Frank Bibeau Plaintiff’s Attorney frankbibeau@gmail.com 218-760-1258
Thomas Linzey, Senior Counsel Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights tal@pa.net 509-474-9761
White Earth, MN: On August 4, an action was filed in the Tribal Court of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota, by Manoomin (wild rice), the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and several tribal members, to stop the State of Minnesota from allowing the Enbridge corporation to use five billion gallons of water for the construction of the oil pipeline known as “Line 3.”
This is the first case brought in a tribal court to enforce the rights of nature, and the first rights of nature case brought to enforce Treaty guarantees.
Winona LaDuke, nationally recognized Native activist, is turning 60 years old, and is calling all women with the name Winona—all the “First Daughters”—to bring themselves, families and friends to party in “their” town of Winona, Minnesota on weekend August 23-25, 2019. It is a Winona All Call, inviting Winonas and Winona lovers to Winona, MN to celebrate, explore and wax poetic on being Winona.
Winona, MN circa 1898
The name, Winona, comes from the Ojibwe creation story and is the mother of Nanaboozho. The Dakota also have the name Winona or Wenonah which means in both languages “first-born daughter.” The city of Winona is known for the legend of Princess Winona, the Miss Winona Pageant and many buildings bearing the name Winona. Winona, Minnesota will be the perfect town for Winonas to gather.
Winona LaDuke, keynote speaker for the Frozen River Film Festival in Winona, MN on Feb 17, 2015.
Winona LaDuke is executive director of Honor the Earth, Founder of Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm and Anishinaabe Agriculture, and is a two-time Green Party candidate for Vice President with Ralph Nader.
“There are hundreds of Native and non-Native women named Winona; this is your party.”
CALL FOR SUBMISSION
Call for Native artists around the theme of “Wenonah”. Send a note and a jpg to winonaallcall@gmail.com to be in the exhibit at the Watkins Art Gallery, WSU, Aug. 23-Sept. 14, 2019
The gallery is a small space, at 600 square feet. Please offer your art accordingly.
Academic Panel:Winona, Wenonah: In history and today: the legends, the stories and the reality of Winonas
Realizing that some Winona stories may not be told in the midst of summer, we nonetheless encourage academic summaries and some discussion of Winona stories in history and present times. Please submit a summary of your writing, or your spoken word pieces to winonaallcall@gmail.com We will let you know. Submissions are due on June l5, 2019.
Celebrate Winona : Music includes a band and dance with a blues band, Corey Medina and the Brothers, and other special guests who will provide entertainment Saturday night. Weekend plans also include canoe races, hemp mill history tour and a map with places to take selfies with city of Winona landmarks.
There will be a bus tour with local dignitaries and a river cruise on the Mississippi River to see the sites of the town of Winona, a screening of award-winning documentary film First Daughter and the Black Snake, an intimate portrait offering a window into the life and work of Winona LaDuke, and the successful battle against the Enbridge Sandpiper between 2014 and 2016.
There will be a video booth for “Winona” testimonials and opportunities to celebrate with Winona LaDuke.
Saturday night will include a catered Sioux Chef Dinner ( $40 per person, pre reserved $70/couple). Limited seating. Before we depart, Sunday we will host a traditional round dance to celebrate Winonas and secure a group photo.
This is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to be surrounded by a lot of “First Daughters” celebrating being Winona in the city that bears their name.
REGISTRATION along with more information about events, tickets, hotels and camping can be found on the website: https://www.winona-all-call.com/, and facebook: facebook/winonaallcall
For more information please contact: winonaallcall at gmail.com
Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation is marked in orange boundary. The pipeline easement is the straight black line running diagonally through LCO. The new easement for #61 and #13 runs outside and along the reservation border. The Enbridge pumping facility is about 1/4 mile north of where the original easement in black crosses right of way road (yellow). The tribe receives no money for the easement or facility on their property.
The Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Tribe will be hosting lodging and meals for those walking on the 33 Days on Twin #66 Pipelines Awareness Walk on July 3-7th, 2016 at the Honor The Earth Pow Wow Grounds (HTE).
The public is welcome to join them as they walk a 15-mile section each day from Ladysmith to Iamalone (July 3), from Iamalone to Meteor (7/4), from Meteor to Stone Lake (7/5), from Stone Lake the Hayward (7/6), and from Hayward to Gordon (7/7).
Walkers will be transported to and from HTE grounds to the walk starting site each day and back at the end of the day.
July 3rd and 4th: Maryellen Baker is hosting the evening meals at her Anishinaabe Culture Center home from 6-8 PM. If any friends and helpers want to contribute to her efforts, please feel free to call her, or go and help.
Tuesday, July 5th, 2 PM: Press Briefing and Tour of Lines #61, #13, and the Arrowhead Transmission line on the LCO Reservation. Meet at Summit Lake Road in the southwest corner of the reservation, and will include the old easement site at Highbridge on Right of Way Road and the Enbridge Pumping Station on the LCO Reservation. The LCO tribe does not get any payment for either the pipeline easement that runs through the reservation or the pumping station site. See maps below for location.
Flags at the entry of the Harvest Education Learning Project (HELP) Camp, Penokee Hills, 2014. Photo: Paul DeMain
Tuesday, July 5th, 6-10pm: Potluck, concert and reunion for the Harvest Education Learning Project (HELP) Camp. 6-8 PM: Melvin Gaspar is cooking the main course at the HTE powwow grounds. Contributions of veggies, desserts, fruits, liquids are welcome. Dinner will include Fry Bread, Deer Meat with Gravy/Boiled Potato and Steamed Veggies. 7-10 PM: Local speakers and music by Skip Jones, Frank Montana, Michael Buchor, Dennis & Cleo, and others.
Wednesday, July 6th, 2 PM: Press Conference, Namekagon River Pipeline Crossing – Stinnet Landing Rd. Six miles South of Hayward on Hwy. 63 right before Highway E, just north of the Enbridge/ Namekagon River Crossing. Featuring LCO Vice Chair Rusty Barber, Walk organizer Julie de la Terre, Harvard Economist Winona LaDuke, activist Sandy Lyon, and several other speakers. It was here that Gaylord Nelson came in the 1960s to announce the Namekagon River being named as a wild and historic river and protected by federal laws. See maps below for location.
Wednesday, July 6th, 6-8 PM: Dinner. Mel is cooking up the main course which may include Fern Soup with Dumplings, (Waagogoyn) Sunfish Fillets, Corn on the Cob and Mac n Cheese at the Honor The Earth Pow Wow Grounds. Pipeline walkers will be first in line.
Thursday, July 7th, 6-8 PM: Evening dinner at the HTE grounds will be assisted by potluck from members of the Sawyer County and Lac Courte Oreilles Democratic Party.
Maps of Events
Photo from the Pipeline Walk
Day 17:Pipeline walker John Endrizzi took these photo with this commentary:
“2.9 miles from my home, Enbridge has excavated a part of its pipeline 61 corridor. The site is located just north of Akron Drive about 1 mile west of Highway 13 in the Town of Rome. (See Map).
The line in question is the eastern most in the bundle. It is color coded with a yellow marker. At one time, Enbridge used the line numbers on its petroleum markers. I believe that this line may be either 14 or 6A. They are the oldest lines in the bundle. By the way, these lines all travel under Lake Arrowhead. ( less than two miles south of the “repair”) Please share this widely.”
Day 9:
Below is Doug Cole (L) and Bill Greendeer, Ho-Chunk tribal member. Cole is the chairman of the Town of Wyocena and has been spending all his money fighting the pipeline.
Myron Buchholz, running against Ron Kind.
For the entire story, please visit the 33 Days on Twin #66 and see how you can get involved.
UPDATE: The Water Privatization Bills (AB 554 and SB 432) have moved out of committee and will be headed for a full vote in the Assembly and the Senate. Contact your Senator and Representative and tell them to vote NO! NO MORE FLINTS!
Find your elected officials Wi Legislature http://maps.legis.wisconsin.gov/
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With our hearts in Flint, the world is watching the nightmare of privatized water and corrupt politicians in Michigan. Over 200 of children have been permanently damaged by lead poisoning due in large part to the privatization of the water systems. Now children in other major cities in Michigan are also testing high for blood-lead poisoning.
Now, today, a bill is rapidly moving through the Wisconsin legislature that would make it nearly impossible for We the People to stop the privatization of our water.
Assembly Bill 554 which will create the same privatization of Wisconsin water supplies that led to the Flint disaster, has passed the State Assembly and is in the Senate Workforce Development Committee. That committee is made up of 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats, and is poised to pass their version of this legislation, Senate Bill 432.
Some backstory: in 2009, the City of Milwaukee was exploring the possibility of privatizing its municipal water. Here is a contemporary Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal article about it, and a later story from Food and Water Watch after the idea was scuttled. Basically, local residents rose up against the proposal and fought it; the Milwaukee Common Council stopped its study of the proposal.
The current legislation would make it nearly impossible to do what the citizens of Milwaukee did in 2009. Rather than being able to stop privatization while it is still an “idea,” citizens would need to collect signatures and put a referendum on the ballot to stop the process in-progress: time-consuming, expensive, and subject to the special interest money bound up in today’s elections.
According to an aide at the office of Rep. Tyler August(R-Lake Geneva), the proposal’s lead author, another aspect of the bill will allow private entities to “buy into” county-owned water supplies, thereby gaining control over area water. For example, a corporate farm could purchase water rights from the county and gain control over how the local water is used.
Please pass this on to as many people as you can and tell them to contact the members of the Workforce Development Committee and express their opposition to SB432.
Tell them NO MORE FLINTS!
Rep. Tyler August(608) 266-1190 Rep.August@legis.wisconsin.gov, sponsor Senator Roger Roth (Chair) (608) 266-0718 Sen.Roth@legis.wisconsin.gov Senator Richard Gudex (Vice Chair) (608) 266-5300 Sen.Gudex@legis.wisconsin.gov Senator Duey Stroebel (608) 266-7513 Sen.Stroebel@legis.wisconsin.gov Senator Chris Larson (608) 266-7505 Sen.Larson@legis.wisconsin.gov Senator Julie Lassa (608) 266-3123 Sen.Lassa@legis.wisconsin.gov
Our very lives depend on it.
Overpass Light Brigade Photo: Lisa Moline
This weekend the Overpass Light Brigade did a photo shoot to raise awareness about the proposed legislation and asked the public to contact the members of the Workforce Development Committee to inform them of citizen opposition to the bill.
Standing room only at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center for the screening of 371 Production’s “Wisconsin Mining Standoff.” Photo: Bobbi Rongstad
On July 24, 2014, the Bad River Watershed Association hosted a screening of 371 Production’s Wisconsin’s Mining Standoff at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center. The film is running on Al Jazeera America, and tells the story of Gogebic Taconite’s invasion of the Penokee Hills with the intention of installing a 22-mile open-pit mountaintop removal iron ore mine at the center of the Bad River Watershed. The event had standing room only.
After the film, a panel discussion was held and included people who have been instrumental in standing up to protect the water. Topics included the hydrology of the Bad River Watershed, recent EPA ruling in Bristol Bay, GTAC, recent legislation, and how we can continue to stand united in defense of the water by writing letters of support for the Chippewa Federation at their August 21, 2104 meeting with the EPA. Audience members asked informed questions and got straight answers.
Photo: Bobbi Rongstad
Panel members included Sen. Bob Jauch (D-25), Chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Mike Wiggins Jr., Ashland County Board Chair Pete Russo, Ashland County Board member Charles Ortman, 371 Productions producer Devon Cupery, and Tracy Hames, executive director of Wisconsin Wetlands Association. The discussion was facilitated by Allie Raven, Bad River Tribal Member and BRWA Mining Impact Committee member.
United In Defense of The Water 