The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-08-26

              Mille Lacs Band retains hunting, fishing rights
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A federal
judge ruled Wednesday that the Mille
Lacs Band of Chippewa retain hunting and fishing rights under an 1837
treaty and a determination should
now be made of the extant of those
rights.
"...The privilege guaranteed to the
Chippewa of hunting, fishing and
gathering the wild rice upon the lands,
the rivers and the lakes included in
the territory ceded to the United
States by the treaty of 1837 continues to exist," U.S. District Judge
Diana Murphy ruled.
The ceded territory now encompasses all or parts of 12 counties in
east-central Minnesota, and it include Lake Mille Lacs, the state's
most popular walleye lake.
The band sued the state in 1990, seeking to hunt and fish without state regulation on public land and water within
the ceded territory. An attempt last
year to settle the case out of court
failed in Minnesota Legislature.
Murphy's 133-page ruling says the
case now will move to its second
phase to decide how far the band's
rights extend and the extent the Indians may be restricted in their activities by the state.
Murphy denied the state's request that
she allow an immediate appeal of her
ruling to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals. The state argued that the
second phase of the trial would not
be needed if Murphy's order in the
first part was over-turned.
State officials said they were disappointed by not surprised and will
explore any avenues for appeal. The
state believes its enforcement powers have not changed under the ruling, but the band disagrees.
The proposed settlement was ada
mantly opposed by representatives of
hunting and fishing organization,
some Mille Lacs area landowners and
some counties in the ceded territory.
They argued that the state would get
a better deal by going to court.
"It's unfair," said Bud Grant,
former Minnesota Vikings coach
who sided with landowners.
"There's no reason for a special interest group to have rights other
residents of the state of Minnesota
don't have. None of us can put nets
in the water or spear."
Scott Strand of the attorney
general's office said the state's legal
fees so far have totaled about $1.5
million.
In the second part ofthe case, a judge
will determine how much the state
may regulate harvest by Indians and
how much game, fish and rice band
members are entitled to.
Mille Lacs wins first round in treaty rights suit/ pg 1
Court takes jurisdiction in Red Lake election suit/ pg 1
Impeach "Skip" Finn rally/ pg 8
Pine Point Perspective by M. Swan/ pg 8
Reflections by Wub-e-ke-neiw/ pg 5
Voice ofthe Anishinabeg
I
Fifty Cents
Red Lake Nation Court takes jurisdiction in
election suit
By Bill Lawrence
By an Interim Order filed on August
24, 1994, Red Lake Nation Special
Tribal Court Judge Eugene L.
DeLorme ruled that the Red Lake
Tribal Court has jurisdiction to hear
the election suit filed by five
unsuccessful candidates in the May
25 General Election. The complete
order is as follows:
"It is hereby ordered, that based
upon the opinion rendered by this
court as stated above, the Red Lake
Tribal Court has jurisdiction to hear
cases where the Plaintiff(s) advance
the position that tribal officials/
employees have exceeded their lawful
authority. Furthermore, that the
exercise of this jurisdiction does not
offend the "Doctrine of Tribal
Sovereign Immunity" enjoyed by the
Red Lake Nation. In addition, the court
rules that prior to seeking the
jurisdiction of the Red Lake Tribal
Court, Plaintiffs must first comply
with the administrative requirements
of the duly enacted election
ordinances of the tribe."
In making his ruling, Judge
DeLorme rejected the Red Lake
Tribal Council's motion to dismiss
based on the affirmative defense of
DeLorme based his decision on the
Doctrine of Qualified Immunity
which only affords officials
protection when their actions or
inactions were within the scope of
their official authority. In reading his
decision he said the tribe as a
sovereign did not authorize its
employees or elected officials to
violate the law. "Thus, sovereign
immunity is not an absolute bar to
suit. Officials or employees may be
sued for acting beyond the scope of
their authority."
The Court said in summary, "tribal
officials can be sued in their individual
capacity if they have exceeded the
authority granted to them." It would
be beyond their authority to violate
any applicable federal or tribal law.
Should that be the case, the Doctrine
of Qualified Immunity based upon
tribal sovereignty would afford them
no protection.
The Court also based its decision to
take jurisdiction on Title 1, Chapter
100.04, subdivision 3 of the tribal
code which states:
Declarators' and Equitable Relief.
The Red Lake Court of Indian
Offenses has exclusive jurisdiction
over all suits in which tribal officials
are defendants where only declaratory
and equitable relief is sought.
Judge DeLorme became the first Red
Lake Tribal Judge to reject the Red
lake Tribal Council's assertion ofthe
affirmative defense of sovereign
immunity. Therefore, to many Red
Lakers familiar with the history of
the Court, it is a historic day on the
resen'ation. The PRESS attempted to
contact Red Lake Tribal Chairmen
Bob Whitefeather for comment on
the decision, but was told that he was
out of town on business.
The PRESS then contacted the Red
Lake Clerk of Court to find out if any
date had been set to hear the suit on
the merits, but was told no date had
been set so far.
Plaintiffs in the suit are Eugene
Stillday, Sr., Thomas Westbrook,
Julius Thunder, Clarence Stately and
Betty Schoenborn. Named as
defendants are the entire Red Lake
Tribal Council, in their official
capacity and individually.
The plaintiffs filed the suit alleging
that several candidates for the May
25th Red Lake tribal election were
allowed to run who had felony
conviction records which is in
violation of the Red Lake Tribal
Constitution.
The plaintiffs are seeking a newt
election for the offices of seca
and both Redby council seats.
OJihwi
We Support Equal Opportunity  For All  People
Founded  in 1 988       Volume 6   Issue 9       August 2G, 1994
i
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews, 1 994
sovereign immunitv. Instead Judge       In taking jurisdiction of this case
Race Let. practices of Mpls Fire Department
questioned by Native Americans
By Gary Blair
It appears the City of Minneapolis'
idea of affirmative action is to hire
American Indian fire fighters whose
complexions are on the light side and
who can't prove any tribal affiliation.
For a number of years this department has been hiring the fair-skinned
"good old boys" who call themselves
Indians. Not only has the fire department hired mostly whites, they even
have a test that they call the "Black
Market Test," which is circulated to a
select group of fire fighting personnel to make sure certain others pass
the fire department's entrance examine.
According to Indian fire fighters
Leonard Thompson and Mike
Beaulieu, who exposed this farce, they
haven't received any support on this
issue from the Indian community's
so-called leadership, other then some
lip service.
At the head of the list of people
they've asked for help are some ofthe
biggest check collectors in the Indian
community: Clyde Bellecourt; Bill
Means; Wilma Mason; Edward
Luones; Andy Favorite; Laura
(Waterman) Wittstock; Francis
Fairbanks; the Minnesota Indian
Chamber of Commerce and Ron
Otterson.
The only person Thompson and
Beaulieu say they've had any support
from is Ron Edwards, chairman ofthe
fire fighters oversight committee and
an African-American. Edwards has
been involved in the city's hiring practices of fire fighters since 1990.
Contained in a letter dated April 18,
1990, to Lyle Schwarzkof, City Coordinator from Ron Edwards are the
following statements: "But it is the
testimony of Captain Pettiford that
legally troubles us the most. Mr.
Pettiford has testified to the existence ofthe "Black Market Test" which
has been made available to a select
circle of fire fighting personnel for
the city of Minneapolis. Fire fighter
John Griffin, a member of the committee, and a 22-year veteran of the
department concluded in support of
that allegation."
Edwards letter continues: "Yet we
have no knowledge of any corrective
action being initiated. Consequently,
we will be obligated on the 27th of
April to ask the court appointed fire
fighter committee to inform the court
and the U.S. Attorney's office for the
Federal District of Minnesota of possible criminal conspiracy to violate
the terms, provisions, and conditions
ofthe court order of 1979."
Contained in a Minneapolis City Hu-
Fire cont'd on page 3
Participants at the recently concluded 55th National Tekawitha Conference which was held on the campus
of Bemidji State University.
White Earth enrollee searches for clues to
his father's death
NIGA Convention a healing opportunity,
chairman says
By Gary Blair
After being told his entire life that
his father died of "natural causes,"
Glen Bellanger recently discovered
some information to the contrary.
The 43-year-old White Earth enrollee, who spent more than ten years
in foster homes as a youth, paid a visit
to the Hennepin County Coroner's
office and found the answers to some
of his questions. He also found that he
had more questions.
Bellanger told the PRESS, "I had
been told that my dad, who is buried at
Fort Snelling having been a wounded
vet in WWII, died of natural causes
but after reading the coroner's report
I began to have serious doubts."
Contained in the coroner's records
Bellanger acquired was the following
information: This case was reported
to the Coroner's Office by Minneapolis General Hospital at 7:55
A.M., May 10, 1956. Minneapolis
General Hospital's records indicate
the deceased was admitted from the
Minneapolis Work House on May 2,
1956, at 12:58 p.m., with a working
diagnosis of a skull fracture. He
was attended by Dr. Bascom. It was
stated the deceased had been in a
semi-coma at the workhouse for
three days prior to admission to the
hospital, however, there is no available history as to how the injury
occurred. Deceased had been admitted to the Minneapolis Work
House on April 30, 1956, and had
spent several days in the city jail
prior to his commitment at the work
house.
Bilateral trephing (an operation
using a trephine, a type of small
crown scrw used in surgery for re
moving a circular disk of bone from
the skull) was accomplished at 10:00
p.m., on the date of admittance. Deceased failed to respond to hospital
treatment, expired at 7:39 a.m., May
10.
An autopsy was performed at the
hospital on the date of death. This
revealed a massive hematoma, (a
subcutaneous welling fdled with
effused blood) right temporal lobe
with laceration of brain; also fracture of left parietal area of skull
(cause unknown). This
death was classified as undetermined as to whether it was an accident or homicide.
Information contained in other
coroner's records state George
Bellanger was admitted to the workhouse on the charge of drunk. (Being
Father cont'd on page 3
UND starts institute for Indian tribal judges
By Maria Dial
PHOENIX (AP) Rick Hill has one
definite goal for this year's National
Indian Gaming Association
convention: to start healing a rift over
Indian gambling casinos which has
divided tribal and federal governments
for years.
"There's a good cross-cultural
exchange here," Hill, NIGA's
chairman, said Tuesday. "Everybody
has come to the table on this issue
(Indian gaming), and I think it's an
opportunity to do a lot of healing, for
all the right reasons."
Hill said another positive sign was
senators' willingness to revise
proposed legislation increasing
federal controls over tribal gambling
operations. *
Hill's remarks came after a round
of workshops and speeches aimed at
helping tribes throughout the nation
protect their often controversial
casino industry. The convention ends
Wednesday.
For most of NIGA's 119 member
tribes, the fight to keep Indian casino
revenue free of taxation and growing
federal control is a battle for
economic survival.
NIGA officials say most Indian
communities have nothing on which
to base taxes and have been stripped
of every other means to provide social
services for their people.
"This is proven to be the best
economic engine we've had in 200
years," Hill said. "We need to take
advantage of it."
The casino battle grew fiercer in
July, when Sen. Daniel Inouye of
NIGA cont'd on page 3
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) The
University of North Dakota law
school is creating an institute for
Indian tribal judges.
Doreen Yellow Bird, UND's
development director of Indian law
projects, said the standards of training
for tribal judges vary widely. She said
the institute will be able to customize
the legal education and technical
support for tribal judges.
It also will make Indian judges and
legal advocates more self-sufficient,
she said.
The Northern Plains Tribal Judicial
Training Institute will serve 18 tribes
in North Dakota, South Dakota and
Minnesota. Its start up costs are
beingpaid for with a $472,000 grant
from the Bush Foundation.
"This money will empower the
tribes, and it will help balance the
relations between the states and the
tribes and, ultimately, I think it will
improve the life of Indian people,"
Yellow Bird said.
G. William Rice, a Cherokee
Indian lawyer from Oklahoma, will
begin work next month as the
institute's first director. Rice also
is chief justice of the Potawatomi
Tribe Supreme Court and attorney
general for the Sac and Fox Nation.
Yellow Bird said the tribal
training institute eventually will be
part of a larger Center for American
Indian Legal Programs and
Resources at UND. The law school
has received a $50,000 grant from
the Bremer Foundation to start that
project.
The center will help recruit Indian
law students, develop an Indian law
curriculum, and make UND a
clearinghouse for expertise on
tribal law, Yellow Bird said.
A separate director of Indian legal
programs may be hired in about a
year, and plans call for the center to
have a staff of 10 within two or
three years.
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