
signed.
W illiams’ b ro th er, Rick
WilEams, and others carved
the totem pole to honor the
5 0 -y ear-o ld an d N ativ e
American and FEst Nations
tradition.
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