The controversial Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota. (AP photo)

Three decades after founder’s death, quick progress on Crazy Horse Memorial
This story in the Rapid City, S.D., Journal makes clear that the Crazy Horse Memorial is proceeding toward completing, despite the death of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski 27 years ago. The story gives a nod to the doubts among some Indian people about the memorial, given its location in the Black Hills and the fact that Crazy Horse would not allow himself to be photographed or sketched.

Senate bill takes aim at mail-order tribal tobacco trade
Indian Country Today reports here that the bill would prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from delivering cigarettes and certain other tobacco products. That would effectively putting Indian-owned mail order tobacco businesses out of operation. Needless to say, it has drawn an outcry from the Seneca Nation, which has a flourishing tobacco trade. “This holiday’s Grinch,” Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder calls the bill.

Native American Heritage Month celebrated in Baghdad
Yep, you read that right. Native soldiers at Camp Liberty Morale, Welfare & Recreation in Baghdad presented a program of songs, prayer and poetry, according to this report. The event featured, among other things, Sgt. Lauri Kindness, with 3rd Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Kindness, from Lodgegrass, Mont., sang a Crow protection song.

Forcibly adopted Indian children feel effects decades later
This Denver Post story by Monte Whaley details the agonizing fallout from the Indian Adoption Project, part of a national social experiment conducted from 1958 through 1967. Susan Devan Harness, a Colorado State University cultural anthropologist, was one of those children and has written a book about it, “Mixing Cultural Identities Through Transracial Adoption.”

Opponents of California tribe’s casino plans turn to Congress
The fight over the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians’ effort to put a casino on San Francisco Bay has moved to Washington, according to this story in Inside Bay Area. Some members of Congress have written a letter urging Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to scrutinize tribes seeking off-reservation casinos.

Gwen Florio

Tags: "Mixing Cultural Identities Through Transracial Adoption”, Camp Liberty, Crazy Horse Memorial, Crow Tribe, Indian Adoption Project, Lakota, Mail-order tobacco, Morale, Seneca Nation, Welfare and Recreation