articles-november 4

State's native voters face challenges

By JODI RAVE - Missoulian - 11/03/04

RONAN — They lost a Native voter. "He's large. He's really dark. And he has a really booming voice,'' said Ruth Quequesah, a volunteer vote coordinator on the Flathead Indian Reservation who has worked for months to register voters and get them to the polls Tuesday.

Quequesah felt the citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes was treated unfairly at the polls because he was Native. And when an election judge in Polson failed to offer him a provisional ballot, the man left the polling place upset. He never did return to vote.
It was just the sort of situation Get-Out-the-Vote volunteers hoped to avoid. And it was the reason students at the University of Montana's Indian Law Clinic canvassed Montana's seven reservations on Election Day with nearly 50 lawyers and student volunteers full article

Polling Location May Move Off Santo Domingo Pueblo

By Joshua Akers
Journal Staff Writer
    The governor of Santo Domingo Pueblo wants Sandoval County to consider moving its polling location off the pueblo.
    Gov. Sisto Quintana said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he closed the voting location on the pueblo Tuesday because it was the All Souls Day feast.
    "The pueblo was closed for the feast and no outsiders were allowed on the pueblo," Quintana said. "I don't have to explain any more. Maybe next time, they should pick another site so it doesn't interfere."
    Quintana closed the pueblo around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and asked three election observers from the U.S. Department of Justice to leave.
    The polls reopened around 5 p.m. Tuesday, and voters were allowed to cast their ballots full article

Haskell students aim to tackle diabetes
Educating youngsters about risks, prevention

Native American Times 11/4/2004
Students at Haskell Indian Nations University are launching an effort to prevent diabetes among school-age children living on Indian land.

The collegians will travel to the Royal Valley Elementary School in Hoyt for Health and Wellness day, an inaugural event marking the beginning of the implementation of the diabetes educational program. Haskell is located in Lawrence, Kansas.

The daylong program in Hoyt features hands-on activities focused on healthy eating, prevention of type 2 diabetes, the benefits of physical exercise, differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, how diabetes affects people, and how to modify a traditional tribal recipe to make it a healthy choice. full article

PUD, Tribes settle after 40 years
By: Crysta Parkinson 

Signatures and handshakes marked the end of nearly two years of negotiation and 40 years of strife Monday as the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Douglas County Public Utility District reached a settlement.

The deal, if approved by a federal commission, will settle a dispute over annual charges owed to the Tribes since the Wells Dam flooded tribal lands in the 1960s.

The agreement, which includes a lump sum payment, transfer of land, power and power sales rights, will now go on to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for approval.

"I'm feeling pretty happy about the outcome," said Joe Pakootas, chairman of the Colville Business Council. "The Tribe is finally going to receive some significant compensation for its past damages. A lot of our members may not feel complete with it, but at least compensation is started. The settlement is far better than years of litigation." full article