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“Offi cial newspaper of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska since January 12, 1972” Published Bi-Weekly for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska • Volume 40, Number 15, Saturday, August 4, 2012 146th Annual Homecoming Celebration a Blast Bago Bits… Billie & Jackie share information on the “Step Up” Project at a recent community event. by Jerome LaPointe, Sr. Straight Dancer,” Kennard Parker and of helped make this Celebration one to course, the WIN camera caught a couple remember. It’s in the history books now, but the of you enjoying the fi ne Winnebago cui- Winnebago is a place to be proud 2012 Winnebago Powwow will be remem- sine, remember it’s “All In Powwow Fun.” of, and so many of us take pride in our bered for many years to come. It was a short week, this after Pow- homeland year around, and all our visi- Why? For one thing the Winnebago wow week, a lot of area members are tors got to see that during their visit. Indian Reservation has been under a still suffering from that 2012 Powwow They always tell us not to say names, ‘drought’ warning all summer, with Hangover, so by the next issue we’ll have that we don’t do things for recognition, temperatures pushing triple digits all of the Winnebago Wilderness Walk/Run & we do things because they need to get July, but during the 4 day Celebration, Powwow Winner results all typed up and done, but, I’d like to say thanks to the lower 90’s, upper 80’s, with overnight ready for your viewing pleasure. Winnebago Tribal Facilities Depart- temps dipping as low as 65 degrees, it We hope you all enjoyed yourself at ment, the groundskeepers at HCI, the Yeah the WIN camera caught of few of was sweet. Powwow this year, we tried to have some- Boys at the Village Maintenance shop, you munching on Powwow goodies, more We got all the Powwow pictures in this thing for everyone, even those of you that the Housing outdoor work crew, Boys & pictures on page 6, All In Powwow Fun. issue, from the Clown Contest, Team like to complain about everything. Girls Club, Young Neighbors in Action, Dance, Grand Entry, Switch Dance, Our thanks tho, to all of you that the WinnaVegas Casino Resort, Avery Host Drums, World War II Veteran’s Brothers Sign Co., HoChunk Inc., Gill Honor Song, our Emcees, work volun- Hauling, Rez Cars, Native Star Casino teers, Grandparents of Army Specialist Back to School! & Rock River Grill, Winnebago Heritage, Jordan Bear, the New Sr. Miss Nebraska all our helpers in the Powwow Arena, Winnebago-Sharon Pond & Jr. Miss Ne- Winnebago Public School and a Special Thanks from me to my braska Winnebago-Shondeen Long, New August 14th fellow Committee Members for a job well faces in the arena, a very nice picture St. Augustines done. Pino! shared of the Wolf & Snake Clan Matri- August 15th I’d like to hear from all of you, good archs-Zita Wolf & Mary Whitesnake, we Winnebago Head Start and bad, visit me at wbagoindiannews@ even got a picture of the “Worlds Tallest August 28th yahoo.com. God Bless. Indianz.com… Kevin Abourezk: Nebraska tribes look to rebuild their economies Monday, July 30, 2012 they lost during that nearly quarter of With more than 20 subsidiaries, Otto La Pointe always knew he was Na- a century, and the tribe has had to re- Ho-Chunk Inc. earns nearly $100 mil- tive. He knew by the sense of injustice he defi ne itself, including what it means to lion a year in government contracting felt after a nun in his Catholic elemen- be a warrior. and even has elicited outrage among It’s out of the ditch and back at it’s right- tary school told him and his classmates While being a warrior once meant de- larger government contractors that ful place atop the Winnebago Heritage sign post. to settle down while riding in a bus. fending the village from outsiders, today fear the company’s growing portfolio, “Stop acting like a bunch of wild In- being a Ponca warrior means something Morgan said. He said the corporation dians,” the woman said. rather different, said Alexcia Boggs, offers a way for the tribe’s members to He knew from his visits to the Lincoln president of the tribe’s economic devel- get off federal food stamp and welfare Indian Center, where his father taught opment company, OSNI Ponca. It means programs. GED classes and served on the board of fi ghting for the tribe through economic “If you don’t like Indian government directors. He knew because his skin was development and education, she said. contracting, you just don’t like Indians,” darker than many of his classmates. “We’ve come a long way to be able to he said. “We bring a huge amount of “I was aware that I was Native fi ght for survival,” she said. economic activity to rural Nebraska.” American, but it was never legitimized The Ponca Tribe isn’t the only tribe Morgan has shared his knowledge by something that was on paper,” the fi ghting for its people’s economic welfare. about developing corporations and win- 37-year-old structural engineer said. Tribes across the country have begun ning government contracts with more When he was in high school, La establishing economic development or- than 100 tribes, he said. One thing he Our old WHS basketball Coach, Ed Ras- Pointe enrolled in the Ponca Tribe of Ne- ganizations designed to start businesses tells other tribes is the importance of tovski was back in town for the Winneba- braska, joining a wave of new members that can help sustain tribal members. establishing some separation between go Powwow, lots more Powwow pictures of a tribe that for 24 years hadn’t existed In Nebraska, the Winnebago Tribe has tribal governments and tribal corpora- inside this issue of the WIN. in the eyes of the federal government. become a model for other tribes seek- tions. The federal government had terminated ing to diversify their economic interests “What’s rational to a government the Ponca in 1966, along with dozens of beyond casinos. offi cial isn’t necessarily rational to a other tribes as part of a policy of tribal While the Winnebagoes casino, Win- business enterprise,” he said. termination meant to force Native people naVegas, provided the catalyst money He said tribal corporations need to to assimilate into American society. needed to start its economic development be willing to take greater risks than After the government decided ter- corporation, Ho-Chunk Inc., the corpora- many tribal government leaders may mination had failed, it began restoring tion has become self-sustaining. It even want to take. tribes, and the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has begun funding improvements on the Among the tribes that have benefi ted regained its federal recognition in 1990. tribe’s northeast Nebraska reservation, from the tribe’s know-how is the Ponca, But restoration was just the fi rst step said Lance Morgan, president and CEO in the Poncas’ efforts to regain what of Ho-Chunk Inc. Con’t. on page 3 ... Phyllis Ware, Enrollment Department Spe- cialist was at the Veteran’s Memorial Park distributing Stimulus Checks to Tribal members. Visit us at www.winnebagotribe.com Page 2 — Winnebago Indian News, Saturday, August 4, 2012 I Was Thinking I got to the top and turned around my on this next one and then said my name. Thoughts from the Pow-wow Olympics! feet and my shins hurt badly and I really Undaunted by the probable clerical by Lance Morgan experience in detail last year, but I can couldn’t run down the hill. error that led to my silver medal I limped sum it up fairly quickly. Considering, So this year, in a strategic stroke of out to collect my prize and then out of I was passed by some speed walkers, I genius, I walked up the hill, and then the corner of my eye I saw the gold medal wouldn’t say I did my reputation as an only in a small amount of pain, I was winner. Now this guy ran both up the athlete any good. The ambulance follow- able to combine my knowledge of phys- hill and down it and beat me so easily ing me didn’t do my ego any good either. ics, gravity, and inertia to slowly run that it really couldn’t even be called Well, the shame of my performance down the hill. This worked too well. a competition. But as I stared down spawned a mildly more aggressive ap- At one point, I wanted to stop but my my future opponent, another strategic proach to my treadmill regimen and I inertia propelled me onward with no real thought entered my mind and I boldly slowly got better. This year’s 5k was hope of slowing down. Think of a snow- asked him, “When do you turn 50?” He time to test my progress in a real life set- ball getting bigger as it rolls down a hill. said with what could optimistically be ting (actually outside) and away from the When the fi nal tally was in, I shaved described as fear in his voice, “couple of bouncy running surface of my treadmill about 5 minutes off last year’s glacial months.” Boom! and my DVR full of taped reality shows. time and fi nished in 36 minutes. Sur- If I maintain my barely adequate Not only was I in fractionally better prisingly, this was good enough for a ability to run down hills and no one else silver medal.