Melvin came from Crow Creek to teach a Dakota class at the Mendota office on Wednesday night March 3rd. The next day he went to visit the children at the Anishinabe School, were Brian works. The Children really enjoyed learning from him. Later that day he was on this way home when the auto accident happened. He was seriously injured  with two broken legs, and a broken left arm. He also has pneumonia.

He needs your prayers, love, and support.

If you would like to visit him, you should know he is in a lot pain, so he may not be able to talk much. His wife Victoria is there most of the day and would like your support. Melvin is a long ways from home, lets show him we care about him. His Birthday is next Thursday he will be 78. He maybe able to visit more by next week. He does need a lot of rest. He cannot put any weight on his legs for months.

You can send your emails to us at MMDC if you want mmdc01@comcast.net

website www.mendotadakota.com

I can print them and give them to Victoria so she can read them to Melvin.

If you have more question please call the Mendota office 651-452-4141 ask for Sharon or Connie.

Melvin is at Fairview Southdale Hospital, 6401 France Ave So. Edina MN 55435. Melvin’s room number is 517. 952.924.5000

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The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe has settled its tax debt with the Internal Revenue Service and lined up a loan that will enable it to buy back the 11 square miles of land the IRS sold at auction in December, the tribal chairman said.
A stipulation filed in court last week indicates the tribe will dismiss its lawsuit, which sought to prevent the IRS from selling the Hyde County land. That will cancel a May 4 trial.
The IRS took the unusual step of seizing and selling the land because the tribe refused to pay $3.12 million in employment taxes, penalties and interest it racked up since 2001.
At $2.58 million, the winning bid did not fully satisfy the debt. But tribal chairman Brandon Sazue, who met with government officials in Washington last week, said the IRS is forgiving what’s left.
“We don’t owe the IRS anything at this point in time, as long as we drop the lawsuit,” Sazue said.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice’s tax division acknowledged a deal was struck but could not provide any detail.
“We were glad we were able to reach an amicable resolution of the case,” Charles Miller said.
The next step for the tribe is buying back the land; the auction sale came with a provision that the tribe had 180 days to do so.
Sazue said the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux in Minnesota have agreed to loan the Crow Creek Sioux $3 million to buy back the land. Shakopee Mdewakanton spokeswoman Tessa Lehto could not confirm the loan.
The Crow Creek also are working with the government to make sure they don’t get in tax trouble again. The tribe’s written complaint in the court file says they weren’t paying taxes because the Bureau of Indian Affairs wrongly advised them they were exempt.
Sazue said he wants to set up a mechanism that subtracts taxes from tribal councilors’ paychecks.
The chairman said he’s excited to put the tax problems to rest and get back the land.
Sazue spent three weeks on the land in December fasting and praying in protest of the IRS action. He said the tribe’s plight has spurred sympathetic calls and e-mails from as far as Europe and Australia.
“If I hadn’t set my trailer up there I don’t think we’d be where we are today,” he said.

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Vigil on the Plains

Crow Creek Sioux chairman is ‘not going anywhere’

By Stephanie Woodard, Today correspondent

Story Published: Dec 29, 2009

Story Updated: Dec 24, 2009

FORT THOMPSON, S.D. – On Dec. 15, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Chairman Brandon Sazue got a visit from eight horseback riders on a pilgrimage to memorialize 38 Dakota men who died in the nation’s largest mass hanging, in December 1862 in Mankato, Minn.

“The group took a detour from the main ride to fill a pipe here that will be smoked and prayed over when they get to Mankato.”

The 35-year-old chairman was camped on 7,100 acres of wind-swept, snowy land owned by Crow Creek Tribal Farms. The IRS recently seized the tract and on Dec. 3 auctioned it off for $2 million less than its $4.6 million value to pay a purported tax bill for the tribe, a separate legal entity.

The riders found Sazue holding his own in sub-zero temperatures. The chairman took up residence on the expanse shortly after the auction, intending to fast and pray for its repatriation until the crisis is resolved. “I’m not going anywhere. This land never was and never will be for sale. Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow. As chairman, I inherited the tax problem and tried to work with the IRS. They claim they ‘consulted’ with us, but all they did was tell us ‘here’s how it’s going to go.’”

The IRS action appears to fly in the face of legal precedents as far back as a 1790 law prohibiting the transfer of Indian land without a treaty, according to a legal memorandum drawn up by the tribe’s attorneys, Mario Gonzalez, Oglala Lakota and Terry L. Pechota, Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The document was filed Dec. 2 in U.S. District Court in an effort to stop the sale. That request was denied; however, a trial will take place in March, during which the tribe will attempt to regain the site.

“It’s the Black Hills gold rush all over again,” said historian Waziyatawin, Ph.D., Wahpetowan Dakota from Upper Sioux and a University of Victoria research scholar. “Nowadays, the press is reporting on a green energy land rush and Department of the Interior efforts to free up millions of acres for wind and solar development. Open prairie land, such as that on Indian reservations in the Plains, is suitable for such enterprises. So the U.S. government is going after the poorest of the poor to find the resources it needs.”

The tribe, which has an unemployment rate of about 80 percent and lives in one of the poorest counties in the nation, had been planning a wind farm for the area, said Sazue. “If we lose this land, we miss that opportunity. We have profound connections to this place as well. Our ancestors are buried here, and tribal members come to collect sage and other traditional medicines.”

When Waziyatawin visited the site with her family Dec. 12 for a pipe ceremony, she joined Crow Creek tribal members and visitors from Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, the Yankton Sioux Reservation, and the Rosebud Sioux Reservation.

The tax problem appears to have arisen after Harold Condon, a BIA employee who became financial manager of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in the early 2000s, advised the community not to pay federal employment taxes. According to a document that Gay Kingman, Cheyenne River Sioux, executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, received from the BIA in early December, the agency claims Condon did “an excellent job.” Further, the BIA letter says, the tribe owed the taxes and Condon was “instrumental in working with the Internal Revenue Service to get the large bill paid.”

The tract, which makes up 20 percent of Crow Creek’s reservation, was originally sold off after the Allotment Act of 1889 moved it into the hands of individual Indian owners. Notably, this was done without the majority vote of the tribe required by law. “We all know the referendum never took place,” Pechota said.

The tribe repurchased the land in 1998, according to Gonzalez’s and Pechota’s legal memorandum. Crow Creek then attempted to put the acreage back into trust, said Sazue. “We started the process in 2000. It shouldn’t take a decade to accomplish this.”

Nedra Darling, Prairie Band Potawatomi and a BIA spokeswoman, refused to comment on any aspect of the situation, citing the ongoing litigation. Darling added that Hilary Tompkins, Navajo, solicitor of the Interior Department and one of the Obama administration’s high-profile Native appointees, would also not comment.

The crisis occurs against a background of economic devastation created by the building of a series of giant dams along the Missouri River in the mid-20th century. The dams flooded valuable riverside agricultural areas on Sioux reservations throughout the Dakotas. Starvation ensued in many areas. In return for giving up the richly diverse bottomland, Crow Creek was promised free electrical power, which it never received. It did get $27.5 million that has been put into trust. However, the tribe can only touch the interest, not the principal, said Sazue. “I call that living off scraps. Why couldn’t we use that money to pay the IRS?”

The tribe’s difficulties have been exacerbated by the IRS siphoning off earnings from Crow Creek’s small casino and motel, making it difficult for the tribe to meet payroll and provide public services, as well as to pay the tax bill in an orderly fashion, Sazue said. The problem has also arisen at the worst time of year, according to the chairman. Despite frigid temperatures, the local electric company has been disconnecting the only power source for many Crow Creek families, claiming non-payment of bills. This forces the tribe to shelter members at its Fort Thompson motel, thus forgoing income it might receive by renting the rooms.

This is an annual occurrence, according to the humanitarian organization Can-Do, which filmed the electric company ripping out meters throughout Crow Creek during the winter of 2008, as babies cried and mothers tried to understand mysteriously escalating bills. To see the group’s video, visit www.can-do.org and look under “Project Progress Videos.” Can-Do’s investigation found “severe increases of illness, disease and mortality” on the reservation.

Sazue’s family was affected this year as well. “A month ago, my cousin called. She just had a baby, her husband is on oxygen, and her electricity got cut off. Companies are not supposed to do that in inclement weather, but they do here. Our people are suffering.”

“The Obama administration could help solve this crisis,” Waziyatawin said. “Obama is talking the talk when it comes to Indian country, but are he and his appointees going to walk the walk?”

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My understanding is that on Saturday at 1:00 there will be a gathering at the tribal hall at Fort Thompson.  We are hoping that a lot of the local people will also be there so that we can better organize support and coordinate efforts between supporters in the community and those of us who are trying to help from the outside.  Then, after that meeting, we will all head out to the encampment.

This is the info I have so far: Read the rest of this entry »

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Dec 13th 2009
Eric Klein Founder, CAN-DO.org reports LIVE from Crow Creek- More reports form the field over the next week to come-

DAY 2- Dec 14,2009- Riders head to meet up with BRandon Sazue help up in protest on the auctioned land-

Dec 13th, 2009

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CROW CREEK RESERVATION, Friday, December 11, 2009—Brandon Sazue’s camper sitting in the middle of the prairie presented a lonely but inspiring image as we drove up Wednesday afternoon.  Despite the bitter cold and wind, the young Crow Creek tribal chairman was taking a stand against the United States theft of any more Dakota lands, telling us “Crow Creek land is not for sale, and it never will be.”

Symbolically placing his camper under a wind data tower, Sazue has committed to remain on this parcel of land as long as it takes to achieve justice.  The land is part of the 7,112 acres recently stolen by the United States government in what amounts to a 21^st century land grab.  Because the land is not currently held in trust, on December 4, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service used that as an opportunity to claim it and auction it off as a means to settle what they assert is a delinquent $3,123,790 tax bill.  Though most of the Crow Creek reservation is situated within the poorest county in the United States, the land under dispute happens to contain world-class sites for the harnessing of wind power.  As the world’s fossil fuels dwindle and alternative energy sources are increasingly sought after, Crow Creek lands also become increasingly more attractive to outside interests.  Whoever develops the site for wind-energy stands to make a fortune.  This connection is not lost on Chairman Sazue.

Anyone who understands the history of the Dakota people since invasion and conquest cannot help but be stunned by this attack on the tribal lands of people who have already suffered so much.  After the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, the U.S. federal government and the State of Minnesota initiated polices of genocide and ethnic cleansing against Dakota people in our beloved homeland.  White Minnesotans hanged thirty-eight Dakota warriors, rounded-up and force-marched our populations to concentration camps in Mankato and Fort Snelling, then forcibly removed us from Minnesota to fulfill Governor Alexander Ramsey’s genocidal call for extermination or forced removal.  Dakota people were loaded onto boats that went down the Mississippi River and then up the Missouri River on a journey that was so horrendous, a missionary at the time compared it to the Middle Passage of the slaves.  Under gun and bayonet, our ancestors were brought to Crow Creek in 1863.  Thus, Crow Creek began as a concentration camp.

The trauma to Dakota people only continued there.  Within the first few months of arrival at Crow Creek, hundreds of Dakota people died from the dreadful conditions.  In fact, the missionary John P. Williamson wrote “Nearly all the small children died in 1863.”  The heartbreak from those events are still felt today.  The people of Crow Creek live with that legacy, as do the rest of us with ancestors who were subjugated on these lands.  After 1862, the United States government left our people with so little.  Now, even what little we have is under attack again.

Sazue’s stand in defense of the land is a rallying cry to the rest of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) of the Dakota Oyate (Nation).  Though fierce winter weather has so far kept supporters from camping out next to Sazue, a steady stream of allies offering prayers, songs, food, supplies and encouragement continues throughout each day and even more people show their solidarity through phone calls and emails.  We know more of our people will be coming.  Like Chairman Brandon Sazue, we will not allow these lands to be taken.  We will stand with him.

Waziyatawin, Ph.D.

waziyatawin@gmail.com

Crow Creek Supporters:

In addition to your presence and prayers, we need supplies at the encampment site.  The first objective at the site is staying warm.  We need people to help cut, haul or donate wood to keep a fire going, lumber for building windbreaks and shelters, sandbags, blankets, sleeping bags (especially those made for below 0 temperatures), hats, scarves, mittens, boots, tarps and tipis.

Oceti Sakowin and other Indigenous relatives, please bring flags from your communities to show solidarity with the Crow Creek Oyate.  Everyone bring banners—7,100 acres is a lot of ground on which to maintain our presence.

In addition, we need food, flashlights, cookware, tools (shovels, axes, saws), concrete blocks, matches, and water containers.

We also need people who have other gifts to encourage these resistors to U.S. land theft.  Drummers and singers, your presence and support would be most welcome.

Supporters may stay in the tribal hall.  Please bring your own bedding and linens.  Showers will be available at the motel.

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Please go to the website below on highlighted area and sign the petition to support Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the IRS auctioned off 7100 acres of land to a local rancher, this land belongs to the Hunkpati Crow Creek.  Thank you for your support

“Crow Creek Sioux Land is NOT For Sale” hosted on the web by our free online petition service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CrowCrek/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

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Maybe someone should call Shakopee, they should pay the ”38″ descendents tax situation within the 180 day time period….the crow creek people should never want or need for anything, its shameful whats happened and could of been prevented with the help of the other dakota communities…

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_95aa4610-e062-11de-aa52-001cc4c03286.html

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