Janklow Sentenced to 100 Days in Jail

FLANDREAU, S.D. (AP) -- Bill Janklow, who dominated South Dakota politics for three decades as governor and then congressman, was sentenced to 100 days in jail Thursday for an auto accident that killed a motorcyclist and ended Janklow's career.

Janklow to be sentenced in S.D. accident

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Former Rep. Bill Janklow is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in his boyhood hometown of Flandreau, S.D. The 64-year-old former governor and state attorney general was convicted Dec. 8 of second-degree manslaughter, speeding and running a stop sign, as well as reckless driving which killed motorcyclist Randy Scott.

South Dakota does not require minimum sentences, so the judge's discretion ranges from no time behind bars and no fines up to a total of 10 years in prison for the manslaughter count, 14 months in jail for the lesser counts and $11,400 in fines. Judge Rodney Steele also could require restitution or community service or set other special conditions.

Whatever the sentence, the judge likely will rely heavily on a presentence report that includes facts on every aspect of Janklow's life, his driving record and comments from the Scott family.

Casino Deals Are Stalled by State, U.S. and Tribal Hurdles

MONTICELLO, N.Y. - New York State approved the construction of three Indian casinos for the old resort areas here in the Catskills more than two years ago, and people in the area practically began to count the money they expected to get from gamblers and construction projects and new jobs. But little has happened since then.

The Catskills casinos are bogged down in the same legal and cultural quagmire that has bedeviled the state's relations with Indian tribes for generations: land ownership, taxes and sovereignty. "There's been a lot of talk and a lot of hype, but no action," said William Darwak, the Ulster County administrator. "No money, either."

Plagued by Drugs, Tribes Revive Ancient Penalty

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — For generations the Noland family has led a troubled life on the Lummi Indian reservation here. The Nolands have struggled with alcohol, painkillers and, more recently, crack. Seven family members are now jailed, several for dealing drugs, on and off tribal land.

Their experience has been repeated hundreds of times on this sprawling, desperately poor reservation of 2,000 Lummi, where addiction and crime have become pervasive. It is the reason that the Lummi tribe has turned as a last resort to a severe and bygone punishment, seeking to banish five of the young men in jail and another recently released. It is also the reason for evicting Yevonne Noland, 48, the matriarch of the Noland clan, from her modest blue house on the reservation, because her son, a convicted drug dealer, was listed on the lease.

Water Pump Case Tests Federal Law

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 9 — For nearly half a century, a pumping station in South Florida has been pouring millions of gallons of storm runoff annually into the Everglades, keeping the farms and backyards of western Broward Country dry but filling the wetlands with water often tainted by pollutants, mainly from phosphorus-rich fertilizers.

The court, which will hear arguments on Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by a small Indian tribe,
the Miccosukee, against Florida water authorities, will decide whether, legally speaking, the pump is adding pollutants to the Everglades or is simply transferring them between bodies of water that belong to the same large national system of waterways. If the court decides the pump adds pollutants, S-9 and similar pumping equipment could become subject to a stringent system of permits and pollution controls required under the Clean Water Act.

Limbaugh and Novak under fire for Crossfire comment

Accuses South Dakota Indians of stealing election

PIERRE SD
Sam Lewin 1/9/2004

Democrats, Republicans, tribal leaders and political action groups have all attacked conservative commentator Robert Novak over remarks he made on CNN this week. Novak said on Crossfire Tuesday that Native Americans in South Dakota stuffed ballot boxes, helping Senator Tim Johnson win a close election in 2002 against challenger John Thune. Thune is now running against Senator Tom Daschle. Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh defended Novak and challenged listeners to take him to task for accusing Indian tribes in South Dakota for stealing the 2002 Senate election.

“In 2002, Thune would have been elected to the state's other Senate seat, but the election was stolen by stuffing ballot boxes on the Indian reservations. Now Tom Daschle may have to pay for that theft,” Novak said.

Simon Ortiz- Reading into Native American writers

NEW YORK (AP) -- The words of Simon Ortiz mingle with the muffled sounds of city traffic that have drifted into an art studio where dozens have gathered to hear his poetry.

He closes his book and takes a deep breath. He scans his audience, searching for understanding and acceptance and is immediately greeted with warm, enthusiastic applause. People begin to cluster about him, eager to talk, eager to learn more about Indians in America.

Tribal Police Raid Okla. Headquarters

McLOUD, Okla. (AP) -- Kickapoo tribal police raided the tribe's headquarters and arrested three women who had barricaded themselves in the building demanding a change in leadership and a federal audit of the tribe's finances.

The women, the only ones in the building out of 10 who had been staging the demonstration since Dec. 16, were booked on trespassing complaints and released on $100 bail each.