Natural Resources Department Prepping for Floods

By Kellen Backbone, Reporter

Recent inclement weather has caused many residences on the Crow Reservation to flood. Snow-melt and run off have been blamed for flooding basements and foundations. There have been no major damages to homes and the other reports of flooding have been managed.

An incident command post was dispatched for prevention purposes by the Natural Resources Department.

“We dispatched an Incident Command Post out in case they needed it,” stated Natural Resources Officer Bill Snell.

The Natural Resources Department stated that this is a prevention method and are preparing for the spring runoff.

Homes in the country are the department’s biggest concern, generally the houses are next to fields with built up snow. The weather plays a key role to the future plans of the Natural Resources Department.

To prevent flooding in your home, Snell said, consider sand bagging and clearing culverts, trenches and other natural wash-outs to maintain a study flow of water runoff.

Coming Soon: The New and Improved Crow Merc

By Vincent Black Hawk, Reporter

Crow Mercantile will open its new building in June, said Ed Watt, half owner of the business.

“I think it’s time Crow got a new Crow Merc,” Watt said. He added the current building is just too small.

The new building will be nearly four times bigger than the old building, which was built in 1920s.

“It’ll be basically the same produce we sell, just lots more,” Watt said.

He added that there will be more meat and frozen produce, and an expanded deli.

Watt, who owns the business with his brother Jim, will also be expanding their workforce. He said they are not sure how many new employees they will hire, it depends on the business they get.

The Watts have been working on getting a larger building for 10 years. They are not sure what they will be doing with the Crow Merc after they move into the new facility.

Watt said construction was slowed due to resent snow.

Photos by Kellen Backbone

Photos from Crow Fair 2009

To see more photos from the 91st Annual Crow Fair Celebration in Crow Agency, Mont. visit the Crow News Flickr photo group.

Please email photographer Adam Sings In The Timber, singsinthetimber@hotmail.com, if you have any questions about the photographs or if you can identify the person pictured.

University Taking Proposals for Ownership/Management of CrowNews.Net

By Courtney Lowery, Adjunct Professor, The University of Montana

The time has come to hand CrowNews.Net off to its community.

The aim with this project has always been to transition CrowNews.Net to
someone or some organization that could keep it running in the
community. The goal was to have the students of the Rural News Network give the site a head start and then find someone to sustain the project
long-term.

To that end, the University of Montana is currently taking proposals from interested parties to take over management and ownership of CrowNews.Net.

No matter who takes the site over, we hope those of you who have contributed your time, energy, writing, photography and input continue to be a part of this project. You are, after all, the ones who have made this project what it is.

Our
goal has always been for the site grow into a news hub both for the
community and by the community and so the criteria for proposals
reflects that sentiment.

You can download the information here on the call for proposals or read on for the memo from the School of Journalism:

June 18, 2009

The University of Montana School of
Journalism plans to transition the two Rural News Network sites –
Dutton Country Courier and CrowNews.Net – to community stakeholders
interested in continuing the web sites.  Starting today, we are asking
interested parties to put together a proposal indicating their interest
in taking over either the Dutton Country Courier or CrowNews.Net.
Deadline for proposals is July 10, 2009.

Background.  Under a New
Voices grant in 2006 from J-Lab, the School of Journalism created the
Rural News Network. Here is its purpose, as outlined on RNN’s cover
page: http://www.rnnonline.org/
“A community cannot thrive without
access to information and conduits to communicate. That is why The
Rural News Network, a project of the University of Montana School of
Journalism, was formed in 2006. RNN helps small communities create
local online hubs for news and information while teaching journalism
students about the culture, economy and beauty of rural America.”

Starting
in fall 2006, students and their professors have worked with residents
in two communities to create local news and information web sites:

•    Dutton Country Courier, launched in Spring 2007, http://www.duttoncc.org/
•    CrowNews.Net, launched in Fall 2007, http://www.crownews.net/

Both
sites have included a blend of student contributions and local citizen
contributions. Our interest is in creating sustainable models, so both
Dutton Country Courier and Crow News continue and are supported in
their communities.

Criteria for proposals.  To be considered for taking over either Dutton Country Courier or Crow News, a proposal should:

•   
Come from a community-based or news-based organization that already has
a significant presence in either Dutton or Crow Agency. That
organization must:
o    Be committed to local community journalism
that includes contributions – whether stories or photographs – from
citizens in Dutton or Crow Agency.
o    Take over managing, operating and hosting the web site.
o    Agree to pay domain registration fees and, if needed, web hosting fees if site stays on current platform.
o    Agree to sustain the RNN-created web site for at least the next two years.
o    Agree to notify the UM School of Journalism in advance, if at any time the party decides to shut down the web site.
o   
Allow J-Lab and the New Voices project – under the leadership of
Executive Director Jan Schaffer – to reproduce, distribute, publish or
otherwise use content from Dutton Country Courier and Crow Agency. This
may include narrative summaries describing these ongoing projects.
o    Consider continuing the educational aspect of RNN by working with journalism students at UM and elsewhere.
o    Maintain relationships with current citizen contributors to the sites.

Proposal format. 
One page that includes a vision statement for the site. Include why
you’re interested, your community ties, resources you plan to devote to
the site.  Also: contact information: name, address, phone number/s,
email.

Proposals from members of the two RNN communities will be given preference.

Deadline.  Send or email proposals by July 10, 2009, to
Dean Peggy Kuhr,
The University of Montana,
32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812.
peggy.kuhr@umontana.edu

Feature article Montana Powwow Overcomes Cutbacks, Setbacks

By Adam Sings In The Timber
Originally published on Reznet

MISSOULA, Mont.—Despite being shorter in length and taking longer to
organize, this year’s Native American student-run powwow at the University of Montana attracted more than 500 dancers and 20 drums.

Amber Walks Over Ice, vice president of the Kyi-Yo Native American Student Association, which organized the 41st annual Kyi-Yo Celebration, declared the powwow a success—despite cutbacks and setbacks.

“The officers and the small amount of members have just been really
busy, working their butts off throughout both semesters,” Walks Over
Ice said.

The powwow was cut to two days, from the usual three, and the Kyi-Yo
organizers lacked the assistance of a powwow class, normally offered in
spring semester to train students to help organize the celebration. The
university was unable to fund the class this year, Walks Over Ice said.

Crow-style dancer Calvin Walks Over Ice, of Lodge Grass, Mont., said
he skipped the Crow Nation’s election of a new tribal chairman April 18
so he could be in Missoula for the powwow.

“We thought that our style of dance should be represented here since
they were gracious enough to have a category for our style of dance,”
he said.

In addition to all the dancers and spectators, more than 20 drums
participated in this year’s powwow, including host drums Meskwaki
Nation from Tema, Iowa, and Eya-Ney Nakoda from Morley, Alberta,
Canada.

Crows Use Hand Games as Teaching Tool

By Adam Sings In The Timber
Originally published on Reznet

CROW AGENCY, Mont.—Teams from nine districts on the Crow Reservation
took part in a junior hand-game tournament that stressed the importance
of each player's clan.

In addition to the Pipe, Sacred Tobacco and the Sweat Lodge, the clan system is central to the Crow way of life.

"We want them (the players) to know what clan they come from ... so
that they can respect their clans," said Stanley Pretty Paint, a
tournament organizer, who described the hand games as "a real good tool
to teach" young Crows about tradition and culture.

The tournament, which ended Sunday, took place over five days last
week. All the players were under 30 years old. The teams, composed of
15 to 50 players each, were organized by district but had members of
each of the tribe’s eight clans.

Before the start of each match, the announcer asked members of each
clan to stand up so the opposing team knew who their clan relatives
were so they could pay proper respect to them.

The teams competed for prizes that included jackets, saddles, hand
drums, and money. The team from the Wyola district won first place in
the tournament that has been ongoing since the 1960s.

Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Friday Case, Remands to District Court

On February 23rd, the United States Supreme Court denied review of the Tenth Circuit's May 2008 decision in United States v. Winslow Friday, a case involving an Arapaho man's challenge to the Interior Department's application of the various federal laws requiring accommodation of Indian religious and traditional uses of eagle feathers.

Winslow Friday, who shot and killed a bald eagle for use in a Sun Dance ceremony without a federal permit, will now face criminal prosecution in federal court in Wyoming and a possible one-year prison sentence and $100,000 fine.

The Supreme Court did not issue any written opinion explaining its decision not to hear the case, which began in federal district court in Wyoming with criminal charges in 2005 against Friday for the unlawful taking of an eagle on the Wind River Reservation.  In 2006, U.S. District Court Judge William Downes, however, granted Friday's pre-trial motion to dismiss because the evidence was overwhelming that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior, was not acting in accordance with federal laws (notably the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act as well as the administrative regulations promulgated pursuant to the Eagle Protection Act).

Judge Downes said in his October 2006 bench opinion dismissing charges
against Friday: "Although the government professes respect and
accommodation of the religious practices of Native Americans, its
actions show callous indifference to such practices … It is clear to
this court that the government has no intention of accommodating the
religious beliefs of Native Americans except on its own terms and in
its own good time."

In his petition for certiorari on behalf of Friday, federal public defender John Carlson also made the argument that the Tenth Circuit incorrectly applied the "constitutional facts" doctrine, which allows an appellate court to review the finding of facts by a lower court on a de novo basis (that is, without deference to the lower court's findings) when a constitutional issue is being litigated.  Despite a large circuit split amongst the federal courts of appeals on this particular issue, and despite Friday's motion to dismiss being supported by statutory law and not the First Amendment, the Supreme Court did not grant review of the Tenth Circuit's legal reasoning supporting its reversal of Judge Downe's decision.

Under federal constitutional law, the Supreme Court has the authority to grant review of cases decided by lower courts by issuing a writ of "certiorari" (a Latin term meaning "to make certain" that is used to describe the Court's discretionary appellate review) upon a petition from a party whose interests were adversely affected by a lower court, so long as a matter of federal law is at issue.  Four of the nine Supreme Court justices must vote for review (the "rule of four") but in recent years only about 100 of 7,000 or more cases submitted for review are actually heard by the Court.

Friday can now only hope that either the charge is dismissed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Wyoming, a favorable plea bargain offer is made by the prosecution, that the jury nullifies the charge based on his religious justification, or at a last resort that President Obama grants an immediate pardon if he is convicted.