The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1990-02-21

              Cross Deputization opposed in White Earth
—State and RBC may pass agreement despite opposition by white and Indian residents	
By Mark Boswell
Editor
"What I saw," said Byron Dyrland,
Department of Natural Resources
regional supervisor in Bemidji, "was
a bunch of people who don't like
each other in the first place."
Dyrland was commenting on an
informational meeting held last
week in Detroit Lakes to discuss
proposed legislation allowing DNR
and tribal government officers to
enforce hunting and fishing codes
within the White Earth reservation
boundary. The meeting, with Becker
County board members, was also
attended by about 60 residents of the
reservation who told representatives
that they don't want cross
deputization at White Earth.
Simply put, DNR officers could
arrest tribal members for violating
reservation codes and the cases
would be heard in tribal court. Tribal
officers would be able to arrest
non-Indians for state code
infractions. Those cases would be
heard in county court.
County board approval is not
needed for the state to enter into
agreement with tribal governments
for cross deputization. However, the
commissioners could testify for or
against the bill during state
legislative committee hearings.
Dyrland explained that the cross
deputization process is intended to
affect all state reservations except
Red Lake, which is a federally
recognized entity. Currently, Leech
Lake is cross deputized and has
operated as such since 1973. A
recent survey of arrests there found
that hunting and fishing violations
have decreased considerably.
"We feel we have increased our
manpower by four (Leech Lake)
officers, and by doing so it's
actually been a deterrent to
violations on that reservation,"
pointed out Dyrland. A large part of
the state including Leech Lake is
operating under this agreement. The
area was agreed upon in a treaty
signed in 1854.
Dyrland acknowledged the White
Earth seasons and regulations differ
from state law, but Leech Lake
Reservation's codes are now similar
to the state since cross deputization
was adopted.
"Increasing the enforcement of
both state and reservation laws will
only benefit the people," said
Dyrland
Another reason for adopting the
concept is to increase the safety of
conservation officers. Incidents have
occurred in the past where
conservation officers have not been
able to request the aid of state
officers in potentially dangerous
situations.
Fearing it would erode their
respective legal rights, residents of
White Earth oppose the document.
Commissioner Curtis Ballard
disliked giving the DNR
commissioner sole discretion in
determining whether the state will
enter into agreements with
individual reservations. He said
non-Indians should be able to offer
input.
Ballard also wondered if cross
deputization could lead to future
legal ramifications, such as
extending tribal authority over
non-Indians living on the
reservation.
Ann Schoenborn, Waubun,
questioned, whether the state full
understands court decisions in other
Allery appeal date set
U.S. Federal Court hearing to decide fraud
case for Red Lake Indian Health Service
Alan J. Allery, who filed an
appeal as a result of his
conviction by a United States
District court jury on two
courits of defrauding the Indian
Health Service of over $15,000
in travel funds, will get an
appeal in Federal Court. The
appeal will be decided by a
three .judge panel in St. Paul at
the Federal Court House on
March 14 at 9:00 a.m.
As a result of his conviction,
allery was sentenced to serve
one year and one day in federal
prison, to make restitution to
the U.S. Government in the
amount of $22,320, and to be
placed on probation for a
period of three years to
commence upon his release
from prison.
Allery will be represented
by attorney Steven J.
Meshbesher of Minneapolis,
who appealed the conviction
on the grounds that: (l)The
evidence presented in the case
is insufficient to find the
appellant (Allery) guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt.
(2) The trial court erred by
refusing to give the jury,
upon their request, an
enlarged copy of the
government rule and
regulation regarding what
constitutes temporary quarters.
Meshbesher will request oral
arguments whereas Assistant
U.S. James E. Lackner will
represent the U.S.
Government's decision to
convict Allery.
Allery, who was former
Director of the Bemidji area
office of IHS, is currently
employed as a consultant to the
Red Lake Tribal Council.
The appeal will be heard by
Judges Mclnnis, Haney and
Beam.
Judge halts foreclosure and sale
of Little Earth Housing Project
Minneapolis, Minn. (AP) - A
judge has halted the foreclosure and
sale of the Little Earth housing
project in Minneapolis, saying
federal officials must wait for a
ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. District Judge Robert Renner
on Friday granted a temporary
restraining order halting the
foreclosure at the request of Little
Earth of United Tribes Inc., which
has been in default of its mortgage
since 1975.
Larry Leventhal, a lawyer
representing Little Earth, said a
foreclosure and sale could do
irreparable harm by causing a
management change at the housing
project.
Leventhal also said that federal
officials have shown no commitment
to maintaining Little Earth as a
community for people with low and
moderate incomes, particularly
American Indians.
He also submitted affidavits from
Mayor Don Fraser and other city
officials who said Minneapolis is
interested in buying Little Earth and
maintaining its current use.
Little Earth has asked the U.S.
Supreme Court to review an Eighth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
decision on the matter. That ruling
upheld Renner's 1987 dismissal of
Little Earth's discrimination and
civil rights claims against the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
The group says discrimination by
the agency caused it to default on its
mortgage.
states that have altered non-Indian
rights on reservations.
"It sound so nice at Leech Lake the
way he's presented it, but I feel
sorry for these people, becasue in
these 18 years they have laid
everything out for the tribal
government to come out and use it
against them," said Schoenborn.
"I can understand the apprehension
these people have," said Dyrland,
"but in recent memory we haven't
had any such complaints in Leech
Lake."
White Earth tribal member Marvin
Manypenny wondered if the state
could actually arrest Indians for
game and fish violations when that
power rested with the federal
government. He also criticized the
DNR for not holding public hearings
on the reservaiton to explain the bill.
White Earth/see page 9
tJage-   (salvia officinalis)
"In former times, herbs were
used as rescue ingredients to
disguise slightly "off foods in
summer and to improve the
taste of salted or preserved
foods in winter long before the
use of refrigeration."
Sage is commonly used in
religious and ceremonial
settings, but it is used
extensively in the preparation
of food. See page 8.
[
"S^.o-ics.^  <->*? Hir-k€z   >^T^TLiSt^JLx^aLt>e
	
Fifty Cents
1 Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1990
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
A Bi-Monthly Publication
White Earth author visits Moorhead
 Gerald Vizenor's novels win acclaim, awards	
Gerald Vizenor, author, spoke recently at Moorhead State University.
Photo by Mark Anthony /courtesy MSU Publications.
By Mark BosweH
Editor
"Clement William Vizenor, my
lather, was a crane descendant when
be was born on the reservation, but
he was murdered on a narrow street
in Minneapolis... He died in a
place no crane would choose to
land, at a time no totem would
endure. One generation later the
crane recurs in imagination, our
interior landscapes. "--
from Interior Landscapes:
Autobiographical Myths and
Metaphors
Gerald Vizenor is a man who is
hard to define by any terms. A poet,
writer and storyteller, he has
published dozens of short stories,
poems, narrative histories and
literary criticisms. He is also a man
of great knowledge concerning the
oral traditions of the Ojibwe people.
Prone to answering questions with
insightful anecdotes, he rarely stays
long on any particular topic. Rather,
he miraculously weaves together a
vast array of disassociated elements,
Red Lake Tribal Council approves
$785,000 in attorney contracts
William J. Lawrence
Publisher
According to documents
obtainted by the News, the Red
Lake Tribal Council passed
resolutions approving four attorney
contracts which totalled $785,000.
By resolution No. 226-89, dated
November 13, 1989, the RLTC
approved the contract of the law
firm of Sonosky, Chambers and
Sachse for a one year period
commencing September 1, 1989,
at an annual fee of $75,000.
By resolution No. 234-89, the
RLTC approved the contract of the
law firm Pirtle, Morisset and
Schlosser and Ayer for a three year
period beginning October 1,1989,
at an annual fee of $170,000 and
expenses of $30,000.
In addition, the RLTC hired the
same law firm (Pirtle, Morisset,
Schlosser and Ayer) to a special
consultant contract for a one year
period, beginning October 1, 1989,
at an annual fee of $12,000 and
expenses of $3,000.
Finally, by resolution No. 9-90,
dated January 12, 1990, the RLTC
approved the contract of the law
firm of Edwards, Edwards and
Bodin for a one year period
commencing October 1, 1989, at an
annual fee of $90,000 and expenses
of $5,000.
According to 25 USC 476 and 25
USC 1331 all tribal government
attorney contracts must be approved
by the Secretary of the Interior.
Authority to approve tribal
attorney contracts has been
delegated by the secretary of the
Interior to Deputy to the Assistant
Secretary for Interior Affairs by
230 D.M. 1.1 and has been further
redelegated by 10 BIAM 3.1 to
Bureau of Indian Affairs Area
Directors.
Minneapolis (BIA) area Director
Earl Barlow approved the first
three contracts on January 3 and 4,
1990, and the latter on February 9,
1990.
All four of the contracts were in
effect over ninety days prior to
their approval.
resynthesizing them into stories that
go far beyond what and where the
conversation began. Maybe that's
why he is considered not only one of
the nation's best Native American
authors, but one of the best
authors...period.
Vizenor, an enrolled member of
the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, is
past director of the Indian Studies
Department at Bemidji State
University. He studied at the
University of Minnesota, Twin
Cities, and has worked as a social
worker and historian. Currently, he
is Provost of Kresge College and
Professor of Native American
Literature at the University of
California, Santa Cruz.
Not bad for a kid who grew up in
the Indian ghettos of Minneapolis
and the remote backwaters of the
White Earth Reservation. Most
people whould consider this
background a hinderance, Vizenor
believes it is his personal source of
limitless energy.
He was recent visiting author at
Moorhead State University for the
Tom McGrath Visiting Writer's
Series. Vizenor's recent visit
included an informal talk on the
writer's craft that turned into another
one of Vizenor's complex lectures
on the significance of Native
American storytelling and the
interpretation of symbolic elements
in aboriginal thought.
His most recent books include
"Interior Landscapes:
Autobiographical Myths and
Memoirs" and "Native Chance: Post
-Modern Discourse on Native
American Literatures," an edited
collection of essays.
A chronicler of the American
Indian Movement in the 1970's, he
has seen some of the most
significant times in contemporary
Indian history. His book
"Crossbloods: Bone Courts, Bingo
and Other Reports" recounts his
days as a reporter and editorial
writer for the Minneapolis Tribune;'
he is one fo the few American
Indian mixedbloods who has had a
significant career as a journalist. The
collection includes essays on
reservation treaties, bingo as a cash
crop, and "bone courts" to protect
tribal remains.
His first novel, "Bearheart: the
heirship Chronicles" overturns
"terminal creeds" and "violence in a
decadent and material culture".
More than a science fiction novel,
"Bearheart" illustrates the
destructive impulses in modern
Western culture and the persuasive
answers that lie in the hearts and
minds of traditional peoples
everywhere.
His recent novel,"Griever: An
American Monkey King in China"
won the 1988 American Book
Award; he also received the
California Arts Council Literature
Award, also in 1988.
"Griever" weaves political
commentaries, cultural adventures,
and Chinese and Native American
Indian myths into stories rich in
insight. Set in conteporary China, a
reservation-born trickster takes on
the entire People's Red Army in a
classic batde between the heart and
mind.
The autobiographical "Interior
Landscapes" pulls together scenes
from a past that is a "rememberance
past the barriers", a hard look at
imposed histories and how they
shape the thoughts of one Indian
man.
Although Vizenor's visit to
Moorhead was marred by the loss of
his voice to laryngitis, he was able to
suggest that everyone buy his books.
They're available through the
University of Minnesota Press, 2037
University Ave. S.E., Minneapolis,
MN, 55414.
Look for an upcoming interview
series with Gerald Vizenor in the
Ojibwe News.
W
Indian preference abuse
in economic development:
19 of the largest so-called Indian companies
that receive a part of the over $200 million a
year federal aid for development are in fact
"fronts" for large non-Indian corporate developers. Despite knowledge by BIA and HUD
agencies these contractors have drained the
profits and left little for Tndian tribes. From
the continuing series documenting the findings
of the Senate Select Report. See page 10.