Bull Riding will be back!!! Keep an eye out for more details!!

Rio Tinto Crime Spree

New DVD by Director Joan Sekler exposes Rio Tinto

Please buy the DVD to offset the cost that Joan Sekler occurred while making this important story: Sekler made the documentary made with her own money – because she knows how important it is to reveal the evil acts of corporations like Rio Tinto

The evil nature of Rio Tinto is outlined in the video – including a section about the environmental terrorism against the Ojibwa and Yellow Dog Plains in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – in a brilliant video just released by Documentarian Joan Sekler.

The new video on Rio Tinto environment crimes including the Upper Peninsula is now available:

It’s only $20.

Please support this video that exposes the crimes of Rio Tinto.

In addition to ungodly environmental crimes, Rio Tinto was “complicit of war crimes and crimes against humanity” against islanders in New Guinea

Director Joan Sekler poured in tens of thousands of dollars of her own money to tell this worldwide story:
It’s Great !!!!
http://www.lockedout2010.org

Charlotte Loonsfoot of Baraga, MI and Levi Tadgerson, 22, of Marquette, MI share a quiet moment atop Eagle Rock at the American Indian encampment in the shadow of Sacred Eagle Rock. Loonsfoot is a citizen of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and was among the first three people to begin the effort to block the mine. Tadgerson is a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Photo By Greg Peterson)

The view from atop sacred Eagle Rock in Michigan, of an American Indian battle against an international mining giant. Natives from several tribes set up an encampment at the base of the rock to stop Kennecott Minerals from digging a sulfide "acid" mine underneath the longtime landmark. This photo was taken one week into the standoff that ended May 27 when heavily armed cops raided the camp by order of Kennecott Minerals. (Photo By Greg Peterson)

Elder Bobby "Bullet" St. Germaine of Iron River, Michigan beats drum during thank you song at the base of Sacred Eagle Rock (April 29, 2010) in a remote part Michigan's Upper Peninsula - northern Marquette County, MI. Nesbit is a member of the Lac Du Flambeau Tribe in Wisconsin. (Photo By Greg Peterson)

This image of warrior Chief Sitting Bull on a flag flew gloriously in the wind on top of sacred Eagle Rock

The Fight to Save Sacred Eagle Rock from the Dynamite continues in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula!

These photos were taken at the end of the first week during the Standoff at Eagle Rock in Marquette County, Michigan.

Notice the lush greenery below Eagle Rock – including some tiny new trees in some photos.

All those trees were bulldozed May 27 when Kennecott Eagle Minerals order Michigan State Police and other heavily-armed law enforcement to swoop down on Eagle Rock

During the spring of 2010 – or sooner – Kennecott plans to dynamite through sacred Eagle Rock to make the entrance to its nickel and copper mine.

Kennecott’s parent company Rio Tinto – and outgoing Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm – both claim leaving trees atop Eagle Rock on the industrial site – is a good-faith effort to respect the centuries of religious and spiritual ceremonies held at that locations by Ojibwa (Anishinaabe).

How can they say that with a straight face?

Because they truly don’t care – and neither does actor Jeff Daniels.

Having falsely claimed they love the Upper Peninsula, Daniels and Granholm (plus many other evil politicians) will leave a legacy of destroying the U.P.

All are greedy, corrupt, arrogant and despicable people who have been led around by the nose by Rio Tinto and Kennecott Minerals – a mining giant with a long record of raping the land and taking advantage of the peaceful Indigenous peoples of many countries around the globe.

Apparently being led around by the proboscis isn’t so painful when the nosebleed is sopped up with hundred dollar bills.

http://www.lockedout2010.org/htmldocs/buy_01.html

Rio Tinto stands accused of extreme crimes against humanity, wars crimes, environment rape, Indigenous murders: From the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Austrailia to China and elsewhere across the globe

Knowing this – how can northern Michigan business leaders, elected officials, law enforcement, judicial officials and others take Rio Tinto’s blood money and destroy vast pristine areas of northern Michigan.

If you grandfather, father or any relative supports the sulfide acid mines – ask them how they can betray you and the Upper Peninsula

3rd Annual Protect the Earth Great Lakes Community Gathering and Annual Walk to Sacred Eagle Rock

Featuring Winona LaDuke, Joanne Shenandoah, Bobby Bullet and Skip Jones

3rd Annual Protect the Earth Great Lakes Community Gathering

Event facebook page

Fri., July 30, 1-9pm:

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College, Baraga

1-2 pm  Opening Workshop: The National Historic Preservation Act

•  Will Gilmore, Preston Thompson & Ritchie Brown

2:30-3:20pm  Student Presentations

3:30 pm  Speaker from KBIC Natural Resources Department

4:30-6pm  Opening Community Potluck Dinne

6-7 pm Featured Guests: Joanne Shenadoah & Winona LaDuke

7-9 pm  Film Screening of Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action

Saturday, July 31, 2010:

Ojibwa Recreation Area Powwow Grounds in Baraga, MI

8:30 am  Welcome: Four Thunders Drum

9-9:30am  Opening Prayer & Remarks

9:30-10 am  Keynote Speech by Winona LaDuke

10:15-12 pm  Environmental Issues Facing the Great Lakes

•  Lee Sprague (Climate Change Adaptation Strategies)

•  Jeff Gibbs (Biomass)

•  Kathy Berry & Zak Nicholls (Sarnia’s Chemical Valley)

12-1pm  Lunch (On your own)

1-4:30 pm  Presentations & Discussion on Mining in the U.P.

Featuring: Al Gedicks (WI Native-Environmental Alliances, Professor-Activist from the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse), Robert VanZile (Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa), Stuart Kirsch (Indigenous Movements, Anthropologist at the University of Michigan), Jim St. Arnold (Treaty Rights, Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission), Charles Brumleve (Mining Overview, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Mining Specialist), Doreen Blaker (Native American Cultural Perspectives, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Cultural Committee), Cynthia Pryor & Chauncey Moran (Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve), Gabriel Caplett & Teresa Bertossi (Yellow Dog Summer) & Charlotte Loonsfoot (Stand for the Land)

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College in Baraga, MI

5-6:45 pm  Traditional Feast

7-10 pm  Evening Concert featuring Joanne Shenandoah,  Bobby Bullet, E. Halverson, Skip Jones

Sunday, August 1, 2010:

Yellow Dog Plains near Big Bay, MI

11 am  Welcome & Picnic at the Yellow Dog River (bring your own)

12 pm  Annual Walk to Eagle Rock

1 pm  Speakers & Music

Agenda and directions will be available at:
http://standfortheland.com

email:

new.earth.warriors@gmail.com

Hosted by Oshkinawe Ogichidaag Akiing “New Warriors for the Earth”
Sponsored by the Western Mining Action Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Save the Wild UP, Keepers of the Water, NMU Center for Native American Studies, Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve and Yellow Dog Summer

Under the Shadow of Eagle Rock:
A Day of Prayer and Fasting

July 18, 2010: Day of interfaith prayer and fasting for Lake Superior Day to Honor Eagle Rock, Lake Superior and praying for the protection of the Yellow Dog Watershed from pollution created by sulfide mining

Lake Superior Day is held every year on the third Sunday in July

Lake Superior Bi-National Forum and Lake Superior Day:
http://www.superiorforum.org
http://www.lakesuperior.com/lsdmain.html

Lake Superior Day 2010 events:
http://www.lakesuperior.com/lsdcalendar.html

Northland College and Lake Superior Day
http://www.northland.edu/lake-superior-day.htm

(Big Bay, Michigan) – Residents of the Yellow Dog Watershed, whose tranquil life in nature has already been degraded by preliminary mining activities in the area, are inviting everyone to join Native Americans and leaders of various faiths for a day of prayer and fasting, this Sunday near Eagle Rock to honor Lake Superior.
The Lake Superior Day (Sun., July 18) event near Big Bay in north Marquette County is named “Under the Shadow of Eagle Rock: A Day of Prayer and Fasting.”
Residents of the Yellow Dog Watershed hope the public will join in prayers for the protection of the environment where Kennecott Eagle Minerals is building a nickel and copper mine.
The event will run from sunrise to sunset with rituals, prayers, meditations and ceremonies every two hours on the hour.
Jan Zender and Rochelle Dale spent 21 quiet years living on the pristine Yellow Dog Watershed, but the married couple’s peaceful existence has been shattered by roaring trucks and other mining construction activities.
“Kennecott has really stepped up the pace on the plains, and they are not in one place – they are all over the place,” said Rochelle Dale, a member of the St. Mary Catholic Church in Bay Bay. “They have test sites now on the Pinnacle Falls Road, two miles from Eagle Rock.”
“It’s devastating and degrading,” said Dale, who raised her two children to respect the Yellow Dog Plains, Ian, 25, and Kalil, 18. “Riding a bike,” she says, “you can hear the mine trucks and machines everywhere you go.”
“This is a part of the land that we love and the reason we live here, and the construction is turning it into something else – it will never be the same,” said Dale, who lives along the Yellow Dog River about 6 miles downstream from the mine.
“My husband and I and some of the other residents have invited members of the different faith communities to fast and pray with us” for the protection of Lake Superior and its tributaries, she said.
“There will be prayers for the earth and prayers for all people who are affected by these kinds of things across the world,” Dale said.
Representatives from the interfaith community will hold prayers including Lutheran, Buddhist, Roman Catholic, Unitarian, United Methodist, and Jewish traditions.
Members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community will pray to stop the desecration of Eagle Rock, which has been the site of Ojibwa religious ceremonies for centuries, and for the protection of Lake Superior from possible mine-related pollution like sulfuric acid, a byproduct of sulfide mining.
The public can participate in a sweat lodge “in the Lakota tradition” and in Yoga and meditation.
“This event will acknowledge and celebrate values other than those represented by the bottom line on an accountant’s ledger,” said Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, head priest of Lake Superior Zendo, a Zen Buddhist temple in Marquette. “We will acknowledge and celebrate the long view, the one that sees past the next fiscal quarter down to the seventh generation of our heirs and beyond.”
Those present “will acknowledge and celebrate the inestimable spiritual worth of the Yellow Dog watershed and its people, and the pure, ancient waters of Lake Superior, which lie downstream and which bless us all,” Lehmberg said.
“There is much more than an economic equation going on in the public debate about the proposed sulfide mine,” said event co-organizer Rev. Jon Magnuson, a Lutheran pastor. “The quality of water, the forests, and the claims of one of the Upper Peninsula’s major Indian tribes that this is a sacred place, beg to be heeded by people of conscience.”
“Sunday’s day of prayer and fasting will be a time to lift up prayers for Kennecott employees and the region’s people whose lifestyle is threatened by this wealthy international mining company Rio Tinto, which continues to hold one of the worst records of environmental pollution and human rights violations in the world,” Magnuson said. “Spiritual dimensions to current controversies around the environment too often go unrecognized.
“There are bulldozers – but there are also prayers and songs and we intend that they will echo out over the forests of the Yellow Dog on Lake Superior Day 2010, under the shadow of Eagle Rock,” Magnuson said.
The event will be held adjacent to the Kennecott leased property line off the Triple A Road.
Markers will be posted from the corner of County Road 550 and County Road 510.
Eagle Rock is a 45-minute drive from Marquette. Directions are posted on the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve website.
For more information contact Rev. Magnuson at 906-228-5494 or Rev. Lehmberg at 906-226-6407.

Directions will be posted at:
Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve:
http://www.yellowdogwatershed.org
http://www.yellowdogwatershed.org/blog/category/events

Contacts:

Rev. Jon W. Magnuson, MDiv, MSW, ACSW

Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute
403 East Michigan Street
Marquette, MI 49855

magnusonx2@charter.net

http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org

906-228-5494 phone/fax
906-360-5072 (cell)

Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg
Head Priest
Lake Superior Zendo (Zen Buddhist)
2222 Longyear Ave.
Marquette, MI 49855

plehmber@nmu.edu
906-226-6407 (hm)

Rochelle Dale, Yellow Dog Watershed resident
906-362-8521

Under the Shadow of Eagle Rock:
A Day of Prayer and Fasting

July 18, 2010: Day of interfaith prayer and fasting for Lake Superior Day to Honor Eagle Rock, Lake Superior and praying for the protection of the Yellow Dog Watershed from pollution created by sulfide mining

Lake Superior Day is held every year on the third Sunday in July

Lake Superior Bi-National Forum and Lake Superior Day:
http://www.superiorforum.org
http://www.lakesuperior.com/lsdmain.html

Lake Superior Day 2010 events:
http://www.lakesuperior.com/lsdcalendar.html

Northland College and Lake Superior Day
http://www.northland.edu/lake-superior-day.htm

(Big Bay, Michigan) – Residents of the Yellow Dog Watershed, whose tranquil life in nature has already been degraded by preliminary mining activities in the area, are inviting everyone to join Native Americans and leaders of various faiths for a day of prayer and fasting, this Sunday near Eagle Rock to honor Lake Superior.
The Lake Superior Day (Sun., July 18) event near Big Bay in north Marquette County is named “Under the Shadow of Eagle Rock: A Day of Prayer and Fasting.”
Residents of the Yellow Dog Watershed hope the public will join in prayers for the protection of the environment where Kennecott Eagle Minerals is building a nickel and copper mine.
The event will run from sunrise to sunset with rituals, prayers, meditations and ceremonies every two hours on the hour.
Jan Zender and Rochelle Dale spent 21 quiet years living on the pristine Yellow Dog Watershed, but the married couple’s peaceful existence has been shattered by roaring trucks and other mining construction activities.
“Kennecott has really stepped up the pace on the plains, and they are not in one place – they are all over the place,” said Rochelle Dale, a member of the St. Mary Catholic Church in Bay Bay. “They have test sites now on the Pinnacle Falls Road, two miles from Eagle Rock.”
“It’s devastating and degrading,” said Dale, who raised her two children to respect the Yellow Dog Plains, Ian, 25, and Kalil, 18. “Riding a bike,” she says, “you can hear the mine trucks and machines everywhere you go.”
“This is a part of the land that we love and the reason we live here, and the construction is turning it into something else – it will never be the same,” said Dale, who lives along the Yellow Dog River about 6 miles downstream from the mine.
“My husband and I and some of the other residents have invited members of the different faith communities to fast and pray with us” for the protection of Lake Superior and its tributaries, she said.
“There will be prayers for the earth and prayers for all people who are affected by these kinds of things across the world,” Dale said.
Representatives from the interfaith community will hold prayers including Lutheran, Buddhist, Roman Catholic, Unitarian, United Methodist, and Jewish traditions.
Members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community will pray to stop the desecration of Eagle Rock, which has been the site of Ojibwa religious ceremonies for centuries, and for the protection of Lake Superior from possible mine-related pollution like sulfuric acid, a byproduct of sulfide mining.
The public can participate in a sweat lodge “in the Lakota tradition” and in Yoga and meditation.
“This event will acknowledge and celebrate values other than those represented by the bottom line on an accountant’s ledger,” said Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, head priest of Lake Superior Zendo, a Zen Buddhist temple in Marquette. “We will acknowledge and celebrate the long view, the one that sees past the next fiscal quarter down to the seventh generation of our heirs and beyond.”
Those present “will acknowledge and celebrate the inestimable spiritual worth of the Yellow Dog watershed and its people, and the pure, ancient waters of Lake Superior, which lie downstream and which bless us all,” Lehmberg said.
“There is much more than an economic equation going on in the public debate about the proposed sulfide mine,” said event co-organizer Rev. Jon Magnuson, a Lutheran pastor. “The quality of water, the forests, and the claims of one of the Upper Peninsula’s major Indian tribes that this is a sacred place, beg to be heeded by people of conscience.”
“Sunday’s day of prayer and fasting will be a time to lift up prayers for Kennecott employees and the region’s people whose lifestyle is threatened by this wealthy international mining company Rio Tinto, which continues to hold one of the worst records of environmental pollution and human rights violations in the world,” Magnuson said. “Spiritual dimensions to current controversies around the environment too often go unrecognized.
“There are bulldozers – but there are also prayers and songs and we intend that they will echo out over the forests of the Yellow Dog on Lake Superior Day 2010, under the shadow of Eagle Rock,” Magnuson said.
The event will be held adjacent to the Kennecott leased property line off the Triple A Road.
Markers will be posted from the corner of County Road 550 and County Road 510.
Eagle Rock is a 45-minute drive from Marquette. Directions are posted on the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve website.
For more information contact Rev. Magnuson at 906-228-5494 or Rev. Lehmberg at 906-226-6407.

Directions will be posted at:
Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve:
http://www.yellowdogwatershed.org
http://www.yellowdogwatershed.org/blog/category/events

Contacts:

Rev. Jon W. Magnuson, MDiv, MSW, ACSW

Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute
403 East Michigan Street
Marquette, MI 49855

magnusonx2@charter.net

http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org

906-228-5494 phone/fax
906-360-5072 (cell)

Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg
Head Priest
Lake Superior Zendo (Zen Buddhist)
2222 Longyear Ave.
Marquette, MI 49855

plehmber@nmu.edu
906-226-6407 (hm)

Rochelle Dale, Yellow Dog Watershed resident
906-362-8521

“The Lansing Online News” article on Stand for the Land rally at the Michigan State Capitol on June 3, 2010
By Bonnie Bucqueroux, who retired from Michigan State University’s School of Journalism to experiment with online publications, including Lansing Online News
http://lansingonlinenews.com/news/rally-raises-issues-about-the-eagle-rock-sulfide-mine-in-the-up

“The State News” Lansing, MI newspaper article on Stand for the Land rally at the Michigan State Capitol on June 3, 2010
By Aseel Machi
Photo by Sam Mikalonis
http://statenews.com/index.php/article/2010/06/protesters_rally_to_protect_up_land

“The Mining Journal” Marquette, MI newspaper on Stand for the Land rally at the Michigan State Capitol on June 3, 2010
By John Pepin
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/544911.html

The Lansing Online News

The Mining Journal

The State News

Letter to Editor by camper Laura Furtman of Duluth, Minn.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/95610559.html

EPA officials weigh in on Eagle Rock
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/95615974.html

Indian Country Today Raid at Eagle Rock
Two campers arrested, camp destroyed
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/95060709.html

Indian Country Today Controversial words from a controversial person Fred Dakota: Time to stop fighting Eagle Rock

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/94597289.html

Indian Country Today Defending Eagle Rock (Scroll down to read second article: Kennecott’s Eagle Project)

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/92880679.html

Indian Country Today Defending Eagle Rock Video:

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/92880679.html?video=pop&t=a

Some stories prior to camp at sacred Eagle Rock:

The Kennecott Minerals websites about the Eagle Mine Project – Rio Tinto is parent company of the Kennecott Minerals and its subsidiaries like Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company.

http://www.eagle-project.com

http://www.eagle-project.com/library/media/MJ_Deferred%20021209.pdf

4/19/10 Mining Journal (local newspaper) story on mine project construction start on Friday, April 16, 2010
“Kennecott’s Eagle project mine site work starts”

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/543148.html

State of Michigan Info on Eagle Mine Project:

http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3311_4111_18442-130551–,00.html

Petition to support Cynthia Pryor
http://www.savethewildup.org/jailed/petition

Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve:

http://www.yellowdogwatershed.org/blog

Save the Wild U.P. (SWUP):

http://www.savethewildup.org

SWUP Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20079015072

SWUP Causes on Facebook

http://www.causes.com/causes/46130?recruiter_id=60587135

Stand for the Land blog:

http://standfortheland.com

Stand for the Land flickr photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49633257@N03

Stories by Gabriel Caplett and others on the “Headwaters: Citizen Journalism For the Great Lakes” website.

http://headwaters.net

Headwaters stories include opposition to the Kennecott Eagle Mine project and alleged international crimes and bad acts by Kennecott Mining and its parent company Rio Tinto:

“Taking a Stand”: Sacred Site Celebrated Despite Citizen Arrest

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-article/taking-a-stand-sacred-site-celebrated-despite-citizen-arrest

Pryor Ordered to Leave Jail:

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-article/pryor-ordered-to-leave-jail

Cynthia Prior Pleads Not Guilty:

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-article/cynthia-pryor-pleads-not-guilty

Cynthia Pryor arrested at mine property:

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-article/citizen-arrested-for-%E2%80%9Ctrespassing%E2%80%9D-on-public-land/

Eagle Mine Concerns Raised at Rio Tinto Meeting:

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-article/audio-rio-tintos-annual-general-meeting

Upper Peninsula Mine Threatens Sacred Tribal Rights:

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-blog/upper-peninsula-mine-threatens-sacred-tribal-rights

Rio Tinto Stomps on Indigenous Rights in Upper Peninsula of Michigan:

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-blog/rio-tinto-stomps-out-indigenous-rights-in-upper-michigan

Kennecott Minerals parent company Rio Tinto accused of crimes ranging from bribery to espionage to violating mining act:

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-article/uk-serious-fraud-office-to-investigate-rio-tinto

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-article/rio-tinto-employees-charged-with-industrial-espionage-and-bribery

http://headwatersnews.net/mining-article/rio-tinto-pleads-guilty-to-breach-of-mining-management-act-again-2

USA Today and Washington Post stories from Associated Press by writer John Flesher article about Chauncey Moran, vice chairman of the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve and a volunteer stream monitor

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-09-08-276323347_x.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090800356.html

More stories and info about Chauncey Moran:

http://www.waterkeeper.org/ht/d/OrganizationDetails/id/707

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AP05J20091126

Mining Journal stories:

Native American activists protest at Eagle Rock 4/25/10:

http://miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/543341.html

Mining Journal Editorial: Cooler heads must prevail in mine protests 4/25/10:

http://miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/543354.html

Pryor pleads not guilty to trespassing: Mining opponent arrested at Kennecott operation 4/21/10:

http://miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/543227.html

Mine foe Pryor remains jailed 4/22/10:

http://miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/543253.html

Rally Held at Eagle Rock

http://miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/543014.html?nav=5006

Mining Journal Video of Rally:

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/543018.html?nav=5056

DEQ mine decision questioned 1/16/10:

http://miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/539169.html

Yellow Dog Plains on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Dog_Plains

Yellow Dog Plains Pix via Wikipedia By Maynard Leon and Kirill Zikanov (Wiki username Kirillz)

Trouble on the Yellow Dog Plains:

http://savethewildup.org/files/swup/265.pdf

GRANHOLM, DEQ DECISION CONDEMNED BY U.P.

http://www.ausableanglers.org/files/members/RIVERWATCH48.pdf

Protect the Earth: Part 2, Walk to Eagle Rock By Michele Bourdieu

http://keweenawnow.blogspot.com/2009/08/protect-earth-part-2-walk-to-eagle-rock.html

On orders from an international mining company on Thursday, May 27, 2010, dozens of heavily armed police raided a month old Ojibwa camp at sacred Eagle Rock in northern Michigan.

Sacred Eagle Rock and the Yellow Dog Plains are State of Michigan public land that Ojibwa have rights to under federal treaties instead the state leased the land to Kennecott Eagle Minerals for its sulfide mine that will produce sulfuric acid byproduct as they mine nickel, copper and other minerals.

Some 30 other similar mines will pop up like mushrooms in the same area if the Eagle Mine Project starts digging under the Salmon Trout River; and underneath Eagle Rock to create a tunnel to the mine.

Kennecott disrespected several Ojibwa traditions including a request to have an elder douse the grandfather fire and removing, arresting on camper in a fasting ritual with her bundle on Eagle Rock.

Better Days at Eagle Rock: KBIC Tribal Council met with the campers at sacred Eagle Rock on May 8, 2010

Keweenaw Indian Community Bay Tribal meets with Eagle Rock Campers during second week of the encampment about 19 days before massive police raid ordered by Kennecott Eagle Minerals to build its nickel and copper sulfide mine. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Please read story about raid in Indian Country Today (ICT) newspaper:
Raid at Eagle Rock:

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/greatlakes

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/greatlakes/95060709.html

ICT digital edition pages 7 and 8:

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/digitalcopy/95104274.html

http://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/2/16715/60551/pub/

Michigan State Police standing on the remote Triple A Road near the entrance to Eagle Rock. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Marquette County Sheriff’s Department cars blocking Triple A Road at the Eagle Project nickel and Copper mine entrance about three quarters of a mile east of sacred Eagle Rock.
Also pictured Powell Township fire and ambulance vehicles and personnel, who were on standby in case someone was hurt during the police raid on sacred Eagle Rock.
The media and campers were allowed to walk past the blockade to the former encampment but warned to stay on the road or face arrest. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Michigan State Police and mine security perched atop Eagle Rock – the officers
were armed with high power rifles. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Following police raid, Eagle Rock campers stand on the Triple A Road at the former entrance to the sacred Eagle Rock encampment as Michigan State Police stand watch in the background.
In foreground, are two of the four campers present when police moved in plus longtime blogger and camper Gabriel Caplett (on left with video camera ) who has been writing daily updates on the camp for the past month on the StandForTheLand Blog and also has written hundreds of updates about the effort to block by several environment groups and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community since plans for the the mine were announced in 2004.
Pictured with Caplett in the foreground are Kalvin Hartwig (center), a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa, and nonnative Catherine Parker (right) of Marquette.
Michigan State Police standing on the Triple A Road near the entrance to Eagle Rock after raid on campers and arrest of two members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community for “trespassing” when they refused to leave the sacred Eagle Rock Ojibwa encampment. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Kennecott Eagle Minerals employees string the fence across the driveway to the Eagle Rock encampment’s with state police and mine security looking on, (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Michigan State Police and mine security perched atop Eagle Rock – the officers were armed with high power rifles. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Two of the four campers that were present when police moved in on May 27, 2010. Kalvin Hartwig, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa, and non-Native Catherine Parker of Marquette, Michigan stand in front of the former encampment entrance at Eagle Rock that is filled with the mine’s heavy equipment and police. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

The remains of the Eagle Rock Community Garden that was pulled up by Eagle Project mine officials and placed into purple children’s swimming pools at the encampment entrance. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Mine equipment at entrance to Eagle Rock with Stand For the Land sign and a pole with a lone Eagle Feather on top. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Powell Township ambulance and fire vehicles and personnel on standby at the entrance to the Eagle Project nickel and copper mine about three quarters of a mile from Sacred Eagle Rock (Photo by Greg Peterson)

American Indians, non-Natives joined forces to Stand for the Land at Michigan State Capitol on June 3, 2010 to protest the huge police raid a week earlier on sacred Eagle Rock by Kennecott Minerals who ordered the arrest of two Ojibwa campers and to fight sulfide mining on the Yellow Dog Plains in northern Michigan near Lake Superior

I just thought it was funny and clever, unlike so many political cartoons.

So the Boston Herald (you know, the one in Boston) wrote an article about how Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) has “met his match” when it comes to his seat being up for grabs this year.

His opponent is a political-nobody named Dan Benishek who was born and raised in Iron River (you know, that Iron River) and, according to the Herald, he’s a shoe-in to win. The reason? Stupak’s apparent flip-flop on his decision to support the Obamacare bill, reported the Herald.

“Six days after Benishek announced his candidacy, he was handed an unexpected gift by Stupak, the Democrat who vowed to fight publicly funded abortion in Obamacare,” wrote the reporter. “Stupak stepped to the podium that fateful Sunday afternoon in front of a live national TV audience and announced he would support Obamacare with nothing but a meaningless executive order as his cover.”

The move, said the Herald, propelled Benishek into the national spotlight and made him a “sensation.”

He even got 20,000 Facebook friends. As of the writing of this blog post, that same page has 22,331 fans. The Facebook page for this pickle has 1,580,471 fans at the time of this post. Just saying.

Anyway, the Herald goes on to say that Benishek then went on to raise $50,000 in donations over the following 48 hours (please, buy a nice suit with the money because the ones on your campaign page suck) and quotes the good doctor as saying “No way is he [Stupak] going to win. I’m going to beat him. Actually, he beat himself by doing that dramatic flip-flop. He could have been a hero.”

Now, to be straight-forward and brutally honest, I could not care less about who wins Michigan’s First District this coming election. Stupak, in my opinion, has done a bang-up job over the years. Benishek is nobody to me, but he’s running as a Republican, which I honestly think makes him a likely candidate for wasting people’s donations. Sure, he might be the nicest guy in the world, but I just don’t see folks around here punching the Republican button.

Unlike the Boston Herald, who said “The Upper Peninsula is small-town, Middle America, 300 miles north of Detroit. It’s conservative country,” I am from around these parts, born and raised. This part of the article is what irked me. This is exactly what prompted this blog post. While I admit we have conservative values around here, we don’t typically have Republican voting tendencies.

The last Republican who took on Stupak was Tom Casperson, who is also an Upper Peninsula native and fairly well liked. His family came from the wood industry, like a lot of folks around here. The end result for him? He picked up 33 percent of the vote while Stupak skated away with 65 percent.

Stupak has been ruling the roost up here since 1993 when he first won the seat. He isn’t likely to be dislodged by someone who has never even held office. In fact, a Republican hasn’t held that seat since Robert H. Clancy left on March 3, 1933 (yeah, that 1933!). A Republican has held it just 13 out of the 32 times someone has been in the chair. A Whig, Ebenezer J. Penniman, held it from 1851-1853, and it was also left vacant three times.

While I’m impressed that Benishek raised $50,000 in two days, I just don’t think he’s going to be able to keep his coffers deep enough. Casperson had just over $102,000 in his account in May of 2008. I don’t know how much he ended up with, but by November it was all spent and Stupak had barely broken a sweat. Plus, Stupak’s got guys like Michael Moore (yeah, that one!) to help him raise money. That’s some tough backers when the pushing comes to shoving, like it will.

Benishek has to keep this fire stoked for seven more months. He has to keep kicking the same horse over and over again. Voters are going to tire of hearing about it and Stupak is going to have a Democrat majority to help him keep funneling money to his district.

Stupak also has the argument that he really didn’t flip-flop on anything. He said he didn’t back the bill, but also admitted that he’d vote for it if he had assurances that no abortions would be allowed under it. He got the word of a President of the United States. I know, that and $1.50 buys you a bottle of Faygo, but it’s probably better than the word of a doctor who has long benefited from getting rich from our messed up healthcare system. Just saying.

Not to mention Benishek has to get past the primary, first. Linda Goldthorpe is a Republican from Manistique who actually went to law school. She has a lot less fans on her Facebook, but she’s got yard signs available.

Of course, Stupak has Connie Saltonstall to contend with in the primary as well. I didn’t look for her Facebook page because I just don’t see Facebook really making the final choice here.

When all is said and done, I hope the best candidate wins—be that Benishek, Stupak or Mickey Mouse. I just don’t like it when a paper all the way on the East Coast decides that someone has already lost and starts making blanket comments about the area I grew up in.

Besides, in Boston all they do is drink tea, eat beans and crab cakes and vote in Republicans these days. And their beer sucks. See? It’s kinda mean, right?

Anyway, everyone who is anyone knows who’s going to win this year: That damned pickle.

I failed to  note the town where we passed this carving in a lakefront park. 

Early in the day’s drive, the pine forests gave way to farm fields.

By 9 a.m. yesterday, we were crossing into Wisconsin.  We were treated to more beautiful Lake Superior views.

W e stopped for the night in a small city  park at Iron River.  We had quite a surprise in store.  While walking through the park, we met someone we knew, Dorothy Thompson, who also winters in our park, Cactus Gardens, in Yuma.  I’m not sure who was the most surprised, Dorothy or us.  We talked for a while, and discovered she and husband, David, live just a short distance from the park on the lake.

A bigger surprise came this morning.  Just as we were finishing our preparations to leave, David drove up with plans to take us to their place for coffee.  When we arrived, Dorothy had fresh blueberry muffins baking in the oven.  What a treat!

The Bayfield County Fair (held August 27th-30th near Iron River, WI) is a family friendly fair and it’s easy on the pocket book too!  Even with the carnival rides!

What is there to do at the Bayfield County Fair?  To start with, you can visit the animals and other exhibits.  Amazing photography, crafts, paintings, woodworking, flowers, produce, house plants, quilts, and so much more are on display from our local youth and adults.  There will be horses, cows, goats, pigs, bunnies and more! 

Free pony rides for the kids every day as well as Safari Greg, who will be performing his Urban Safari shows 3 times daily with his animals.  (Can you say “Giant Anaconda”! )  Our clowns will be providing free face painting, balloon art and clown antics Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The horses are showing off every day over at the Horse Arena.  Thursday the horses arrive and a bit of warmup  happens in the rings.  Friday is the day that horses and riders vie for that Blue Ribbon.  Friday evening the CEZRA Cattle Sorting event happens.  Satuday and Sunday CEZRA is hosting a WSCA Open Show-some of the events include the egg race and monkey in the swing!

Grandstand shows will include all of our favorites including Moto-X &  ATV races, the Dirt Dash and the Demo Derby.  Our special music grandstand shows happen on Saturday.  Confederate Railroad AND The Kentucky Headhunters will be performing on Saturday, August 29th! 

The carnival rides including the Ferris Wheel, will be up and running on Thursday.  They will continue to run Friday through Sunday.  A variety of rides for the little ones and for the older kids and adults will be available so everyone can enjoy the County Fair experience of riding the rides!

How is this going to be easy on the pocketbook?  With a one-fee inclusive admission fee!  The Grandstand shows and all the carnival rides you can handle are included in your admission fee!!  Plus all of the free entertainment on the Fair Grounds. Admission is only $10 a day or $25 a season pass for those 5 and older.  Four and under are Free!

Hope to see you and your family at the Bayfield County Fair! August 27th – 30th at the Bayfield County Fair Grounds near Iron River, WI!