U.S. Department of Justice Chooses to Continue Desecration of Sacred Site

Press release by: www.savethepeaks.org

Rudy Preston
Flagstaff Activist Network
Email: rudy@flagstaffactivist.org


Flagstaff, AZ -- On Wednesday, May 30th the United States Department of Justice on behalf of the Forest Service filed for a rehearing and appeal "en banc" in the case to protect the San Francisco Peaks in Northern Arizona. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled in favor of Native American tribes and environmental groups on the grounds that a proposed ski area development and expansion would violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Peaks, which are held holy by more than 13 Native American Nations, have been at the center of a legal battle that has pitted tribes and environmental groups against the U.S. Forest Service and a small private ski area. The Arizona Snowbowl ski area has been attempting an expansion and snowmaking with treated sewage effluent on the sacred mountain. The US Forest Service, which leases the land to Snowbowl, approved the decision but was faced with lawsuits by the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, the Yavapai-Apache Tribe, the Havasupai Tribe, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Flagstaff Activist Network.

"The decision of the Forest Service and Snowbowl to appeal the ruling is shameful and harmful to all of the tribes and people of this country who value religious freedom and a healthy environment." Said Howard Shanker, of the Shanker Law Firm, PLC. "The 9th Circuit ruling did not grant Native Americans new rights that restrict other uses of public lands, it only upheld and protected the rights they already have."

Click here to read more: http://www.savethepeaks.org/may30_07.html

VA reaching out to Indian veterans

By Lourdes Medrano
Arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona

In George Bearpaw's family, engaging in military duty has been the mark of a patriot for generations. The former Marine fought in the Vietnam War. His late father, Thomas Bearpaw, served in the Army during World War II. His two brothers and a sister also enlisted in the Army.

"My family's military history goes back to the Civil War," said Bearpaw, a Cherokee from eastern Oklahoma now living in Tucson.

"We grew up with my dad being very patriotic," said Bearpaw, acting director for Indian Health Service in the Tucson area.

"It's true of a lot of Native American families. They're pretty proud of their history of service."
Such military contributions make American Indians eligible for the same benefits available to other veterans. But while they readily enlist in the military, Bearpaw noted, many American Indians fail to take advantage of available health care and educational, employment and housing-related services.

The Southern Arizona Gathering of American Indian Vets on Saturday aims to reach out to the population through a specially tailored program that includes free health screenings and wellness education. The first-ever daylong event will be held at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System on South Sixth Avenue.

Want to know more? Click here: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/185622

Galanda: Defending against attacks on tribal sovereign immunity

Tribal sovereign immunity - the legal principle that Indian tribal governments, like other sovereigns, may not be sued without their own consent - is under a full frontal attack. Consider these passages from recent federal and state court opinions:

Tribal immunity is ''divorced from the realities of the modern world.''

''[H]opefully [tribes] will eventually conclude that this litigation tactic [of asserting sovereign immunity] is not the best policy to promote a profitable business.''

''[T]he constitutional right of the State to preserve its republican form of government trumps the common law doctrine of tribal immunity.''

Unless Indian country reacts to such scathing judicial indictments through more strategically thought-out assertions of sovereign immunity, tribal governments will lose that right and the ability to develop reservation economies without the threat of ruinous lawsuits.

Presently, sovereign immunity is the strongest defense to litigation attacks against tribal treasuries and the assertion of state regulatory authority on tribal lands. See Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Citizen Band of Potawatomi, 498 U.S. 505 (1991). Without immunity protection, tribes would be faced with an avalanche of personal injury and class action lawsuits that could bankrupt tribal treasuries. Unimpeded by tribal immunity doctrine, state and local governments could sustain legal attacks on tribal governments in state courts that would further erode Indian sovereignty and regulatory control over the reservation.

Click here to read full article: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415121

Quotes

"Only to the white man was nature a "wilderness" and only to him was the land "infested" with "wild" animals and "savage" people. To us, it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. Not until the hairy man from the east came and with brutal frenzy heaped injustices upon us and the families we loved was it "wild" for us. When the very animals of the forest began fleeing from his approach, then it was for us that the "wild west" began." -

Luther Standing Bear,
Chief of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (1868-1939)