“Wo’okiye was’te qa wico zani o’wacin yuhapo”
Page 4
S
ota
I
ya
Y
e
Y
api - www.earthskyweb.com/sota.htm - Anpetu Iyamni - Oct. 3, 2018
Services held for
Cami Lee Comesflying
Cami Lee
Comesflying, age 26, of
Duluth, MN journeyed
to the Spirit World on
August 20th, 2018 in
Minneapolis, MN.
She was born on
February 11th, 1992 in
Minneapolis, MN, the
daughter of Wallace Saice
Jr. and Rena Dionne.
Cami was such a strong, loving and kind-hearted
woman. She would give you her very last dollar if it
would help you out.
She was very family-oriented and loved to be
around her children and her brothers.
Cami enjoyed to laugh and joke around. Her laugh
was contagious and she could always put a smile on
your face.
She had such a fierce spirit with the most beautiful
smile.
Her favorite foods were tator tot hot dish, pizza
and Indian tacos.
Her favorite color was purple, but loved to dress
up in red and black.
Cami broke so many hearts when she left this
world and will always be loved, adored, cherished and
missed for all eternity.
Survived by her parents: Wallace Saice Jr. and Rena
Saice; children: Andre Powers, Chase Powers, Channing
Powers, Ophelia Petonquot, Ameila Comesflying;
Siblings: Brian Saice, Alwood Saice, Wallace Saice III,
Rayjon Willis, Vincent Saice, Justin Saice, Dwight
White, Misty Parker (Saice), Celina Saice, Jena White,
Shawna White and Shavaun Barnett; eighteen nieces
and fifteen nephews.
Cami was preceded in death by her mother:
Vanessa Comesflying; brother: Arron Rodriquez;
sister-in-law: Cyrene Roybal; grandmothers: Delema
Dionne and Lavonne Arrell; grandfathers: Clarence
Wanapi, Wallace Saice Sr., Elroy White Sr., and Ketmit
Comesflying.
Funeral service for Cami Lee Comesflying were
held on Friday morning, August 24th, 2018 at Little
Earth Community Center in Minneapolis, MN.
Spiritual Advisor was Lee Staples.
Interment is at Hillside Cemetery in Minneapolis,
MN.
An all-night wake service was held Thursday at
Little Earth Community Center.
Honorary Casket Bearers were all her family,
relatives and friends.
Casket Bearers were Wallace Saice III, Brian Saice,
Alwood Saice, Vincent Saice, Rayjon Willis and Justin
Saice.
Chilson Funeral Home, Winsted, Mn served the
family.
Services held for
Kevin Riley Sr.
It is with great sadness
that the family of Kevin
Paul Riley, Sr. announces
his sudden passing on
Friday, September 21,
2018, at the age of 60.
Kevin was proud of his
Native American heritage
and an enrolled member
of the Sisseton-Wahpeton
Sioux Tribe.
He was born on
March 25, 1958 in
Moorhead, MN. Kevin grew
up in Edgeley, ND and went to College in Wahpeton
completing a Plumbing degree in 1978.
He moved his family to Fargo, ND in the early
80s.
Kevin obtained his Journeyman license in 1982
and Master Plumbing License in 1984. Kevin spent the
next 38 years as a Plumber in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
Kevin was a proud father and grandfather and
his family has many good memories of spending the
weekend at the lakes or camping during the summer
months.
He was a good friend and great story teller.
Kevin was an avid reader with an impressive book
collection. He loved science fiction and always knew
interesting facts and tidbits of information. His wealth
of knowledge was astonishing!
Kevin is survived by his children Kristina (Brett)
Bailey, Kevin (Summer) Riley, Jr., and Christopher
Riley; his sisters Karen (Jim) Sievers, Mike (Gordon)
Heim, and Lorae Mercado; brothers Wayne and Delvin
Lufkins; his grandchildren Kevin Riley III, Samantha
Elliot, Cayden Riley, Kennyth Riley, Sofiya Riley, James
Riley, and Sonya Riley; his aunts Roberta Trevino,
Florestine Kiyukampi, Chyrel DeCoteau; uncle Byron
Renville; many nieces, nephews, and close friends.
Kevin is preceded in death by his parents Harlan
and Radine Riley; biological mother Naomi Lufkins ;
grandson Jakob Riley; sister LaVonne Lufkins; his uncles
Kenneth Renville, Mandis Renville, Merle Renville; and
aunt Adrienne Renville-Ree.
A memorial service was held on Friday morning,
September 28, 2019 at the Fargo Seventh-Day Adventist
Church.
Kevin was brought home to the Lake Traverse
Reservation where a homecoming celebration was held
on Saturday afternoon, at the SWO community center,
Agency Village.
Kevin will be greatly missed by all who knew
him. He would want you to spend more time with
your children and make a toast to enduring friendships
lifelong and beyond. Kemosabe.
Boulger Funeral Home, Fargo, served the family.
Services to be held
for Marlow Vincent
LaBatte Sr.
Marlow Vincent
LaBatte Sr., age 61 of
Granite Falls Journeyed
to the Spirit World on
Thursday, September 27,
2018.
He was born on
December 15, 1956 in
Sisseton, South Dakota the
son of Kenneth Bird and
Angela LaBatte.
Marlow graduated
from Monroe High School
in 1976.
He honorably served his Country in The United
States Navy. Marlow received an Honorable discharge.
Marlow served the Native American Community
in the Twin Cities for many years. He served on the
Upper Sioux Board of Trustees as “Member at Large”
from 2010 to 2014.
He enjoyed grilling, watching his Vikings, playing
Keno, golfing, spending time with his family and most
of all his grandkids.
Survived by his wife: Joyce LaBatte; devoted
children: Shannon, Marlow Jr., Angie, Lenora, Joby
and Jennifer; grandkids: Keanu, Esai, Jasmine, Serenity,
Faith, Julissa, Nikita, Atrinity, Ceivera, Joseph Jr.,
Ethan, Lacey, Amara, and Gavin; aunts/sisters: Anita
Rainelle , Sandy Glorene and Roberta; many other
relatives and friends.
Preceded in death by his parents Angela LaBatte
LaCroix and Kenneth Bird, grandparents Archie
LaBatte and Pearl LaBatte.
Funeral services for Marlow LaBatte Sr. will be
held on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018 at 11:00 a.n. at the
Multi Purpose Building, Upper Sioux Community.
Danny Seaboy Sr. will be the Spiritual Advisor and
John Cloud will officiate.
All night wakes will be held on Sunday, September
30th beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Multi Purpose
Building, Upper Sioux Community, and also on
Monday, October 1st beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Honorary Casket Bearers will be Marlow LaBatte
Jr., Keanu LaBatte, Esai LaBatte Leo Baker, Alvin
Howell, Edward Tipton, Joseph Tipton and Marcus
Nickelboine.
Casket Bearers will be Ricco Uribe, Hayna Leith,
Marcus Leith, Timothy McRae, Robert Leith, Mario
Uribe, David Tipton and Hawk Tipton.
Services pending for
David Gill
David Gill, SWO member from Enemy Swim
District, passed away over the weekend.
David has served in Tribal government and is a
well-known advocate for water and land rights for his
people.
Services are pending.
Watch for a complete obituary in next week’s Sota.
“And that’s kind of my role …
looking at markets and also how you
grow and process hemp and how
you make that more economically
viable.”
The next step, he said, is to
have the crop “decorticated, which is
removing the fiber from the stem.”
“And you need a special facility
to do that.”
(Editor’s note: There are
decorticator machines that operate
in the field, but more common in
industrial hemp businesses are in-
plant decortication machines.)
SWO hemp day
Continued from Page 2
“Right now,” Dean said, “If we
wanted to do that we’d have to go to
Colorado, to Oregon, or Kentucky,
and that’s kind of discouraging …
but it’s also an opportunity, I think.”
“One of the things that
LeeAnn has really emphasized is we
that we want to look at value-added
processing.”
“There is a great opportunity
right now to do some of the
processing here.”
He proposed that the SWO
Tribe might “serve as a center
for a lot of growers of hemp …
potentially.”
“I think we see a lot of
opportunity.”
“We’re still working on a lot of
this, and that’s our role, and really
the work I do.”
“What I’m doing here is really
looking how we can use markets
to drive sustainable economic
development for communities …
that’s what we’re going to try and do
here.”
Next to the mic was Eric
Singsaas.
He expressed thanks for
being invited by the UM team
“to be part of this interesting and
exciting project … and LeeAnn
and the SWO community for
inviting all of us to have the
opportunity to help serve your
community and help understand
what are the possibilities, what
are the opportunities, and then
narrow down those possibilities
into real economic development
opportunities.”
“I’m with the Natural
Resources Research Institute at
the University of Minnesota up
in Duluth, and one of the roles
that I play is the Bioeconomy
Director, and the mission of our
institute is all about forward looking
opportunities for regional economic
development.”
“As we see regional economic
development, what we can do with
our industry, that really falls into
three categories.”
“One is reducing waste.”
“Two is stewardship of our
land and our water.”
“And (number) three is
developing higher value products.”
“…When you develop a higher
value product, you develop ... you
aren’t just selling the plant off the
land and letting somebody else
make it into something.”
He said that what you are
doing is “…converting that product,
that plant, into a new product (that)
retains value, that (adds) economic
(value) into your community.”
“It creates jobs for your
community and it allows you to do
something, to reinvest that money
into your people, into your land and
so forth.”
“The approach that we’ve
taken is to look at the hemp fiber
value products that can come
out of that and we’re exploring
every(thing) from food containers,
textiles, clothing is a growing
market, and hemp fiber composites
… composite materials that will go
into an automotive application … it
could go into building materials and
so forth.”
“For example, in Europe about
15% of the weight of a car … made
in Germany now contains hemp
fiber composites.”
“There’s a number of
interesting opportunities, and I look
forward to working with all of you
and with the team here to explore
what are the real markets … and
where we can participate in the
economy of the 21st century and
beyond.”
George wrapped up the team’s
presentation, saying “… just a few
words following Eric’s comments
about what some of the hemp
products’ possibilities are.”
On a table laid out for the
KXSW camera, he had several items
on display.
“I’m wearing a hemp t-shirt,”
he said.
“This is a blend of hemp fiber
and cotton. It’s a very, very durable.
“Here,” he pointed out on the
table, “we have some canvas for a
cloth bag.”
“These are fiber applications
and it’s the durable fiber that was
originally what hemp was grown
for in the United States, but we
find a whole variety of different
applications.”
“I’ll just demonstrate the fiber
a little bit for you.”
“This is right out of the field.”
“This is what was mowed
last week by Natural Resources
Department and it is now curing in
the field.”
“It’s a natural, biological
process going down ... going on
… as this material is drying and
beginning to kind of rot in the field,
the fibers are separating from this
lightweight core material.”
“Both of these materials (outer
fibers and lightweight core material)
have different uses.”
And there are products made
from the industrial hemp seeds.
George showed hemp seed
products, and pressed oil made
from hemp seed, which “was part of
Minnesota’s industrial hemp grain
variety trial that our group carried
out last year.
“The seeds are pressed and you
can see ... this is a rich viscous oil
like olive oil. It’s very nutritious. It’s
got a good balance of fatty acids and
this can be used in food ... also in
making soaps, skincare products and
so forth.”
“We also have hemp grain. The
hulls can be removed from the seeds
just as you would remove sunflower
seeds from their shell. You remove
the hulls from the hemp seed and
you get what are called hemp hearts
and these are quite popular in foods
for adding to soups, salads and
they’re a nutty, nutritious, complete
protein healthy food and we can try
some at lunch.”
“We want to say a few words
about what happened here with our
planting, and (then) we’ll have an
opportunity to walk the field.”
“What you see in the
background – we have corn.”
“And in the foreground, that
deep green is the standing hemp
field.”
“And ahead of the deep green
is the area that was mowed about a
week ago.”
He explained, “We had to go
through quite a process just to get
the seed to plant this crop on this
land.”
“We worked through the state
of North Dakota Industrial Hemp
Pilot Program to obtain seed.”
“It was imported to the capitol
in Bismarck.”
“I picked it up and drove
it down here ... 200 pounds of
cannabis in my vehicle.”
“All of this we didn’t
accomplish until July and then it
rained!”
“We had to wait for conditions
favorable for planting.”
“It wasn’t until July 14 that we
put this crop in the ground, and if
you are involved with agriculture
here in this region you know that’s a
pretty late planting date.”
“We weren’t sure what to
expect.”
“We knew that you could
plant hemp late and that’s one of its
advantages.
“You … wait until some of the
weed pressure is slowed down a bit
and plant late.”
“It needs a nice warm soil
temperature.”
“So we planted July 14 and
the plant came out of the ground.
It leapt up and we were amazed to
see that after a month in the field it
was already three, four feet tall. Just
incredible!”
“It did very well. It came up so
densely that it out-competed all the
weeds.”
“We didn’t have to apply any
herbicides, any of that.”
“It’s a healthiest looking stand
of hemp that we’ve seen in our
research.”
“And so here we are now, I
guess about maybe 75 days after
planting and we’ll wait until 90 days
to take down the remainder of the
field.”
“But it’s just incredibly healthy
and vigorous.”
“It did extremely well here at
SWO and certainly demonstrates
the potential.”
George called the growth rate
“incredible … almost two inches a
day.”
He asked Community Planner
Crystal Owen to speak next.
Crystal opened with Dakota-
iyapi, Cante waste ya nape ciyusapi,
greeting everyone with a good heart
and a handshake.
“I’m excited to be here this
morning, excited to be just a very
small part of this project.”
“We know that in planning
… an idea doesn’t’ belong to just
one person, it belongs to the whole
community, and I just want to
thank all of you, George and the
whole team.”
She said that the hemp
demonstration project has caused
some controversy in the Tribe.
“A lot of our elders thank that
people can just smoke it and get
high … so we knew from the first
time that we introduced the idea
to community, and that was the
response from some of our elders
that we had to educate.”
“We had to educate and inform
and keep educating … because
all these things that you can do
with the hemp products, all these
products that can be made, it’s a
great opportunity for our Tribe.”
Crystal said, industrial hemp
can “… have that economic
advantage where we need other
forms ... to raise money, to make
money so we can fund our programs
… our Tribe could be healthy
financially.”
“I love the idea that someday,
if this is legalized within South
Dakota, that our people than own
land, our landowners … can grow
this product.”
“They grow hemp on their land
and that they can be farmers once
again … growing something they
love and that’s very useful to not
only their families but also to the
community and to the environment,
to Mother Earth.”
Crystal said, “There’s a
representative from Senator Hoven’s
office here.”
She invited the aide to
introduce herself and share a
message from the Senator.
“Thank you. My name’s Alora.”
“I’m with Senator Hoeven’s
office.”
“Unfortunately, the Senator
wasn’t able to be here today, but he
did send me with a letter, so I’ll try
and read that and not let it blow
away.”
(Editor’s note: For those
watching the KXSW video, the
wind was really blowing.)
Senator Hoeven’s letter:
Dear Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
Tribe, thank you for your invitation
to join you at your Industrial Hemp
Field Day.
We congratulate the Sisseton-
Wahpeton Oyate Tribe leadership
on advancing and securing support
for this three-acre demonstration
plot as part of the Tribe’s hemp
economic feasibility study.
Through your work with North
Dakota State University and others,
the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe
is cultivating this hearty crop which
has a variety of uses.
We look forward to seeing how
this demonstration plot will inform
future agricultural decisions and
practices in our state and region.
Congratulations again on
creating this industrial hemp plot
and best wishes to you as you work
to develop hemp production.
Sincerely, John Hoeven, US
Senator.
Thank you.
*****
“Thank you very much,” said
George.
“This really is something to
celebrate in a number of ways.”
“To come together with the
various agencies, organizations, the
community, and the expertise we
have, to pull this together, I want to
say … that is, to our knowledge …
the first federally supported study of
hemp conducted by any tribe, and
that is really something special.
“And I don’t think it’s going to
be the last.”
“I think we see a future here,
and certainly support from Senator
Hoeven and others.”
“Senator Heitkamp, and
(in Minnesota) Senators Amy
Klobuchar and Tina Smith send
their regrets at not being able to join
us today.”
“We look forward to the
eventual passage of a farm bill that
will continue to support industrial
hemp,” he said.
“I understand we might have
to wait a little bit on that, but it is a
priority for the United States and...
I think it’s an excellent opportunity
for tribes to really lead the way in
this issue and really, we’re grateful to
be participating in that as well.”
Charlene Miller was asked to
speak.
She said, “Thank you. It has
been great.”
“We’re very happy to be
involved in this project.”
“We too have had a great team
to work with.”
“I’ve had a great team that’s
been involved.”
“It’s been quite a learning
experience for all of us too, and
we’re excited to see what the results
are from this study.”
“Like George said, we did
have some trials and errors … and
learned by our mistakes, and we’re