The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1991-02-20

              y
BIA budget request for FY 1992 is $1.9 billion
Interior's Assistant Secretary for
Indian Affairs Eddie F. Brown said
today the President's fiscal year
1992 budget request of $1.9 billion
for the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) builds upon the foundation
established last year by President
Bush and Secretary Lujan to reform
the delivery of key social, financial,
and natural resources programs to
American Indians.
"The President's budget
establishes a new program entitled
Tribal Horizons that is designed to
improve management of
Interior-sponsored Indian programs,
enhance educational opportunities
for American Indians, and support
tribal self-determination," Brown
stated.
The Tribal Horizons initiative
focuses on three major areas in
Indian programs—management
improvement, education, and Indian
self-determination. Funding
increases within the overall BIA
budget for these special areas total
$105.7 million, including $72.5
million in self-determination, $24.5
million in education, and $8.7
million in management
improvement.
Current approprations in the
President's budget for the operation
of Indian programs total $1,400
billion compared to $1,559 billion
enacted in 1991.
An additional $2 million is
requested in departmental support
for the Bureau's management
improvement initiative. That support
will be in the form of: $1.2 million
for the Office of American Indian
Trust to develop an inventory of
trust assets managed by the BIA and
to conduct trust resources reviews in
order to ensure the effectiveness of
the trust management program;
$100,000 increase in the Office of
Self-Governance which will serve as
coordination point for the
self-governance demonstration
projects; $500,000 for the Office of
Audit and Evaluation to provide an
independent and flexible means for
carrying out internal audits and
evaluations of BIA programs; and
$200,000 to strengthen the
management capability of the
assistant secretary's office.
Direct BIA funding for
management includes increases of $4
million to address previously
identified and recently surfaced
management problems; $1.8 million
to convert to the new Federal Finance
System accounting operation;
$100,000 for accountant training;
$500,000 for financial trust services;
$200,000 for training of contracting
officers; and $100,000 for total
quality management.
The $15.6 million increase
requested for BIA school operations
includes $4 million in Education
2000 grants for projects designed to
raise the educational achievement
level of Indian students in
BIA-funded schools to levels that
meet or exceed national norms by the
year 2000. Early childhood
development programs will be
increased by $1.9 million; funding
for the operation of BIA schools
under the Indian School Equalization
Formula (ISEF) will increase by $6
million; a $1.7 million increase is
requested for the management of
education programs; and an
additional $5 million is requested for
the rehabilitation of BIA schools,
which will bring the total funding in
this area to $35 million.
Indian self-deterination increases
are aimed at meeting locally
determined service needs. Decision
making will be shifted away from
Washington to the local level which
will provide increased flexibility and
resources to meet reservation specific
Report of embezzlement of Red Lake tribal funds
According to knowledgable reservation sources, during the week of
Feb. 4,1991, Red Lake tribal administrative staff discovered that over
$23,000 was missing from the Red Lake license plate account. On Feb.
6, the Red Lake tribal council met in executive session and terminated
the employment of Red Lake license bureau clerks Marie Wilson and
Marion King.
Sources also indicate that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and the Red Lake Bureau of Indian Affairs police are investigating the
missing funds. According to the U.S. code, embezzlement of tribal
funds is a federal offense. Embezzlement of over $100 of tribal funds is
a felony and is punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 or 5 years in
prison or both for each offense.
The News was unable to contact Red Lake tribal chairman Gerald
"Butch" Brun , who was out of town on vacation. According to one
tribal staff person, the Red Lake tribal council has declined to make a
public statement concerning the matter pending completion of the
investigation. Bemidji area FBI agent Richard Nelson would neither
confirm nor deny whether the FBI was investigating the incident.
However, he did indicate that his agency had jurisdiction in such
matters.
Heard on the res
. . . that Margaret Treuer is resigning as chief judge of the Red Lake
Tribal Court effective March 15,1991.
. . . that Francis "Chunky" Brun was recently appointed Tribal
Administrator in charge of the Red Lake BIA Agency. He has been
acting in that capacity since Linda Saunders pulled out last March.
. . . that the Red Lake IHS Hospital Service Unit Director postion is
now in its third advertisement. Former Director John Kutch left last
September to take a position in Mississippi.
.. . that Alan Allery is out of jail and will return to read this edition of
the Ojibwe News.
Results of the White Earth District 2 run-off
According to Darrell "Chip" Wadena, the Chairman of the White
Earth reservation, the on-reservartion totals in yesterday's
elections were as follows: Kelly Bunker - 202 votes, Tony Wadena
- 129 votes.
ElKs chairman of Minnesota Indian Gaming Assoc.
The Minnesota Indian Gaming Association recently elected Myron Ellis,
of the Leech Lake Reservation Business Committee, as its new chairman.
The association of eight Minnesota Indian bands elected Ellis to the
one-year term of office. Ellis succeeds Leonard Prescott, of the
Shakopee Sioux Band, who had served two terms as chairman.
Functions of the MIGA include assisting tribes in regulating gaming
operations, lobbying at the state and national levels, exchanging
information and encouraging a high level of ethical behavior in
managing tribal gaming activities.
Ellis noted that it was largely through the efforts of the Association
that Minnesota became one of the first states in the nation to negotiate
and settle tribal gaming compacts.
Ellis has represented Leech Lake Reservation District 3 on the RBC
since his election to that post in June of 1988. Prior to that he had
been employed by the RBC for more than two and a half years as
executive director, and he had served in several other positions as an
employeee of the RBC since 1977.
goals and priorities. The $72.5
million increase creates a $10 million
pilot program to allow selected tribes
greater control over resources to
enhance community and economic
development on their reservations.
Tribal governments will compete for
the funds by designing long-range
plans along with an annual action
agenda.
A $42.8 million increase in the
Indian Priority System (IPS), under
which funding priorities for programs
are established at the reservation and
agency levels, provides for more
funds to meet basic service needs.
Self-determination grants are being
increased by $9 million to allow
tribes to design and administer a
wider array and more complex set of
programs for improving tribal
governmental capabilites. An
additional $10.6 million in the Indian
Child Welfare grant program, for a
total of $20 million, allows funds to
be distributed to tribes under a
formula based on tribal populations
of children. This formula approach is
a much more stable way to fund
long-term programs. Tribes will
develop four-year plans for programs
to prevent child abuse and neglect.
The grant funds will also be available
for day-care operations, parent
training, legal representation of
children, development and
implementation of welfare codes,
temporary child custody, and other
intervention and prevention activities.
More man $27 million in increases
(above the comparable 1991 enacted
amounts for non-education operating
programs of the BIA) further the
management improvements and tribal
empowerment programs in the Tribal
Horizons initiative. The increases
include $2.3 million in contract
support; $2 million in employee
displacement; $1.3 million ofr the
title records office; $1.2 million in
law enforcement; $1 million for
irrigation operations and
maintenance; $500,000 for prairie
dog control; $400,000 for new tribes;
and $200,000 for an irrigation
drainage program.
Also included in the budget request
is $16 million to continue support for
the seven self-governance compact
tribes, and $3 million for
self-governance grants.
The FY budget request proposes
several decreases in the Operation of
Indian Programs account. Welfare
assistance payments are estimated to
decrease by $11.8 million as a result
of proposed changes to regulations
which will make employable adults
without dependents ineligible for
welfare assistance. Case workers will
assist former clients in developing an
employability plan to prepare them
for paying jobs. BIa;s wildlife and
parks program is proposed to be
reduced by $8.9 million. Other
decreases include: water resources,
$2.9 million; litigation support, $1.1
million; and water rights negotiations
and litigations, $3 million.
Included in the budget request I
$122.6 million to meet the
Secretary's obligations in various
settlement agreements passed by
Congress. These include: Zuni Land
Conservation, $8 million; Fallon
Water Rights Setdement, $3 million;
Pyramid Lake Water Rights
Settlement, $25 million; Fort Hall
Water Rights Settlement, $12
million; Fort McDowell Water Rights
Settlement, $23 million; and Seneca
Nation Setdement of $35 million.
I Founded in 1988
Volume 3 Issue
•t c
° Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1991
Questions arise
regarding AIDS
m Washington, D.C. (AP) - New
research suggests that blacks and
Hispanics infected with the AIDS
virus may be harmed by early
treatment with the anti-AIDS drug
AZT. But scientists agreed Thursday
that the unexpected finding needs
more study before treatment
recommendations are changed.
Members of the Food and Drug
Administration's (FDA) advisory,
committee on antiviral drugs noted
that the Veterans Affairs Department
study was small, with 338
participants, and that the results
were inconsistent with other, larger
studies that showed benefit from
early treatment with AZT.
The VA study also was not
designed to measure raciar
differences and therefore might not
be an accurate reflection. And it was
unable to measure the importance of
other factors, such as socioeconomic
status, life style and access to
routine medical care.
However, several panel members
said they believed the findings were
important enough that they would
tell their minority patients before
letting them decide on a treatment
course.
"The findings may be a fluke, but
I'm concerned they may not be,"
said Richard O'Brien, a researcher at
the federal Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta. He also said
physicians should be informed of the
study's findings.
The study supported the findings
of earlier studies that showed AZT
slowed progression to AIDS among
whites infected with the virus who
were treated in the early stages.
But minorities treated with the
drug reacted differently: Many did
not benefit and the health of some
deteriorated with early treatment.
Also, it indicated that blacks and
Hispanics were helped more when
given AZT in the later stages of the
disease, the reverse of whites.
The study included 220 whites and
118 blacks and Hispanics. VA
researchers who presented the
findings did not break down the
number of each minority group and
they refused to discuss the findings
outside their presentation to the
advisory committee.
The study was designed to evaluate
the differences between giving AZT,
the only approved anti-AIDS drug, to
patients who have mild symptoms of
the disease and to patients who are in
the later stages.
"This issue needs further study,"
said Dr. Paul Beninger of the FDA.
A Bi-Monthly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Senator Wellstone appointed to Senate Indian Committee
Indians raise questions racism
By Susan Stanich
Duluth News-Tribune
Cloquet, Minn. (AP) - One November day in 1989,
Joe Shabaiash of Sawyer felt pressure spread across his
chest. He got dizzy, spilled coffee on his shirt and
passed out briefly.
His family rushed the 70-year-old Chippewa to
Community Memorial Hospital in Cloquet.
In the emergency room, a family practice physician
placed Shabaiash on a heart monitor and ordered an
electrocardiogram. The doctor diagnosed dizziness and
sent Shabaiash home with a prescription for a drug to
relieve it. The doctor told him to go to Fond du Lac
Reservation's Min-no-aya-win clinic in the morning.
The next day, Shabaiash felt worse. The pressure had
turned to pain, and the episodes of pain lasted for
hours. He passed out twice in his rural home
surrounded by pine trees before his family rushed him
back to the Cloquet hospital emergency room.
Shabaiash was weak, shaky and sweaty as he sat in
the waiting room. He passed out again. At 6 p.m.,
about an hour after his arrival, a nurse moved him to a
gurney where she took his pulse, blood pressure and
temperature. An emergency room physician was
notified then, hospital records show.
About that time, the emergency room started getting
busy, Shabaiash said. His wife, Delphine, stayed by his
side; she said she was frightened by his pain and
weakness, but powerless to help him or get help from a
member of the medical staff.
The emergency room doctor—not the same physician
who had treated Shabaiash the night before:—arrived
about 8:30 p.m. and ordered another electrocardiogram.
The second doctor diagnosed angina, a painful condition
caused by not enough blood getting to the heart
At 10 p.m., Shabaiash was given four "big pink pills"
for pain—Darvocet, hospital records show—and was
told to go home and get some rest. He was not given
nitroglycerin, a common angina medication.
Instead of taking her husband home, Delphine
Shabaiash drove him to St. Mary's Medical Center in
Duluth. There, hospital records show, he immediately
was hooked up on oxygen and intravenous fluids and
admitted to cardiac intensive care.
Racism /See page 8
The Ojibway News has learned
from a Washington, DC, source that
newly-elected Senator Paul
Wellstone was recently appointed to
the Senate Select Committee on
Indian Affairs.
The News contacted Wellstone's
Minnesota Director of
Communications, Kathy Forciea,
who confirmed the appointment.
Ms. Forciea told the News that the
Senator had decided not to make any
announcement concerning this
appointment because he was waiting
for other committee assignments
before making one overall
announcement. She thought that his
complete committee assignments
would be announced in a few days.
Committee assignments in which he
has expressed interest are
Agriculture, Education, Energy and
Human Services.
Wellstone's appointment to the
Indian Affairs Committee will make
him one of the prime players in
developing federal Indian policy in
the next 6 years. As a member of
this committee Senator Wellstone
will have access to the Select
Committee staff, which will enable
him to participate in, and therefore
influence, both future legislation and
the correct delivery of services to
Indian people.
Former Assistant Secretary of the
Interior for Indian Affairs, Forrest
Gerrard, who is now a lobbyist for
several Indian tribes, was
enthusiastic about Wellstone's
appointment.
He stated that Wellstone's
enthusiasm, energy and ability tp
focus attention on issues will be a
benefit to Indian people.
As far as the News can determine,
Wellstone is the first Minnesota
Senator to serve on the Senate Select
Committee for Indian Affairs. This
in itself should reflect his
commitment to helping Indian
people. The Senate Select
Committee is currently chaired by
Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii
and includes Senators McCain of
Arizona and Dashal of South Dakota
as members.
A death penalty
that singles out Indians
Grant funds
NAM progran