The Native American Press (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1992-06-12

              Darrell "Chip" Wadena claims victory in disputed W.E.tribal election
By Susan Stanich
The president of the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe says he's the winner
in a disputed election in which two
ballot boxes were carried off by his
critics and 60 percent of the last
election's voters stayed home.
"Even if they found the ballot boxes
and counted the missing ballots it
wouldn't matter," Darrell "Chip"
Wadena said Wednesday in a press
release. "I'd have 90 percent of the
votes cast anyway."
But a spokeswoman for a tribal
dissident group said Wadena is no
longer chairman.
"We're going to work on removing
the man ourselves, " said Erma
Vizenor of Camp Justice, a group
protesting Wadena's bid for
re-election here Tuesday. "We're
going in and move Wadena out of
office when his term expires in July.
He's not the chairman.
She and other protesters declined to
say how the group will keep him from
being seated.
Late Tuesday, the protesters entered
two of the reservation's 12 precincts
and confiscated the ballot boxes. In
one precinct, workers said a scuffle
resulted in one worker being hit in the
face and another scratched. Protesters
said there was only some confusion
and bumping into one another, and
that a White Earth conservation
officer jumped on the back of one of
the protesters. There was no scuffle at
the other precinct, they said.
"This is an internal tribal matter,"
said Vizenor, a protest organizer who
helped take one of the boxes. "We did
not steal anything. We possessed
what we claim a right to. There was
no assault and nobody was hurt."
The protesters said the election
cannot be certified and Wadena
cannot be regarded as a 'duly elected
leader," as long as the ballots are not
counted.
The tribe's election ordinance
requires that precincts certify their
votes, and then send them to the
reservation election boards, which
sends them on to the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe.
.Tribal Executive Director Gary
Frazer said the White Earth election
board sent certified election results to
tribal offices in Cass Lake
Wednesday. He said the total
represents certified election results to
tribal offices in Cass Lake
Wednesday. He said the total
represents certified votes from all but
the absent ballot boxes.
The protesters said their all-day plea
Tuesday for voters to boycott what
they consider a fraudulent election
Results of Chippewa tribal elections
White Earth:
Chairman: In a disputed election, incumbent Darrell "Chip" Wadena
claims victory with 803 votes, 713 ahead of the nearest of five
challengers.
District representative: Paul "Poncho" Williams, who won six
on-reservation votes, defeated seven challengers with 75 absentee
ballots.
Bois Forte:
Chairman: Gary Donald beat Wendell Drift 175-162. Incumbent
Eugene Boshey was third with 61 votes.
Grand Portage
Chairman: Norman Deschampe won -192 votes to a total of 84 for his
two challengers.
Secretary-treasurer: Gilbert Caribou beat five contenders, taking 66 of
the 276-vote total.
Committeeman: a 104-104 tie between incumbent Duane Porter and
Curtis Gagnon will require a runoff.
Fond du Lac:
Incumbent Robert "Sonny" Peacock beat the nearest of four
challengers. Vincent "Butch" Martineau, 280-153.
Incumbent representatives Clifton Rabideaux and George Dupuis
remained in office with 4-and 7- vote margins, respectively.
Leech Lake:
Chairman: former secretary-treasurer AI "Tig" Pemberton beat
incumbent Dan Brown 511-424.
District representatives: Jack Seelye and incumbent Myron Ellis are
winners.
Mille Lacs:
Chief Executive: Incumbent Marge Anderson won re-election with
243 votes, 191 ahead of her nearest challenger.
Secretary-treasurer: Incumbent David Matrious remains in office.
District representatives: David "Mosay" Sam defeated incumbent
Myron Garbow; incumbent Bemida Churchill remains in office.
Ceremony planned for
S.D. Native cemetary
By Harold Iron Shield
A Traditional Memorial Prayer
Ceremony will take place on
October 3,1992, at 12:00 noon.
The Prayer Ceremony will be at
the site of the Insane Asylum
Cemetery located on the Hiawatha
Golf Course, where 121 Indian
people are buried.
In 1902, the federal government
opened an asylum for insane
American Indians at Canton. The
Canton Asylum was the second
federal institution for the insane,
predated only by St. Elizabeth's
Hospital in Washington, D.C,
which had been established in 1855.
For thirty-two years, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs operated and
maintained the facility at Canton,
providing Indian patients with
treatment that was influenced by a
mixture of humanitarian concern.
However, the Insane Asylum
acquired a 30-year history of misery
for those Indian patients who
suffered even more while at the
insane asylum.
During an investigation by a
federal agent in the early years of
the insane asylum, the agent
witnessed deplorable conditions in
the living quarters of the patients. A
150-page report resulted from the
investigation ofthe asylum.
In the report, it stated that patients
were beaten, women were raped by
male workers in the asylum, bed
sheets were blackened because of a
lack of change, chamber pots were
not changed and the smell was so
bad, the investigator could not
understand how patients continued
to live in such deplorable
conditions.
Included in the report was the
constant feuding between staff and
administration that, perhaps,
contributed to the failures of the
insane asylum.
Most of the patients were not
insane. As one elderly woman from
the Santee Sioux Tribe told her
story, "I was in school then at
Pipestone Indian School, in
Pipestone, Minnesota. That's where
I heard of the insane asylum, when
we (students) didn't behave in
school, they (teachers) threatened to
send us to Canton," she said.
Today, there are 121 Indian
people buried in Canton, S.D., on a
golf course on which golfers show
no respect to the cemetery.
The Native American
Reburial/Restoration Committee is
conprised of concerned individuals
who are working with reburial or
restoration of sites pertaining to our
Native American relatives. We are
working to seek out all people of
concern to join us on Saturday,
October 3,1992 in Canton, S.D.
was successful. Including the votes
cast at the two precincts where the
boxes were taken, about 450 votes
were cast on reservation, as opposed
to 1,477 in the 1990 chariman
election.
Wadena, however, said the voter
turnout was low because "people just
didn't bother to vote. It wasn't
challenging enough for them. If I
would have had strong competition,
we would have seen more people at
the polls."
Wadena  won   354  of the
on-reservation votes, and added
another 449 in absentee ballots.
Two of his five challengers
withdrew from the race as a protest
against what they said was a
fraudulent election. Nevertheless, 90
people cast votes for John
Buckanaga and 35 for Lowell
Bellanger, with the other candidates
trailing.
Vizenor and other protesters say
Wadenas's on-reservation votes are
bought, and the off-reservation
absentee ballots are fraudulent.
Wadena has long held that elections
are properly run and charges of
rigged elections are more reflective
of jealousy than of reality.
Wadena said the dissidents who
took the ballots will be tried by
Becker County law enforcement
officials for theft.
But Becker County Attorney Jack
Pearson said Wednesday he has not
decided whether to prosecute the
dissidents, who may not have broken
any state law. Becker County Sheriff
Paurus has said that county officials
have determined not to interfere in
election issues at White Earth.
Wadena, 53, has been chairman of
the White Earth Reservation for 16
years. Chairmen of all the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe's six reservations
also serve on a governing board, of
which Wadena is president. He
would have to step down from the
board if he lost his post of chairman
at White Earth.
(Reprinted with permission ofthe
Duluth News- Tribune, June 11,
1992)
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Volume 2 issue 5
June i2, i992
Copyright, The Native American Press, 1992
Left to right, Joe and Mike Lemon in their optical shop in Bemidji, Roger Jourdain speaks before the waterfront crowd of over 500 people.
Over 500 attend the historic Eagle Optics Grand Opening
Celebration Pow wow at Bemidji's downtown lakefront
By Larry Adams
"Seven bald eagles came by, they
represent the seven chiefs of the
nations, that's what Frank Dickinson
said," a spiritual advisor from the
Red Lake Nation told Mike Lemon
last Saturday evening.
Lemon was referring to the eagles
that were seen at the pow wow at
Bemidji's downtown waterfront
during the Grand Opening
Celebration of Eagle Optics.
"They also represent the seven
points of the star and the seven laws
of the pipe," Lemon said.
Eagle Optics is the first native
Ojibwe optical company in the
nation and the second native
Ojibwe-owned business in Bemidji.
Bob Richardson, an employee at
Eagle Optics, was one of the first to
spot the eagles. Richardson was with
Dan, brother of Eagle Optics
owners, Mike and Joe Lemon.
"I looked up and saw the eagles
and I told Dan 'Look!' He looked up
and saw them. Then I went to John
[Lemon's] van. John and I saw
them. I told the kids [inside the van]
and they didn't believe us. I was
standing by John's van and they [the
eagles] vanished into the clouds.
Some of the kids got out and had a
chance to see them before they
vanished," said Richardson.
"The white people had those things
and they gave them up to us, it's a
spiritual way of believing," said
Frank Dickinson. "It's a blessing,
the birds were spirits and they
approve of what we are doing."
Over 500 people attended the
one-day pow wow held on the grass
of the the lake front at Lake Bemidji.
There were approximately 59
registered dancers and four
registered drums at the historic, first
annual Eagle Optics Grand Opening
Celebration Pow wow, said Joe
Lemon.
Keeping with tradition, the grand
entry was on "Indian" time, or two
in the afternoon, though the weather
was somewhat uncooperative as
clouds created an overcast day with
intermittent sprinkless of rain
throughout the day.
Also, the temperature was
unusually cool for this time of the
year. The temps were around 60
degrees and below for most of the
day.
However, the cool weather did not
dampen the spirits of the dancers
and the spectators who gathered at
the pow wow, although many were
drinking the hottest coffee from the
local snack stand and pulling their
coats together. Many had their
hands in their pockets as well.
The Lemon brothers sponsored
the pow wow, with the coordination
of Joe Sayers, and the help of Gary
Hanson and Bob Richards for
roasting the pig.
The pow wow was a way for the
owners of Eagle Optics "to give
thanks to [our customers] and to
gain a little more recognition in the
'Indian' community and to bring a
little more understanding of the
'Indian' culture to our community,"
said Mike Lemon.
Joe and Mike Lemon welcomed
members of the community as well
as officials of Bemidji and Beltrami
County to the pow wow "to see
what it's really like," Mike Lemon
said.
Lemon said that one of the
assistant managers of Marketplace
Foods, the owners of Morell's
Chippewa Trading Post from across
the street and Paul Welle from the
First National Bank were all that
showed up. "They were the only
ones ... that I'd seen, anyway," said
Lemon.
Despite the weather and the
Bemidji city officials' no-show, "It
was a good turnout, except the
weather dampened the pow wow,"
Lemon said.
There is a "stereotype" of "Indians"
being drunk, according to Lemon.
Before the pow wow, there was,
however, only one incident of two
inebriated individuals before the pow
wow actually started. During there
the course of the pow wow, this was
the only known incident of someone
being inebriated, Mike Lemon said.
Next year, there will be a two-day
pow wow at either the same location
downtown or possibly at the new
fairgrounds, said Mike Lemon.
The brothers Lemon said that the
planning of next year's pow wow
will be more extensive to ensure a
good time for dancers, drummers,
singers and spectators alike.
"Anybody and everybody is invited
to our pow wows, it was to draw the
community, like city officials . . .
store owners [and people of
Bemidji] to see what it's like," said
Mike Lemon.
Center School graduates nine
By Gary Blair
Nine American Indian students
graduated from the Center School
Inc. This year commencement was
held June 6th, at the Minneapolis
American Indian Center.
The school is located in the
Phillips Neighborhood of South
Minneapolis, and offers students an
alternative education to the public
school system.
This year's graduated were
William Pemberton, Red Lake;
Rhonda Christensen, Lac Courte
Oreilles; Shannon Jack, Lac Courte
Oreilles; Dorana Houle, Turtle
Mountain; Mary Ann Beaulieu, Red
Lake; Carmen Isham, Red Lake;
Wayne Raisch, Leech Lake; Joyce
Christensen, Lac Courte Oreilles;
and Sonny Benjamin, Mille Lacs.
Rosalie Clark, member of the
school's Board of Directors
welcomed the group of nearly 100
guests. A blessing was given by
Sharon Enjady.
Congressman Martin Sabo,
congratulated both the school and
graduates. Les King, Executive
Director, of the American Indian
Chamber of Commerce gave the key
note address, he spoke about the role
of the chamber and the importance
of business ownership in the Indian
community.
Ron Otterson, the school's
Director and Carole Breischke,
member of the School's Board of
Directors awarded diplomas. A feast
to honor the graduates was given
and a photograph session was held
outside in the amphitheater.
This year the students developed a
Graduation Book, with the help of
the school's Post Secondary
Education Coordinator, Teresa
Harrold. The book contains a brief
background of each graduate and
their future plans.
MaryAnn Beaulieu wants to
become a doctor. She said, "I owe
everything to my grandmother,
Alice Beaulieu, who raised me."
Sonny Benjamin plans to attend
Minneapolis Community College;
he wants to be a hotel manager.
Joyce Christensen is interested in
nursing. Her advice to younger
students is "Stay in school and get a
good education, it gives you more
options."
Rhonda Christensen is going to
cosmetology school. "Further your
education so you won't end up with
a dead-end job," is her advice.
Dorana Houle plans on being an
RN within ten years. She states that,
"Success is dependent upon your
willingness to put forth the effort."
Carmen Isham is looking forward
to being a cosmetologist. She also
plans to move to another town or
even another state.
Shannon Jack wants to try the
construction trade like his father. He
said, "My role model is my father,
Fred D. Jack, because he has always
been a good provider for his family."
William Pemberton is going to a
technical college. He said, "This
summer I will be working for
Thunderbird Electronics."
Wayne Raisch will attend
Minneapolis Community College to
study law enforcement. His advice
to younger students, "Stay in school
and stay off drugs and alcohol."
" m i*| mMM ^M
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Left to right: Willian Pemberton, Sonny Benjamin, Wayne Raisch, MaryAnn Beaulieu,
Joyce Christensen, Rhonda Christensen, Shannon Jack, Carmen Isham and Dorana Houle.