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STURGIS --
Northern Cheyenne tribal members will use a temporary roadside
information booth to offer pamphlets and background information about
the tribe's work to keep Bear Butte a sacred cultural site.
Beginning today,
Rufus Spear, Raymond Limpie, members of the Montana tribe and other
volunteers will disperse pamphlets to motorcyclists, tourists and
Meade County residents.
The booth is off
U.S. Highway 79, four miles north from its junction with S.D. Highway
34 near the Lone Star Campground sign.
Northern Cheyenne
executive administrator William Walks Along and Spear spoke at a
Monday afternoon news conference saying they want more information to
get out into the community.
"We're going
to talk in depth about some of the ideas and initiatives going on
with the Northern Cheyenne on how best to deal with these
issues," Spear said.
Walks Along said
the Montana tribe had acquired 700 acres around the base of the butte.
"It's one
thing to declare it a sacred site, it's another to acquire the
land," he said.
Once the land goes
back to the tribe, it won't be developed, he said.
Walks Along said
they are trying to preserve the spiritual integrity of Bear Butte,
one of the most sacred sites to the Cheyenne Tribe. "Why is that
being discounted_" he asked.
At that place
called "Noavose" by the Cheyenne, the tribal people
received their covenant, chief system, chief's bundle, philosophies
and value system that have sustained them for centuries, he said.
Spear said that
some commercial developers pursuing their businesses' bottom lines
want the tribe to essentially change who they are - all for
materialistic wealth.
"When we pray
and address the creator, we thank him for what we have, for what
makes us who we are and provides for us," Spear said.
"It's the
very thing that comes out for us at these sacred sites."
Visiting fellow
tribal members were fasting and praying on Bear Butte, Spear said.
One of the tribal members had asked about a light show in the sky,
which had been part of entertainment at a nearby concert venue.
Spear said that
while the man had been praying, seeing those lights had made him sick.
Many people who
don't know the Cheyenne people don't realize the kind of impact that
development and all these disruptive, disrespectful and unethical
behaviors have on people who go there to worship, make offerings and
to pray, Spear said.
"It's very
distracting and disrespectful," he said.
The Northern
Cheyenne's pamphlet includes tribal history, the establishment of
Bear Butte State Park and ways to help preserve the park's spiritual sanctity.
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