Hmong Hunter's Death Has Wis. on Edge

AP via SFGate ^ | 1/7/7 | EMILY FREDRIX

[SmithL]

Green Bay -- A Hmong hunter has been found dead in a wildlife area in a case that is stirring memories of a mass shooting that exposed racial tensions.

Cha Vang, 30, of Green Bay, was found dead Saturday morning, a night after he was reported missing in the Peshtigo Harbor Wildlife Area in northeastern Wisconsin. Investigators have not said how they believe he died but said they are treating the case as a homicide. An autopsy is planned for Monday.

Authorities detained a 28-year-old Peshtigo man, James Nichols, who showed up at a medical center Saturday with a gunshot wound that wasn't life-threatening, said Laurel Steffes, a spokeswoman for the Marinette County Sheriff's Department. He is considered a person of interest but was being held on a parole violation from an unrelated burglary conviction and had not been charged in Vang's death, she said.

Dealings between the Hmong, an ethnic minority group from Southeast Asia, and predominantly white residents of the mostly rural north woods have been on edge since November 2004, when Hmong immigrant Chai Soua Vang, 38, of St. Paul, Minn., killed six white hunters and injured two while trespassing in a private tree stand.

Chai Vang claimed he acted in self-defense after they shouted racial epithets, cursed at him and one fired a shot in his direction. The former truck driver is serving multiple life terms.

[-YYZ-]

"We're in "Oneida" country, both the flatware business (which is not doing very well)"

No? What's the problem - cheap asian competition? It's too bad, they make really nice stainless steel flatware - we have 3 sets of it, one (heavy, really nicely finished) fancy set and 2 for regular use.

[Marysecretary]

Yes, I think that's exactly the problem. I bought two nice sets for $15 each (each a place setting for 8) at their store. It was a promo, and I love them. They are beautiful and heavy. Too bad. Americans need to stop buying asian cheapies and save to buy American goods, if and when possible.

[Godebert]

"See how the whites, blacks and asians have screwed the place up, maybe we ought to just give ALL of Wisconsin up to the Oneida ~ just the way Thomas Jefferson intended."

Why should we give it up? We Pale Faces whipped you Injuns fair and square. ; )

[muawiyah]

Since the Injuns I'm speaking of were allies of the United States of America in their battle against the Brits, who whuthed who?

Seems to me the Injuns whuthed the British whites for you.

[stand watie]

MOST of us Indians wouldn't take NY back, if it was offered.

free dixie,sw