To the editor:

In Canton, S.D., there is a municipal golf course built on the site of the federal government’s notorious “Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians.” Local racists love to ignore the big red sign that says “Absolutely NO PLAY from Cemetery,” where 121 native inmates are buried beside the fifth hole. Few were actually “insane.” Many were victims of corrupt Indian agents who got rid of “troublemakers” by declaring them crazy and shipping them off to this hellish gulag. I read about that obscenely misplaced golf course recently in an article by Pemina Yellow Bird, one of the early SLT opponents.

A Potawatomi entrepreneur wants to promote golfing among American Indian youths. Initially J.B. Cisneros wanted to build a course near Haskell’s Medicine Wheel! Maybe local historians told him about previous attempts to turn Haskell into a municipal golf course. Or perhaps someone with business sense explained that he and his associates would lose millions down those nine holes. Did some of the 500 Powawatomi SLT opponents help him understand the embarrassment his plan was causing them? Hopefully, this boondoggle will stay dead.

Last August, Jessica Dialleboust and Lamonte Billy won the first ever National Native American Junior Golf Championships. Imagine if the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, who complain that this place has too little identification with their sport, joined Mr. Cisneros, Haskell and the community to bring this national event to Eagle Bend in 2004 as part of our 150th celebrations. Now that is a real win-win plan.

Mike Caron,

Lawrence