The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1990-07-04

              McArthur skeptical of Rawley's 'fishing expedition'
By Mark Boswell
Editor
"He didn't lose the election, it was
his campaigners," said Jerry Rawley,
Secretary/Treasurer of the White
Earth Tribal Council . He was
speaking in reference to
"scandalous" methods used by the
winner of the June 12 White Earth
General Election.
Once again the election process
has come under scrutiny after an
official protest was filed by Rawley,
incumbent, who lost to Eugene
"Bugger" McArthur of rural White
Earth. An official hearing will be
heard before White Earth Tribal
Court in Cass Lake on July 6.
A separate protest, filed by Sharon
Eid and Alfred "Ray" Fox,
contesting the results of the District I
race on the White Earth Reservation
was thrown out by Tribal Judge
Richard Tanner, last week. Ricky
Clark, of rural Lengby, won the
District I Election by a wide margin
over Fox, and incumbent Eid.
According to Tanner, the District I
protest was dismissed because of a
weakness in their justification for a
hearing. "I didn't think they had
enough information to ground a
protest," said Tanner in a telephone
interview." Tanner explained that
there may have been some reason
for a inquiry, but the grounds for a
hearing over the results of the
Duistrict I race were "not grave or
substantial."
The Secretary/Treasurer race,
however, is another story.
Incumbent, Jerry Rawley of rural
Naytahwaush, tried unsuccessfully
to gain a recount of the ballots cast
on June 12. In that election, Rawley
lost to McArthur by a narrow
margin.
"Well, you've got a 12 vote
margin," explained Judge Tanner,
"and little errors become big ones."
A preliminary hearing was heard
by Tanner on June 25. The full
protest hearing will be heard at the
tribal chambers in Cass Lake on
Friday, July 6.
The hearing was rescheduled from
July 2.Rawley asked for a
postponement because of a death in
his family.
McArthur, who has not been
sworn into office three weeks after
the election, is skeptical about the
upcoming hearing.
"At the pre-trial hearing Jerry
Rawley was supposed to bring in
some evidence as to why he should
be given a hearing; there were no
affidavits, no hard-core proof, no
witnesses, no nothing," said
McArthur, who has run against
Rawley in two previous elections;
first the regularly scheduled
Secretary/Treasurer race in 1986,
and second in a new election held
after Tanner overturned his win over
Rawley by 108 votes.
McArthur thinks Tanner is
leaning toward Rawley's findings
because of personal ties. Both tribal
executives serve on the Tribal
Education Board and have been
worked together for the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe for years.
"Jerry didn't have anything at the
hearing, and they gave (the
upcoming hearing) to him. The
closeness of the race is irrellevant,"
said McArthur, who pointed put the
number of people present when
ballots were counted at the most
jiecent election. "They had forty plus
people in there counting the ballots.
How can you question forty people?
That is a first," said McArthur.
Historically, closer elections have
not been held under such scrutiny
despite the closeness of the vote. In
1984 Darrell "Chip" Wadena won by
6 votes and Rawley won by 8 votes
in 1982. Neither election was
considered for a hearing by tribal
court.
"Those elections are good
examples of what happens," said
McArthur, "just seems to me that
every time the incumbents win an
election you can't scrutinize the
election process. But the minute that
they get beat, all of a sudden there's
all kinds of red flags going up and
there's something wrong with the
system."
"I think that with regard to
Tanner," McArthur went on, "after
he made his ruling with regard to
Skeptical/see page 2
Lyme Disease:
The risks of catching this disease,
hyped by media attention may be
less than you would expect. See
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Founded in 1988
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Volume 2 Issue 24
July 4,1990
e Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1990
A Bi-Monthly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Red Lake hearing set
By William J. Lawrence
Publisher
According to legal briefs filed in
Red Lake Tribal Court, a hearing
has been set for July 16, 1990, to
consider allegations by former Red
Lake Tribal Chairman Roger A.
Jourdain that irregularities in vote
count in the Redby District cost him
his job. Jourdain is joined by
former Redby District
Representative Adolph "Punce"
Barrett as plaintiffs in the suit and
has named newly elected Tribal
Chairman Gerald "Butch" Brun,
newly elected Redby District
Representative, Preston Graves,
former Tribal Council Secretary
Royce Graves and four members of
the Red Lake General Election
Board as defendants.
In their statement of claims for
Declaratory Relief, plaintiffs
Jourdain and Barrett allege that their
rights were denied by Secretary
Royce Graves by not providing
adequate supervision to tribal office
staff in their processing of absentee
ballots. According to the
complaint, "this led to substantial
confusion and delay in the absentee
ballot process, with the
consequences that many
non-residents were deprived of their
right to vote. The complaint goes on
to allege that due to the lack of
supervision of Secretary Graves,
more than 300 properly requested
non-resident ballots were not
counted in the election. In additon
the complaint alleges that the
official listing of absentee ballot
requests and returns, required
Jourdain, Barrett
allege that their
rights were denied.
"...many non-residents
were deprived of
their right to vote."
to be maintained by Secretary
Graves , were kept in such an
incomplete, inaccurate and chaotic
manner that their "validity should be
questioned."
The second statement of claim for
Declaratoy Relief concerns the
denial of plaintiffs rights in the
Redby District. The complaint
alleges that there were 547 eligible
voters, a total of 522 voters
registered to vote in that district.
However, only 405 ballots were
actually counted as cast in that
district, 117 fewer ballots than
officially registered voters for that
district and 144 fewer ballots than
were issued for the Redby District.
Moreover, 190 ballots were returned
to the General Election Committee
unused and 13 were returned
spoiled. This discrepancy amounts
to up to 59 unexplained missing
ballots. In addition the complaint
also alleges that the numbering of
voters signed to cast ballots in the
Red Lake/ see page 3
ayaawishinaam!*
The 3rd Annual Ojibwe Language camp was new this year at
Deep Portage Reserve, a 6,100 acre camp and facility located
near Hackensack, Minn. Over 50 students will be in attendance
this year. Currently, there is a session for grades 9 and up. The
language camp features not only instruction in verbal skills, but
an array of activities including beadwork, hiking, field trips, and
much more. Seepage 8. (photo by M. Boswell)
*Come, be with us!
Making Dance Shawls keeps artist active
By Mark Boswell
Editor
"I do this because it makes me
happy," said Ruth Waukazo, of
Shinob Designs, who recently
showcased her "wearable artwork"
at Gallery North in Bemidji.
Her art takes the form of shawls
worn for powwow and for presentation, exemplifing the show's title
"Spirit of the Dance." The artist
recognizes the simple elegance of the
traditonal dance shawl worn by Native
American women thoughout the
region.
Waukazo explains that the shawl
"symbolizes the grace and beauty of
Native American Women
everywhere" and is part of the
cultural fabric of the Ojibwe people.
Her show, complete with two
young ladies demonstrating Ojibwe
dance to recorded traditional music,
combines elements from the old and
the new.
A remarkable aspect of Waukazo's
work is the fact that she is still a
prodigious artist, despite an illness
that limits her abilities.
Her grandfather and greatgrandfather were episcopal ministers
who worked in the Pine Point and
Naytahwaush communities, where
she now resides. "The family is old
here, but I spent most of my life in
California. I went to the Santa Fe
Institute of Art from 1978-1980 and
studied three-dimensional design,
jewelry, and sculpture. I left art for
awhile and went into finance, stocks
and real estate, until about two years
ago when I became ill."
"I was no longer able to work in
that field. I pretty much lost all of
the strength in my hands, lost my
vision and was paralyzed on one
side." The illness, a rare form of
arthritis, is called Collogen Vasular
Auto-Immune disease.
Waukazo found that the effects of
the illness had robbed her of the
ability to continue at her job, so she
had to plan other things.
"I came back home and got into
sewing," she said simply, "I square
the shawls and hem them, and I do
the designs, but I don't have the
strength to pull the fringe through,"
she said showing the intricate work
done to the edges of a shawl.
Sewing gave her the momentum to
continue being productive. "It was
something for me to do while I
stabilized. I'm hoping the disease
will stabilize so I can go back to
school in the Twin Cities to study
jewelry design."
Undaunted by the limitations
placed upon her by the disease, she
makes shawls to keep herself active.
"I was doing so well that I thought I
would go ahead and promote them,
before I go back into jewelry. There
are hopefully going to be many
different facets of Shinob Designs."
The show is comprised of about
ten different shawls, each with its
own blend of traditional and
contemporary design elements.
Waukazo describes her art as
something "synergistic" meaning
that it combines different things to
make something completely new.
"It's colorful, it's something that is
no holds barred, you know Indian
Art is evolutionary like anything
else."She presents a traditional-
appearing shawl design, but is quick
to point out the elements of design
that are done in contemporary
colors.
"I utilize bandanas and the designs
in them to aid in color and pattern in
the shawls," said Waukazo. She
indicates another shawl that is
unique in that it is made of 100%
cotton denim, the right width of 60-
inches, which she says is very rare.
"There aren't really any rules and
Federal magistrate orders
Red Lake man be released
Jessica Rock (left) and Veronica Murphy, both of Bemidji, wear some of
Ruth Waukazo's "wearable art" at last week's Gallery North show entitled:
■Spirit of the Dance'. (photo by Mark Boswel)
Minneapolis, Minn (AP) -A
federal magistrate, ruling that an
Indian can't appeal a tribal court
conviction if there's no tribal
appeals court, has ordered an
opponent of former Red Lake tribal
chairman Roger Jourdain freed from
a jail sentence.
U.S. Magistrate Floyd Boline on
Wednesday ordered Ed Cook, a
participant in the 1979 Red Lake
uprising against Jourdain, freed
from his six-month sentence for
alcohol and firearms violations.
Cook has served four months of the
sentence in the Red Lake
Reservation jail.
Boline earlier declined to interfere
with the sentence, ruling that Cook
hadn't exhausted his remedies in
Tribal Appeals Court. But that court
ceased functioning in May, leaving
Cook with no options on the
reservation. So, on Wednesday,
Boline reconsidered.
The evidence, Boline said, showed
"there was no Red Lake Court of
Appeals at present because two of
the four judges ... resigned and no
replacements had yet been
appointed."
"Requiring (Cook) to pursue an
appeal in the tribal court would be
futile," Boline wrote.
A prisoner since Feb. 24, Cook
challenged the imprisonment in
federal court, arguing that he was
"There was no Red Lake
Court of Appeals...
because two of the four
judges... resigned and
no replacements had
yet been appointed"
prevented from confronting
prosecution witnesses, having a jury
trial, or being represented by a
lawyer.
Under Jourdain, lawyers were
barred from Red Lake Tribal Court.
The tribe didn't dispute the merits of
Cook's claim but argued that Boline
couldn't interfere because Cook had
not exhausted his options on the
reservation.
So, Cook tried to file an appeal at
Red Lake, only to learn there was no
Tribal Appeals Court.
Cook still faces other charges that
could keep him in jail. His attorney,
Richard Meshbesher, said he hoped
that charges of destruction of
property would be dismissed or that
bond would be set.
Meshbesher said he hopes Gerald
Brun, who defeated Jourdain in the
tribal election last month, will
reform some of the court procedures.
it makes it fun. One element that I
choose to retain as traditional, is the
distance between the fringe gathers.
Each is the distance of your thumb   <
apart, which makes perfect sense.        v>naWlS/ See page 2
"Another thing about my shawls
that is different, is that this matterial
used for fringe is rayon chinete; it
Have a safe and enjoyable
*£„ 4th of July Holiday!
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••••••-The Staff of the Ojibwe News •••*•*