Modern technology is amazing. There is so much we can do with computers, smart phones, cameras and the Internet. Events can be shared with the world in almost an instant. When you go out in public you cannot really expect any kind of privacy anymore. There is always someone with either a camera equipped cell phone or camcorder to document everything you do. I love it.

 

On August 26, 2012 the Women’s Day of Peace was held. This event saw a group of concerned Lakota and other people descend upon the small town of White Clay, Nebraska. They went there to demonstrate against the alcohol establishments which have made millions of dollars selling booze. In addition, concerned members of Deep Green Resistance created a human chain across the highway to show how serious they were against the amount of alcohol sold in White Clay.

 

Facebook and YouTube are indispensable when it comes to sharing information. They allow us to share events and are also ways to document what happens at these events. The Women’s Day for Peace created an event on Facebook where they shared the following information about White Clay, Nebraska:

 

“White Clay is an incorporated village with a population of 14 people in northwest Nebraska. The town sits on the border of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota. White Clay lies on disputed land, merely 200 feet from the official reservation border and less than three miles from the center of Pine Ridge, SD, the largest town on the reservation. Sale and possession of alcoholic beverages on the Pine Ridge is prohibited under tribal law. Except for a brief experiment with on-reservation liquor sales in the early 1970s, this prohibition has been in effect since the reservation lands were created.

 

“White Clay has four off-sale beer stores licensed by the State of Nebraska which sell the equivalent of 4.5 million 12-ounce cans of beer annually (12,500 cans per day), mostly to the Oglala living on Pine Ridge. These retailers routinely violate Nebraska liquor law by selling beer to minors and intoxicated persons, knowingly selling to bootleggers who resell the beer on the reservation, permitting on-premise consumption of beer in violation of restrictions placed on off-sale-only licenses and exchanging beer for sexual favors. The vast majority of those who purchase beer in White Clay have, in fact, no legal place to consume it, since possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages on the Pine Ridge Reservation remain illegal under tribal law. Many people have died in the streets due to exposure, as the state of Nebraska fails to uphold state law or police White Clay. As long as the liquor stores in White Clay remain in business, the genocide of the Oglala Lakota people will continue.”

 

The Women’s Day of Peace was a demonstration organized and led by women.

I watched a YouTube video where Olowan Sara Martinez stated the event was “to let the world know that there’s a new generation of free thinking Lakotas being born and raised in this day . . . I defend the minds of our relatives, alcohol is a plague, it’s a disease, it’s an infection that causes our young people to kill themselves, to harm each other, to harm their own. We need to stop it before it’s too late. . .

 

“We came here today, not only in solidarity with Deep Green Resistance, but to save the mentality and the minds of our own nations. It’s important that these small young children see this and they hear it and they understand it that alcohol will only help you to kill your own and kill yourself . . .  99% of [suicides] are alcohol induced, every rape, every molestation, every beating, everything has alcohol behind it.

 

“And so today we came to defend the minds of the Lakota…these young ones coming up, it’s important for them to grow up and understand and see that alcohol ain’t a part of us, that drunken Indian stereotype was built to defeat us, right along with silence, right along with every single one of these bars right here in White Clay. I’m grateful for our non-Indigenous allies who put their bodies on the line and they are not leaving until they are arrested…if that lasts one, two, three days, we’ll be here. That’s what’s up!

 

I believe the activists who chained themselves together to block the road were very brave! They went to White Clay and made a stand. I applaud them for their courage as they gave up the use of their hands while lying on the road, totally helpless. It was a powerful act against alcohol.

 

The protesters were so successful at locking themselves to the highway which runs through White Clay that even the police and fire departments could not remove the devices which bound them together. In the videos I saw there looked to be a lot of police officers from Nebraska’s Sheridan County and the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

 

Consequently, the look which some of them had was pretty scary. One of the Sheridan County officers in the video I watched had a glare which just didn’t look right to me. He looked like he wanted to hurt someone.

 

The officers had to lift up all five people who were chained together and load them into a dirty horse trailer in order to transport them to Sheridan County Jail in Rushville, NE. Trailers are made for animals, not for people. Surely there could have been a better way to resolve it all. Be careful! If you plan to travel to Nebraska to stand up for what is right, be prepared to be treated like an animal.

 

Alcohol is the scourge of the Lakota Oyate. Anheuser-Busch is making a gazillion dollars off our people who are addicted to the evil drug alcohol. Stop wasting your money buying booze! There is always time to change your life and the lives of your children.

 

 

 

 

 

ROSEBUD, SD – Cyril “Whitey” Scott was the unofficial winner of the General Election for tribal president held here last week. He received 39 votes more than incumbent Rodney Bordeaux.

 

Bordeaux has served the last 7 years, or three terms, as President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

 

William “Willie” Kindle was re-elected as Vice President. He received 1720 votes to Oliver J. “OJ” Semans’ 801 votes.

 

Tribal council newcomer Mary Waln received 1,251 votes over He Dog Community incumbent Royal Yellow Hawk who came close with 1,224 votes.

 

Horse Creek incumbent Webster Two Hawk, Sr. retained his tribal council seat with 1642 votes over challenger Fremont Fallis who had 819 votes.

 

Ring Thunder has a new tribal council representative with Rose Two Strike Stenstrom receiving 1,271 votes, which was enough to beat incumbent Patricia “Patti” Douville who had 1,171 votes.

 

Rosebud’s race for tribal council representative was the closest one of all. Richard “Tuffy” Lunderman’s 1,253 votes were enough to put him ahead of Stephanie C. Sully, who received 1,233 votes.

 

St. Francis incumbent John Swift retained his tribal council seat with 1,386 votes compared to 1,100 votes received by challenger Patsy Valandra.

 

Swift Bear tribal council challenger Alvin Bettelyoun, Sr. received 1,540 votes to easily topple incumbent Delano Clairmont, who had 887 votes.

 

Upper Cut Meat incumbent Kathleen High Pipe received 1,239 votes to remain as tribal council representative. Challenger Philimon D. Two Eagle finished with 1,186 votes.

 

Corn Creek will seat newcomer Brian Hart who received 1,286 votes. Incumbent Arlene Black Bear finished with 1,154 votes.

 

Incumbent Todd Bear Shield appeared on the ballot from Bull Creek Community even though he ran unopposed. 2,119 tribal voters cast their vote for Bear Shield.

 

In addition, the unofficial results from the school board election for St. Francis Indian School saw Fred “Fritz” Leader Charge receive 548 votes while David P. Brushbreaker received 517 votes.

 

The RST Election Board will receive any challenges to the General Election results until 1pm on Friday, August 31, 2012. A challenge fee is required. The swearing in of the newly elected officials will take place on the first business day following the certification of election results. For more information you may call the Election Board office at (605) 856-2373.

 

 

Updates: Women’s Day of Peace Action in White Clay.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is having a General Election today Thursday, August 23, 2012. I encourage all of you who are registered voters to cast your ballot. This is one way you can become involved in your own tribal government.

 

Many have lost faith in the Indian Reorganization Act which was basically forced upon us by the federal government in 1934. Many believe our tribal government needs to be changed. I remain hopeful that a true Lakota leader will emerge from the Seventh Generation to re-write our Tribal Constitution in a way which benefits all of us.

 

A totally new Tribal Constitution, written to reflect the virtues of our ancestors, could be proposed to the tribal council at any time. If each community worked together to collectively bring the same resolution requesting a brand new Constitution in front of the tribal council they would have to act upon it. Such action could be put to a ballot through Article IX of the current RST Constitution, which reads in part: “It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Interior to call an election on any proposed amendment, upon receipt of a written resolution signed by at least three-fourths (3/4) of the membership of the Council.”

 

On a happier note, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe is sponsoring the 136^th Annual Rosebud Fair, Rodeo and Wacipi this week. Many people look forward to this time of year as it is celebration time for us. There are many activities scheduled to happen. I hope that you all have a great time.

 

I especially want to welcome all of our tribal members who live off the rez along with other visitors to the Rosebud Reservation for this annual celebration. Many of our family members come home for this celebration. It will be good to see them again.

 

I have written about Rosebud Fair in the past and some scholars have disagreed with the timelines I have put forth concerning the origins of our celebration. Still, as I have come to understand the history of my own people, the Sicangu Lakota maintain that our very first tribal celebration was held in late summer of 1876. This occurred when the Sicangu Lakota Oyate learned of the June 25 annihilation of General George A. Custer and the 7th Calvary. A welcome home victory celebration to honor many Lakota warriors who had fought in the Battle of the Little Big Horn took place here on the Rosebud. Our Lakota Akicita carried home the personal flag of the fallen General Custer along with several troop guidon flags.

 

Francis White Bird, Sicangu tribal member and Decorated Vietnam Veteran, had replicas of the captured flags made several years ago. A ceremony was also held at Fort Meade in Sturgis to dedicate the flags. The flags are carried in the grand entry at the Rosebud Wacipi held in August. When the replicas were first brought to Rosebud, White Bird gave a history of how they came into the possession of the Lakota people and talked about the origin of the celebration. The Lakota descendants present that day were proud to be part of a waktegli waci or victory dance.

 

In the book, The Sioux of the Rosebud, Anderson and Hamilton write of the Fourth of July festivities in 1897 where “The celebration lasted for six days…On July 1 the Indians went to the fairgrounds… one mile north of the Rosebud Agency and set up their great circle of tipis…on July 6 the Indian police held a drill followed by a…reenactment of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. This event should not have required much coaching, since almost every Indian present over twenty-one years old had been at the original battle in 1876.”

 

When I was a small child I remember a large building which once served as a display area for the tribal fair. Garden produce, canned goods, handmade clothing, drawings, beadwork, quillwork, plus other arts and crafts items were judged at the fair. The displays were organized according to the districts of the Rosebud Reservation.

 

My late Grandmother often reminisced about how the celebration was when she was a child. The people of Rosebud knew it was fair time when a steady procession of horse-drawn wagons would arrive from all directions. Several people from the different reservation districts would come to the agency a few weeks in advance to prepare the camping area by building shades and outhouses. They would also build the arbor for the Wacipi and prepare the rodeo arena. All of this was volunteer work.

 

Families would travel with essentials and food to last the duration of the fair. Back then our people were so self-sufficient that they didn’t have to depend on anyone for anything. Wagons were loaded with clothing, bedding, tipis, poles, canvas tents, firewood, tools, along with cooking and eating utensils.

 

The tiospaye camped according to the district they came from. It was a very organized circle, with everyone respecting each other and their camping area. There was no running water as we know it today. So travelers had to haul their own water in wooden barrels. Can you imagine Rosebud Fair without the food vendors? Back in the day, Lakota cooks would pack dried meat, biscuits, boiled potatoes, and home canned fruit for their families to eat while camping.

 

On the first day of the fair, there would be a morning charge. Many young men and women would mount their horses for a long charge through camp. Lakota victory songs were sung back then as they still are today. The Wacipi was held for people to dance and enjoy themselves. Other ceremonies, such as a young woman’s coming out celebration or feasts to honor family members, were also held during the Wacipi.

 

Now, 136 years after Custer fell at Little Big Horn, the Sicangu Lakota still remember the accomplishments of our ancestors by hosting the Rosebud Fair at the end of August. This weekend make sure to put safety first!

by Debra White Plume, writing from the banks of Wounded Knee Creek

“As long as the water flows and the sweet grass grows” are words Red Nations people take seriously, like in Treaty Making. We have learned the so-called United States is a trickster. They are settler invaders who occupy our lands across Turtle Island. As Lakota people, we know who we are and where we come from. We went deep under ground for generations, and emerged through Wind Cave in the sacred Black Hills, a place that is located in the middle of this land, to live on Mother Earth again.

We call the Black Hills He Sapa. In our Lakota language, we call He Sapa “The Heart of Everything That Is”, it is sacred land. To make a long story short, our Lakota Nation fought the US military for decades for our freedom and territory, we made Treaty with them in 1851 and 1868 after they begged for Peace. We retained a land base including the He Sapa. After the US made bounty on the Buffalo Nation and almost wiped them out as part of the Scorched Earth Policy to get us off the land (in violation of the Treaties), we came in to be counted. We were each given an Indian Number, and assigned to Prisoner of War Camps. Pine Ridge Reservation was POW Camp 344. We, the Oglala Band of the Lakota Nation, live the closest of the Tetuwan Oyate to the He Sapa, the other Lakota and Dakota Bands located nearby.

When our ancestors came in off the land they had a star map and a land map they had preserved through decades of warfare with the US. The Star Map shows constellations, the Earth Map shows land where our people are to be when the stars are in a certain position, and what ceremony we are to have in that place at that time.  As traditional Lakota people, we are schooled in this way from the womb, so by adulthood, we know this deep in our spirits, hearts, and minds. We teach it on to the next generation, and to those who grew up assimilated and colonized but want to reclaim their Lakota identity. We are to hold our ceremonies at a certain place on Mother Earth when the stars travel to their special place in the sky during the seasons, when done this way by the Lakota people, we call this the Good Red Road. This is what Lakota people are talking about when we say we are walking the Good Red Road, we are traveling through He Sapa in ceremony just as the Stars are traveling through the sky.  We also say “He Sapa is the Heart of Our Home, He Sapa is the Home of our Heart”, so our ancestors fought for it, and so do we. Love is a very powerful force!

One part of the Good Red Road is a prairie area called Pe Sla, in Treaty Territory that the US stole when gold was discovered. Unilaterally approving laws in violation of the Treaty, the US made land available to settlers through gradual encroachment. The Reynolds family began obtaining parcels of land on Pe Sla 136 years ago. Local legend has it they tried to mine for gold there, but found none, no one did, so they bought out the other settlers, one by one. Now the descendants of the early settlers want to sell the land through auction on August 26 in Rapid City. Every bone in my body tells me this is wrong. Not just illegal, but wrong. It tears at my heart to think part of our Good Red Road is being auctioned. Pe Sla is a place that fills your heart with love and joy, and when you go there, you just want to cry, and the healing tears fall, the power there is so strong. It is a place where generations of Lakota have sent their voices to the Universe. We want our generations to be able to go there, too. All of our Lakota way, belongs to our children’s children, and so on. We are keeping care of the Lakota way, for them, to carry on. So we are in a dilemma.

Certain circumstances can prevail upon a person to behave in a manner that is fundamentally contrary to one’s belief system, instincts, and historical frame of reference. To even sporadically arrive at this conclusion is shocking! Talk about a paradigm shift!

Such is the situation when faced with a very real possibility that sacred ancestral land, that in living memory has not been available to the people, is suddenly obtainable!  Imagine that YOU must get permission from those who withhold it, when you want to pray in ceremony, how would that make you feel? Deprived of your ancestral identity, who will you be? Our Lakota ceremonies are who we are. Without our ceremonies, we cease to be Lakota. We must have access to our sacred places that collectively make up the Good Red Road, for us, here on earth.

While paying money for Pe Sla in the paradigm of western thought is repugnant, knowing what may happen if it developers buy it is more horrendous. The lesser of two evils is to purchase that land to get it off the auction block. The worst scenario is to do nothing, and risk the land passing into hands of a big Fat Taker who will wring every red cent out of it that he can, carelessly destroying the land. While the land purchase is not a happy option, it is seen by some as realistic, the temptation is there to go for it. Buy the land, get it back, even if it is already ours. Take care of it like a good relative!

One does not easily get comfortable with the decision. Inner conflict rises, you know that feeling of uneasiness, like a distracted thought, just out of reach? Doubts rise, begin to spread, just as that first glimmer of chance that “yes, we can get that land back!” brought elation. If we could see what it looks like, the going back and forth between the conflicting paradigms, intellectually and emotionally, I imagine the image would look like waves in the ocean, rising, falling, going this way and that way, as we change our minds, is it right or wrong to buy this land? Many people suffer this.

Meanwhile, a group of people has committed to the land purchase option and they are taking action. They are the steady rock of firm belief that this is the route to take, they are leading the way for people to accept the purchase option and have spurred a collective action to raise funds and awareness. This group is called the Last Real Indians, an organization of professional, educated, dedicated Red Nations people. While most Tetuwan Oyate have identity based on ancestral freedom and way of life, it is also possible, and often necessary, to be able to successfully navigate life in the western world’s processes on an ‘as needed basis’, without relinquishing ones’ ancient ways.

Such rationale supports the immediate option that requires about $10 million, maybe more, and it is a peaceful option. Will it hurt our stance that the land is our Territory by Treaty? Legal minds say no, because it is not Traditional Government doing this work, raising funds, or bidding at the auction; it is Tribal Councils, individuals, organizations that operate in the framework of the US.

A discussion in Indian Country reflects the belief that it is ludicrous that land purchase is the ONLY immediate option, when most Red Nations people believe that it is ALSO an option for the US government to honor the Ft Laramie Treaties, and relinquish its’ illegal and immoral “title” to the land.  After all, the Treaties are legally binding international documents. The US does not make treaties with ethnic minorities now, does it? It makes treaties with other Nations and its Constitution states that treaties are the supreme law of the land. The US Supreme Court in 1980 ruled that the illegal taking of the He Sapa was the “ripest, rankest case of land theft in its history” then awarded millions of dollars to compensate the Lakota Nation, who refuse the money. Other Governments all over the earth are returning stolen lands and territories to indigenous people. What is preventing the US from taking such action?

The United Nations Special Rappateour, Mr James Anaya, acknowledges how the return of the Black Hills to the Great Sioux Nation would be a way for the US to begin reconciliation with the Lakota Nation, stating: “that’s a situation where indigenous people have seen over time, encroachment on to their land, and they’ve lost vast territories. there have been clear instances of broken treaty promises. It’s undisputed that the Black Hills was guaranteed them by treaty and that treaty was outright violated by the United States, That has been recognised by the US supreme court,” he said. he reserves recommendations on a plan for land restoration until his final report to the UN human rights council in September.  “I’m talking about restoring to indigenous peoples what they’re entitled to and have a legitimate claim to in a way that is not devisive but restorative. That’s the idea behind reconciliation,” he said.

As folks everywhere prepare to go to the auction, it is important to know where they are going.  While the richest gold mine in the history of the world was in the He Sapa, it has closed, mined out. Alot of the settlers who came here back in the day were gold miners, people who were FAT TAKERS, our term for selfish greedy people. They saw us, along with the 7^th Calvary who grew tired of fighting us, (we are known incorrectly as the Great Sioux Nation) as folks who should be rubbed out. Indeed, many US leaders said so! Dig deep into history to find those old quotes. Mt Rushmore is carved into a mountain in our sacred He Sapa, four faces of American Presidents, a major attraction in a state dependent on tourist dollars. Crazy Horse, carved into granite, is a desecration that attracts major tourist revenue, and is commonly viewed as a twisted Fat Taker gesture to “honor” a great War Chief who gave his life to protect the Lakota people, lifeway, land. Tourist attractions are protected by SD law, while Lakota are prohibited from sacred lands so tourists can free roam to spend dollars. James Anaya of the UN knows what he’s talking about!

Rapid City (RC) is the site of the auction to sell 2,000 acres of Pe Sla. RC was the site of a US Civil Rights Hearing years ago to examine many violent crimes against the Lakota by whites; RC is known for the dozen deaths of Lakota men who “drown” in Rapid Creek, while it is rare for Lakota men to drown in their homelands, for some reason, they drown in RC; RC is known for shoot-outs between the RC Police and Lakota men, sometimes the police die, sometimes the Lakota die. Sometimes both die. Who said the ‘wild west’ was over?

There was recently a march there of Lakota people demanding justice for a blind elder who came out of heart surgery with KKK burned or cut into his torso; indeed, a town nearby still displays photographs of their last KKK Rally in full regalia, held in my childhood. SD social services is under investigation for high rates of Lakota children taken from their families and placed in non-Lakota homes that all get a pretty penny from the state, while Lakota relatives are ignored, overlooked, and never receive one red cent, anyway. RC is where a big trial was held for a white attorney who was guilty of taking pornographic photographs of his foster Lakota daughters. SD was the second place in the US to pass the “show me your papers” law targeted at immigrants from “Mexico”.

So in RC, where Human Rights and Civil Rights hearings have to be held, we can think that there will be nicey-nice doings at the Pe Sla auction, yes we actually have many friends and allies among the white people in SD! Yet, SD history shows wherever there might be more than 3 Lakota people, there is intensified police presence, like state troopers, US Marshalls, FBI, and Homeland Security. Like at the US State Dept Hearing in Pierre, SD recently regarding TransCanada’s proposed oil pipeline. They expected many Lakota to testify on behalf of sacred water and earth, therefore, against the Keystone XL Pipeline, so police presence was intense!

A comment in an area newspaper this week says: “The US stole all that land fair and square. They stole pretty much the whole of this nation. It is one’s right as a European to steal anything under the notion of manifest destiny. Make those Indians pay something to get back what was stolen from them. After all giving back stolen goods is not in the best interests of the thieves.”

While the purchase option is controversial, it is an immediate solution to a BIG problem: access to sacred places that are part of our identity. It is achievable, to make the fast purchase now, and to keep working to get the Ft Laramie Treaties upheld, a struggle that has been going on since 1868 and that we have not abandoned.

Lakota elder Leonard Little Finger when asked by a reporter about the possibility of being outbid at the auction said, “if someone else buys Pe Sla and won’t let the Lakota go there to pray, we’ll still go and if they shoot us or disallow us, there’ll be others that come.”  We have the inherent right to be who we are, so do our children’s children, no government should have the power and support of its people to deliberately take our people’s identity away, to break apart our Good Red Road.

 

 

ROSEBUD, SD – In a ruling issued late last week, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Election Board will allow candidates whose eligibility to run for office was challenged following the primary election to remain on the ballot for Thursday’s General Election. The decision was based upon CA No. 11-07, a 2011 Memorandum Opinion and Order issued by the Rosebud Supreme Court.

 

Lenard “Shadow” Wright, who is finishing a term as tribal council representative for the Rosebud Community, filed separate challenges against Scott Herman, William Kindle and Rodney Bordeaux on July 30, 2012. Wright challenged the eligibility of all three candidates, citing Article III – Governing Body – Section 2 of the RST Constitution and By-laws which contains the following language: “The offices of the President, Vice President, Council Representatives, Secretary, and Treasurer shall be subject to limits of two consecutive terms.”

 

Wright asserted that the Constitution was effective as of September 20, 2007 and asked the Election Board to determine that Bordeaux, Kindle and Herman had already served two terms and thus were not eligible to be placed on the ballot for a third term.

 

However, during the challenge hearings held last week, all three candidates referenced CA No. 11-07 which states in part “The majority of this Court disagrees with the trial court in its interpretation that the oath of office taken in October 2007, after the passage of Amendment F in September 2007, is to be counted as the first term under the amendment. . . Taking an oath of office in October 2007 was not an act that occurred in isolation but rather a culmination of the entire elective process that began prior to the effective of amendment F. While the successful candidates of the 2007 General Election began service after September 20, 2007, their oath of office and the beginning of their service is a result of an entire election process that began in June of 2007 when all candidates were certified under various eligibility rules contained in the Ordinance effective on that date of certification.”

 

Also, “The majority Court clarifies. . .and holds that Amendment F, incorporated as Articles III, Section 12, began with the 2009 election cycle and the successful candidates sworn into office in 2009 service “term one” under Amendment F provisions. All terms of office, prior to the 2009 election cycle, were serving under the law in effect prior to September 20, 2007. An election cycle begins with candidate certification and concludes with the oath of office.” The court order is dated October 19, 2011.

 

On August 15, 2012, Antelope tribal council representative candidate Scott Herman withdrew from the election. As a result, the Election Board has scheduled a special election for Antelope.

 

Candidates who were certified to appear on the primary election ballot from Antelope Community will advance to the Special Election scheduled for Thursday, September 20, 2012. The top vote getter will be seated as the tribal council representative from Antelope. Appearing on the ballot will be: Louis Moran III, Emil P. Wilson, Shannon M. Shaw-Brill, James R. Leader Charge, Glen Yellow Eagle, Shawn Bordeaux, Calvin “Hawkeye” Waln, Jr., Trent Poignee and Dolores R. Barron.

 

The General Election is scheduled for Thursday, August 23, 2012. Polls will be open from 8am to 7pm in all Rosebud Reservation communities. Voters will select a tribal president, vice-president and eight (8) tribal council representatives as follows:

 

Tribal President: Rodney Bordeaux and Cyril “Whitey” Scott.

 

Vice-President: William “Willie” Kindle and Oliver J. “OJ” Semans. Semans got 358 votes.

 

He Dog: Royal Yellow Hawk and Mary F. Waln.

 

Horse Creek: Webster Two Hawk, Sr. and Fremont Fallis.

 

Ring Thunder: Patricia “Patti” Douville and Rose Two Strike Stenstrom.

 

Rosebud: Richard “Tuffy” Lunderman and Stephanie C. Sully.

 

St. Francis: John Swift and Patsy Valandra.

 

Swift Bear: Delano Clairmont and Alvin Bettelyoun, Sr.

 

Upper Cut Meat: Kathleen High Pipe and Philimon D. Two Eagle.

 

Corn Creek: Arlene Black Bear and Brian Hart.

 

Incumbent Todd Bear Shield will retain his tribal council seat from Bull Creek Community because he ran unopposed.

 

In addition, voters will also select two (2) school board members to serve St. Francis Indian School during Thursday’s General Election. Candidates include Fred “Fritz” Leader Charge, Sam High Crane, Janice Hunts Horse, Theodora T. Connors/Arcoren, Arlene D. Black Bear, Astaro Walking Eagle, Keith Fielder, Pam Kills In Water, Richard W. Lunderman, LeRoy Hairy Shirt, Steve Leader Charge, Michael Crow Eagle, Billy Jo Crow Eagle, David P. Brushbreaker, Darlene Crow Eagle, Norman Running, Jr., Sandra Black Bear, Carmen White Horse, Wilbur B. Smith, Sr., Jennifer Bordeaux Black Bear and Krista L. Running Horse.

 

For more information please call the Election Board at (605) 856-2373.