Home Meetings Meetings April 22, 2006

April 22, 2006

April 22, 2006

Regular Meeting Minutes
St. Issac Jogues Coffee Room, Rapid City, SD

(Coordinator Charmaine White Face was recovering from surgery and was unable to attend.? Our prayers of healing are with her.)

Chair:? Garvard Good Plume
Recording Secretary:? Karissa

Opening Prayer:? Ted

Reading of the Minutes:? Violet

1.? Treasurer's Report:? Brian Brademeyer

2.? May 7th meeting at Cave Hills/Riley Pass - Garvard explained that it will be an informational meeting, with a tour and a picnic.

3.? Raffle & Tabling

Raffle will be held until the 27th of May. Need to sell raffle tickets.? JoAnn did not table at the Spearfish pow-wow because there was a $100 fee. Need big jars with raffle info on outside, Need to have tables at workshops; notify JoAnn if you hear of a workshop happening in the area. Individual artists and quilt-makers are offering to donate to raffles. Ingrid said Our Daily Fry Bread website will post the raffle info there.? They need an MS Word fundraising letter and photos.

4.? April 29th Commemoration
Schedule: Honoring for Vincent Brings Plenty with Wilmer Mesteth will take place during lunch.? Family/Community members have been notified and plan to attend.? The entertainment will be moved to the evening. Speakers Gladys Bird Horse & Jesse Taken Alive confirmed, also Don Belile. Charlie Comes Killing will speak on Sacred Sites.? Publicity:? post flyers for commemoration Friday 1:00 pm meeting at office regarding April 29th event.

5.? Office? Will be open through May. (Thank you to Jenny T. and Mary M. - Cross River NY)

6.? UN - US has not yet tried to get on the Human Rights Council - Question from Ike, what was the reason for changing the HR commission?? Couldn't get into website...

7.? Resources, Allies, Getting the word out?? Harold's website is growing! John LeKay - Heyoka magazine - on web, put Defenders on their site. Professor from New York - doing a study on Uranium and DNA.? Voyage Productions from DC will come for the meeting on the 7th to do a national story.? They will be in touch with Harold, the run-off issue in Cave Hills and Edgemont has caught their interest.? Garvard did 3 talk show interviews on Native Voice TV/KKUP while he was in California, will get a copy. Friends will set up booths with raffles for Defenders at California pow-wows if we send information. JoAnn did an interview with KPFA in San Francisco with Lakota Hardin. on Bear Butte.? They wanted to know where Defenders stands on this issue.? Answer:? No development at all of any kind.? Told about the Land Trust, website, and e-mail.

8.? Other Fundraising:? Defenders has items for auction. Someone needs to help put them on E-Bay so they can be sold. Funds for abandoned uranium mine cleanup campaign. Also planning to raise money with events on the East and West Coasts. Garvard knows some people in California who are willing to work with him. Plan speaking engagements on the trip out and back.

9.? Other Questions/Issues:? Ike was told there is always a 10 year plan for rural development. Is there one for this area?? (No one attending the meeting had heard of this.)
Ingrid:? New Uranium mining in Custer, price of gold is up, number and info on SD US government website.
 
Ike: in Chadron/Gordon, did people get checks for not going to court for radioactive water pollution?? Ted: County Commission in Chadron oversees Crow Butte, should be public record.
 
The County Commission already passed the mine - the people didn't get any money - they were just promised jobs.
 
Ingrid:? Bombing June 2nd in Nevada in Shoshone Treaty Territory in Ruby Valley

Closing Prayer:? Ingrid

Submitted by Karissa Ortman Loewen

Approved at the May 27, 2006, meeting.
 

Mission Statement

"Defenders of the Black Hills is a group of volunteers without racial or tribal boundaries whose mission is to preserve, protect, and restore the environment of the 1851 and 1868 Treaty Territories, Treaties made between the United States and the Great Sioux Nation."

Speaking about radioactive fallout, the late President John F. Kennedy said,

"Even then, the number of children and grandchildren with cancer in their bones, with leukemia in their blood, or with poison in their lungs might seem statistically small to some, in comparison with natural health hazards. But this is not a natural health hazard and it is not a statistical issue. The loss of even one human life, or the malformation of even one baby who may be born long after we are gone, should be of concern to us all. Our children and grandchildren are not merely statistics toward which we can be indifferent."

July 26, 1963 upon signing the ban on above ground nuclear tests