Sacramento Court Hearing Postponed

In what may be a sign of hope, the Judge hearing the Government's motion of dismissal in our case in Sacramento Federal Court, has asked both sides in the litigation for additional information in order to make his ruling regarding jurisdiction. The hearing scheduled for Friday the 21st, is postponed until all sides have submitted their documents to the court.

In an email to tribal members yesterday, Tribal Spiritual Leader Caleen Sisk-Franco, reported, "At ceremony we danced and prayed for the judge to see us and hear us. Thank all of you for that prayer because it now looks like the judge wants to take a closer look at our complaint. We will keep our fire burning and keep up our prayers. We will let you know as soon as we have a new date for the court hearing."

The tribe continues it efforts to protect the sacred land scape around us and continues to work hard on issues that affect all of your water and land issues being heard in Sacramento.

Thanks again to all who indicated they would join us in Sacramento on Friday, we will keep you informed and hope that you continue to support the tribe's efforts to rectify the wrongs committed against the earth and our cultural places.

Catching Up and Laying Back

It has been almost a month since I updated this blog. A month filled with all kinds of trials and tribulations, the war dance in Sacramento, the constant fight to hold ceremonies in our traditional places without interference. You name it and the Winnemem have seen it.

We recently completed the review of the Draft License Application that PG&E filed with the FERC for the re-license of the McCloud Reservoir. This document and the accompanying technical reports was a vast number of pages and information that, unfortunately did not include an accurate portrait of the Winnemem, our sites or the importance of both to the overall intent of the reports purportedly completed to protect and preserve natural and cultural assets. Check out the FERC comments page for our detailed findings regarding this project.

We are still waiting for a response from the government on our lawsuit: I have learned that folks who were allies when they worked in other government agencies are now unable to talk with the tribe about issues affecting sites and habitat because "of the lawsuit". So while we wait for a response, areas continue to be abused, sites endangered and destroyed, and our ability to enjoy our religious freedoms still denied by the government. Updates on the lawsuit will be posted as they occur, but as I said, so far nothing - they are taking their fully allotted time to respond.

The Puberty Ceremony is scheduled for the week of June 4-7 (ending on the full moon). We are hoping this happens without the problems of 2006: drunken people in boats, profanity, naked women showing their bodies to the children on shore etc. The Forest Service has indicated they will not provide any security or additional protection measures for us because, we have not filed for a permit. Oh well. hopefully no one will get injured due to unwarranted interaction with drunken pilgrims coming to see the Indians.

We are trying hard to keep our people healthy, my elder sister-in-law is very sick and we ask that folks send prayers for her (Sarah).

I will have more things in a few days but wanted to update on what we know so far. Thanks to all of you who helped with the war dance logistics and the filing and we look forward to seeing you at the upcoming ceremonies. Travel safe!