Leonard Peltier 'Dick Bancroft Rest in Strength'

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Photo: Leonard Peltier and Dick Bancroft.
Article by Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
Censored News

©2018 ILPDC | 116 W Osborne Avenue Tampa, FL 33603

Mount Graham Sacred Run Begins

Rogue Navajo Officials Attempt to Buy Remington Gun Company

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Dine' protested outside the Navajo Nation Council on Wednesday opposing the attempted rogue purchase of Remington gun company and attempts to keep the dirty coal fired power plant, Navajo Generating Station, operating. Photo Dine' CARE

The Budget and Finance Committee (Seth Damon) going rogue – bid for Remington. Thank goodness it was rejected! The Navajo Nation offered up to $525 million in cash for gun company.

By Dine' CARE
Censored News

WINDOW ROCK, Arizona -- President Russell Begaye of the Navajo Nation said the all-cash offer for the Remington gun company was made without the approval of his office.
"This type of transaction done in secrecy is unacceptable," President Begaye's July 17 post on Twitter read.

According to Begaye, the offer was pushed by the Office of the Controller of the Navajo Nation and "certain members" of the Navajo Nation Council, the tribe's legislative body. He did not name any delegates he deemed responsible for the deal, which he said he was "highly disappointed to learn about."

Andrew Ross Sorkin broke news of the deal in The New York Times on Monday evening. The story did not include the views of any elected tribal leaders but it quoted attorney Drew Ryce and said he represented the tribe in the deal.

Ryce, who is Mohawk, previously said the Morongo Band of Mission Indians was interested in acquiring the Colt gun company after it declared bankruptcy in 2015. He told Reuters at the time the tribe could qualify for government contracts -- the same idea that was promoted in The Times.

The original post about the deal follows below.
The Navajo Nation offered to pay up to $525 million in cash for the Remington gun company, Andrew Ross Sorkin reports in The New York Times.

The deal would have saved Remington's creditors following the company's recent bankruptcy proceedings. But the tribe's offer was rejected last week for non-specific reasons, according to the report.

“All such opportunities are being and have been submitted to the committee for review,” the company said in a statement to The Times. The rejection came after a two-month delay in responding to the offer, Sorkin reported.

The tribe wanted to transform Remington into a government contracting firm, The Times reported. There still would have been consumer sales, but not any of the semi-automatic rifle variety, the ones which have been the focus of failed gun reform efforts.

“Navajo is a community of veterans and people of the land,” a tribal attorney told Sorkin. “We are indifferent to the AR-15 and happy to leave that business behind.”
Remington emerged from bankruptcy in May, The Times reported. The company is now reorganizing and that was given as the non-specific for the rejection of the tribe's offer, Sorkin reported.
Dealbook by Andrew Ross Sorkin: A Surprising Bid for Remington, and an Unsurprising Rejection (The New York Times July 16, 2018)
.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/business/dealbook/remington-sale-navajo-nation.html

Note: Remington filed for bankruptcy in March.

Copyright Dine' CARE

Hoopa Valley Tribe Plans Lawsuit To Protect Salmon On The Brink Of Extinction

Hoopa Valley Tribe Plans Lawsuit To Protect Salmon On The Brink Of Extinction

By Hoopa Valley Nation
July 18, 2018

Censored News

The Hoopa Valley Tribe (Tribe) today announced that it will file a lawsuit within 60 days unless federal agencies reduce the numbers of Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed Klamath-Trinity origin Coho salmon being killed in the Pacific Ocean. Klamath River origin Coho salmon have been listed as a ‘threatened species’ under the ESA since 1997.  Without analysis or formal ESA re-consultation, regulations of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) were changed this year to allow more Coho salmon to be injured or killed, although they are protected by the ESA. “We will not stand by while the federal agencies kill our salmon,” said Hoopa Tribal Chairman Ryan Jackson. “Some of those fish would have returned to the Klamath and Trinity Rivers. The Bureau of Reclamation cannot kill young Coho salmon in our rivers nor can the PFMC use regulations which kill the returning adult Coho salmon in the Pacific Ocean,” he said.

In April 2018, the Tribe warned U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross by letter that the PMFC was proposing to increase its allowances for killing and maiming Coho salmon which are incidentally encountered in ocean fisheries targeting Chinook salmon. Both species of salmon are present in the ocean’s Klamath Management Zone during the summer and the killing of Coho there is called an “incidental take.” However, Ross simply approved the PFMC’s proposal without bothering to request more thorough analysis of the impact to Coho, a violation of the ESA. That analysis is required because the new method for estimating Coho impacts and the related regulations were not considered in the applicable 1999 Biological Opinion assessing impacts in PFMC-managed ocean fisheries.

Adverse impacts to the ESA-listed Coho that result from excessive incidental take of Coho in ocean fishing directly impair and injure the Tribe and its sovereign, legal, economic, and cultural interests. Today’s notice that the federal agencies are violating the Endangered Species Act warns that a federal lawsuit will be filed after 60 days.

For further information, please contact Mike Orcutt, Hoopa Fisheries Director, at 530 625  4267 - Extension 1013.

Protesting Dirty Coal Power Plant Outside Navajo Nation Council Chambers

DINE' CARE PHOTOS
Protesting dirty coal power plant, Navajo Generating Station, outside Navajo Nation Council Chambers.
The Navajo Nation government wants to keep this dirty coal power plant operating with coal from Peabody Coal mined on Black Mesa. Both drain precious water to produce electricity for Southern Arizona and poison Navajos and everyone in the Grand Canyon region. -- Censored News

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Water Protector Dion Ortiz Faces Up To 3 Years in Prison with Plea Agreement

Dion Ortiz Reaches Non-Cooperating Plea Agreement, 1 Charge Dropped –Recommendation of Up to 3 Years

Posted on July 17, 2018l

By Water Protector Legal Collective

Censored News

MANDAN, North Dakota -- Dion Ortiz appeared in federal court in Bismarck on July 17 for a change of plea hearing as per the terms of a non-cooperating agreement with prosecutors.

Water Protector Dion Ortiz (in tie) with attorney and family prior to his change of please hearing in Bismarck on July 17, 2018

Dion had been charged with Civil Disorder and Use of Fire to Commit a Federal Felony Offense, arising from events of October 27, 2016. Under this plea agreement, the second charge – which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and the possibility of up to 15 years in prison – will be dropped entirely, and Ortiz will take responsibility for committing civil disorder.

Presiding Judge Daniel L. Hovland accepted the plea agreement by prosecutors and the defense. At the time of sentencing, the prosecutors have agreed to recommend up to three years, while the defense is free to argue for any sentence they wish. The judge has the authority to go as high as five years. This is a non-cooperating agreement relating only to Dion's own actions and does not require any testimony or information about anyone else.

Dion and his legal team were facing monumental challenges including the prospect of trial with a hostile jury pool and the risk of a draconian 10-year prison sentence because of minimum sentencing.

In December of 2016, WPLC brought in an expert to poll the potential jurors to determine the extent of local bias against Water Protectors. The findings were clear: 77% of potential jurors in Morton County and 85% in Burleigh County had already decided that defendants were guilty and many potential jurors have close connections to law enforcement or the oil industry.

Dion is a member of the San Felipe Pueblo in New Mexico; he went to Standing Rock in September 2016 to participate in the prayer camp.

Dion's parents and siblings traveled to Bismarck to be in attendance at today's hearing, which was also attended by LaDonna Brave Bull Allard of the Standing Rock reservation and congregants from the local Unitarian Universalist church who came as "moral witnesses."

At the conclusion of the hearing three U.S. marshals took Dion from the courtroom in Bismarck to the Burleigh-Morton Detention Center to await sentencing. The family gathered with supporters to express their love and support for Dion.

"My son is always helping out people in need; he just puts the sunshine on a cloudy day," said his mother. "He will always be there to help out with anything that is asked of him, he has a big heart and puts others first," his dad added. Dion's sister said that Dion was known in the family "for always making jokes and bringing a smile to their faces," and his little brother described Dion as "a caring person who wants to make everybody happy and warm their hearts."

Information on how to support him during this difficult time is available on his Facebook support page: Justice4Dion.

He is represented by attorneys Robin V. Waters and Thomas Anthony Durkin of the Durkin & Roberts law firm in Chicago, and its pro bono arm, The Rerum Novarum Human and Civil Rights Center of Chicago, who will return to Bismarck for his sentencing hearing, currently scheduled for October 22.

"We think this was a fair resolution under the circumstances, especially in light of the 10-year minimum sentence that would have been imposed if Dion had been convicted of the second charge," Durkin said. "We look forward to being able to present an enormous amount of mitigation at the time of his sentencing hearing."

This agreement comes shortly after the sentencing of another Water Protector with federal charges: Red Fawn Fallis was sentenced to 57 months, to be followed by three years of federal supervision. Rattler (Michael Markus) will be sentenced on September 27. Water Protector Legal Collective is also currently handling 22 state cases that are still open and proceeding to trial, and another six cases being appealed.

Posted in Arrestee Updates, For Arrestees, Press Releases