Rapid City teacher receives NIEA award
Rapid City, South Dakota (AP)
Robert Cook, a teacher at Rapid City Central High School, recently was named the National Indian Education Association’s Teacher of the Year. Cook, who taught for 17 years at various tribal schools, now teaches in a 9th-grade transition program for American Indian students at Central High School. The Teacher of the Year award is given to a NIEA member and current classroom teacher who shows exceptional achievement in teaching American Indian students. The winner also is chosen for his or her efforts to improve the quality of life for American Indian, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian communities through education.
Yellowstone to
turn over skull to tribes
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (AP)
Park officials hope to return a skull that was found in the 1880s to two tribes in Montana. It’s part of a federal effort over the past 15 years to identify artifacts and remains and return them to tribes. The skull is the last set of remains at Yellowstone to be returned. The skull changed hands a couple times before it was donated to Yellowstone in 1930. Earlier this year, Yellowstone turned over three sets of remains and several burial objects found near Yellowstone Lake in the 1940s and 1950s. The Eastern Shoshone of the Wind River Reservation and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation took possession of the bones and reburied them Oct. 1 in ceremonies inside Yellowstone.
Judge drops Golden Hill Paugussetts’ land claims
Hartford, Connecticut (AP)
A federal judge during late November dismissed all of the remaining land claims filed by the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe, which had sought to use as leverage to acquire land for a casino in Bridgeport. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven ruled that the Trumbull-based tribe cannot pursue land claims in court because it is not recognized as an American Indian tribe by the federal government. The Paugussett, who contend their ancestral lands were seized illegally, have been repeatedly denied federal recognition, but are recognized as a tribe by the state. The Paugussetts said the legal battle is far from over and they plan to appeal.
Businessman pleads guilty to theft from Crow Tribe
Billings, Montana (AP)
A construction company owner admits he helped the former finance director of the Crow Tribe to embezzle more than $100,000 in a scheme to pay the legal defense expenses of the former chair. Robert Gipson Jr., 37, of Crow Agency, pleaded guilty Nov. 28 in federal court to theft from a tribe. Gipson is the fifth person to be convicted in what prosecutors said was an embezzlement scheme devised by Kelly Dee Passes, the tribe’s former finance director, and former chair Clifford G. Birdinground. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Rostad said Passes devised inflated or fake contracts in which co-defendants would receive payments for jobs, cash the checks and kick back some or all of the money to Passes or Birdinground.
Gila River man arrested by FBI in bomb hoaxes
Phoenix, Arizona (AP)
A resident of the Gila River Community was arrested by the FBI for a series of bomb hoaxes at the school where he worked, the agency announced during November. Dakota Dominguez, 20, was a student aide at St. Peter’s Mission Elementary School on the reservation when he made three separate anonymous telephone bomb threats against the school and students, according to the FBI. The threats were phoned in to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 30, Sept. 28 and Nov. 8. Dominguez faces federal charges of willfully and maliciously making telephone threats to damage or destroy property by means of an explosive device.
Cherokee Nation names new newspaper editor
Tahlequah, Oklahoma (AP)
The Cherokee Nation has named Cherokee citizen Bryan Pollard as the new editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, the tribe’s monthly newspaper. Pollard served for two years as assistant editor to Dan Agent, who recently retired and will serve as an associate editor during the transition.
Pine Ridge man gets prison for drug conviction
Rapid City, South Dakota (AP)
A 27-year-old man has been sent to a prison for 14 1/2 years for a drug conviction. Justin Hawk Wing was indicted in February and pleaded guilty in July to conspiring to distribute cocaine on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Pine Ridge schedules
new election for January
Pine Ridge, South Dakota (AP)
Accusations of election irregularities have caused the Oglala Tribal Council to erase the results of the Nov. 7 election. Tribal leaders have decided that new elections must be held and have appointed Elgin Bad Wound, Leon Matthews and Richard Little Hawk to set up a new primary election in January and a general election in February. John Yellow Bird Steele, a former tribal president, got the most votes in the recent election. Tribal President Alex White Plume called for a new election after election officials said his name could not be on the ballot because he has a felony on his record. White Plume denied the allegation, but he was ruled ineligible for the ballot.
N.M. provides $400,000 for Navajo chapter house
Upper Fruitland, New Mexico (AP)
The New Mexico Indian Affairs Commission has approved $400,000 toward the construction of a new chapter house at the Upper Fruitland Navajo chapter in northwestern New Mexico. When the community held a ceremony during November to break ground on the $1 million project, Navajo Council Delegate LoRenzo Bates said Upper Fruitland still needed about $400,000 for the chapter house. But while he spoke, Commissioner Wilson Ray delivered news of the approval of $400,000 for the construction.
Doctor critically injured in Flagstaff plane crash
Flagstaff, Arizona (AP)
A Flagstaff physician who commuted regularly by plane to the Navajo Reservation in eastern Arizona was critically injured during mid-November when his plane crashed on approach to the airport here, authorities said. The single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza crashed about 400 yards short of Flagstaff’s Pulliam Airport, Flagstaff police Sgt. Tom Boughner said. Dr. James Levitt was the only person on board the plane, which hit a tree and had its left wing sheared off on impact, Boughner said. There was apparently no fire.
Police investigating possible Tulsa homicide
Tulsa, Oklahoma (AP)
A man who was found beaten to death in a north-side ravine during late November will likely be the 54th killing investigated by police this year, officials said. The victim’s name wasn’t released pending notification of relatives. No arrests had been made, but police said they were searching for a “person of interest” in the case. “Everybody involved knew each other, and it does not appear to be a random act of violence,” Willingham said. Danny C. Lieb, 19, is being sought for questioning in connection with the death. Lieb is described as an American Indian, 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 185 pounds. He has long black hair and brown eyes.
Dorgan gets vote of confidence from leaders
Bismarck, North Dakota (AP)
Tribal leaders are giving Sen. Byron Dorgan a vote of confidence as he prepares to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Dorgan, D-N.D., will head the committee when Democrats take control of Congress in January. He has said he will use the position to focus on Indian health care, housing and economic development. He also wants to hold regional meetings with Indian leaders. Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, said Dorgan is popular with Indians across the country. “They support him because he is a good champion on our issues,” she said. “He’s very candid, he lets us know when he can do something and when he can’t do something. He’s realistic about the politics and legislative strategies, but he has compassion around our issues.” David Gipp, president of United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, said Dorgan has been instrumental in getting federal money to keep the college open in the past.
Final Cheyenne election results confirm Frazier new chairman
Eagle Butte, South Dakota (AP)
The official canvass of election results shows the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe will inaugurate a new chairman on Dec. 5. Joseph Brings Plenty defeated incumbent chairman Harold Frazier 1,592 to 919 in the Nov. 7 tribal election.
