NEWSLETTER FORMAT TO BE CHANGED 

The S.C.A.T. newsletter has been coming to our members and friends six times a year (every
other month) for a number of years.  It has carried news of our activities and of
events that are of interest to Indian peoples in the Topeka area.  We hope that it has been
enlightening and useful to our readers. 

Now we are going to be making some changes to the way that we do the newsletter and how we 
distribute it.  As we reported in our previous issue, S.C.A.T. has established a web site.  
The e-mail address for this site is scat2525@yahoo.com.  After considerable discussion, we 
have decided that with the availability of computers in most households we will begin 
publishing our newsletter on our web site beginning with our next issue.  This change will 
make it easier and cheaper for us to get the newsletter to all of our readers.  It will 
allow us to go to the web site at our own convenience and get the information that we want 
along with all of the other items that will be regularly posted at the site. Our new web 
site address is shawneecountyalliedtribes.org and it is up and running, and it looks good.  

We know that there are some folks who do not have easy access to computers and we do not 
want to exclude them from getting the newsletter.  So we will continue to mail out the 
newsletter to those persons who will notify us and tell us that they want to receive it 
as they have in the past.  If this is your preference, please notify us during this coming 
month (March) and we will put you on a list of persons who will get your newsletter through 
the mail.  It would also be helpful if you would include a verification of your current 
address so that we will be sure that we have it correctly. You may call Hildred Vilander 
at (785) 272-5627 or Don Anderson at (785) 266-8248.  You are also invited to call if you 
have any questions about how this will work.  As always, we invite you to send us news 
items that you think would be of interest in our newsletter.  

S.C.A.T. BOARD MEETINGS 

Shawnee County Allied Tribes is currently holding its regular board meetings on the second 
Monday evening of each month at the Highland Park United Methodist Church (located at the 
corner of 29th & Michigan) in southeast Topeka.  Parking is available on the southeast 
side of the building where there is an entrance with a ramp for persons with special needs.  

The board meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. and generally last for about an hour, and then are 
followed by a general meeting that includes a program.  Both the board meeting and the 
general meeting are open to all interested persons.   

 JIM McKINNEY FUND NOW ACCEPTING DONATIONS 

As we reported in our previous newsletter, the S.C.A.T. board has voted to establish an 
Education Fund in honor of Jim McKinney.  Jim was a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi 
Nation and had served on the S.C.A.T. board for a number of years.  He was a respected and 
admired voice in the native community and someone who was well known for his spiritual presence.

The purpose of the fund will be to collect moneys that can be used to provide financial 
assistance to Native American students who are enrolled in a recognized Kansas educational 
facility.  The guidelines for this fund have now been established and donations to the fund 
are being accepted.  We are therefore inviting all of those persons who knew Jim and worked 
with him through the years to make a contribution to this fund which will be an on-going 
memorial to him.  

Persons wanting to make donations toward the fund and those wanting further information 
should send those to the following address: 
                               Shawnee County Allied Tribes
                               Jim McKinney Education Fund 
                               P.O. Box 750284
                               Topeka, Kansas 66675-0284
Checks should be made out to Shawnee County Allied Tribes with a notation that the moneys 
are to go to the Jim McKinney fund.  

It is our hope that the fund will make an enduring contribution to Native American education 
in the years ahead.  When sufficient moneys have been collected, notification will be made 
concerning the application process.  

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 

Mar. 12  -  The Awi Akta District of the Northern Cherokee will meet at the First United 
                  Methodist Church in Holton.  There will be a carry-in meal at 1:00 p.m. that
                  will be followed by a business meeting and a cultural program. 

Mar. 13  -  The S.C.A.T. board will meet at Highland Park United Methodist Church (29th 
                  & Michigan) at 6:30 p.m.  The  general meeting and program will follow. 


Apr. 9  -  The Awi Akta District of the Northern Cherokee will meet at the Crestview 
                United Methodist Church  (2245 S.W. Eveningside Dr.) in Topeka at 1:00 p.m.
                There will be a carry-in meal with a business meeting and cultural program. 

Apr. 10  -  S.C.A.T. will have its Annual Meeting at the Highland Park United Methodist 
                  Church at 6:30 p.m.  There will be a carry-in meal followed by our annual 
                  business items.  Everyone is invited.  .

WICHITA INDIAN CENTER REGAINS ARTIFACTS 

Artifacts held as security for a city loan have been released to the control of the Mid-America
All-Indian Center’s board, after the full repayment of the $175,000 loan.  “They own all of the 
collection free and clear,” said John D’Angelo, Wichita’s director of the division of arts and 
cultural services.

An anonymous donor’s gift of $100,000 helped the center pay off the note last month.  The City 
Council approved the loan in March 2005.  Center officials said most of the money – about 
$135,000 – went to pay old bills as part of a reorganization that began in late 2004.  The 
city closed the center from December 2004 to April 2005 and has been overseeing changes there 
since it reopened.  “We’re up to date on the stabilization plan,” said Newman Washington, 
chairman of the center’s board of trustees.  

The center includes meeting and performance spaces, in addition to a museum dedicated to 
Plains Indians’ history and culture.  It also offers public Community Nights featuring 
American Indian drumming, singing and dancing.  

Next month, the center plans to hold a blessing ceremony to mark the return of the Keeper 
of the Plains statue to its base where the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers meet.  The 
center is also working on plans for a market specializing in American Indian goods, which 
could open in April, and to develop community education programs.  
                        (reprinted from Native American Times, February 17, 2006)

STANDING BEAR ACTIVITIES 

The Standing Bear Intertribal Brotherhood will be drumming and singing at the following 
places in the next two months: 
•	March 17  -  Brighton Place Retirement Center in Prairie Village
•	April 7  -  Havensville annual heritage celebration

NATIVE AMERICAN COOKING TO BE FEATURED

Connecticut Public Television has teamed up with Native American Public Telecommunications to 
produce a 13-part series titled “Seasoned With Spirit: A Native Cook’s Journey.”  The cook is 
Loretta Oden (Citizen Potawatomi) of Oklahoma, who ran the Blue Corn Restaurant in Santa Fe 
for many years.  

The ethnobotanist and Native food historian has completed five episodes so far, each shot 
entirely on location – including a show on buffalo and related foods filmed on the Cheyenne 
River Sioux Reservation, a segment on wild ricing with Winona LaDuke taped on the White Earth 
Reservation, and a segment on “the original gumbo” of the Houma people of Louisiana.  The
series is slated to begin airing in April on PBS.  
                             (reprinted from Native Peoples, Mar/Apr, 2006)

PERSONS ARE INVITED TO JOINT S.C.A.T. 

Shawnee County Allied Tribes is committed to preserving and respecting the culture, the heritage, 
and the values of Native American peoples.  We seek to be a voice that honors the history and 
the life style of those persons who are part of the various Indian Nations.  We seek to be 
supportive of these nations as they struggle with the issues of sovereignty and tribal rights.  

In so doing, we invite any and all persons who are interested in such activities to become a 
member of S.C.A.T.  Our monthly meetings are held the second Monday evening of each month.  Our 
dues are $10 for individuals and $15 for families.  If you would like to learn more about us, 
or if you would like to become involved with us in our activities, we invite you to contact 
Hildred Vilander, Don Anderson, or Mike Ballard.  

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS 

•	In December,  Aymaran Indian, Evo Morales, was elected president of Bolivia, making him
    the first Indian to hold this position in South America’s most heavily Native populated nation.  
•	Paulette Aguilar (Santo Domingo Pueblo) has been appointed the first curator of the Indigenous
    Nations Library Program at the University of New Mexico.  



SHAWNEE COUNTY ALLIED TRIBES
P.O. Box 75028
Topeka, Kansas  66675-0284

President: Hildred Vilander
Secretary: Don Anderson
Treasurer: Mike Ballard

Editors: Hildred Vilander
         Don Anderson