Ultimate Warriors Compete at Crow Native Days

Wolfy Real Bird
Originally uploaded by centlodg

On June 29, a sunny, Sunday morning in Crow Agency, the annual Ultimate Warrior contest was held. The event consists of modern day warriors from tribes across the country running, canoing the Little Big Horn River and riding 3 different horses bareback  for six miles wearing  a breachcloth and moccasins.
The finish to the event was at the Edison Real Bird rodeo grounds and approximately 2000 spectators were on hand early in the morning to cheer home their warriors.
The winner of the event this year was Narcis Reevis from the Blackfeet tribe. Second place went to Wolfy Real Bird from the Crow Tribe. Real Bird led the race after the river and running portion.
Former Ultimate Warrior Champions Isaiah Good Luck(Crow) and Jamesy Real Bird(Crow) finished 3rd and 5th respectively.

The womens' Ultimate Lady Warrior event was held on Saturday. This event consists of three member teams with each member completing a leg of the run, canoe or horseback. The winning team this year was Pretty Eagle from the Crow Tribe.

                                                                   Story and photos by Leo Hudetz

State, Fort Peck Tribes Plan Grant Writing Workshop

The Montana Board of Crime Control and the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes will hold a grant writing workshop at Fort Peck Community College June 24-25.

Classes are limited to 30 people per class, with preference given to Montana tribes and other American Indian agencies and organizations. You are invited to bring grants in progress for input and assistance.
       

The programs agenda is as follows:

• Enhance public safety by increasing the number of successful tribally specific and justice related grants awarded to tribes

• Enhance capacity within tribal communities to compete for all types of grants.

• Enhance capacity within tribal communities to manage grants and sustain programs.

The Montana Board of Crime Control is the designated
          state agency that administers millions of grant dollars dedicated
          to preventing and addressing crime statewide. MBCC is headed by an eighteen
          member board appointed by Governor Schweitzer. Board members represent
          law enforcement, criminal justice system stakeholders, and citizens,
          including the first Montanans, our state's Native Americans. Board members
          provide critical citizen leadership, oversight and accountability of
          systems charged with promoting justice and public safety.

Tribal Leaders Council to Co-Host Environmental Conference

By Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council 

The Montana -Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council is counting the days until the
National Tribal Conference on Environmental Management,
which will be held at the Holiday Inn Grand Montana Convention Center June 24-26. So far this event, co-sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, has already attracted more than 550 participants from across the country.

The conference theme, “Nurturing
Mother Earth…Our People’s Destiny,” reflects the intent to inspire
environmental change and improve health in Indian Country.

The
agenda includes over sixty breakout sessions that focus on climate,
water, air quality, health and traditional life ways, waste, energy,
law, policy and environmental justice.

Conference planners are
excited about the diverse group representing Indian Health Service,
Tribal health & environmental departments from across the United
States as well as others from federal, state and local governments.

“This conference promotes
the leading environmental practices for Tribes and promotes a sense
of stewardship and community among attendees," said Allyson Kelley, NTCEM Director.
Conference highlights
include keynote speaker Dr. Steve Running, a leading expert in
climate change. 

He shares a piece of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded
to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Other highlights include a Jack Gladstone concert, special exhibitors,
videos, expertise from all levels, a cultural interpretive presentation atop Billings' Rim Rocks, training sessions and other
speakers.

Native American Artists will
selling their work in the Holiday Inn Grand Atrium, which will
be open to both conference participants and the public.
For more information about the
conference, please visit the NTCEM website at www.ntcem8.org or contact Karla or Cheryl at 406-252-2550
or

Primary Election Recap: County Dems Go for Obama, Turn Out in Record Numbers

Sharon Peregoy-Stewart, pictured center in the red, elk-tooth dress, waves a sign during Barack Obama's visit to the reservation last month. Peregoy won the Democratic primary race for state Senate District 21. Obama took 78 percent of the vote in Big Horn County (Crow News/Casey Kills Pretty Enemy).

Mary Hudetz
CrowNews.Net

When he visited the reservation last month, Sen. Barack Obama was adopted into the tribe, given a Crow name and ended a speech he gave on Indian policy by saying he wouldn't forget his "own brothers and own sisters."

When Crows went to the polls last week, they voted for Obama in numbers that suggest many tribal members really do consider him one of their own.

Obama, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, took 90 percent of the vote among the reservation's Democrats. Hillary Clinton won nine percent of the vote.

In Big Horn County, where Obama had his best showing in the Big Sky state, he won with 78 percent of the vote. The candidate saw his second largest spread in the state in Missoula County, where he won 71 percent.

Cindy Maxwell, clerk and recorder, said more people voted in Tuesday's election than in any other primary in Big Horn County history, a trend that emerged nationwide throughout the historic primary season. More than 3,000 voters in the county went to the polls, setting the voter turnout rate at 47 percent.

"I was pleased with the Obama campaign and how its volunteers conducted themselves and pushed for early voting," she said.

Crow Country voters also weighed in on a slew of primaries for state and local offices. Many of the races for these seats will likely be more heavily contested in the fall.

Take Gov. Brian Schweitzer, an adopted member of the tribe like Obama, and his Republican rival Roy Brown. Both candidates went virtually unchallenged in their respective Democratic and Republican fields for the governor's office. But they will square-off for what is sure to be a more heated fall contest.

Locally, John Pretty On Top ran as an incumbent in a race for county commissioner and won. He faces Ellis Murdock.

J. David Roundstone defeated Rebecca Convery in the Democratic primary for state House District 41.

In the most competitive of local races this primary season, Sharon Stewart-Peregoy won a close, four-way Democratic contest for the District 21 state senate seat, which represents portions of Big Horn, Rosebud, Yellowstone and Powder River counties. She'll run against Republican Randen Schoppe in the general election

Stewart-Peregoy, a research and development analyst for the Crow Tribe's economic development department, emerged as the winner late in the evening, edging out candidates Chip Watts, Kenneth Brien and Norma Bixby.

With all precincts reporting, Peregoy won with 26 percent of the vote. Bixby came in second with 24 percent. Watts and Brien fell third and fourth, respectively, according to the Montana Secretary of State office's website.

At the end of the prolonged Democratic presidential primary season, both Clinton and Obama visited the Big Sky State and Indian Country, shining a national spotlight on a number Native American issues.

And there's a good chance the Native vote will be courted again in the run-up to November's general election. Both Mccain and Obama are vying for victories in the Rocky Mountain West, much of which is Indian Country.

Reznet's Kevin Abourezk reports that John McCain, an Arizona senator and the presumptive Republican nominee, held a meeting with the All Indian Pueblo Council and Navajo Nation delegates the day before the Montana and South Dakota primaries.

The region, long a Republican stronghold in presidential politics, has seen recent shifts in demographics and political climate. With Republicans hoping to hold onto the West and Democrats seeking to lay claim to what was once a mostly red region, states along the Rockies are shaping up to be potential political battlegrounds.

This prospect means a possible spike in voter turnout in Montana's counties during the fall, and clerk and recorder Maxwell says she hopes many people will vote early just as they did last week. She encourages everyone to request an absentee ballot and they will be available starting Oct. 6. Election day is Nov. 4.

Editor's note: An early version of this article detailing the state senate race was published June 4.

Don't Forget to Vote on Tuesday, June 3

Tuesday is election Day. Polls are open from 7AM to 8PM. You will need to bring a picture ID. You can still register to vote if you are at least 18. If you are not registered, or need to change your registration, you must go to the Courthouse in Hardin and you can vote there.  The courthouse will be open for same day registration from 7AM to 8PM on Tuesday.