I am posting a copy of a letter I wrote to the JC Press that was printed today (Sunday [sep 12, 1999]) in the Letters to the Editor. I was surprised the paper printed the letter.  Anyway, while I have the public and the papers attention I was hoping I might request a favor from the list, from those who have time and are so inclined, in the form of writing a Letter to the Editor re: the issues we face today and the lack of public awareness. I'd like to let them know I am not the only one concerned with these issues.  Letters are limited to 300 words and can be sent to the following address.  They do not have an email addy.

Johnson City Press
Letters to the Editor
PO Box 1717
Johnson City, TN 37605

REPRINT: LETTER TO THE EDITOR BY SANDRA DEACON
The week of August 23rd,(1999) the JC Press printed an article regarding the beating of a white man on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Labeled a racially motivated hate crime, the victim was said to have been beaten, dragged behind a truck, and found with a rope around his neck. Three young Native Americans were being held as suspects. The Associated Press released updated information. The JC Press chose not to print it. Truth is, Marlin Fineran stated there was no rope tied around the victims' neck when he found him. The sheriff, Russel Waterbury, now states the victim was NOT dragged behind a truck and he did not mean to suggest that racism was involved. The victim's mother stated she felt the crime was drug and alcohol related; not racially motivated.

The JC Press covers the beating of a white man but (other than the September 03 article that focuses on racial tension) ignores the brutal murders of two Native Americans, Wilson Black Elk, Jr. and Ronald Hard Heart, who were bludgeoned to death June 8, 1999, their bodies dumped along the road at the same Pine Ridge Reservation; the bludgeoning so brutal, the caskets were closed during ceremony. For eleven consecutive weeks, Native Americans have marched from Pine Ridge to White Clay protesting the lack of investigation into these deaths and demanding justice, for these are two of eight murders of this type within the past year that remain unsolved.

In June, I personally sent press releases and background information regarding the decision of 1,146 Western North Carolina Methodist Churches to support the elimination of Native American mascots and nicknames in schools, colleges and universities. Again, no coverage.

One-sided journalism? Let's not forget your motto, JC Press: What the People don't know WILL hurt them.

Sandra Deacon
Bear Clan/Pocumtuck Nation and Confederacy
635 Mayberry Road
Jonesborough, TN 37659

UPDATE:
From:         Sandra Deacon <tcs4peace@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Subject:      Scalps remain in gym
(distributed via FN list)

The article I mentioned to the list a while back that I was interviewed for regarding mascots was printed today.  This was a full-page spread and the reporter did a good job in making others aware of how FN People feel re: mascots.  As I mentioned before, she interviewed the principal of Happy Valley High School as I provided her with the letters and information sent to him and to Happy Valley by Monroe Gilmour and those who responded from this list.  We were especially concerned about the scalps hanging in the gym and what message was being sent to the students enrolled in the school as well as those visiting.  This was the principal's response:

"We look at it as a tribute to the Indian nation," said Happy Valley principal Bob Kerley, whose school has used the Warrior for its logo and mascot for more than 60 years.  "There used to be a person dressed like a warrior on a horse with a spear or a tomahawk or something.  But it was not meant in any derogatory sense toward the Indians.  It's always been complimentary and we view it that way," Kerley explained.

The reporter then mentions the letters that voiced concern over the Warrior name.  To which Mr. Kerley replied:

"We received a letter a couple of months ago from someone....protesting the fact that we called ourselves Warriors," said Kerley.  "I chose not to respond to that because when you get into a controversy like that, it just keeps bouncing back and forth."

Kerley said the letter took particular issue with "a board that has replicas, I'd guess you'd say, of some scalps" in the school's gymnasium.  Though cited as "very offensive", Kerley said the scalps were not removed and remain in the gym today. (End of Excerpt)

It would seem Mr. Kerley has a lot to learn so once again I ask for help in educating this man and the school board re: the mascot issue.  It absolutely infuriates me to think they continue to leave these scalps hanging in the gym as well as the caricatures they have of FN People in the Elementary and Middle Schools (for they are the Warriors also). Their homepage does not have a guestbook nor does it have an addy to respond to.  For those who are new to the list who would like to see first hand please go to HAPPY VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL HOMEPAGE    This will also lead you to other sites for the other schools and school board.  Mr. Kerley does not have an email addy,  however, his supervisor, Dr. Shirley Ellis, (letter will also be copied to the sports Desk at the Elizabethton Star newspaper) does.   Dr. Ellis is the Supervisor over  all Carter County Secondary Schools.  I feel it would be very appropriate to write to Dr. Ellis in regard to Mr. Kerley's attitude, the scalps and the mascot period.  If Mr. Kerley won't respond to our letters, perhaps Dr. Ellis will.  For those who would like to write to Mr. Kerley directly, his snail mail addy is:

Bob T. Kerley, Principal
Happy Valley High School
121 Warpath Lane
Elizabethton, TN 37643

The address alone to this school makes me mad!!!

I would greatly appreciate any and all support with this as this should not be allowed to continue.

NEWS ITEM THAT IS PERTINENT:

Indian Tribes Fear Handling Sacred Remains
 The Associated Press

Tulsa, Okla.: The return of human remains and buried objects to American Indian tribes and nations is a mixed blessing, several tribal officials say. Indians have long maintained their right to rebury their ancestors and burial objects that have sat in museums and in university collections for, in some cases, longer than a century. The tribes were granted the ability to reclaim remains and objects in the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ...
Morris said the Pawnee Nation is seeking the return from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., of nine skulls of Pawnee scouts who worked for the U.S. Army. The scouts were beheaded in Kansas as they were awaiting discharge from their service, after the U.S. surgeon general put out a bounty of $ 50 a head for Indian skulls so he could study them.