Ponca Tribe requests
new bone inventory
u
It's not meant to
offend or hurt ^
anyone. We feel that
this is necessary.” ■
Randy Thomas
Southern Ponca Tribe representative
inventory human remains and associ
ated funerary objects to the National
Park Service by November 1995.
Thomas sent papers to Vice
Chancellor for Research Priscilla
Grew on Wednesday requesting that a
new inventory be done. Grew said the
university has not completed a
response to the request
Thomas faxed copies of the request
to tribes Thursday and had not heard a
response from them. But, Thomas said,
the other tribes involved in the repatri
ation expected him to make the
request.
He said even though the Southern
Ponca’s request may slow the repatria
tion, it needed to be done.
“I think what’s going to happen
here is we’re going to end up putting
everything on hold,” Thomas said. “We
want our ancestors returned to the
proper tribes. If it means doing this, so
be it
“It’s not meant to offend or hurt
anyone. We feel that this is necessary.”
Local, long distance
carriers split on 414
PHONE from page 1__
Association and the Nebraska Farm
Bureau.
Phil Young, director of the cam
paign against the initiative, said his
organization’s efforts have focused
on spreading the group’s message:
Initiative 414 would mean higher
phone bills for Nebraskans.
“They’re kind of saying ‘wink,
wink; nod, nod. Trust us, we’ll lower
your phone bills,’ ” he said.
But Young said his group has
been working uphill against a well
funded initiative campaign that start
ed five weeks before his group was
formed.
Young said it would not be possi
ble for his group to counter advertis
ing in favor of Initiative 414 with
only its own advertisements because
of his shortage in funding compared
with AT&T’s support.
TT_* J 1 •
amu ms giuup win continue 10
rally Nebraskans by holding public
forums and sending out pamphlets,
as well as by creating radio and tele
vision spots.
Telephone access fees, which
would be regulated by the amend
ment, are a large source of income
for local telephone companies.
Bailey, Lauerman and
Associates, a Lincoln law firm, is
coordinating the efforts of
! Nebraskans to Protect our Phone
l Service.
Local companies such as Aliant
Communications, charge fees to
long-distance providers such as
AT&T to use local telephone lines
and telecommunications networks.
The cost to the long distance
companies is in turn paid for by
callers when they pay their long-dis
tance bills.
Pam Hunzuker, executive vice
president of Bailey and Lauerman,
said small telephone companies gen
erate a larger percentage of their rev
enue from higher access fees
because a smaller number of users
are covering costs of service.
Hunzuker said the group’s oppo
sition stems from three points:
■ There is no guarantee that the
lower cost from reduced access fees
would be fairly passed on to tele
phone users. Long-distance
providers would be able to continue
charging the same rates, and keep the
savings for themselves.
■ Local companies would have
to raise other fees to make up for the
loss in revenue.
■ The initiative process is being
used improperly by an out-of-state
entity to change Nebraska statute.
Todd Baustert, operations direc
tor for Yes for Lower Phone Bills,
said rural telephone companies
would be exempt from having to
charge lower access rates because of
how the initiative would work with
current state law.
He also said the savings to long
distance providers would be required
by the proposed statute to pass sav
ings on to their customers.
nausien saia me large numoer oi
signatures on the initiative petition -
more than 124,000 names were sub
mitted and 84,000 verified by the
secretary of state’s office - combined
with the support of several commu
nity organizations, shows the initia
tive really is by Nebraskans for
Nebraskans.
He said AT&T has been very
generous to fund a campaign that
other groups do not have the
resources to finance.
Young said the Public Service
Commission, which is responsible
for regulating telecommunications in
Nebraska, already has proposed a
plan to reduce access rates while
making sure all of Nebraska’s tele
phone users can take advantage of
the savings.
The commission voted this week
to oppose Initiative 414 on the
grounds that it would not sufficiently
manage the effects of cutting access
rates in the state.
Young and Baustert both said
Nebraska voters would make the
right decision about how to manage
telephone companies in the state in
the face of federal deregulation.
“The question is how to make
sure Nebraska maintains the best ser
vice in the nation,” Young said.
By Lindsay Young
Senior staff writer
The Southern Ponca Tribe of
Oklahoma is demanding that UNL
reconstruct its entire inventory of
American Indian remains.
The tribe has the right to make the
request under the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act of 1990.
The university submitted its
Notices of Inventory Completion to
the National Park Service Sept 30, in
accordance with a Sept. 1 agreement
that the university would return all
remains to their respective tribes.
After the inventories are submitted
to the service, they are published in the
federal register for 30 days to allow
tribes to challenge the inventories or
parts of the repatriation process.
Randy Thomas, a representative of
the Southern Ponca tribe, said he had
seen die university’s inventory Sept 28
when he accompanied UNL
researchers to assure they did not harm
or remove remains. ,
He said he saw in a box the skull of
a 60-year-old man and part of a 6
week-old child in the same box. It was
that and other observations that led
him to suspect the inventory was inac
curate.
NAGPRA, signed into law in 1990,
required museums, federal agencies
and institutions, including those that
accept federal funds such as the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to
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