KOOSE MAN
Koose is a good old dog,
A good old dog is he -
A big old bear came messin’ around,
He chased him up a tree.
Mama gave me a biscuit,
I got two more for three –
When I’m sittin’ around a-eatin’
His big eyes stare at me.
We’ve come a long way,
This old dog - my pal,
All we need is a fishin’ hole
Or maybe a pretty gal.
We ain’t rich
Or nice to look at.
I dislike cussin’
And he hates a darned ole cat!
I’m an old Indian and he be a cur
I got wrinkled skin and he got dirty gray fur
But we like
how Creator made us
Bad as it may seem –
We are happy to still be walkin'
With life enough to dream.
Every man needs a pal, an old cur-dog will do
Someone trustin’ to walk this life thru.
We got no real learnin’, like science or maybe math
But just wise enough to stay the old beloved path.
Koose is a good old man,
Koose is a good old man,
Keeps his head in the food pan,
But Koose is a good old man.
Bobby Johns Bearheart 10-22-03
©
In Loving Memory of a
Faithful Friend - Koose - 1990
- July 2008
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Schedule of Spring - Summer Events
April 5 - University of West Florida -
Festival on The Green 10 - 5
April 10 - *Micco Bearheart - Youth
Leap, Belmont Arts and Culture Center
April 19 - *Pensacola Earth Day
Celebration 10- 5 Bayview Park - East Hill*
April 20 - Pensacola Little Theatre
Sunday Matinee Performance of "Siyotanka"
April 25 - *Chumuckla Elementary School
Pow wow *
April 26 - Pensacola Historical Museum
- Bear Mobile First
Birthday Celebration
May 2 - Bay Day - Admiral Mason Park -
Downtown Pensacola
May 3 - *Workman Middle School School -
Multi-cultural Day *
May 5 - Beulah Elementary School -
Heritage Day
May 21 - Brown Barge Middle School
May 23 - Chumuckla Elementary School -
Read Across Chumuckla
May 23 - *"Celebrate Pensacola" 450th
Birthday Kick-off Party*
June 12 - 4-H Summer Camp - Niceville,
FL
June 17 - *Northside Baptist Church -
Columbus, GA*
June 23 - History Camp - Historic
Pensacola Village*
June 26 - Pensacola Boys Base
Want to schedule the Bearheart
Mobile Museum for your school or organization?
Contact
Perdido Bay Tribe
for full information
* Events not including the Mobile Museum
       
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PBT Member Helps
Search
For Artifacts of
Ancient Ancestors
June 2008 Utinahica, Georgia
For many months, three PBT members
planned and prepared to participate in the Fernbank Museum Summer Archaeology
Program for one week during the month of June.
“The Search for Santa Isabel de Utinahica” archaeological
program is working sites in south Georgia
along the historic and
beautiful Ocmulgee River very near the place where Micco Bearheart grew up.
Sadly, Nanette Pupalaikis and Eden Halil had to cancel because of illness in the
family. Though missing her friends, April Dixon went ahead alone to the dig and
enjoyed an enriching experience.

© April Dixon
© April Dixon
In addition to their work at the dig,
students were given a homework assignment to help gain a better appreciation
for the high level of skill required to make the beautifully handcrafted
pottery created by the ancients. The students were each given a lump
of clay dug from the banks of the Ocmulgee River and challenged to fashion
and decorate a pot with their own hands.
That evening, back at her motel room,
April spent several hours and many 'restarts' to complete her project. Her
creative designs were stamped on with a tiny cut-glass salt shaker
purchased at a local thrift store and a piece of her own jewelry. The next
morning, April awoke with thoughts of her pot, wondering if it had
collapsed during the night. She was delighted to see
her 'Clay Pot Sitting There' just as she left it and was reminded of PBT's
vision, ALCASALICA.
The students' clay
creations were placed in the sun to dry for a few days before being baked in
an open fire.


Alcasalica - Clay Pot Sitting There
The Search for Santa Isabel de Utinahica:
A Fernbank Research and Public Archaeology
Program
http://www.fernbankmuseum.org/pdfs/arch/Summer-Archaeology.pdf
       
Summer Activities
A Day at 4-H Summer Camp - Niceville, FL
June 12, 2008

Museum Exhibits - Crafts - Dances - Flute
Music - Stories and Fun!


Five Rehabilitated Birds
from the Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida
Released at PBT's Jones Swamp
Site
June
13, 2008

Dorothy Kaufmann, Director of the
Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida
releases a Little Green Heron and a
Great Blue Heron into the watery paradise of Jones Swamp

Escambia County Commissioner, Gene
Valentino and Chief Bearheart
prepare to release three young
Red Shouldered Hawks
For more photos visit the Pensacola
News Journal Website:
http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
Click on Photos by
staff

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Northside Baptist Church -
Columbus, GA
Stan & Rocky
Cartwright
With Seniors Group
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The Ballad of the
Choctawhatchee River
A Father's Day Tribute to a Beloved Elder
Nanette Sconiers-Pupalaikis
It is always well worth the effort to
listen to our elders. The stories they share of our ancestors, an adventure, or
a different lifestyle, will simply fade away if we do not take the time to
record their history or retell their stories to our children. We all hold
something that future generations will value—After all every family has a saga
and it is worth preserving. Family stories are not only tales about people,
places, and events related to our ancestors but also often closely linked to our
community.
I grew up hearing stories told by my father, Junior Howard Sconiers. He
sometimes casually recounts an entertaining moment while we sit around the
dinner table. Other stories unfold while huddled around a fireside on the banks
of the Choctawhatchee River—we listened to his voice rise and fall as if it were
a natural part of the river’s song or the crackling fire. Daddy effortlessly
draws us into an adventure and then leaves us laughing or sighing for a quick
sunrise so that we might rush out to experience such a life. He can paint the
scene so real that we all became part of the chase to track ‘Old Crook-Foot’
through the swamps or hop Curry’s Ferry on a sunny day to visit folks on the
west side of the river. He has a keen gift of reenacting every sound—a twig
snapping suddenly underfoot, the rumbling of distant thunder, his fishing lure
as it hits the water—pluuuugh! Or the cowww of his rifle when he fires.
Again and again, he has held a captive
audience with his uncanny ability to tell the tale. His stories offer a journey
back in time to retrieve some forgotten treasure. Papa (as his grandkids call
him), keeps the brood sitting on the edge of his world—a natural and wild place,
both pristine and haunting. His memorable stories of his life and that of his
family and community take on special importance because they flow like the river
from our past. Daddy’s tales have become family heirlooms held in the heart of
his children and grandchildren. Tales that fascinate the young and give lift to
the soul that always wishes to remember the good old days. His stories are a
gift to each generation that preserves them by remembering to pass them on.
I earnestly believe that there is a
wholesome quality associated with spending time with family. The ceremonial
holiday gatherings and casual, everyday get-togethers become one thread of an
ongoing narrative. There is deep commitment and a sense of comfort within those
families who share time and stories whether they are separated by miles or live
across the field from their parents, next door to their aunt, or around the
river’s bend from their siblings. A sense of belonging extends across the
generations and the miles.
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Letter to Doris
Wust in Germany. . .

Dear Special Lady
Doris,
You asked me to
share a few thoughts with you. I believe there is a destiny that
makes us brothers; none goes his way alone; all that we send into
the lives of others will come back into our own. It’s what my Clan
Uncle called being a real human being.
We must unite in
our efforts to resolve differences and get on with the beauty of
life. We are in great need of cleansing our great lands. Earth
Mother’s tears for the desecration of her gifts to all; we must
defend her. Enforce our pollution laws and demand governments
research better ways of prevention.
We love our
children and grandchildren and the future progeny. It is our duty to
guarantee that this land will be safe for them and those that
follow. Extend love and friendship – The Brotherhood of man
transcends the Sovereignty of nations. Follow the Red Road and
learn, then teach.
Mvto,
Mekko Bobby
Johns Bearheart
http://indianerfaehrten.himmelsreisen.de
Visit Doris' Website
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The Vision of
ALCASALICA Guides our Path
Native
Paths Cultural Heritage and Resource Center
A Place of our Own
In Jones Swamp Preserve
A serenely peaceful site
at the edge of the vast expanse of Jones Swamp in Southwest Pensacola
was offered to PBT in 2007 by Escambia County and accepted with gratitude.
In the past months, there have been obstacles to overcome, but working
closely will all involved, we have made steady progress toward opening the
long-sought 'place of our own.'
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Native Paths
Cultural Heritage
& Resource Center
This 1,700 sq. ft.
house will serve as PBT's new administrative headquarters for all present
and future projects in service to our community.
Renovations and
furnishing are a work in progress, and "Native Paths" will be ready to open
soon.
Native Paths
will also serve as a temporary mini
version of our envisioned Muscogee Creek Cultural Heritage Museum and Learning
Center - including a library and media center.
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Photo Documentation of The Work in Progress
by Pat Easterwood
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Story of the Jones Swamp Preserve & PBT's Role
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With
funding support from both private and government agencies,
the 800-acre Jones Swamp Eco-system,
with its rich diversity of wildlife and rare plants, is to become
part of the Northwest Florida Greenway that extends eastward to
Apalachicola, and will be protected for low-impact recreational use
only.
Protection
of Jones swamp is part of Florida’s aggressive move to salvage and
restore the integrity of its rivers, bays and aquifers.
PBT’s place in the
scheme of things will be to serve as low-impact stewards and to
manage this portal to the planned hiking and equestrian trails in
the Jones Swamp preserve. |
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This arrangement with
Escambia county will give PBT the opportunity and the facilities to do all
we have been striving for in service to Indian Heritage people and to our
greater community - and much more. In addition to our Muscogee Creek
Heritage Museum and Learning Center, we also envision such activities as
nature day camps for children, classes to teach NA arts and crafts, soil
and water projects etc. all within the framework of teaching the attitudes
of the ancient Native Americans of the SE toward using and protecting the
natural environment.
Our new home in Jones Swamp will become a
source of pride and service for all Native American peoples of our
community.
Our
surroundings will provide a place for environmental studies and nature
trails planted with indigenous plants that were utilized by Native
peoples. Projects such as these will provide opportunities for high school
and college students, Scouts and other youth groups.
We will continue to
enjoy the support of the NRCS and Three Rivers RC&D in the environmental
projects, and working with other nature oriented organizations, the
possibilities are endless.
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This photo of the
dry land area shows a trail leading into the interior of the swamp
in which grows the only remaining stands of the white-topped pitcher
plant as well as numerous other rare species of wetland plants. The
swamp also teems with wildlife of all kinds.
Escambia County officials have
indicated some exciting plans for developing Jones Swamp. PBT is
proud to be a part of these plans and we look forward to sharing
details as they unfold.
Please return often for
news and updates.
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PBT members and friends
are working diligently to breathe life into our new
Native Paths Cultural
Heritage and Resource Center
We have seen the vision
of ALCASALICA, the ‘Clay Pot Sitting There.’
We have heeded the wisdom
of the ancients.
We are inspired to give our best to honor our heritage
and rise to the
opportunities presented to us.
There is much to do. PBT will welcome
all the donations of time, talent, skills, equipment, funds and elbow
grease we can find among our members and friends in Pensacola and
around the country. A special need now
are donations of completed quality arts and crafts for sale and natural
raw materials such as deer toes, antler, horse hair, legal feathers,
gourds, snake rattles, gator teeth, semi-precious stones etc. suitable for
creating unique Native American-style crafts to prepare for future classes
and to support our projects.
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