--- Daniel Mackay <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > From: "Daniel Mackay" <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [forum-l] The latest on the Dept of Interior computer shutdown > Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:47:41 -0500 > Reply-to: "Daniel Mackay" <[log in to unmask]> > > > From the NYTimes: > > > February 14, 2002 > > > A Computer Shutdown Plays Havoc at Interior > > > By TIMOTHY EGAN > > After a 10-week court-ordered shutdown of nearly all its computer > communications, the Interior Department said yesterday that it had restored > some of them, bringing e- mail back to government scientists, Web service to > national parks — and payments to nearly 40,000 American Indians. > The blanket electronic closing of a department that manages everything from > seashores in New England to Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky stemmed from a > problem that has been out of sight of much of official Washington but has > played havoc with the lives of millions of people who depend on an agency > that is landlord to one-eighth of the United States. > > A federal district judge ordered the department on Dec. 5 to shut down its > entire computer system, saying it could not safeguard the accounting system > that manages money for Indians. > The judge, Royce C. Lamberth, who is hearing the largest class-action suit > ever filed by Indians, has already found that the government mismanaged > Indian money for more than a century. In the process of a second trial, to > determine whether Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton should be held in > contempt for failing to comply with past orders on cleaning up the > department, the judge found that Interior's Web sites were vulnerable to > computer hacking. > In court in Washington yesterday, Secretary Norton promised Judge Lamberth > that checks were on the way to thousands of Indians and said that about 40 > percent of the department's Web sites were safe enough from hackers to > reopen. The other major Interior Web sites remain offline. > To Indians who live in cities and on the reservations in the West, and > depend on the $500 million in annual income that the department manages for > them as part of a historic trust, the promises have a hollow ring, some of > them said. > "I've watched them jump around for Enron ( news/quote > <http://www.nytimes.com/redirect/marketwatch/redirect.ctx?MW=http://custom.m > arketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=ENRNQ> ) while I > haven't received so much as a single word about the money they owe me," said > Rosemary Pimms, a Yakama Indian who lives in Seattle on the royalty payments > that the government manages for her. "Nothing new there: the Indian is > always last in line." > In Oklahoma, New Mexico and Washington state, which have large tribal > populations, the cutoff of royalty payments, which come yearly, quarterly or > monthly, put some families in danger of losing their homes. > "The house payment is the one we're most worried about now," said Billy > Wolfe, who lives in a trailer with his wife, Christine, in Lamar, Okla. The > couple depend on $450 a month in royalty income that the government manages > for them. They have not received a check for three months, and there is a > lien on the trailer, Mr. Wolfe said. > The Indians point out that the checks are not government handouts, but money > owed individual Indians from land leased to outside business interests and > managed by the Interior Department. > There are more than 500,000 such accounts, though the bulk of the money goes > to 43,000 Indians who get regular royalty checks ranging from a few dollars > to several thousand. The tribes say the government has lost up to $100 > billion over the last century because of mismanagement and poor accounting. > "The way these people have been treated recently is an outrage," said > Representative Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, whose district is 21 > percent Indian. "It's just been a huge injustice. There are people out there > living day to day, month to month on these checks, and the pace from > Interior has been like molasses in winter." > Some tribes, including the Blackfeet, the Oglala Sioux and the Navajo, have > made emergency funds available from their tribal welfare accounts to > individual Indians. > They say they are furious with Secretary Norton. "Where I live, in Glacier > County, Mont., home of the Blackfeet Nation, one of the 25 poorest counties > in the United States, I can tell you that many people depend on these > payments for the bare necessities of life," Elouise Cabell said in testimony > before Congress last week. > Ms. Cabell, a former banker who is a member of the Blackfeet Nation, > initiated the lawsuit six years ago. She says the way the government manages > Indian money is "a national disgrace." > Interior officials said yesterday that they should be able to pay about half > of what the Indians are owed from the computer shutdown and would work to > make up the full amount in coming months. > "I'll believe it when I see it," Mrs. Pimms said. > The accounts date from the 1880's, when the government tried to break up the > tribal land ownership system and awarded allotments of land to individual > Indians. These lands were then managed by the government, and usually leased > to gas, oil or timber companies. As with many trusts, the funds are given to > descendants as the oldest generations die. > While most of the Interior computer shutdown has been felt in Indian > Country, outdoor enthusiasts have been upset at the loss of Web access. > Complaints from people planning vacations to national parks, or trying to > get permits to float rivers on federal land, or simply trying to find out > the status of bird species from the Fish and Wildlife Service, have been > pouring into the department, officials said. > The shutdown has disrupted recruiting for summer firefighters and studies on > wetlands and endangered species, and has forced thousands of government > workers back to an era of typewriters and endless paper forms. > "We are frustrated because we don't have e-mail between employees, but the > public is frustrated because this whole link has been cut off," said John > Wright, a spokesman for the department. > Even with the National Park Service Web site scheduled to open within a day, > an Interior agency that manages even more land — the Bureau of Land > Management — will remain offline indefinitely, as will the Fish and Wildlife > Service and the department's general site, officials said. > The Indians are trying to force the government to set up a proper accounting > system for the trust funds, and to repay beneficiaries who may have lost > money over the last century. The accounts have been so mismanaged, tribal > members say, that they do not comply with even the basic standards of > running private trusts. > When President Clinton was in office, Judge Lamberth found Interior > Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin in contempt > for their handling of the trust fund records, and the government paid a > $600,000 fine. > In ruling three years ago for the Indians, Judge Lamberth wrote, "It would > be difficult to find a more historically mismanaged federal program." His > ruling was upheld last year by a federal appeals court in the District of > Columbia, which wrote, "The trusts at issue here were created over a hundred > years ago, and have been mismanaged nearly as long." > > Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company > <http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html> > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to forum-l as: [log in to unmask] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [log in to unmask] > ===== www.aaronmarcavitch.com Webmaster, VAF (www.vernaculararchitecture.org) Webmaster, ADM (www.americandinermuseum.org) Webmaster, Boston Harborfest (www.bostonharborfest.com) Grad. Student Caucus Chair, Am. Assoc of History & Computing M.A. (Public) History, Middle TN St. Univ (2002) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).