8 MARCH 1, 2002
Smoke Signals
Redskins Have New Uniform; Vow Not To Change Their Name
ASHBURN, VA.
(AP) New
Coach Steve
Spurrier, looking
at the Washing
ton Redskins' new helmet, had to
go deep into the color chart to con
vince himself that he is not turn
ing into a Seminole. Spurrier used
to coach the University of Florida
and their main rival was the Florida
State Seminoles, which sports a
similar color to the Redskins' uni
forms. "We're burgundy," said Spurrier.
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"That other school is not burgundy."
The Redskins revealed the throw
back uniforms recently that they
will wear at home games for their
70th anniversary season. The hel
met features a spear and feathers,
and Spurrier confessed it looks
somewhat like the helmet worn by
the former Florida coach's archrival,
Florida State.
The Redskins wore the uniform
from 1965-69. The jerseys are a
deeper shade of burgundy and the
pants are gold.
For road games, the team still will
wear the traditional white jerseys
with burgundy pants, and helmets
featuring the team's Indian face logo.
Owner Dan Snyder said the
Redskins plan to wear the throw
back uniforms for one season.
Snyder said the change had
nothing to do with the decades-long
controversy over the team's name.
Several groups have complained
that the name Redskins and the use
of the Indian face helmet are de
meaning to American Indians.
"We won't be changing the name
of the Redskins for 100 years-plus,"
said Snyder.
Cowlitz Indian Tribe Sues State Fish & Wildlife Over Hunting Grounds
OLYMPIA, WA. (AP) After
winning federal recognition earlier
this month, the Cowlitz Indian
Tribe is suing the state Fish and
Wildlife Department, saying the
agency has given other Tribes spe
cial hunting rights on Cowlitz land.
The lawsuit was filed in Thurston
County Superior Court on January
18, two weeks after the Tribe gained
federal legal status. In it, the Tribe
says the government has no right
to let the Muckleshoot, Puyallup,
Nisqually and Squaxin Island In
dians use the prime elk-hunting
grounds south of White Pass High
way in Lewis and Skamania coun
ties. Historically, those areas were ex
clusively occupied by the Cowlitz,
said Robin Tomer, chairman of the
Cowlitz Tribal Council.
"Basically, the Nisquallys and
Squaxins want to hunt the Packwood
and Lewis river areas," Torner told
The
News Tri
bune of
Tacoma.
"They
want to
hunt
there be
cause that's """
director
of Fish
and
Wildlife.
So the
e n t
and four
cause that s S , J 1, "j A Tribes en-
wheretheelk (WJjtZ f nOiaH TIDQ tered media-
tion to tix the
boundary of the treaty-based hunt
ing area. In December, that bound
ary was adopted.
are.
The flap has its roots in the Medi
cine Creek Treaty of 1854, in which
the Muckleshoots, Puyallups,
Nisquallys and Squaxins signed
over ownership of their lands but
retained hunting and fishing rights
on them.
In the treaty areas, the Tribes are
allowed to set their own hunting
regulations. But in recent years, the
Tribes had been hunting farther into
southwest Washington than their
treaty rights allowed, said Phil
Anderson, a special assistant to the
The Cowlitz objected to being left
out of the discussion and said the
state had no business interpreting
a federal treaty. The Cowlitz con
tend that the four Tribes now have
access to the Cowlitz' traditional
hunting grounds.
The department says the Tribe
never signed the Medicine Creek
Treaty, so it has no special hunting
rights. Cowlitz Tribal members can
hunt in those lands, just like every
one else, but must first obtain state
licenses and follow state rules.
Craig Bartlett, a spokesman for
Fish and Wildlife, said his depart
ment and the attorney general's
office have just begun to look at the
Cowlitz lawsuit.
"In the context of the negotiated
agreement with the Medicine Creek
Tribes, whatever other issues are
involved in this case, the agreement
does not preclude members of the
Cowlitz Tribe from hunting in their
usual and accustomed places," said
Bartlett.
Torner said his Tribe doesn't want
to share the land.
"That seems fair to me," he said.
"We don't hunt in other people's ter
ritory." The Tribe is asking the court to
invalidate the agreement with the
other Tribes or to compensate the
Cowlitz for the loss of hunting.
Trust Reform Will Cost Hundreds of Millions, According to Norton
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - It
will cost hundreds of millions of dol
lars and take sweeping changes to
fix a system of American Indian
royalties mismanaged by the gov
ernment for more than 100 years,
Interior Secretary Gale Norton told
members of Congress recently.
Despite opposition from Indian
leaders to changes Norton has pro
posed and skepticism from some mem
bers of the House Resources Commit
tee, Norton said she is optimistic she
can work with Tribes and Congress
to manage the Indian money better.
Committee members, however,
clearly were frustrated at how long
the trust overhaul has taken.
Reports dating from 1928 identi
fied problems in trust fund account
ing. In 1994 Congress created the
Office of Special Trustee to oversee
repair of the system and has spent
$614 million since then on chang
ing it.
Trustee Thomas Slonaker said
that major accounting and data
problems still have not been solved.
"It's very, very hard for me to be
optimistic. I believe the Native
Americans have put up with this
charade long enough," said Rep.
Elton Gallegly, R-Calif. He said if
Norton can't fix the system, Con
gress should do the job.
The Indian trust funds were cre
ated in 1887, when Congress as
signed Indians small allotments of
land. Interior was assigned to man
age the grazing, timber and oil and
gas rights, but much of the money
was stolen or misappropriated.
About 1,000 of the individual trust
accounts, worth an estimated $11
million, belong to Alaska Natives.
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In 1996, Elouise Cobell, a Mon
tana banker and member of the
Blackfeet Nation, and four others
sued the government for squander
ing the money. In 1999, U.S. Dis
trict Judge Royce Lamberth ordered
the Interior Department to overhaul
the trust and piece together how
much the Indians are owed.
The judge also is holding a hear
ing to decide if Norton should be held
in contempt for not fixing the system
and misrepresenting reform efforts.
Under threat of contempt, Norton
proposed sweeping changes last
November, pushing for creation of
a new bureau in the Interior Depart
ment to manage the trust fund over
opposition from Indian leaders.
Norton is working with a group
of Tribal representatives and said
she hopes an agreement can be
reached.
She also acknowledged the diffi
culties in fixing the system and said
the department's computerized ac
counting system has failed to meet
its objectives, she said. A congres
sional report said last year the $40
million-plus system
might have to be
scrapped.
Adding adequate
computer security
will cost up to $70
million over the
next three years,
Norton said. Secu
rity holes prompted Lamberth to
pull the plug on the Interior
Department's Internet connections
on December 5, 2001, in order to
protect the $500 million account
from hackers.
Ninety percent of the depart
ment remains off-line and most
Indians who rely on royalty pay
ments haven't seen checks since
November.
Piecing together how much In
dian money has been lost since
1887 will cost hundreds of millions
of dollars and cannot be done com
pletely since records have been de
stroyed by fire or decayed over time,
Norton said.
"If you can't provide a historical
accounting, don't pretend that you
can," said Cobell. She asked the
committee to wipe out the
department's budget to fight the
lawsuit and support assigning over
sight of the fund to someone out
side of the department.
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