Members of South Dakota Indian Tribe to Protest Abortion Facility Proposal
by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorMay 24, 2006

Pine Ridge, SD (LifeNews.com) -- Members of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are meeting today to organize a protest against Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder's proposal to build an abortion facility on the reservation. Indian elders, youth and community members are slated to take part in organizing the protest.

Lily Mae Red Eagle, an 85 year-old woman who lives in Kyle, said the members of the tribe will meet this afternoon at the powwow grounds and will plan a march for the end of the month.
Fire Thunder proposed the abortion business after the South Dakota legislature approved a ban on virtually all abortions. Governor Mike Rounds signed it into law, but pro-abortion groups are hoping to put it on the November ballot and get state residents to overturn it.

Red Eagle told the Rapid City Journal the planned march would be peaceful and that those involved in the protest will also attend an Ogala Sioux Tribe Council meeting to discuss the issue with members of the council.

"We're not going to attack anyone, but we will listen to what council has to say about this," Red Eagle said.

A grandmother of nine children, she told the Journal newspaper that she didn't think the Indian tribe should be promoting abortion because it conflicts with the tribe's respect for life.
"I don't believe in killing babies, no matter what the circumstances," she told the newspaper.
Robert Benson of Pine Ridge agreed and said "We've never believed in killing our own." "It's dividing a nation of people," he added.

Former Pine Ridge council representative Eileen Janis told the Journal she plans to join the protest and worries the Indian reservation is exposing itself to unnecessary controversy because of the proposal.

"[I]t makes me feel bad that we would consider having something like this on our land," Janis said. Fire Thunder proposed the abortion business because she said it would get around the state law because only federal abortion law applies to the reservation. However, a former tribal judge says it would violate tribal law that respects the life of unborn children.

Patrick Lee, a retired chief judge for the Oglala Sioux Tribe who now teaches tribal law at Oglala Lakota College, wrote an op-ed in the Rapid City Journal in April.

"Life is sacred - the winged, two-legged, four-legged. You hear constant references to respect for life," Lee said. "Its the tribal law."

Lee told the Journal that Fire Thunder could press to change tribal law to allow for the abortion business but he indicated that the Native American tradition of respecting life would make it extraordinarily difficult.

"She could ask the tribe to change the law. And that would be an uphill battle," Lee explained.
Lee pointed to a specific portion of tribal law code about juveniles that indicates the right to life of babies before birth is respected.

The code says, "a child conceived, but not born, is to be deemed an existing person so far as may be necessary for its interests and welfare to be protected in the event of its subsequent birth."
Lee told the Rapid City newspaper that he used that section of law as a judge to require pregnant women abusing illegal drugs to get counseling or be charged with child abuse because of the injuries to the baby.

Fire Thunder is a longtime abortion advocate and formerly worked at an abortion business in California. She's on the steering committee of the pro-abortion group hoping to defeat the ban at the polls.

She originally planned to build the abortion business only if the attempt to defeat the ban failed. She told Indian Country Today that it will move ahead regardless.
She already has a name, too -- the Sacred Choices Clinic.

Planning for the abortion facility is already underway and she has put together volunteers to coordinate strategy, attorneys are drafting papers and looking at potential legal obstacles, Thunder explained.

Thunder has already raised $5,000 from pro-abortion activists across the country wanted to see the Indian abortion center succeed. She indicated she's received hundreds of emails in support.

Clementine Little Hawk Hernandez, the founder of Indians for Life, says Native Americans historically favor pro-life values.

"Our native people have such a rich tradition which is at its heart the love and respect for all life," Hernandez said. "It's truly amazing how pro-life our Native People are."
"As Native Americans, we must stand up and witness that all life is a sacred gift from God," she added.

Hernandez is a Lakota Sioux who was born on the South Dakota reservation and is an active member in the Tekawitha Conference. Her group is an outreach of the National Right to Life Committee.

TAKE ACTION: Voice your opposition to: Oglala Sioux Tribe, ATTN: President Fire Thunder, P. O. Box H, Pine Ridge, SD 57770. You can also call 605-867-6074 or fax a letter to 605-867-6076.

Related web sites:Oglala Sioux Tribe - http://www.lakotamall.com/oglalasiouxtribePrinted from: http://www.lifenews.com/state1674.html

Copyright © 2003-2004 LifeNews.com. All rights reserved. For free daily/weekly pro-life news, email us at news@LifeNews.com.

85 and still concerned about the life of the preborn!

Clinic protest planned by Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer

PINE RIDGE, South Dakota -- American Indian elders, youths and community members will meet today to organize a march protesting a proposed women's clinic offering abortion services on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Organizer Lily Mae Red Eagle, 85, of Kyle, said the meeting would begin at 1 p.m. at the powwow grounds in Pine Ridge.

She said the group will plan a march later this month to protest Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder's proposal to establish an abortion clinic on the reservation.
Fire Thunder proposed the clinic in response to a new state law, scheduled to take effect in July, banning almost all abortions in South Dakota. Fire Thunder said the reservation's sovereign status would allow doctors to perform abortions at a clinic there despite state law.

Red Eagle said the planned march will be peaceful, with protesters attending OST Council to listen as representatives discuss the issue.

"We're not going to attack anyone, but we will listen to what council has to say about this," Red Eagle said.

A grandmother of nine children, Red Eagle said she found it difficult to believe that women unconnected to Indian Health Services would come to the reservation for any kind of medical treatment.

"I don't believe in killing babies, no matter what the circumstances," she said.
Robert Benson of Pine Ridge agreed.

"We've never believed in killing our own," he said.
Benson said the proposed clinic is one of the biggest controversies to affect the reservation. It has pitted family and friends against each other.

"It's dividing a nation of people," he said.

Former Pine Ridge council representative Eileen Janis said she would join the protest, too. If allowed to succeed, the proposed clinic would be a target on the reservation for more controversy, she said.

"Like Lily Mae said, it makes me feel bad that we would consider having something like this on our land," Janis said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com

Pastor Joe went Home to be with the Lord on May 12, 2006.


Rev. Joseph DePasquale, educator, 75, pastor in Livingston 30 years
Friday, May 12, 2006

A service for Reverend Joseph R. DePasquale, 75, of Livingston will be at 10 a.m. Monday in the Full Gospel Church, 190 W. Northfield Rd., Livingston. Arrangements are by the Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home of Livingston.

Rev. DePasquale, who died Wednesday in Overlook Hospital, Summit, was a teacher, coach and principal at Harold G. Hoffman High School in South Amboy, where he worked for 30 years.
He was associate pastor for 14 years at Evangel Church in Elizabeth, where he started the Evangel Day School in 1970 as well as the bowling and softball leagues. He was also pastor of the Full Gospel Church for 30 years before retiring earlier this year.

Rev. DePasquale received his bachelors degree from the Central Bible College in Missouri in 1958 and a masters degree in education from New York University in 1959. He served in the Army during the Korean War.

A member of the Livingston Clergy Association, he was president of Teen Challenge New Jersey and the presbyter of the Northwest section of the Assemblies of God for the past 16 years.
Born in Elizabeth, Rev. DePasquale moved to Livingston in 1992.

Surviving are Marlene, his wife of 49 years; a son, Robert; a daughter, Barbara Kuran; sisters, Dorothy Sutera and Marylou Banning, and four grandchildren.

** New gospel tract at Gateway **





'Da Vinci Code' exposes Hollywood's double standard
By L. BRENT BOZELL III 5/19/2006




When Mel Gibson introduced "The Passion of the Christ" into the public conversation, Hollywood had a lot to say about it. Now Hollywood is offering its response to the release of "The Da Vinci Code," inviting commentary not on that movie, but on Hollywood itself.

Three years ago, Gibson gambled his own personal fortune on a great creative risk, going completely outside the established Tinseltown system to produce a horrifyingly realistic re-enactment of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. It took not just sacrifice but also real courage to make that movie.

Film critics and political commentators didn't just pass judgment on the film's subject, but on the craziness of the director (and even his father). Gibson's devout Catholicism, so foreign to sybaritic Hollywood, was described as a crutch for a man with an addictive personality.
But perhaps harshest of all, these pundits claimed "The Passion" would cause hatred in the land and violence in the streets.

The "experts" strenuously connected Gibson's film to the notion that passion plays were traditional tinder boxes for anti-Jewish pogroms and inquisitions. Allegedly, Christians would see the film and head for the exits to deface synagogues and assault rabbis.
When the film succeeded and people attended in droves, and left in silent prayerfulness, the critics complained that Gibson was "marketing Jesus," that he was going to make millions by exploiting devotion for personal gain.

Now witness the coming of the movie version of "The Da Vinci Code." Think of it as the anti-"Passion." In one film, Jesus was Lord; in the other, Jesus was not only merely mortal, he was the center of an elaborate fraud. In one film, Jesus founded his church at the Last Supper; in the other, the Catholic Church unfolds as a secretive, murderous, thoroughly evil conspiracy. So what's Hollywood's take?

The studios reacted quickly, with Sony lapping up the film. The network news divisions have acted like devoted puppies, with Matt Lauer going "On the Road with the Code" for NBC. ABC has held "Da Vinci Code" contests on its morning show. Denying the divinity of Jesus - the central tenet of Christianity - is just fun and games, grins and giggles.

Film critics and political commentators have been largely silent, in part because Sony was so secretive with the film. When Gibson was slow to show his film to non-Christian audiences before its release, critics railed, but Sony is receiving limited guff for its handling of this film.
No one has predicted mass violence from the Christian faithful for this film's denial of the Christ, which is odd.

If they were willing to riot for "The Passion," shouldn't they be much readier to rumble after this flick finishes smearing Jesus and his church?

Certainly, no one accused Dan Brown or Sony of "marketing Jesus," since they're going to be making millions by pouring mud on him. Hostility or indifference to Christianity is just another day at the office for today's titans of popular culture. L. Brent Bozell III is president of the Media Research Center.

"The film is a vicious distortion of Christianity, demeaning the very idea of the divinity of Christ; His miracles are scoffed at, as is His resurrection; the church is alleged to be responsible for the biggest conspiracy in history; Langdon’s view of faith leaves much to be desired." Crosswalk.com

Resources to the truth:

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/145/story_14506_1.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/areas/biblestudies/articles/060426b.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/144/52.0.html

http://www.probe.org/content/view/127/169/

Abortion clinic closedBy Jay ReevesThe Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM -- An abortion clinic was shut down Thursday after the state suspended its license amid allegations that a worker administered an abortion-inducing drug and performed other medical treatment on the patient without a doctor.

According to state health officials, the woman was told she was only six weeks pregnant but delivered a nearly full-term stillborn infant.

An order from the State Board of Health called the violations by Summit Medical Center in Birmingham "egregious," and the state health officer, Dr. Donald Williamson, said the clinic might not reopen.

"We feel we need to move toward revoking their license," said Williamson.

Officials from the clinic did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Neither did a lawyer who has represented Summit in past cases.

Williamson said an order issued Wednesday suspending the clinic's license was the result of a six-week investigation into the treatment of a woman who went to Summit seeking an abortion Feb. 20.

The patient, who was not identified in the suspension order, received an ultrasound examination from a clinic worker rather than a physician, as Williamson said is required by the law.
A staff member then gave the patient RU-486, an abortion-inducing drug, and follow-up medications that are supposed to be administered only by doctors, he said.

While the patient was told during the examination that she was only six weeks pregnant, she went to a hospital emergency room six days later and delivered a stillborn infant that weighed six pounds, four ounces, according to the order.

"It was nearly full term," said Williamson.

Once state health officials were notified, they found that Summit's records indicated that the ultrasound and medications were handled by a doctor, even though the physician was not present at the clinic that day, he said.

The state scheduled a public hearing for June 20 to determine whether Summit's license should be revoked.

State records show 11,370 abortions were performed in Alabama in 2004, the last year for which records are available. The state doesn't release records showing how many abortions are performed by individual women's clinics.

A prayer request from Dorothy Barnes, Archway's former director and wife of Rev. Tim Barnes of Living Word Alliance Church, West Milford, NJ



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Hi Friends,

I learned yesterday that my neighbor across the street, Kathi, had a brain tumor which was surgically removed a few weeks back and for which she is now receiving radiation treatments. It's the second time it had to be removed since it had grown back in two months.

Kathi does not know the Lord (nor does her husband, Frank), and Tim, the girls and I will be reaching out to her and are hoping that we will have opportunity to present the gospel to her at some point.

Please keep Kathi in your prayers? She is not much older than me, and I cannot imagine what she is going through, especially not having the Lord to walk her through this.

Thanks so much,
Love, Dorothy