The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-10-28

              Indian Chamber of Commerce faces
dilemna: Who is an Indian?
By Gary Blair
The Minnesota American Indian
ChamberofCommerce(MAICC)has
recently come under fire for allegedly
allow ing people w ith questionable Indian heritage to become members.
Sources say there have been instances
where a business owner was allowed
to join the chamber as a regular (voting) member without meeting the
membership requirement ofbeing enrolled in a tribe.
On Wednesday. October 26. 1994,
MAICC held a board meeting and
special general membership meeting
at Grand Casino Mille Lacs. Included
in the meeting notice sent by MAICC
executive director Shannon Mason,
was an announcement requesting that
members bring their "Membership
Tribal/Lineage Certifications, and
proof of 51 percent controlling interest in their individual companies."
Although those documents were mentioned at the meeting none were produced.
Complaints that whites or light
complexed Indians were using dark
complexed Indians as business fronts
have been part ofthe criticism leveled
against the Indian chamber. "They
want the minority status, they want to
benefit from the corporate set-a-side
programs for minority businesses and
there are Indians who are willing to let
themselves be used."' one former mem
ber told the PRESS. "It's seen as a
prize to get an ethnic looking Indian
involved in their companies and they
always have a dark complexed Indian
on the front page of the chamber's
newsletter.
The corporate set-a-side programs
were designed to assist disachantaged
minority businesses and this is a controversial issue because many of the
Indian chamber members hav en't had
to liv e one day as an Indian. Many of
them hav e lived as whites and are only
I ndian when they' re at chamber meetings.
The PRESS was told by a former
MAICC member, "I went up to Cass
MAICC cont'd on pg 3
Red Lake election suit tenatively set for
early November 14th
By Bill Lawrence
In a telephone interview with Red
Lake Chief Tribal Court Judge Wanda
Lyons on Wednesday, it was learned
that a three judge appellant court
will hear the RLTC's appeal ofthe
trial courts ruling accepting jurisdiction in about two weeks. The
RLTC, who are defendants in this
case, appealed that portion ofthe ruling which denies the defendants' request to dismiss the plaintiffs' cause
of action based upon the doctrine of
sovereign immunity from suit.
By an Interim Order filed on August 24, 1994, Red Lake 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.
In making his ruling, Judge
DeLorme rejected the Red Lake Tribal
Council's motion to dismiss based on
the affirmative defense of sovereign
immunity. Instead 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 he said the tribe,
as a sovereign, did not authorize its
employees 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 indi-
Suit cont'd on pg 3
Woman says Prescott beat, harassed her
Case may be public relations nightmarefortribal gambling
By Chris Ison
The Mpls. Star/Tribune
The increasingly former paternity
case against casino executive
Leonard Prescott has escalated into
charges of battering and harassment
and could create a public relations
nightmare for the entire Indian
gambling industry.
A former employee at Mystic Lake
Casino says that Prescott ordered
her to have sex with him while on
the job. beat her repeatedly when
she told him she was pregnant with
his baby and later threatened her
life.
Jill Gavle. 26, made the
allegations in a request for
protection order and in a civil
complaint alleging assault and
battery, race discrimination,
harassment and other charges
against Prescott, the nationally-
known casino executive who was
terminated as head of the state's
largest casino last spring.
Prescott firmly denied all the
allegations in an interview Friday,
and his attorney has vowed to fight
them in court to prove Prescott's
innocence.
Gavle also is suing Little Six Inc.,
the corporation that rims the casino
fortheMdewakanton-Dakola Sioux
Community in Shakopee. She also
is suing one current and one former
executive whom she says harassed
her.
And the news gets worse for the
casino and for the Indian gambling
industry.
Gavie's attornev has retained a
public relations firm that specializes
in placing people such as Gavle on
national talk shows such as
"Donahue" and "the Oprah Winfrey
shovv."
With that development, the case
lakes on a greater significance
because it could become a vehicle in
the growing effort to chip away at
tribes' sovereign immunity from
outside lawsuits.
As Indian-owned casinos have
begun producing multimillion-
dollar profits and employing
thousands of non-Indians, atton
are taking on more cases involving
alleged violations of labor laws and
human rights. Historically, tribes
have been successful in arguing that
as sovereign  nations,  they are
PreSCOtt cont'd on pg 3
Tribal legislation weathers Congress at
close of session
By Bunty Anquoe
Today Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — In a flurry of
activity before the close ofthe 103rd
Congress, several pieces of legislation affecting Indian country managed to pass both House and Senate
and are headed to President Clinton's
desk for signature.
Rep. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.,
chairman ofthe House Native American Affairs Subcommittee, called this
congressional session one ofthe most
productive ever.
"The 103 rd Congress passed good,
strong legislation which will improve
nearly every facet of Native American life," he said.
"From Indian Self-governance in
BIA reorganization, this Congress
made major changes to improve tribal
courts, Indian agriculture, religious
freedom, dam safety and self-determination."
Bills en route to the White House
for President Clinton to sign into law-
include:
• Self-determination - Breaking a
six-year deadlock, thisbill establishes
a "model contract" for all tribes and
negates the need for most of the 400
pages of proposed regulations sub
mitted by the Interior Department.
• Self-Governance - makes permanent a structure allowing tribes to
take over control of funding and services offered by the Interior Department and is touted as "the future of
Indian Affairs."
• Trust Funds - creates a special
trustee within the Interior Department to oversee all aspects of the
management of the $2 billion trust
fund held for Indian tribes and individuals.
• Leasing Authority - allows the
Albuquerque-based Indian Pueblo
Session cont'd on pg 3
Tribe gives $10 million for Smithsonian's
Indian Museum
By Connie Cass
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The
Smithsonian Institution will get the
largest single cash donation in its
history _ $10 million _ from the.
Mashantucket Pequot tribe to help
build an American Indian museum.
The small Connecticut tribe wants
to share the riches from its giant
casino and bingo complex. Richard
Hayward. chairman of the Pequot
Tribal Council, said Monday.
"I guess you could call us wealthy
people." Hayward said at a news
conference. "We were wealthy before
we had money, because we had a love
of the land and we had a love of our
ancestors and our culture."
The National Museum of the
American Indian will help preserve
that culture and give Indians hope for
the future, Hayward said-.
The museum, the Smithsonian's
15th. is scheduled to open in the last
vacancy along the National Mall in
2001. '
"When I first heard that the last
space on the mall in Washington was
going to the Native Americans, it just
made me feel proud," Hayward said.
"I'm sorry it didn't happen a long
time ago. The recognition to Native
Red Lake Election suit set for Nov. 14th / pg 1
Bug School Busses to have monitors / pg 1
MAICC faces question of who's Indian? / pg 1
Skip still "wanted" / pg 4
Reflections by Wub-e-ke-niew / pg 5
Voice of the Anishinabeg (The People)
I--T1-
)
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All  People
Founded   in 1988 Volume 6    Issue 18 October 28, 1994
\
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News,  1994
"Dreams ofthe Summer Hunt," a print of an original oil painting by bob "punk" Wakanbo. He was recently
awarded "Artist ofthe Year" by the Great Lakes Regional Native Amer. Fish & Wildlife Society.
Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig buses to have monitors
By Brad Swenson
The Bemidji Pioneer
Starting Nov. 8, school buses
.carryingBug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School
students will include monitors to make
sure students safely enter and leave
the bus.
The move for mandated monitors is
the first in Minnesota, believes Bob
Wakanabo of Cass Lake, who has
made school bus safety- almost a
personal crusade for the past several
years.
The reason: Wakanabo's daughter,
elementary school student Breanna
Leigh Wakanabo was, killed Nov. 19,
1985, by a school bus in front of her
home.
"They will be an elite group of
people who will be working together,"
says Wakanabo, who this fall was
appointed by Gov. Arne Carlson to a
state School Bus Safety Advisory-
Committee which is now working on
recommendations to the 1995
Legislature. "They're willing to go
the extra mile to protect these kids."
Wakanabo said he and a parents'
advisory group approached the Leech
Lake Reservation Tribal Council,
which operates the school, about
adopting rules similar to that in Rhode
Island, which mandates safety
monitors on all school buses.   The
RTC unanimously- agreed to the
proposal Thursday.
"They are the first to do this under
Rhode Island rules with mandated
monitors," he said. "Some school
districts have monitors on buses, but
for discipline and not to help kids
cross the street."
Under the unique proposal, which
some say should be called the Breanna
Leigh Law, seven adults will be hired
as monitors for the school's largest
buses and seven students, probably
honor students, will serve on the
school's minibuses. Following Rhode
Island rules, they will exit the bus
Buses cont'd on pg 3
Thompson, Chyala oppose putting casino
at Hudson Dog Track
Americans is long overdue."
Museum director W. Richard West
Jr. told the tribe. "An entire nation
shall be forever in your debt."
The largest previous gift to the
Smithsonian was $7 million, donated
by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest
Fund in 1992 for a national jazz
celebration.
The Pequots' gift, to be spread over
10 years, brings total priv ate donations
for the American Indian museum to
$31 million. That's more than halfway
to the fund-raising goal of $60 million
for construction and the museum's
Pequot cont'd on pg 3
Wis. (AP) Gubernatorial candidates
Tommy G. Thompson and Chuck
Chvala say they oppose allowing three
Indian tribes to open a casino at a
financially troubled dog track near
Hudson. Here's a summary of their
views, edited for brevity, based on
interviews with The Associated Press.
Three tribes have a plan to become
partners in a failing pari-muluel
greyhound racing track near Hudson
and propose opening a Las Vegas-
style casino to bail it out. The tribes
have sought the federal government's
approval and endorsement by the
governor is also needed.
Before the end of the decade,
compacts the state negotiated with 11
Indian tribes authorizing casino
gambling on their reserv ations come
up for renewal and the next governor
could ask that the deals .be
renegotiated.
Thompson. 52. a Republican from
Elroy, seeks an unprecedented third,
four-year term. An attorney,
Thompson served 18 years in the
state Assembly before he was first
elected governor in 1986.
Chvala, 39. a Democrat from
Madison, has served in thestate Senate
since 1984. The attorney was assistant
majority leader until Republicans took
control in 1993.
Question:
Do you favor allowing three Indian
tribes to become partners in a
financially troubled dog track at
Hudson and would you approve an
agreement for them to open a casino
at the track, and why?
The Response:
THOMPSON: "If they want to
purchase it, fine. If they want a full
casino, I would say no. The
constitutional amendment that was
passed by the people indicated that
we have got enough gambling in the
state. I would oppose the casino at the
dog track and would use whatever
power the governor's office had to
block it."
CHVALA: "No. People of this state
spoke very clearly in a referendum,
saving they were against further
expansion of gambling."
The Question:
Compacts that allow several
American Indian tribes in Wisconsin
to operate Las Vegas-style casinos
expire during the next governor's
term. Would you extend the
agreements as they are, and why?
The Response:
THOMPSON: "We may not have
any choice but to do so. The Indian
gaming law is a federal law. And they
have set restrictions on what we can
and cannot bargain for.
"The next opportunity is going to
Views cont'd on pg 4
UJJ United Express
• Quick, Convenient Connections to United
• One-stop Check-In
• Mileage Plus* Credits
• Great Escapes with Silver Wings
Plus"1 and Silver Travel Pac*
BEMIDJI TO MINNEAPOLIS
LV
ARRIVE
STP
FREO
6:20 A.M.
7:20 A.M.
0
X6-7
9:15 A.M.
10:40 A.M.
1
X67
3:35P.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-slop 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.V
1:30P.M.
0
6
rZs