[StBernard] SBPG Working With Blackfeet Indian Nation

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish President Henry "Junior'' Rodriguez is working on a
possible agreement with the Blackfeet Indian Nation to present to the
federal government seeking funding for the tribal group to gut storm-damaged
structures in the parish as well do other types of needed work.

Any agreement worked out between the Blackfeet Tribe, based in Norrthern
Montana near the border of Canada, and the parish would be subject to
approval by the Federal Emergency Management Agency which would then pay for
the project.

Representatives of the Blackfeet Tribe, named for its traditional black
moccasins, visited St. Bernard Parish on Monday to discuss their offer to
enter into an agreement that would bring 1,200 to 6,000 workers from several
reservations and tribes in Montana, Wyoming and other states to gut and
remove storm damage from St. Bernard homes and businesses. Also, if the
federal government approved, the Indian tribes would also provide workers to
rebuild homes, tribal representatives said.

Visiting were Jay St. Goddard, vice chairman of the Blackfeet Tribe; members
William "Bill'' Old Chief and Leon Vielle, all of the Browning, Montana
area. They said there are about 15,000 members enrolled in the Blackfeet
Tribe, of which about 7,000 live in Montana and the rest throughout the
nation.

Indian officials and parish government will soon present the issue to
federal officials to seek approval.

St. Bernard Parish government currently has a program in which service
groups of volunteers from several states have been removing storm debris
from the homes of parish residents who can sign up either at the parish
government building or the parish website at www.sbpg.net. Numerous homes
have been worked on by the volunteers.

But Rodriguez said the parish would be interested in contracting with the
Indians because of the number of workers they could supply to handle the
gutting of homes, which would speed up getting residents in a position to
move back in.

"It would put the parish on a rapid recovery,'' Rodriguez said. The
preliminary agreement also calls for the Indians to be self-sufficient, not
requiring the parish to supply lodging or food, he said.

"We would get the job done,'' said Vielle, a veteran wildfire fighter. 
He 
said his group wants to "attack a disaster like a fire,'' pouring in
resources until the problem was handled. There would be jobs provided for
local workers also, he said.

Vielle said the Indian group would build its own incident base camp where
workers could live and eat.