The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-07-15

              Illusion of prosperity impacts Indian housing issues
By Gary Blair
According to a December 1993 report issued by the University of
Minnesota's Hubert Humphrey III Institute, entitled "Race and Housing
Polices in the Midwest," American
Indians have a poverty rate twice as
high as the poverty rate for the entire
U.S. population.
The section of the report focusing
on American Indians is entitled,
"Song Of Failure." The statistics were
no surprise to Indians living on
Minnesota's northern reservations
and the inter-city urban areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul. However, what
most people don't realize is that the
situation could worsen even with the
economic growth contributed to Indian gaming and the state and federal housing programs currently in
place.
Not since the "relocation" days of
the early 1950's have there been more
Indians moving between the reservation and the city and back again. The
recent university stud}' reports they're
moving from the city back to the reservation in search of employment at
the local casinos, but they're not finding enough affordable housing to
meet their needs.
The following are some statistics
contained in the report that shed light
on the growing problems now facing
American Indians throughout the
county:
1) Of the 1.9 million Indians, approximately 637,000 live on reservations or trust lands.
2) Over 300,000 American Indians
live in metropolitan areas.
3) Between 1980-1990, the American Indian population grew by
37.9%; American Indians are the
fastest growing ethnic group by percentage.
4) American Indian reservations
and trust lands comprise about 2%
of U.S. land in the lower 48 states.
5) The American Indian poverty
rate is twice as high as the poverty
rate for the entire U.S. population.
6) A 1991 BIA report estimated
that the unemployment rate on reservations was 45%; half the popula
tion on the reservations are poor.
7) The number of American Indians attending post-secondary (beyond
high school) institutions is increasing, with the largest part of the increase accounted for by women.
According to the report, in 1990 the
BIA conducted a housing needs inventory of American Indian reservations and trust land. (Trust land is
land protected for Indian tribes by the
U.S. government.) They found that
49,913 families needed major renovations on their homes. However, the
report also says the BIA's numbers
didn't take into account the "migration" of American Indians back to
their reservations, nor did they explore the effect of Indian gaming on
movement patterns in states such as
Minnesota where gaming is a significant contributer to the reservations'
economies.
In April of 1993, the Minnesota
State Legislature voted to revise a
state statue that only allowed cities
with populations greater than 50,000
Housing/ cont'd pg 3
1994 Lakota Summit focuses on land issues/ pg 5
Poupart named executive director of AIRPI/ pg 5
illusions of prosperity impacts Indian housing issues/ pg 1
RLTC send ominous message to the people/ pg 4
Reflections by Wub-e-ke-niew/ pg 5
Bob "Punk" Wakanabo releases new print/ pg 8
Voice ofthe Anishinabeg (The People)
1
Casino disclosures raise questions about
distribution of wealth
Fifty Cents
Founded  in 1988
PRIORLAKE, Minn. (AP) To many,
the disclosures about Mystic Lake
casino's profits were nothing short of
astounding.
Haifa million dollars a year paid to
each of about 150 enrolled members of
the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota
tribe. A profit margin of more than 50
percent in fiscal 1993. Earnings of $96
million out of $500 million bet.
The tribe has hit the jackpot with a
glittering gambling complex on
reservation lands in this suburb just
minutes outside the Twin Cities
metropolitan area.
But since the casino's financial
records were opened during a tribal
political dispute in late April, some say.
there has been a backlash from whites
uneasy at the prospect of wealthy Indian
neighbors.
"While other major employers in
Minnesota are given respect,
recognition and incentives ... Indian
tribes have been criticized, attacked
and threatened by lawmakers because
of their success in creating jobs without
a nickel of taxpayer investment," said
Myron Ellis, chairman ofthe Minnesota
Indian Gaming Association.
"As long as we're cultural, spiritual,
environmental Indians, we'reOK" said
Suzan Shown Harjo, president of
Morning Star Institute, a Washington-
based Indian rights group. "Money
Indians, that's not good,"
Talk-show radio callers criticized the
payments to tribal members and argued
that casinos should no longer be the
exclusive domain of Indians.
Bar owners and their legislative
backers said the Mystic Lake profits
gave them momentum for expansion of
non-Indian gambling.
And some Minnesota newspapers
entered the fray, advising tribes in
editorials to "share the wealth" by
making voluntary payments based on
profit levels.
In short, a long-simmering debate
boiled over about whether Indian tribes
should be allowed to continue their
Wealth/ cont'd pg 3
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
\
Volume 6   Issue 3
July 15, 1994
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews, 1994
Lawmakers honored with eagle feathers while
Indians still face scrutiny
By Susan Stanich
News-Tribune/Reprinted
W/Permission of Tribune
President Bill Clinton has one.
Sen Dan Inouye of Hawaii has several. Former Vice Presidents Hubert
Humphrey and Walter Mondale had
whole bonnets-full of them.
No one bothered them for possessing eagle feathers. But enforcement
officers took one from a Wisconsin
Winnebago Indian last week, even
though federal law says Indians can
have them and non-Indian can't.
John Gauthier - Taborshak was
driving from his home in Webster
to Danburry, where he works as a
security guard in the St. Croix
Tribe's Hole-in-the-Wall Casino. A
car carrying Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources officers followed him into Danburry. There
they confiscated the eagle feather
hanging in his windshield.
David Zeug, warden manager of
the DNR's Northwest District, said
the feather is in their custody,
awaiting Taborshak's proof that he
is an enrolled member.
Taborshak couldn't be reached for
comment, but a Wisconsin Winnebago enrollments officer confirmed
Thursday that he is enrolled.
More important, said Betty Jack,
a St. Croix Chippewa who raised
him, Taborshak is recognizably Indian: dark and tall, a typical Winnebago. She says the officer had no
reason to question his right to have
a feather.
"That feather was given him by a
spiritual leader of Canada, for his
journey," Jack said. "These feathers aren't just at random, given,
them by anyone....This is kind of
scary - They don't rip out crucifixes
and other things people have in
their cars."
Zeug said there's extra sensitivity in Northwestern Wisconsin
about eagles these days, because of
the 18 eagles found poisoned there
in April. He said those eagles apparently had all their feathers.
Jack said the birds clearly hadn't
been killed for their feathers, so
there is no reason for a special alert
Scruntiny/ cont'd pg 3
:SefciS
Roberta Corbine receives the Community Action of Minneapolis Volunteer ofthe Year Award from William
J. Davis, agency president.
Corbine receives award for community work
Minneapolis, Minn. -- Roberta
Corbine received the Volunteer ofthe
Year Award on June 29 from Community Action of Minneapolis (C A of
Mpls.) for her outstanding contribution to the Commodities' Distribution
Program.
Corbine has volunteered her time to
deliver commodities to senior citizens, high rise residents, and the
homebound for the past four years.
"Volunteers are a significant part
of our programming success." said
William J. Davis, CA of Mpls. president, "Volunteers like Roberta make
our community strong and caring."
Corbine works fulltime as an advocate for Waite House. She and her
husband live in the Longfellow neighborhood with their six children.
CA of Mpls. administers the United
States Department of Agriculture commodities program within Minneapolis. The program distributes staple
foods to low income people.
CA of Mpls. provides programs for
low income Minneapolis residents
designed to alleviate the effects of
poverty and lead to self-sufficiency.
N. Y. group teaches Native American College Prep
students about theater
Tribal leaders reject gaming bill
By MONTE DRAPER
The Bemidji Pioneer
The 44 students in the Native
American College Preparatory Center
Summer Program can now call
themselves playwrights, thanks to
help from nine professional theater
artists with the 52nd Street Project
from New York.
The students spent the weekend
working with the professional
playwrights, directors and actors to
tap into their imaginations and
emotional lives to write a play. Once
written the plays were read by the
professionals for the entire group
during mealtimes, starting Monday
and finishing at breakfast Tuesday
morning.
"The plays are brought to life by
acting, "said Daniel Sklar, playwright
and writer ofthe book "playmaking."
"It's a transformation to articulate
the vision ofthe kids' play. They can
feel the power; it's an incredible
resource, which is their imagination.
This give them another dimension to
say, 'Yes, our imagination is exciting
and powerful.'"
The project's style of teaching
drama and creating plays focuses on
the individual. It offers the students a
medium with which they can express
a personal vision and experience
validation from their community.
The Native American College
Preparatory Center Program is now
in its second year at Bemidji State
University, and many ofthe students
are there for their second year. They
represent 16 tribes from throughout
the United States. The five-week
program is open to gifted American
Indian students who are entering
grades nine-12.
While living in the dorms they
participate in an educational program
designed to motivate and encourage
them to pursue higher education. This
is accomplished through immersion
in a culturally and academically
enriched curriculum in a safe
university environment.
They participate in a combination
of classroom studies, including
mathematics, biology, music, creative
writing and desktop publishing, as
well as Anishinabe history and
language, jingle-dress making,
singing, indigenous sovereignty and
international law. The students are
also involved in experimental learning
components, long weekend activities,
a Boundary Waters canoe trip for
first-year students, rock climbing at
Devil's Tower for second-year
students and a weekend ropes course
before the graduation ceremony.
One of the special events of the
Summer program is the students
learning the traditional way of drum
making. The drum will then be
presented to tribal elders in Leech
Lake during a picnic celebration.
WASHINGTON (AP) Indian
leaders want a Senate committee to
withdraw its bill for settling disputes
with state governments over their
tribes' casinos, saying it would usurp
tribal sovereignty.
The legislation would give the
federal government a bigger role in
regulating the Indian gaming
industry. Leaders ofthe Senate Indian
Affairs Committee introduced the bill
in June after months of negotiations
between the states and tribes failed to
yield an agreement.
A group representing the National
Indian Gaming Association and the
National Congress of American
Indians approved a resolution last
week calling for the bill to be
withdrawn.
The resolution said the bill "would
result in an unprecedented usurpation
of tribal sovereignty."
"We cannot support this bill,"
Stanley Crooks, vice chairman ofthe
Minnesota Indian Gaming
Association, said in a statement issued
Monday.
The bill would require casinos to
meet minimum standards to be
developed by an expanded National
Indian Gaming Commission. The
legislation, which would overhaul the
Indian GamingRegulatory Act of 1988,
attempts to clarify what games states
would have to allow tribes to conduct
Indian gaming operations are
currently regulated through
agreements negotiated between states
and tribes. A state must allow tribes to
conduct any form of gambling that is
allowed off its reservations, even if
only for charity.
Some states have refused to
negotiate with tribes. Others have
complained that they are being forced
to accept major Indian casinos when
they had previously only permitted
limited forms of gambling.
The Senate committee will hold a
hearing on the bill July 19.
Former San Carlos tribal chief pleads guilty to
embezzlement
TUCSON (AP) _ Former San Carlos
Apache Chairman Buck Kitcheyan
faces up to 14 months in prison after
pleading guilty to embezzlement.
Kitcheyan pleaded guilty Thursday
to three counts in return for the
dismissal of five other embezzlement
counts and a conspiracy count.
Kitcheyan embezzled $63,312 from
the tribe over a three-year period
which he must now pay back. But his
lawyer said the money was used to
help tribal members.
Gloria Torres, an assistant federal
public defender, said Kitcheyan, as
chairman, was always on call.
"Food, funeral expenses, utilities,
travel to the hospital, medical
expenses, various members of the
elderly community made numerous
requests upon Mr. Kitcheyan and his
wife," she said.
In November 1988, Kitcheyan
began stealing money by receiving
cash advances for per diem and travel
expenses, said Assistant U.S. Attorney
Claire Lefkowitz.
He received double and occasional
triple reimbursement for expenses,
according to the indictment.
Kitcheyan was convicted in
December by a tribal court judge of
embezzlement and theft charges.
Kitcheyan received a probationary
sentence.
Kitcheyan was elected tribal
chairman in 1986 and was removed
from office by the tribal council in
May 1991 after evidence of missing
funds was uncovered.
Sentencing before U. S. District Judge
John Roll is scheduled for Sept. 10.
Ousted consultants lose 30 percent of profits,
plan appeal
WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. (AP)
A Minnesota company that financed
construction of the Winnebago
Indian's $20 million Ho-Chunk
Casino will appeal a decision that
cuts them out of their share of the
profits.
"It's all about money," said Tom
Schrade, president of Golden Nickel
Corp. "We were able to assist the
Winnebago tribe ... now it's so
overwhelmingly successful they
can't tolerate the money owed to us
being paid to us."
Schrade said his company was
caught off guard by the revocation
of its license by a tribal gaming
commission. He said Saturday that
Golden Nickel would the ruling.
The tribal gaming commission on
Friday pulled the management
licenses of Golden Nickel and an
affiliated   company,    Gaming
Corporation of America, both of
Minnesota.
The move renders both companies
unable to fulfill their contracts with
the tribe and eliminates their 30
percent take ofthe casino's profits.
The tribe will hold that amount in
an account in the event the
Minneapolis-based Golden Nickel
appeals the decision, which is
allowed by tribal regulations,
spokesman Tom Krajewski said.
He declined to disclose how much
money is involved.
The revocation of the licenses
follows months of investigation and
hearings into casino operations,
Krajewski said.
The decision released Saturday
cited a "history of poor choices" of
employees   and   "failures   in
management and internal controls."
Golden Nickel and Gaming
Corporation of America financed
construction ofthe expanded casino
and will be repaid infull, Winnebago
Chairwoman JoAnn Jones said.
She said that since the tribe had
been managing the casino on its
own since October, no change will
be seen in its day-to-day operations.
Schrade, who was allowed to
remove his personal property from
Ho-Chunk on Saturday, said his
company had upheld the terms of
the contract.
An appeal would be heard by a
three-judge panel of tribal judges
selected by the National American
Indian Court Judges Association.
In April, the tribe outsed another
management company. It agreed to
pay $4 million to buy out the contract
of WinAmax Corp., which managed
tribal casinos in Nekoosa and Black
River Falls.
I
!