De Leon's Monitor (De Leon, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 39, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 1, 1999 Page: 1 of 12
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Z6442
Volume 4 No. 39
Reflecting our PAST, our PRESENT and our FUTURE
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"We have a drum ceremony with
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selves, but not die men. Therefore,
symbolic."
I Got
NO REASON TO LIE
by Charles Chupp
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which we are accustomed.
In traditional Oneida culture, he
Nation Reservation in Wisconsin,
where he learned a culture com-
between prayers."
The lodge will hold up to 15 per-
sons snugly, and is constucted of
"The east is all newborns," said
Denny, "because the sun comes up
in the east. If my sister or wife were
going to give birth, we would pray
came root cellars, or the lid was removed and
they were converted to swimming holes.
Anyways, it helps the newspapers and
news channels sell ads, if they've got a cata-
we'll do everything we can to help
them do that.”
in the afternoon," said Sipe Springs
Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief
Rocky Reisner.
The Sipe Springs fire department
deployed three men and two pieces
of equipment to the fire, and De Leon
brought six men and three pieces of
equipment.
"We responded as soon as the
See Fire on Page 10
In the History of the Human Race there is
one great constant. The fear of being wiped
out In my seven decade tenure I've seen
many close shaves at annihilation. Now YK2
is coming and according to a heap of reports
we ain’t ready. The scenario reads like the
sequel to George Orwell’s 1984. Big Brother
took control, but somehow he overlooked
the devastation predicted by computer de-
according to Walker.
"Gerald VanZandt is doing an ex-
ceptional job keeping the contractors
moving," said Walker. "He is doing a
sprinkle water on them to produce
the steam."
A straight line of cedar is placed
between the door of the lodge and
the fire pit to represent the lifeline.
In this line, a staff is placed and
topped with deer horns and feath-
ers.
"The staff represents the four-
legged animals and the owl and
eagle," he said.
Tobacco is used in every cer-
emony and is considered sacred.
"Tobacco is sacred — every grain
is a prayer that when burned will go
to the heavens," Denny said. "Ce-
dar is burned for the fragrance, which
will go up to the Creator, for him to
receive our prayers."
Since the lodge has been imple-
mented the attitude and moods of the
Indians have vastly improved.
"We're in much better spirits
since we've been able to sweat," he
said, "we've felt better medically, too.
Those of us with high blood pres-
sure have seen it go down."
The Indians, along with the other
Wisconsin inmates, are outspoken in
their admiration and appreciation of
Jail Administrator Vernon Reid and
his efforts to repect them and their
religious beliefs.
"Vemon has been very good to
us," said Denny "When we have
needed him, he was there and we ap-
preciate that.”
"I admire anyone who wants to
by Donna Coan
Staff writer
Beneath clear blue Texas skies —
and behind a 12-foot razor wire-
topped fence ~ inmate Randy Denny
00 oathe bids," said Walker. "The TEC has
specific requirements for the capital
.doing the plumbing."
"The structure will have all ma-
sonry walls," said VanZandt. "The
hollows in the walls will be foam in-
sulation in the exterior walls. The
outside will be covered with split-face
cinderblock. Should look nice—just
like the picture."
The state will pay, over a 10-year-
period, approximately 55% of all mon-
ies, according to Walker. About
$222,200 of the construction was out-
side state funding, and will be a local
funding responsibility. Therefore, the
school district," said Walker, "much
harder and more stable."
"The sub-contractors come from
all over and locally," said VanZandt
"AC1 of Abilene is doing the metal
work, Gey and Son Masonry of Gran-
bury is doing the block work,
Rutledge Electric of Stephenville is
doing the electric, Ponder Court of
Dallas will do all the wood or court
The Indians at the jail—two Onei-
das, two
lights out of us with - and that's why YK2 is
so important. The sale of pinto beans and
windmills helped the Dow reach the 10,000
mark, and it's only March 1st. Expect pinto
beans to sell by the ounce before the year is
out.
It’s taken me awhile to get here, but nows
the time for me to tell you what I’m all tore up
about.
I was programmed back in 1929, probably
on Valentine’s Day, if memory serves me cor-
rectly, but I was not delivered until Novem-
ber 22. Hugh and Thelma looked me over,
reminded each other that I was their first bom
and decided to try again. They thought that
they could do better, but after John Franklin,
and Little Benny Wayne they agreed that it
was best to just stop production of kids.
Which they did.
I can't help but fret about the turn of the
century. Since Hugh and Thel were both
amateurs, I wonder whether they pro-
grammed me for YK2 My warranty might run
out at seventy years.
As Juniui ILii.ptuii, uf Gorman says. **
Thinking about it makes me Jubenous.”
only one in the state of Texas, when
completed.
"We were promised a way to
cleanse ourselves — a sweat," said
Denny, "but when we got here, we day of every month, follow a "uni-
were put off because of the construe- versal" style, since not all die Indi-
tion of the jail."
Denny was bom and s pent three
"We have formed a constitution," said Oneida Indian in-
mate Randy Denny, who is also chairman of the organiza-
J tion, "complete with by laws, called the IOTA or Intertribal
looks toward not only the future, but Organization of Traditional Americans. We run it like poli-
tics with a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, etc."
- white for north, green for south, red
for east, black for west and blue for
the heavens. The ends of the ribbons
are filled with a mixture of tobacco,
cedar, sage, and sweet grass.
"We each pray individually, in a
circle, either to ourselves or aloud,"
said Denny. "It is pitch dark in there,
so we have filled gourds that we
Monitor photo bp Donna Coon
SACRED GROUND—Oneida Indian inmate Randy Denny kneels in front
of the only Sweat Lodge in Texas, located at the Comanche County JaiL J ail
Administrator Vernon Reid holds the ceremonial staff.
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Monitor photos by Donna Coan
FIRE! — (Pictured Above) Firefighters from Comanche, De Leon, Sipe
Springs and Gustine battle the fire that destroyed Hathcock's Furniture
Showroom Wednesday, March 24, in Comanche. (Below) De Leon
firefighters work through a hole, cut into the side of the structure, to gain
access to the fire. L to R: Warren Mitcham, Brandon Sides, and Jason
Jackson.
Hathcock fire damage
estimated at $500,000
byDonnaCoan
Staff writer
On the afternoon of Wednesday,
March 24, Comanche County
firefighters responded to a structure
fire on the outskirts of Comanche.
The Hathcock's Showroom was en-
gulfed in flames upon the arrival of
die Volunteer Fire Departments.
"We received die call around one
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our mothers, daughters, wives. The
west is for all mankind, and the north
is for die elders. It is the circle of life."
In the ceremonies, the Indians use
ans are of the Oneida tribe. a medicine pipe, drams, gourds, deer
The entrance faces the east, the antlers, and a prayer stick.
quarters of his 42 years on the Oneida traditional source of life, power and
the dawn of wisdom, while die fire the big powwow dram outside of the
heating the rocks is the undying light lodge," said Denny, "but use a small
pletely different than the culture to of the world, eternity. ceremonial dram inside for prayers.
"The door of the sweat lodge We pray to different spirits, and sing
faces the east, the direction of re-
said, "women were seen as stronger birth,” said Denny. "All die grounds
than men--because of their monthly have been blessed and are sacred.
cycle they were able to cleanse them- The sweat is a purification ceremony willow arched into a hemisphere and
- the rocks in the fire pit, the heat, secured. Hanging from the willows
the men have the sweat lodges for the lodge, water, steam ... are all above the rock pit in the center of
physical and spiritual cleansing." symbolic." the lodge are multi-colored ribbons -
rattle, which signify the next person's
turn to pray.
"In a direct line outside the en-
trance is the fire pit," he said. "The
pit is where a fire is built and the
rocks are heated. The firekeeper _____
brings the rocks to the door of the prac'tlcC hisrehgion, " said Reid, "and
lodge and we use deer antlers to
move them into the lodge. We
signers and operators. They sleep the sleep of the just and the pre-
A family I know over in the hills of Ten- pared.
nessee has purchased a wood burning stove, Me and old Margaret resided in outra-
a double bladed ax and a manually operated geous Odessa during the last global scare,
crosscut saw. They ’ve got an electrical gen- The missile crisis had that metropolis on edge
erator on layaway, and they are filling tanks for a good while. All those missiles you see
to fuel it. Canned foods with a long shelf life were pointed directly at Ector County be-
are being hoarded along with tow sacks of cause of our oil producing capabilities.
pinto beans, com pone ingredients, 55 gal- Don White and Harvey Martin were cro-
lon drums of Malt-O-Meal and toilet paper. I nies of mine and they were building contrac-
will hot disclose their name or address for tors, and opportunists. They went into the
fear that they have lazy neighbors who are bomb shelter bidness as soon as word got
not getting prepared. out on Odessa being the Bull’s Eye for mis-
My friends also own a sizable arsenal and site attack. If all those underground shelters
totrofammo with which they phm to defend were teyedend to end we could have an irri-
their outpost from mercenaries. gation ditch that reaches from Limestone
When the airplanes begin to plummet from Maine, to Los Angeles.
the sky, the electric lines go dead and the The missiles, of course, were never
hens quit laying, my friends are guaranteed launched, the threat was forgotten and those
survival unless, of course, one of those air- $200 a square foot holes in the caliche be-
planes falls on their house.
They’ve rat-holed some mad money, de-
signer jeans and enough bottled water to
float the battleship ‘'Texas.” They are truly
immune to the bite of the Millennium Bug. ciysmic episode looming to scare the day-
Thursday, April 1,1999
Physical Education facility
consti action ahead of schedule
byDonnaCoan
Stall writer
Construction on the new 22,400
square foot Physical Education Fa-
cility is well underway with a flurry
of subcontractors, machinery, and
building materials arrayed over the
grounds. The new facility is being
constructed directly across from the
De Leon High School and parking will
be located on the comer of Manchaca'5 work, and Steve Sheetz of De Leon is
and Johnson streets.
"We are ahead of schedule," said
'Construction Manager Gerald
VanZandt. "You never know about
the elements, but at this pace we
should be able to stay on schedule."
• The facility will house two-sided
seating, a weight room, lobby, stor-
age areas, coaches offices, conces-
sion stands, dressing rooms with
lockers for students, shuffleboard
and restrooms.
"The facility will have a capacity
of800 in seating," said DISD Super-
intendent Glynn Walker previously,' * 45455% split of non-paid monies will
"and will have 400 fixed seats." be regularly budgeted through con-
The architect/planner for the straction firns in the school budget,
project is Fred Parker of Stephenville.
All contracting work has been bid out
to subcontractors.
"We went through the Texas Edu-
cation Code mandated process for great job making sure there is no
down time."
The projected time of completion
outlay. We ran notices to bidders in is still uncertain, but can be projected
the newspapers for two weeks -- towards the beginning of the 1999
.4^
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Monitor
Wayne Richards of Texas reads the De Leon Monitor
rebirth.
Denny, along with eight other
American Indians, has come thou-
sands of miles to the Comanche The Indians at the jail—two Onei- The lodge practices four sessions
County Jail ~ and a chance at a new das, two Manmonees, two of prayer, according to Denny. East,
life clothed in spirituality. Transferred Chippewa, two Aztecs and one west, north and south are repre-
from the Wisconsin prison system, Ponca — anxiously awaited the sented by different prayers, account-
Denny arrived in Texas with the completion of the jail and the sweat ing for the cycle of life in all ceremo-
promise of religious freedom. lodge, feeling that without the sweat nies and thanksgivings.
One of the first steps toward that they would not be able to revitalize,
spiritual rebirth would be a sweat The sweat goes beyond getting the
lodge - an Indian "church," if you body clean, extending to a spiritual
will. The sweat lodge would be the cleansing and rebirth.
Since the completion of the jail in for the newborns. The south is for
December, the lodge has been built all womankind, so we would pray for
and has seen two sweats. The
sweats, scheduled for the last Satur-
sealed bids - then awarded the bids school year.
to the sub-contractors." "There are always potential prob-
The only potential problem, or lems in construction work," said
question, on the job was about the Walker, "but I will say there is a real
concrete, according to Walker. possibility we will be in the new facil-
"The extra retardant put in the ity before basketball season—maybe
concrete mix worked out better for the volleyball."
American Indians find spiritual rebirth at Comanche County Jail
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Chupp Holdman, Tracy. De Leon's Monitor (De Leon, Tex.), Vol. 4, No. 39, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 1, 1999, newspaper, April 1, 1999; De Leon, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1244369/m1/1/: accessed June 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Comanche Public Library.