QuoteI petition you to be involved in strengthening our nations 'moral authority' by you personally e-mailing this request to the FBI http://change.gov/page/s/yourstory (http://change.gov/page/s/yourstory) and then request at least ten other American citizens to do the same.
We the People of the United States of America, petition your office, department or committee to do your part to hold The State of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and State of Utah Director of Indian Affairs Forrest Cuch accountable for their conspiracy to outlaw the Native American Church and orchestrate a conspiracy that slandered a bona fide Native American Church Spiritual Leader, James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney in the eyes of the State of Utah’s American Native Spiritual Community, State of Utah Legislators, and State of Utah citizenship.
The State of Utah is the only state in the history of the Union that attempted to prosecute or outlaw the Native American Church (State of Utah v. Oklevueha Native American Church).
The State of Utah is the only state in the Union that passed a Bill of Attainder law known as the Peyote Law, 2006, based on race.
It is our theoretical belief that it is impossible for the United States of American government to claim any type of Moral Authority with the world’s nations, when our government allows the State of Utah to go uncorrected in depriving the Native American Church, the indigenous religion of our nation, of its Constitutional protections and rights.
OKLEVUEHA NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH COMPLAINT AGAINST THE STATE OF UTAH
COMPLAINT OVERVIEW
This paper is a ‘Complaint’ briefly outlining ‘some of’ the State of Utah acts that have conspired to deny the Native American Church of its constitutional rights. This paper’s primary focus is on the conspiracy the State of Utah most recently (1997-2008) orchestrated against the Oklevueha Native American Church, a bona fide Native American Church (1) and one of its Spiritual Leaders, James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney (2).
PURPOSE FOR COMPLAINT
The purpose of this brief is to enhance the Moral Authority of the United States Government. It is believed by the United States (3) bringing a Federal Criminal and / or Civil Action against the State of Utah on the behalf of Oklevueha Native American Church will significantly advance this purpose.
ALLEGED PERPERTRATORS
A belief that a few Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have violated the separation of Church and State doctrine through the Native American Rights Fund (4) (5) (6), State of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, State of Utah Director of Indian Affairs Forest Cuch and a few State of Utah Legislators for religious ideology and financial advancement or gain (7) will be exposed.
With a full investigation of this claim by the United States Attorney’s office, it is believed criminal activities by John Echo Hawk and associated attorneys within and outside of the Native American Rights Fund, State of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, State of Utah Director of Indian Affairs Forest Cuch and three State of Utah confidential informants, Jeffrey Merkey, Jim Pritchard and Terry Holland will be exposed. It is also believed that this investigation will uncover three decades of NARF’S criminal activities that has bilked billions upon billions of dollars from the United States Citizenship and Federally Recognized Tribal Governments.
GRATITUDE EXPRESSED
The Oklevueha Native American Church and Citizens of this nation are extremely grateful for the State of Utah Supreme Court Justices and the Utah Federal Defenders Office that came to the aid of a bona fide Native American Church (8). The Native American Church has publicly expressed their gratitude by having Oklevueha Native American Church's, Custodian of the Medicine & Former Chief of the Paiute Pipe Springs Tribe Gary Lee 'Strong Man' Tom and resident of the State of Utah present the Director of the Utah Federal Defenders Office Steve Killpack a Peyote Stitched Eagle feather and Sage Stick (9) in accordance with Native American Church gratitude tradition.
ALLEGED CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES BY THE STATE OF UTAH
Thus far, the State of Utah has not yet been held accountable for their historically blatant illegal perpetrating activities against the Native American Church and its worshipers.
1. First, and foremost, the State of Utah knowingly raided and ransacked a NAC, a bona fide Native American Church, and violated federal laws protecting its banking activities and the distribution of federally protected Peyote through the United States Postal Services (10)
1.1. Previously to this raid the State of Utah settled out of court an unlawful termination of a State Employee (State Certified Correctional Officer, James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney)(11) (12)
2. Second, arrested James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney, Oklevueha Native American Church, Co-Founder and a bona fide American Native Medicine Man for conducting Native American Church Sacrament Ceremonies(13). If he had of been convicted of the indictment that instituted his arrest he would have been sentenced to incarceration for the rest of his life.
3. Third, the State of Utah historically and presently conspires to deny the Native American Church and its Spiritual leaders to worship and practice their religious ceremonies in the State of Utah (14) and
4. Fourth, violated the constitution Bill of Attainder Laws (15). It is accepted, in our judicial system that until a perpetrator (The State of Utah) has been held accountable for its misdeeds, the maligned (Native American Church) remains vulnerable to having its constitutional rights violated again by the State of Utah.
A person may realistically surmise from the despicable, slanderous, and conspiring campaign that the State of Utah implemented and orchestrated against the Oklevueha Native American Church and its co-founders was to cloud the initial illegal raiding of a 5 acre property with buildings, owned by the Oklevueha Native American Church and registered as such in Utah County in the State of Utah as Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church of Utah. Proving once again, it is the cover-up of a crime that proves to be the most damaging to one's Moral Authority.
The State of Utah made many attempts to 'delay justice to deny justice' through numerous immoral judicial maneuvers (but a few are mentioned in this complaint). The first was to file bogus state of Utah indictments against 'a church' Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church of Utah Inc., and two of its co-founders. That failed with the unanimous decision by State of Utah Court Justices (16). The second, the State of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff 'lied' to the United States Attorney Office to bring federal indictments under the Patriot Act (17) where hearsay is all that is needed for an indictment against the church's co-founders. When this illegal tactic failed because United States attorney's (prosecutors and defenders), discovered the State of Utah supplied United States Attorney's Office with ‘false’ felonious information and withheld exculpatory evidence (18), together they petitioned the court to drop all charges prior to the federal scheduled evidential hearing, which the court did grant. Thirdly, State of Utah Attorney Mark Shurtleff again 'lied', this time to the State of Utah Citizens (19) (20) and with the use of a perjured statement by Federal Drug Enforcement Agent Rodney Holliday (21) (22), and a multitude of suborned perjury statements by State Confidential Informants; Jeffrey Merkey, Jim Pritchard and Terri Holland in a Federal Court Hearing, the State of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, with the assistance of State of Utah Director of Indian Affairs Forest Cuch slandered, State of Utah Governor Leavitt citizen of the Year American Native Medicine Man James Warren Flaming Eagle Mooney name and reputation (23), solicited the State of Utah Legislators to introduce and then lobbied the State of Utah Legislators to pass a Bill of Attainder legislation, known as the State of Utah 'Peyote Law' (24), which was written and signed into law by Governor Huntsman, completing another blatant violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. A special note to this miss carriage of justice, was the illegal and immoral slanderous conspiring, that included terroristic (25) (26), activities of Mr. Jim Pritchard, devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to disrupt Oklevueha Band of Seminole Indians of Orange Springs, Florida and Oklevueha Native American Church affairs and to discredit James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney status of being a bona fide American Native American Medicine Man.
For the United States of America to earn a true Moral Authority among the world's nations, it is imperative that it demonstrates to its citizens and other nations that these grievous actions will not be tolerated by its elected and appointed public servants. This is especially troubling when these unconstitutional actions are implemented and orchestrated by public officials that have taken a solemn oath to uphold the various principles that make up the United States Constitution.
The United States of America will advance its Moral Authority when it establishes to its citizens, in clear and concise terms, that all federal and state agency officials will emphatically conduct their every day duties according to the principles of the United States Constitution.
Accomplishing America's Moral Authority will take a giant leap forward in the world's eyes when it proves that it protects and assures the indigenous religion (Native American Church) of the United States of America, the same equal rights and protection that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presently enjoys in the great State of Utah.
American Native Spirituality has survived the world's largest holocaust in recorded human history. It is not about to go away any time soon (27).
An interesting thought; how can the citizens of the United States have any confidence in our ability to maintain any rational conviction that we lead the world’s nations with any degree of Moral Authority, when we as a government have denied and presently continue to deny the indigenous religion of this nation of its First Amendment guarantees, since the institution of the Bill of Rights (1791)?
DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE (NEWS CASTS, LAWS, PAPERS, COURT DOCUMENTS AND POLICE REPORTS
(1)Documents pertaining to the Native American Church, http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/NAC/docs.htm (http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/NAC/docs.htm)
1.1 Certificate of Existence - April 11, 1997, for Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church of Utah Inc
1.2 Blessing of Adoption -March 19, 1998, March 19, 1998, Leslie Fool Bull President of the Native American Church Half Moon and Cross Fire Traditions of South Dakota Rosebud Reservation
1.3 Affidavit of Fact - June 1, 2001, Salvador Johnson, Federally and State of Texas Licensed Peyote harvester and distributor acknowledgement of James Mooney and Oklevueha Earthwalks Native American Church, June 1, 2001
1.4 Letter of Declaration - October 12, 2004, by the Texas Department of Public Safety stating that Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church of Utah Inc is a bona fide Native American Church
1.5 Confirmation and Clarification of Adoption Blessing - August 19, 2007, by Richard ‘He Who Has the Foundation’ Swallow, Chief of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Eagle Clan of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservation of South Dakota and President of the Native American Church Half Moon Tradition of South Dakota Rosebud Reservation
1.6 Papers of Organization - December 17, 2007, Oklevueha Lakota Sioux Nation Native American Church (Also known As, Oklevueha Native American Church). Documentation of the merging of Lakota Sioux Native American Church and Oklevueha EarthWalks Native American Church of Utah Inc. known as Oklevueha Native American Church
(2) James ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney, http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/NAC/james.htm (http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/NAC/james.htm)
2.1 Letter from Chief Little Dove, National Tribal Office, Cox-Osceola Indian Reservation, P.O. Box 521, Orange Springs, FL 32682, October 5, 1993: “This to advise you that James Flaming Eagle Mooney is authorized to work for the Tribe by having sweats in the sweat lodge, and counseling in drug and alcohol abuse. He is also a pipe carrierâ€
2.2 Medal of Merit, presented by Michael Leavitt, Governor, State of Utah, October 1994,
2.3 Certification as Correctional Officer, September 1994
2.4 Letter from Gary Tom, Director of Education, Paiute Tribe of Utah July 18, 2001
2.5 Citizens Award of Commendation, presented by Michael Leavitt, Governor, State of Utah, September 1993, CITIZENS AWARD OF COMMENDATION, “This award is presented to a citizen not in government service whose heroism, public service or actions provided some valuable service benefiting the Department of Corrections, Presented to James Warren Flaming Eagle Mooney, Michael Leavitt, Governor, State of Utahâ€
2.6 Medicine Man, Written b y Nick Nelson, Daily Herald, Provo, UT, May 22, 2005
(3) Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Act of 2000, (f) AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES TO ENFORCE THIS ACT- the United States may bring an action for injunctive or declaratory relief to enforce compliance with this Act. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise affect any right or authority of the Attorney General, the United States, or any agency, officer, or employee of the United States, acting under any law other than this subsection, to institute or intervene in any proceeding.
(g) LIMITATION- If the only jurisdictional basis for applying a provision of this Act is a claim that a substantial burden by a government on religious exercise affects, or that removal of that substantial burden would affect, commerce with foreign nations, among the several States, or with Indian tribes, the provision shall not apply if the government demonstrates that all substantial burdens on, or the removal of all substantial burdens from, similar religious exercise throughout the Nation would not lead in the aggregate to a substantial effect on commerce with foreign nations, among the several States, or with Indian tribes. http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/Legal/rluipa.htm (http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/Legal/rluipa.htm)
(4) National Public Radio (NPR), Your Money: Rating the Performance of Charities, Dec-17-2005, Weekend Edition - Saturday ...Native American Heritage Association and the Native American Rights Fund both get an F in your rankings. Mr. BOROCHOFF: They spend too much money raising money. They hire... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=5059860 (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5059860) Rating the Performance of Charities, Listening Now, Weekend Edition Saturday, December 17, 2005 · Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, tells Scott Simon about the organization's Charity Rating Guide and Watchdog Report. It grades charities based on their financial performance and accountability. Native American Rights Fund F rating “out right fraudsâ€. http://www.npr.org/templates/player/med ... &m=5059861 (http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=false&id=5059860&m=5059861)
(5) Brief Amici Curia of the Native American Church of North America, A ‘Shii-Be-To’ Native American Church of Utah….Steven C. Moore, Esq. Native American Rights Fund, Council of Record for Amici Curiae, Mark L. Shurtleff, #4666, Utah Attorney General’s Office, Council of Record for Amici Curiae, Filed February 11, 2003 to the State of Utah Supreme Court
(6) Appellant’s Opposition to Motion for Leave to File Amici Curiae Brief, Oklevueha Native American Church and James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney, Attorney Kathryn Collard, filed February 12, 2003 to the State of Utah Supreme Court
(7) Judge Ted Stewart, Federal Judge 10th Circuit Utah District Mormon Judge sits on two cases involving Mormon Church finds in favor of Mormon Church reversed on both Rip-off political corruption Salt Lake City Utah *Consumer Comment ..I agree that there is a serious conflict of interest here., “The test for appearance of impropriety" includes “knowledge of ALL the relevant circumstances that a reasonable inquiry would disclose." (Canon 2A) When you know ALL the relevant facts about the Mormon Church - specifically, that Judge Stewart, like all high Mormons, has repeatedly sworn a secret oath in the Mormon Temple to dedicate everything with which he's been blessed (that includes his judgeship), to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the building up of the Church and establishing a Mormon theocracy - when you know this, you see that he is compromised.
The Temple oath makes it impossible for Judge Stewart to be impartial in ANY case involving his Church. His oath requires he find for his Church! [The specific oath is called the “Law of Consecration" in the Mormon Endowment Ceremony and quoted in several Affidavits from independent former Mormons. (Exhibits 4A-J) They also attest that the oath is secret, and is the same in all Mormon temples.] And it's not just this oath that biases him. There's also something in this for him.
Mormon doctrine teaches that everything Judge Stewart does for building up the Church in this life buys him a better “exaltation" (a better godhood) in the next life. (Exhibit 5A-B) In his mind, there is a de facto quid pro quo! He believes (for the purposes of law, “he knows") he will be rewarded in the next life for helping the Church in this life! Thus he violated 28 U.S.C. §455(b) (4), which requires disqualification for “any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding."
http://ripoffreport.com/reports/0/050/ripoff0050954.htm (http://ripoffreport.com/reports/0/050/ripoff0050954.htm)
(8)Fox Newscast, Native Americans Thank Defenders Office after Peyote Ruling, http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Ne ... geId=3.2.1 (http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7079680&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1)
(9) Picture of Gary Lee 'Strong Man' Tom presenting the director of Utah Federal Defenders Office, Director Steve Killpack an Eagle Feather, http://people.tribe.net/cd4acf17-fa5e-4 ... 2cc004d91e (http://people.tribe.net/cd4acf17-fa5e-4569-80f2-ade296081b23/photos/fb80740d-ea7e-44d9-aa22-0c2cc004d91e)
(10) First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
(11) Marilee Peterson and James Warren Flaming Eagle Mooney v. UTAH DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, TERRY BARTLETT, FRED VANDERVEUR, ROBERT TANSY, O. LANE McCOTTER, and H. L. PETER HAUN, individually and in their official capacities as allowed by law
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/g ... &no=014090 (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=10th&navby=docket&no=014090)
(12) Letter from Chief Little Dove, National Tribal Office, Cox-Osceola Indian Reservation, P.O. Box 521, Orange Springs, FL 32682, October 5, 1993: “This to advise you that James Flaming Eagle Mooney is authorized to work for the Tribe by having sweats in the sweat lodge, and counseling in drug and alcohol abuse. He is also a pipe carrier†http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/NAC ... ledove.htm (http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/NAC/James%20Docs/littledove.htm)
(13) Color of law refers to an appearance of legal power to act but which may actually operate in violation of law. For example, though federal, state and/or county prosecuting attorney’s with the color of law authority to arrest someone, if such an arrest is made without probable cause the arrest may actually be in violation of law. Under 'color of law', it is a crime for one or more persons using power given to him or her by a governmental agency (local, state or federal), to willfully deprive or conspire to deprive another person of any right protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Enforcement of 'color of law' does not require that any racial, religious, or other discriminatory motive existed. Criminal acts under color of law include acts within and beyond the bounds or limits of lawful authority.
(14) Title 18, U.S.C., Section 241, Conspiracy Against Rights, This statute makes it unlawful for two or more persons to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person of any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of the United States, (or because of his/her having exercised the same).
(15) Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 provides that: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law will be passed." U.S. v. Brown, 381 U.S. 437, 440 (1965) "A bill of attainder was a legislative act that singled out one or more persons and imposed punishment on them, without benefit of trial. Such actions were regarded as odious by the framers of the Constitution because it was the traditional role of a court, judging an individual case, to impose punishment." William H. Rehnquist, The Supreme Court, page 166.
(16) State of Utah V. Oklevueha Native American Church “31 In interpreting the reach of the federal exemption as incorporated into Utah law, we rely on its plain language, electing not to defer to a contrary interpretation that the State argues has been adopted by the federal DEA. On its face, the exemption applies to members of the Native American Church, without regard to tribal membership. The bona fide religious use of peyote cannot serve as the basis for prosecuting members of the Native American Church under state law. We remand for reconsideration of the Mooneys' motion to dismiss in light of this opinion†http://utah.tribe.net/recommendation/Ut ... 3348e4e360 (http://utah.tribe.net/recommendation/Utah-Supreme-Court-Unanimous-Opinion-Concerning-Oklevueha-Native-American-Church-filed-2004/utah-us/15d357ad-fb02-4292-bf5d-023348e4e360)
(17) IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF UTAH, CENTRAL DIVISION SEALED INDICTMENT, 6/15/2005, Grand Jury Charges: 1. Prior to the period of the conspiracies alleged in this Indictment, defendant JAMES MOONEY fraudulently obtained a membership card to the Oklevueha Band of Yamassee Seminole Indians, referred to herein as "the Band", a tribe that is not federally recognized. Traditionally, the Band does not use peyote in its religious ceremonies. 2. JAMES MOONEY used his affiliation with the Band to obtain peyote illegally which he, LINDA MOONEY AND NICHOLAS STARK distributed to non-Native Americans, in violation of federal law. 3. During the course of the conspiracies alleged in the indictment, JAMES MOONEY misrepresented himself as a Native American. 4. In April 1997, JAMES and LINDA MOONEY established the Oklevueha Earth Walks Native American Church of Utah, a non-profit corporation that is not associated with the Native American Church of North America and is not recognized as a traditional Native American church by traditional Native American organizations. 5. In November 1997, the Band terminated its affiliation with JAMES MOONEY based upon his activities involving peyote. The Band requested that MOONEY return his membership card and further requested that JAMES MOONEY stop using the name "Oklevueha" in connection with his activities. 6. JAMES MOONEY did not return the band's membership card and he and LINDA MOONEY have continued to use the name "Oklevueha" in connection with their activities. Moreover, during the course of the conspiracies, JAMES MOONEY obtained peyote by utilizing his membership card with the Band, even after his affiliation was terminated, in violation of federal.
(18) Utah Federal Defender Office, Kristen R. Angelos, Utah Federal Defender Assistant Attorney to United States, Veda Travis, U.S. Attorney Assistant, Letter of March 2, 2006, “Dear Veda, After initial review of the discovery materials provided, I am missing several items. Accordingly, I am requesting that you provide the following supplemental discovery as soon as possibleâ€, more than 30 items were withheld, most of which were initially denied United States Attorney office review by State of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, prior to a Grand jury indictment.
(19) Utah Legislature Seeks to Close Loopholes in Peyote Law (Utah) http://www.pluralism.org/news/article.php?id=11589 (http://www.pluralism.org/news/article.php?id=11589)
(20) Utah Attorney Press Release, NATIVE AMERICANS UNITE WITH LEGISLATORS & PROSECUTORS TO PASS PEYOTE BILL, http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/334.html (http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/334.html)
(21) Detention Hearing, IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF UTAH CENTRAL DIVISION, Page 7, Lines 12-23, 06/28/2005 Travis: “Q. Did you have an opportunity to interview Salvador Johnson?†Holliday: “A. Yes, I did.†Travis: Q. what did Mr. Johnson tell you?†Holliday: “A. Mr. Johnson sold peyote to the Mooneys in the past. But in-sometime in 2001 or so he quit selling to them and stated he would not sell peyote to them unless they could prove-provide proper document that he was inquiring.†Travis: “Q. And according to Mr. Johnson, were they able to provide that proper documentation?†Holliday: “A. No, they were not.†http://scofacts.org/Mooney-18-transcript.html (http://scofacts.org/Mooney-18-transcript.html)
(22) Salvador Johnson affidavit of fact, June, 1, 2001 “I verified through the DPS that Oklevueha Earthwalks Native American Church (“Oklevueha NACâ€) was on file with DPS as a Native American Church. Because Mr. Mooney and Oklevueha NAC met the requirements under the Peyote distribution regulations, pursuant to my State and Federal license, I distributed Peyote to James Mooney with the Oklevueha NAC since approximately 1997†http://people.tribe.net/cd4acf17-fa5e-4 ... 3b7fbe5f57 (http://people.tribe.net/cd4acf17-fa5e-4569-80f2-ade296081b23/photos/775a3c3d-e4cb-45d9-97a3-a73b7fbe5f57)
(23) CITIZENS AWARD OF COMMENDATION, “This award is presented to a citizen not in government service whose heroism, public service or actions provided some valuable service benefiting the Department of Corrections, Presented to James Warren Flaming Eagle Mooney, Michael Leavitt, Governor, State of Utah†http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/NAC ... _award.htm (http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net/NAC/James%20Docs/citizen_award.htm)
(24) State of Utah Peyote Law http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2006/bills/h ... hb0060.htm (http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2006/bills/hbillenr/hb0060.htm)
(25) Utah County Attorney’s office investigative Report, Case# 00-070 MOONEY, Date: December 13, 2000, Investigator: Jeff Robinson, Code: Witness, Name: Jim Pritchard; “Pritchard would like no one to know about his cooperation with investigationsâ€.
(26) Utah County Sheriff’s Office Crime Report #80-418322, Report Written by: Deputy Sean Davis, Third threat against James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney’s life, influenced by Jim Pritchard; “24 December 2000 @ 20:09 Hours: I stopped at the Pritchard residence and spoke with Mr. Pritchard. I asked him about the alleged threat to Mr. Mooney, Mr. Pritchard confirmed that he said what had been reported, but he was just joking. I told Mr. Pritchard that I failed to see the humor in what he had done.â€
(27) Why Do Native American Ceremonies Speak to Us? “These four plagues were:
1. Orders of extermination, including bounties paid for “Indian†scalps and/or severed heads by governmental and religious officials which continued until the Wounded Knee Massacre, December 29, 1890;
2. Forced relocation to reservations that were usually not the natives’ traditional tribal lands and were usually the most desolate or worthless lands the government could find. (When some of these lands were found to contain gold, oil or other treasure, the natives were forced to move again to less valuable land, in direct violation of treaties signed by the government) 1831 â€" 1887;
3. A cultural genocide policy of taking American Native Children (Indian Appropriation Act of May, 1882) from their lands and families; They were then forced into boarding schools or communities where their traditions, culture and beliefs were belittled and disallowed to the point of severe punishment when they were caught doing anything not of the “white†culture; and
4. The denial of First Amendment rights for indigenous spiritual beliefs.†http://southdakota.tribe.net/template/p ... t=12341254 (http://southdakota.tribe.net/template/pub%2Coc%2CDetail.vm?topicid=6e2ef93a-caaf-4123-a8cf-8ef02fbae866&plugin=blog&inst=12341254)
Wandan
James
Seminole Medicine Man
http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net (http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net)
Please help us brothers and sister of humanity. I humbly ask for any amount of help people may be able to give us in this struggle.
http://www.dmt-nexus.com/forum/default. ... 424狰 (http://www.dmt-nexus.com/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&m=29424狰)
Teo,
You seem to be missing the point here in your above post and argument.
Your main post in this thread revolves around:
QuoteWandan
James
Seminole Medicine Man
This man’s Indian ancestry is not a legitimate reason for the use of peyote as a bonafide religion of the Seminole Indians of Florida and the Southeast United States and while he may have been made a member of the Native America Church in Utah, in regards to his claim of use, such use by those not belonging to a tribe who has used peyote for centuries (the Huichol], is not valid and is not recognize as such by the Federal Government and their existing laws because Seminole Indians do not and have never used peyote ritualistically or ceremoniously.
Mr.
Wandan
James
Seminole Medicine Man,
has no constitutional right to do so, unless he were to denounce his tribe and join with a tribe which has legal access to the religious use of peyote. And someone, as Wandan James, who has been removed from his tribe is usually not accepted into another tribe.
About this particular case, which according to Wandan’s peyote supplier, began in 1997 and continues in the article below which was written in 2005 in the Washington Post;
And I Have made bold the references to his alleged complaint in the Washington Post article.
Just because I can say my use of magic mushrooms are a religious use, that does not mean I have a legal right to use and distribute them.
Quotewashingtonpost.com
A Rare and Unusual Harvest
Man Collects Peyote Buttons From Cactus for American Indian Rites
By Sylvia Moreno
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 18, 2005; A03
MIRANDO CITY, Tex. -- In the heart of Rio Grande brush country, Salvador Johnson works a patch of land just east of the Mexican border that is sacred to Native Americans.
Spade in hand, eyes scanning the earth as he pushes through the spiny brush, Johnson searches the ground carefully. "This is good terrain for peyote," he says. "There's a low hill -- the rain starts on top and goes down to water this -- and there's a lot of brown ground."
He stops, points the tip of his shovel at a three-inch spot of green that barely crests the soil under a clump of blackbrush and announces: " This is what you look for. You look for something that is not ordinary on the terrain. I saw that green."
One of the last remaining peyoteros , Johnson, 58, has been harvesting the small, round plant in and around this tiny community for 47 years -- long before the hallucinogenic Lophophora williamsii cactus was classified as a narcotic and outlawed by federal and state governments. Then as now, it is for use by Native Americans as the main sacrament in their religious ceremonies.
Johnson is part of a nearly extinct trade of licensed peyote harvesters and distributors, at a time when the supply of the cactus and access to it is dwindling. The plant grows wild only in portions of four South Texas counties and in the northern Mexico desert just across the Rio Grande.
But some South Texas ranch owners have stopped leasing land to peyoteros and now offer their property to deer hunters or oil and gas companies for considerably higher profits. Others have plowed under peyote, and still others have never opened their land.
On the ranch land that is worked by peyoteros , conservationists are concerned about the over harvesting of immature plants as the Native American population and demand for the cactus grow.
"Will there be peyote for my children and my children's children?" asked Adam Nez, 35, a Navajo Indian who had just driven 26 hours with his father-in-law from their reservation in Page, Ariz., to stock up on peyote at Johnson's home.
That question and possible solutions to the problem -- trying to legalize the importation of peyote from Mexico, where most of the plants grow, and creating legal cultivation centers in the United States -- are being studied by members of the Native American Church, Indian rights advocates and conservationists.
There are an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 members of the church in the United States. Although 90 percent of the peyote in North America grows in Mexico, the number of ceremonial users there -- mostly Huichol Indians -- is a small fraction of the number in the United States and Canada.
"In effect, you have a whole continent grazing on little pieces of South Texas," said Martin Terry, a botany professor at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Tex., who specializes in the study of peyote.
The church was incorporated in 1918 in Oklahoma to protect the religious use of peyote by indigenous Americans. Its charter was eventually expanded to other states, and in 1965, a federal regulation was approved to protect the ceremonial use of peyote by Indians. In 1978, Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.
But subsequent conflicts between federal policy and state drug laws precipitated the passage of a federal law in 1994 to guarantee the legal use, possession and transportation of peyote "by an Indian for bona fide traditional ceremonial purposes in connection with the practice of a traditional Indian religion." The law extends protection against prosecution for the possession and use of peyote only to members of federally recognized tribes.
"Over the last 40 years, there have been lots of equal protection defenses to criminal prosecution thrown up, with people saying, 'My use of this controlled substance is religiously derived,' " said Steve Moore, a senior staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund.
One recent case in Utah is being watched closely by Moore's office and other legal advocates. Last year, the Utah Supreme Court threw out state charges against James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney, a self-described medicine man accused of giving peyote to non-American Indian visitors to the church he and his wife, Linda, founded in 1997. Mooney claims to be a member of a Florida tribe of Seminole Indians.
But federal prosecutors are pursuing the Mooney’s with charges of illegally distributing peyote and attempted possession of peyote with the intent to distribute. Prosecutors contend that the tribe of Seminole Indians in which Mooney claims membership is not federally recognized and does not use peyote in religious ceremonies. Prosecutors also contend that the tribe revoked Mooney's membership.
"There's not a year that goes by that we don't see a handful of these cases come up," Moore said. "These are sham defenses in most cases, but it always puts the Native American Church and its legitimate use of peyote in the crossfire."
Though not considered addictive, peyote is included in the Drug Enforcement Administration's list of Schedule I controlled substances along with heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana and methaqualone. Although the DEA acknowledges the importance of the hallucinogenic cactus to the religious rites of Native American peyote users, the agency says the drug has a high potential for abuse and has no accepted medicinal purpose in the United States.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has licensed peyote distributors since the mid-1970s, when the number in the state peaked at 27. It dwindled to nine in the 1990s and to four last year. State records show that only three distributors have harvested and sold peyote buttons so far this year. For the past five years, an average of almost 1.9 million peyote buttons have been sold annually, according to state records.
Besides presenting a certificate that shows a peyote buyer to be a member in good standing of the Native American Church, Texas law also requires a purchaser to show documentation that he is at least one-quarter American Indian. Every buyer who appears at Johnson's house signs a visitor's log and presents the required paperwork.
Nez and his father-in-law, Russell Martin, also brought with them ceremonial items -- a Navajo altar cloth, a dried peyote button, an eagle bone whistle and mountain tobacco wrapped in a corn husk for smoking -- that they use in a short prayer ceremony at the small peyote garden outside Johnson's home. Next to the garden is an open-air shed, surrounded by a locked double fence, as required by law, where thousands of cut plants dry atop wooden tables.
"When you come here, you come to someplace that's sacred," Nez said about the prayer ceremony. "Peyote doesn't grow just everywhere."
Martin, 57, a road man or minister in the Native American Church, purchased 4,000 freshly cut peyote buttons -- azee , he calls it, the Navajo word for medicine. He said his family will use the peyote -- dried, boiled into a tea or cooked into a porridge -- over the next year, starting with a ceremony to pray for his grandchildren as they start school on the reservation.
The ceremonies, which usually last all night, according to Martin and Nez, involve hallucinations which, in combination with their religious beliefs, give them insight into problems they pray over or help heal illnesses or addictions.
Francis Elsitty, 57, a Navajo from Greasewood, Ariz., said he overcame alcoholism in the mid-1970s the first time he used peyote in a religious ceremony on his reservation. "It showed me the path," said Elsitty, who drove to Johnson's home to buy 1,000 peyote buttons for $250 that he said his family will use in a special ceremony to offer thanks for the safe return of his 19-year-old son from a year-long tour of duty in Iraq.
"I saw the burned-out shell of a bar I used to hang out at, and it [the peyote] told me if you want to drink, that's where you belong," he said. "I quit the partying. It's been over 30 years. That's the kind of power it's got. It's a holy medicine."
© 2005 The Washington Post Company.
Teo,
I am not trying to be mean, but you are the one who purchased a certificate making you a member of a church which is not recognized by the Federal Government or by laws of out country. And you did so because there is no way you could prove yourself to the NAC that you are ¼ Indian and that you come from a tribe which uses peyote in religious ceremonies.
You again are asking us to support someone whose claim to his religious right to use peyote is pretty shaken and is not a legal warranted case..
Wandan James apparently has had his membership revoked by his tribe because of his behavior was not acceptable to his native group to which he use to belong to, and he is accused of illicitly selling peyote to non-members and has violated both State and Federal Laws. And as the article states, he is but one of many who do not belong to a tribe which has traditionally used peyote for centuries, such as those of the Huichol Indian Tribes, the primary users of legal peyote in Mexico, although Use in the United States is much larger with between 200,000 to 400,000 members of the NAC.And now an article from 2007 about peyote sellers in Texas:
These are not the sellers noted in the above article. So that leaves 2-3 dealers not noted and no more are allowed except these 4-5 sellers licensed by the Federal Government/
QuoteTroubled times for Texas hallucinogen harvesters
December 16, 2007 - Reuters
RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas (Reuters) - Mauro Morales has chickens in his yard, deer antlers hanging from the fence and a shed full of peyote behind his house.
A slight, balding man in his 60s, Morales is one of just three "peyoteros" in the country licensed by the government to sell the small green cactus that contains the hallucinogen mescaline.
His profession is an old one that used to be more common along the Rio Grande, the only place where peyote grows in the United States. Now it is threatened by the forces of modernity.
His customers are the 250,000 to 400,000 members of the Native American Church, the only people in the United States for whom peyote is legal.
The government warily allows them to buy it because it has been part of indigenous religious ceremonies for centuries.
The church members think the visions that peyote produces provide enlightenment and that the cactus has curative powers. They reverently call it "the medicine."
Morales has never tried peyote because it would be illegal for him to do so. He does not want to risk losing his peyote license, for which the main requirement is that he be law-abiding.
"You have to make sure you don't have a problem with the law, you know?" he said in a recent interview.
In the 1970s, Texas licensed as many as 27 peyote dealers. There were supposedly many more before peyote was outlawed in 1967. One of Morales' fellow peyoteros also lives in Rio Grande City, the other 70 miles north in Mirando City.
The profession seems barely legal in a nation perennially at war with drugs, but in the peyote region there is nothing clandestine about it.
Morales has a big sign out in front of his modest home that proclaims "Mauro Morales -- Peyote Dealer, Buy or Sell Peyote."
It includes his phone number should any prospective customers pass by.
"It's a business," he said with a shrug of the shoulders in a recent interview. "It's the only income I got."
It is not a bad business, either. State figures for 2006 show the peyoteros sold a combined 1.6 million peyote "buttons" -- the term for the harvested cactus -- for a total of $463,000.
But records also show volume has declined steadily from mid-1990s peaks of around 2.3 million buttons.
"NOT LIKE IT USED TO BE"
Several factors have contributed to the peyoteros' dwindling number, but the main one is the growing scarcity of peyote.
"There's still some peyote out there, but not like there used to be. It's getting kind of scary now," said Morales above the crowing of a rooster from the roof of his shed.
He has had his peyotero license for 16 years, and before that worked as a picker, walking the arid brush country of southern Texas with a machete in hand and lopping off the top of the cactus when he found it.
It used to be easy -- peyote was plentiful and landowners were happy to let peyoteros harvest the cactus for a small fee.
But urban development and widespread "root plowing," which scrapes natural vegetation off the land to replace it with grass for cattle grazing, destroyed many of the peyote fields that once sprawled along the U.S.-Mexico border.
And more and more peyote land is off-limits because it is being bought by rich Texans who turn it into hunting preserves, said Martin Terry, a biology professor at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas.
They have no need for the few hundred dollars the peyoteros offer to pick over their land and often view them suspiciously, said Terry, who has helped start the Cactus Conservation Institute to protect peyote.
He estimates that peyote's natural range in Texas covers about 800 square miles, but much less is open to the peyoteros.
The result, said Terry, is that the slow-growing cactus is over harvested and the quality and quantity of peyote available for sale is declining.
"We've got a serious case of overgrazing by human herbivores, to put it in biological terms," he said.
Peyote also grows across northern Mexico, which has prompted suggestions that native Americans be allowed to get it there as Texas peyote becomes scarcer.
But Terry believes the wisest thing would be for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to allow what it currently does not: greenhouse cultivation of peyote.
That would save the cactus, but likely make the peyoteros extinct.
Morales said his pickers cut the peyote in a way that allows the plant to grow back. He grabs a machete and slides the blade horizontally along the ground to show the technique.
"It comes back, but it grows slow," he said. "It's hard to get enough medicine."
Btw, here are two images of legal peyote at a farm where they are legally sold.
[attachment=1:1pcphdd3]peyoteseller2.jpg[/attachment:1pcphdd3]
[attachment=0:1pcphdd3]peyoteseller1.jpg[/attachment:1pcphdd3]
Boomer2
I agree with you about legalizing it, but this case is weak and the plaintiff has a terrible rep in Utah. I posted a link to your post on a Utah site, and many people criticized this plaintiff and praised the prosecutors, even tho they sympathized with the legal use of peyote for all.