The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1990-04-18

              Request for TRO heard in Red Lake Tribal Court
By Mark Boswell
Editor
Francis "Chunky" Brun and James
White, both Red Lake Tribal
employees, filed an injunction in
Red Lake Tribal Court against the
Red Lake Tribal Council on April 2.
The injunction, made in response to
new regulations determining who
can run for political office, is, in
Brun's words, "unconstitutional".
The dispute stems from a Feb. 20
meeting by the RLTC, under
Chairman Roger Jourdain, that
allegedly installed new election
regulations without a special vote by
the Red Lake people. Jourdain
argued that, even if the judge rules
in Brun and White's favor, the
decisions made at the Feb. 20
meeting can be superceded through
"sovereign immunity" provisions
tested in previous cases.
The Red Lake Constitution,
adopted in 1958, has no provisions
for the superceding of its By-Laws
by the Tribal Council. Jourdain has
been pushing for the installation of
new voting regulations that require
"Any tribal employee having to
resign in order to run in an election."
Brun pointed out that incumbent
candidates, who may also be
employed by the Red Lake Band of
Chippewa Indians, do not have to
give up their jobs in order to run for
political office.
Other councilmembers clain that
Brun seeks to overturn new regulation
that dictates tribal employees must
resign in order to seek political office
the resoution was acted
without their proper vote.
Judge Fairbanks has until April
23rd to decide whether or not the
new ordinance is constitutional and
whether or not Brun's injunction has
validity in reference to the Red Lake
Constitution. April 23rd is also the
deadline for filing for political office
in Red Lake.
Brun requested a Temporary
Restraining Order (TRO) yesterday
before Judge Fairbanks. Fairbanks is
the Chief Tribal Judge for Bois Forte
Reservation, was asked to hear the
case. Red Lake Tribal Chief Judge
Margaret "Peggy" Treuer declined
from hearing the case on grounds of
"conflict of interest".
Bobby Whitefeather and Roger
Jourdain appeared on behalf of the
RLTC. Marvin Needham, tribal
court advocate, also preent was in
support of Brun and White.
Brun and White defended their
position on the grounds that the
newly installed election provisions:
(1) Violate rights guaranteed by
the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968.
(2) Violates acts under the Red
upon   Lake Constitituition.
(3) Should have been submitted to
a referendum vote by the people of
Red Lake.
Actions of the Tribal Council can
be, according to the Red Lake
Constitution, subject to review by a
tribal court if they are a violation of
the constitution, according to the
section referred to by Brun.
George Jones, Roman Stately Jr.
and Alan English, all district
representitives of Red Lake, were
not present at the court hearing, said
specific language requiring
resignation of tribal employees, was
discussed but not adopted by the
council. The proposed resolution
was to be reviewed by the tribal
attorney but never acted upon.
Allegedly, the provisions in
question were not adopted by the
council.
Injunction/ see page 2
(■■     <jb i
^^^^^^m^amaM
By
icated tfe
relieve that W
vesaent desigi
antee the prf
native peoples
pblishmgaiK
itesthatwew
Fifty Cents
i—
MCT meeting rescheduled
L
Founded fn 1988
Volume 2 Issue 19
April 18, 1990
i
e Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1990
The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
meeting postponed from April 17,
has been rescheduled for May 3, at
Grand Portage Reservation. The
agenda for the meeting includes
current election ordinances and
filing fees.
Controversy surrounds the
legitimacy of filing fees, rumored to
be as high as $1000 per candidate.
Tribal elections are scheduled for
May 23rd on the Red Lake
Reservation and June 12th on all the
other Minnesota reservations.
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Red Lake Tribal Bingo nets $750,000 in 1989
A Bi-Monthly Publication
While Earth enrollees receive $496,935.02 from WELSA agreement
Five original allottees receive half a million dollars
in compensation for land lost
on the White Earth Reservation
By Mark Boswell
Editor
By William J. Lawrence
Publisher
According to information obtained
from a source who wishes to remain
anonymous, the Red Lake Tribal
Bingo operation net profits for 1989
were $750,000.
The same source also indicated
that with the exception of $50,000
of the bingo proceeds used to fund
the Red Lake 4th of July
celebration, the balance of the
bingo profits are under the control
of Red Lake Tribal Chairman Roger
A. Jourdain.
Another source told the News that
the Red Lake Humanities Center,
where the bingo operation is housed
is on the Red Lake Public School
District's operating plant budget.
That is, the school distrct pays for all
electrical, heating and maintenance
of the building.
Red Lake school officials would
not comment on the matter.
The Red Lake Bingo operation
was established in 1984.
Red Lake Band sues to
recover land in Baudette
The News recently learned that the
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
filed a law suit on August 22, 1989,
in the U.S. District Court in
Minneapolis to quiet title and for the
fair rental value of 59.25 acres of
land located within the city of
Baudette, Minnesota.
The suit which was initially filed
only against the City of Baudette,
has now been amended to include
the U.S. Customs Service, the State
of Minnesota Department of
Transportation, the Baudette school
district, Minnkota Power, and the
Canadian National Railroad.
According to a source in Baudette,
the land in question is located near
Baudette/ see page 2
Red Lake Hospital
takeover considered
legal
Royce Graves, Secretary of the
Red Lake Reservation, recently sent
a letter to Indian Health Service
Director Everett Rhoades, indicating
that the recent move by Red Lake
Chairman Roger Jourdain to take
over operation of the Red Lake
Hospital was "illegal".
The "illegal resolution" was
brought about by a previous vote by
the RLTC that would have ordered
the "discontinuance of negotiations
for the operation of the Red Lake
Hospital".
After research by the IHS under
Rhoades, there have been found no
provisions to determine whether the
move by Jourdain to take over the
hospital is illegal.
The Red Lake Reservation is
therefore accepting proposals for
contracting the hospital under the
direct supervision of the RLTC.
Funding is expected to begin on
June 1, if all conditions are applied.
As of press time, no proposals have
been completely written that can be
applied to the continuance of
operation for the hospital under
RLTC control.
The IHS has contacted Graves
stating that the resqlution to
"discontinue" operation of the
hospital "indefinitely" has been
found to be ineffective, while the
resolution to take over operation of
the hospital is being accepted by
IHS.
After years of wading through
faded title deeds and legal
documents concerning the White
Earth Land Settlement Act, the first
five Federal Treasury checks were
mailed out to original allottees on
March 30.
The payments stem from the 1986
federal law designed to settle claims
over land once held by members of
the White Earth Band of Chippewa
Indians; the land, taken illegally
from Chippewa heirs, has been
"clouded" by uncertain title deeds
and unconstitutional forfeiture to
non-Indians who have occupied
most of the White Earth reservation
since the early part of the century.
Names of the five original allottees
were not available to the News.
Confidentiality, according to White
Earth Reservation Executive
Director Jim Foster, is essentia! to
the privacy of the allottees.
"We couldn't release the names of
the allottees, they're governed by the
Privacy Act," said William Halfred.
Director of the WELSA Land Office
in Cass Lake. "Anything from us on
matters like that we have to take the
Privacy Act into consideration."
Only one allottee still resides on
the reservation; the others have long
since moved off-reservation.
The first group of payments total
$496,935.02. This includes the
original market value of the land,
plus annual interest from the time of
the illegal transfer into non-Indian
hands.
"Payments will be made monthly
until we finish," said Halfred, "and
we can't estimate how many per
month will be paid." With this in
consideration, additional
determinations and compensation
awards are expected to continue for
years to come, ending only when all
persons entitled to compensation
under the Act have been identified.
Tribal officials said that there are
13 original landowners identified as
having allotments on what was the
original reservation. Hundreds,
perhaps thousands of other White
Earth enrollees are expected to
receive similar settlement checks.
No specific dates or numbers of
awards were available from the
WELSA claims office.  "It's
dependent on too many things to
make an estimate," said Halfred. "I
don't want to be throwing any
estimates around," said Halfred.
Of the 830,000 acres on the White
Earth Reservation, only 7 percent
remains in Indian hands. The
remaining land is currently in
non-Indian, state, federal, and local
government ownership.
The lands still controlled by the
tribe include areas in and around the
Naytahwaush, Rice Lake, Pine
Point, and White Earth communities.
Congress in 1906 encacted the
Clapp Amendment, which had the
result of transferring most of the
reservation to non-Indians. The law
ended the land's tax-exempt status
and revoked restrictions on its sale.
Since that time and on into the
1960*s,land was lost to non-Indian
WELSA/ see page 2
Rick Clark announces candidacy for District 1
Rick Clark, 41, rural Lengby has
announced his candidacy for
District 1 Representative of the
White Earth Tribal Council.
Rick was born and raised on the
White Earth Reservation where he
currently resides with his wife
Tammy and their five children:
Rick Jr. 20, Jason 17, Jed 10, Laurie
4, and Aaron 2. He owns Northern
Drywall and Construction, Inc., a
small construction business
specializing in drywall, and employs
Indian individuals in his business.
In declaring his candidacy for the
position, Rick stated, "I have a
strong desire to serve as an advocate
for the people of District 1.1 want to
assist people to use the resources
available to them." He also
verbalizes concerns about
improvements needed. "We need
housing and activity programs for
our elderly. We need facilities and
programs for our youth. Currently
nothing exists in these areas.
Increased space is required for the
Headstart program. Regarding
housing, it needs to be increased in
District 1. Of the last eighty-five
homes approved for White Earth
Reservation, only five have been
in District 1. These are just some
of the areas the people want
changes in. If elected, I will strive
to make positive changes to
improve the quality of life for the
people of District 1."
District 1 lies on the northern
area of White Earth Reservation.
The election is scheduled for
June 12,1990.
Maple Sugar Camp: (iskigamizigan
Mable Auginash, 89; and 7-year-old Chadwick Auginash test out some maple sugar molds at Eagle Enterprises near the Red Lake Reservation. The camp has been busy boiling down the sap running in Maple trees
this spring in order to make Maple sugar and syrup. Children from the White Earth Reservation and from
the Red Lake School have been learning the ways of their ancestors collected the sap and turned it into the
prized confection at the ambitious camp.       Photo courtesy ot'the BemidjiPioneer byCindy HUderbrand
oo
Yakima, Wash, recently hosted the 17th Annual National Mens' and Womens
Basketball Tournament. Local teams to compete weie the North Dakota
Warriors and the Great lies Warriors teams, Hie Usmi there
and we brought home scores and a note on the competition, toppll.
Indian education efforts in northern Minnesota
have proven to be unique in the nation.
The News examines the successes of
many programs in our school
feature focused on these
achievements. See page 8.
Arroxvh ea. d
Comm un ity
College
Region