A hurdle tO TeDatriation cleared
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■ Ponca Tribe chairman
had expressed discontent
with the timetable.
By Kimberly Sweet
Staff writer
American Indian tribes are anx
ious to get remains back from the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln -
several months after signing an
agreement in which the university
agreed to repatriate all remains.
But after an 18-month wait for
the federal government’s answer on
the fate of hundreds of remains,
UNL Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act
Coordinator Priscilla Grew said she
hopes the process will speed up.
“The ball is in our court now,
and we have, to move forward very
carefully,” Grew said.
Grew said the university finally
received a response fropiTederal
officials on March 27 op a\draft
sent by the university in September
1998. i
The draft was sent after 17
tribes met and signed an agreement
in which the university promised to
return remains.
Grew said the university will
now work to write up the tribes’
claims, which will have to be pub
lished in the federal register before
they are eligible for repatriation.
The university is responsible
for defending a challenge to the
claims. Consequently, the universi
ty has to be precise in their reports,
Grew said.
Grew said she expected the next
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step to go much more quickly.
“This was our big stumbling
block,” she said.
Leaders from the signatory
tribes had planned to meet in
Lincoln this week to demand a
timeline in which the university
would return the hundreds of
remains for reburial.
But leaders have pushed their
meeting back to May because of
lack of communication and diffi
culties that arose in planning the
meeting, said Judi Morgan, execu
tive director of the Nebraska
Commission on Indian Affairs.
Ponca Tribe Chairman Fred
LeRoy wrote a letter to NU
President Dennis Smith last week,
demanding to know, when the 643
remains identified as culturally
unaffiliated would be repatriated.
He also requested that the universi
ty fund the travel and meeting
expenses for the tribal leaders’
meeting.
In a letter back to him last week,
Smith denied requests for funding,
saying that it isn’t appropriate for
the university to fund the meeting
because it isn’t convening it.
He said the university wanted to
return the remains as quickly as
possible but is being held up by the
process of repatriation.
“I can assure you that the uni
versity has no interest whatsoever
in prolonging these proceedings,
and we share your desire to com
plete repatriation of the NAGPRA
remains at the earliest possible
date,” Smith wrote.
The Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act
requires institutions to report their
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- remains inventory to the National
Park Service and turn them over to
the affiliated tribes upon request.
The remains under question
recently are those that the universi
ty has identified as culturally unaf
filiated. Nebraska is the first insti
tution to submit a claim to the
National Park Service asking that
the culturally unaffiliated remains
be eligible for repatriation.
In his letter, Smith said there is
controversy over whether the uni
versity should return the remains
and said Grew thinks this could be
the cause in the delay of the
National Park Service’s giving the
go-ahead for repatriation.
“It is Dr. Grew’s impression that
the potential controversy surround
ing our precedent-setting notices
may have contributed to the delays
in the (National Park Service) staff
review,” Smith wrote.
Morgan said she didn’t want to
comment on Smith’s letter.
In his letter, Smith also said
Grew had agreed to extend the
deadline for comments on the
memorial planned on East Campus
to commemorate the spot where
American Indian bones were incin
erated in the 1960s.
Morgan said the tribal leaders
planned to discuss it at the next
meeting.
She said she wasn’t sure what
would come out of a potential May
meeting but wanted at least one
outcome:
“My hope is the university will
get out of the Indian remains busi
ness and respect our remains as
much as they would any other peo
ple’s.”
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survive Legislature;
H n ^ i • « ^ i ' &
■ senators tnea 10 save
seven bills rejected by
Gov. Mike Johanns.
ByJillZeman
Staff writer
Tuesday was a good day to be Gov.
Mike Johanns, as all but one of his
vetoes were sustained despite efforts
of state senators.
The governor issued 13 vetoes,
and senators motioned to override
seven. The only bill to survive was
LB480, which will create a Women’s
Health Initiative within the Health and
Human Services Department.
Money was the underlying issue in
most of the vetoes, and senators in
support of overriding Johanns’ deci
sions had a difficult time convincing
their peers the state could afford the
new legislation.
Lawmakers couldn’t muster
enough votes to override Johanns’
veto on LB 1107, which would have
placed a cap on the amount of proper
ty taxes used to support schools in
Nebraska.
The bill proposed to limit the prop
erty tax aid at 47 percent, and many
senators in support of the override said
they thought that amount was still too
high.
Sen. Ardyce Bohlke of Hastings
said she believed education is the
responsibility of the state, but she
argued Nebraska’s property tax sup
port is high in comparison to sur
rounding states.
Bohlke cited Kansas, where prop
erty tax aid is 30 percent.
“It’s not like we’re trying to do
something that no one else has recog
nized is a good policy,” she said.
The motion failed with a vote of
23-23. Thirty votes are needed to over
ride a gubernatorial veto.
Senators also failed to override a
veto on LB652, introduced by Sen.
Nancy Thompson of Papillion.
Only 24 senators voted to override
the bill, which would have changed the
•• If the state
can’t afford these
costs, then how
in the world can
the counties
afford them?”
Carol Hudkins
Malcolm senator.
state’s juvenile justice system by shift
ing responsibility from juvenile court
judges to the state’s Office of Juvenile
Services.
Again, the cost of the switch was a
determining factor, said Sen. Doug
Kristensen of Minden.
Sen. Carol Hudkins of Malcolm 1
disagreed, saying the bill was needed
to improve the state’s rehabilitation
process.
“If the state can’t afford these
costs, then how in the world can the
counties afford them?” she said.
An override of Johanns’ veto on
LB922 also failed with a vote of 24
20.
The bill would have added a dis
trict court judge in Dawson County
and a juvenile court judge in Douglas
County.
“Just because the governor didn’t
put this in his budget, it doesn’t mean
it’s not needed,” said Sen. Deb Suttle
of Omaha.
Another failed override came with
LB717, which would have given
$ 150,000 over three years to local 3
emergency planning committees.
About $2,000 would have been ?
given to each committee, said Sen.
Don Preister of Omaha, who motioned
for the override.
“I hope we never have to hear
those words, ‘Why weren’t we pre
pared?”’ he said.
The motion fell five votes short, as *
senators voted 25-17 on the issue.
£ ;
Women’s health bill ,!
> I
spared from Johanns’ ax 1
■ Senators’ override will
add women’s health office
in state health deparment.
By Jill Zeman
Staff writer
You could say Omaha Sen. Pam
Brown saved the day for women
Tuesday.
Legislators voted to override
Gov. Mike Johanns’ veto on LB480,
which will create the Women’s
Health Initiative within the state’s
Department of Health and Human
Services.
Thirty votes are required to
override a gubernatorial veto.
Brown, who was outside the legisla
tive chambers when the vote began,
glanced at the electronic voting
board when she came in. It showed"
' 29-5. . . ; • - ■■ , ...
Brown quickly went to her seat
and placed her vote. As the number
of votes changed to 30, Sen. DLAnna
Schimek of Lincoln rejoiced. She
had introduced the bill.
Two more senators casrt their
votes for the override. It was a hard
fought victory, as the bill was the
only override made by the senators
Tuesday. - \ .
- The bill^introduced Jan. 14,
199$ tfas passed by the Legislature
April 4 and was vetoed April 10.
The bill’s purpose is to improve
^ I see no real
purpose in the
billr
Gene Tyson
Norfolk senator
the health of the women of Nebraska ;
by instituting a system of education, ;
policy implementation and services, *
Schimek said. \ I
Schimek emphasized fhe bill was ?.
not an attempt to undo the organiza
tion of the Health and Human '
Services Department and noted there
are already separate offices for rural
health care, the blind and visually
impaired and minorities. . |
Sen. Gene Tyson of Norfolk §
opposed the bill, and said he felt it- -y
would create another level of unnec- l
essary bureaucracy. >
“I see no real purpose in the bill,” •
he said.
^ Sen. Roger ^ehrbejp, qf *
Plattsmouth, chairman of the
Appropriations Committee, said he I
could not support the bill, but *
because the override was successful, 1
he'felt he needetl to introduce an
override of LB480A, which Johanns ]
vetoed with LB480.
The appropriations bill would
have given more than $280,000 to
fund the initiative, but it failed by a
vote of 21-23.
