The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-09-16

              Federal subpoenas issued in White Earth
election protest
By Gary Blair
They were called welfare bums when
they stood-up and pointed at the White
Earth Resenation's chairman Chip
Wadena, and called him a thief.
They were put in jail when they
protested against the White Earth tribal
council for using money that Wadena
received for selling out the White
Earth Land Settlement Act. Money
that was later used to build the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen, where
now mostly non-Indians work.
They were threatened by Wadena
supporters and local law enforcement
was told not to believe them.
But, this week, those individuals
are rejoicing because on Wednesday
theFBIbeganseningsubpoenas. Yes,
subpoenas are finally being sened on
White Earth enrollees who helped
Chip Wadena and resenation secretary/treasurer Jerry Rawley commit
election fraud for years. These White
Earth people who were willingto suck-
up to Wadena and Rawley and sell-out
their own people, for a few dollars, are
the first of what is expected to be a
much larger group.
Danny Stevens, former resenation
council member who was recently defeated by Jerry Rawley, told the PRES S
Wednesday evening: "Carley Jaskins
(better known in resenation circles as
'baby doll') has been sened a subpoena to appear before a federal grand
jury in Minneapolis."
"They (the FBI) are also looking for
Stella Oppergard," Stevens continued. "She's another one ofthe notary
publics that helped makeup the phony
absentee ballots that were sent through
the mail. Thev- (FBI agentsDave Bams
and Mike Nelson ) told me, 'Dan it
was just like you said. Some of those
names on that voting list were people
who were dead.
PRESS reports indicate that at least
25 names of deceased White Earth
enrollees were used to commit the
election fraud that involved the U.S.
Mail. Some of the names used were
those of people who had died over 15
years ago.
The Sept. 9, 1994, issue ofthe Native American Press/Ojibwe News
carried a list of 650 names that were
reported to have voted absentee for
secretary/treasurer Jerry Rawley. The
list appeared in Maynard Swan's column in both publications. The article
also indicated that the FBI had developed an interest in the White Earth
election protest.
In addition, Stevens reported at that
time that they had requested the White
Earth court's findings in his recent
election protest against Rawley. He
said FBI agents had indicated that if
the U. S. mail had been used to commit
election fraud in this case the perpetrators could be charged with a federal
offense.
Stevens, who used to be on the tribal
council, says he tried to challenge the
corrupt leadership at White Earth but
it had no effect. "They isolated me and
that's why I quit," he said.
On August 22, 1994, the White
Earth court ruled that 310 absentee
Election cont'd on pg 3
Contestant's dance makes mockery of
Native People
By John Curran
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) _ A
Miss America pageant contestant
whose talent routine has been
criticized as insensitive says she's
sticking-with it.
Miss South Dakota Kristi Lynn
Bauer dresses in buckskin and uses
Indian symbols in her interpretive
dance piece. She says the Dakota
S ioux Indian who sened as a technical
advisor for the film "Dances With
Wolves" has assured her that the
clothing and items used in dance are
authentic.
"It's to honor the native American
culture," Bauer said Wednesday. "I'm
taking the side of cultural sensitivity,
which it's important for everyone to
do."
American Indians have called the
dance insulting.
The American Indian Community
House Inc., based in Nevv York,
Wednesday called on Bauer to drop
the piece and perform something else
in the national pageant.
"Even after being told that she will
be insulting Native Americans and
making a mockery of their spirituality,
(Bauer)... has not changed her plans
to perform a dance dressed in a
buckskin dress under a tribal burial
scaffold adorned with traditional
objects like a drum and buffalo robe
for her 'talent' competition at the
Miss America Pageant," the group
said.
"This appropriation of Native
culture is insensitive, unacceptable
and in no way honoring Native
people," the group said.
The group is a nonprofit social
senice agency that senes Indians
and acts as a communications network
on national issues.
Bauer, a blue-eyed blonde, said
Wednesday that although she doesn't
knowthenameofherlndian ancestor,
she's sure she is part Indian.
Nonetheless, the Indian group called
her a "non-Indian."
Bauer, 22, of Brookings, said she
performed the routine at the South
Dakota pageant fouryearsagoand no
one complained. She did a different
Dance cont'd on pg 3
Good Medicine Run        Big Mountain To Chiapis
By Dave Gonzales, Ph.D.
Bemidji, MN - In October and
November 1994 Dennis Banks will
organize the Big Mountain To Chiapis
"Good Medicine Run." Its primary
purpose is to earn the message that
all life is sacred. The run from
Brownsville, Texas, to San Cristobal
de las Casas, Mexico, is symbolic of
our cultural and spiritual relationship
to Indigenous Peoples of Mexico,
including the rebels ofthe Zapatista
National Liberation Army, whose
Nevv Year's Day rebellion stunned
Mexico and the world.
The run's symbolic nature has to do
with unmasking the false notion that
the only traditional "Indians" are in
North American. For years,
Americans have tried to convince
Aboriginal Indigenous Peoples of
North America that they are a
minority, when in fact, there are
millions of traditional Peoples in
Mexico as well as other countries
south of the man-made borders.
The lines on maps are misleading,
and language becomes a problem, a
barrier to u nderstanding our realities,
that we are Aboriginal Indigenous
People ofthe Americas.
Dennis Banks is asking for two
interpreters in the Spanish language
because "Indians" south of Texas
speak Spanish. The Spanish colonized
that part ofthe world before Europeans
colonized North America.
"Indians" in North America speak
English because English-speakers
colonized this part of the country.
Both languages, English and Spanish,
are European languages. Somehow
Spanish is associated with a culture:
that is, if you speak Spanish you are
thought of as being "Spanish."
English on the other hand is not
associated with culture. If you speak
English you are not considered to be
"English," are you? The Good
Medicine Run should contribute to
understanding this and hopefully get
rid of that falsehood.
Chiapis experienced abloody Indian
uprising that plunged Mexico into
Federal subpoenas issued in White Earth/pg 1
Body found after 13 year mystery/pg 3
IR a "NAPP"er!/pg 4
Red Lake TC files notice of appeal of election suits/pg 5
A Journey back to St. Benedict's Mission School/pg 6
Voice of the Anishinabeg (The People)
ni
1
The
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal  Opportunity  For All  People
Founded   in 1988    Volume G    Issue IS    September IE, 1994
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A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News,  1994
crisis and yet, it was essential that
Indigenous Peoples rise up to sunive.
It was done for the children and for
the land. It gave them a voice to say
that enough is enough, that children
and people need food, housing, land,
medicine, education and so on.
When are we going to have our own
"Chiapis?" I'm not speaking of
organized violence, because we are
in a different place historically that
they are in 1994.1 mean, when are we
going to put ourselves on the line for
our children? Why do we let
individuals get away with taking what
little our people have?
When are we going to say enough is
enough tQ those who just take and
take? Who get "fat" off our Aboriginal
Indigenous Peoples?
If Chiapis Indians can risk their
lives for their children, why do we put
up with individuals here in North
America, in Minneapolis, in Indian
country that seem to think there are
no consequences for their actions, the
Run cont'd on pg 3
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Native American Political Party members and supporters rally outside the DFL's 50th Birthday party at the
Bemidji Eagles Club. NAPP members are demanding the resignation of State Senator Harold "Skip" Finn.
Treasure Island manager pleads guilty
A manager of bingo operations at
Treasure Island Casino and former
treasurer of the Prairie Island Indian Community Pow wow committee has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to embezzling
almost $12,000.
Nora Anne Burr, 41, pleaded
guilty Monday to one count of embezzlement of tribal funds by an
officer. Under a plea agreement, a
second count will be dismissed at
sentencing.
"She took the funds over a several month period [in 1992], which
we were able to establish fairly
quickly," said Kenneth Saffold, an
assistant U.S. attorney. "She and
her attorney decided it was in her
best interests to plead guilty."
Burr is a Prairie Island community member.   Sentencing by U.S.
District Judge Paul A. Magnuson is
expected in six weeks. Treasure
Island is operated under the general
authority of the Prairie Island Indian Community. The Pow Wow
Committee supports Indian arts and
crafts, traditional and culture and
is financed by donations from the
Tribal Council and revenue from
Treasure Island Bingo and Casino.
Indicted businessman points finger at
State is trying to abolish reservation, tribal former tribal chairman
attorney argues
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ The
state is trying to use a U.S. Supreme
Court ruling to abolish the Ute Indian
Resenation off the map, a tribal
attorney arguedinU.S. District Court.
"They're talking (of) the resenation
no longer existing," attorney Robert
Thompson told U.S. District Court
Judge Bruce Jenkins on Monday.
"They're talking termination. That's
all they want. That's all they've ever
wanted."
In a 7-2 decision in February, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled Congress
meant to "diminish" boundaries of
the Ute Resenation with laws between
1902 and 1905 that caned the territory
into allotments that were sold to
Indians and non-Indians.
What was meant by "diminish" has
proved pivotal to settling an 18-year
dispute over whether lands in eastern
Utah's Uinta Basin fall under tribal
or non-Indian government
jurisdiction.
The tribe is seeking to block the
state from exerting criminal and civil
authority in disputed territories.
Jenkins made no ruling Monday.
The original case arose from the
1987 drug arrest of Myton resident
Robert Hagen. After pleading guilty,
Hagen challenged the state' s authority
to prosecute him, claiming he lived
within the 1861 Ute Resenation
boundaries and should be tried in
tribal courts.
State and county attorneys argued
Monday that the Hagen ruling has
wiped away the outer boundary ofthe
4 million-acre resenation, leaving
the tribe with jurisdiction only over
the 1.1 million acres of tribal trust
lands.
Tom Tobin, an attorney for
Duchesne and Uintah counties, said
the ruling casts doubt on boundaries
around the Uncompahgre and Hill
Creek extensions of the resenation,
and pristine forest lands in the high
Uinta Mountains.
Thompson said those areas were
not mentioned in the ruling.
Thompson maintained the Supreme
Court ruling applies only to the lands
opened and allotted to turn-of-the-
century homesteaders, and all lands
surrounding the allotted lands would
still be under tribal control.
Wider state authority threatens to
confuse tribal systems of irrigation
and grazing now tightly bound up in
land ownership, Thompson said.
Jenkins gave no indication of when
he might issue a final ruling.
By Matt Kelley
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) _ A
former chairman of the Sisseton-
Wahpeton Sioux Tribe masterminded
a scheme that took $63 million in
government equipment for private
profit, a businessman indicted in the
scheme says.
Roger Raether also says officials of
the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairstold
him to lie to another agency about
deals involving a 300-ton crane.
Raether, 52, of Twin Brooks, made
the accusations in an affidavit filed in
federal court.
The document is an unusual public
airing of a dispute between Raether
and federal prosecutors over whether
he is willing to cooperate with an
investigation ofthe scheme. Raether
has pleaded guilty to an unrelated
firearms charge and is seeking
leniency when he is sentenced in
November.
Federal prosecutors say Raether was
"less than candid" during an inteniew
and say they want him to provide
more specific information.
Raether and three other men have
been indicted in the scheme, which
prosecutors say used the name of the
Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe to
get government equipment for resale.
Raether made more than $130,000
for his part of the scheme during
1992, records show.
Former tribal chairman Russell
Hawkins directed the operation and
profited from it, Raether's affidavit
says. Hawkins has not been indicted,
but the investigation continues.
Hawkins hired Raether in 1990 to
scout out government equipment
available for the tribe. The tribal
chairman kept Raether in the dark
about how monev earned in the
scheme was spent, the affidavit says.
Raether says he doubted the scheme
was legal, but Hawkins assured him
that two federal prosecutors declared
the program was not illegal, the
affidavit says.
FormerU.S. Attorneys Phi lip Hogen
and Kevin Schiefferboth investigated
the scheme, but no charges were filed.
Schieffer says he and Hogen did not
have enough evidence to prosecute
anyone.
Hawkins did not return a message
left on his home answering machine
Tuesday evening.
Raether also says two BIA officials
told him to lie to the U.S. General
Senices Administration about deals
involving a 300-ton crane Raether
obtained for the Seminole Tribe of
Florida.
Mike Hackett and Steve Chism,
Indicted cont'd on pg 3
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