articles-july 14

Janklow won't have to pay

published: 7/14/2004

Taxpayers would assume any damages in civil suit

Former U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow was on duty when he caused a fatal accident last summer, so taxpayers should pay any civil damages in a wrongful-death lawsuit, according to a court ruling Tuesday.

U.S. Magistrate Arthur Boylan sided with U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger's conclusion that Janklow, 64, was on official business Aug. 16 when he sped through a stop sign near Trent and collided with motorcyclist Randy Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn.

Boylan concluded that the federal government, not Janklow, should be listed as the defendant in the lawsuit filed by Scott's mother, sister, son and daughter. full article

Tortured road to destiny
His tale is legendary, but it almost didn't happen. Twice, Billy Mills pondered suicide. Here's his story.
By John Schumacher -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, July 14, 2004
His mom died when he was 7. His father passed away five years later, but not before taking Billy Mills fishing and sharing with him the secret to reaching your dreams.
The half-white, half-American Indian boy, at 8 full of sorrow from his mom's death and anger from feeling he didn't fit in anywhere, listened intently as his dad told him to look beyond his pain and find his passion.

"He puts his arm around me, just hugs me, strokes my arm and says, 'I know you have broken wings, but I'll share something with you,' " Mills recalled. " 'If you follow it, someday you're going to have the wings of an eagle.'
full article

DPS' first Indian principal hailed

By Will Shanley and Karen Rouse
Denver Post Staff Writers

Farrell B. Howell wasn't supposed to know about the celebration Tuesday evening honoring his service to Colorado's Indians, but even after an accidental peek at an e-mail tipped him off, he remained as humble as ever.
"I suppose I immediately reacted like an Indian - quiet and not to make a big deal out of it," said the 64-year-old Pawnee Indian and educator who was the Denver Public School system's first American Indian principal. "Indians are stoic. Good or bad, that's what we are."

And in Howell's case, revered.

Dressed in white sneakers, charcoal slacks and a peach colored dress shirt, Howell sat in a wheelchair and watched more than 125 friends, colleagues and well-wishers pack the gymnasium at the Denver Indian Center on Tuesday, each paying homage to a man's 31 years as an educator and Indian activist in Colorado. full article

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA:Gov't Ordered to Respond to Indigenous Cry for Help

Constanza Vieira

The Colombian government has until Thursday to report to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights the steps it has taken to protect the Kankuamo indigenous people from mass killings by the right-wing paramilitaries.

BOGOTA, Jul 13 (IPS) - The Colombian government has until Thursday to report to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights the steps it has taken to protect the Kankuamo indigenous people from mass killings by the right-wing paramilitaries.

The Costa Rica-based Court, which forms part of the Organisation of American States (OAS) system, ordered authorities in Colombia to adopt, without delay, the measures necessary ''to protect the life and personal integrity'' of all members of the Kankuamo indigenous communities. full article

Move to recognise Aborigines as WA's first custodians barred
By TIM CLARKE
July 14, 2004

ABORIGINAL advocates have condemned the WA opposition for objecting to government plans to give Aborigines more recognition.

The state government had proposed to amend the constitution at a joint sitting of Parliament later this month, being held to mark the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Swan River colony.

The proposed amendment would have recognised indigenous people as the original custodians of the state.

The government was seeking a consensus on amendments to the preamble to the Constitution to effectively acknowledge the Aboriginal people of WA as the first people of the state. full article

Indigenous diabetes rate rings alarm bells
Wednesday, 14 July 2004

Western Australia's director of Aboriginal Health is alarmed that the incidence of diabetes in Indigenous communities is getting worse.

Continuous research shows that between 20 to 30 per cent of the adult Aboriginal population suffers from Type 2 diabetes.

Terry Murphy says in some remote areas, the incidence rate is up to 50 per cent. full arricle

Church, tribesfolk hit NCP on mining issue
By Williamor A. Magbanua / MindaNews / 13 July 2004

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Oppositors to the planned mining activity in the town of Columbio in Sultan Kudarat are worried over the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples’ (NCIP) participation in the planned mining activity there.

Opposition spokesperson Fr. Peter Geremiah, PIME, said that the NCIP is supposed to serve the indigenous people but was apparently influenced by the mining firm behind the multimillion-peso project.

The priest’s statement came after the NCIP in Sultan Kudarat province invited last Saturday the Tribal Filipino Program (TFP) of the diocese of Kidapawan in a dialogue regarding the plan of the Sagittarius Mining, Inc. (SMI) to conduct mining exploration in sitio Datablao in the town of Columbio. full article

Chittagong Hill Tracts: New Muslim settlers occupying land in CHT

More than 100 new Muslim settler families arrived in Lalchari area under Ramgarh sub-division in Khagrachari hill district in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in the beginning of this month. They reportedly occupied indigenous lands in the area and built foundations for house construction.
On 11 July 2004, Jumma indigenous activists destroyed some foundations of the houses.

Hundreds of Muslim settlers led by MP and CHT Development Board chairman Md. Abdul Wadud Bhuyan organized a rally in Ramgarh on last Sunday to protest the incident under the banner of the Parbatya Sama Adhikar Andolan (CHT Equal Rights Movement), an organization of the Muslim settlers.

The administration is, as usual, trying to settle the new settlers families in the area. full article

Head-hunting comes to and end in Nagaland
India News > Kohima (Nagaland), June 12: In an effort to preserve their indigenous culture, a tribe - once the head-hunters - in Nagaland celebrated an annual function with great fanfare.

The Phom community in Nagaland celebrated the 52nd anniversary of "peace day" or "Phom day" which concluded recently to commemorate their pledge to put an end to the perpetual strife and head-hunting.

On June 6, 1952, the village chiefs and leaders of the tribe had assembled in a village and pledged to bury all their differences with other tribes in the region and vowed to live in peace and harmony. During the six-day celebrations, the members of the Phom community organised several programmes reflecting their indigenous culture. Young participants demanded the government to open cultural institutes to revive their dying culture and traditions.

"In today's generation, everyone is striving for individuality which leads to the back-staging of one's history and culture. Today we are trying to revive our history. In order to encourage folk culture, we expect the government to open cultural institutes so that the revival of folk culture will encompass the society at large," Hanyuk Phom, a dancer, said. full article

Advocates of War Now Profit From Iraq's Reconstruction
Lobbyists, aides to senior officials and others encouraged invasion and now help firms pursue contracts. They see no conflict.

by Walter F. Roche Jr. and Ken Silverstein

WASHINGTON — In the months and years leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, they marched together in the vanguard of those who advocated war.

As lobbyists, public relations counselors and confidential advisors to senior federal officials, they warned against Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, praised exiled leader Ahmad Chalabi, and argued that toppling Saddam Hussein was a matter of national security and moral duty.

Now, as fighting continues in Iraq, they are collecting tens of thousands of dollars in fees for helping business clients pursue federal contracts and other financial opportunities in Iraq. For instance, a former Senate aide who helped get U.S. funds for anti-Hussein exiles who are now active in Iraqi affairs has a $175,000 deal to advise Romania on winning business in Iraq and other matters. full article

Why the Press Failed
By Orville Schell

When, on May 26, 2004, the editors of the New York Times published a mea culpa for the paper's one-sided reporting on weapons of mass destruction and the Iraq war, they admitted to "a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been." They also commented that they had since come to "wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining claims" made by the Bush Administration. But we are still left to wonder why the Times, like many other major media outlets in this country, was so lacking in skepticism toward administration rationales for war? How could such a poorly thought through policy, based on spurious exile intelligence sources, have been so blithely accepted, even embraced, by so many members of the media? In short, what happened to the press's vaunted role, so carefully spelled out by the Founding Fathers, as a skeptical "watchdog" over government? full article