Author: Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Mary Pavel Announced as Staff Director of Senate Indian Affairs Committee under Sen. Cantwell

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

CANTWELL ANNOUNCES NEW STAFF DIRECTOR OF INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Incoming U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced Friday that Mary J. Pavel will serve as Staff Director for the committee in the 113th Congress.

Pavel, a member of the Skokomish Tribe of the state of Washington, is an expert on Tribal law and policy. A graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Washington School of Law, Pavel became one of the first Native American women to be made a partner in a National Indian Law Firm. She joined Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson & Perry in 1992 and became a partner in January 1999.

Pavel is the Founding President of the Native American Bar Association of Washington, D.C., and is a member of both the Washington State Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar Association.

“Mary is well-known as one of the best and sharpest policy experts in Native American and Alaska Native policy and law,” Cantwell said. “Mary grew up in Washington state and understands the diverse issues facing Tribes in the Pacific Northwest and across the country. I look forward to working with Mary to improve economic opportunity, strengthen education and increase access to health care for all of Indian Country. With Mary on board, I am confident that the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is ready to tackle tough issues and make significant progress for Tribes.”

Interior Letter and Tribal Press Release to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe re: Review of Gaming Compact Record

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Release Federal Govt Pledges Rapid Review of LIT

Federal Court Order Memorializing Grant of Injunction against Yakama Tribal Court in Washington-Yakama Tax Dispute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher4 Comments

Here is the order:

DCT Order Granting Washington’s Motion for PI

Briefs and materials here (federal) and here (tribal).

Supreme Court Denies Cert in Two Indian Law Cases, and Declines to Correct Caption in Immigration Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is today’s order.

The Court denied cert in Oravec v. Cole (page 2), and in Marceau v. Blackfeet Housing Authority (page 10).

And issued this interesting order in Arizona v. Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona (page 1):

The motion of Jesus M. Gonzalez, et al. to correct case caption is denied.

Worker’s Comp Suit against Poarch Band Creek Casino Montgomery Dismissed

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Sanderford v. Creek Casino Montgomery (M.D. Ala.):

DCT Order Granting PBCI Motion

Poarch Band Motion to Dismiss

Sanderford Response

Poarch Band Reply

Shinnecock Cigarette Trader’s Demand for Return of Confiscated Smokes Rejected

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Smith v. Fredrico (E.D. N.Y.):

DCT Order Adopting R&R

Smith Motion for PI

Suffolk County Opposition

Smith Reply

MJ R&R Recommending Denial of Motion

Smith Objection to R&R

Suffolk County Response to Objection

TruthOut Rips Media for Mischaracterizing Baby Veronica Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Via Pechanga.

News Coverage of Eastern Band Cherokee Statute Imposing Fines on DV Offenders

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here. An excerpt:

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is hitting domestic violence abusers in their pocketbooks.

People convicted of domestic violence-related charges must now pay a $1,000 fine, in addition to other penalties handed down by tribal court. Tribal council approved of the measure at its meeting last week.

“We are hoping this will make them stop and think,” said Iva Key, the Eastern Band’s Domestic Violence program manager. “A lot of these are repeat offenders,” Key said later.

Money collected from the fine will be split 50-50 between services for victims of domestic violence and other tribal initiatives such as education.

A possible downside to the fine, however, is the financial hardship it might cause, especially if a family is trying to reunite and rebuild after an incident of abuse. Not everyone has $1,000 of disposable income, which means that money cannot be spent on necessities for the family.

 

NMAI Symposium on Mascot Controversies Scheduled for February 7, 2013

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the notice. The speakers:

Speakers include:

  • Kevin Gover, who will deliver opening remarks
  • Manley A. Begay Jr. (Navajo), moderator, associate social scientist/senior lecturer, American Indian Studies Program, University of Arizona, and co-director, Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
  • Jerry C. Bread Sr. (Kiowa), outreach coordinator, facilitator and adjunct associate professor, Native American Studies, University of Oklahoma
  • N. Bruce Duthu (United Houma Nation of Louisiana), chair and professor, Native American Studies, Dartmouth College
  • Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne/ Hodulgee Muscogee), moderator. President, Morning Star Institute and past executive director, National Congress of American Indians, and a founding trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian
  • C. Richard King, co-editor, Team Spirits, Native Athletes in Sport and Society, and Encyclopedia of Native Americans in Sports, and professor and chair of the Department of Critical Gender and Race Studies, Washington State University
  • Oren Lyons (Onondaga), Council of Chiefs, Onondaga Nation, and SUNY distinguished service professor and professor emeritus of American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Buffalo
  • Delise O’Meally, director of Governance and International Affairs, NCAA
  • Lois J. Risling (Hoopa/Yurok/Karuk), educator and land specialist for the Hoopa Valley Tribes, and retired director, Center for Indian Community Development, Humboldt State University
  • Ellen Staurowsky, professor, Department of Sports Management, Goodwin School of Professional Studies, Drexel University
  • Linda M. Waggoner, author, Fire Light: The Life of Angel De Cora, Winnebago Artist; and editor, Neither White Men Nor Indians: Affidavits from the Winnebago Mixed-Blood Claim Commissions, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, 1838-1839

NPR StoryCorps on American Indian Adoption

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here.

Transcript:

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And it’s time now for StoryCorps, the project recording the stories of everyday Americans. And today, we’re going to hear from Diane Tells His Name. She’s a Lakota Indian. Growing up, she never knew anything about her heritage. She was adopted when she was a baby. And at StoryCorps, her daughter, Bonnie Buchanan, asks Diane about her childhood.

BONNIE BUCHANAN: When did you first feel like you were different?

DIANE TELLS HIS NAME: Probably elementary school. I had a younger sister, and I really didn’t like doing the same things that she would do. She would do tea parties and play with dolls and things like that, and I was outside looking at the clouds and the stars. And my sister was blond, tall and thin like my mother, and I was round and brown.

(LAUGHTER)

NAME: I remember going through the family albums, looking for my face in the old photographs, and I didn’t see me. And eventually, when I was 37 years old, I happened to see a picture of my mom in October of 1951 – and it shocked me, because I was born in November of 1951 – and my mother was not pregnant. So that’s when I knew that I was adopted.

BUCHANAN: How did you feel?

NAME: It was very satisfying to know that I wasn’t crazy. I didn’t blame them. I wasn’t angry with them. In 1951, you just didn’t talk about those things. So when I got my original birth certificate, it said on there my birth mother’s name, and it said that she was born at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

So I went to South Dakota to receive my Indian name and get a crash course in how to be Indian. After that, my husband and I told Indian Family Services we wanted to adopt a child from my tribe, a Lakota child. And, finally, they faxed us a picture of a little Indian child, and she was drinking chocolate syrup out of a Hershey’s bottle. And our son said, that’s her. That’s the one we need to adopt. And it was you.

I started doing research on your family, and when I started looking at your family tree, I saw one of my relatives on your paper. So we are cousins. I thought that was just – that was amazing. I’m glad you’re my baby.

BUCHANAN: I know. I’m glad you adopted me.

NAME: I am, too. It’s like our whole family was just planned out so that it would be best for all of us.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: You can take a moment to collect yourself. That’s Bonnie Buchanan with her mom, Diane Tells His Name, at StoryCorps in San Francisco. Their story will be archived with thousands of others at the Library of Congress. The podcast is at npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.