Tribal members push to keep Native American holiday
6:10 PM
By Travis Coleman Journal staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2008
PENDER, Neb. -- Native American Day survived another barrage of bickering Tuesday, as tribal members flooded the Board of Commissioners meeting to help Thurston County remain the first in Nebraska to recognize it as a paid holiday.
More than two dozen Winnebago High School students and tribal members discussed the origin and significance of the holiday with board members. By the end of the meeting the two issues that have delayed a conclusion remained:
-- Does the March 5 vote that approved the paid holiday represent a majority?
-- Can county employee and board member Gene French vote on an issue he could benefit from?
During a discussion with the American Indian students, Chairwoman Teri Lamplot reiterated that Thurston's budget can't absorb another paid holiday and that it isn't right to approve holidays based on race.
Teacher Caroline Frenchman asked Lamplot, "Is this going to hurt anybody?" Another student asked why Lamplot was afraid of keeping the holiday.
"I'm not afraid of it," said Lamplot.
"Then just do it," said Raven Huffman, a student.
Leonard Peters told the students if the state government approved a Native American Day paid holiday, "we'd be more than happy to have it."
"You're in the wrong place; go to Lincoln," Peters said.
The board also received 21 letters supporting the holiday from fifth- and sixth-grade students from Walthill (Neb.) Elementary School.
Winnebago tribal member Frank LaMere shifted his focus on Lamplot, alleging that she is a member of the Citzens Equal Rights Alliance, which he called a "right-wing extremist" and "racist" organization.
Long after LaMere had left the room, Lamplot described CERA as an organization fighting for the equal treatment of all citizens.
According to the organization's mission statement on its official Web site, citizensalliance.org, "Federal Indian Policy is unaccountable, destructive, racist and unconstitutional. It is therefore CERA's mission to ensure the equal protection of the law as guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution of the United States of America."
Recognition of new paid holiday would strengthen Indian and non-Indian relations in a county with two Indian reservations and where more than half of its residents are Indian, said Danelle Smith, a board member who voted for the holiday.
The holiday had been approved after the board's American Indian members outnumbered the non-Indian members 3-2, with one member abstaining and one absent.
Smith, Darren Wolfe and Paul Snowball, who are Indian, voted for the measure. Peters and Doyle French, who are non-Indian, voted against it.
Gene French abstained from voting, and Lamplot was in Washington, D.C., on county business. Both are non-Indian.
The decision gave the 21 Thurston County employees a paid day off on the fourth Monday in September, which is already observed as an unpaid holiday in Nebraska.
The non-Indian board members say the vote didn't represent a majority of the six members present, based on a 1978 Nebraska attorney general's opinion.
The measure is the latest issue to divide Indians and non-Indians in Thurston County. They are split over a liquor tax lawsuit still in litigation and a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that would make non-Indians subject to tribal law enforcement.
Anytime an issue concerning Indians is brought up in Thurston "it becomes a controversy and it's frustrating," Smith said.
"It paints a picture of what our intentions truly are," she said.
Gene French said he will deliver a letter this week asking the state's accountability and disclosure department if he could vote on an issue that he would plausibly benefit from. He declined to say which way he would vote if he were allowed to.
"I think it's time to end this thing," he said.
This is the one thing board members could agree on Tuesday. But how that will happen has board members at odds again.
A ballot vote is the direction this issue is headed, Peters said, but added that he won't vote for it.
"If it's put to a vote ... I think it would pass," Wolfe said.
More than two dozen Winnebago High School students and tribal members discussed the origin and significance of the holiday with board members. By the end of the meeting the two issues that have delayed a conclusion remained:
-- Does the March 5 vote that approved the paid holiday represent a majority?
-- Can county employee and board member Gene French vote on an issue he could benefit from?
During a discussion with the American Indian students, Chairwoman Teri Lamplot reiterated that Thurston's budget can't absorb another paid holiday and that it isn't right to approve holidays based on race.
Teacher Caroline Frenchman asked Lamplot, "Is this going to hurt anybody?" Another student asked why Lamplot was afraid of keeping the holiday.
"I'm not afraid of it," said Lamplot.
"Then just do it," said Raven Huffman, a student.
Leonard Peters told the students if the state government approved a Native American Day paid holiday, "we'd be more than happy to have it."
"You're in the wrong place; go to Lincoln," Peters said.
The board also received 21 letters supporting the holiday from fifth- and sixth-grade students from Walthill (Neb.) Elementary School.
Winnebago tribal member Frank LaMere shifted his focus on Lamplot, alleging that she is a member of the Citzens Equal Rights Alliance, which he called a "right-wing extremist" and "racist" organization.
Long after LaMere had left the room, Lamplot described CERA as an organization fighting for the equal treatment of all citizens.
According to the organization's mission statement on its official Web site, citizensalliance.org, "Federal Indian Policy is unaccountable, destructive, racist and unconstitutional. It is therefore CERA's mission to ensure the equal protection of the law as guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution of the United States of America."
Recognition of new paid holiday would strengthen Indian and non-Indian relations in a county with two Indian reservations and where more than half of its residents are Indian, said Danelle Smith, a board member who voted for the holiday.
The holiday had been approved after the board's American Indian members outnumbered the non-Indian members 3-2, with one member abstaining and one absent.
Smith, Darren Wolfe and Paul Snowball, who are Indian, voted for the measure. Peters and Doyle French, who are non-Indian, voted against it.
Gene French abstained from voting, and Lamplot was in Washington, D.C., on county business. Both are non-Indian.
The decision gave the 21 Thurston County employees a paid day off on the fourth Monday in September, which is already observed as an unpaid holiday in Nebraska.
The non-Indian board members say the vote didn't represent a majority of the six members present, based on a 1978 Nebraska attorney general's opinion.
The measure is the latest issue to divide Indians and non-Indians in Thurston County. They are split over a liquor tax lawsuit still in litigation and a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that would make non-Indians subject to tribal law enforcement.
Anytime an issue concerning Indians is brought up in Thurston "it becomes a controversy and it's frustrating," Smith said.
"It paints a picture of what our intentions truly are," she said.
Gene French said he will deliver a letter this week asking the state's accountability and disclosure department if he could vote on an issue that he would plausibly benefit from. He declined to say which way he would vote if he were allowed to.
"I think it's time to end this thing," he said.
This is the one thing board members could agree on Tuesday. But how that will happen has board members at odds again.
A ballot vote is the direction this issue is headed, Peters said, but added that he won't vote for it.
"If it's put to a vote ... I think it would pass," Wolfe said.
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ndncounselor wrote on Apr 22, 2008 3:32 PM:
Heritage for Peace wrote on Apr 17, 2008 3:29 PM:
If you are from Nebraska AKA (Flat Water) then you know which flag carries this statement. The UmoHon are one of the very few left in the U.S. States of America that reside in their ancestral Homeland's. Is it too much to ask for a Holiday to recognize the proseperity residents of Thurston County have come to know?
Our Native Youth are the future the county might want to consider this when considering a career on the County Board, it won't be long and the 14 and 15 year olds will be voting adults. The righful place for them Mr. Peter's to voice their concerns are here in Thurston County, not down there in Lincoln. "
uamommy wrote on Apr 17, 2008 6:43 AM:
JOE OCHO wrote on Apr 16, 2008 9:59 PM:
I know a thing or two about lost identities because I was NEVER welcome in either society but I would rather be an outcast with people who think like me,I guess.
White people have their holidays and Native Americans can have theirs. What woudl really be nice is if Native Americans could work for white people on their holidays and they could work for us on our holidays. I would gladly swap with them so they could spend time with their families and save money. "
john wrote on Apr 16, 2008 8:25 PM: