(These are national news stories that I have found and clipped
to post here for your information. Follow the "next" image thru
the archives to 11 June 1999)
Unsolved Murders Spark Indian Protest in Nebraska
03-JUL-99
WHITECLAY, Neb., July 3 (Reuters) - About 600 American Indians, mostly Oglala Lakota Sioux from the Pine Ridge Reservation, led a tense but peaceful march from South Dakota into Nebraska Saturday to protest alcohol sales, alleged treaty violations and the unsolved murders of two reservation men.
The Lakota, accompanied by activists from the American Indian Movement, faced off against nearly 100 Nebraska law enforcement officers, some in riot gear, who assembled after a store in the tiny town of Whiteclay, Nebraska, was vandalised during a protest march last week.
After singing traditional Lakota songs and heeding calls for calm in the 95-degree heat, the protesters turned back and continued their rally in Pine Ridge Village on the South Dakota reservation.
Four protesters walked through police lines and were arrested. Activist Russell Means, former tribal president John Steele, and brothers Tom and Webster Poor Bear, relatives of one of the slain men, said they crossed the barricades to draw attention to the Indians' treaty concerns.
They contend the town of Whiteclay is on reservation land according to the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868 and the subsequent U.S. Homestead Act.
The treaty issues, lack of arrests in the murders, tensions between Indians and some Whiteclay store owners and anger over alcohol sales brought out demonstrators for the second Saturday in a row.
"We found that in three years, the total cost to the Indian Health Service to treat health problems related to alcohol was $19 million, " said Owen Patton, a former Nebraska Indian Commission member. He said liquor stores in Whiteclay, a town of just 22 residents that covers about one long city block, sell $4 million worth of beer and wine annually.
Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns declined to meet with tribal leaders on the reservation after last week's demonstration, asking them to meet in nearby Scottsbluff instead. Indian leaders refused, saying the problem is at Pine Ridge.
Law enforcement officials said a lack of witnesses has hampered the investigation into the the deaths of Ron Hard Heart and Wilson Black Elk, who were found beaten to death about a month ago.
Indian activist Dennis Banks said police seem more concerned about damage to property after a few marchers ransacked a small grocery store during last week's rally.
That action cast doubt on whether President Bill Clinton would proceed with plans to visit the reservation on July 7.
But after much discussion between tribal officials and the White House, Clinton will make the trip, Harold Salway, president of the Oglala Sioux tribe, said Saturday.
Clinton is leading a group of business people on a tour of economically depressed areas of the United States in conjunction with the granting of federal funds for economic development.
Shannon County, which covers most of the 2-million-acre reservation, is the poorest county in the United States. The Pine Ridge Reservation is the first U.S. Indian reservation to be designated as a federal economic empowerment zone.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
AIM activist Russell Means, eight others arrested in Nebraska town
Means (center) and eight other American Indians were arrested for crossing the police line after marching from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to Whiteclay, Nebraska
July 3, 1999
WHITECLAY, Nebraska (AP) -- Members of the Oglala Sioux tribe converged on this tiny town Saturday to protest alleged treaty violations, unsolved murders and alcohol sales, and nine people were arrested, including activist Russell Means.
About 150 people marched the two miles from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and scores of others rode in cars.
They were met by more than 100 riot-equipped Nebraska state troopers, who stood toe-to-toe with the marchers and ordered them not to cross a line of yellow tape at the edge of Whiteclay, about a city block from the state line. Moments later, Means and several other demonstrators crossed the tape and were arrested.
One man riding bareback on a horse skirted the police line and rode, hollering, through an adjacent field. "I tried to fire my people up, " said the rider, Billy Joe Bean.
The demonstration later ended peacefully and most of the participants headed back to Pine Ridge. Means and the others who were arrested would probably be given misdemeanor citations for refusing a lawful order, state police said.
The town's 22 residents had been ordered to leave the day before by Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns. While tribal leaders said it would be a peaceful march, some participants had threatened to occupy the village until state officials addressed their concerns.
A rally one week ago in Whiteclay ended with looting and burning.
The protest stems from allegations by AIM leaders and members of the Oglala Sioux that the federal government has violated an 1868 treaty that reserved parts of what are now North Dakota and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska for the Sioux.
Tribe members also are upset that four stores in Whiteclay sell more than $3 million worth of beer each year, mostly to Indians with drinking problems. Alcohol is banned on the reservation, a 5,000-square-mile expanse that is home to 15,000 Oglala Sioux and has one of the nation's highest alcoholism-related mortality rates.
Riot police stood toe-to-toe with demonstrators
Also, tribe members say local police have not done enough to investigate the deaths of two Sioux men whose bodies were found June 8 in a culvert near the Nebraska line.
Johanns said Nebraska could not offer much help because the bodies were found in South Dakota. Federal and tribal police have announced a $15,000 reward for information on the slayings.
At a rally before Saturday's march in Pine Ridge, calls for militant action in Whiteclay mingled with prayer drums and pleas for peace.
"If I had it my way, we'd tear the damn town down to the ground, but we can't do that, " American Indian Movement activist Clyde Bellecourt said.
AIM activist Dennis Banks said he was glad there was no violence at Saturday's rally.
"Everybody has to share in the award for that, " he said. "Any time confrontation is looming, there should be some type of dialogue. "
President Clinton is set to visit Pine Ridge on Wednesday, and is expected to discuss economic development in Indian communities and tour tornado-damaged parts of Oglala.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.
Calls for Peace, Action Dominate Rally
03-JUL-99
WHITECLAY, Neb. (AP) -- Calls for militant action mingled with prayer drums and pleas for peace Saturday as Indian activists gathered to protest alleged treaty violations, unsolved murders and alcohol sales.
After an early afternoon rally, several hundred members of the Oglala Sioux tribe of South Dakota and activists began a two-mile march from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation over the state line toward Whiteclay.
As they approached, more than 100 riot-clad state troopers lined up to meet them.
Troopers said they would allow the marchers into Nebraska, but not into the town, whose 22 residents had been ordered to leave the day before by Gov. Mike Johanns.
While tribal leaders said it would be a peaceful march, participants have also vowed to set up teepees and occupy the village until state officials address their concerns.
It marked the second protest in recent days; a week ago, a rally in Whiteclay ended with looting and burning.
"If I had it my way, we'd tear the damn town down to the ground, but we can't do that, " American Indian Movement activist said Clyde Bellecourt, an organizer of last week's rally.
With President Clinton visiting Pine Ridge next week, tribal leaders said it was important to show they can solve problems without resorting to violence.
The president is expected to discuss economic development in Indian communities and tour tornado-damaged parts of Oglala.
The protest stems from allegations by AIM leaders and members of the Oglala Sioux that the U.S. government has violated an 1868 treaty that reserved parts of North Dakota and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska for the Sioux.
Tribe members also are upset that four stores in Whiteclay sell more than $3 million worth of beer each year, mostly to Indians with drinking problems. Alcohol is banned on the reservation, a 5,000-square-mile expanse that is home to 15,000 Oglala Sioux and one of the nation's highest alcoholism-related mortality rates.
"If the bars weren't there, a lot of our people, including my cousin and younger brother, would be alive today, " said Tom Poor Bear, another organizer of last weekend's rally.
Also, tribe members say local police have not done enough to investigate the deaths of Wilson Black Elk Jr., 40, and Ronald Hard Heart, 39, whose bodies were found June 8 in a culvert near the Nebraska line. Poor Bear is Black Elk's older half-brother and Hard Heart's cousin.
Johanns said the state could not offer much help with the investigation because the bodies were found in South Dakota. Federal and tribal police have announced a $15,000 reward for information on the slayings.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.
Unsolved Murders Spark Indian Protest in Nebraska
03-JUL-99
WHITECLAY, Neb., July 3 (Reuters) - About 600 American Indians, mostly Oglala Lakota Sioux from the Pine Ridge Reservation, led a tense but peaceful march from South Dakota into Nebraska Saturday to protest alcohol sales, alleged treaty violations and the unsolved murders of two reservation men.
The Lakota, accompanied by activists from the American Indian Movement, faced off against nearly 100 Nebraska law enforcement officers, some in riot gear, who assembled after a store in the tiny town of Whiteclay, Nebraska, was vandalised during a protest march last week.
After singing traditional Lakota songs and heeding calls for calm in the 95-degree heat, the protesters turned back and continued their rally in Pine Ridge Village on the South Dakota reservation.
Four protesters walked through police lines and were arrested. Activist Russell Means, former tribal president John Steele, and brothers Tom and Webster Poor Bear, relatives of one of the slain men, said they crossed the barricades to draw attention to the Indians' treaty concerns.
They contend the town of Whiteclay is on reservation land according to the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868 and the subsequent U.S. Homestead Act.
The treaty issues, lack of arrests in the murders, tensions between Indians and some Whiteclay store owners and anger over alcohol sales brought out demonstrators for the second Saturday in a row.
"We found that in three years, the total cost to the Indian Health Service to treat health problems related to alcohol was $19 million, " said Owen Patton, a former Nebraska Indian Commission member. He said liquor stores in Whiteclay, a town of just 22 residents that covers about one long city block, sell $4 million worth of beer and wine annually.
Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns declined to meet with tribal leaders on the reservation after last week's demonstration, asking them to meet in nearby Scottsbluff instead. Indian leaders refused, saying the problem is at Pine Ridge.
Law enforcement officials said a lack of witnesses has hampered the investigation into the the deaths of Ron Hard Heart and Wilson Black Elk, who were found beaten to death about a month ago.
Indian activist Dennis Banks said police seem more concerned about damage to property after a few marchers ransacked a small grocery store during last week's rally.
That action cast doubt on whether President Bill Clinton would proceed with plans to visit the reservation on July 7.
But after much discussion between tribal officials and the White House, Clinton will make the trip, Harold Salway, president of the Oglala Sioux tribe, said Saturday.
Clinton is leading a group of business people on a tour of economically depressed areas of the United States in conjunction with the granting of federal funds for economic development.
Shannon County, which covers most of the 2-million-acre reservation, is the poorest county in the United States. The Pine Ridge Reservation is the first U.S. Indian reservation to be designated as a federal economic empowerment zone.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
Nebraska Village Grips for another Indian March
02-JUL-99
WHITECLAY, Neb. (AP) -- Authorities evacuated the town's 22 residents, closed down its businesses and sent in 100 troopers Friday on the eve of a protest march by American Indians.
Sioux Indians from the Pine Ridge Reservation set fires and looted a grocery store in the town a week ago during a protest over alleged treaty violations, two unsolved murders and the sale of alcohol to Indians.
Activists said they would again march the two miles from the reservation in South Dakota over the state line into Whiteclay, where they planned to set up tepees and occupy the village until state officials addressed their concerns.
Tribal leaders said called Saturday's event a prayer march and said they didn't want it to turn ugly because it could scare President Clinton away from his visit to the reservation on Tuesday. Clinton plans to discuss economic development in Indian communities and tour tornado-damaged parts of Oglala, S.D.
Still, Gov. Mike Johanns ordered the evacuation and sent in the troopers to protect the village. Later, he met for an hour with four Oglala Sioux tribal officials, including president Harold Salway, who promised that Saturday's demonstration would be peaceful.
"When you come to pray, I don't see how there can be any worries, " Salway said.
American Indian Movement leaders and members of the Oglala Sioux tribe allege the U.S. government has violated an 1868 treaty that reserved parts of North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska for the Sioux.
Tribe members are also upset that a few stores in Whiteclay sell more than $3 million worth of beer each year, mostly to Indians with drinking problems. The rate of alcoholism is high among Indians, and alcohol is banned on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
"If them bars weren't there, a lot of our people, including my cousin and younger brother, would be alive today, " said Tom Poor Bear, who organized last weekend's rally.
Also, tribe members say local police have not done enough to investigate the deaths of Wilson Black Elk Jr., 40, and Ronald Hard Heart, 39, whose bodies were found June 8 in a culvert near the Nebraska line. Poor Bear is Black Elk's older half-brother and Hard Heart's cousin.
Johanns said the state could not offer much help with the investigation because the bodies were found in South Dakota. Federal and tribal police have announced a $15,000 reward for information on the slayings.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.
Nebraska Governor, Indian Leader Seeking Peace
02-JUL-99
CHADRON, Neb.,, July 2 (Reuters) - Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns and Oglala Sioux President Harold Salway called Friday for an Indian protest march scheduled for Saturday morning in White Clay to be "prayerful" in nature.
Some businesses in the small unincorporated town closed their doors Friday as members of the American Indian Movement prepared for the Saturday demonstration.
The "Walk For Justice" march would come one week after several hundred protesters marched into White Clay in a show of outrage over the unsolved murders of two Oglala Sioux, whose decomposing bodies were discovered June 8 just north of White Clay, two miles south of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Johanns said Friday that he pledged to Salway the state patrol's assistance to the FBI in investigating the murders. Johanns said he and Salway had agreed to appoint representatives to hold continuing discussions about how to address long-standing concerns held by the Sioux people.
In addition to calls for a thorough investigation into the murders, protesters have called for the end of alcohol sales in White Clay, where there are four liquor stores. Alcohol is not sold on the Pine Ridge reservation.
Activists say they are also concerned about abuses of members of the tribe by Nebraska State Patrol and White Clay police.
Pine Ridge, the second-largest reservation in the country following that of the Navajo nation in the southwestern U.S., is the site of the infamous 1890 battle of Wounded Knee, when the U.S. Calvary massacred hundreds of Sioux and forced an end to the tribe's resistance to the federal government.
Wounded Knee was also the site of a bloody, 1973 battle between federal agents and Indian activists.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
Nebraska Braces for Indian Protest this Weekend
02-JUL-99
(Chadron, Nebraska-AP) -- The Nebraska town of Whiteclay stands virtually deserted.
Authorities have evacuated the town's 22 residents, closed down its businesses and sent in a hundred troopers in preparation for an American Indian march this weekend.
Whiteclay was the scene of a rampage by Sioux Indians from the Pine Ridge Reservation a week ago. They were protesting alleged treaty violations, two unsolved murders of Indian men and the sale of alcohol to Indians.
Indian activists plan another protest for Saturday. They plan to set up tepees and occupy Whiteclay until state officials address their concerns. Leaders promise the protest will be peaceful.
In an effort to stem any trouble, Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns met with Oglala Sioux leaders for an hour today. They emerged with a pledge to cooperate on several issues.
Copyright 1999& The Associated Press.
Lack of Housing, Jobs, Mark Reservation Life
02-JUL-99
PINE RIDGE, S.D. (Reuters) - Seventeen years ago, Belleron Blue Bird put his name on the list of Oglala Sioux waiting to own a home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
He is still waiting. With his wife Lucille and their five young children, Blue Bird, who works odd jobs on the reservation, makes his home in a one-room, 400-square-foot rented shack.
It is cheap at $50 a month, but lacks plumbing and heat and leaves little room for living after the family packs in two beds, a refrigerator and a gas stove that, if left on, provides warmth in winter.
A recently donated outhouse was a welcome gift. But Lucille, 31, who makes $50 a week selling tacos on the street, is still desperate to escape the cracked, sagging ceiling and the mice that scurry across worn floor boards.
"We need a house, " she told Reuters. "Just some space to live. " This sentiment is common on the reservation, where thousands of members of the Oglala Sioux tribe must make homes with more fortunate friends and relatives or in garages or crumbling shacks.
The Pine Ridge reservation -- which President Clinton plans to visit July 7 on a tour of impoverished areas -- is beset by such dire poverty that Shannon County, which represents most of the reservation's 24,000 people, ranks as the most poverty-stricken county in America.
"Tiospaye" -- families taking care their own -- is a traditional tenet that translates to a typical household of more than 10 people. Often, even 20 to 30 adults and children share a single small house without a place to bathe or use a toilet. A jobless rate of more than 75 percent leaves many households to subsist on meager government and tribal assistance programs.
Overcrowded and unsanitary conditions breed disease and despair. Babies die at a rate 2.5 times above the national average; diabetes is eight times higher; tuberculosis is 10 times the South Dakota state average and roughly five times the national rate, and alcoholism and suicide are persistent problems, according to official statistics. "It's like a third-world country, " said assistance worker Vashti Apostol-Hurst, who runs the National Association for American Indian Children and Elders from Pine Ridge.
To be sure, poverty among the 2.3 million American Indians that make up 557 federally recognized tribes is not limited to Pine Ridge. Since the late 1800s when the battles between whites and Native Americans forced the end of several aspects of Indian life, many tribes have struggled.
On average, 31 percent of the nation's reservation inhabitants live in poverty, and wrestle with a 46 percent unemployment rate, according to the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in Washington.
But here in the shadow of Wounded Knee, where the U.S. Army massacred hundreds of tribal members in 1890 before forcing the tribe onto the reservation, the poverty is pervasive.
By some tribal estimates, nearly half the population is on assistance. Tribal housing officials estimate more than 4,000 homes are needed to address the housing crunch adequately.
Disputes over reservation land use, fragmented ownership of even small tracts of land, racial conflicts and a deep mistrust of whites and the federal government have limited housing and business development on Pine Ridge.
The result is that while the reservation totals some two million acres, there is no easy access to land for people who want to buy a house or open a business.
Aside from a gas station-cum-restaurant, a taco place and a pizza joint, there are few basic business services, and spending money drains away to neighboring towns. Efforts to open a bank on the reservation have failed.
"We have to find a way to create jobs for our people, " said tribal vice president Wilbur Between Lodges.
Many residents believe better times lie ahead. Pine Ridge has been designated the nation's first Indian reservation "empowerment zone, " which will make tax breaks and other incentives available to businesses that invest there.
A federal-tribal housing program is helping families buy new manufactured three- and four-bedroom homes. The first group of 19 families start moving in this month.
"I'm going to move in the moment I'm closed. I'm already packed, " said Lucy Vocu, a 33-year-old mother of two and school teacher who has bought a new $64,000 three-bedroom home.
Vocu said she could not buy a house before because of the difficulty in obtaining land. "If I have to get a second job, I will, " she said. "Nobody is taking this away from me. "
Despite the daily struggle, many of the Oglala people say life is good. A clean blue sky, jagged buttes and rolling grasslands encourage camping and hiking, and frequent spiritual gatherings keep communities tightly knit.
Even 21-year-old Mary Standing Bear, who recently gave birth to a daughter while she and her husband lived in a relative's garage, said life on Pine Ridge "is not so bad. "
The history and cultural heritage of reservation residents makes them rich, Standing Bear and many others said.
Robert Running Bear missed the reservation life so much that he moved back to Pine Ridge from his AT&T job in Denver 20 years ago. This weekend, he plans to don his moccasins and join in an ancient four-day spiritual ceremony, the Sun Dance.
"It's a simple life here, " he said. "The sun comes up, the sun goes down. We pass our days. "
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
South Dakota Morning News
01-JUL-99
(MOBRIDGE) MOBRIDGE POLICE AND STATE DIVISION OF CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATION AGENTS CONTINUE THEIR INVESTIGATION INTO
THE DEATH OF A MOBRIDGE MAN. 22 YEAR OLD ROBERT ``BOO''
MANY HORSES WAS FOUND DEAD IN A MOBRIDGE ALLEY
YESTERDAY MORNING. MANY HORSES BODY WAS FOUND AROUND
7AM. POLICE CHIEF BROOKS JOHNSON SAID THE INVESTIGATION
HAS NOT RULED OUT FOUL PLAY. AN AUTOPSY WAS PERFORMED
YESTERDAY TO AID IN THE INVESTIGATION. RESULTS AND COUSE
OF DEATH INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED.
DAKOTAWIRE PIERRE / UPI CALLAHAN
Companies Challenged to Draw More Minorities to Business
29-JUN-99
ATLANTA, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Representatives of top American
companies today urged their corporate colleagues to work aggressively together to draw more minority students into careers in business.
Noting that companies are competing with each other to hire minority executives in today's historically tight labor market, the representatives urged corporations to support programs that increase the talent pool by attracting minorities to study business in college.
"Too few of us are planting the seeds or tending the fields, but we want to reap the benefits of the harvest, " Bernard Milano, executive director of the KPMG Foundation, told corporate human resources executives at the annual meeting here of SHRM.
Milano was joined by Monica Emerson of DaimlerChrysler and Peter Thorp of Citigroup in introducing the audience to four organizations -- all funded by top American corporations -- that enlarge the pool of minority business executives:
* LEAD, which exposes high school seniors to business study in college.
* INROADS, which links minority undergraduate students with internships in leading companies.
* The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, which provides scholarships at 11 top business schools for minorities.
* The PhD Project, which is working to create more minority business school professors.
Milano said that corporate sponsors of these organizations gain a recruiting advantage by getting access ahead of competitors to the students. "It is an unusual opportunity to make a difference while capitalizing on sponsorship for recruiting purposes, " he said.
Emerson noted that DaimlerChrysler had used its role in the organizations to expand minority representation in internship programs it uses to make permanent job offers.
Citigroup's Thorp told the corporate audience, "Your companies will not achieve their diversity hiring goals if they don't make a commitment to change the profile of the labor pool that will be working in your corporations. "
The panelists said that the four programs, while each independent, worked in synergy from the high school level through doctoral studies to enlarge the potential pool of tomorrow's African American, Hispanic American and Native American business leaders.
Tribe Lawsuit Not Seen Delaying Tobacco Payouts
30-JUN-99
WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - A lawsuit filed by a coalition of American Indian tribes against the nationwide tobacco settlement is unlikely to delay release of settlement money to states, a key player in the settlement said.
"It's not a piece of litigation I view as a major threat to the settlement decree, " said Laurie Loveland, who served as a tobacco settlement liaison between states and the National Association of Attorneys General.
The lawsuit, filed in California in early June, maintains American Indians were unfairly excluded from the settlement reached last November between major tobacco manufacturers and 46 states. The tribes are seeking more than $1 billion of the $206 billion settlement, which will be paid out over 25 years.
Some analysts considered the lawsuit a potential threat to the revenue stream, a windfall many states and municipalities are eager to spend. Several states and local governments are considering selling bonds backed by the money.
But it is "extremely unlikely" that any court will find the agreement violated the civil rights of tribal members, Loveland said this week at a tobacco settlement symposium sponsored by The Bond Buyer.
States continue to wait for the time when the settlement money that is now accumulating in escrow funds is allowed to be dispersed.
"I can't tell you when we're going to get final approval, " Loveland said. "Hopefully early next year, possibly earlier than that. But it depends on the appellate process in 10 jurisdictions. "
States cannot meet a significant provision of the agreement, known as "state-specific finality, " until courts give the settlement final approval after all claims to the money by municipalities are dismissed and all appeals settled.
No payments will be made to states until final approval is achieved, which is either June 30, 2000, or the date when 80 percent of the states have obtained state-specific finality, with those states representing 80 percent of the payments.
Loveland said 42 states have achieved state-specific finality, equal to 80 percent of the settling states. However, those states only account for 54.2 percent of the total allocation.
The settlement of appeals in New York and California, the two states with the largest allocation of settlement dollars, would bring the total up to the needed level and allow for the money to be released to states that have met the proper requirements.
Other states with either appeals or legal disputes outstanding are Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri and Tennessee, according to Loveland.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
The Latest Montana News from States News Service
DENVER -- Hundreds of Native American tribal leaders are in Denver to discuss the year 2000 census. The U-S Bureau of the Census Denver Regional Census Center is hosting the Tribal Government Conference today. Ninety-two tribal leaders, 80 tribal liaisons, and 30 representatives from urban Indian communities in a ten-state region have been invited to participate. The goal is to recognize the sovereignty of Native Americans and to promote "government to government" relations between the federal and tribal governments during the year 2000 census. The conference runs through tomorrow.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
The Latest Minnesota News from States News Service
Tuesday, June 29, 1999
Pie Thrower To Be Sentenced This Week
(SAINT PAUL) -- The environmental activist convicted of tossing a pie in the face of a Minnesota lawmaker will be sentenced this week. Bob Greenberg was convicted of disturbing the legislature and disorderly conduct after "pieing" State Senator Carol Flynn of Minneapolis at the state capitol in March. He was protesting Flynn's refusal to hear a bill regarding the Highway 55 re-route project. Greenberg has led a group of activists rallying against the expansion... saying it will desecrate Native American burial grounds and hurt the environment.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
'Color and Credibility: with Too few Minorities, Can a Community Believe the Media?'
29-JUN-99
UNITY '99 Town Hall
Tuesday, July 6, 5-7 P.M.,
Washington State Convention Trade Center, Seattle, Wash.,
Ballroom 6A The Town Hall, a panel of prize-winning journalists, community representatives and media advocates will debate just how accurately, and credibly, the media can report on news if their professional staffs do not reflect their communities ethnically and racially.
Two surveys will be released at the Town Hall: the first, by the American Society of Newspaper Editors/Associated Press Managing Editors, which sought the attitudes of newspaper and wire service editors on ethnic diversity and accuracy, as well as ideas and guides for improvement; and the other, the annual survey by the Radio and Television News Directors Association on the number of women and minorities in local television.
The Town Hall, which will be Webcast nationwide by the Freedom Forum and broadcast by C-SPAN, takes place on July 6 in conjunction with UNITY '99. The UNITY '99 convention will take place July 7-11 and is expected to attract approximately 6,000 journalists. The convention is sponsored by UNITY:
Journalists of Color, Inc. The organization is a strategic alliance of the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association. The Panel:
Moderators: Frank Del Olmo, Associate Editor, Los Angeles Times, and James Hattori, Correspondent, CNN, Atlanta.
* Barbara Cochran, president, Radio & Television News Directors Association
* Ellis Cose, contributing editor, Newsweek, and author of numerous books on the media, race and society;
* Winona LaDuke, author and activist/environmentalist, White Earth Reservation in Minnesota and a former vice presidential candidate, 1996, with Ralph Nader;
* Lavonne Luquis, president, LatinoLink, San Francisco, an Internet site that distributes news and features about Latinos;
* Victor Merina, former investigative reporter, Los Angeles Times, and now a fellow at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center, studying overage of one's own race and ethnicity;
* Dolores Sibonga, community representative, human rights attorney and former Seattle City Councilwoman, and longtime media advocate;
* Gary Wordlaw, president and general manager, WTVH-TV, Syracuse, which is owned by Granite Broadcasting Corp., a black-owned media company; and
* David Yarnold, executive editor, San Jose Mercury News,
28 JUNE 1999
Pair Indicted For Murder
(STURGIS) -- A Meade County grand jury has indicted Chaske White and Dawn Frazier for the murder of a Rapid City woman. The indictment was handed down last Friday, and the two are scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing this week. They are both charged with the kidnapping and first- degree murder of Morning Star Standing Bear of Rapid City. Her body was found in a field north of Rapid City two-weeks ago. A 15-year-old boy was also reportedly arrested with White and Frazier, but there is NO word on any proceedings against him.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
27 JUNE 1999
Indian Activist Says Violence shouldn't Have Happened
PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) -- Indian activists say they regret that a march to protest two unsolved killings turned violent when a group of demonstrators began looting and setting fire to an area store.
The four-hour American Indian Movement rally by about 350 demonstrators began peacefully Saturday on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, but it got out of hand when the procession reached Whiteclay, Neb., after a call by one of the leaders, Dennis Banks, to reclaim the area as part of the reservation.
"This rally was to carry the message that injustice has to stop, " said Regina Brave of Albuquerque, N.M. She said the rioting by the small group "doesn't represent the people. "
Davidica Young Man, of Oglala, said, "destroying property is not our way. "
Prior to the disturbance, Banks told the crowd: "We're going to take that 'Welcome to Nebraska' sign and move it two or three miles south. "
About a dozen young men knocked the sign over and carried it about a quarter mile to the south end of Whiteclay and dropped it in the middle of the street.
Then a group stormed VJ's Market, throwing merchandise onto the street, and setting two fires. The fires were quickly extinguished.
Someone also threw rocks at law officers when they arrived. At least two news photographers were roughed up.
One of the issues at stake are alcohol sales in Whiteclay. Stores in the tiny town, population 22, sell $3 million of beer a year. Some have asked the state of Nebraska to pull those liquor licenses because the town is so close to the reservation, where alcohol sales are illegal.
People on the reservation have also said they have been poorly treated by business owners and law enforcement in Whiteclay for years.
Later, Banks said he didn't intend to set off violence.
"It (the statement about the sign) wasn't meant to incite that, " he said.
Banks led the march along with AIM leaders Russell Means and Clyde Bellecourt. In addition to the unsolved killings of two men whose bodies were found on Pine Ridge, the march was set to draw attention to racism and poor treatment against Indian people.
Means and Banks say one solution is taking back part of northern Nebraska, including Whiteclay, an area they say is a legally part of the reservation.
A treaty in 1868 and the 1889 Dawes Allotment Act both indicated that all of the pine-covered ridges in the area are part of the reservation, including those that extend into northern Nebraska, said Means.
Copyright 1999& The Associated Press.
Jun. 27, 1999
Demonstration by Indians Ends with Disturbance at Store
PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) -- A demonstration by American Indian activists turned violent Saturday as people ransacked a store and set fires. Two news photographers were roughed up.
The four-hour American Indian Movement rally Saturday started peacefully in Pine Ridge and ended with a two-mile walk to nearby Whiteclay, Neb. At Whiteclay, a group of people stormed VJ's Market and threw soda pop, cigarettes and other merchandise onto the street. Two fires were also set in the store but were quickly extinguished.
Someone also threw rocks at law officers when they arrived. At least two news photographers were roughed up, including one from the Los Angeles Times, who had his camera and film stolen.
The trouble apparently started when several people took down the "Welcome to Nebraska" sign at the border and carried it down Whiteclay's main street. Vic Clarke, the owner of VJ's Market, told the Star-Herald of Scottsbluff, Neb., that police had told him told him to close for the day, fearing violence. He was gone when his store was stormed, and returned late Saturday afternoon to find it shambles.
"I was told it was a peaceful march, and then it got ugly," Clarke said. "Windows in coolers were smashed, gondolas were overturned and a lot of product was ruined, " Clarke said he was told about 50 to 60 people began tearing down street signs and breaking windows in several businesses along the street at about 1:45 p.m.
Stores in Whiteclay, population 22, sell $3 million of beer a year. Most of the sales are to Indians from Pine Ridge, who can't legally drink on the reservation. People on the reservation have long complained of shoddy treatment from business owners and law enforcement in Whiteclay.
At the rally, three of the nation's best-known American Indian activists said Saturday they intend to respond to racial tensions along the South Dakota-Nebraska border -- including taking back part of northern Nebraska that is legally part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Russell Means, Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt said the rally was aimed at calling attention to alleged anti-Indian prejudice and racism which they allege has contributed to the unsolved slayings of Indians along the state line.
The editor of the Star-Herald, Steve Miller, said he had gotten a call on Saturday from someone in Pine Ridge who threatened to "take over the town" unless Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns arrived by Sunday.
"The governor doesn't deal with demands, " said Chris Peterson, a spokesman for Johanns. "Making a demand that the governor travel two miles or two hours seems foolish, considering the governor's open-door policy. His home phone number is listed and he is always willing to listen and work with people. "
The rally took place less than two weeks before a scheduled visit by President Clinton to the reservation, which includes Shannon County, one of the poorest in the nation. A reservation village, Oglala, was hit by tornadoes earlier this month that killed one man and destroyed about 160 buildings.
Means, Banks and Bellecourt want the presidential trip to include discussion of issues other than poverty.
"You will respond to a tornado. Why don't you respond to the tornado of murders? " Bellecourt yelled at the several hundred people.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.
25-JUN-99
(WASHINGTON, DC) THE HOUSE YESTERDAY VOTED TO PROTECT
THE FLAG WITH A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. THE FLAG
DESECRATION AMENDMENT PASSED WITH THE TWO THIRDS
MAJORITY NEEDED TO AMEND THE CONSITITION. THE
AMENDMENT IS AIMED AT BANNING FLAG DESECRATION AND
OTHER FORMS OF ABUSE. THE EXACT LANGUAGE OF THE
PROPOSED AMENDMENT STATES THAT ``CONGRESS SHALL HAVE
THE POWER TO PROHIBIT THE PHYSICAL DESECRATION OF THE
FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES'' BUT STOPS SHORT OF DEFINING
``DESECRATION'' OR ``FLAG.'' THE AMENDMENT ALSO DOES NOT
SPELL OUT ANY SPECIFIC ACTION. IF APPROVED, THE AMENDMENT
WOULD ALLOW LAWMAKERS TO ENACT FLAG DESECRATION LAWS
WITHOUT FEAR OF THOSE LAW BEING RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
BY THE SUPREME COURT. CONGRESSMAN JOHN THUNE WAS
AMONG THOSE WHO VOTED IN FAVOR OF THE AMENDMENT.
THUNE SAID THE ``BATTLES THAT HAVE BEEN FOUGHT AND THE
BLOOD THAT HAS BEEN SHED TO PRESERVE ALL THAT THE FLAG
STANDS FOR SERVES TO MAKE IT A SACRED SYMBOL, ONE WHICH
SHOULD NOT BE HARMED OR DESECRATED.''
(PIERRE) SOUTH DAKOTA WILL RECEIVE NEARLY 954-THOUSAND
DOLLARS TO BOLSTER PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN THE STATE.
TRANSIT COORDINATOR FOR THE SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION, GARY WHITNEY, SAYS THE GRANT WILL BE
USED TO PURCHASE 16 PUBLIC TRANSIT BUSSES TO SERVE SOUTH
DAKOTA'S RURAL AND URBAN AREAS. WHITNEY BELIEVES
EXISTING TRANSIT RESOURCES AND THE PURCHASE OF 16 NEW
BUSSES SHOULD MEE THE NEEDS OF SOUTH DAKOTANS. IN THE
PAST, SOUTH DAKOTA HAS RECEIVED RELATIVELY LITTLE PUBLIC
TRANSIT FUNDING. THE STATE'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
HAS PUSHED HARD FOR AN EQUITABLE PROGRAM TO BENEFIT
BOTH URBAN AND RURAL AREAS. THANKS TO SD PUBLIC RADIO
(RAPID CITY) NEARLY 30 BOY SCOUTS AND THEIR SPONSORS WILL
HIT THE CENTENNIAL TRAIL IN THE BLACK HILLS THIS WEEKEND
WHEN THEY UNDERTAKE THE FIRST HALF OF A TWO-PART
MILLENIUM MARCH. GLENN TAYLOR OF RAPID CITY, HIKEMASTER
FOR THE MARCH, SAYS THE GROUP WILL COVER 55 MILES OF THE
TRAIL BETWEEN SATURDAY MORNING AND NEXT WEDNESDAY
EVENING. THE TREK BEGINS AT PACTOLA AND ENDS AT BEAR
BUTTE. HE SAYS HE HOPES THE EVENT WILL ENCOURAGE OTHERS
TO USE THE 111-MILE TRAIL. ``THE CENTENNIAL TRAIL IS ONE OF
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HIKES IN OUR BLACK HILLS, AND IN MY
PREPATORY HIKES I'VE FOUND THAT THE TRAIL DOES NOT GET A
TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF USE BY BACKPACKERS AND WE WANT
TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO GET OUT AND USE THIS AREA.''
TAYLOR SAYS 10 HIKERS FROM THE SIOUX FALLS AREA WILL JOIN
MEMBERS OF THE BLACK HILLS AREA BOY SCOUT COUNCIL THIS
WEEKEND. THE GROUP WILL COMPLETE THE MARCH NEXT YEAR,
WHEN THEY HIKE FROM PACTOLA TO WIND CAVE. BOY SCOUTS
WHO PARTICIPATE IN THE MILLENNIUM MARCH MAY USE THE
ACTIVIR HIKING AND BACKPACKING MERIT BADGES. THANKS TO
SD PUBLIC RADIO
(STURGIS) INDIGENOUS NATIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD WILL
GATHER AT BEAR BUTTE THIS WEEK FOR A MEETING OF THE
INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREAY COUNCIL. ORGANIZERS OF THE
EVENT SAID SEVERAL ISSUES REGARDING THE RIGHTS OF
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARE BEING DISCUSSED AT THIS CONFERENCE.
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN
TREATY COUNCIL ANDREA CARMEN SAYS THE CONFERENCE IS
FOCUSING ON THE TREATY RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, ON
PROTECTING SACRED SITES AND THE ENVIRONMENT, AND ON
CULTURAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES. CARMEN SAYS THE
COMING-TOGETHER OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN THIS SETTING IS
EMPOWERING. WE STRENGTHEN EACH OTHER BY SHARING NOT
ONLY OUR STRUGGLES BY ALSO OUR VICTORIES AND OUR STEPS
FORWARD. AND JUST KNOWING THAT WE'RE WORKING ON
SIMILAR ISSUES IN MANY DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE WORLD
SEEMS TO GIVE US SPIRITUAL AND MORAL STRENGTH TO
CONTINUE ON SO THAT WE DON'T FEEL ALONE AND ISOLATED IN
OUR OWN LITTLE COMMUNITIES. WE SEE THAT THIS IS A GLOBAL
MOVEMENT OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES. ACCORDING TO CARMEN
THIS YEAR MARKS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
INTERNATIONAL IY COUNCIL. CARMEN SAYS THE ORGANIZATION
THAT WAS STARTED IN SOUTH DAKOTA IS NOW HEADQUARTERED
IN SAN FRANCISCO. THANKS TO SD PUBLIC RADIO
South Dakota Afternoon News / DAKOTAWIRE PIERRE / UPI CALLAHAN
Friday, June 25, 1999
College Recovering Stolen Funds
(RAPID CITY) -- U-S Attorney Karen Schreier presented the Oglala Lakota College a welcome surprise yesterday. It was money collected from Arlyn Knudsen, convicted in 1997 of conspiracy theft of money from the college. A check for 118-thousand dollars was presented to Thomas Shortbull, President of
Oglala Lakota College. Knudsen was ordered to pay over two Million dollars in
restitution to the college.
SD Gets Anti-Drug Money
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- The U-S Department of Justice has awarded nearly two-and-a half Million dollars to South Dakota to fight violent crime and drug abuse on the local level. The grant will also make money available for treatment for those in the criminal justice system. Also, the Senate Judiciary Committee has approved the nomination of U-S Attorney Karen Schreier as South Dakota's next U-S District Judge. The nomination will now go to the full Senate.
Native Firefighters Get $
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- Firefighting crews composed of Native Americans from reservations in South Dakota and throughout Great Plains will receive 800-thousand dollars to build a new facility. Last year, South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle secured 847-thousand dollars to establish the "Hot Shot Crew", a firefighting team administered by the Black Hills National Forest.
Child Advocates Supported
(RAPID CITY) -- The Court-Appointed Special Advocates programs of Deadwood, Pine Ridge, and Rapid City will be the recipients of grants from the federal government to support their programs. "CASA" provides courts with comprehensive information on abused and neglected children. The eighth Circuit Court "CASA" of Deadwood will receive 40-thousand dollars, Rapid City Seventh Circuit Court CASA, gets ten-thousand to develop a statewide CASA program, and 60-thousand dollars go to the Oglala Lakota CASA of Pine Ridge to expand current services. Fifty thousand dollars will also go to CASA of Aberdeen to develop a new CASA program.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
25 JUNE 1999
Clinton Remarks to Presidential Scholars at Georgetown
WASHINGTON, June 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a transcript of remarks by President Clinton today to the Presidential Scholars:
To make sure that Americans should never have to choose between going to work and paying their medical bills, we must pass the proposal to let disable Americans keep their Medicaid health insurance when they take a job. Believe it or not, people who normally who get Medicaid lose their insurance if they take a job. The problem is a lot of disabled people can't get any other insurance. Their bills may be $40,000-$50,000 a year. But all of us are better off if those folks can go to work. They are more fulfilled; they are living their lives better; they also become tax-paying citizens. And whatever their medical bills are, they would be paid, regardless, by Medicaid.
So we now have a bill that solves a huge problem. And believe it or not, almost everybody agrees on it -- Republicans and Democrats alike. So let's start with that, the easy one -- and a very good one -- that will help untold numbers of Americans and their families. Congress should pass it, and I will sign it.
To honor work and strengthen our families, we should raise the minimum wage. There are still too many people who work 40 hours a week whose children are in poverty. Democrats and many, many Republicans agree that we should do this. So Congress should pass it, and I will sign it.
To renew our elections and stem the rising tide of campaign spending, we must pass strong campaign finance reform. Finally, after years, it appears that a majority of lawmakers in both parties, in both the Senate and House, agree. But the leaders of the Republican majority are blocking the bill. Instead, they ought to let the Congress vote, everybody votes his or her conscience. But if it passes -- and I believe it would -- I would certainly sign it.
To protect the interest of 160 million Americans who use managed care, we should pass a strong, enforceable and bipartisan patients' bill of rights. Now, you all probably know what the problems are here -- more and more Americans are going into managed care, and managed care has done a lot of good in our country to slow the rise in health care costs. But we should not ask people to sacrifice quality of care.
Our patients' bill of rights would simply say that if you're in an HMO, or any other kind of health care plan, you wouldn't lose a right to see your specialist, if you needed; you wouldn't give up the right to go to the nearest emergency room if you were hurt in an accident -- believe it or not, some people do in their plan. You couldn't be forced to give up your doctor in the middle of a treatment -- for example, if you were six months pregnant and your employer changed health care providers, you couldn't be required to change doctors; or if you were in the middle of a chemotherapy treatment and your employer changed health care providers, you wouldn't give it up. And you would have a right to protect yourself to make sure these rights were enforceable.
Now, these problems have been evident now for the last few years. Yesterday, we learned that it had gotten so bad, that doctors are so angry that the doctor-patient relationship is being breached by insurance company accountants' meddling, that they're even organizing a union to bargain with the HMOs.
Now, again, I've seen survey after survey after survey -- there is no partisan issue here -- Republicans and Democrats and independents all get sick. (Laughter.) Right? I mean, they do -- there's not a partisan issue here. (Applause.) Most doctors are Republicans, most nurses are Democrats. (Laughter.) So what? This is not a big deal. (Applause.) This is not a partisan issue anywhere in the whole country but Washington, D.C.
Over 200 medical and consumer organizations have endorsed this patients' bill of rights, and one has opposed it -- the health insurance companies. Now, if we get a vote on this -- because out in America doctors, nurses and patients agree, and Democrats and Republicans will agree -- it will fly like a hot knife through butter. But, again, the leadership of the Congress is trying to find a way to block the bill. It's not right. So I say again, just let everybody vote his or her conscience. And if they send it to me -- and they will -- I will sign it.
Now, these are measures awaiting action that could be enacted quickly. And if America will send a signal to Congress that they want action, we can pass them.
There are some, however, broader, more fundamental and, frankly, more difficult issues that I hope we can resolve this year. First, I believe, as I said in my State of the Union address, that we have a duty to you to use the bulk of this surplus over the next 15 years to solve the long-term challenges of Social Security and Medicare, and to do it in a way that pays down our national debt.
Now, why? Because that means that future generations will have guaranteed income and health care in their retirement years. And it means as we pay down the debt we will keep interest rates low, investment high, and guarantee when you get out of college there will be lots of good jobs available because we'll have a stronger and stronger and stronger economy. We can actually get rid of America's debt over the next 18 years if we will do this.
So I hope, even though we have honest, here, honest philosophical differences about what the best way to reform Medicare is, what the best way to reform Social Security is, the point is we ought to be able to proceed in a spirit of honorable compromise because the goals are so important and the stakes are so high, and because, frankly, the choices are a lot easier when you have a surplus than when you have a big deficit.
Next week I will propose a detailed plan to strengthen Medicare, to cut its costs, to modernize its operations, to use competition and innovation, to strengthen the core guarantee of quality care for all Americans who are elderly and eligible. I will also, for the first time, propose a way to help senior citizens with their greatest growing need, affordable prescription drugs. It is a huge issue out there for seniors.
Now, finding agreement on Social Security and Medicare will be hard. Finding agreement on tax cuts will be hard, although I hope the Congress will at least adopt targeted tax credits for long-term care and child care that I proposed. But we can do it. Now, regardless, Congress has to pass a budget this year. We must decide on how to use the surplus. So I hope we can work together to make progress on these goals.
Second, we ought to continue to advance our economy by doing more for the education of our people. As we have balanced the budget and cut the size of the federal government -- listen to this -- we have cut the size of the federal government to the same size it was when I was your age. The federal government now is the same size it was in 1962. That was a long time ago. (Laughter.) Anyway, as we have done that, we have nearly doubled our investment in education and training. Why? Because, as was said in my introduction, the
Information Age will be the Education Age.
Last year, at my urging, with school populations in our country at record highs, Congress passed a budget that began to hire 100,000 new teachers to reduce class size in the early years. Unbelievably to me, in the budget the majority is now writing, they repeal their pledge to finish the job of hiring those teachers. I just want Congress to keep its word. I think when you tell people something in an election year you ought to still be for it the next year, when there is no election. (Applause.)
I have also sent Congress an ambitious education reform plan because this is a year, as we do every five years, we have to reauthorize the general program under which we give money to schools all over America. And I believe we should dramatically change it to hold schools and school districts and states more accountable for results, and to give them more funds for after-school, summer school programs, and to target and turn around failing schools.
It is controversial. But it is based on what is working in the states that are having success in lifting all their schools in student achievement. Again, I say, there may be those who disagree with me philosophically -- we ought to have an open debate about this and come to an honorable compromise. We do not have to continue to spend money in the same old way when we know we can spend it more effectively based on what we have seen in our schools.
Third, let me say something that I hope will be important to all of you and has, doubtless, been experienced by some of you. We've got the strongest economy on record, all right, but there are still too many poor neighborhoods and rural communities where prosperity is something you read about, not experience. And I believe we should be committed to going into this new century leaving no one behind. This is not only a good thing to do ethically, it is also good economics.
I keep thinking every day, now, how can we continue to grow this economy, how can we drive unemployment even lower, create even more jobs, without having inflation? One way is to find new investment in America. So I say to you, we've spent a lot of time seeking new markets abroad, but our most important new markets are right here at home.
Two weeks from now, for four days, I will lead an unprecedented trip across America so our country can see the places I'm talking about. I'll go to the hills and hollows of Kentucky, to the Mississippi Delta, to a poor community in the Midwest, to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, to Phoenix, to inner-city Los Angeles. I'll be joined by distinguished corporate leaders and political leaders of both parties. Again, this is something that should not be a political issue at all. We want to shine a spotlight on the pockets of poverty that remain in America, and on the potential they have for new investment, new jobs, new hope, new opportunity.
I will ask Congress to do its part by passing my New Markets Initiative. It provides for tax incentives and loan guarantees for people to invest in these areas -- the same kind of incentives we give people today to invest in emerging economies abroad. I think that whatever we encourage people to do abroad, we ought to give the same encouragement to do at home, to give our people those kinds of chances. (Applause.)
Finally, I think we ought to do more to protect our young people from violence, to redeem the awful sacrifice of the children of Littleton, of the other school shootings, of the 13 American children we lose every single day to gun violence.
After Littleton, our whole nation came together in grief and determination. We know there are many causes of youth violence and, therefore, there must be many solutions. Hillary and I are launching a national campaign against youth violence to bring all kinds of people from all sectors of our communities together. We have done this before -- like Mothers and Students Against Drunk Driving dramatically reduced drunk driving in America, just for one example. And we can do that. (more, more)
