INDIAN COUNTRY NEWS

Tallgrass Broadcasting Hosting Radio-thon for Murrow Indian Children’s Home
PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Melissa Miller, Director, Native American Relations
Office: 918-333-8550 /Cell: 918-914-3358 / e-mail: missy@1039rwa.com

Bartlesville, OK April 24, 2007 – Tallgrass Broadcasting, LLC is donating 16 hours of broadcast time on 8 different stations to raise funds and awareness for the Murrow Indian Children’s Home Friday, May 4, 2007 from 6am to 10pm CST.

The Murrow Indian Children’s Home is a private orphanage that depends upon financial support from private donations which have gone to many natural disasters in recent times. The needs for the many natural disasters has left many organizations short on funding especially those such as the Murrow Indian Children’s Home which solely depends upon those donations.

Speaker George Tiger of the Muscogee-Creek Nation brought the immediate and dire needs of the Murrow Indian Children’s Home to the attention of Tallgrass Broadcasting’s owner and managing partner, Joe Walker. Walker immediately recognized that the Murrow Home was precisely the type of organization Tallgrass wanted to get behind, support and advocate. Tallgrass Broadcasting is a privately held broadcast radio company with stations in Kansas , Oklahoma , Texas and New Mexico who often lends support to many community efforts.

Joe Walker states, “After talking with my good friend George Tiger and then to Murrow Home Director Joan Brown, I presented my thoughts to the Team Tallgrass associates. They overwhelmingly agreed we should ‘adopt’ the Murrow Indian Children’s Home. I have every confidence we will gather the support and generosity of individuals, major corporations and business owners, throughout Indian Country and beyond, to provide Native American children with the means necessary to become future leaders of our communities.” Because Tallgrass Broadcasting recently acquired five additional radio stations, they are able to provide a broad geographic voice for the children of the Murrow Home.

“The entire Tallgrass Team is behind this cause,” Walker continued, “and welcomes the challenge with open arms, hearts and minds. This will become an annual event for Tallgrass and Murrow. All eight of our stations will be entirely focused on doing whatever it takes to make this a success.”

When contacted, Speaker Tiger commented, “The Murrow Indian Children’s Home has nurtured Native American children into successful leaders of the Native American community that I have known personally. It would be a shame to let the long-standing legacy of the Murrow Home come to an end. As Native people, we traditionally take care of our youth and our elders. I challenge all native people to join this effort to keep the fire burning for these children. We are all the elders they are now depending upon.”

Murrow Home Director, Joan Brown said, “After the call went out in late 2006 for help with our $30,000 deficit, many blessings have come our way. We’ve been able to keep our doors open and the lights on with the immediate support we received, but we still have a large void in our funding. We are still forced to function with a skeleton crew yet, our Murrow family never stops growing. We also have many structural repairs and maintenance needs that come with operating a historic facility such as ours. We’ve had plenty of volunteers’ offer their time and skills to do the labor but it will take at least $25,000 to acquire the materials required to make the repairs.” Brown adds they also have desperate need for transportation for day-to day business affairs and also to take the children to various outings and Native American events as a group. Often the staff must choose who can attend and who has to stay behind, or they make use of staff personal vehicles, often making several trips.

With the assistance of nearly 30 Team Tallgrass associates, Tallgrass Broadcasting hopes this radio-thon will provide a much needed voice of awareness, perhaps new avenues and opportunities to help secure Murrow Homes’ future. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Team Tallgrass associate, Melissa Miller, Director of Native American Relations at 918-333-8550.
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LAWMAKERS TO CONSIDER BILLS ON ESTABLISHING ENGLISH AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

On Wednesday, January 31, 2007, Channel 8 reporter, Elizabeth Kinney ran a segment over the Lawmakers consideration establishing English as official language and the English-Plus Plan.

Oklahoma City - There is a push to make English Oklahoma’s official language. But, a so-called ‘English-plus’ plan may win out. Next week, lawmakers will discuss two different bills that deal with the language issue. News Channel 8's Elizabeth Kinney explains what the English-plus plan is all about.

English-plus means people who have businesses can speak any language they want with employees, but once they come out to customers, they have to be speaking English. While the cooks dish up plates full of enchiladas and homemade tortillas, Vivianna chit chats in Spanish. But out on the floor, its English all the time.

“We already do speak English,” she says. “We’re in Tulsa, Oklahoma, not in Mexico.”

“I won’t go back there, I won’t say what restaurant but won’t go back because we’re not Spanish.”

The debate over making English the state’s only language is hotter than the salsa.

“Everybody that’s come to this country, they may not have come knowing how to speak English, but learned how to speak English,” says customer Beth Jorishie.

“You’ve got to work with them a little bit,” adds Marvin Culver. “But, if there’s a real language barrier, it takes away from the dining experience.”

But, if English becomes Oklahoma’s only language, some say it takes away from our cultural experience.

“I don’t think it represents the diversity, complexity, variety, the rich history of this land.”

Dr. Richard Grounds is Native American. He says an official language would hurt more than just Spanish-speakers. It could put an end to his native language, Euchee.

“There’s no real benefit here,” Grounds says. “No effort to provide English education. This is simply a slap-in-the-face.”Tulsa’s Hispanic population has almost tripled since 1990. They make up seven percent of the city’s population.
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NEWS IN INDIAN COUNTRY
submitted by :Rita Williams

LAWMAKERS ADDRESS PROBLEMS FACING AMERICAN INDIANS
Reprint from the National Congress of American Indians

Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo) spoke Thursday about the problems facing American Indians at a breakfast co-sponsored by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and The Hill.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Dorgan said. “We have Third World conditions in a number of Indian reservations in areas of housing, health and education. We need to address these issues.”

This week, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is set to hold a hearing to discuss the nominations of Carl Artman as assistant secretary of the Indian Affairs Bureau, Dorgan said. The committee will focus on healthcare, law enforcement and other issues that spring from a “trust responsibility” between the U.S. government and the Indian peoples.

This year could mark changes for Indian peoples, Campbell said.

“Rubber really hits the road for this year, “ Campbell said. “As you know, for the last couple of years, I think we were really sidetracked,” he added, referring to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who exploited four Indian tribes for millions of dollars.

“Things that are really important to us, like education and housing and nutrition and jobs and the whole agenda went that way for us” Campbell said, motioning toward the window. “And very frankly, its wise of Senator Dorgan {to bring} it back. Those are very important issues.”

Campbell, who served as committee chairman from 1997 to 2001 and again from 2003 to 2004, said American Indians have not had adequate political power.

“We have very strong leadership,” Campbell continued. “We’re on the move and we’re going to make sure we stay on the move.”

Dorgan will be holding a “series of listening sessions across the country”at which he will meet Indian tribes and representatives to listen to their concerns and “try to understand the agenda of the committee that I shall now chair.”

His first listening session was scheduled to take place last weekend in Minnesota.

Akaka, a member of the committee, welcomed Dorgan as chairman.

“Byron Dorgan, present chairman of the committee, follows a group of leaders through the years that really brought this committee along, Ben Nighthorse Campbell was one of them,” Akaka said. “I look forward to working with {Senator Dorgan} - we’ll have a great committee again.”

NCAI Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson and Ietan Consulting Managing Partner Wilson Pipestem also joined in the discussion, which was moderated by The Hill’s editor-at-large, Albert Eisele.

“It’s a special honor and significant responsibility to be able to chair a committee in Congress that deals with our special relationship with Indian people and Indian tribes: the first American people,” Dorgan concluded.
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News in Indian Country

by Rita Williams, National Council
Legislative Liason Affairs/Writer

NCAI’s ANNUAL CONVENTION IN SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

The National Congress of American Indians held their 63rd Annual Convention in Sacramento, California, September 30 - October 6, 2006. Among one of the many topics was the Native Vote effort and a press conference held with NCAI President, Joe Garcia, Vice - President Jefferson Keel, Former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, and NCAI Executive Director, Jackie Johnson. Speaker George Tiger, Council Representative Shirlene Ade and Rita Williams, Legislative Liason was in attendance during this televised conference.

Questions from the media were asked in regards to tribal issues and the impact of the native vote. President Garcia said, “ tribes are taking on more self-determination initiatives and we must be reactive to the responsibilities that come with that, part of the responsibility is Indian people using their voice and their vote in the electoral process.”

Former Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell said, “ Native People are realizing now more than ever the substantive nature of their power at the polls.” “By using our vote, we are beginning to define ourselves after 400 years where we were defined by someone else,”

NCAI’s Native Vote Campaign has focused this year with tribes across the nation to register, educate, and encourage our people to get involved in the voting process by going to the polls, November 7, 2006.

We are doing our part in Oklahoma to strengthen our voting voice at the polls on November 7, 2006. The Oklahoma Native Vote United will rally in Indian Country on Saturday, October 21st, 2006 starting at 1 p.m. in Del City, Oklahoma at the Reed Center. We are urging all tribes to attend and asking your help to get your people to this rally by using all transportation available within your tribe. We as Indian Tribes in the State of Oklahoma need to be as unified as the anti-Indian organizations are, by showing our solidarity and that Indian Tribes in Oklahoma can unite. Together our native people can well decide the outcome of our electoral race. For more information on this rally you may call, Rachael Megli/Cheyenne-Arapaho @ 580-497-7726, Nellie Roughface/Ponca Nation @ 580-762-8104, Lewie McCarthy/Comanche Nation @ 580-512-2112 or Rita Williams/Muscogee Creek @ 758-1410.