National Briefs: July 2014

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PATENT OFFICE CANCELS WASHINGTON TEAM’S

TRADEMARK

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Patent and

Trademark Office canceled six trademarks belonging to the Washington

football team on June 18, saying they are offensive to Native

Americans.

The team, which has said it has spent

millions defending trademark over the years, will appeal the

decision, a process that could take years. The Patent Office will

continue to treat the trademark registrations as though they are

valid during the appeals process, according to a spokesperson.

In the meantime, the team can continue

to use the logos portraying a Native American profile with feathers.

If the decision is upheld, it will be hard for the team to claim

ownership of its brand, a crucial step in going after the makers of

unlicensed merchandise. Instead, the team will have to illustrate

that it has always used the logos, rather than relying official

trademark registrations. The decision came in response to a suit

brought by five Native plaintiffs.

In May, 49 senators, including

Majority Leader Harry Reid, signed a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger

Goodell saying that the "team is on the wrong side of history,"

and that he should endorse a name change. A week later, a coalition

of 77 tribal, civil rights and religious groups, including the

National Congress of American Indians and the NAACP, signed a letter

urging players to campaign to change the team’s mascot.

The team adopted its name and logo in

1933, when it was based in Boston. It had been known as the Braves

but changed the name to honor William Henry "Lone Star"

Dietz, their coach at the time, who was a Native American, according

to a legal brief filed by the team in a previous matter.

The trademark, which was granted in

1967, has been renewed several times, but the Patent Office

previously canceled the registration in 1999. A federal judge

overturned that decision in 2003, saying there was no proof that the

name was disparaging at the time of registration. The team’s

trademark attorney Bob Raskopf said he believed this decision, like

the previous one, would be overturned.

IDAHO TRIBE CONTINUES TO OFFER POKER

GAMES

PLUMMER, Idaho – A federal judge

won’t stop the Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Idaho from offering poker games

but the dispute might not be over yet.

Judge Lynn Winmill said the Class III

gaming compact bars Idaho from suing the tribe because the state

already sent a notice of alleged non-compliance to the tribe. The

letter was sent on May 1 and the compact requires a 60-day period for

the parties to discuss their dispute.

"The court finds that Article 21

of the compact unambiguously prohibits the state from filing a

lawsuit within the 60-day period," Winmill wrote in a nine-page

decision today. "The state’s position to the contrary is

unreasonable, and thus fails to create any ambiguity that would

prevent the court from interpreting the compact as a matter of law."

The 60-day period ended June 30. At

that time, either party can request binding arbitration – however,

that means the state might have to withdraw its lawsuit altogether.

"Once a party has given notice of

intent to pursue binding arbitration and the notice has been sent to

the non-complaining party, the matter in controversy may not be

litigated in court proceedings," the compact states.

Winmill stayed the litigation and

asked for an update from the parties by July 7. Meanwhile, poker

games continue at the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel.

PUEBLO WOMAN WANTS TO BE FIRST NATIVE

LT. GOVERNOR

LAGUNA PUEBLO, N.M. – Native

Americans make up 11.4 percent of the population in New Mexico,

according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but a Native person has never

held statewide office.

Deb Haaland, a single mother from

Laguna Pueblo, hopes to change that. She’s the Democratic candidate

for lieutenant governor.

“I don’t think voting is enough.

You have to do more," Haaland said. "Sometimes you’ve

just got to take a leap."

Haaland is running on the Democratic

ticket with Attorney General Gary King. Their opponents in the

November general election are Gov. Susana Martinez (R) and Lt. Gov.

John Sanchez (R).

SUPREME COURT DENIES APPEAL BY NATIVE

TOBACCO FIRM

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court

won’t be hearing an appeal from a Indian tobacco firm.

The justices took up petitions in

Native Wholesale Company v. Idaho and Native Wholesale Supply Company

v. Superior Court of California during a closed-door conference on

June 19. Both were denied without comment in an order list this

morning.

Native Wholesale Supply Company is a

business located on the Seneca Nation in New York.. The firm was

fighting efforts to comply with state laws in Idaho and California.

The firm declared bankruptcy in 2011

after facing numerous state enforcement efforts.

ACTIVISTS FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST

CLEVELAND TEAM

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Native American

activists in Illinois are planning to file a lawsuit against the

Cleveland Major League Baseball team.

Activists have been protesting the

team’s Chief Wahoo mascot for decades. They hope the lawsuit leads to

the elimination of the racist symbol.

"We’re going to be asking for $9

billion and we’re basing it on a hundred years of disparity, racism,

exploitation and profiteering," Robert Roche, the director of

the American Indian Education Center and one of the plaintiffs in the

forthcoming suit, told ABC News. Roche said the lawsuit will be filed

by the end of July.

CHEROKEE NATION ATTRACTS NEW

DEVELOPMENT WITH CASINO

TALEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee Nation is

spurring economic development in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area thanks to

its casino.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has

drawn a Wal-Mart Supercenter to Catoosa. The 24-hour facility, which

employs 300 people, opened on June 25.

“It’s not only made things more

eye appealing, but it’s helping to bring sales tax revenue to the

city of Catoosa,” Cherokee Chief Bill John Baker told The Tulsa

World. “It’ll really be a boon for the Catoosa area.”

The tribe bought land by the casino in

hopes of bringing retail to the area. The tribe sold the property to

a developer who lured Wal-Mart to the site.

SENATE CONFIRMS OSAGE CITIZEN TO RUN

OFFICE OF SPECIAL TRUSTEE

WASHINGTON – The Senate voted today

to confirm Vince Logan as the leader of the Office of the Special

Trustee for American Indians.

Logan is a member of the Osage Nation

of Oklahoma. He was first nominated for the OST job in September 2012

and was re-submitted this past January.

“As an investment professional, a

mentor for Native American attorneys, and a member of the Osage

Nation, Vince has been deeply rooted in Indian Country for many

decades," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a press

release today. "His asset management expertise, legal experience

and extensive network of professional relationships in Indian Country

will well serve the Office of Special Trustee and the Department of

the Interior as we work to build a stronger and more responsive trust

asset management system for the nation’s First Americans. I am

pleased the Senate voted to confirm him to this leadership post at

Interior.”

The OST position has been vacant for

more than five years. Logan has from now until the end of the Obama

administration to get a handle on trust reform efforts at the

Interior Department

IHS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO HIRE MORE NATIVE

VETERANS

WASHINGTON – The Indian Health

Service said it will hire more Native American veterans. Native

veterans make up about 6 percent of the workforce at IHS. The goal is

to increase that rate to 9 percent.

"The IHS will recruit veterans by

setting hiring goals, engaging in active outreach, and using existing

and new partnerships to create additional career opportunities,"

the agency said in a press release.

IHS will recruit veterans by setting

hiring goals, engaging in active outreach and using existing and new

partnerships to create additional career opportunities.

Earlier this year, the IHS and the

Department of Veterans Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding

to assist veterans in finding employment through President Obama’s

National Strategy to Hire More Veterans.

As part of its Veterans Hiring

Initiative, the IHS will collaborate with the VA on federal

recruitment events targeting veterans. Additionally, the IHS will

partner with the Department of Defense on recruitment of separating

active duty service members through the Transition Assistance Program

and through marketing and media outreach campaigns.

The agency also said it plans to

partner with tribes in recruitment outreach efforts targeted at

tribal members who are active duty or veterans. It is also developing

its own nationwide public service announcement radio and print

campaign customized to markets with large populations of military

personnel.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs also

announced plans this month to hire more Native veterans.

REMAINS OF 12,600 YEAR-OLD TODDLER

REBURIED IN MONTANA

BILLINGS, Mont. – A reburial ceremony

was held in June for a 12,600-year-old boy whose DNA showed a link to

present-day Native people.

The boy was discovered on a ranch in

Montana in 1968. He was reburied at a site not far from his original

resting place.

“The spirit is now back to the other

side,” said Thomas Larson Medicine Horse, Sr., an elder from the

Crow Tribe who participated in the ceremony.

The boy was buried with more than 100

artifacts. His remains and the items had been covered with red ochre,

a sign that his community conducted a burial ceremony after he died.

DNA tests showed that he shared the

same genes as present-day Native people who live as far away as

Central and South America. Shane Doyle, a professor at Montana State

University, participated in the study.

“It’s one thing to believe and

sense that your people have been here for thousands and thousands of

years,” Doyle, a Crow tribal citizen, said in a press release

earlier this year. “It’s another thing to have scientific

evidence and proof that those paleo-Indians were us and we are them.”

SENATE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS

PLANS FOUR HEARINGS IN JULY

WASHINGTON – The Senate Indian

Affairs Committee has four hearings on its schedule for the month of

July. On July 9, the committee will hold a hearing on five bills.

Those bills include:

S. 2442, the Northern Cheyenne Lands

Act. The bill requires the Interior Department to place land, mineral

rights and important sites into trust for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe

of Montana.

S. 2465, the Albuquerque Indian School Land Transfer

Act. The bill requires DOI to place land into trust for the 19

Pueblos of New Mexico.

S.2479, the Moapa Band of Paiutes Land

Conveyance Act. The bill The bill requires DOI to place land into

trust for the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians in Nevada.

S.2480, the

Nevada Native Nations Land Act. The bill requires DOI to place land

into trust for seven tribes

S. 2503, a bill to implement a water

rights settlement for the Hualapai Tribe of Arizona.

On July 16, the committee will hold an

oversight hearing on the Land Buy-Back Program for tribal nations. A

prior hearing on the issue was held on Dec. 11, 2013.

The following week, on July 23, the

committee will hold an oversight hearing on the "next 25 years"

of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The law marked its 25th

anniversary last year.

On July 30, the committee will hold a

hearing on natural disasters in Indian Country. Congress has enacted

a law that allows tribes to request disaster declarations directly

from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.