Step 4 Forward Along The Yellow Brick Road of the Reinvented Abenaki of Vermont and New Hampshire:

Document 01: On September 30, 1976 Page 12 "The State Office of Economic Opprotunity was awarded four grants totaling $291,440.00. A $30,000.00 grant is to be delegated to the Abenaki Tribal Council for food programs and a crisis releif program for the Indians of northwestern Vermont." ASHAI.

Document 02: October 26, 1976 Page 07 of the Bennington Banner. Thomas Salmon, the then Governor of Vermont is urged to recognize the Abenakis. "Gov. Thomas Salmon has been urged to grant formal State Recognition to the Abenaki Indians, thus providing them with a valuable tool in dealing with the Federal Government." Jane Baker, a anthropologist of Berlin, Vermont "leaned heavily on the work of John Moody" of Sharon-Norwich, Vermont, an ethnohistorian working with the Swanton, Vermont alleged Abenaki led by the late Homer St. Francis. I don't think anyone evaluated the actual genealogical records of these people claiming to being Missisquoi Abenakis at all.

November 04, 1977: At the request of Arthur "Bill" Seymour and Kent Ouimette, Chief Noel St. Aubin  of Wolinak's Abenaki Community situated in the Province of Quebec, Canada, issued a Resolution from the Abenakis of Becancour (Wolinak) in support of all of the Abenakis in the United States.

Step 3 Forward Along The Yellow Brick Road of the Reinvented Abenakis of Vermont and New Hampshire:

Document 01: June 30, 1976. Indian Tribe Seeking To Wander Freely. "Homer St. Francis said, "that if the Indians' efforts fail with the state officials to gain unlicensed unrestricted hunting and fishing, then we'll go to the Bureau of Indian Affairs or to Washington. We're not going to start a war or bomb somebody, like the others do."

Document 02: July 07, 1976 Page 13. Outsight Insight/The opening shot. By John Randolph. "The Abenakis now claim that their native right to hunt and fish in Vermont should allow them unlimited access to fish and game now protected and managed under the white man's law's. Theoretically this right to hunt and fish is based on 'natural law,' a concept which enjoyed great currency during the colonial period, but which has survived better in literature than in law. Like other Indians, the Abenakis were a people who relied on oral history; they were illiterate in even the basic chore of keeping birth records. In this light the question historians, demographers, and lawmakers will have to answer is: Who is an Abenaki?"

"We know of no treaties between the Indians of Vermont and the early white settlers. But this is a matter for historians."

Document 03: July 16, 1976 Page 03 Bennington Banner Newspaper. Governor Thomas Salmon names researcher of Abenakis. "Gov. Thomas Salmon has announced Ms. Jane Baker, a specialist in Indian affairs, will research the Abenaki Indians' claims against the state. The alleged Abenaki Indians recently presented petitions to Fish and Game Commissioner Edward Kehoe, claiming they are entitled to unlimited fishing and hunting rights. Ms. Baker will file a report by mid-October which will be turned over to the A-G's Office for legal analysis. The attorney general's report will be submitted to the 1977 session of the Vermont General Assembly. The A-G's Office had told the governor it was strapped by a lack of funds and needed some extra help for the study. Salmon's office said Wednesday Ms. Baker, an anthropologist from Berlin, will be paid with funds from the governor's office."

On August 20, 1976, a Friday, the Abenakis of Odanak and Becancour (Wolinak) a Band Council Resolution was signed by the then Chief of Odanaki, Walter Watso; Jean Marie Sadaques, Lewis (?) O'bomsawin, Jacques Gill, and ?; From Becancour Band Council the signers were Noel St. Aubin, ? Bernar, Mme Maryanne Bernard ?. This document was recieved on this date August 27, 1976 by Homer St. Francis. Then at the bottom of the document it states, " SWANTON, VERMONT, FRANKLIN COUNTY: At Swanton this 30th day of August, 1976, HOMER ST. FRANCIS personally appeared and acknowledged this instrument by him sealed and subsscribed to be his free act and deed, Before me, (can't discern the signature). SEE Appendix B. of "The Original Vermonters; Native Inhabitants Past and Present" by William  A.  Haviland and Marjory W. Power (I'll post this specific document later in this blog).

Step 2 Forward Along The Yellow Brick Road of the ReInvented Abenakis of Vermont and New Hampshire:

Document 01: June 29, 1976 North Adams, Massachusetts "The Transcript" Newpaper Page 07. Indian push for hunting rights in Vt. "Charging that fish and game are so plentiful they die of natural causes while Indians go hungry, alleged Abenaki Indians are pressing state officials for return of their unrestricted hunting rights. They presented Fish and Game Commissioner, Edward Kehoe with a petition yesterday bearing more than 1,400 signatures, asking the state to "immediately recognize the rights of the people of the Abenaki Nation to fish and hunt on all lands and waterways throughout the state." "Kehoe said he would forward the petition to Gov. Salmon F. Thomas, and told the alleged Indians that only the state legislature can approve their demands." "We want it known that we aren't going out hunting and slaughtering everything," said Homer St. Francis, the newly appointed chairman of the allged Abenaki Nation. He said the alleged Indians were owed the rights to fish and hunt, and that they needed the food to survive."

Document 02: June 29, 1976 Page 01 Bennington Banner Newspaper. Abenakis call state 'racist'. An angry but peaceful group of alleged Abenaki Indians and their supporters has charged Gov. Thomas Salmon with refusing to meet with them and accused state governemnt of 'racist' Indian policies. Indian leader Ronald Canns said the alleged Abenakis, acting alone, have been ignored by state officials. He said only by joining non-Indian members of the Native American Solidarity Committee were they able to get any response. "That's a racist policy...." Cannes said. St. Francis said there were about 1,500 registered alleged Abenakis in the state, with an equal number afaid to identify themselves for fear of being "harassed." If their demans are rejected by the legislature,  St. Francis said, "we're not going to state a war or bomb anyone, the way others are doing." On page 101 (of the Summary under the Criteria for the Proposed Finding on the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont, prepared in response to a petition submitted to the Associate Deputy Secretary for Federal acknowledgement

that this group does not exist as an Indian Tribe Appoved on November 09, 2005 by James E. Cason, Associate Deputy Secretary of the Interior) it states, "Petitioner researcher Frederick Wiseman asserts that the formation of the "Tribal Council" was an outgrowth of informal meetings which had taken place in previous years. However, documentation included in the petition narrative and in support of the petition indicates that the real catalyst in the organization of hte group was Ronnie Cannes, who worked for the Boston Indian Council in the early 1970's. Cannes came to Vermont to establish an Indian Manpower Office and to take a census of Indians in Vermont. 83. Although the 1982 referred to Cannes as "a young Abenaki from St. Johnsbury," the 2005 membership list includes Cannes in the "3" category ("Needs More Information"). Before the early 1970's, there is no available evidence that Cannes had ever met or associated with members of the Swanton group. Cannes is cited in the 1982 petition as providing a "vision of organization and social action" (SSA 1982.10.00 Petition, 105), and encouraging the group to organize itself into a council. 84. Wiseman, however, does not mentioin Cannes or the Boston Indian Council in his discussion of the origins of the group's council (Wiseman 2001, 151-160). The body that was formed appears to have been the Abenaki Selp-Help Association, Inc. According to documents submitted by the petitioner, ASHAI was established in 1975 (ASHAI 1984.00.00, 2), and there is some indication that ASHAI served as the group's governing body. For example, Cannes testified at a hearing of the American and Terminated Indians in 1976 and was introduced as a representative of the "Abenaki Tribal Council" (AIPRC 1976.04.09). The "Abenaki Tribal Council", was not formed until 1976 or 1977 (Abenaki Tribal Council 1977.00.00, 1).

Document 3: June 29, 1976 Page 10 of the Berkshire Eagle Newspaper. Pretty much the same article as Documents 1 and 2.

A Walk Down The Little Yellow Brick Road of the Reinvented Alleged Abenaki of Vermont and New Hampshire:

Document 01: From the Nashua Telegraph, Wednesday, January 28, 1976. "Official Russell Canns, 30 years old, who works for the Indian Manpower Office, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor, in St. Albans, Vermont attempted to get the State of Vermont to give fishing and hunting rights to the Indians in the Swanton and Highgate, Vermont towns in northwestern Vermont near the Missisquoi river." "But so far no evidence has been turned up of any treaty between white settlers and the Abenakis."

Therefore there was NO TRUST RELATIONSHIP with the Abenakis within Vermont. Remember this last sentence as it will come back into further submitted documentation regarding Howard Franklin Knight Jr. and his activities in Vermont, Massachusetts, and California, as we go down this little yellow brick road.....

Document 02: Kennebec Journal, August, Maine of June 28, 1976. "Indians demand rights." "The tribal council and Native American Solidarity Committee which drafted the petitions said the Abenakis do not demand the right to do largescale commercial hunting or fishing." Guess they were tired of shopping at the local Grand Union of Swanton? When they bagged a bullpout or horned pout, eel, or trout, they didn't have to be asked "paper or plastic?".

Ok, now for another step forward down the yellow brick road of these Alleged Abenakis, who have Reinvented themselves in the State's of Vermont ~and~ New Hampshire.....this is going to be a posting leads into another....document to document. Then at the end, one will finally realize the point of all of this blog.