Joe Shirley Jr. (AP file photo)

The news nearly coincided with Tuesday’s special election, whose unofficial results show people voting 61 percent in favor of reducing the Navajo Nation Council from 88 to 24 members, and 39 percent against.

On the issue of giving the president line-item veto power, people voted 59 percent in favor and 41 percent against it.

“It makes my heart feel glad,” Shirley says. “Judge (Geraldine0 Benally ruled the legislation they used was invalid. It’s as though there really was no law and I was never on leave.”

The council placed Shirley on leave during an investigation into his involvements into failed business dealings that cost the tribe millions of dollars.

Shirley also reinstated Patrick Sandoval as his chief of staff. Earlier this month, Vice President Ben Shelly, who was in charge while Shirley was on leave, removed Sandoval from that office.

It’s likely that Judge Benally’s decision will be appealed, Begay writes.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Joe Shirley Jr., Native American news, Navajo Nation, Navajo Nation Council

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., right, got instructions from Johnny R. Thompson as he signed in for early voting at the Navajo Election Administration office in Window Rock, Ariz., last month. (AP photo)

Helicopter reaches snowbound Blackfeet ranches
Heavy snow and temperatures as low as 35 below zero left people stranded on their isolated ranches on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation northern Montana. Authorities from the U.S. Border Patrol and the Blackfeet Department of Homeland Security report here that helicopters, and later off-road vehicles, were able to reach them with food and supplies.

Two Strike, Teton Sioux

Violent Mapuche activism shakes Chile’s government, economy
Indigenous Mapuche activists in Chile are using any means necessary to pursue claims to ancestral and other lands they say were illegally taken from them. Those methods include arson, hikjackings and ranch seizures, according to this Time magazine story. Several communities have formed Mapuche Territorial Alliance, which seeks political independence from Chile.

Navajo jeweler Jackie Platero

Navajo Silversmith Jackie Platero says she can’t pretend to her 10 children anymore that things are OK. “I just told the kids that Christmas this year is going to be a lot less than they usually get because the bills come first,” said Platero, of To’hajiilee, west of Albuquerque.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Blackfeet Indian Reservation, buffalo post, Joe Shirley Jr., Mapuche, Native American jewelry, Native American news, Navajo Nation, Recession

First Nations stage huge protests in Canada against sales tax
Tribes blocked the Trans-Canada Highway in three places, and First Nations members also rallied in Toronto to protest the “Harmonized Sales Tax,” saying that one nation – in this case, Canada – has no right to tax another, according to the NewsWire. “Today is just the beginning,” says Grand Chief Randall Phillips of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians, representing eight First Nation communities across Ontario. “We have put the Federal and Provincial governments on notice that we are prepared to fight the imposition of the HST on First Nations.”

The sacred peak, Opahata I, is also known as Harney Peak (Defenders of the Black Hills photo)

Within the hills, the sacred peak, Opahata I, also known as Harney Peak, is considered the “center of all that is” to many Native American nation. The surrounding Okawita Paha area, literally “Gathering Place,” also is considered sacred, the newspaper writes. The monument – where activities such as logging and prescribed burns would be off-limits – would be jointly managed by the National Park Service and the Great Sioux Nation.

Morales’ re-election means more pro-indigenous policies in Bolivia
Here’s an interesting story from Bolivia on the re-election of Evo Morales to the presidency. The result is likely to be more pro-indigenous policies in Bolivia, where Morales would not have won without strong support from the country’s indigenous people.

Dawes Rolls prove great tool for Native family research
Whatever you may think about the Dawes Rolls – created to allocate (vastly reduced) amounts of land to tribes – they’ve turned out to be a huge help to people doing geneaological research, according to the Terre Haute (Ind.) Tribune Star, here.

Top aide to Navajo president asked to resign
Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly has asked Patrick Sandoval, chief of staff to President Joe Shirley Jr., to resign, the Navajo Times reports here. Shirley, under investigation in connection failed business dealings, has been on administrative leave for six weeks.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Black Hills, Bolivia, Dawes Rolls, Evo Morales, First Nations, Great Sioux Nation, Harmonized Sales Tax, Harney Peak, indigenous, Iroquois and Allied Nations, Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo Nation, Okawita Paha National Monument, Opahata I

The Navajo Nation Council at last summer's meeting. A pending special election proposes reducing the number of council members from 88 to 24. (AP photo)

The election is supposed to be held Dec. 15. But elections officials say they need nearly $300,000 by Dec. 4 to make it happen, money that doesn’t appear to be forthcoming, according to this Navajo Times story. So, they might have to postpone the election until next year.

The paper’s Jason Begay writes that the one sure source of money the elections agency thought it had disappeared Oct. 16 when President Joe Shirley Jr. issued a memo withdrawing his offer to transfer $190,000 in executive branch funds for the election.

Shirley was placed on administrative leave last month in the midst of allegations of legal violations arising from tribal contracts with Internet and manufacturing companies.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Joe Shirley Jr., Native American news, Navajo Nation

Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — An investigation into whether the leader of the country’s largest American Indian reservation and others broke any laws in connection with two companies that operated on the Navajo Nation is moving forward.

Tribal Department of Justice attorney Henry Howe told lawmakers last week that Attorney General Louis Denetsosie soon will file a petition with the Window Rock District Court to appoint a special prosecutor.

The lawmakers placed Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. on administrative leave last month. The move came a week after they met in closed session to discuss alleged legal violations arising from tribal contracts with separate Internet and manufacturing companies.

Investigators hired by the council compiled the reports, but they haven’t been made public.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Joe Shirley Jr., Native American news, Navajo Nation

Johnny Cash used Ira Hayes ballad to make anti-war, pro-Native point with Nixon
Here’s a bittersweet story about Johnny Cash’s visit to the White House to sing for President Richard Nixon. The president suggested some of his favorites like “Okie from Muskogee.” Cash responded instead with protest songs, among them “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.” As the Salon story says, radio stations didn’t want to play the song about the Iwo Jima hero that highlighted the plight of Native Americans, but Cash counted it among his favorites. More to the point, it tells how that song came to be among Cash’s repertoire after a meeting with protest balladeer Peter LaFarge, son of Oliver LaFarge, whose tragic Navajo love story “Laughing Boy” won the Pulitzer Prize.

Former Rosebud Sioux official questions cost of D.C. trip
A former member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council is questioning the travel expenses of 10 tribal members who flew to Washington, D.C., for last week’s White House Tribal Nations Conference. “It is kind of a shock to see that 10 of our elected officials traveled to Washington, D.C., when tribal paychecks were bouncing on the 30th of October, 2009,” Ron Valandra tells the Rapid City Journal here.

Navajo Times: Multimillion-dollar slush fund; possible AG probe
The Navajo Times continues its scrutiny of the tribe’s finances with this story by Marley Shebala reporting that more than $35 million went into the discretionary funds of the Navajo Nation Council, speaker’s office and president’s office from 2005 to 2009. And Jason Begay writes here that the attorney general has found enough information in the classified reports on President Joe Shirley Jr. to warrant hiring a special prosecutor to further investigate.

Senate committee to focus on gangs, drug smuggling in Indian Country
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is holding an oversight hearing this week to focus on the problem of gangs and drug smuggling. Those issues are hitting some reservations hard as criminals realize that the tangle of legal jurisdiction on reservations, coupled with inadequate resources for law enforcement, can make it easier for them to operate there. The hearing will be webcast.

Pennsylvania sanctuary honors white buffalo
Seven Native American elders took part in a ceremony near Pittsburgh yesterday to thank owners of the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort for establishing a sanctuary for a rare white buffalo and a black buffalo born at a nearby zoo, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The white buffalo, which was born Nov. 12, 2006, was given the Lenape name Kenahkihinen — translated in English as “watch over us.”

Young readers’ book tells story of abandoned Kootenai warrior and his survival
Salish Kootenai College in Montana has published a children’s book that tells the true story of a young Kootenai man, alone and without supplies or tools, abandoned in the middle of hostile enemy territory on the Great Plains during the 18th century, and how he turned to the land to survive. The story, written the seventh-grade level, was told by the late Kootenai elder Adeline Mathias and is illustrated by Kootenai artists Francis Auld and Debbie JosephThe Char-Koosta news tells how to order it, here.

Gwen Florio

Tags: "Ballad of Ira Hayes", Ira Hayes, Iwo Jima, Joe Shirley Jr., Johnny Cash, Navajo Nation, Rosebud Sioux, Salish Kootenai College, Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Tribal Nations Conference, White buffalo

Navajo Nation in “turmoil” as president placed on leave
Good investigative reporting by the Navajo Times results in publication of this information showing “substantial evidence” that Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. violated the tribe’s ethics laws. Tensions are so high that a significant, armed police presence was deemed necessary during last week’s special tribal council meeting in Window Rock. The video above gives an idea of the atmosphere that day.

Canada’s First Nations reserves see “explosion” of tuberculosis
The Winnipeg Free Press reports here that “Manitoba now has one of the highest rates of TB in Canada because the disease has been allowed to spread rampant in the First Nations population. On some reserves, the TB rate is more than 100 times the national average.”

Ho-Chunk buy land where Chippewa had planned casino
There’s been considerable buzz about this story, mainly because the Bad River and St.Croix Chippewa bands had options to buy a parcel of land near Beloit, Wisc., for an off-reservation casino. On Thursday, the Ho-Chunk Nation announced it had purchased that same parcel. The two Chippewa bands wanted to build a casino there, but the Ho-Chunk say they stand a better chance of getting approval to build a casino off their reservation.

Turkey sponsors Native American education exchange
The Web site TurkishNY.com makes its first appearance in Buffalo Post with this story about a lecture tour in Turkey this month by Native American educators. The Turkish Coaltion of America is sponsoring the trip in conjunction with the American Indian Higher Educational Consortium. The story says the idea is to foster collaboration between tribal colleges and Turkish universities.

Powwow celebrates couple’s 63rd wedding anniversary
Here’s the sort of story we love to see: Victor Matt met Delma Gebeau at the Arlee powwow on Flathead Indian Reservation shortly after he came back to Montana after World War II. The Salish couple have been married 63 years, and celebrated their union the way it began – with a powwow, according to the Char-Koosta News.

Gwen Florio

Tags: American Indian Higher Educational Consortium, Bad River Chippewa, First Nations, Flathead Indian Reservation, Ho-Chunk, Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo Nation, St. Croix Chippewa