PRESORTED Diabetes Alert Day Tuesday, March 23rd STANDARD Inside this edition – Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on BIA, Tribal Police Sota Per Copy U.S. POSTAGE De ja vu? Browns Valley gets hit again by flood water PAID Oyate prepare for flooding: SWHA maintenance crews, issues in DC – SWO Tribal Police Capt. Gary Gaikowski WILMOT, SD volunteers – including TZ students – bag 12,000-plus provides testimony PERMIT NO. 1 Cobell team member responds to Postmaster: Change service requested sandbags questions from the Sota Sota Iya Ye Yapi, P.O. Box 5, Wilmot, SD 57279 David Farmer receives heart pump; On waiting list for heart ¢ transplant White House sends statement on Contents – Time-Dated News/Do Not Delay ESDS FACE team returns from national training with (more) Native American HIV/AIDS This edition mailed at Wilmot, SD on March 22, 2010 75 awards! Awareness Day Serving the Sisseton and Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation since 1968 Vol. 41 March - Ista Wicayazan Wi - “Moon of Snow Blind Eyes” - Wednesday, March 24, 2010 No. 12 Washington, DC – March 18, 2010 – The U.S. Senate patrol 56 million acres of Indian Country. In 2006, the BIA Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Committee on Indian Affairs conducted an oversight hearing estimated tribal police officers were staffed at just 58% of need, Affairs; accompanied by Jason Thompson, Acting Deputy last Thursday afternoon, March 18th, to examine Bureau of which means an additional 1,854 officers would be required Bureau Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs – Office of Justice Indian Affairs (BIA) and tribal police recruitment, training to just meet basic adequate staffing levels. However, the BIA’s Services; Joseph Wright, Assistant Director, Federal Law and retention issues. The hearing took place in the Dirksen sole training institute, the Indian Police Academy, graduates Enforcement Training Center, Office of Artesia Operations, Senate Office Building, Washington, DC. only 75 new officers each year. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Gary Gaikowski, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Previous committee hearings have confirmed a Tribal communities face violent crime rates 2.5 times the Panel II: Myra Pearson, Chairwoman, Spirit Lake Nation, Chief of Police, testifies before the Indian Affairs longstanding public safety crisis on many Indian reservations, national average. On some reservations the violent crime rate Fort Totten, North Dakota; accompanied by Dr. David Committee on Thursday. The Committee looked fueled in part by a chronic lack of trained law enforcement reaches 20 times the national average. Gipp, President, United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, at ways to increase numbers of trained law officers and other law enforcement resources. The shortage The meeting was called by Chairman Senator Byron North Dakota; Ivan Posey, Chair, Eastern Shoshone Tribe, enforcement officers on reservations in South of police officers means Native Americans who are victims of Dorgan (D-ND) and Vice-Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY). Fort Washakie, Wyoming; Gary Gaikowski, Chief of Police, Dakota and across Indian country. crime often suffer significant delays, waiting hours and even Witnesses: Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, Agency Village, South officials with the tools they need to fight crime in their local days for a response to a distress call. Only 2,997 police officers Panel I: Wizipan Garriott, Policy Advisor to the Dakota. communities. “While there are many challenges that face Indian “This Committee has been dedicated to making sure that Country, we can all agree that law enforcement is one of the Indian Country has the proper funding to combat the violence. areas that require our immediate attention,” Johnson said. “I However, these substantial funding increases have not look forward to working with my colleagues to reverse these translated into more police on the streets of Indian Country.” trends that we are seeing.” According to the BIA, less than 3,000 officers patrol more In addition to Gaikowski and Garriott, representatives than 56 million acres of Indian lands. An additional 2,800 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Washington, DC – March 18, 2010 – At an Indian Affairs Police for Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, and Wizipan Garriott, officers are needed just to meet the average staffing levels of Homeland Security, and tribal officials from around the Committee hearing this afternoon, U.S. Senator Tim Johnson a Rosebud Sioux Tribe member and Bureau of Indian Affairs comparable non-Indian communities. country also testified. The panelists discussed current federal (D-SD) took a hard look at ways to increase the amount of official, testified before the committee. Johnson joined in introducing the Tribal Law and Order practices regarding recruiting, hiring, and training police trained law enforcement officers on reservations in South “One of the primary reasons this violence continues is Act to increase local law enforcement efforts, expand agency officers and improvements that are needed to address the Dakota and across Indian Country. Gary Gaikowski, Chief of because of the lack of police officers to stop it,” Johnson said. and government communication and provide tribal justice policing needs in Indian country. By C.D. Floro The sandbags are ready for distribution to any homes in While we were out taking photos of the new diversion What we did not learn until later, although we saw Sota Editor need of help from rising water. channel last Monday afternoon, showing flooding in the low roadblocks to the west, keeping traffic away from the alternate The Oyate have been preparing for the spring floods, with Manpower has also been available for helping Oyate move fields south of Browns Valley, catastrophe was happening to highway Roberts County 24, was that the flood had caused the coordinated efforts of Tribal programs – primarily Sisseton- household belongings from basements threatened by flooding. the west. new bridge there to collapse. Wahpeton Housing Authority and the Planning office. Here are photo highlights of the rising water from around Here are our photos of the new bridge across the diversion We don’t have an estimate on how long County Road 24 SWO Tribal Chairman Michael I. Selvage Sr. established the Lake Traverse Reservation. channel on Roberts County Highway 4 to Wilmot. Old will be closed. an emergency management committee with members from Agency District Councilman Floyd Kirk Jr. was also surveying With the delays and dollars spent, it’s easy to see Housing and Planning, as well as other programs charged with Flood waters again flow the flood waters and is pictured on the bridge. somebody’s going to be called to account for what happened. protection of lives, property and infrastructure. to Browns Valley – Large chunks of ice and trees were jamming up It’s just a good thing no one was driving on the bridge More than 12,000 sandbags have been filled by SWHA De ja vu? Well, Browns Valley’s residential streets are not downstream, but the flow was well beneath the bridge. Road when it fell into the rushing waters below the highway. crews and volunteers. Among those volunteers were students inundated as they were in last year’s spring flood, or in the signs showed where some water had been crossing the highway, Our thanks to Ed Lamers for sharing pictures of the from Tiospa Zina Tribal School. 2007 deluge, but what is coming is still causing problems. however, between that bridge and the town. damage up close. Flood waters from the diversion channel at Browns Valley crossing beneath the new Roberts County Highway 4 bridge. Some logs and ice are jammed downstream but pose little threat to the town. Old Agency District Councilman Floyd Kirk Jr. surveys the flood waters south of Browns Valley. SWHA work crew in the new maintenance facility east of Sisseton, sandbagging. (See photos of TZTS student volunteers working to fill sandbags, inside this issue of the Sota.) Collapse of the new bridge on Roberts County Highway 24, caused by Water flows over the highway east of Peever, causing this roadblock and slowdown of traffic while road crews work to channel the raging waters. (Photo by Ed Lamers.) the water from the slough away from the roadway. Water also has found its way into basements of homes in and around the town. bring the Wanblenica, the Orphan Song and Ceremony, to Indian adoptees. It was during a Wanblecheya that she came into the Kupchos’ lives. The first Wanblechaya offered by Sandy’s group was presented at an annual National Indian Child Welfare Association conference in Duluth. Rachel had recently been hired at NICWA and was helping to organize the conference. Typically, her parents were there as well, pitching in where they could, happy to be of service to their daughter. The theme of the conference was “Reclaiming the Stolen Ones.” Lisa recalls Keith’s look of surprise over the theme’s name. “Stolen? Ooooh, a bit harsh.” he said. Rather than feeling threatened, Lisa saw the conference as a learning opportunity. Soothing Keith, she reminded him of their motto: “Whatever is good for our kids is good for our family.” Lisa has come to believe that there is a core piece of something missing for adopted kids, a piece of abandonment for which they must seek healing in their own way. She has Sota guest editorial – spoken often to her children about this need and assured them of her support if they choose to explore their biological background and culture more fully. To dry the eyes of Indian adoptees “Whatever I can do or bring into their lives that makes them more healthy and whole By Mary Annette Pember advances our relationship. When you’re a mother first, you do whatever you can to make The Daily Yonder – March 16, 2010 – Before 1978, most Native American adopted children were taken into non-Indian your child feel well and whole and supported.” She was excited and honored to participate in families.