Good Sometimes Not Good Enough: Saints Release Harris

Two months after signing former Montana Grizzlies standout defensive back and punt returner Tuff Harris to a three-year contract, the New Orleans Saints released Harris in an unexpected move announced on Wednesday, July 30th.

Tuff signed with the Saints on May 27th after being released by the Miami Dolphins earlier in the spring.  Tuff signed with Miami on Draft Day 2007 after a stellar career in Missoula and was released by the Dolphins at the end of the 2007 preseason but immediately re-signed with Miami to play on the practice squad and later made the regular season roster, eventually suiting out in several games and playing in the season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.

"Right now I'm just going to wait to clear waivers and see what happens," Tuff said earlier Wednesday.  "I'm going to continue to work out this season and hopefully an opportunity presents itself."

Tuff's agent is Ken Staniger of Missoula.

This story was posted Wednesday, July 30th.

NFL Training Camp Update: Tuff Harris Making Good as a Saint

By Jay Harris

So how is Tuff doing so far as a New Orleans Saint? 

Well, to make a short story long...

During preseason drills last year, as a Miami Dolphin, Tuff intercepted a pass from fellow 2007 rookie John Beck and returned it for a touchdown.  Following the play, then-Miami coach Cam Cameron called practice and brought the team together for instruction.  Coach Cameron told the team that Tuff had made a great play but because the offense was practicing under a scenario where the defense was protecting a lead late in the game, the best thing Tuff could have done would have been to take a knee after intercepting the pass so as to not give possession back to the opposing team.

One year later, Cam Cameron and Tuff Harris are no longer in Miami but
the latter is still returning interceptions for touchdowns in practice and the
latest comes at the expense of a 16-year veteran and three-time pro bowl
quarterback...

Enter the 2008 New Orleans Saints training camp, which began on Wednesday, July 23rd on the campus of Millsaps College, an NCAA Division III school which has served as the location for training camp each of the past two seasons.  Right now, the team is busy practicing twice a day with no scheduled days off until Sunday, August 3rd.

During a scrimmage in last Friday's morning practice, former Packer, Jaguar, and Redskin quarterback Mark Brunell (who is competing for a back-up role with the Saints) was leading the offense in team drills and had a pass intended for tight end Jeremy Shockey picked off by Tuff and returned 50 yards for a touchdown.  The Saints coaching staff called it the "play of the morning."  Hopefully, we can call it a sign of things to come.

Tuff was signed by the Saints to a three-year, non-guaranteed contract on May 27th.  New Orleans is serious about giving Tuff a good look at safety as well as special teams and it appears as though the first Crow NFL player is certainly up to the challenge.

"I feel pretty good about everything," Tuff said in a recent phone conversation with Crownews.net.  "I had a hip stinger in practice but am holding up pretty well.  I have gained about 5-6 pounds since camp started.  The weather is warm but I hear that it hasn't been as hot as in year's past down here, and we did feel the effects of the hurricane that hit the coast of Texas recently.  But overall, I feel good."

Among the interesting tidbits in training camp is the fact that veteran Pro Bowl cornerback Aaron Glenn signed with the Saints from the Jaguars a few weeks before Tuff did this past spring and will be competing for a roster spot along with Tuff.  Glenn was drafted by the New York Jets, Tuff's favorite NFL team as a child, back in 1994 -- a year in which Tuff played for a Clifford Singer-coached Lodge Grass junior high team that once traveled to Lame Deer for a game in which no two Indian players had the same helmet-jersey-pants color combination. 

During the same Friday practice Tuff got the interception, Aaron Glenn
and Tuff worked together to bring down wide receiver Lance Moore after
a short reception.  The Saints coaches have commented that Glenn looks exactly the same as when he did in 1994.  Luckily, the same cannot be said about Tuff.

 

The Saints will travel to Glendale, Arizona to open the 2008 NFL preseason with a August 7th game against the Cardinals.  Kick-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time and will be broadcast live on ESPN.

Keep checking back with Crownews.net for all the latest news and updates on Tuff's run with the Saints.

Jay Harris is Tuff's slightly older, slightly less athletic brother.

Slideshow: Ultimate Warriors Race During Crow Native Days

Click on the picture to view more than a dozen photos of Sunday's race.

Photos by Casey Kills Pretty Enemy
CrowNews.Net

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.