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Friday, February 1, 2013

American Indian Heritage Day

Your Signature is requested for
 NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY
NOTE - DRAFT LETTER

 We beam all day long when we do a good thing; here is an opportunity for us to earn a cheer.

The Native Americans and the American Indian Heritage Day Committee is asking you to consider supporting H.B. No.174, a bill to create the American Indian Heritage Day.


With enough signatures from fellow Texans, it will make it easy for the state representatives to pass the bill, that will create an "American Heritage Day" to honor and appreciate the Native Americans. Every community, and every nation on the earth has a national day, except fellow Native Americans. We all have to participate and contribute towards each others pride.

All you have to do is copy the following letter below or modify to suit your reflections, write your name, address and email to: roberto.alonzo@house.state.tx.us and copy to pslarney@gmail.com. You are welcome to copy me as well at MikeGhouse@gmail.com.

This information is also available at www.MikeGhouse.net and at http://standingupforothers.blogspot.com/2013/02/american-indian-heritage-day.html
The full letter is appended below



Thank you.

Mike Ghouse
America Together Foundation



DRAFT LETTER (modify to suit your expressions)

To members of the Texas Legislature and other elected officials:

Please accept this letter and my signature below as my strongest possible request that you lend your immediate support to passage of H.B. No. 174, a bill to create "American Indian Heritage Day" in the State of Texas.

This bill deserves passage and will bring deserved recognition of the historic, cultural, and social contributions those American Indian communities and leaders have made to this state.



We, the thousands of American Indian tribal members and friends of various tribes, have waited long to finally receive this deeply deserved respect and recognition from the State of Texas. With the passage of this bill, you have a unique opportunity and responsibility to celebrate the rich traditional and contemporary American Indian culture in this state.



We hope you will realize that Texas ranks 4th in the nation in numbers of American Indians living in the state.  Additionally, we urge you to take note of the presence of tribal members in Texas from over 120 different American Indian tribes, eight federally funded Indian Education Programs in the state, one Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas, and the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Texas. Some writers have called our people "the invisible people" and certainly passage of H.B. 174 will help to create much needed awareness of our impact in the state.



We thank you in advance for your help in passage of H.B. 174 in the Texas Legislature in the upcoming session. This is a proud moment for our people and we hope you will lend your support to officially celebrating this state's rich American Indian heritage and history.



_____________________ _____________________________________

Signature                                                                           Date



___________  _______________________________________________

Name Printed



___________________________________________________________

Address



 __________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip









By:  Alonzo    H.B. No. 174

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

relating to creating American Indian Heritage Day.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 662, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 662.056 to read as follows:



Sec. 662.056.  AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE DAY.  (a)  The last Friday in September is American Indian Heritage Day in recognition of the historic, cultural, and social contributions American Indian communities and leaders have made to this state.



(b)  American Indian Heritage Day shall be regularly observed by appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs in the public schools and other places to honor American Indians in this state and to celebrate the rich traditional and contemporary American Indian culture.

SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2013.





January 2013                   

 TIME SENSITIVE CORRESPONDENCE

RE:  American Indian Heritage Day of Texas



It is inappropriate for Indian children and children of America to celebrate a day honoring a person for discovering a nation of people and not having a holiday paying tribute to the people of those nations.  Therefore, the American Indian Heritage Day Core Committee is asking that you consider supporting H.B. No.174, a bill to be entitled an act relating to creating American Indian Heritage Day.



Representative Robert R. Alonzo, D-Dallas, will be introducing H.B. No.174 to the Committee Reading of the 2013 Texas Legislature that could be as early as mid- to late February.  We hope to receive at least two weeks notice so that we can announce the date and make preparation for appearance at the Committee Reading.



1.  Letter of Support

We are asking that you support H.B. No.174 with a Letter of Support AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  Attached is a draft Letter of Support that you may use to develop your own or just sign the draft Letter of Support and forward.  We ask that you either email or fax the Letter of Support to Texas Representative Robert R. Alonzo at Robert.Alonzo@house.state.tx.us or Fax 512-463-1817.  Please send me a copy at pslarney@gmail.com



2.  Testimony

We invite that you consider in presenting personal testimony to support H.B. No.174 either in person at Austin or have the testimony recorded in a journal to be presented to the Committee Reading.  We expect to receive a very short notice to the day the Committee Reading will hear H.B. No.174.  Again, submit the testimony to Representative Robert Alonzo's office for recording.  Please send me a copy at pslarney@gmail.com  ----   so that I may keep a log of possible presenters.



3.  For Further Information

We ask that you share this information with your families, friends, and community and ask them to submit a letter of support or a testimony.  We need a Texas-wide support.  Please contact your local elected officials and inform them of the upcoming H.B. No.174 and solicit their support.



Peggy Larney, Chair-American Indian Heritage Day Core Committee

pslarney@gmail.com or  214 943 9616 



Attachment:  Draft Letter of Support and Copy of H.B. No.174
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