Post 55

Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship,  Brainerd/Pine River MN Sept.30, 2014

Greetings! We have been working on Renaming Columbus Day rather intensely for the past recent weeks. Starting with a contact with Frank Bibeau, the attorney for White Earth Reservation working on pipeline issues, we asked for contacts we might approach to open dialog with the native community. He suggested talking with Annamarie Hill, executive director for the MN Indian Affairs Council. I had a very informative and delightful telephone conversation with her, and on her suggestion, wrote Jay Badheart Bull, of the Native American Community Development Institute, one of the major initiators of the Mpls City Council change from Columbus Day on their official stationery to Indigenous People's Day. Mr. Bull sent information on the strategy that was set up to accomplish this, at the end of which, on the day of the vote, hundreds of supporters turned up to support the change. His organization is planning to use the same approaches in St Paul, and going statewide in 2015! good news for us!!

   This was a circuitous route, but is building a great base for contacts as we go. In addition, we heard from Pilgrim House (UU), and Unity Unitarian, from the letter campaign, supporting the effort. In addition, and this is really great, people in Grand Rapids are holding an event on October 14, asking if that city should make the change; sponsored by Circles of Support, it will be held at the public library. The panelists include one person on our ad hoc email list, who are in support of our work. Circles is a native group.

   A Brainerd city councilman, Chip Borgenhagen, introduced a motion to change from Columbus Day to a day honoring native people, but he felt that the negative comments published in the Dispatch were too virulent to deal with, and withdrew his motion.
   We at NUUF, are considering the Renaming of Columbus Day as a vehicle to engage the public in the broader effort to educate regarding the Doctrine of Discover, and the need to repudiate its effects in law, culture, societal relations. A great first step in a very visible way, with something everyone knows about.
   On the pipeline protest front, Enbridge is delaying construction, not yet able to meet the need of the Public Utilities Commission to look at other routes outside the northern watershed region. If there had not been so much opposition, they would already be laying pipe!

Respectfully submitted, Mary DeYoung news director NUUF 218-587-2543

Post 54

Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Brainerd/Pine River MN 9/16/14

Greetings, UUs and fellow travelers! It is now midSeptember, and the summer flurries and activities are winding down. Pipeline Protests are continuing with much discussion about these environmental issues facing our State. You might want to check the PUC website, to see where all this stands at the moment.

We began our effort to rename Columbus Day to honor our native American population, sending a proposed proclamation to Governor Dayton for his consideration for this fall. Also contacted by letter all the UUs across the state, and results of that are slowly coming in. We were delighted to hear that the city of Brainerd was considering such a change, with Chip Borkenhagen, city councilman leading that discussion. It was tabled, and readdressed yesterday, Monday Sept. 15. Again it has been tabled, and Chip recently asked to have his proposal taken off the table indefinitely. He received a lot of negative feedback through the press, and said in a memo to the Council, "clearly the vocal minority  has moaned loud enough to foul the air to the degree that I don't wish to pursue it....if Columbus were alive today, and it was discovered he had done the 'atrocities that he did in fact do, he would be tried as a terrorist and war criminal." So Brainerd Council has not followed the lead of Mpls or Red Wing or other places across the US in making a change, at least not now....Our email committee is continuing to explore strategies and will be reporting from time to time.

Our first meeting at theTimberjack turned out well, and next Sunday, we will welcome Rev. Suzanne Wasilczuk back for another Sermon,  this time called The Profit of Prophets. 11am.

The first of the fall meetings on food preservation was held Sept. 11, with Barbara Kaufman presenting information on seed saving. More to come on this series.

Stay tuned.

Respectfully submitted, Mary DeYoung, news director 218-587-2543