Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community

http://www.bushfoundation.org/goals/native_nations.asp

My name is Diane Archambault, I’m a Patient Advocate at the Native American Community Clinic and one of our patients asked me to post this.  Here is her story………

My name is Brenda Reyes.  I started kidney dialysis on Valentines Day 2001.  I need dialysis to live.  I am raising three children, ages 6, 8 and 11.  I have always been skeptical of kidney transplant, but am now considering exploring it.  I do not have any candidates for donation.  If anyone is interested in being a kidney transplant donor for me, call HCMC transplant  clinic at 1-888-345-0816 and inquire about being a donor for Brenda Reyes.  You can learn more about donation at www.kidney.org or -800-622-9010

Thank you

Diane Archambault

Patient Advocate

Native American Community Clinic

1213 E. Franklin

Minneapolis, MN 55404

PH: 612.872.8086 x 118

FAX: 612.872.8547

Dan has been taking care of the 4 sacred trees for a long time now. He could use some help. We need someone to help with watering the trees. If you can help please email mmdc01@comcast.net or call the office 651-452-4141, or email dantheoakman@yahoo.com

 I will calling to the church today and see if we can use there water.  We will have to have about 3 or 4 holes.  If anyone has any hole’s they can donate that would be great. Sharon

First we need to see if the church will let us use there water.

Other wise we need to get 5 gallon buckets of water, and carry they to the trees.

The bill, introduced Wednesday after months of consultation and hearings held by the senators, would encourage more aggressive federal prosecution of reservation crimes, enhance the sentencing authority of tribal courts and boost resources for investigating and prosecuting crimes of sexual violence.

“We are seeing crime levels on some Indian reservations reach epidemic proportions,” said North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the lead sponsor on the bill. “It is difficult to overstate the problems.”

He said that a 2007 report by the advocacy group Amnesty International was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

That report said American Indian women are more than twice as likely to be raped as other U.S. women. Suspects often go free because of unclear police jurisdictions and lack of adequate forensic capabilities on reservations, the report found.

According to the Indian Affairs panel, The United States declined to prosecute 62 percent of Indian country criminal cases referred to federal prosecutors between 2004 and 2007. Federal statistics have shown that American Indians are the victims of violent crime at 2.5 times the national rate, and rates of homicide and domestic are much higher than national averages.

Federal Bureau of Investigation reports showed that rates of all of those crimes doubled between 2005 and 2006, partly fueled by a raging methamphetamine epidemic on reservations and high rates of alcohol use.

The legislation introduced Wednesday would also attempt to increase accountability for law enforcement, requiring the Department of Justice to file reports to tribal justice officials that provide details about the cases the federal government declines to prosecute.

Amnesty International praised the bill.

“This legislation is a historic effort to tackle major jurisdictional challenges that allow crimes against Native American and Alaska Native peoples to flourish,” said Larry Cox, executive director of the group.

Twelve members have co-sponsored the bill with Dorgan, including Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Pete Domenici, R-N.M.; Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; Gordon Smith, R-Ore.; Tim Johnson, D-S.D.; Joe Biden, D-Del.; Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.

“Indian country cannot become the Wild West of the Great Plains,” Johnson said.