Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate To Host 137th Annual Wacipi July 1 .

Sota guest editorial –Congresswoman Herseth thanksNative American community formaking voice heardJune 4, 2004, Washington, DC - Rep. Stephanie Herseth, South Dakota’s newly elected and only member of theU.S. House of Representatives, thanked Native Americans for their strong support and making their voice heard.In her first speech before Congress, immediately after being sworn in, Rep. Herseth closed by saying “I will alwaysremember why I am here. In the language of the Lakota people, pilamaya. Thank you and may God Bless this greatHouse of the People.”Rep. Herseth has not forgotten the support and warm welcome she received from the Native American communitiesof South Dakota throughout her campaign and on election day.Following the swearing in ceremony, Rep. Herseth said: “The Native voice was heard loud and clear. I just want tosay thank you to all of those that I have had the chance to meet in different communities across South Dakota and inreservation communities. This is going to be a wonderful friendship, a working relationship based on mutual respect.The tribal nations will have an effective advocate and a strong voice here in the US Congress in Stephanie Herseth.”Herseth elaborated on her plans to advocate for the South Dakota’s tribal communities in the upcoming months:“First and foremost we need to empower tribal leaders and every member with resources for essential infrastructurelike transportation funding, water projects, telecommunications, and housing opportunities -- but also ensuring thatas treaty obligations, it isn’t just providing health care and education, it’s quality health care and quality education.”“I look forward to working with our elders, tribal leaders, as well as every member in Indian country to make adifference for the future of young people and the next generation of South Dakotans.”issues. But what message does it send to young people when they are forced to try to learn in a condemned building?There are school buildings like the Crow Creek Tribal Schools throughout the BIA system. All told, the BIA schoolconstruction backlog is estimated at 1 billion. At the current funding levels, it would take decades to get throughthat backlog.In 2000, when he was running for President, then-Governor Bush met with tribal leaders in New Mexico andpromised to invest 1 billion to fix crumbling BIA schools. Yet, the President’s proposed budget for next year cutsfunding for Indian school replacement for the second year in a row. That is wrong. America’s commitment to buildnew schools for children in Iraq and Afghanistan is admirable, but it does not erase our treaty obligations to providegood schools for Indian children in this country.The JOBS bill the Senate just passed last month includes a promising program that was first suggested by tribaleducators in my state. The program would allow tribal governments to issue school construction bonds; the federalgovernment would pay the interest and the principal on the bonds. The BIA school construction bond programwould increase by about half the number of BIA schools that are currently being replaced or repaired each year.Yesterday evening, I met with two officials from the Porcupine school board on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation.Those two gentlemen are in the gallery this morning.The grade school in Porcupine is 40 years old and overcrowded. The foundation is unstable. The boiler is unreliable.There is no cafeteria; the children eat their meals in the hallways.The Porcupine elementary school is number two on the BIA’s school construction replacement list. School boardofficials say they have been told that construction on a new school could start in July. Not this year. Not next year. Notthe year after that. July 2008. More than four years from now.The new Indian school bonding program would enable us to replace and renovate more schools, faster. For thesake of the children at the Porcupine elementary school, and all the children in crumbling and inadequate BIA schoolsthroughout America, Congress needs to get the JOBS bill - with the BIA school construction plan - to the Presidentand get this important program up and running as soon as possible.Once the law is signed, we are going to insist that the BIA report regularly to Congress on how the BIA schoolconstruction program is being implemented and managed. We expect progress and results. We will not tolerate thelack of accountability that is documented in the two recent audits of the BIA’s Office of Indian Education Programs.More than a century ago, Sitting Bull implored representatives of the federal government, “Let us put our mindstogether and see what life we can make for our children.”In that same spirit, we must now put our minds together and hold our government accountable to keep thepromises it made in trusts and treaties and laws to Native Americans.”Sota guest editorial –Statement by Senator Tom Daschleto the Senate: Keep the promise,strengthen Indian education(Senator Tom Daschle took to the Senate floor last week to decry the state of Indian educational facilities in SouthDakota. Daschle shared his distress over two recent audits carried out by the Interior Department’s inspector general,and emphasized the importance of improving conditions in Indian schools as soon as possible. Senator Daschle’sremarks follow.)This is the cover of a recent Parade magazine. The man in this photograph is the great-great-great-grandson ofSitting Bull, one of the most extraordinary leaders America has ever produced.His name is Ron His Horse is Thunder. He is part of the new generation of American Indian leaders. He is a lawyerby training, but education is his life’s work. He is president of the Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, North Dakota,on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, and chairman of the President’s Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges andUniversities.The subtitle of this article expresses a fundamental truth that Sitting Bull taught and that people I talk withthroughout Indian Country still believe today: Education is the key to a better future for the American Indian people.Education - more than anything else - gives a person the power to determine his or her own destiny. It is the most effectivetool there is to relieve the grinding poverty that exists today in too many tribal communities throughout America.When Native Americans surrendered their lands more than a century and a quarter ago, the United States governmentpromised to provide the descendants of Sitting Bull - and all Native Americans - free education, health care and otherbasic necessities of life, forever.That is one reason I am disturbed by the results of two new audits by the Interior Department’s inspector general.The first audit reveals that, over a three-year period, the BIA’s Office of Indian Education Programs used at least 5million from a “contingency” fund for non-emergency purposes, including staff retreats, bean bag chairs, televisionsand puppets. This misuse of contingency funds shortchanged Indian schools of money they need for emergencies.The second audit, which concerns the BIA school construction program, also documents numerous examples of poormanagement and lack of accountability. It found that Indian children are being forced to try to learn, and theirteachers are trying to teach, in schools that put them at “undue risk” of injury because “no one in BIA ensures thatschool buildings are not occupied” until hazards are corrected. That is shameful .This second report also found that30 percent of the school construction and repair projects it reviewed failed to meet the BIA’s own goal of completingdesign and construction within three years.The IG made nine recommendations that it said could strengthen the BIA school construction program andincrease the program’s benefits for Native Americans. Those nine recommendations were included in a draft copy ofthe report the IG gave to BIA officials for comment.Incredibly, despite being given an extended deadline, Bureau officials failed to respond to the draft. As aresult, when the report was released publicly, it noted that “all nine recommendations are considered unresolved.”I don’t know why the BIA failed to even acknowledge those nine recommendations for improving the Indian schoolconstruction program; I don’t know if it was arrogance, indifference, incompetence or simply a result of beingoverwhelmed. But I know that it is unacceptable.The BIA operates or funds 187 schools in 23 states, including South Dakota. Most of these schools were builtin the 1940s or 50s. Many are decades older than that. Few are equipped to support computer labs or other sorts ofmodern equipment that are now considered essential in most school districts.I’ve visited BIA schools where children had to place trashcans beneath the holes in the roofs to catch the rain. I’vebeen to BIA schools in which cold winds whipped through broken windows. I visited a school, which has since beenreplaced, in which neither the furnace nor the bathroom plumbing worked. That is not keeping our promise to educateIndian children. That is a disgrace.The Cheyenne Eagle Butte School and dormitories on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota werebuilt by the BIA around 1960. The floor tiles in both the school and the dormitory contain asbestos - a known causeof lung cancer and emphysema.To date, the BIA’s “remediation” efforts consist of recommending that the school “keep the boiler room door shut”and keep the floors waxed so the tiles won’t chip and flake.Three years ago, the Cheyenne Eagle Butte School was first on the BIA’s priority list for school replacement. Thenthe BIA changed its criteria, and the school dropped down on the list.Today, the tribe has no idea when the school will be replaced.Several weeks ago, I spoke on this floor about the Crow Creek Tribal Schools in Stephan, South Dakota.Two years ago, Crow Creek’s middle school was condemned and replaced with modular trailers. The elementary schooland high school still need to be replaced. Throughout the high school, crumbling walls are supported by steel braces;you can see exposed electrical wires.The Crow Creek Council has been lobbying for money to fix the schools on the reservation for 25 years.Recently, the Crow Creek school superintendent received this letter from the South Dakota state fire marshal.Quote: “[T]he buildings are dangerous and represent a threat to life.”The state fire marshal “strongly recommends discontinued use of both” the elementary and high schools.Two weekends ago was graduation weekend at Crow Creek Tribal Schools. The school had originally planned to holdthe graduation ceremony outside because the gym has been condemned - but it rained on graduation day. So 1,500people - the graduates, their families and friends - crowded into a condemned gymnasium that threatened to fall downaround them.I ask you, Mr. President, what other group of children would we allow to be treated this way?The BIA has committed to replace the Crow Creek gym - but it’s unclear when. Tribal officials had thoughtstudents would be playing basketball in the new gym this fall, but the construction funds have been delayed. In thelast several months, Crow Creek schools have experienced a crisis of suicides among students. Mental health expertscall such episodes “cluster suicides.” Six young people on the Crow Creek Reservation have killed themselves in the lastsix months - and many more have tried. In April, there were 21 suicide attempts; the month before, 28.Last month, a 14-year-old girl tried to hang herself behind the elementary school. She was discovered and cutdown just in time. The most recent suicide was a 19-year-old young man who had dropped out of school. Had hestayed, he would have graduated last month. Clearly, the suicide crisis at Crow Creek schools is not caused only bycrumbling schools. This is a complex crisis with very deep roots. It involves public health issues and myriad otherWednesday, June 9, 2004The lightning strike at the Gordon Redday home inVeblen Flats should remind us that nature is an untamedand untamable force.Please be alert for storms to develop, and be preparedto seek shelter.See the reminder elsewhere from the Tribe’sEmergency Management team.*****We join with many, many others in wishing Fr. RonCampbell a speedy and full recovery.Fr. Ron remains in Sioux Falls this week at the VAhospital.Friends are planning a benefit to help with medicaland family transportation costs. Please help if you can,and your prayers are certainly welcome!*****We were not only excited to see that StephanieHerseth had won last week’s special Congressionalelection, we were also extremely pleased to see how thetribal vote across South Dakota has again made a big andimportant difference.Success again of the effort to get out the vote onSouth Dakota’s reservations is highlighted not only by theDemocrats, but by Republicans.Here is what former chairman of the NationalRepublican Campaign Committee Rep. Tom Davis (RVa.) had to say about Stephanie’s win in South Dakota:“If you take out the Indian reservation(s), we would havewon.”Of course, he was referring to Republican candidateLarry Diedrich.Republicans are hoping that with George W. Bushat the top of the November ticket, they will be able tobring Stephanie back from Washington at the end of thecurrent term.But we know better.Right?*****We are very troubled by the eleventh hour messagefrom Sgt. Siyaka, informing us that he had still not receivedhis absentee ballot for the special S.D. Congressionalelection on June 1st!I certainly hope this doesn’t mean that our state ofSouth Dakota is trying to compete with Florida in theelection manipulation business!*****We are glad to share the following message from ourfriend Lasse Bergstrom of Sweden, himself an officer inhis nation’s military forces who has led soldiers on peacekeeping missions in Europe.And we join him in thanking those of a generationwho came before and sacrificed in World War II:Even if I wasn’t born during the end of the II WorldWar I am very thankful to all those who sacrificed therelives in saving Europe. On Sunday the 6th of June therewill be a great memorial in Normandy, France. To all ofyou living and dead veterans from that time THANKYOU for what you did for us all and let’s hope that thehorror of war never will appear again.Your friend in Sweden, Lasse Bergstrom.*****We note the passing this past week of former PresidentRonald Reagan at age 93.His administration, which brought us “Reaganism”as a label for the new conservatism, brought some goodbut also some not-so-good times for tribal nations and forthe entire country as well.For the tribes, Richard Nixon’s term in office was,perhaps surprisingly, one of the best in terms of legislationpositively impacting Indian country.But as we can tell by the TV commentaries this pastweekend, Ronald Reagan is being remembered for hisHollywood roles, personal charm, and for serving as ourcommander-in-chief during the fall of the Iron Curtain.He was a unique leader who managed by delegatingauthority, and – in words of former President BillClinton, spoken this Sunday on CNN – When there wasdisagreement “he was never mean-spirited . . . alwaysoptimistic . . . (and) he believed in freedom.”*****We encourage everyone to support our soldiers servingin harm’s way today, by prayer, by letters, by sharing yourSota Iya Ye YapiOfficial newspaper of theSisseton and Wahpeton OyateOf the Lake Traverse ReservationSince 1968Sota Iya Ye Yapi StaffOyate Chairman’s office at (605) 698-3911, or theC.D. Floro .Managing EditorSota production office: voice-mail (605) 938-4452;Earth and Sky Enterprises .Productionfax (605) 938-4676; or send e-mail toearthskyweb@cs.comAnnual Subscription RatesAlso, visit the Sota Iya Ye Yapi site on the World WideEnrolled Tribal members . 36Web (updated at least weekly): www.earthskyweb.All others/U.S. domestic . 46Foreign . 92com/sota.htmlClassified Advertising RatesPolicy regarding letters to the editorClassified Ad, min. (20 words or less) . 3The Sota Iya Ye Yapi affirms freedom of speech as afundamental principal. Readers are welcome to submitEach additional word, add . .15Deduct for each repeat CA, pd. in advance . 25%letters to the editor/Oyate, or “opinion” letters to beNotice to Contributorsconsidered for publication. These must be signed bySubmit news and advertising copy, as well as subscription the writer, and published letters will appear with theorders, to: Sota Iya Ye Yapi, P.O. Box 628, Agency author identified. The Sota reserves the right to editVillage, SD 57262. Deadline for receipt of all copy for clarity and content, including libel and plagiarism.to be considered for publication is 10:00 a.m. Suggested limit is 500 words, but letters of greaterThursday prior to the week of publication. (FAX length will be considered. Deadline for receipt of lettersand e-mail communications may be submitted to to be considered for publication in the next edition isthe Sota production office by 12:00 noon Friday, 10:00 a.m. Thursday morning regardless of method ofwith the exception of letters to the editor/Oyate, submission (letter via post office, Tribal headquartersor “opinion” letters, which are to be submitted by mail room, fax, or e-mail).10:00 a.m. Thursday.)Views expressed are those of the authors and do notNotice to subscribers: A handy clip-out form is available necessarily reflect opinions of the staff or the Sissetonfor your convenience. See the “Trading post” section and Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation.Editorials by the staff do not necessarily reflect theof this edition.For more information concerning news, advertising, or official opinion of the Tribe.subscriptions, contact the Sisseton and Wahpeton

concern with them and with others of the community.We pray that their service helps bring peace andstability to the world, and that they come home safe andsound.The need for prayer is heightened by growingunrest among more and more of the Iraqi people, whoare clamoring for America to end its occupation of theircountry.Please pray for peace!*****Last week while looking over past writings, andfamily photographs, of long-time friend and writer thelate Clarice Fredrickson, we came across these lines. Sotypical of Clarice, they offer meaningful advice for anyand all who would listen:“If you have nice things to say, say them before it’stoo late,” she writes. “As someday it may be too late.”“There’ll come a day when we’ll have onlymemories.”“Never let the little things grow into big things.”Thank you, Clarice, again, for sharing your thoughtswith us.We had been visiting with Clarice’s cousins fromSaskatchewan, the Rev. Floyd and Marlene Readman.They came to the community in hopes of finding Clariceand discovered that she is no longer among us. But theydid get lots of information for their family history fromClarice’s adopted daughters, especially from Lori Neilan.*****Those who have internet access can read the Sotanews and view photo highlights from each weekly issue– in full color – at the following website, which is updatedweekly (more frequently when needed):www.earthskyweb.com/sota.htmlPlease notice changes, hopefully improvements, inwhat we offer on-line.Our thanks to former Tribal Chairman Andrew J.Grey, Sr., for providing daily statements and prayers inthe Dakotah Language which are now featured on theSota home page.See a new message each day of the week.*****There is no way your Sota staff could possibly coverall the many activities in the schools and Districts of theLake Traverse Reservation. We encourage our readers andfriends to submit material and pictures whenever youcan!Submission of articles, ideas and rough drafts, andphotographs, are always welcome.If you have an interesting family story, or news youwould l

Winners named in star quilt contest, pictured with winning quilts The Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate will hold its 137th annual wacipi on the Lake Traverse Reservation July 1-4, 2004. . Dancer payout: Tiny Tot afternoon sessions only; dancer payout after each session. Tribal enrollment cards will be required for dancer payout and