The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-09-09

              1 would turn a knife on you, too'
By Dr. Dave Gonzales, Ph.D.
"I would turn a knife on you, too,"
Clyde Bellecourt said when I mentioned some youth at a friend's house
had once threatened me with a knife.
This was the last day of a 52-day
spiritual canoe journey I wrote the
proposal for, organized, and canoed
on. I was disappointed at his violent
nature. All that I had read in the
Native American Press of Clyde Bellecourt being a bully who intimidated
community people came to mind. It's
true.
It's a power struggle, I thought. He
wants to take all the credit for the
spiritual canoe journey when in reality I organized it. He wants to be the
only leader in the indigenous communities in Minnesota, even if others do
the work.
At a time when he is being exposed
as a bully and a violent person by
others, he's pressured to put on an
image of someone who is responsible
to the communities. He's not.
We received $10,000 from the
McKnight Foundation; $11,00 from
Mystic Lake; $5,000 from Prairie Island; $5,000 from American Indian
OIC in Minneapolis, and other funds
from various places, adding up to
approximately $40,000 for the canoe
journey.
During the 52-day journey roughly
$1,500 was used for food, according
to Lenny Butcher, who navigated the
journey on the river. "We got hamburger helper without the hamburger
and deer meat that was frost bitten and
not good to eat." He added, "I even
had to use $200 of my own money."
Actually, $1,300 was used for food.
"We got a few dollars for all that
work on the river," 'Fish' Fisher said,
who also navigated the journey. "Tell
the truth."
When I told Lenny Butcher that
Clyde Bellecourt used some unfounded
reason to try to take over the leadership of the journey I organized, Lenny
said, "He canoed less than 20 days
total." We were sitting at his workshop at his house in Bemidji, September 2, 1994.
I canoed the first 10 days from Lake
Itasca to Bemidji, then to Ball Club,
organizing, and bringing more youths
to the river. I canoed on and off until
the 52-day journey stopped at Little
Falls, about three days from St. Paul
where we would finish the trip.
I met with the Mystic Lake site
person, and went to Midwest Mountaineering Store to request two canoes, and borrowed six canoes from
my university, Bemidji State University, plus wrote press releases, and so
on.
When the youths went to the
Sundance at Pipestone for a week in
August, I went to Mille Lacs and
organized the Rum river canoe journey. I spoke at the White Earth Pow
wow and the Ball Club Pow wow to
promote our journey. I also researched
at the University of Minnesota Wilson
Knife cont'd on page 3
Clyde turns knife happy/ pg 1
Criticism on Miss, rip-off aired/ pg 1
Trial date set on RL election suit/ pg 1
Where did HOTESS money go?/ pg 4
Finn demo in front of Eagles club/ pg 8
Voice ofthe Anishinabeg (The People)
1
White Earth TC dismisses election protest
Fifty Cents
Ojibwwi
mews
We Support Equal Opportunity  For All People
By Gary Blair
The FBI has requested and obtained
a copy of the August 19, 1994, vote
protest findings of the White Earth
Reservation Tribal Court.
Former reservation council member Danny Stevens filed the protest
with the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe's
Appellate Court after he was defeated
in the June general election by incumbent Secretary/Treasurer Jerry Rawley.
On August 15, 1994, the Appellate
Court ordered the reservation's tribal
court to form a Special Election Review Board. After a mutual agreement fromZenas Baer, Steven's attorney, and Peter Cannon, the
reservation's attorney, Gary Frazer,
Executive Director of the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe and Patricia Keogh,
an alternate were selected.
The FBI's interest in the election
has to do with the use of the U.S. mail
to transport the absentee ballots that
were called into questioned in Steven' s
complaint. If the FBI finds that the
mail was used to commit election
fraud, federal charges could be brought
against those who committed the violations.
In previous White Earth elections,
incumbents Jerry Rawley and reservation chairman Chip Wadena have
only won one time with the on-reser-
vation vote. Their subsequent successes have been with the highly controversial absentee vote.
The court's findings on the election
protest are as follows: "The Court
finds that 297 absentee ballots are
questioned because they were all notarized on the same day in many parts
of the state and across the county.
"The Court finds that 23 absentee
ballots were cast because the signatures did not match up. The Court will
count 11 of these ballots as errors as
12 are counted twice as errors.
"It is the Court's findings that 310
absentee ballots have substantial ir
regularity or deviations from the 'Procedure For Voting Absentee' as instructed by the Appellate Court.
"The 310 absentee ballots do not
meet the threshold of 315 absentee
ballots as evidence of grave and substantial irregularity if a trial was held."
Chief Judge Tammy J. Stromstad
issued an opinion on August 10,1994,
which states that "Finally the Tribal
Court's determination that evidence
of irregularity in 315 ballots will constitute a basis for a full hearing was
not an arbitrary decision. It is true that
Jerry Rawley won by a margin of 630
votes, giving the Appellant the benefit ofthe doubt, if at least 315 of those
votes are declared invalid, the possibility exists that those votes, if properly cast, would have been cast in
favor ofthe Appellant, creating a tie.
"Therefore, 315 was the minimal
number of votes which could affect
the outcome of the election, as die-
Election cont'd on pg 3
Founded   in 1988    Volume 6     Issue  11     September 9,  1994
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews,  1 994
Court sets trial dates for Red Lake
election suits
By Bill Lawrence
Red Lake Nation Special Tribal
Judge Eugene L. DeLorme scheduled
trial dates for the Julius Thunder election suit on Friday September, 16th
at 10:00 a.m. and the Stillday,
Westbrook, Stately and Schoenborn
combined suit on Monday September,
19th at 11:00 a.m.
By Interim Order filed on August
24, 1994, Judge DeLorme ruled that
the Red Lake Tribal Court had jurisdiction to hear the election suit despite the assertion of the defense of
sovereign immunity by the Red Lake
Tribal Council. Judge 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 reaching his
decision Judge DeLorme 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 decision set a precedent for the
Red Lake Nation court because it was
the first time in the history ofthe court
that the tribal council's assertion of
the defense of sovereign immunity
was rejected. With Judge DeLorme
now scheduled to conduct the trials
of the election suits on the merits, it
would appear that the tribal council
will comply with his initial decision
to take jurisdiction.
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 new
election for the offices of secretary and
both Redby council seats.
Named as defendents are the entire
Red Lake Tribal Council, in their official capacity and individually.
In a related matter, the PRESS
learned that Judge DeLorme was also
assigned to hear the two election suits
filed by NAP publisher Bill Lawrence.
Lawrence had filed the suits against
the Red Lake Tribal Council on July
18,1994, in response to his being denied a lay counselors license to represent several of the plaintiffs in the
election suits. No date has been set to
hear these two cases.
Lenny Butcher, guide/counselor, (L) and Dr. Dave Gonzales, fromer director, (R) discuss issues
concerning the Mississippi River Spiritual Canoe Trip.
Submitted photos
Former director airs concerns over rip-offs
on Mississippi River canoe trip
Tribes flourish with less federal bureaucracy
By Melissa Campobasso
QUTNAULT, Wash. (AP) _ Since
telling the federal government to take
its hands off many of its programs,
the Quinault Indian Nation says it
sends more children to college, offers
a youth recreation program and
employs more of its own people.
"It's been good for us," tribal
president Pearl Capoeman-Baller
said. "The bureau (of Indian Affairs)
always set priorities before. Now, the
tribe does.
"For instance, prior to self-
governance, we were only able to
fund about 14 college students. We
fund better than 50 now. We prioritize
education. Once you cut out the middle
man, it does make a difference."
Under a pilot project implemented
in 1991, the Quinault Nation is
spending the federal money it receives
as it sees fit, instead of having to
follow the dictates of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs.
About 30 tribes across the country
are participating in the Self-
Governance Demonstration Project.
Among them are the Hoopa Valley
Tribe of California, Washington's
Lummi Indian Nation, the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma, the Tlingit and
Haida Tribes of Alaska, the Mille
Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians in
Minnesota, the Sisseton-Wahpeton
Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and the
Mescalero Apache Tribe in Nevv
Mexico.
"An advisory and protective role _
that's all we want the bureau for,"
said Linda Jolly, Quinault's self-
governance coordinator. "More of an
advocate, rather than someone to tell
us what to do day to day."
In return for the tribes' ceding of
land, the federal government signed
treaties with tribal groups that entitled
their members to assistance with
health care, education and the
protection of natural resources. The
BIA administers the funds and tells
the tribes how they can be spent.
Jolly said tribes developed the
legislation to reduce the BIA's
influence.
"If we didn't do it, who the heck
was going to?" Jolly said. "It was a
tribally driven initiative. We certainly
couldn't let BIA draw it up. It would
mean they would lose jobs."
Gary Witherspoon, professor of
American Indian Studies at the
University of Washington, thinks the
program is a sincere and positive
effort on the part of the government.
But he is concerned that people within
the bureaucracy who fear for their
jobs are thwarting it.
"There is a second tier of career
civil servants who know how to keep
their jobs and know how to keep
things from happening. All they have
to do is not hire enough people to
process all the contracts," which will
halt the process for years, he said.
The self-governance project
effectively eliminates a middle layer
Tribes cont'd on pg 5
By John Rainbird
St. Paul — What started at the
Headwaters in Bemidji, to the mouth
ofthe Mississippi, then past large
and small towns, became an
adventure for several inner-city
children and some adults trying to
meet a destination at Fort Snelling
on Labor-Day.
In an interview with Dr. Dave
Gonzales, a Bemidji State University
English Professor */ director /
organizer and participant of the
Mississippi spiritual canoe journey,
questions concerning the
accountability of funded monies
spent for the trip were asked:
Q. How much of the funded money
has been spent on the canoes,
supplies and children to make this
type of journey?
A. We were able to get $20,000
from the McKnight Foundation,
$ 10,000 for the trip and $ 10,000 for
a book on the journey. Mystic Lake
gave us $ 11,000 and' $5,000 of that
was for the canoes. That is, we had
to buy canoes.
We also got $5,000 from the
Dakota coummunity at Red Wing,
$5,000 from American Indian OIC
Minneapolis, and of course, money
from other places as well. It came to
about $40,000.
The problem is that funding people
do not fund individuals; they fund
organizations. The Peacemakers
Center had the money. Whenever I
needed some money for food or gas
or anything else, I had to ask them
for it. In other words, they controlled
the money, not me.
Q. Was there suppose to be a
payment for those who took the kids
down the river and has there been
any promises of pay for them?
A. If you have about $40,000 to
organize a river journey, it seems
that there would be enough money
to pay the people on the river. They
do the actual work, day and night.
As of today, according to Lenny
Butcher and 'Fish' Fisher, who
stayed with the kids most of the
time, little money was paid to them.
However, the question has another
meaning as well. Why is it that we
even have to ask such a question of
our organizers? It seems that there
River cont'd on pg 6
White Earth man to file civil lawsuit
By Lu Ann Hurd-Lof
Detroit Lakes Tribune
The same year the Mille Lacs Band
of Chippewa sued the state claiming
it had treaty rights to fish, hunt and
gather outside the reservation without
state regulation, Albert Bellecourt was
given a handful of tickets for violating
state rules while he was trapping
leeches just west of Itasca State Park.
The year was 1990.
Wednesday U.S. District Judge
Diana Murphy found that under the
terms of an 1837 treaty, Mille Lacs
Chippewa tribal members may spear
fish, hunt and gather wild rice on
public land in a dozen counties
including Mille Lacs, Aitken and
Crow Wing counties.
Soon Bellecourt may be the key
figure in a case which will seek the
same rights on lands throughout
northern Minnesota.
Bellecourt's attorney, C. Peter
Elrinder, said Wednesday he will file
suit in U.S. District Court on behalf
of Bellecourt and descendants ofthe
Mississippi Band of Chippevva
Indians against the state.
Their suit contends that treaties of
1837, 1842 and 1854 reserved to the
Chippewa people the traditional uses
ofthe land that pre-existed the treaties,
and that the 1854 treaty establishes a
dividing line between the Lake
Superior Chippewa and the
"Mississippi Chippevva" who resided
in the area now encompassing the
White Earth Reservation.
Court documents prepared for the
case state that the Mississippi Band
have retained the same rights as the
Lake Superior Chippewa to the east
on lands which were owned by them
in common lying east ofthe boundary
line.
Further, the documents state that
subsequent treaties do not extinguish
rights to hunt and gather on ceded
land off the reservation, nor have they
ever been the subject of treaty or federal
statutory limitations.
The land west ofthe boundary line
referred to encompasses a vast part of
northern Minnesota, reaching from
the Canadian border south to
Minneapolis and from the Fond du
Lac Reservation on the east beyond
the North Dakota border. In fact, the
only part of northern Minnesota
excluded is the Arrowhead because it
is part of the Lake Superior area.
Erlinder said because of other court
Suit cont'd on page 3
UJJ United Express
• Quick, Convenient Connections to United
• One-stop Check-In
• Mileage Plus* Credits
• Great Escapes with Silver Wings
Plus**' and Silver Travel Pac*
BEMIDJI TO MINNEAPOLIS
LV
ARRIVE
STP
FRE(
6:20 A.M.
7:20 A.M.
0
X67
9:15 A.M.
10:40 A.M.
1
X67
3:35 P.M.
4:35 P.M.
0
X67
9:15 A.M.
10:15 A.M.
0
.67
2:05 P.M.
3:05 P.M.
0
7
MINNEAPOLIS TO BEMIDJI
Your connection to the world. Providing connections from Bemidji with one-stop check-in to Denver or Chicago on United Airlines
flights all day long. Call your travel professional for reservations. Or call United at 1-800-241-6522.
BEECHCRAFT1900 AIRLINER
• CRUISE AT 300 MPH
• PRESSURIZED COMFORT
• GENEROUS LEG ROOM
• RECLINING SEATS
United Airlines flights 5800-6149 are
operated by Great Lakes Airlines.
LV
ARRIVE
STP
FREO
7:45 A.M.
9:10 A.M.
1
X67
.11:45 A.M.
12:45P.M.
0
X6
4:00 P.M.
5:00P.M.
0
X6
9:05 P.M.
10:05P.M.
0
X6
12:30 P.M.
1:30P.M.
0
6
^