American Indian Movement will get written apology, guarantee for using Valmont Butte

By Amy Hebert, Camera Staff Writer
January 24, 2004

While a Native American drum circle chanted on the street below, Boulder officials met Friday with attorneys for the American Indian Movement and apologized for the Dec. 31 disruption of a sweat-lodge ceremony.

"I know that that disruption has ramifications that transcend just that evening," City Manager Frank Bruno said after the meeting. "So we want to be as sensitive as possible for taking responsibility and setting the stage for making progress and moving beyond it."

The two-hour meeting was not open to the public, but about 50 demonstrators gathered outside the city's planning and public works office on Broadway to show their support for the American Indian Movement.

"I want to hear why they put the fire out. Fire represents God," said Selo Black Crow, a 72-year-old chief of the Oglala Lakota nation who sat outside the meeting in his wheelchair.

Black Crow was not at the Valmont Butte ceremony, which was broken up on New Year's Eve by police officers and sheriff's deputies who hadn't received word that its participants had permission to be there. But he counted on his fingers a number of other cities that he said have broken up venerated rituals that compare to Christian baptisms or communion.

The ailing spiritual leader joined in the applause as AIM attorneys Don Ragona and Glenn Morris emerged from the meeting to announce that city leaders agreed to meet most of their demands.

"We won?" Black Crow asked.

Bruno and other leaders — including Boulder's fire and police chiefs and representatives from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office — agreed to give the Oglala Lakota spiritual adviser who led the disrupted ceremony a written guarantee for future access to the butte, part of city open space.

They will also issue a written apology and compensate participants for any expenses incurred in setting up the ceremony, Bruno said.

He said they agreed in principle to cultural-competency training and the creation of a permanent American Indian Advisory Council, but those steps would require action by the City Council.

City leaders and sheriff's representatives would not immediately agree to two demands — to fire the officers in charge that night and issue new policy directives on the protocol for contacting Native American practitioners of traditional ceremonies.

"We wouldn't discipline officers without a full investigation," sheriff's Lt. Phil West said. "So we asked if they had any documentation of rude or derogatory behavior."

Police Chief Mark Beckner said he gained an understanding of the importance of the ceremony and hoped that Native American leaders understood that his officers were doing their jobs.

Days before the ceremony, city officials had asked the Sheriff's Office to keep an eye out for trespassers in the area because a historic cemetery had been vandalized.

"I feel bad about it because I was the one that passed on the information to the Sheriff's Office and asked them to do the extra patrol," Beckner said. "There was certainly no intent on anybody's part to disrupt a legitimate ceremony."

AIM's attorneys — who have sent a letter to the state attorney general requesting an investigation into possible civil rights violations — said ongoing dialogue with the city will determine whether other legal remedies are pursued.

"We're very pleased at the outcome and the reasonableness of city officials to work with the Indian community," said Ragona. "But there will be continuous talks. The matter's not complete."

No date has been set for the next meeting between AIM leaders and the city.

Morris said the group's point is not only to set up a dialogue with Boulder officials, but also to show other cities that there will be repercussions when sacred ceremonies are disrupted.

"There was disrespect shown to the participants the same way as if they had thrown open the doors of a church or a mosque," Morris said.

Robert Cross, who led the Dec. 31 ceremony, spoke to supporters after the meeting, with his young daughter Lula at his side.

"We're living in our children's past," he said. "I want her to know I tried. I don't want her to go and be afraid to pray at her church."

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