SEPTEMBER 1, 2005
MOCC
MAIL
A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
www.grandronde.org
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Grand Entry On Display Clint BlackWeasel (Blackfeet) leads the Men's Fancy dancers in the afternoon Grand Entry at Grand Ronde's Annual Pow-wow
on Saturday, August 20. BlackWeasel went on to win $1 ,000 for taking first place in the Men's Fancy competition. Kenny ScabbyRobe (Blackfeet) emceed this
year's pow-wow and there were three host drums: Blacklodge, Perfect Storm and Blackstone. SEE PULLOUT INSIDE.
In Harmony Award-winning country singer Trisha Yearwood performed
before a sell-out crowd at Spirit Mountain Casino on Sunday, August 7. Yearwood
released her hit single "She's In Love With The Boy" in 1 99 1 . Yearwood has made
a name for herself as one of the leading female vocalists in country music today.
NAJA Walks The Talk For Free Press;
Promotes Indian Cultural Literacy
Among The Mainstream Press
Smoke Signals takes home five awards.
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Community of Oregon
961 5 Grand Ronde Road
Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347
PRESORTED
FIRST-CLASS MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
SALEM, OR
PERMIT NO. 178
OR NEWSPAPER PR0J. U0 LIBRARY SYSTEM PRESERU.
i2SS UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
EUGENE OR 97403-1205
By Ron Karten
In a remarkable exercise under
scoring the value, risks and
the lessons of a free press, the
Native American Journalists Asso
ciation (NAJA) again sponsored
student-run television newscasts.
This year, they made public criti
cisms of three candidates running
for the NAJA board of directors.
Among those criticisms was one
targeting Indian journalism icon
Tom Arviso, Publisher of Navajo
Times, coincidentally one of two
major publications that represent the
free press in Indian Country. (The
Times and the Cherokee Phoenix are
both financially and editorially sepa
rated from their Tribal Councils.)
Newscaster and university stu
dent Melissa Ragels (Spirit Lake
Nation) reported on Thursday, the
first evening of the conference, that
Arviso had declined for some years
to pay back $1,500 of a $2,000 loan
from NAJA. The next day, Arviso
pulled out of the race, repaid the
balance of the loan and apologized
to the NAJA membership.
In an interview after the confer
ence, Arviso affirmed his respect for
a free press but felt ill-used by the
student report.
"I had went and talked to them
and explained everything. There
was more to the story before they
aired it," he said.
"There's some validity to the state
ment," said student Mentor and in
dependent filmmaker Jenny Monet
(LagunaPuebloZuni), "but we're
not a 24-hour broadcast or a nightly
newscast, either." With a Wednes
day night deadline for a Thursday
night broadcast, updated informa
tion may have been available before
broadcast but according to Monet,
it came after the deadline had
passed. A follow-up story, broad
cast at the awards banquet on Sat
urday night, reported that Arviso
had paid off the loan and pulled out
See NAJA
on pages 6-7