FROM RAYELAN:

I have received two emails today which make me think that we have been the victims of a HOAX.

If anyone has the real story, can you please post it?

Following the email from Russ Michael is a letter from a woman who lives near the reservation where this "supposed" standoff was taking place.

After reading it, I think you will have as many questions as I do. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to follow up on this. I hope one of the RMNews Agents will take the time to do some research and let us know what the truth is.

Thanks,

Rayelan

From: russ.michael@vpn.at (Russ MICHAEL)

Beloveds-- looks like the original URGENT message needs to be retracted--thanks to swift and immediate action of "setting the record straight" by committed "reporters" in my network....As Pope stated--surely something positive will and does show itself from this quick alert. It shows people care--and that people want to know the real truth around every issue. "We are humans becoming--help us become!!" So be it! LOVE***Michael
:

:"S" wrote,

Russ -- I just received your "urgent" message about the "situation" on Pine Ridge. I live within an hour's drive from Pine Ridge, as this town is the closest shopping center to Pine Ridge; I have students who frequently go back and forth from there, and my husband is a law enforcement officer. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that much of the information in this message is untrue, despite the "reputable sources" quoted.

Since I also have friends on the reservation, I just called a friend who is Oglala Sioux/Cherokee who works in Pine Ridge every day. As of four o'clock Friday afternoon, January 21, 2000, he said there were no armored vehicles, no 200 Feds in riot gear, no commotion except for one guy running around trying to rile everyone up. There are Feds there (after all, all Indian reservations are under the juristiction of the Federal government, and when a confrontation does occur, it's automatically the "Feds" who handle it if it cannot be taken care of within the tribe), and they are undoubtedly armed (as Federal agents usually are), but they certainly are NOT in armored vehicles, and they certainly are NOT in riot gear. There is absolutely no way this could be compared to a Waco, or Ruby Ridge, or whatever, and it's inflammatory even to suggest it. Nobody up there wants another Wounded Knee I or II or III, or anything like it.

I myself took some high school students to Pine Ridge and to Wounded Knee on a field trip during the time this event was allegedly occurring (riot gear, SWAT teams, armored vehicles), and saw and heard nothing of this whatsoever. It did not exist then, nor does it exist now.

The aforementioned gentleman's boss is a woman whose father (Johnson Holy Rock) is an elder of the tribe and is the head of the Grey Eagles, an association of elders. This information comes directly from that group. The elders of the tribe felt that tribal funds were being misappropriated by the treasurer, who, by the way, is Indian, NOT white, and called for Federal help in obtaining the records so they could be audited. Notice: they REQUESTED Federal help to obtain the records for auditing. For a couple of days, one street was blocked off, but otherwise, it was business as usual in Pine Ridge. As usual, however, people like to get a small bite of the story and make it into a much bigger issue.

Please ask this particular source of information to check the facts and to be sure of them before sending out information that gives everyone a totally untrue picture of what is going on. All anyone has to do is check with the local media (try calling The Chadron Record 308-432-5511 for information). The Omaha World-Herald also reported basically this same information. Another source would be the Rapid City, South Dakota, newspaper (The Rapid City Journal, I believe). Also, another piece of gross information stated that this Reservation was near Sioux Falls. It most certainly is NOT.

Pine Ridge is almost as far west from Sioux Falls as it can be and still be in the same state. Also if the "Talking Leaves" person was supposed to be on the Reservation, the area code was completely incorrect for a South Dakota number.

If this "Standing Elk" person had his phone and email cut off, it was probably because he hasn't paid his phone bill. Nothing of any particular significance is happening on the Ridge at the moment, except that the tribe has asked for their records to be audited, a completely logical thing to do if a number of people suspect fraud.

It makes me sad to read this kind of thing being spread about on the internet because it makes me highly suspicious of everything else I read. All people everywhere are deserving of good thoughts and in need of prayer, the Lakota as well as all other peoples of the world, and I would certainly encourage everyone to hold thoughts that this situation, like any other, will end to the satisfaction of all concerned. Many people get their jollies from "fear-mongering" and spreading rumor and gossip, and this seems to be one of those cases. I have enjoyed many of your other postings,

Russ, but this particular one contains a great deal of misinformation, unfortunately. I urge whoever wrote the original posting to check the facts and post a correction.

S--------