1977-05-01 Char-Koosta News

              VOLUME 7  NUMBER 1 FULL MOON OF THE YELLOW BELLS MAY 1, 1977
ATNI ATTACKS NEW WATER REGULATIONS
Spokane, Washington:
Yakima Nation Review Release:
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) meeting in Spokane at their quarterly session March 21-23 rejected major portions of new water regulations proposed for review by Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus, and proposed new language in a special resolution adopted to forestall new Andrus moves.
Drawing fire from Northwest tribal representatives was language in the new water use regulations recognizing the rights of non-Indians who have purchased allotted lands equal to the rights of the respective tribes themselves.
ATNI in a special resolution adopted and forwarded to Andrussubmitted alternative language and rejected forthright the implications of the new Andrus policy.
William H. Veeder, BIA Water Rights Specialist, who is currently under an intergovernmental transfer to several Northwest tribes from the BIA, sounded a clear alert on the first day of the quarterly session.
Veeder and various other tribal attorneys who are working on on-going tribal water lawsuits, told participants the new proposed Andrus water code would constitute " an attack upon the various tribal councils to control, ad-
Councilman Pat Lefthand President of A.T.N.I.
minister and allocate their rights to use the water " on their reservations.
" I think it is time that this most powerful Indian group consider a very basic invasion of not only your property rights but of the right to control your property rights, " said Veeder.
Over 300 tribal delagates also reviewed on-going cigarette tax litigation and the taxation issue, fishing controversies, the situation of the Indian elderly, housing needs, upcoming end of the food stamp program and on-going reorganization of the division of education in the BIA. A number of policy resolutions were developed on each of the discussion topics.
A bulk of the ATNI policy resolutions were acted upon at the Conference of Tribal Governments in Olympia, Wash -ington on April 5.
The economic effects of the developing drought across the Northwest was also in detail.
Dan McDonald
Dead at 4 9
St. Ignatius:
Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs Daniel D. McDonald died April 16, in Washington D.C. following a brief illness. He was 49 years old, and was born Dec. 13, 1927, at St. Ignatius. Heat-tended school at St. Ignatius, and graduated from Dixon High School. He was also a graduate of the University of Montana.
Prior to his appointment to assistant commissioner, McDonald served as special assistant to the vice president on Indian Affairs..
He served in the Marine Corps during WW II, and had worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 20 years.
Wake was held April 20 and 21 at the St. Ignatius Community Center, and Mass of the Resurrection, celebrated by Fathers Obersinner and Robinson at the St. Ignatius Catholic Mission on Friday, April 22, 1977. The McCarthy American Legion Post 106 conducted military rites in the St. Ignatius Catholic Cemetery.
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