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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2002)
8 APRIL 1, 2002 Smoke Signals TJuu Peltier Appeals Lost Bid To Reduce Sentence FARGO, N.D. (AP) American Indian activist Leonard Peltier has appealed a judge's decision to up hold the two murder sentences im posed on him in 1977. Peltier claimed he never had the chance to argue that his sentences should be based on the theory he, at most, aided others in the killings of two FBI agents in 1975, or that he acted in self-defense. Peltier was convicted of the mur ders in Fargo and was sentenced in 1977. In November, he asked a judge to allow the two life terms to run concurrently, rather than consecu tively. The change would give Peltier an earlier chance at parole. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson rejected the request, saying Peltier had earlier opportu nities to make the same argument. Peltier's previous appeals, includ ing a similar request to reduce his sentence, also have been denied. His latest request was filed No vember 1 and rejected February 25. He filed a notice of appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ri ! mil i ii iiairtiiiirmiLaMTawin Peltier is being held in the fed eral prison in Leavenworth, Kan sas and is next up for parole in 2008. He was one of four men charged with killing the agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reserva tion in South Dakota. Two suspects were acquitted in 1976 and the third was freed for lack of evidence. i i I . . University Team Takes Name to Mock Indian Mascot t A" V' WHITO' - V Jo' .uy , -a 1 ' tt U v Whities." Led by Solomon Little Owl, Direc tor of Native American Student Ser vices at UNC, the team chose a white man as its mascot to raise aware- on the team. "It puts people in our shoes and then we can say, 'Now you know how it is, and now you can make a judgment." White said many people don't Solomon Little Owl GREELEY, CO. (AP) - Unable to persuade a school district to drop a mascot name that offends them, some American Indian students at the University of Northern Colo rado have named their intramural basketball team "The Fighting ness and understanding of stereo types that some cultures endure. "The message is, let's do something that will let people see the other side of what it's like to be a mascot," said Little Owl. "I am really offended by this mascot issue and I hope the people that support the Eaton mas cot will get offended by this." The team is made up of Ameri can Indians, Hispanics and Anglos. They wear jerseys that say, "Every thang's going to be all white." "It's not meant to be vicious, it is meant to be humorous," said Ray White, a Mohawk American Indian understand how it feels to be vic tims of a stereotype. They are upset with Eaton High School for using an American In dian caricature on the team logo. The team is called the Reds. Eaton School District superinten dent John Nuspl said the logo is not derogatory and called the group's criticism insulting. "Their interpre tations are an insult to our patrons and blatantly inaccurate," he said. "There's no mockery of Native Americans with this." Charles Cuny, an Ogalala Lakota and member of the team, said he went to an American Indian Catho lic high school with a mascot called the Red Cloud Crusaders, after a famous chief of the Lakota Indians. Having a white mascot is a way to make people more aware of American Indian issues, he said. "We live in a politically correct society and sometimes Indians get overlooked," he said. "There are so few Indians who have clout that there are a lot of things that go unsettled." A similar debate took place last year in Virginia. Last May, the Montgomery County School Board in Virginia approved a new rule prohibiting any race, religion, ethnicity or national ity to be used as a mascot. That de cision came more than 18 months after the United Coalition for Ameri can Indian Concerns first asked the board to eliminate the Indian mas cot at Blacksburg High School. They said it was stereotypical and offen sive to American Indians. University of Illinois Indian Mascot Subject of Trustee's Report URBANA, IL. (AP) Chief Illiniwek, the University of Illinois mascot who has long been the tar get of protests, is getting another close look from college officials. A university trustee was ap pointed last May to explore the dis pute surrounding Chief Illiniwek; he is scheduled to report to the Board of Trustees the results of his findings. Roger Plummer's task was to present alternatives for how the board could resolve the controversy, but not to recommend a particular course of action. Opponents say Chief Illiniwek is degrading to American Indians, while supporters say the 75-year-old mascot is meant to honor the Indians who inhabited Illinois. Most of the 13 trustees expressed strong support for the mascot at a meeting a year ago, but at least four called for further study. Two trustees spoke in favor of retiring the chief. Trustee Robert Vickery is all for the mascot. "I'm in full support of Chief Illiniwek," said Vickery. "Discus sion has been ongoing for over two years and I don't know what more somebody's going to know tomorrow that they didn't know yesterday." Vickery said opponents of the In dian mascot make up a small per centage of the university commu nity. "I've had one person, just one, come to me in all this time with con cerns about the chief," he said. Oil Exploration in Canyons of the Ancients Sparks Concern CORTEZ, CO. (AP) A plan to search for oil in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado has come under fire from environmentalists, who say thumper trucks used in the exploration may damage ar chaeological sites. British-based Western Geophysi cal plans to use the trucks to detect oil deposits on nearly 20,000 acres of monument land. The trucks send shock waves to the deposits by pounding on the ground. "On the face of it, it doesn't sound very compatible with the densest archaeological treasure trove in the United States," said Mark Pearson, Executive Director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance. Western Geo physical declined comment. The 164,000 acre monument is home to more than 20,000 American Indian archaeological sites. Most of the monument is al ready leased for oil and gas develop ment, and opera- K jO. S ft". -. :r tors can explore and develop re sources if the ac tivities do not harm natural and cultural resources. The U.S. Geo logical Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser vice stopped a similar Western Geophysical project outside Arches National Park in Utah re cently because of environmental concerns, said Pearson. Pearson said officials were wor ried the trucks would destroy frag ile soil deposits and nesting habitat. LouAnn Jacobson, the monument's director, said the Bu reau of Land Management is do ing an environmental assessment of the project and hopes to avoid the problems that occurred in Utah. She said a staff member will moni tor the project and trucks will not be allowed to drive over archaeo logical sites. "I feel pretty confident that there will not be any impacts to the cul tural resources as part of this project," said Jacobson.
