FEBRUARY 1, 2001
Smoke Signals 5
Leonard Peltier Not on List of Clinton Pardons
President erases criminal records of his brother and former business partner.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Presi
dent Bill Clinton recently decided
against a pardon for American In
dian activist Leonard Peltier.
Clinton's decision came less than
two hours before he was to turn over
the White House to George W. Bush.
Peltier, who is a member of the
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa,
is serving two consecutive life sen
tences in a federal prison at
Leavenworth, Kansas for the killing
of two FBI (Federal Bureau of In
vestigation) agents in June of 1975.
Peltier s supporters vowed to fight on.
"We're extremely disappointed,"
said AIM (American Indian Move
ment) leader Vernon Bellecourt. "Es
pecially for the two daughters, who
never really knew their father be
cause he's been in prison.
"We're disappointed, but certainly
not defeated. We're grateful to those
Indian people and other Americans,
and friends and supporters worldwide,
who offered so many prayers to the
Great Spirit, but ask them all to re
main resolutely determined,'' he said.
Bellecourt said that the Leonard
Peltier Defense Committee, based in
Lawrence, Kansas, plans to ask a fed
eral judge to order the release of "6,000
plus FBI documents that have been
e're disappointed, but certainly not
defeated. We're grateful to those Indian
people and other Americans, and friends
and supporters worldwide, who offered so
many prayers to the Great Spirit, but ask
them all to remain resolutely determined."
Vernon Bellecourt, AIM leader
Leonard Peltier
American Indian activist
suppressed for close to 25 years" that
they believe would reveal government
abuses in the prosecution of Peltier.
Peltier's attorneys will ask the Sen
ate Judiciary Committee to hold hear
ings in South Dakota "to examine
this whole era, which we believe
would lead to a new trial" for Peltier.
According to the FBI, Agents Ron
Williams and J ack Coler were killed as
they searched on the Pine Ridge In
dian Reservation for robbery suspects.
Both were shot in the head at
point-blank range after they were
injured. Their bodies were left on a
dirt road.
After fleeing to Canada and being
extradited to the United States, Peltier
was convicted and sentenced in 1977.
Those who defend him claim evi
dence against him had been falsified.
Clinton erased the criminal records
of his brother Roger Clinton and his
former business partner Susan
McDougal. Clinton also commuted
the prison sentence of former Navajo
Nation leader Peter MacDonald and
found a way to spare himself from
indictment.
The President was spared from in
dictment in a deal on Friday, Janu
ary 19 with prosecutors.
MacDonald, who was sent to prison
in connection with a bloody riot in
1989, has been in a Fort Worth,
Texas medical prison since 1992.
MacDonald, 72, was one of the famed
Navajos used by the U.S. military
during World War II to stump the
Japanese by using their Native
tongue as a communications code.
MacDonald later rose to be Tribal
Chairman of America's largest Na
tive American Tribe. He is well
known as a passionate orator who,
in the past, sharply criticized the fed
eral government for threatening
Tribal sovereignty.
But he became ensnared in contro
versy and eventually was sentenced
for his role in a Window Rock, Ari
zona riot that killed two in 1989.
One of the final decisions left to be
made concerned McDougal, the
former business partner who went to
prison rather than give testimony
about the president sought by
Whitewater prosecutors. .
McDougal was convicted of fraud
along with her ex-husband, the late
failed savings and loan owner James
McDougal, in a 1996 trial at which
Clinton testified.
McDougal's pardon came just one
day after the Whitewater investiga
tion was closed down under a deal in
which Clinton gave up his law license
and admitted making false testimony
under oath about Monica Lewinsky
in return for prosecutors agreeing not
to indict him.
Roger Clinton, Bill Clinton's half
brother, was sentenced to two years
in prison after pleading guilty in
1985 to conspiring to distribute co
caine. He cooperated with authori
ties and testified against other drug
defendants. He has since focused on
an entertainment career.
School's Indian Mascot
is Still at Issue
SCARBOROUGH, ME. (AP) - Efforts
continue in the attempt to come up with
a new mascot at Scarborough High
School to replace the Redskins.
The school board has approved five
names and will put them to a vote soon.
Students will choose from the Mariners,
Red Hawks, Red Storm, Seahawks and
Storm.
The winner is expected to be declared
at the school board's meeting on Febru
ary 1.
School districts across the country have
been pressed by American Indian groups
to change team names such as Redskins,
Braves, Chiefs and others.
Wiscasset and Sanford have chosen to
retain the Redskins name.
A survey of Scarborough High School
students last year found they favored
retaining the Redskins nickname by a
margin of more than 2 to 1. But the
school board voted unanimously in Sep
tember to drop the nickname.
A committee narrowed the list of pos
sibilities to the five names that the board
could accept.
"We'd like to think that .we are pretty
safe," said board Chair Deborah Jackson.
"None of them are derogatory to any
one. Two of them are birds of prey; we
do have a historical connection to ship
building; and we do get hit with some
pretty good storms."
Similar debates are under way around
the nation.
"As an American Indian educator, I find
it shameful that such stereotypical im
ages exist in our schools," Virginia Tech
Assistant Professor Jeff J. Corntassel told
the Virginia Council on Indians recently.
He urged the council to follow the lead
of the North Carolina Commission of In
dian Affairs and adopt a resolution sup
porting the elimination oMndian terms
in naming mascots and sports teams by
June 30, 2003. "
Tribes Target State Road Culverts in Salmon Lawsuit
OLYMPIA, WA. (AP) - Twenty
Puget Sound Indian Tribes have
gone to federal court to try to force
the State of Washington to fix cul
verts that are blocking salmon from
reaching their spawning grounds.
"Common sense would tell you to
allow the salmon passage," said Billy
Frank Jr., Chairman of the North
west Indian Fisheries Commission.
"We need to start fixing them right
now. That's all we're asking fix
the culverts."
Culverts are tunnels, usually pipes,
built to let streams flow under roads.
There are 1,999 culverts oh state
highways, according to the state De
partment of Transportation and the
Department of Fish and Wildlife, and
449 need to be repaired or replaced
so migrating fish like salmon can get
through.
The state plans to fix the culverts
in order of importance over the next
20 to 30 years, perhaps longer. In
the lawsuit, the Tribes demand they
be fixed within five years.
"We understand the problem. We
know what to do about the problem.
The expenditures from the state just
are not there," said Terry Williams
of the Tulalip Tribes.
It costs an average of $250,000 to
repair or replace a culvert, accord
ing to Paul Wagner, Department of
Transportation Biology Program
Manager. At that rate, it will cost
about $112 million to fix the 449
faulty culverts on state roads.
Governor Gary Locke lashed out at
the Tribes recently for pursuing a
lawsuit, saying that the 20-year,
schedule for replacing culverts is.
good enough.
"Litigation will serve to siphon
valuable time, money and energy
away from the vital task of saving
salmon," Locke said in a joint state
ment with Attorney General Chris
tine Gregoire. The statement said
that while the state is willing to work
with the Tribes on salmon protection,
the attorney general's office is pre
pared to defend against the lawsuit.
Locke said that $40 million has
been requested in this budget cycle
to repair fish-blocking culverts but
in this tight budget year, there's no
guarantee of money for salmon.
The problems with many state road
culverts are easy to see. Some pipes
end in a waterfall so steep a salmon
would need wings to get back up to its
spawning grounds. Other concrete
culverts have washed out and worn
away over time to leave exposed rebar.
A joint report to the 1997 Legisla
ture by the State Department of
Transportation and Department of
Fish and Wildlife puts it plainly:
"Fish passage at human-made bar
riers such as road culverts is one of
the most recurrent and correctable
obstacles to healthy salmonid stocks
in Washington."
The Tribes' legal action isn't a new
lawsuit, but a "subproceeding" to the
1974 federal case that affirmed the
Tribes' treaty fishing rights. That
case, known as the Boldt decision,
recognized that a series of 1855 trea
ties gave Tribes the right to 50 per
cent of harvestable salmon runs.
The courts have continued to moni
tor issues related to Tribal fishing.
. The.subprpceeding.was filed on
January 20 in U,$.,District Court in
Seattle.
Tribes that were historically based
around fishing have watched part of
their cultures and livelihoods die as
Washington salmon stocks dwindled.
"It's put a high percentage of our
Tribal fishermen out of work," said
Williams, who said the number of
Tulalip fishermen has dropped from
130 to about 30.
If the culverts were repaired, Will
iams and other Tribal officials said
salmon would benefit very quickly
and their numbers would grow
within a few years. But he acknowl
edged Tribes would be slower to reap
the benefits. Fourteen West Coast
salmon and steelhead species are
listed as endangered or threatened
under the Endangered Species Act,
so harvest levels will likely be very
low for years to come good culverts
or bad culverts.
"It's for everybody, not just the
Tribes," Frank said. "If you fix the
culverts, it's not going to bring the
salmon back, but it's a piece of a
whole big puzzle."
The Tribes are asking only that the
culverts be repaired, and are not
seeking any monetary damages.
Still, Locke and Gregoire said that
using the Boldt decision on treaty
fishing rights to force the state to re
place culverts could set a precedent
they don't like.
"A favorable ruling for the Tribes
could impose a duty that may affect
other public roadways, public facili
ties and lands and even the regula
tion of land use and water," Locke
and Gregoire's statement said.
"We don't believe that the treaties
were intended to displace the state's
authority."