The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-03-25

              Darelynn Lehto, VC of P.I.T.C. presents
tribe's concerns on NSP at MAICC breakfast
By Sara Lawrence
On Wednesday, March 23, 1994,
the Minnesota American Indian
Chamber of Commerce (MAICC) held
its quarterly Business Builders Breakfast at the Sheraton Midway Hotel in
St. Paul.
Chairman of the board, Les King,
President of American Liberty Construction and former director of
MAICC, provided an analysis ofthe
progress made by the chamber and the
Indian business community in general over the last few years.
King stated that when he began
working with the chamber in 1990
there were approximately 300 Indian-
owned businesses in operation and
most of those were small, one-man
operations. However, with the on
slaught of gaming the Indian community has developed operations that
rival Las Vegas and Atlantic City. In
addition, tribal councils have engaged
in community development on many
different levels which has led to increased opportunities for Indians and
non-Indians as well.
King stated thai "the message ofthe
chamber has been to promote quality,
on-time, on-budget, respect, and to
maximize Native American opportunities while building positive
relationships with all people." He
added, "Our success is evidenced by
the number of people here today."
King went on to acknowledge the
accomplishments of Al Paulson as
past board chair and to state that the
leadership ofthe chamber intends' 'to
follow the teachings of our elders and
that is too build from within; to
strengthen the spirit of the people of
our organization and continue to follow the path that has been set by our
predecessors, advisory boards and tribal leaders."
According to King, one aspect of
this building process is to educate the
non-Indian community about what it
means tobeanlndianintcday's world.
A large part of this issue is the right of
tribes to adopt tribal employment
rights, laws, or ordinances which provide for an Indian preference in hiring
and the purchasing of contracts.
However, King stressed that there
should be no misconceptions about
this process. He said that "Indian-
owned businesses should not expect to
Lehto/ see page 3
MIAC hiring of new ex. director illegal/ page 4
NAP invited to MUD meeting at MAIC/ page 1
Prairie Island states position on NSP/ page 1
Non-profits largess not shared with neigh./ page 1
Sandy Lake Ojibwe seeks fed. recognition/ page 5
Voice of the Anishinabeg(The People)
i
NAP invited to MUD meeting at Indian Center
By Gary Blair
The PRESS was invited to a meeting ofthe MUD group (Metropolitian
Urban Directors) at the Minneapolis
American Indian Center on Tuesday
of this week. Although this group
hasn't been active for many years we
were interested to learn more about
their sudden rebirth so PRESS publisher Bill Lawrence and this reporter
decided to accept Laura Waterman
Wittstock's personal invitation and
attend. The free lunch was an added
incentive.
The meeting was scheduled to host
newly elected Mayor of Minneapolis,
Sharon Sayles Belton, who cancelled
her appearance shortly before the
meeting began. Senior aide Marty
Adams attended in her place.
To our surprise, not many of the
MUDs were in attendance. In fact less
than ten of them were visible at the
meeting. Few community residents
attended either. However, the Bellecourt brothers showed-up, along with
a handful of their last remaining supporters, mostly white guys wearing
AJMjackets looking like Clyde hadn't
paid them in awhile. One of them was
ex-boxer Jim Beaty, Clyde's first lieutenant, the person most responsible
for runningaroundMinneapolis pick-
Inouye says gaming bill by June
By Bunty Anquoe
Reprint w/ permission from
Indian Country Today
Washington — Legislation to amend
the federal Indian gaming law is expected by June.
Sea Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii,
and chairman ofthe Senate Indian Affairs Committee, has indicated that if
negotiations fail between tribes and state
to find a compromise on changes to the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, he will
introduce his own legislation by early
June.
A negotiating team of tribal leaders
and state officials have so far failed four
times to meet target deadlines for consensus legislation.
The senator and committee vice chairman John McCain, R- Ariz., began the
talks with the competing interests in an
effort to hold off a full-scale legislative
war in the political battle over who
controls gaming in Indian country.
Pat Zell, committee staff director, said
tribal leaders may present state officials
with another legislative proposal as early
as next week.
She also said committee leaders continue "to feel under a great deal of
pressure from their colleagues to move
forward with some legislation thisyear.
All sides ofthe heated political controversy insist the negotiations are
progressing, although the "scope of
gaming" is still the threshold issue
where neither the tribes nor the states
appear willing to budge.
Since the embattled gaming law was
enacted in 1988, tribes and states have
clashed in legal and political squabbles
over sovereignty and jurisdiction.
States, with financial and political
ing up copies ofthe PRESS last summer.
The last time the PRESS went to the
Indian center on business was over a
year ago and we were' 'ambushed'' at
that time by the "Frannie and Clyde
gang." Frannie being Frances
Fairbanks the director of the Indian
center and Clyde being Clyde Bellecourt, who claims to be "the leader of
all the Indians in the Americas."
Apparently, the purpose of this
meeting was to talk about all the problems in the Indian community and to
discuss the idea of the MUD group
Meeting/see page 3
support from the private gambling industry, want morecontrol overthe scope
of tribal gaming. They argue that the
federal gaming law, as currently applied, infringes on states' rights by
forcing tribal casinos within state borders.
They have been seeking amendments
that would limit tribes to specific games
authorized under state laws and regulations.
Tribal leaders maintain, that as sovereign governments, state gambling
laws have no force on Indian land.
They have also indicated that their
"bottom line" in negotiations is the
Supreme Court's holding in its 1987
Cabazon decision.
In this case, the high court ruled that
state gaming laws have no force in
The
Fifty Cents
Founded in 1388
ajibwi
News
We Support: Equal Opportunity For All People
1
Volume 5   Issue 39
March 25, 1 394
A weekly publlcatli
Copyright:. The Ojibwe Mem, 1994
Photo by Marc Bowen
Arts Midwest Minority Arts Administration Fellows Lori Haskell-Houdek (left) and Sandra Poitra (right).
Arts Midwest selects two Native Americans for Fellowships
Inouye/pee page 3
Clinton invites leaders of 545 tribes for spring talks
Washington, D.C. (AP) - Leaders
ofthe 545 federally recognized Indian
tribes are being invited to meetings
with President Clinton and administration officials this spring the Justice
Department said Monday.
Ada Deer, assistant interior secretary for Indian affairs, said the
adminis-tration "will begin to fulfill
longheld promises and to address long-
overdue injustices in Indian country.
' 'There are a lot of tribal leaders who
are a little bit dismayed over the fact
that the administration has basically
not lived up to certain expectations,"
said Gregg Bourland, chairman of
SouthDakota's CheyenneRiver Sioux
tribe.' 'It's got to be more than a photo
session. If there is good dialoue, that's
good."
Indians got special attention from
Clinton durung the 1992 campaign,
getting invited to meetings in Little
Rock and winning a plank in the
Democratic platform. Tribal leaders
responded with strong endorsements
of Clinton.
The administration has since been
criticized for a proposed 1.3 percent
cut in the 1995 budget for Health
Service. The agency provides medical
care to 1.3 million Indians as required
by treaties with the federal government.
The administration also ordered a staff
the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa in
Minnesota, said one ofthe things she
wanted to bring up was the health
service budget. "I'm sure a lot of
leaders will want the same thing."
Health issues were not mentioned,
however, in the two-page news release announcing the meetings —with
Clinton at the White House in late
April; with Attorney General Janet
Reno, and Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt May 5-6 in Albuquerque, N.M.
The Albuquerque conference will
reduction that critics say is out of  focus on issues involving the Justice
proportion to the agency's size. The
Indian Health Service is taking nearly
40 percent ofthe personnel reduction
in the Department of Health and Human Services, although the health
service has fewer than 12 percent of
the department's employees.
Marge Anderson, chairwoman of
Minneapolis, MN - Arts Midwest
recently announced the selection of five
Fellowship recipients and nine host
sites to participate in the Minority Arts
Administration Fellowship program.
Now in its 5th year, the program places
people of color with two United States
or international host organizations for
nine months to gain or enhance skills in
marketing, public relations, program
and financial planning, management,
and curating. Each Fellow receives a
$20,000stipend plus!imitcd travel and
professional development awards of
between $3,000 and $4,500.
The 1994FellowsareMorningBishop
of Gary, Indiana; Phillip'' Sekou" Glass
of Columbus, Ohio; Lori L. Haskell-
Houdek and Sandra A. Poitra both of
Bismarck, North Dakota; and Elvia
Rodriguez Ochoa of Chicago, Illinois.
Ofthe five, Haskell-Houdek and Poitra
are Native Americans.
Lori Haskell-Houdek was born on the
Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in
Eagle Butte, South Dakota. She was
recently named Director of the Great
Plains Native American Arts Co-Op in
Mandan, North Dakota, and is from a
family of visual artists whose work
includes clothing design, drawing, and
silversmithing. She has worked for the
North Dakota Office of the Attorney
General, Pennington County Treasurer,
and for Manpower/Youth Employment.
She graduated cum laude with degrees
in Paralegal/Business Management and
Computer Information Systems from
National College in Rapid City, South
Dakota. Haskell-Houdek's first
assignment is with the Ordway Music
Theatre in St. Paul and her second will
be with American Public Radio in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sandra A. Poitra is a member ofthe
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa
IndiarisbasedinBelcourt,NorthDakota
Since 1987,shehasbeentheDirectorof
the United Tribes Technical College
Nursery in Bismarck. She is active as a
traditional dancer and a board member
ofDakota West Arts Council and United
Tribes Cultural Arts. Poitrahas worked
for Dayton Hudson Corporation, and
served asafashionanddesign consultant
fororganizations includingthe National
Indian Education Conference, Miss
Indian Nations, and Moorhead State
College. Poitra's first assignment is
with the Minnesota State Arts Board
in St. Paul and her second will be with
the Public Museum of Grand Rapids,
in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
and Interior departments, including . tvt'.o c   n HVnno
tribal jurisdiction, Indian gaming, re- Randy Finn announces candidacy tor Leech Lake kil see./ ireas.
ligious freedom and tribal courts, said
Gerald Torres, counsel to Reno.
Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros,
who oversees Indian housing programs, may also attend the conference,
Torres said.
Non-profitf s largess not shared with neighborhood
My name is Randy Finn; I am a Leech
Lake enrollee, Pillager Band. I was
born in 1960 and have lived on the
Leech Lake Reservation my entire life,
except for time spent pursuing my
educational goals. I have a Bachelor's
andaMaster'sdegreeandrmatherapist
byprofession, specializing in addictions.
OrginaHy published in The Alley
Newspaper
By Ken Meter
Some eke out a bare existence in tiny
storefronts scatteredalong thebus routes
of Phillips. Others nestle into posh offices alongPark Avenue, where security
doors keep street people at bay.
Non-profit corporations are one ofthe
neighborhood's most unique resources.
Phillips has one of the largest concen-
tratiorisofnon-profitsintheTwin Cities,
and their role in the neighborhood is
hotly disputed. Many residents and
flinders question how well they address
the needs of Phillips residents.
A study by Phillips Community Initiatives for Children (PCIC) detailing
the financial condition of the Phillips
non-profit sector sheds some light on
the economic role these institutions play
in the neighborhood. The study shows
that non-profits are a dominant sector,
bringing in far more money than all
Phillips households put together. Most
of this income is not in grants, but in fees
father's family was originally out of
Onigum, the Old Agency. My mother
is Elverna (Munnel) Finn. Our family
has a history of service to the people. I
feel I have the education, maturity, and
desire necessary to serve our people.
Therefore, I want to announce my candidacy for the position of Secretary
Treasurer ofthe Leech Lake RTC.
This June we have the opportunity to
elect leadership that will be truly re
sponsible and accountable to all of us.
We need representatives who will look
out for the interests ofthe people, not
their own. We need leadership we can
trust. We need leaders with vision,
leaders with the leadership ability needed in the times ahead.
Every election we hear of candidates
who run on the "Big Four": Honesty,
Finn/see page 3
My grandparents were Jacob and
for services. However, it appears the zations are required to file a report to the Josephine Munnell. My grandmother
non-profits spend their funds and hire   IRS, called a Form 990, that shows wasaSmithfromBallClub. MyGrand-
their employees largely outside of the   basic    information    about    the •       •      ■   •     i» r±. ^„ „ . ■       *•    r   *    i~»»™
neighborhood. Only aLction of their   organizaUon'sfinancialcondiUon.Fed- Indians promise Cash in llCU Of taXCS    By offering cash as compensate for tax losses
resources wind up in the hands of local eral law states that copies fo this report j^g^ wis (AP) Chippewa Indians   exempt "but wearewillingtodoitbecause
low-income residents. Non-profit offi- must be available in the organization's             to •      ^       win   cg^DO ^   we want to cooperate,"Ujke said,
cials receive twice as much direct offices for public inspection. Chanties .^J^ ^ won ^^ stxppaA
compensation as their clients or mem- that solicit donations from the public ^ ^ officials reports
bers. Overall, the study suggests that must also file copies of this form with ^       stCroixCountyandtheHudson
local non-profits could devote much the state Attorney General. For this ^.^havenegotiatedwithcas>no
study, data was compiled for the year
more effective attention to building the
capacity of the neighborhood and its
residents.
Part of PCIC's ongoing review ofthe
neighborhood economy, the study corn-
pi led the financial.statements of 67
non-profits located inside, or within a
few blocks, of Phillips. Another seven
organizations either could not or would
not share their data (see table). Though
PCIC tracked 130 non-profit programs
in Phillips, sometimes several operate
under one legal corporation. All are
included in the 74 non-profit corporations studied.
Financial data was obtained from
public sources. Most non-profit organi-
1990, so that results could be more
Owners ofthe SL Croix Meadows pari-
mutuel dog track have tried for more than
a year to persuade Indians to open a casino
annex. The owners say it may be the only
investors for several weeks. The local way to attract enough patronage to make
oe inoic vermnente ^j^g haying a 56-acre the track profitable,
easily compared with census data from .^^w^gfM^KSzrvXionstotos, Chippewa from the Lac CourteOreilles,
the same year. which would remove the property from   Mole^eandRedCliffrjandsarewuling
The  study  found  that  the localtaxrolls The deal would need approval of the state
neighborhood's non-profits brought in    j^ a'&au±i agreement seems   and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs,
a total of $568 million in 1990 five irnminmtexceptforde^stonegotiatore     The city's opinion could have a bearing
times the total income of all Phillips jn,^^™^^^*™^^!*,.   0n how the state and BIA respond. The
Basically, the Chippewa offer $850,000 $850,(X)0ofreredbytheChippewaisslightly
amiuallytolocalgcverriment^pliisaspecial more than what the track currently pays in
one-year payment to the school district      property taxes each year.
The negotiations imply a stamp of     However, school board treasurer Jerry
approval for the casino project, at least in
majority of this income, nearly $500
million, was from fees for services.
Only $44 million came from grants.
Neighborhoods non-profits spent a
total of $545 million in 1990, for a
.     concept, said David Ujke, a lawyer for the
surplus of $23 million. The largest sin- q^JZ^
His clients have no obligation to pay
anything if their casino site becomes tax
Non-profits/ page 5
McAllister told a negotiation session
Monday that the school district might
come up short ofc^hmefirstyearbecause
there is a lag of several months in getting
state aid.
The casino coalition promptly offered
from$250,000to$500,000asanadditional,
one-year payment to the school district
' "The people we met with Monday were
more willing to negotiate than others we
had met wimpreviously,''McAllister told
the St Paul Pioneer Press.
The county's Board of Supervisors
decided Tuesday to hold a hearing March
29 on the proposed agreement Hudson's
city council may consider it Monday.
Local officials have insisted the
discussionsdealonlywithfinancesandare
not an endorsement that lawyers could
quote in applying to the BIA and state
Gaming Commissionfor casino approval.
"The agreement we have before us is
very clear on that," county administrator
John Krizek said. However, Ujke said his
Chippewa clients have participated in the
negotiations in response to resolutions
adopted by local officials and specifying
conditions that a casino should fulfill.
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