By Ernestine Chasing Hawk, Native Sun News Editor
RAPID CITY – Less than two weeks after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder visited the Rapid City community and spoke about measures to curb violence in Indian country, three Rapid City Police officers were shot by Daniel Tiger, a 22-year-old Native American male.
James Ryan McCandless, 28, died at the scene and Nick Armstrong, 27, later died as a result of gunshot wounds sustained during a shoot-out with the suspect. Tiger also died of gunshot wounds.
Another officer, Tim Doyle who was shot in the face during the armed altercation is currently recovering from his injuries.
According to the Rapid City Police Department on Aug. 2 at about 4:30 p.m., during what was termed a “routine stop” a Rapid City police officer patrolling on a bicycle came into contact with a group of four individuals at the intersection of Anamosa and Greenbriar streets.
Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender reported that there had been complaints of underage drinking in the area and an officer was responding to the call.
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Tags: ernestine chasing hawk, Native Sun News, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, rapid city police department
By Ernestine Chasing Hawk, Native Sun News Managing Editor
RAPID CITY — When Attorney Mario Gonzalez was asked why S.D. Congressional leaders have said the “Black Hills Claim” issue is moot because it has already been settled he replied, “It’s not settled – until we say it’s settled.”
In 2008, during a campaign stop in Sioux Falls then Sen. Barak Obama gave Great Plains Indian tribes a ray of hope on the outcome of the century’s long legal battle over “theft of 48 million acres of their homeland.”
“Barack Obama is a strong believer in tribal sovereignty. He does not believe courts or the federal government should force Sioux tribes to take settlement money for the Black Hills. Obama would not be opposed to bringing together all the different parties through government-to-government negotiations to explore innovative solutions to this long-standing issue.”
However one of the key elements to resolving the issue is “bringing together all the different parties” and with each passing day their “window of opportunity” shrinks as time ticks away for the Obama-Biden administration.
A. Gay Kingman-Wapato, executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association explained that shortly after Obama was elected, a meeting was held on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation where several chairmen brought forth tribal resolutions that dealt with how litigation on dockets 74-A and 74-B should proceed.
Because tribes need to come to a consensus and present a unified voice before the Obama administration, the GPTCA formed the Great Sioux Nation He Sapa Reparation Alliance whose role will be to “facilitate” the creation of a “Plan of Action – Position Paper” to hold the United States Government accountable for its violations of the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty.
It was decided that the alliance must proceed in a spiritual way and have their first meeting where the Sacred Bundle brought by Pte San Win (the White Buffalo Calf Woman) is kept.
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Tags: Black Hills, black hills claim, ernestine chasing hawk, great plains tribal chairmen's association, Native Sun News, Sioux Falls, Standing Rock Indian Reservation
Tim Giago
RAPID CITY — Tim Giago, Editor/Publisher of Native Sun News will put down his pen and retire from the newsroom April 1, three years to the day after he launched this “last and final newspaper.” He will remain on the newspapers masthead as Editor Emeritus, as he moves on to, “finish the book I have been writing all my life.”
“I always knew this day would come, but I never really prepared for it. I was always too busy making deadlines and anticipating the next breaking news story. I was that kind of editor who always tried to squeeze one last story into the paper before putting it to bed. I always jumped with joy whenever I beat my competitors with a great, breaking story and wrung my hands in anguish when they did the same to me,” Giago said in his weekly editorial.
The 76 year old Oglala Lakota’s career in journalism, which he once referred to as the “life of Kings” began as a result of an order when he was serving in the U.S. Navy.
“It happened by accident in the beginning. One day I was at my desk at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard typing a report when the commanding officer happened by. He watched me for a minute and then came up to me and said, ‘You type really well. You are now the editor of the base newspaper, the PacHunter,’” he said. “After I was given that order I had to learn to put out a monthly newsletter by the seat of my pants.”
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Tags: ernestine chasing hawk, Native Sun News, Oglala Lakota, pachunter, Tim Giago