SCAT ANNUAL MEETING TO BE IN APRIL
Shawnee County Allied Tribes will have its 2008 Annual Meeting on Monday evening, April 14, beginning at 6:30
p.m. The location will be at its regular meeting place, the Highland Park United Methodist Church, on the
corner of 29th & Michigan. Persons should park on the east side of the building and enter into a door there.
The gathering will begin with a carry-in meal at 6:30 p.m. (drinks will be provided). Following the meal we
will have the annual business meeting that will include a treasurer’s report, a look at the year ahead, and
the election of officers for the board.
The meeting is open to the public and all interested persons are welcome.
SCAT REMEMBERS DEWEY JESSEPE WITH AFFECTION AND ADMIRATION
Our good friend and companion, Dewey Jessepe, passed away on February 18, 2008. He leaves behind his wife,
Peggy, and their 4 children, and a host of relatives and friends who have known him through the years. Many
knew Dewey through his involvement in area pow-wows and activities on the Kickapoo Reservation. He was a
regular participant in our annual Lake Shawnee SCAT Pow-wow over the Labor Day week-end. Dewey was a kind
and gentle man who was concerned about the welfare of others.
He was a charter member in the newly re-organized United Methodist Church – Kahbeah Fellowship that was
meeting on the Kickapoo Reservation. He was a trustee of the church and had served on the Pastor-Parish
Committee, We are all fortunate to have known Dewey through the years and we will certainly miss him in the
years ahead.
JIM MCKINNEY SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Applications are now being accepted for the Rev. Jim McKinney Scholarship Fund. These funds are available to
students who need financial assistance for their education.
The application form is available on our SCAT web site (shawneecountyalliedtribes.org). There is a deadline
date of March 25 for submission of the applications.
AWI AKTA NEWS
The Awi Akta District of the Northern Cherokee of the Old Louisiana Territory has their regular meetings on
the second Sunday afternoon of each month. The meeting alternates between Holton and Topeka for its location
and begins with a carry-in meal at 1:00 p.m.
Following the meal there is a general meeting and a culture session that is centered around some aspect of
Cherokee culture.
Upcoming meetings will be as follows:
• April 13 -- Crestview United Methodist Church in Topeka (2245 S.W. Eveningside Dr.)
• May 11 – First United Methodist Church in Holton (1401 W. 4th).
These meetings are open to any interested persons.
MOVIE FILMED USING KICKAPOO MEMBERS
Despite limited acting experience, Tammy Wahwassuck and about 20 members of the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas have
small roles in the upcoming movie, “The Only Good Indian.” The movie was filmed in locations throughout
Kansas and uses the Kickapoo language.
Wahwassuck said her acting experience before this movie didn’t extend much beyond childhood performances in
the living room with her cousins. But now she’s part of the film, starring American Indian actor, Wes Studi.
Producers got permission from the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas to use the Kickapoo language in the film.
The movie is set in Kansas during the early 1900s and is about a young American Indian boy who flees from a
school that assimilates Indians into the “white” world. Studi, who has appeared in “Dances With Wolves” and
“The Last of the Mohicans,” portrays an American Indian bounty hunter who intends to take the boy back to the
school.
Steve Cadue, Kickapoo Tribal Chairman, said it was important that the film portray American Indians
accurately and without prejudice. He became acquainted with the writers and the producers before the
Kickapoo Tribal government gave formal approval for the use of the language.
(Reprinted from Native American Times, January 11, 2008)
STANDING BEAR MEETS ON WEDNESDAYS
The Standing Bear Inter-tribal Brotherhood meets on Wednesday evenings at the Highland Park United Methodist
Church (29th & Michigan) in Topeka from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The meetings begin with business items and
calendaring, and then moves on to drumming and singing. The meetings are open to interested persons.
SULLIVAN CHAPEL NEWS
The Sullivan Chapel Indian United Methodist Church (located at 1937 N.W. Madison) would like to thank all of
those persons who came out to purchase Indian tacos on February 22. The taco sale was to raise money for
their utility bills and it was a success.
Future events include the following:
• March 29 - There will be a “clothing bank” give away at the church. Persons may come and get free
clothing from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• April 4 - The church will have its monthly taco sale from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• April 6 - The church will celebrate Native American Ministries Sunday at 11:00 a.m. A “Native Food”
meal will follow at 12:00 noon.
“THE LONGEST WALK 2” HAS BEGUN
On February 11, Longest Walk participants began a five month journey across America walking over 4,400 miles
to Washington, D.C. arriving on July 11. The Longest Walk 2 is being led by American Indian Movement
co-founder Dennis J. Banks who is commemorating The Longest Walk of 1978 which successfully brought attention
to eleven legislative bills introduced in the 95th U.S. Congress that would have abrogated Native Treaties
protecting remaining Native sovereignty. All eleven bills were defeated in Congress.
Similar to 1978, The Longest Walk 2008 is a peaceful, spiritual effort to engage with the public about the
disharmony of our environment by leading an effort to clean up our communities. This monumental task will
engage Walkers in a global effort at a grassroots level to promote harmony with our delicate environment.
Longest Walk participants will carry specially marked trash bags to separate the collected refuse into trash
bins and recycling bins.
(reprinted from Native American Times, January 25, 2008)
This Longest Walk has two routes that it will be following, a northern one and a southern one. The southern
one will bring it through Lawrence, Kansas, where it will demonstrate a common cause with Haskell Indian
Nations University in its fight to preserve its wetlands.
SCAT COOKBOOKS STILL AVAILABLE
Shawnee County Allied Tribes still has copies of the cookbooks that it had printed a couple of years ago.
They include recipes that were contributed by SCAT members and their families. These may be purchased at
$10.00 apiece. Interested persons should contact Hildred Vilander.
NETWORK FORMED TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE
Representatives from tribal colleges, government agencies and non-government organizations met at Haskell
Indian Nations University Feb. 4-5, to form a network that will work together to address climate change. By
uniting with various agencies, the group believes that they can exchange information more easily and join
traditional Indian methods and newer scientific approaches together to become a part of the worldwide effort
to stop and possibly reverse climate changes that are currently taking place across the globe.
Dr. Dan Wildcat, professor of American Indian studies at Haskell, believes it is time for First Americans to
be at the forefront of working to stop the dramatic climate changes that are taking place now. “At this
point, we have mainly tribal college representatives here,” Wildcat said. “We are trying the ideas that are
here today to use the tribal college infrastructure for the basis of building …. to really make sure that
Native peoples are going to be at the table as we discuss climate change and it’s impacts.”
Wildcat noted that communications between various agencies themselves have been primarily within the
particular agency itself. What the American Indian and Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group desires to
do is to get not only agencies talking among themselves, but to bring tribal colleges into the mix. By doing
that, the group believes that the colleges will be crucial to getting information about the effects of
climate change to Indian people.
“The idea is that climate change is going to affect every human being on the planet. We believe that it
will disproportionately and most immediately affect Native people because of where we live and how we live.
Not only that, but we believe that in our tribal traditions we have very useful knowledge about how we might
address some of the issues we are facing,” Wildcat stated.
(reprinted from Indian Country Today, February 20, 2008)
YOU CAN HELP WITH THE NEWSLETTER
We would like to invite our readers to help us with the newsletter that comes out every other
month. If you happen to read or hear or learn of something that you think would be of interest to
those who receive this newsletter, please let us know by e-mail (revdona@yahoo.com) or by phone or
by regular mail. There are many things happening in this area (or beyond) that are of interest to
Indian peoples, and we would like to be able to share that information with each other. So, keep
in touch with us and we will keep providing a newsletter that people enjoy reading.
Those who are currently working on the newsletter are:
• Hildred Vilander
• Agnes McKinney
• Don Anderson (revdona@yahoo.com)
We will be glad to hear from you.
SHAWNEE COUNTY ALLIED TRIBES
P.O. Box 750284
Topeka, Kansas 66675-0284
President: Hildred Vilander
Secretary: Don Anderson
Treasurer: Mike Ballard
Editors: Hildred Vilander
Don Anderson