Page 10
Lac du Flambeau Review
Constitution committee
Tribal Leaders represent Lac du
Flambeau at the National Gaming
Commission Convention
The attached photo is of the people who attended the recent National Indian Gaming Commission Convention in Phoenix, AZ,
representing Lac du Flambeau:
Standing: Frank Mitchell, Terry Allen, Trinity Stella, Duane Chapman, Elmer Sunn, Dan Chapman, Tom Maulson
Seated: Betty Jack, Goldie Larson
Birth announcements
Braydon Lee Dahm
Braydon Lee Dahm, born June 11, 2011 at 12:11 am. Parents
are Montana Lee and Karissa Leone Dahm, siblings are Cameron James Riley-Dahm. Grandparents are Betty LaBarge,
Terri Dahm and Thomas Yunk of Rothschild; Joe and Karen
Alore of Weston, and James Riley of Texas.
Sofia Alejandra Retana
Sofia Alejandra Retana, born on June 11th, at 10:17 a.m. Parents are Shannon and Jose' Retana of Lac du Flambeau.
Grandparents are Patti Cobb of Lac du Flambeau, Tola and
Mario Retana of Juarez, Mexico. Sofia has two siblings, Jose
Jr. and Orlando.
Nolan Peterson
Nolan Peterson, born on June 10th, at 2:34 p.m. Parents are
Veronica St.Germaine and Alan Peterson of Lac du Flambeau.
Nolan has siblings Siraelyn, Donna, and Righteous Peterson.
Grandparents are Henry and Mildred St.Germaine, Edward
Peterson and Wasson Dillard of Harbor Springs, MI, and
Donna M. Peterson of Lac du Flambeau. Nolan weighed in at
8 lbs., 5 oz and measured 20' 1/2 in. long.
JUNE
Little League Games
Monday, June 6:
LDF Royals vs. Quality Equipment @
Minocqua Ballpark (Hwy 70w)
Tuesday, June 7: LDF Indians vs. Mercuria Energy at LDF
Ballpark
LDF Cubs vs. Island City Ice Cream @
Brandy Park
LDF Braves BYE
Wednesday, June 8:LDF Royals vs. Brandy Lake BP at LDF
Ballpark
Thursday June 9: LDF Indians vs. NL Tundra @ Manitowish Waters Field (HWY 51)
LDF Cubs at LDF Ballpark
LDF Braves vs. Merrill Lynch at LDF
Ballpark
Monday, June 13: LDF Royals bs. The Store @ Minocqua
Ballpark (Hwy 70)
Tuesday, June 14: LDF Indians BYE
LDF Cubs vs. Sedlak at LDF Ballpark
LDF Braves vs. River Valley Bank @
Minocqua Ballpark (Hwy 70)
Wednesday, June 15:LDF Royals vs. Design Solutions at LDF
Ballpark
Thursday, June 16: LDF Indians vs. Mercuria Energy @
Brandy Park
LDF Cubs BYE
LDF Braves vs. Hoggie Doggies at LDF
Ballpark
Monday, June 20: LDF Royals vs. Minocqua PD @ Minocqua Ballpark
Tuesday, June 21: LDF Indians vs. Island City Ice Cream at
LDF BallparkLDF Cubs vs. Sedlak @ Minocqua Ballpark
(Hwy 70)LDF Braves vs. Lakeland Times @ Minocqua Ballpark
Wednesday, June 22:LDF Royals vs. Quality Equipment at
LDF Ballpark
Thursday, June 23: LDF Indians @ Brandy Ballpark
LDF Cubs vs. Island City Ice Cream at
LDF Ballpark
LDF Braves
BYE
Monday, June 27: LDF Royals vs. Brandy Lake BP @ Minocqua Ballpark (Hwy 70)
LDF Cubs and LDF Braves: Playoffs week
Wednesday, June 29:LDF Royals vs. The Store at LDF Ballpark
Shawn Edwards Jr.
Shawn Edwards Jr. born on May 28, 2011. Parents are Shawn
Edwards of Milwaukee, Georgia Edwards of LDF. Grandparents are Gerri K. Batiste of LdF, Ronald Edwards of Milwaukee. Great grandparents are Maxine Batiste of LDF, Benny
Edwards of Milwaukee. Shawn has one sister, Florence.
Bishop Daniel Clause
Bishop Daniel Clause born on May 9, 2011. Parents - Sheila
Thompson and Herbert Clause of Lac du Flambeau. Bishop
has a sister, Beverly.
Kaylei Bryanna Neill
Kaylei Bryanna Neill, born May 13th, 2011. Parents are Amber and Anthony Neill of Hurley, WI. Grandparents are Daniel
Christensen Sr. of Lac du Flambeau, Debbie Meier of Mercer,
WI, and Deb & Gary Tummins of Romeoville, Illinois.
TRIBAL CONSTITUTION
COMMITTEE
MEETING NOTICE
TO ALL TRIBAL MEMBERS
AND DESCENDANTS
TRIBAL CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE
MEETINGS ARE CONDUCTED EACH
WEDNESDAY AT 5:00 PM
WILLIAM WILDCAT TRIBAL CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBERS
LEARN ABOUT YOUR TRIBAL CONSTITUTION
LEARN ABOUT CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
LEARN ABOUT MEMBERSHIP AND
LINEAL DESCENDANTS
LEARN ABOUT SEPARATION OF POWERS
LEARN ABOUT YOUR INHERENT RIGHTS
JUNE
Lac du Flambeau Review
news
Page 11
Water Walk
Continued from front page
Water Walk, a graduate of 2003, ‟05, ‟06, 07 and 2010, Mandamin, 69, is the guiding force and inspiration for all the Water Walkers and their tens of thousands of supporters from
around North America and the world. A woman from Belgium
heard about the Water Walk over the Internet and flew over
the Atlantic just to gather with them at Bad River and hug
Josephine.
The event was a social network phenomenon, with thousands of followers on facebook and Twitter, everyone who
“followed” them was swamped with “alerts” indicating
changes in schedules, real time blogs relating everything from
weather conditions to reactions in various communities enroute. “Look for us on facebook,” read a message on a support
vehicle parked along U.S. 2; while the groups from the north,
west and south walked up Birch Hill to Cedar to meet with the
east walkers Saturday.
The walkers from the east who, according to organizers,
had stayed in Ironwood, Mich. Friday night before resuming
their walk through Iron County. Led by Madeleine T. Huntjens, the group came into Cedar singing. Spirits were high
despite the long days of walking, the stiff muscles and the
aches and pains each morning. “I woke up with blisters,” said
one walker Thursday morning, I feel like a real Water Walker
now.”
Mandamin had met up with the large group of walkers
from the east, (She had walked with all four groups, for at least
10 days each) and walked with them to Cedar and the ceremony at Three Fires Mide Lodge and Ojibwe Language Immersion Center.
The walkers from the south, led by Sharon Day of Minneapolis, arrived in Lac Courte Oreilles last week, where there
were ceremonies at the LCO Powwow grounds. Walkers also
celebrated at Fond du Lac Reservation and Duluth, Minn. this
past week.
On Tuesday, the women walkers from the north and west
attended a public event at Park Point in Duluth. The two
groups had met up a day earlier at Fond du Lac for a women‟s
sweat lodge, one organizer said Monday.
Leading the walk from Duluth to Bad River, Elsie LeosoCorbine, 52, Bad River, took time out from her walk to contact
The Ojibwe Times and other area media earlier this week. The
message was urgent: People must act now to preserve the integrity of water everywhere.
“(The journey) is bringing awareness about the importance of keeping our water clean for future generations ... for
our great, great grandchildren who we will probably never
see.”
In Duluth, Mayor Don Ness proclaimed June 7 as Mother
Earth Water Walk Day. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker followed suit and signed a proclamation proclaiming the Water
Walk Day in Wisconsin for June 11, the day the walkers from
the four directions met up.
“The 2011 Mother Earth Water Walk is about future generations and sustainability, organizers claim. “We are conducting the walk to draw attention to the importance of water in
sustaining life.”
Leoso-Corbine called this year‟s water walk “The Woodstock of environmental issues ...”
It is no coincidence that the Water Walk takes place in
the spring, and that women are carrying the water, according
to walk organizers. Spring is a time of renewal and women are
traditionally the keepers of the water, they said. Men, however, were asked to carry the staff in the long journey from the
continent‟s oceans.
Coming into LCO last week, Day and other walkers from
the south were met with stormy weather, but the clouds passed
and the weather warmed just in time for ceremonies at the
Honor the Earth Powwow grounds.
Each walker was committed to completing this spiritual
journey, but none more committed than Mandamin. A grandmother, Mandamin shares her concern for the waters of the
Great Lakes, used by more than 35 million people of Canada
and the United States.
Starting out with the Walkers from the west in Olympia,
Wash. Led by Dawnis Kennedy, Mandamin walked with them
for 10 days beginning on April 9. She then met up with the
walkers from Gulfport, Miss. also walking with them for 10
days.
The importance of water to Mandamin? “It‟s life,” she
said. “Not just for us, but for everybody.”
Mandamin is optimistic about the health of the planet and
the opportunity to keep water clean. “Everything is changing,”
she said of people‟s attitudes. “The spirit is changing everywhere.”
After the four groups of walkers met up, at the Three Fires
Midewinin Lodge in Cedar, a few hundred yards away, Saturday, Bad River Elder Eddy Benton led a tobacco prayer for the
walkers and the water.
“In this lodge,” Benton said, “we have heard so many
stories about our ancestors and your ancestors. And we know
that they are your ancestors because you have come to be with
us today.
He said the most important thing for native people is to
keep their heritage and culture. Next to the sacred fire, with
lodge members tossing into it tobacco and cedar needles, he
spoke: “Do not forget the people who no longer speak the language … Do not leave them behind … ”
Walker Carol Hopkins also spoke, especially about Mandamin. She said the spirit for the Water Walk came from this
lodge when Benton said several decades ago that “Water would
someday be worth more than gold,” and also that someday
someone would walk around the lakes to focus on the worth of
water.
“What are we going to do to take care of this water?,”
Hopkins said Benton asked. “Add a price tag (to the water, as
he predicted), is going to cause a lot of things to happen. I
know it to be true. Who is going to put action to this? And it
was our sister Josephine that began the Water Walks.
“Water is not only a natural resource, but it has a spirit,”
Hopkins said. “The reason for the eagle staff is to create the
path to protect the water. This spirit started here (Cedar) before
there was a lodge.”
“Nothing deters her,” Hopkins said of Mandamin.
“Nothing gets in her way. It didn‟t matter if it was raining. It
didn‟t matter if we were whining about our blisters. She kept
walking. She had knee surgery between water walks, but she
kept walking.”
Back at the Bad River Powwow Grounds, several other
tribal members spoke, including environmentalists who spoke
out against the proposed Gogebic Taconite open pit mine between Upson and Mellen.
Northland College Professor Joe Rose grew up in Old
Odanah: “I grew up a couple of blocks from here,” he said. “No
heat … we got our water from town pumps. It was the best time
of my life, and it was good water.
“Now the ground water is so polluted. This proposed mine
… it scares the hell out of me. It (the mine) is at the headwaters
and it‟s all downhill from there. I‟ve never seen a clean mining
operation and I‟ve traveled all over.”
“The proposed legislation eliminates the need for local
needs to be considered for mining approval. Local approval
would no longer be required, and it would allow private wells
and surface water to be drawn down. It subjects private land
owners to water draw downs and may create an „eminent domain‟ scenario.”
Bad River Chairman Mike Wiggins, Jr., also spoke at the
powwow grounds. He told people it was symbolic that the first
draft of the proposed rewrite of the state mining legislation
was slated to be in its final form on June 11, but instead June
11 was the day the walkers gathered at Bad River.
“With an open pit mine, there is water pollution,” Wiggins said. “Sulfate pollution is a destroyer of wild rice.” The
very same open pit mining that has devastated the Minnesota
rice beds was caused by sulfate pollution. With sulfate pollution there is a tremendous amount of mercury that is released
… that we see in our fish, in our bodies, that is causing learning disabilities in our children.
“In the Great Lakes, there are already fish advisories.
There is a tremendous amount of impacts. Our way of life is
threatened. The spiritual connection to the creator: that we are
here for a short time and these things are gifts for us.
“We‟ve already been eroded here in Indian Country,”
Wiggins said. “We‟re still grieving that we can‟t drink the
surface water. It goes hand-in-hand with what‟s happening to
other indigenous people around the world. When we talk about
the water it‟s hard to get people to listen.
“In this economy, It‟s jobs, jobs, jobs. The timing (of the
Water Walk) has been cosmic … that notion that it was meant
to happen. The legislation was to have happened on June 11.
Since then the legislation has been pulled back. I know that the
Water Walkers had a lot to do with that too.
“It all goes kaput if we don‟t have water to drink. For Bad
River, I want to say thank you … Miigwiich … they were all
totally needed. We‟re water people. We‟re people of the water.
We are the wealthiest tribe I‟ve ever seen. In our water, in our
woods. Ninety percent of our reservation is wilderness.
“We‟re interested in staying around for the next 1,000
years,” Wiggins concluded. “When (the mine project proposal)
goes away, all the people of northern Wisconsin are going to
benefit.
On Sunday, the Water Workers walked their final steps of
this journey to Waverly Beach close to where the Bad River
empties into Lake Superior. There, the Mandamin and the
other elders from the various tribes across North America
emptied their copper pails of water from the oceans into
Gitchee Gumee.
The public was invited, but like parts of the tobacco ceremony at the Three Fires lodge, the press was asked to not take
photos or videos.
The buckets of salt water gathered with waters from Lake
Superior. The Mother Earth Water Walk 2011 was completed.
The walkers had come full circle. The struggle, however, is
not over, and walkers no doubt will be once again be organizing another water walk to focus attention on the importance of
water.
Page 12
Lac du Flambeau Review
Community
Nations of Warriors Pow-Wow
HONORING ALL VETERANS
June 25th & 26th, 2011
Indian Bowl, Lac du Flambeau, WI
Grand Entries: Saturday 1 pm, 7 p.m.
Sunday, 1 p.m.
Host Drum: Medicine Rock
Emcee: Dylan prescott
Spiritual Advisor: Bernard Hawpetoss
Arena Director: Robert Elm
head Veteran: Rock VanZile
head Male Dancer: Steve King, Head Female Dancer: Julie Hill
First 4 drums to register will receive honorarium
Weekend Pass $10, Daily pass $6; Veterans, Elders (60 and
over)
children under 5 FREE
Drums and Vendors call 715 588-3965
Rough camping available on premises, showers available 8
a.m. - noon
at LDF Grade school (bring your own towels)
JUNE