1. COURT UPDATE ON JULY 12TH SUNDANCE CEREMONY ARRESTS
2. SUPPORT NEEDED BY BLACK MESA FAMILIIES

The Hopi Tribal Government's attempt to prosecute five Dine' women, primarily elders who don�t speak English, arrested at the camp Anna Mae Sundance Ceremony on their ancestral homeland on July 11, 2001 in Big Mountain, AZ is a direct violation of their religious freedom and human rights. It is also in violation of the Indian Civil Rights Act http://www.nwjustice.org/pdfs/9202.pdf and the Hopi Constitution. The trial is set for Wednesday, February 27, 2002 at the Hopi Tribal Courts in Keams Canyon at 9AM. It is expected to be a three day trial.

ACT TODAY!!
On behalf of the international human rights community, demand that U.S.
Assistant Attorney Joseph Lodge and U.S. Secretary of the Department of
Interior Gale Norton stop this act of religious persecution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Lodge
United States Attorneys Office
telephone: 928-556-0833
fax: 928-556-0759
email:his office was unable to give Mr. Lodges email. They stated that he
would have to give it himself. If anybody gets ahold of it, please contact
BMIS.
123 N. San Francisco St.
Flagstaff, AZ. 86001

Mr. Lodge will be filing the eviction lawsuit concerning the families who have refused to be relocated from their traditional homelands and have not signed the controversial Accommodation Agreement. According to an article in the Arizona Daily Sun (April 3, 2001), "The Hopi Tribe has the legal authority to evict the Navajos, but it agreed to let the federal government pursue the matter in court. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Lodge declined to comment on the Hopi Tribe's call for immediate evictions. He said the legal process paving the way for evictions has been under way since last year and will take time. "We recognize the decision of the Supreme Court and we will act accordingly," said Lodge.

Gale Norton
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C. Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
(202) 208-3100
gale_norton@ios.doi.gov
www.doi.gov/secretary/

Gale Norton's office, secretary of the Department of the Interior, who oversees the BIA and several other agencies with jurisdiction on Black Mesa.

Norton holds the key to a bin of rich resources, containing much of the world's untapped oil and gas and minerals from coal to iron ore. She control access to thousands upon thousands of acres of grazing lands, military bases, Indian reservations, fisheries, and forests, not to mention abandoned military test zones.

Visit the BMIS contact list of appropriate public officials which includes tribal council members. http://www.blackmesais.org/relocatethis.html

CALL FOR SUPPORT! Many families are currently asking for support to come live with them And to assist in herding sheep, chopping wood, hauling water, and various other needs. Please see the needs list on http:www.blackmesais.org And lastly, the BMIS truck, which plays a crucial role in our Coordinating support efforts, is now out of commission with a dead transmission. BMIS and a family on Black Mesa are looking for vehicles (preferrably with high clearance) to be donated.

Please contact BMIS for details, thank you.

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Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) is a group of individuals acting to support the sovereignty of the indigenous people affected by mining activities on Black Mesa, who face forced relocation, environmental devastation, and cultural extinction at the hands of multi-national corporations, and United States and tribal governments. http://www.blackmesais.org