European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 27, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes wednesday september 27, 1978 0 no More $24 deals in. My still own the Lant. They m want to use it by Mark Potts associated press Merican indians who own half the . Ura in reserves and billions of dollars in other Energy resources Are becoming vastly better businessmen than their forebears who sold new York City to White settlers for $24 in trinkets. Though a source of Pride to the indians their new financial approach is seen differently by businesses that Deal with them. They re afraid they re going to get beaten so they drive the hardest bargain they can said John Lagrange of Bear Creek mining company in Spokane Wash. But Lagrange added in Many cases they drive such a hard bargain they drive themselves out of the Market. De Gabriel executive director of the Council of Energy resource tribes said of the indians bargaining stance in All cases that i know of they re going competitive in the bidding and they re going very rough on the negotiations. I m very proud of  the Energy Council formed in 1975 by 25 tribes representing almost one third of the nation s Indi ans provides a voice in Washington and gives tech Nical help in managing Indian Energy resources. Those resources Are considerable. Indian tribes occupy Only 4 percent of the nation s land but own half the uranium reserves 16 percent of the Coal areas and 4 per cent of the natural Gas and Oil Fields plus acres of forestland Mineral deposits. They re Energy Rich says Gabriel. You re talking about 250,000 people owning billions and billions of tons of Coal billions of tons of uranium and 4 percent of the Oiland  Gabriel puts the Worth of Indian land definitely in the billions and says it could greatly improve the indians living standards. Indians represented by the tribal Energy Council now earn about $1,400 dollars per capita annually and Peter Mcdonald the Navajo who is chairman of the Energy Council says getting the most for their resources is a necessity for the indians. Unless we manage our resources properly now we will not have them in 20 or 30 years. I think it will mean our survival and a future for our children he said. The indians blame the government for some past Busi Ness problems. Gabriel says that the government acting As a trustee through the Bureau of Indian affairs has done a pretty Sloppy Job. Bia officials admit that bad judgment or poor advice soured Many leases and say they now scrutinize leases More carefully while turning Over More of the responsibility to the indians. The tribes have become much More sophisticated much More aware of the land much More familiar with How the White Man s Laws work said Bia spokesman Wil Liam l. Engles. The indians do not View All past agreements unfavourably Many Timberland leases with paper firms have worked out Well for example. In cases where the indians see past wrongs they Are using the Law to try to right them. They Are trying to re negotiate More favourable deals on Many Bia signed con tracts and have had a measure of Success. Mcdonald recently led a successful fight for renegotiation of his Arizona tribe s Coal lease with Elpaso natural Gas and consolidation Coal. The lease signed in the mid-1960s, gave the navajos a Royalty of 15 cents a ton included few environmental safeguards and did not mention who would reclaim land destroyed by strip mining. The tribe wanted More because the lease that existed was unconscionable Mcdonald said. The new arrangement ties the Royalty to the consumer Price of Coal which has risen considerably since the first lease and makes environmental and reclamation allowances. It Means a total of $250 million Over the next 25 years which Mcdonald would like to go into education and Long term economic development. And the tribe is seeking re negotiation of other contracts involving Coal and uranium. Several other recent cases indicate How seriously Indi ans Are taking what they View As threats to their re sources in Maine in perhaps the most celebrated Case a group of tribes is demanding 12.5 million acres they claim was unjustly taken from them land including Large forests and a major Copper and Zinc Deposit. In Washington state the Colville indians Are seeking other development partners after breaking off negotiations with a unit of Kennicott Copper company Over development of a Large Deposit of minerals. In Montana the Northern cheyennes and crows Are fighting for renegotiation of Coal mining leases signed before the Energy crisis drove Coal prices up. The indians went into court to demand that the developers justify their prices. The court found the prices too Low and the developers Are appealing. Companies affected by the new Indian economic philosophy Are hesitant to discuss particulars but some will Tell you they Are not Happy with the new approach. Said Lagrange the mining Man they look for the Best bargain but they Don t always follow the covenants of business. They tend to drive a pretty hard bargain or an unreasonable bargain or be cause of tribal politics no  but Gabriel does not think indians Are seeking goals that Are particularly unrealistic. They Aren t driving a harder bargain than Alaska is or than foreign governments Are. They re driving equal bargains he says. By Ermo Bombeck atwit5eno did you Ever notice How in report ing sports no one Ever wins a game they crush stomp Triumph trounce bomb out score out class overthrow run Over Edge out Hammer and victimize but they never use the word  the other night after a sportscast where there were three assaults four upsets one humiliation a Squeaker and a rout i said to my husband these Guys must be fed intravenously by a thesaurus each night to come up with All those words that  they have to he said you d get bored hearing who won All the  but that s not the Way people talk i complained. Can t you just see some 230-Pound guard being utter viewed at halftime saying we came to beat Pittsburg. At this moment we re not overwhelming by As much As we had hoped Bat sooner or later we Hope to vanquish. After All As Vince Lombard said subduing i everything " you should talk he said. How come a woman on the society Page never ?1" what Are you talking about i be read those stories before. They Exchange vows say nuptials or pledge i Dos but they never get married that s  Why different we re talking about saying what we mean. When we got engaged i suppose you called up your Best Friend and said hey Dottie guess what i m going to plight my troth in August " i think lighting a troth is rather poetic. It s certainly not like the dodgers smothering their opponents or the red sox clobbering  hey he grinned it might be fun i society pages showed As much imagination As they do on the sports pages. Can t you just imagine Reading where Betty Schmidlapp cruised by four ugly bridesmaids saturday to overpower her opponent and Cap a Victory in the bridegroom open in the upset of the year this is a stupid argument i said. And i Don t want to continue it. Just say Iwon and Well forget  he sat there thinking. See i continued. You Haven t heard the word win in so Long you can t even re member How it  let s see he said let s just say in the sports vernacular you persuaded your opponent it was in his Best interest Tolose " c 197 Tekl enterprises inc. R