"Native American Church" Strawberry Plains TN, Jerry Dills AKA Peshewa

[clearwater]

LOL. I wondered if that was a joke or serious, so I opted to assume you were serious. Thanks for the clarification. Here are the asnwers to your questions.

in bad taste i made a joke about picture # three sorry
so the question is who built the items in picture #3, as in being a native ceremony sight
how long have they been there
Totems since about 1985-1986. I do not know who made the fire circle or the medicine wheel. My beliefe would be this was done by Dills' apprentices. The building was built after 1993.

are they documented as a historic sight, by historians or state or native groups
No.

and if they are or if they are not real, is he using them as a validation for his church
In the newspaper article I included above, you will find two links to the actual article I scanned. Take a look at those scans/links. You will see Dills standing next to those totems. I am not Native American, I am white, so I cannot respond to what a real totem is. Dills claims Shawnee heritage. Are totems part of the Shawnee culture? I think his intent here was to combine various cultures and traditions into a world-based system. He alludes to that in the article. Regarding validation for his church, that he uses the totems in newpaper articles to validate himself, since he is his own church, I would have to say yes, he uses these to validate his church.

and next what to do about it, if they are fake remove them
if they are real remove him and his kind from disturbing it
and putting it under protection

I do not know how to respond or proceed. All I can do here is continue researching, and reporting the findings of my research. This is the position I take here and I will let others make these calls on these matters.

For convenience, here are the links to the scanned newspaper article. Note the photos and photo captions:
View Page B1   View Page B5

Regarding Dills' "sacred grounds" I found it disturbing in the above article, he made this assertion which was included in that newpaper article: "With some of the bingo earnings, PeSheWa and his church bought seven acres of land off Interstate 40 near Strawberry Plains, Tenn. On the land are three totem poles carved from cedar."

I did not directly address this because I am still researching this. Here, Dills is presenting the illusion that the "sacred grounds" were acquired during the SC bingo operation, which started around 1989 or 1990 and ended in 1993. I know this to be false, but will require research. He actually acquiried that land in the mid-1980s. My initial research shows that he set up what is called an "irrevocable trust" in 1994 (after th SC bingo operation ended) and transfered ownership of the land to that trust, which also happens to be in his name, personally. To anyone who knows what this type of trust is, it is a hybrid corporate entity which supercedes wills and the courts and cannot be pierced through the courts. This is a device used by the very wealthy to protect their assets and to pass on property and posessions without using a will. Here is a link to the land platte and ownership records for his "sacred grounds"

Click to view property tax records for "sacred grounds"

As shown in this link, ownership of this land was transferred to "CHURCH NATIVE AMERICAN TR UST & PESHEWA DR MACAKI T" which will be shown to be an irrevocable trust. I will have to dig deeper to find historical property transfers, to document that Dills actually acquired this land in the mid-1980s. Also, the name of the trustees will be secret and cannot be pierced, unless...

The 7.2 acres he calls his "sacred grounds" is worth from $100,000 - $400,000 per acre, putting the value of that property at $720,000 conservatively, up to about $2,880,000. Not bad for a little ol' Native American Church in Strawberry Plains, TN, huh? This is in addition to other property owned nearby, which I will also discuss soon, and also does not include how the veil of the Native American Church has been used to counter personal property tax leins, a no-no for how you're supposed to use the tax protection offered by churches and trusts. A big no-no to most tax agencies.

The thing about an irrevocable trust is, this is a separate entity not directly related to his Native American Church, Inc. An irrevocable trust can be revoked if the purpose and activities that supported or created it are found to be illegal. That should not be much of a problem. Perhaps the TN Department of Revenue may wish to take a look at this?

clearwater

[dabosijigwokush]

http://www.tnla.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=149

http://cita.chattanooga.org/TNNAorgs.html

http://www.tncia.org/organizations.html

# Native American Church, Inc. (1981-89, 1993- )
Dr. PeSheWa, Shawnee, is a Priest in the Ne’ishte’ Kiva and in the Native American Church. He currently is working on the establishment of Sacred Ground. Nine years ago on a piece of land on Interstate 40 near Knoxville, he set the first Totem. Now there are four totems; the base for the first indigenous memorial (220 feet long); a community center, complete with restaurant; an art gallery; a gift shop; a 55 foot medicine wheel; and a 1000 foot red path.
P.O. Box 59
Strawberry Plains, TN 37871

http://www.nativepages.com/opendoor/index.php/contacts-resources/active-tn-organizations/

[clearwater]

dabosijigwokush, your question was:

are they documented as a historic sight, by historians or state or native groups

You did not ask me of these sites were listed in public directories. That had already been etablished in this thread. The links merely show that the site has been submitted for inclusion in these listings.

The listings you cite are merely listings, based on submissions to them and are not independently verified. Is that the type of documentation you were asking for? Being listed in a directory based on solicitations for submissions is documentation? This is not done by historians, but based on self-declaration. And, you will find wide disagreement among native roups in Tennessee as to this information.

Other posters have already provided references in this thread to the links you cite again here. One poster has already observed that the link to cita.chattanooga.org "...reads like a Who's Who of Wannabes and Pretendians, with a few legitimate organizations thrown in)" to which I don't disagree.

clearwater

[dabosijigwokush]

i don't know tn laws but having a restaurant ,a art center, and trading post and other things for profit on that property
listed as a non profit church , i could see the state having a problem with this
as to the construction done at the sight the last post states he put up the totem poles and is trying to make this a Sacred grounds for profit
they are not listed as any thing native with any state run service
this is fraud
Native American Church, Inc. http://nativeamericanchurch.com/ Based in Strawberry Plains, this group provides information on their website about spirituality, American Indian religious freedom, ecology, and harmony.
this is the truth
caveat: The vast majority of these groups do not meet the state's
1990 recognition criteria for "Native American Indian Organizations".

Native American Church, Inc. (1981-89, 1993- )
PO Box 53, Strawberry Plains TN 37871 . 865/ 933.1456
www.NativeAmericanChurch.com . elders
Jerry Neal Dills aka "Dr. MaCaki PeSheWa" drpeshewa
Darrell Ridenour

[clearwater]

This is second-hand information provided to me by "silver star" who I know is monitoring this thread. If I am mis-characterizing what you have conveyed to me, silver star, then please correct me.

Silver star shared with me that one of Dills' apprentices, who owns land adjoining Dills, got into tax difficulties when he did not pay his property taxes. Either a lein was about to be filed, or had been filed, and to erase the debt, agreed to have ownership of his land transferred to the Native American Church.

This morning I checked on that and indeed, the ownership of the land on which T.W. lives was deeded to "CHURCH NATIVE AMERICAN TR UST" in 1994.

T.W. still lives on that property as his personal residence. If this is shown to be true, as relayed to me by silver star, then this would be one huge crack in the croporate veil of the Native American Church Trust.

clearwater


------------------------------------------

dabosijigwokush made the above post while I was typing this post. All I can say is, thank you for your research and helping to keep me focussed. I have already documented that the NAC website is part of an overall effort by Dills to create an illusion of legitimacy, and have documented the various websites promoting his agenda that all are cross-linked and self-promoting. Also understand that I know this person well, and in these websites he offers himself as two people: Dr. Macaki Peshewa, and Neishte. These are the same individual. Please follow all the links to all the websites found there, and read all the materials. Again, other posters to this thread have already reviewed these materials and offered their opinions, and your opinion is also appreciated.

[clearwater]

For personal reasons unrelated to this thread or this forum, I will be needing to spend my time and full attention to other things in my life (it's all good). I realize that at many levels this participating in this thread has been an experience which has helped me to clarify my past experiences with Jerry Dills (I am clearwater, after all) and also to realize that again, Jerry Dills occupies far too much of my time and attention. He has taken enough of that already from my life.

Since my last few posts my dreams have been very interesting, to say the least. I realize that this forum has helped me considerably, at a personal level, to understand these activities I participated in with Jerry Dills and his "Native American Church." But I also realize now that this forum is perhaps not the best place to share all the information I know, because I can only share it in drips and drabs as I can do research, etc. So, over the last day or so I have prepared a very concise 18-page letter which provides great detail and supporting information as to everything I know about Jerry Dills, and I have signed this letter with a notorized Affidavit under penalties of perjury.

This letter has been mailed today (Moma_porcupine: take note! via certified first class mail, to the federal and state agencies I already cited in an earlier post to this thread.

If and when anything of note comes forth from this, I will share that nformation in this forum.

In the meantime, another poster to this thread and I have exchanged a few private messages back and forth and that individual has found some interesting information, or I should say the lack of listings about NAC in TN, shared with me in private, and I have asked that individual to share his/her findings and opinion here in public.

I will be posting less frequently but will keep the NAFPS forum updated if there is anything to be updated.

Many blessings.

clearwater

[clearwater]

I will make a few quick posts here to pin down some loose ends left from my earlier posts to this thread. This and a few more posts are specific to the topic of this thread, "Is This For Real?"

In several of my posts I alluded to Jerry Dills' "church" as being a cult, rather than a church. This is not in any way meant to disparage the real Native American Church, which is absolutely legitimate. My comments are made in reference to Jerry Dills (Peshewa) only, and his cult-like bogus church, which he happens to call the "Native American Church."

Personally, I was with that group for nearly a decade, and have always felt that Dills' church felt more like a cult than a church. In doing research on this topic, I came across some very interesting and pertinent articles which helped me clarify this in my mind.

In an earlier post I made in this thread, I went to great lengths to document the legitimate Native American Church, and concluded that Dill's church is a cult, with a basic test which I devised on my own, the "I Know It When I See It" test. I firmly believe that test will withstand scrutiny at any level. Those reading this thread in full will have already read the logic behind that test. Only later, in digging deeper into what is in fact a "church" and a "cult," I came across this article, which quotes Rick Ross, who heads an institute and website dedicated to exposing cults. In that articles, is found this quote:

http://www.rickross.com/reference/brainwashing/brainwashing56.html

When it comes to cults, there's an old joke among religious scholars: A cult is a cult is a cult -- unless it's my religious group.

That jest highlights the tendency many people have to treat the identification of cults almost like the pinpointing of pornography. The don't have a good definition of what makes a cult, but they're sure they'll know one when they see it.

The FBI has produced an article which goes much deeper and includes tests, based primarily on established high court rulings, regarding how "churches" and "cults" are defined. For more information about why Dills' position of authority matters, read the article published by the FBI entitled "Cults: A Conflict Between Religious Liberty and Involuntary Servitude" and I am providing a link to this article below. A very interesting read directly relevant to Jerry Dills' position of authority and his questionable practices and activities.

I will not bore those reading this post with specifics, or what these tests are or how they are applied. You can read this article and come to your own conclusions. Here is a link to that article, which is a 15-page .pdf file. Interesting stuff:

Cults: A Conflict Between Religious Liberty and Involuntary Servitude
by Orlin D. Lucksted and D.F. Martell
Special Agents and Legal Instructors
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Click here to read or download the article (.pdf file)
(This is a rather large file (6mb) so be patient...)

Happy reading

clearwater

[clearwater]

Another post to pin down some loose ends. I am making this post in case this was overlooked in one of my earlier posts. This is directly relevant to the question, "Is This For Real?"

In the 1993 news article which appeared in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal (included in full in an above post), this photo and caption appeared but may have been overlooked by those reading this thread (I'm sorry about the poor quality of the photo, but this will still get the point across):

The above photo shows Jerry Dills holding an eagle claw pipe. The caption reads: Macaki Peshewa shows his 7-year-old daughter Shamir an "eagle claw" pipe used in pipe ceremonies.

I think that pretty much wraps things up for me. If and when other pertinent information comes forth, I will share it here.

clearwater

[dabosijigwokush]

did some non profit research
native american church inc. Tennessee does not show up in guide star sight
native american church inc. Tennessee does not show up in Tennessee Department of State
Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming, as a Registered Charities
http://tnbear.tn.gov/ECommerce/FilingSearch.aspx
but i looked up the native american church. national they show up
and upon going to there listing of locations
they do not list any ties to Tennessee
http://web.archive.org/web/20050308162749/www.utah-nac.org/nacindex.html
i believe they might be interested in stopping this fraud as well
first by stripping him of that name and the use of the peyote
and strip them of eagle parts, like a eagle claw pipe if they are not native

i hope this helps

[Unegv Waya]

I am actually glad to see that there are no NAC chapters listed for Florida.  One less thing for the local crackers to try and claim.

[clearwater]

   

This is in follow up to an earlier post I made, and for which EducatedIndian has suggested some documentation. The above articles arrived in my mail today.

Kelley Graves was placed in this position by Jerry Dills.

Jerry Dills was warned repeatedley that Kelley was not handling the stress very well and should be removed. To gain an idea of the living environment where some of us "apprentices" to Dills lived and worked, well, here it is:

Click here to see TN Indian Bingo location in Memphis, TN, from 1985-1989

Jerry failed Kelley in three ways: Jerry was Chairman of the TN Indian Council and was also Kelley's boss; he was Kelley's "priest" and he was Kelley's uncle.

Jerry neglected advance warnings, did nothing at all and a few weeks later Kelley killed himself.

Jerry owned the concessions stand and relied on his nephew to send him these funds every week. This is in addition to the millions of $$ Jerry Dills skimmed off the Memphis bingo game over a two year period, tens of thousands of $$ per month. I have documented all this in great detail in my certified letter to federal and state authorities. As I said, I was there, I know exactly what happened, and I unfortunately helped Jerry do these things. I was young, stupid, and bamboozed by Jerry Dills. No more. Enough is enough.

clearwater

[clearwater]

Another of Dills' "Indian" corporations I overlooked in an earlier post:

http://tnbear.tn.gov/ECommerce/Common/FilingDetail.aspx?FilingNum=000158170
Dissolved by TN Secretary of State, 1991

Name: INDIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE AMERICAS, INC.
Old Name:  
  
Business Type:  
Status: Inactive - Dissolved (Administrative) Initial Filing: 06/27/1985
Formed in: Shelby County Delayed Effective Date:  
Fiscal Year Close: June AR Due Date: 10/01/1990
Term of Duration: Perpetual Inactive Date: 03/15/1991
 
Principal Office: 1018 OSCAR ARMSTRONG RD
KNOXVILLE, TN 379140000 USA
 
Annual Report
Mailing Address: 1018 OSCAR ARMSTRONG RD
KNOXVILLE, TN 379140000 USA
 
AR Exempt: No
Public Benefit Corporation: Yes

Registered Agent:   LANE, HUNTER  

I should definitely point out here that NONE of Dills' corporations, which he created, and which were listed as "Public Benefit Corporation" ever applied for, or obtained, tax-exempt status from IRS.

This corporation, Indian Historical Society of the Americans, Inc., was used as a shell to funnel money from the Tennessee Indian Council, Inc. to this company, which then paid the bingo workers in Memphis, TN. That was the sole purpose of this company. I know. I wrote the charter for that corporation and signed as incorporator. This is first-hand information of how that corporation was conceived and how it was used.

The Indian Historical Society of the Americas, Inc. was the subject of a federal grand jury investigation along with Jerry Dills, in the late 1980s. I have retained a researcher in west Tennessee to track all those old newspaper articles down for inclusion in this thread.

It is also of note that the ONLY corporation Dills has kept active, is Native American Church, Inc, which is not required to file federal taxes, because it is a "church." That's pretty convenient. Especially in light if the truth that Dills allowed numerous other corporations to be administratively dissloved by the TN Secretary of State...

All of this has been documented in earlier posts to this thread, including direct links to TN Secretary of State's website showing that each corporation was allowed to dissolve, and that the address for all was the same, being one of Dills addresses in Knoxville (Strawberry Plains area).

clearwater

[clearwater]

In an earlier post I included a newspaper article from Dills' later years in bingo games, in 1993 when he shut his bingo game down in Spartanburg, SC and ran back to Tennessee. That article was based on Dills' make-believe version of reality, and he conveniently forgot to mention that he had been instrumental in bingo games in Tennessee for over a decade.

The following two articles appeared in the Memphis, Tennessee Commercial Appeal newspaper on the same day, April 8, 1985, and document some of Dills' connections to organized crime figures and his takeover of the Tennessee Indian Council to conduct bingo games.

For those who do not remember, the Butchers, mentioned in this article, owned and operated United American Bank in Tennessee and were primary financiers of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, TN. Soon after the fair closed, that bank collapsed and and that time, it was one of the largest bank failures in US history and caused ripples nationwide.

This article is very interesting and shows Jerry Dills' involvement with these characters. Some readers here may also know of others named who were involved in Indian world at that time...

--clearwater



Appeared in Memphis' Commercial Appeal
April 8, 1985, page A1

Click to See scannced article, part 1   Scanned article, part 2

Butcher link might sink Indian games

By Chuck Cook
and Shirley Downing

Operators of an Indian bingo game in Memphis are central figures in a federal fraud investigation involving Knoxville financier C.H. Butcher Jr.

Federal investigators allege Butcher, after he was forced into bankruptcy in 1983, concealed assets through an Indian bingo game at the Pascua Yaqui Reservation game in Arizona operated by the same people who run the Indian game in Memphis.

They also claim he provided money to purchase rights to the Arizona game near Tucson, Ariz., with money drawn on a secret Cayman Island bank account.

The Arizona Indian bingo game was closed last November by tribal officials amid allegations of profit skimming and rigging of games by employees of its Tennessee-based operators, Val/Del Inc.

Val/Del is a corporation formed by operators of Memphis Indian Bingo at 806 East Brooks Road, apparently for the purpose of operating bingo games on Indian reservations.

Although Butcher's name does not appear on Val/Del's incorporation papers, he has solicited business for the firm and he has allegedly admitted to Arizona Indians that he financed the operation.

Nationally, Indian bingo has become a lucrative business for professional management companies such as Val/Del.

Indian bingo first surfaced in the mid-1970s on a Seminole Indian reservation in Florida. The games, unregulated by the federal government and out of reach of state laws, permit jackpots of up to $250,000 compared to $5,000 limits on regulated games.

Today, almost 60 tribes sponsor bingo games. Some, such as the Pascua Yaquis in Arizona, report unfavorable experiences with the management companies they hire to run their games.

Memphis' Indian Bingo game, operated under the auspices of the Tennessee Indian Council, opened in June 1983 with its proceeds supposedly to be used for job training and educational assistance for Tennessee Indians.

William S. Harris, Jr. of Knoxville, who had worked with the Seminole Indians in Florida, helped open the Memphis operation, said Dr. Mackaki PeSheWa, Indian council chairman.

The drive to get an Indian bingo game in Memphis began in 1981 when Harris approached the Tennessee Indian Council and its director, Fritz Niggler of Old Hickory, Tenn., with a proposal to sponsor a bingo game.

Harris was accompanied by the former Seminole chieftan Howard Tommie, who has been connected with Indian bingo games in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, California, Minnesota, Nebraska and Washington State.

Police in Florida allege Tommie's partners in a bingo management partnership were former business associates of the late organized crime leader Meyer Lansky.

Tommie and his business partners signed a contract with the Tennessee Indian Council to start the bingo operation in Memphis.

But PeSheWa -- formerly known as Jerry N. Dills -- said the Indian Council decided to run the games without Tommie's assistance.

In March 1983, after the Secretary of State's Office granted a bingo permit to the Indian Council, PeSheWa led a surprise takeover of the Indian Council's board of directors.

Niggler then became president of the Memphis Indian Bingo operation and Harris its manager.

The game, housed in a former skating rink in Whitehaven, opened its doors in June that year.

Meanwhile, Pan American Management, Inc. which was formed to manage Seminole Bingo while Tommie was chief of that tribe, had secured the contract on the Pascua Yaqui game near Tucson. The tribe, however, had grown disillusioned with Pan American.

In January 1984 the principals in the Memphis game -- by then incorporated under the name of Val/Del Inc. -- bought out this contract from Pan American for $550,000.

Harris, Niggler and PeSheWa, along with Knoxville motel operator Gary Long, are the principals of Val/Del Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Val/Del Inc. originally listed a Knoxville address that was the same Executive Park Drive location used for several of C.H. Butcher Jr.'s businesses.

Long's name has surfaced in the federal investigation of both banker Jake Butcher and C.H. Butcher Jr. Records show Long had more than $7 million in loans from financial institutions associated with Jake Butcher.

Pascua Yaqui attorney Jack Lansdale said C.H. Butcher Jr. funded the $550,000 purchase by moving the money through a trust fund for his son, a Texas ranching operations and Swiss and Cayman Island banks.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court exhibits filed March 22 in Knoxville show at least $1.5 million went through accounts controlled by the son, C.H. 'Butch' Butcher III, to a Swiss bank in the Cayman Islands.

C.H. Butcher Jr. was forced by creditors into bankruptcy in July 1983, six months before he allegedly fronted $550,000 for the Pascua Yaqui bingo rights.

The purchase of the Arizona bingo rights is the subject of a continuing Knoxville federal grand jury bankruptcy fraud investigation.

When Val/Del began operating the Arizona games, Harris retained his post as manager of the Memphis Indian Bingo and also became president of the Pascua Yaqui game. Niggler became the Arizona bingo operation's manager, remaining as president of the Tennessee Indian Council.

Niggler said he was to be a liaison between Val/Del and the Indians.

The relationship between the Arizona Indians and Val/Del soon soured.

The Indians has hired accountant Karen Maddox to oversee bingo. Within 45 days Ms. Maddox wrote a detailed memo to Pascua Yaqui chief and medicine man Anselmo Valencia complaining Val/Del was not adhering to normal accounting procedures.

Ms. Maddox said she later sent another detailed memo to tribal officials documenting what she thought was skimming by Val/Del employees.

Harris, Niggler and Long seemed to control Val/Del, but Valencia said he learned differently on a trip to New York.

In May 1984, Val/Del flew Valencia to Buffalo, N.Y., where they were trying to form a bingo partnership with the Tonowanda Indians.

Valencia said he was supposed to meet with Long there, but instead met with C.H. Butcher Jr.

Valencia said he was upset about continuing problems with Val/Del and wanted to speak to the man in charge.

"I asked Butcher, 'Who is putting up the cash" Is it Long or it is you?'" Valencia said. "Butcher said, "I am. It's my money.'"

Niggler said Butcher also visited the Arizona operations on several occasions.

The effort to open bingo at the Tonowanda reservations is one of several attempts Val/Del officials made to secure additional Indian games.

They also unsuccessfully tried to form bingo partnerships with the Potawatomi and Shawnee Indians in Oklahoma and the Chitimacha Indians in Louisiana.

In Oklahoma, their business partner was cowboy actor Dale Robertson, who starred in The Tales of Wells Fargo TV series.

But while they were trying to expand to other states, the problems with the Pascua Yaquis continued.

In May, the Indians fired Val/Del and locked them out of the bingo hall.

Val/Del went to court in July 1984 and won a brief reinstatement.

After Val/Del resumed management, the Indians allege they were locked out of the bingo hall's counting room.

The Pascua Yaquis would not accept this arrangement and last November they closed the bingo hall.

Maddox and Lansdale claim Val/Del officials took all the money from the bank accounts and left owing the tribe more than $120,000.

Maddox and Valencia gave the FBI three cases of allegedly rigged pull tabs from the bingo hall.

Pull tabs are sold to bingo players at the start of each session. Players pay 50 cents for each of the circular pull tabs and can instantly win from $1 to $250 in legitimately run games.

Maddox and Valencia said the pull tabs supplied by Bonus Games of Knoxville and shipped through Memphis were rigged so operators could dictate winners.

Bonus Games is owned by John Lovell, father of Anne Lovell, who was employed by Val/Del as bingo manager in Arizona.

John Lovell said in a recent interview he had no knowledge of the rigged cards.

Through the grand jury investigation, Harris has continued to run the Memphis Indian Bingo game and Niggler has remained president of the Indian Council, PeSheWa said.

PeSheWa claims the two draw no salary from the local operation.

And he said the Tennessee Indian Council will not ask them to disassociate themselves with the Memphis bingo game.

"These men are my friends," PeSheWa said. "I'm not going to divorce my friends just because of something that happened in Arizona."

Appeared in Memphis' Commercial Appeal
April 8, 1985, page A4

Click to See scannced article, part 1   Scanned article, part 2

Council takeover of bingo halls stirs bad blood
Full-blooded Indians angered by ouster from board[/b]

By Chuck Cook
and Shirley Downing

The Tennessee Indian Council once conducted programs for Tennessee's scattered Indians.

But soon after the secretary of state gave the council a bingo permit in 1983, most full-blooded Native Americans were ousted from its governing board.

Now the nonprofit agency's only function is running a bingo game in Memphis.

Full-blooded Indians such as Freeman Robinson, a Choctaw from Ripley, and Ray Emanuel, a Lumbee from Franklin, claim the takeover was a slap in the face for Tennessee Indians.

"Every time we turn around we get hurt," Emanuel said. "It wouldn't be so bad if they just wouldn't use the Indian Bingo name."

The game in Memphis is not a true Indian bingo operation such as reservation bingo where prizes are unlimited and games are basically unregulated.

Instead the Memphis game must meet the same requirements as other nonprofit games in Tennessee and limit its daily prizes to $5,000.

The takeover of the Indian council has resulted in a simmering two-year blood feud between current and former board members.

Former members claim the takeover was illegal and only full-blooded Indians understand the needs of other Native Americans.

But Fritz Niggler, present council president, and Mackaki PeSheWa, board chairman, say they have "enough Indian blood for it to count," and claim they have brought better management to the council.

PeSheWa, who is also known as Jerry N. Dills, acknowledges some members of the council are not Indians. But he said the council is trying to get new federal grants to restart job training programs for Native Americans.

The Tennessee Indian Council was formed in 1975 and was the only organization in Tennessee dedicated solely to helping the state's Native Americans.

The legislature last year approved formation of the Tennessee Indian Commission, but that agency is not yet operating.

The Indian Council's board was originally made up of Indians from several tribes -- Truman Bell, a Choctaw; Charles Hill, an Osage; Sylvester Stoney, a Chippewa; Emanuel and Robinson.

They hired Niggler, who formerly worked with the Choctaws in Mississippi, as executive director to administer their programs.

The Tennessee council sponsored job training programs funded through federal Indian programs until 1981 when the Department of Labor discontinued the grants because of alleged misappropriation of funds.

Emanuel said the loss of funds resulted from Niggler's mishandling of grant money. Niggler said the Indian council's board members were at fault.

Niggler then introduced William S. Harris to the council. Harris, who had worked with the Seminole Indians in Florida, sold them on the idea of funding their job programs by running a bingo game.

Through 1982 the council, along with Harris and Niggler, worked to obtain a state bingo permit.

Early in 1983 the secretary of state granted that permit.

In February of that year, PeSheWa paid dues for 15 associates from Strawberry Plains. In the next meeting, those new members supported a complete takeover by board members backed by PeSheWa.

Emanuel said in one night the board went from "control of Indians to control of a bunch of hippie-looking people in beads and sandals."

PeSheWa said the takeover was necessary. "We were tired of the way things were being run and we had the votes," he said.

Since the takeover, the Tennessee Indian Council has moved from Nashville to 806 East Brooks Road in Memphis, the location of the Indian bingo game.

PeSheWa said the proceeds for the game go to scholarship and charitable causes. "We provided food baskets for some church group and we provided scholarships for five students," he said.

Robinson said "when they took over their main purpose was bingo."

"That's all the Indian council is for now," he said. "It's just for bingo and who knows where the money goes."

Emanuel said that Indians who have tried to challenge the authority of the bingo hall operators have been threatened.

[ten-skey]

 Ray Emamuel -Lumbee : Don Yahola -Creek: the Bells - Miss. Chatas :Others ; some, lesser, Red " stars" Openly And Always stood with true indigenous Tenn. Cherokee ( after researching claimes ); Their views and sentiments WERE /ARE true And factual And one reason true Tenn indians keep a low profile the indian wars continue :::::: once land , resoures , lives ; Now  identiies   Ten-skey

[E.P. Grondine]

The best work I have read on cults is "Combating Cult Mind Control" by Steve Hassan, and you may find it of great personal use in dealing with the trauma inflicted on you.

My own sure sign of a cult is they lie. The lies are the sure sign.