They can be downloaded from the DOWNLOADS PAGE

Steve Brandt from the Star & Tribune found this article on our website to help Dan the Oak Man. He wanted to know if Dan ever got any help?  I put this on our site July 8, 2008. 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 him 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 be calling the church today and see if we can use their water. We will have to have about 3 or 4 garden holes.  If anyone has any holes they can donate that would be great. Dan is using 5 gallon buckets of water, and brings them to the trees, that is hard work. Pidamaya Dan, we love you. Sharon and the tribal council.

On Jun 2, 2010, at 9:26 AM, Waziyatawin wrote:

From the news last night;

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/the-fort-snelling-debate-june-1-2010

Pidamaya Wiz, for all your hard work for the Dakota Nation.
–
Waziyatawin, Ph.D.

Two local men were arrested after burglarizing the Main Building on the Coldwater campus for about 100-pounds of copper pipe. A quick internet search estimated the price of copper at just over $3-per-pound.

In an email exchange Paul Labovitz, National Park Service superintendent of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA), wrote that the earliest the buildings could be removed is spring of 2011 despite a timetable confusion in the television report on KSTP-TV, Channel 5.

“If a miracle occurred and we had a federal budget the first day of the fiscal year, we could only hope for an accelerated contracting process for demo and that would take awhile. Spring 2011 demo or late winter is our fondest dream. Glad the police are stepping up (patrols at the Coldwater site).”

Labovitz asks Coldwater supporters to “keep your eyes open over there and take license numbers and call the police if you see anything out of line.”

Since the Bureau of Mines closed in 1991 and then FEMA moved out in 1995, the buildings have been essentially abandoned, used for storage, or as bomb squad training by the Hennepin County sheriff, a palette for graffiti artists, a target for kid vandals and sometimes a homeless shelter. The Main Building has been a drug shooting gallery. Black mold and asbestos infests some buildings.

Coldwater Spring is the last natural spring in Hennepin County. The soldiers who build Fort Snelling (1820-23) camped around the spring which has been called the Birthplace of Minnesota. Coldwater furnished water to the Fort from 1820-1920.

Previous to European settlement the spring was considered sacred by Dakota, Anishinabe, Ho Chunk, Iowa, Sauk and Fox peoples who gathered for cultural and spiritual events above the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. Coldwater Spring is estimated to be at least 10,000 years old.

—Susu Jeffrey

for Friends of Coldwater

See the KSTP-TV news clip at:

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S1584258.shtml?cat=127

.   She graduates from Hamline on Saturday and will go to the U of M Graduate School.  Just an FYI – here is an article about her that was on the NCAA web site.

Pitcher Jessalyn Weaver started 66 games in her three-year career with the Hamline University softball team, but it’s her next start that might be the most impressive of all.

This fall, she will begin work on a Ph.D. in the biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Weaver will continue research begun while an undergraduate student at Hamline, which is located in St. Paul.

“The focus of the lab is on beneficial mutation and innate immunity, specifically for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),” she said. “The project that I have been working on and will continue to work on as a graduate student is elucidating the binding characteristics of two proteins involved in the HIV infection and replication.”

Weaver, who transferred to Hamline from Wisconsin-River Falls before the start of her sophomore year, posted a 3.75 cumulative grade-point average while majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry. She received the Ruth Sullivan Award, given to the Hamline junior biology student of the year and a Walter A. Kenyon Award for outstanding senior biology students.

On the field, Weaver posted a career record of 44-28 with five saves in 86 appearances. Her career earned-run average is 3.15, and she struck out 259 batters in 452.0 innings pitched.

“Not only have I enjoyed my academic experience at Hamline, but I have also really enjoyed playing softball,” she said. “Being a student-athlete was challenging, but it would have been much more difficult if I wouldn’t have had such great professors who understood my commitment to my sport and such great coaches who understood the importance of academics.”

For more on Weaver’s experience at Hamline and her work at Minnesota, read her post available at the “Inside Piper Athletics” blog.

The local Twin Cities office of the National Park Service, known as MNRRA, the National Mississippi River and Recreation Area, has provided clarification on who it was within the agency who made the decision almost four years ago to reject the findings of a government consultant–which stated in an Ethnographic Study, that Coldwater Spring at the Bureau of Mines Twin Cities Campus property near Fort Snelling in Hennepin County, Minnesota, is a place of traditional cultural importance for Dakota people.

more at http://minnesotahistory.net/?p=2565

5/3/2010
Mendota Dakota face loss of center
Grants, dues for rent have dried up

Danielle Cabot
Review Staff

The Mendota Dakota community faces the loss of their community center in upcoming months due to a downturn in grants and donations.

If the community leaders lose their rental space at 1324 Highway 13, they have few other locations within the tiny suburb to pursue, and face having to leave what they consider their sacred ancestral home entirely.

Even if the community were to secure money to pay the $1,200 rent, the building – a converted house – is up for sale by its owners.

“For 15 years, it’s been a struggle,” said tribal council member Sharon Lennartson. “We always seem to get some kind of help, but with the [slumping] economy it’s been really bad.”

The community’s monthly operating budget of about $1,800 including rent and utilities is supported through dues, donations and foremost, grant money that has become scarcer by the day. The community is registered as a non-profit 501c3 entity.

On their current trajectory, she said the group will lose its lease in July.

Lennartson said she has literally gone door-to-door looking for open rental space in Mendota, and found nothing.

For the organization, this is more than a real-estate quandry, it’s a spiritual one as well.

Cultural leader Jim Anderson said that the community, officially known as the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community, began 15 years ago in his uncle Bob Brown’s kitchen, but traces their roots back much further. “It’s like our garden of Eden is right there,” Anderson said.

Roots go deep
“Many generations ago, our elders prophesized that a time would come when their descendants would return to the birthplace of the Dakota Nation to protect its sacred sites and bring Dakota culture back to its place of origin,” states an open request for help on the community’s website. “This place is the b’dota (mistranslated by the French as Mendota), the joining together place, of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers.”

Anderson said that in 1862 when most of the Dakota were forced out of the area, about 100 Dakota people stayed behind on 12 acres owned by Henry Sibley, known at the time as “Sibley’s Indian Homes.” The Dakota farmers were promised additional land and money by the Act of 1863, but never received that additional space. Because land in the Mendota area was too expensive, they were eventually offered land at Prairie Island.

For some however, Mendota was too important to leave.

When Henry Sibley died in 1891, the remaining tribe members were pushed out, and many settled on the river flats, Anderson said. Eventually, other settlers joined them, building businesses and homes. When repeated flooding destroyed the river flat development, most of the Dakota dispersed throughout the Twin Cities and the land was turned into Fort Snelling State Park.

Eventually, the local Dakota people, most of whom stayed within 30 miles of the rivers’ confluence, began to search for their identity. Anderson said his uncle went so far as to ask to join the Shakopee tribe, which asked them why they do not form their own, unique community. So, they did.

Preserving their heritage
And while they are not officially recognized as a Dakota tribe by the U.S. government, Anderson and other local families have been working to preserve their language, protect sacred sites and connect to others ever since.

From Brown’s kitchen table, the leaders moved to a small office at the VFW. From there, they moved to a space behind the post office, before finally renting three years ago the older house with a wooden front porch that they now reside in.

The building now can barely contain the community meetings, Anderson said, but it keeps the tribe grounded in Mendota.

They host weekly language classes for people of all ages, classes on constructing regalia for ceremonies, meetings on preserving cultural sites and regular council meetings at the center. They built a sweat lodge in the backyard.

“We’re working at helping people understand the native community, and we’re just trying to get by,” Anderson said.

But now, just as in 1863, securing a home in Mendota may prove too expensive. The community once had a pull-tab location near St. Cloud that helped pay the rent, but mismanagement resulted in that source of income being shut down, Anderson said.

The property is currently on the market for $245,000.

The property is jointly owned by three individuals, one being the property’s real estate agent, Mary Ann Buelow. Buelow recently suffered a stroke, Lennartson said, and the council leader, Curtis LaClaire, didn’t think it was the right time to discuss reducing its rent or make other arrangements for the building.

A sale would threaten the already tenuous hold the Dakota community has on its lease.

Ideally, Anderson said, the members would like to build their own center someday in Mendota with space for all of the community’s activities. Right now, they are still at home, but far from that dream.

Danielle Cabot can be reached at southwest@lillienews.com or 651-748-7815.

Dear Friends,

I just uploaded a video onto YouTube I made called: The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota story.  I’d like to invite you to watch it and, if you’re so moved, to do what you can to help the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community.  Here’s the YouTube address:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b6aRa9xfeM

Also, I would be delighted if you were so moved to send the YouTube web address of the video to others who you think might also be interested.

This is the first time I’ve created a video such as this and my first YouTube upload, and I’d be welcome feedback on the video of any kind you would like to give me.  An enormous amount of learning by doing went into this project, especially learning the ins and outs (and more outs) of working with Windows Movie Maker.

Thanks Much,
Cheers,
Lennie

Members of the Leech Lake and White Earth bands of Chippewa will fish off their reservations in violation of state law on May 14 — a day before the opening of walleye and northern pike seasons — to assert treaty rights they claim across virtually all of northern Minnesota .  The bands say those rights include not only off-reservation hunting, fishing and gathering, but perhaps also co-management of much of the region’s timber and mining — the first such claims made by Minnesota Chippewa.  If the Chippewa do fish before the season, they’ll likely be arrested by Department of Natural Resources conservation officers.  “We hope and expect they’ll abide by the law,” said Brian McClung, a spokesman for Gov. Tim Pawlenty. “If they don’t, they’ll have to abide by the consequences.”  Leech Lake tribal attorney Frank Bibeau said Wednesday that an 1854 treaty with the federal government grants the Leech Lake and White Earth bands off-reservation rights north of Interstate Hwy. 94. The two bands have 30,000 members.  “What we are talking about doing is having a demonstration of solidarity,” Bibeau said. “We will have a fishing day probably in the Bemidji area to show we do have the right and could exercise it if we want.”  By fishing before the season opens, the bands are “taking the path of least resistance,” said Dale Greene, a Leech Lake Band treaty coordinator.  “We want to be good neighbors, and this is the route we’re taking now,” he said. “We understand we have these rights, now let’s work out how we’re going to exercise them. If the state wants to arrest people, our attorneys are ready to move forward.”  Peter Erlinder, a William Mitchell College of Law professor who has advised the Leech Lake and White Earth bands, said the state of Minnesota should have known since the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court Mille Lacs ruling that off-reservation tribal rights to hunt, fish and gather extend to other Minnesota Chippewa.  The state already has hunting, fishing and gathering agreements with Minnesota Chippewa bands, including Leech Lake , Mille Lacs, Bois Forte, Fond du Lac and Grand Portage. But the Leech Lake and White Earth claims reach farther, to other resources that might affect the bands’ ability to harvest fish and game.  Erlinder also said the state might owe reparations of as much as $350 million.  “Smart lawyers should have known [after the Wisconsin Chippewa court decisions] in 1988 or after the Mille Lacs decision in 1999 that the state has been sandbagging what it should have been paying the Chippewa,” Erlinder said.  What’s at stake, he said, “is joint management of all resources in northern Minnesota .”  Few public protests against netting by non-band members have occurred in Minnesota , but Wisconsin had near-riotous scenes when Chippewa treaty rights there were affirmed.  The Minnesota Chippewa, Bibeau said, hope to negotiate a resolution to the claims without going to court because a legal battle would be time-consuming and expensive for both sides.  DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten said Wednesday that neither he nor Pawlenty had been notified of the bands’ intentions or claims.  Treaty battles  The federal government in the 1800s signed numerous treaties with the Chippewa, or Anishinabe, as they were known.  A century later, in the 1980s, some of the treaties were at the heart of a Chippewa lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin .  The Chippewa won that long-running battle and were awarded hunting, fishing and gathering rights across much of northern Wisconsin .  The Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa followed in 1990, suing Minnesota over similar rights it said were retained in an 1837 treaty. The state countered, unsuccessfully, that subsequent treaties in 1854 and 1855, as well as other litigation and the organization of Minnesota as a state, extinguished those rights.  In 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the Mille Lacs. The heart of the band’s argument — and a central point the Leech Lake and White Earth bands make — was that the 1854 treaty affirmed the bands’ hunting, fishing and gathering rights in the ceded territory, and a subsequent treaty agreed to in 1855 left unsaid anything about those rights.  Three northeast Minnesota Chippewa bands — Fond du Lac , Grand Portage and Bois Forte — were directly affected by the Wisconsin litigation. When the case was resolved, they and the state of Minnesota formed a pact calling for the state, essentially, to lease the bands’ off-reservation rights in the northeast for an annual payment of $6 million.  Fond du Lac has since pulled out of the agreement, and its members exercise off-reservation hunting and fishing rights.  A similar 1972 agreement exists between the state and the Leech Lake Band over non-band fishing access to Leech Lake , which is widely recognized as a jewel in Minnesota ‘s crown of world-class fishing lakes.  The $6 million paid to the northeast Minnesota bands each year buoys Erlinder’s belief that overdue payments of perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars are owed by the state to the Leech Lake and White Earth bands.  “The land we’re talking about is three or four times as big as the land in the northeast,” Erlinder said. “Over the past 20 years of not paying the bands, the state might owe them $350 million.”  Greene acknowledged the bands never asked the state for the money. Nor have the Leech Lake or White Earth bands previously asserted the rights they now claim.  “In the 1990s, our elected officials’ attentions were elsewhere,” Greene said.  Regardless, “Those [in state government] who are empowered to enforce the law” were obligated to extend off-reservation rights or compensation to the bands after the Wisconsin and Mille Lacs decisions, Greene said.        William (Bill) Carter  American Indian Community Advocate  City of Minneapolis  Direct: (612) 673-3028  Fax: (612) 673-2599  Strength and answers (to you)

On behalf of the National Indian Education Association, it is with heartfelt sympathy that our condolences are extended to the family of former Chief Wilma Mankiller and the Cherokee Nation.

Chief Mankiller’s unwavering vision and compassionate leadership has been demonstrated many times as Native people strive to achieve self sufficiency.

Her legacy will continue to inspire the vision of NIEA as we work to advance Indian education in Indian country.

It is with pride Native children have culturally responsive books and materials in their classrooms and libraries with positive Native role models inspired by people such as Chief Mankiller.

We join Indian Country in the mourning of Chief Mankiller, truly a wonderful leader who inspired the world.

– Patricia L. Whitefoot, President of the National Indian Education Association. 

Article submitted by http://www.NewsForNatives.com

 Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, died of pancreatic cancer Tuesday. She was 64.

The Oklahoma native served as chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985 to 1995, and was the first female to do so, and in 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Mankiller spoke at OU in October at an American Indian symposium. She said Native American studies programs should partner with native communities to develop models that improve education, health, government and leadership among tribes.

“We need to chart a new course for the future,” Mankiller said. “Things have changed, so we need to change.”

Mankiller made a lasting mark on the state and the nation, OU President David Boren said.

“She helped all Americans understand the need to preserve the basic values of community and stewardship which are central to Native American culture,” Boren said by e-mail. “Above all, through her example she taught us the power of kindness and how to live and die with dignity.”

President Barack Obama said he was saddened to hear of her passing.

“Her legacy will continue to encourage and motivate all who carry on her work,” Obama said in a press release. “Michelle and I offer our condolences to Wilma’s family, especially her husband Charlie and two daughters, Gina and Felicia, as well as the Cherokee Nation and all those who knew her and were touched by her good works.”

Obama said Mankiller improved relations between American Indians and the federal government, and inspired American Indian girls to lead and speak out.

http://www.MendotaDakota.com

American Indians must urge Congress to quickly sign off on a $3.4 billion settlement of a lawsuit against the federal government for swindling them out of royalties for oil, gas, grazing and other leases, the lead plaintiff said Tuesday.

“We’ve won some really huge victory. Will it fix anything? No, but it’s a stepping stone,” Elouise Cobell of Browning, Mont., said during a meeting on the settlement at Heritage University on the Yakama Indian Reservation. “We have made a tremendous impact on this government and the way our trust has been managed in the past.”

The meeting was one of several planned across the Northwest this week by Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Tribe, and her legal team. The deadline for Congress to approve the settlement was extended to April 16, and Cobell maintains further delays could terminate the deal.

The Interior Department manages about 56 million acres of land and leases it for mining, grazing and oil and gas production. Money collected from those leases is distributed to more than 384,000 individual Indian accounts and about 2,700 tribal accounts.

The June 1996 lawsuit alleged the government had breached its responsibility to manage assets belonging to American Indians and refused to fix a flawed accounting system that led to the loss of billions of dollars.

Under the settlement agreement, the Interior Department would distribute $1.4 billion to more than 300,000 Indian tribe members to compensate them for historical accounting claims, and to resolve future claims. Most lawsuit participants would receive at least $1,500, and many would receive considerably more.

The government also would spend $2 billion to buy back and consolidate tribal land broken up in previous generations. The program would allow individual tribal members to obtain cash payments for land interests divided among numerous family members and return the land to tribal control.

If cleared by Congress and a federal judge, the settlement would be the largest Indian claim ever approved against the U.S. government — exceeding the combined total of all previous settlements of Indian claims.

More than 100 people attended Tuesday’s meeting. Some raised concerns that the settlement doesn’t offer a long-term solution.

“This has been a problem for years and years. We shouldn’t settle for pennies,” said Lia Whitefoot, 56, an enrolled Yakama from Tacoma whose mother died six years ago without receiving payments due from trust lands.

“There’s a sickness, and we’re still ill from it. We’re still going to be suffering from the same things. I may not get one penny out of the settlement, and I still want to see this problem get fixed,” she said. “And I’m not satisfied.”

Bill Dorris, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said participants may choose to opt out of the agreement, but he urged tribal members to be well-informed of their options going forward.

“If this bill dies now, we will never get back to something this good. I believe that in my heart. We have fought for 14 years. We have won many battles in court, only to have them reversed,” he said. “Fifteen-hundred-dollars may not seem like a lot, but I have to tell you, it’s $1,500 more than anyone else has been able to get.”

Yakama tribal member Fidelia Andy, 64, said too many Indians are still waiting for their trust claims to be recognized by the federal government and won’t even qualify for a part of the settlement.

“We’re backed up on so many probates. There are people who should have been in the system years ago, but the government has not been paying attention for 30 years — longer than that, probably 40 years,” Andy said. “It’s a process that’s continued to pile up and it’s Indian-country wide.”

Cobell stressed that the settlement will not solve the overall problem, including issues of Indians receiving fair-market value for land that may be sold and probates that still need to be settled.

“It’s going to be up to us to continue to fight on,” she said. “This won’t be over with this settlement.”

Additional meetings are scheduled Wednesday in Portland and Thursday in S

The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community needs your assistance.

We are in dire straights and our future as a tribe is in jeopardy.

JOIN OUR CAUSE (facebook) or DONATE TO OUR CAUSE or PROMOTE OUR CAUSE

Bringing Dakota culture back to its birthplace in Minnesota and protecting the sacred sites of the Dakota Oyate (Nation) in that area.

Donations Go To…

Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Positions:

FUND RAISING:

Many generations ago, our elders prophesized that a time would come when their descendants would return to the birthplace of the Dakota Nation to protect its sacred sites and bring Dakota culture back to its place of origin. This place is the Mendota area, the joining together place, of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers in the heart of the Twin Cities. We are the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community, and we are here today fulfilling that prophesy as best we can in the place where our direct ancestors lived. 

We have run out of funds to maintain our tribal community center in the town of Mendota, MN beyond May, 2010. We are asking you to help us out in our immediate need by donating whatever amount of money you can afford to help keep us intact so we can do the work we are dedicated to. Please read the Open letter to all peoples of good heart about the current situation of the MMDC. on our home page, http://mendotadakota.com/mn/ to better understand our situation.

Over the past 15 years we have spent many thousands of volunteer hours fighting for the preservation of sites sacred to the Dakota People and brought back Dakota ceremonies, language, and culture to the birthplace of the Dakota Nation. We have gone to schools and cultural organizations throughout the Twin Cities area to educate our neighbors about the true story of the Dakota People in Minnesota and promote acceptance and healing between our people and the general American public. And we have brought together once again the scattered descendants of the Mdewakanton band of Dakota people who had once lived in the Mendota area.

To learn more about us, please view the following links: WHO WE ARE, OUR IMPACT, our MISSION STATEMENT.  Also feel free to explore our ARCHIVES by clicking on CATEGORIES of interest.

Our Mission:

We bridge the gap between Indian and non-Indian communities. Our commitment to sustaining Dakota language and culture is our organization?s driving force. Our programs and events are open to the public. We encourage all people to learn and participate. We work collaboratively with tribal, city, county and state governments, Native and non-Native non-profits, and grass root organizations on issues and initiatives that pertain to and affect Dakota and other Native peoples.

• Preserving the Culture: Consistent with our mission, several programs and activities focus on the preservation of Dakota culture. These include:

• Conducting weekly Dakota language classes free of charge and open to the public.

• Conducting monthly traditional craft classes free of charge and open to the public.

• Hosting the annual MMDC Welcome Home Traditional Pow-Wow (2nd weekend in August).

• Hosting annual World Peace and Prayer Day and Winter Solstice ceremonies at Camp Coldwater

• Participating in an annual traditional Sugar Bush Camp

• Initiating and hosting the annual remembrance ceremony to honor the Dakota ancestors who were interred in the Fort Snelling concentration camp after the 1862 Dakota Conflict

• Hosting Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) meetings. Protecting the Culture: We believe that a critical component of ensuring that the Dakota culture will exist for future generations is protecting the culture today. These protective activities are crucial our mission. Current activities include:

• Participation in the National Trust of Historic Preservation Twin Cities Local Advisory Committee

• Exercising Treaty rights, such as pass and re-pass rights at Camp Coldwater and fishing rights under the 1805 Treaty

• Partnering with the Pilot Knob Preservation Association to protect an historical site from being developed into a commercial office-building complex. Promoting the Culture: We believe that promoting the Dakota culture is important on many levels. First and foremost, promoting the culture ensures that accurate historical and contemporary information about the Dakota is present in relevant dialogues and is available to Dakota and non-Dakota alike. Promotion initiatives also provide the foundation for improved relationships with our non-Dakota relatives. Towards these ends, activities to promote the Dakota culture include:

• Educational Outreach to local schools to share the Dakota culture, crafts, regalia, and artifacts

• Maintaining a website for the MMDC providing historical and cultural information to visitors We work collaboratively with tribal, city, county and state governments, Native and non-Native non-profits, and grass root organizations on issues and initiatives that pertain to and affect Dakota and other Native peoples. Examples of these collaborations include:

• Working with the Preserve Camp Coldwater Coalition to protect a site that is sacred to Dakota people and of cultural significance to the people of Minnesota

• Partnering with the Pilot Knob Preservation Association to protect an historical site from being developed into a commercial office-building complex.

• Collaborating with the University of Minnesota on several native-related projects

• Teaming up with the City of Mendota and the Mendota VFW in organizing the Mendota Days community celebration

• Working with Ospaye (a.k.a. Friends of the Friendly), a group of people ineligible to be MMDC members who are dedicated to supporting MMDC and its efforts

We believe we are here to play an important spiritual and cultural role for all people who live here in the land of our ancestors. Please help us to continue on! Pidamaya ye. Thank you!

Urgent open letter to all peoples of good heart about the current situation of the MMDC.

An open letter to all peoples of good heart about our current situation

from the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community.

We are the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community, and we are here today fulfilling that prophesy as best we can in the place where our direct ancestors lived.

Many generations ago, our elders prophesized that a time would come when their descendants would return to the birthplace of the Dakota Nation to protect its sacred sites and bring Dakota culture back to its place of origin. This place is the b’dota (mistranslated by the French as Mendota), the joining together place, of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers.

For the past 15 years we have been doing this by:

Successfully fighting for the preservation of the sacred spring (Mnihdoka Wakan) known as Coldwater Springs (Go here, COLD WATER SPRINGS to learn more)

Saving our sacred burial place, Oheyawahe, (now called Pilot Knob Hill) and other burial mounds from suburban development

Working with the Minnesota State Park Service in order to hold ceremonies honoring our ancestors in the sacred b’dota area of Fort Snelling State Park that all are welcome to join

Bringing back together, through our pow wows and other activities, the scattered descendants of the b’dota Mdewakanton Dakota tribe who lived here for countless generations but were never granted official tribal status

Revitalizing the use of the Dakota language in its native land with the longest continuous Dakota language classes, 11 years and counting, in Minnesota

Receiving spiritual training and support from elders in other Dakota/Lakota/Nakota tribes

Numerous presentations to elementary through college level schools and other organizations to help create understanding and support for our work within the non-native community, and

Applying to the Federal Government for full tribal recognition.

We have done all this with a good heart and unwavering commitment for the past 15 years and we have plans to do much more.

But now our sources of funding have dried up and we have come upon a hard time.

WE HAVE THREE MONTHS BEFORE we RUN OUT OF FUNDS AND LOOSE OUR COMMUNITY CENTER in Mendota, the home of our ancestors.

We plan to be here for more than seven times seven generations, but right now we need your help!

Losing the community center we are currently renting would seriously jeopardize our ability to continue our work and fulfill our mission. (See MISSION STATEMENT)

WE HAVE SPENT YEARS CONTESTING AGAINST POWERFUL, WELL FINANCED FORCES THAT WANTED TO DEMOLISH SACRED Sites IN THE TWIN CITIES METROPOLITAN AREA for ECONOMIC GAIN. WE HAVE BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF THESE FIGHTS AND WANT TO CONTINUE AS EFFECTIVE, VIGILANT DEFENDERS OF THE SACRED LANDS OF OUR ANCESTORS.

We have nourished a renaissance of Dakota culture in this area, freely made available to peoples of all races and colors.

We are in the process of applying for grants and developing the long-term financial stability that will allow us to purchase our community center in Mendota. But first we must first look to our immediate need of keeping a roof over our heads.

We need your FINANCIAL support right now TO KEEP GOING!

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Use this link: DONATIONS to go to the page on our website from which you can choose the amount and type of donation you wish to make. Whatever level you can afford to help us at will be greatly appreciated! We are a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, so your donations are 100% tax deductable. In supporting us financially you will be helping our efforts to fulfill the prophesies of our elders which motivate us to keep on going no matter what the obstacles!

If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us via phone at (651) 452-4141, or send an email to info@mendotadakota.com

There is one more thing we need to ask of you. Whether or not you are able to contribute anything right now, PLEASE take two or three minutes and send the link to this page, http://mendotadakota.com to all your friends and ask them to please send it to their friends as well. If you are on facebook or any other social networking sites, please send our homepage link to your friends there as well. In this way our message will spread out, and through the power of the many we will meet our immediate critical need.

PIDAMAYA,

THANK YOU!   THE MENDOTA TRIBAL COUNCIL.

DOWNLOAD this letter as a PDF file HERE

DOWNLOAD this letter as a DOC file HERE

* We will be posting some great informative videos featuring Jim Anderson.  They will be available on Youtube and our website, please check back in a few days.  Also you can login or register to join our e-mailing list. (newsletters and mailing list can be controlled from your profile once you have registered.)

First Nations United: To ensure the prosperity of the First Nation people and to bring about unification of all tribal nations through redefining our identity and connecting with our past!

FIRE TALKS!
Fire represents power, strength, life, and sustainability. First Nation people have used this life source in their ceremonies as a way of connecting us to the creator. Our ancestors gathered around fires and discussed many important issues that effected their tribe, community, and family. This connection to fire still remains for the First Nation people of Turtle Island. First Nations United would like to invite you to participate in FIRE TALKS! This is a bi-weekly intertribal gathering to develop a dialog about reclaiming the sacred site know as “Coldwater Spring.” Bring your ideas, history, and knowledge of this sacred site. _________________________________________________________________________
Location/Logistics: Coldwater Spring is south of Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis. From Hwy 55/Hiawatha, turn east (toward the Mississippi River) at 54th Street, take an immediate right (south) & follow the frontage road for a half mile past the pay parking meters, through the fence gates, & past the aqua brick building where you can park. This gathering is outside so please dress appropriate for the elements. A fire will be provided and some refreshments.

When: 1st & 3rd Sunday of every month 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Contact Information: George spears Chi-Noodin (612) 269 -5083
Gary Spears Migizi (952) 974-3257

> Chad Smith Statement: Charlie Soap regrets to announce his wife Wilma Mankiller has been diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer.

> Mankiller is an author, lecturer and former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Mankiller has served 12 years in elective office at the Cherokee Nation, the first two as Deputy Principal Chief followed by 10 years as Principal Chief. She retired from public office in 1995. Among her many honors, Mankiller has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton. Soap requests that the public respect the family’s privacy during this time.
>
> In a brief statement, Mankiller said: “I decided to issue this statement because I want my family and friends to know that I am mentally and spiritually prepared for this journey; a journey that all human beings will take at one time or another. I learned a long time ago that I can’t control the challenges the Creator sends my way but I can control the way I think about them and deal with them. On balance, I have been blessed with an extraordinarily rich and wonderful life, filled with incredible experiences. And I am grateful to have a support team composed of loving family and friends. I will be spending my time with my family and close friends and engaging in activities I enjoy. It’s been my privilege to meet and be touched by thousands of people in my life and I regret not being able to deliver this message personally to so many of you. If anyone wants to send a message to me, it is best to email me at
> wilmapmankiller@ yahoo.com.”

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.

Age 62 of Inver Grove Heights Peacefully on Feb. 26, 2010 Preceded in death by father, Gerard; brothers, Michele & Thomas. Survived by loving wife of 36 years, Elizabeth “Betty”; son, Brent (Misty); daughter, Renee; mother, Berniece; brothers, Nicholas (Sharon), Mark (Kay), Paul (Betty Ann); sisters, Elisabeth (Dale) Thurber, Margaret (Patrick) Hylton & Ann (Daryl) Reinhardt; mother-in-law, Mary Burk; sisters-in-law, Kathy & Elaine LaPointe; special feline friends, Punky & Callie; also other relatives & friends. Mass of Christian Burial 10 AM Tuesday at St. Peters Historic Catholic Church 1405 HWY 13, Mendota. Visitation 4-8 PM Monday at Roberts Funeral Home 8108 Barbara Ave. IGH. Also 9-10 AM prior to Mass at church. Interment Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Memorials preferred. Special thanks to HealthEast Hospice nurse, Patti & chaplain, Maureen. 651-455-2035