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New tribal president questions land purchase
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The newly elected president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe is questioning why the tribes are trying to buy a piece of land the Black Hills they considered sacred.
• Bryan Brewer says it's great the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation may have a chance to get back the land, but he wonders why the tribes should have to pay for it.
• Says Brewer: "That's our land."
• An 1868 treaty set aside the Black Hills and other land for the Sioux, but Congress passed a law in 1877 seizing the land once gold was discovered. The tribes have refused to accept money from the federal government for the land.
• The tribes are trying to raise $9 million by Friday to purchase the land they call Pe' Sla (pay schlaw).
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Longshore workers say they don't want to strike
JEFF BARNARD,Associated Press
• Longshore workers said Monday they don't want to strike at grain terminals in the Northwest and they want to continue contract talks with terminal owners beyond a Wednesday deadline.
• International Longshore and Warehouse Union spokeswoman Jennifer Sargent said the union has proposed additional dates for talks to the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association, which represents the owners of six grain terminals along the Columbia River and in Puget Sound that ship wheat, corn and soybeans to Asia.
• There was no immediate response from the terminal owners.
• The contract ran out in September. Terminal owners made what they called a last best offer Nov. 16 and set a Wednesday deadline, at which point they reserved the right to implement it.
• The union says the earliest members could vote on the latest offer would be Dec. 21-22. Union members have not authorized a strike.
• "The union is motivated to keep the grain flowing as we have done nonstop for the past 80 years," Sargent said in a statement. "We believe that additional negotiating would be fruitful and have proposed additional dates to the multinational owners of the grain terminals."
• Association spokesman Pat McCormack said the talks are focused on differences over work rules, not pay or benefits.
• The region's nine grain terminals handle wheat, soybeans and corn from the Northwest and the Dakotas that is headed primarily for Asia. The shipments amount (Continued on page 20)
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