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The Stories of 3 Milwaukees Outside of Wisconsin

ZILWAUKEE, MICHIGAN, isn’t the only city with a name similar to ours, which has its own origins in Anishinaabe or Algonquian. Here are three other places whose names are a little on-the-nose:

1. Milwaukie, Oregon

FOUNDED IN 1903

Founder Lot Whitcomb didn’t hide his admiration for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when he incorporated this growing community of settlers in 1903 on Clackamas Indian territory. It’s unclear why the ie spelling stuck here, while other knockoff towns changed their names to have the ee ending. This city of 21,000 also sits on the water, only on the Willamette River instead of Lake Michigan.

 

 

2. Milwaukee, North Carolina

RENAMED IN 1915

This unincorporated community in Northampton County between Raleigh and Norfolk was named for Milwaukee as well, according to a text published in honor of the county’s bicentennial. The town formerly known as Bethany was renamed in 1915 after what was then the 12th-largest city in the U.S.

3. Milwaukee, Pennsylvania

FOUNDED IN 1844

It’s possible that this small, unincorporated community west of Scranton in Lackawanna County was named for the Wisconsin city, too. The area was first called Flickerville after a native bird species, the Northern Flicker, but the founders of an 1844 gristmill in the area renamed it Milwaukee after a nearby road. The spelling was inconsistent – sometimes using the ie and other times using the ee ending – but today the region uses the same spelling we do.

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Wappingers Central School District to reopen ‘Indians’ nickname debate at meeting

More than 14 months after the Wappingers Central School District board expressed a willingness to end its use of the moniker “Indians” for some of its sports teams, the board announced the next step in potentially doing so.

Board President John Lumia said the district plans to schedule presentations at a future board meeting at which the topic will be discussed, and said residents will have the opportunity to ask questions.

However, a date for the meeting has not been set, nor a timeline for a decision. The issue has not been on an agenda to allow for public comment since summer 2020, when the board first announced it was tabling the issue in the interest of focusing on COVID-19 safety measures.

Roy C. Ketcham High School and Wappingers Junior High both use the word and accompanying logos for their sports teams.

Lumia made the announcement at the board’s regular meeting Monday, and declined to clarify details of a timeline when reached Tuesday.

‘Indians’ still: Talks to drop Ketcham HS moniker on hold a year after push to change

Petitions for change: Ketcham, Nyack grads using petitions to have schools drop ‘Indians’ moniker

Counter argument: Wappinger native, school board president defend Ketcham’s Indians theme amid debate

He said the district has plans to invite local Wappinger descendants and the Stockbridge Munsee Community-Band of Mohicans to presents their thoughts on the issue. 

He said the board will have the opportunity to ask questions. Members of the community will then have two weeks to submit questions to the district clerk, which will then be answered by the two groups, posted to Wappingers’ website and submitted to the board.

A push to do away with the school’s Native American nickname and logos began in July of last year, with some groups including native groups, calling them offensive.

Later that month, some…

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Oberlander, Munsee Urge Drivers to Turn in Illegible License Plates

100591312_3624866794206897_748594443002576896_nCLARION, Pa. – Rep. Donna Oberlander (R-Clarion/Armstrong/Forest) recently reminded drivers that if their vehicle license plate is difficult to read, that replacement plates are available for free.

To help facilitate the process to turn in the illegible plate for a new one, Oberlander is teaming up with Clarion County Sheriff Rex Munsee for a special event on Tuesday, October 19, at her district office.

“Just like other parts of a vehicle, license plates are susceptible to damage and weather, and sometimes the letters and numbers can be difficult to read over time,” Oberlander said.

“Most motorists are unaware that replacement plates are available at no additional cost from PennDOT, and my office will help facilitate that process for affected drivers.”

From 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 19, drivers can bring their vehicles to the parking lot at Oberlander’s office along South Second Avenue to begin the replacement process. While there, personnel from the Clarion County Sheriff’s Office will determine if the plate is illegible, and if so, Oberlander’s staff will help drivers fill out the appropriate paperwork. A notary will be on site to assist.

Once submitted to PennDOT, the new replacement plates should arrive from Oberlander’s office in approximately two weeks.

According to PennDOT, a registration plate is deemed illegible when one or more numbers or letters cannot be recognized from 50 feet or if the registration plate shows any blistering, peeling, discoloration, or loss of reflectivity. When a registration plate becomes illegible, PennDOT has two main ways of replacing them. First, the law allows PennDOT to reissue a registration plate upon request of a vehicle owner when an authorized representative of PennDOT or law enforcement determines that a registration plate is illegible.

“We daily see many license plates that are not readable,” said Munsee. “This program…

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Stockbridge-Munsees focus on correcting historical record through collaborations with Berkshire institutions

SHEFFIELD — The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans wants you to know their story. And they want to be the ones telling it to you. 

Their latest effort, “The Mohican Journey: Homelands, History and Hope,” an outdoor exhibit on display through Monday, Oct. 11, is the result of a nearly yearllong collaboration of the Stockbridge-Munsee community, the Sheffield Historical Society and the art department at Mount Everett Regional School.

If You Go

“The Mohican Journey: Homelands, History and Hope”

What: An interactive, multimedia exhibit that breaks down the history of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok, the “people of the waters that neve stand still.”

When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 2, 3, 9, 10 and 11

Where: Sheffield Historical Society, 159 Main St., Sheffield

Information: 413-229-2694, sheffieldhistory.weebly.com

“Exhibits like [Sheffield’s] allow us to be able to tell our history our way and in truth. There is no sugar-coating history in Indigenous history. Removal happened. Genocide happened. Loss of language, tradition and culture happened,” said Heather Bruegl, former director of Cultural Affairs for the Stockbridge-Munsees, in an email to The Eagle.

“The Mohican Journey,” is one of four Berkshire exhibits on display regarding the Stockbridge Mohicans. Three other exhibits about the Stockbridge-Munsees include: The Berkshire Museum’s “Muh-he-con-ne-ok: The People of the Waters That Are Never Still,” an exhibit curated by the Stockbridge-Munsee community; “Deeds of our Past: Stockbridge Indian Lands and Colonial Bonds,” an exhibit of biographies and translations of deeds at the Stockbridge Library; and “Mohican Miles,” at the Mission House Museum. 

In their own words: Stockbridge-Munsees share past. present and future in 'Muh-he-con-ne-ok: People of the Waters That Are Never Still'

The reliance on local organizations with an open mind is the kind of partnership that ensures, “the outcome accurately reflects Stockbridge-Munsees’ voice,”  said Bonney…

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‘I hope our ancestors can see what we are doing’: New fellowship supports Indigenous leaders, artists

Michelle Falkenstein  |  For The Journal News

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COVID deaths of Native Americans linked to limited access to resources and healthcare

COVID ravaged McKinley County, where roughly 74% of the population is non-Hispanic Native American — mostly Navajo and Zuni — and access to resources is scarce.

Jasper Colt, USA TODAY

ANCRAM, N.Y. — Writer and environmental advocate Jasmine Neosh, a member of the Menominee Nation, laments that her people have forgotten centuries of knowledge about native plants. During the pandemic, she says, this lost wisdom was felt even more acutely.

“Many tribes were hit hard by economic hardship,” says Neosh, a student in the Sustainable Development Institute at the College of Menominee Nation in Wisconsin. “In my panic, I realized that we are going to have to learn how to feed ourselves.” And so, Neosh undertook a project to find out about edible flora on the Menominee reservation.

In recognition of her efforts to create a more sustainable food system for her people, Neosh was named one of four inaugural winners of a Forge Project Fellowship, a program designed to support established and emerging Indigenous leaders working in land justice, education, food security and culture.

The fellowship includes financial support of $25,000 and a residency…

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Our farm won’t just feed us, tribe says. It’ll reclaim the lifestyle pollution stole.

Editor’s note: This piece is part of Communities of New Jersey, a new series meant to highlight, showcase and cover communities underserved by large media organizations like NJ.com.

For the owners of the 14-acre Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm in Newton, farming is more than just a means of generating profit — it’s a means of survival.

“This is what we have to do to save our people’s lives,” said Vincent Mann, Turtle Clan Chief of the Ramapough Lenape Nation and co-founder of the farm.

Mann and Michaeline Picaro, an elder member of the Turtle Clan, co-created the for-profit farm in 2019 to address food insecurity in their community, they said. But, they have much bigger plans in the works.

Through the cultivation of cash crops, the pair hopes Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm will serve as a sustainable source of revenue for their nonprofit, the Ramapough Culture and Land Foundation. Working in partnership, these two ventures hope to provide the Turtle Clan community with opportunities for nourishment, healing and justice.

Turtle Clan Chief Vincent Mann holds a hemp plant at the Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Chickens of different varieties are raised at the farm. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The Ramapough Lenape Nation is one of New Jersey’s state-recognized Native American tribes whose members live in northern New Jersey counties, as well as in surrounding areas in New York. It suffers from high rates of poverty, not unlike other indigenous communities across the country. But the Turtle Clan also has a unique threat all its own, having lived for the past 57 years on a Superfund site, a federal designation for areas that have suffered severe…

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Don Rogers: Olympian ski resort, whatever the name

So. Palisades Tahoe. Um, OK.

I get that squaw is an offensive word, and that is nothing new. It was derogatory before Squaw Valley was named. The valley, the creek, the ski resort.

Apparently it began with a French butchering of Algonquian words for female friend, woman of the woods, little woman baby. And “squaw sachem”: female chief. This contrarian view is from Vincent Schilling, an Akewsasne Mohawk and associate editor at Indian Country Today, making a case in 2017 that the word was not originally disrespectful. Other indigenous writers over the decades have written similar essays.

The dictionary definitions today, however, uniformly paint the word as a slur. And it sounds like a slur in old movies, old books, historic texts. Or if not a slur exactly in its old usage, certainly not a sign of great respect, either. Probably why Minnesota in 1995 passed legislation to rename all geographic features in the state bearing the word.

Anyway, the Washoe people native to the valley don’t like it. They praised the ski resort for at last changing the name this week.

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The new name came from more than a year of research, surveys, focus groups and the best marketing minds in the industry.

For the resort, Palisades echoes the granite outcroppings forming the mountain’s legendary chutes and cliffs, the extreme stuff we mortals only gawk at — the terrain of McKinney, McConkey, Mosely. There’s a thrill.

Locals no doubt get it straight away. The Palisades. Well, of course. But…

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Push for Native American curriculum in schools makes gains :: WRAL.com

By SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press

For years, many Native American tribes have felt their history has not been given its due by schools in Connecticut, a state that takes its name from an Algonquian word meaning “land on the long tidal river.”

Soon, however, schools will be required to teach Native American studies, with an emphasis on local tribes, under a law passed this year at the urging of tribes including the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, best known today for its Foxwoods Resort Casino.

“When you’re in Connecticut, to not learn about the Eastern woodland tribes, the tribes that Connecticut was founded on, (that) was the issue that we were pressing,” said Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots.

It has been a long-running goal of many Native Americans to have more about their history and culture taught in grade schools. New requirements have been adopted in Connecticut, North Dakota and Oregon and advocates say their efforts have gained some momentum with the nation’s reckoning over racial injustice since the killing of George Floyd.

The legislation affecting schools has advanced alongside new bans on Native American mascots for sports teams and states celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day in place of Christopher Columbus Day.

The push for curriculum requirements has not been without challenges, with some legislatures deeming new laws unnecessary because Native American history already is reflected in school curriculum. There also have been some steps in the opposite direction amid battles over how topics related to race and racism are taught in classrooms.

In South Dakota, a group of teachers and citizens charged with crafting new state social studies standards said last month that Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration deleted from their draft recommendations many elements intended to bolster students’ understanding of Native American history and culture. They said changes made to…

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Leeper Woman Arrested for Refusing to Return 13 Firearms, Other Items Belonging to Victim

shutterstock_608376650-cuffsFARMINGTON TWP., Pa. (EYT) – Charges have been filed against a Leeper woman who allegedly refused to return over $8,000 of items, including 13 firearms, that police say rightfully belong to a known victim.

Court documents indicate the Marienville-based State Police filed criminal charges against 46-year-old Tina Elizabeth Zacherl.

According to a criminal complaint, on August 10, a known victim reported that “his ex-girlfriend was refusing to return items that a judge had deemed his property.”

The complaint notes the victim provided police with paperwork showing that on June 17, 2021, President Judge Seidle-Patton issued an order for multiple items belonging to the victim to be relinquished by Tina Elizabeth Zacherl.

Representatives from the Clarion County Sheriff’s Office then accompanied the victim to his former residence in Farmington Township on August 2 to retrieve the items on the court order.

According to the complaint, the victim reported that of the 55 items to be returned to him by court order, only 18 items were returned.

Clarion County Sheriff Rex Munsee indicated that there were 13 firearms on the list of items to be relinquished to the victim and none of the firearms were relinquished by Zacherl. Zacherl then agreed to meet Sheriff Munsee on August 4 at a business in Tylersburg to relinquish the firearms, but she reportedly failed to arrive at the location as agreed, the complaint indicates.

The complaint states that Zacherl remains in possession of approximately the following firearms, valued at a total of $2,995.00:

– Savage Axis II .243 valued at $275.00
– Savage Axis .243 valued at $275.00
– Marlin XS7 .308 valued at $375.00
– Savage Axis .308 valued at $295.00
– Remington .243 valued at $375.00
– Mossberg 12 Gauge valued at $225.00
– Mossberg 20 Gauge valued at $200.00
– Three – Savage .22…

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Indigenous community comes together to mark Overdose Awareness Day

CHIPPEWAS OF THE THAMES FIRST NATION – Dozens of people gathered Tuesday in this Indigenous community southwest of London to mark Overdose Awareness Day.

About 50 people gathered at the site of a former residential school for the walk, part of an international event intended to honour people who’ve died or been affected due to drug overdoses.

“This is a small piece of our healing and we have a long way to go,” said Gloria Boutcher of the Cultural Outreach Harm Reduction team at Chippewa Health Centre, which organized the local event.

“We’re all connected and interconnected across Turtle Island. Every community suffers from high numbers of overdose, addiction and trauma.

“To end overdose, we need to meet people where they’re at.”

Boutcher’s team provides supports and services to people who are dealing with substance abuse. It serves three First Nations communities: Chippewas of the Thames, Munsee-Delaware First Nation, and Oneida Nation of the Thames.

Tuesday’s event began with a sunrise ceremony, followed by a breakfast and two-kilometre walk from the Mount Elgin Residential School monument to Chippewa Ball Park. It closed with a sharing circle, where some participants shared their stories of strength and healing in defeating drug overdose.

Though recognized on an international scale, the event hits home for many in the First Nations communities.

Amber MacDougall, of Oneida Nation of the Thames, didn’t just survive drug overdose, she overcame it. The 34-year-old said she’s been in recovery for the past 10 years.

“I know several people struggling with addiction and some who have passed,” Logan said. “I’m really glad people are bringing awareness to this issue,” she added, as she embarked on the two-kilometre walk.

cleon@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/CalviatLFPress

Calvi Leon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, London Free Press

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