The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1994-11-25

              MPR's four part series finds allegations of corruption, voterfraud and illegal bookmaking
activity on White Earth Reservation and at the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen
By Cabell Bruce HI and John
Biewen - Reprinted with
permission of Minnesota Public
Radio. Copyrighted by the
Minnesota Public Radio.
White Earth 4 Two former
employees ofthe Shooting Star Casino
in Mahnomen, Minnesota say they
witnessed and illegal bookmaking
operation inside the northwestern
Minnesota casino. Casino managers
say they are not aware of any illegal
activity at the Shooting Star.
The Shooting Star is owned by the
White Earth Band of Ojibwe. The
body that oversees casino' s operations,
the White Earth Tribal Gaming
Commission, is made up ofthe same
five elected tribal leaders who form
the White Earth Resen'ation Tribal
Council. Opponents of the tribal
leadership say those leaders cannot
be trusted to protect the integrity of
the casino. The FM News Station's
John Biewen reports.
White Earth Ojibwe band member
Dan Kier began work last November
as a security employee at the tribe's
Shooting Star casino! He worked the
graveyard shift, form 2 a.m. to 10a.m.
His job was to watch the casino floor
through a surveillance camera to make
sure there were no cheating or theft.
Shortly after he started he saw what
he believed was illegal activity at a
blackjack table, during the casino's
pre-dawn hours.
"After a few nights, I noticed it was
always around one table. It had to do
with sports paper, thatthey'dall come
and check different sports news and
whatever they were looking at, and
then they'd start markingthings down
on smaller pieces of paper.
Kier says he believed the dealers at
one corner blackjack table were taking
bets on football games; a second casino
employee who worked on the casino
floor, says at Kier's request she
approached the blackjack table to get
a closer look, and saw casino
employees and others exchanging
cash. Sports bookmaking is illegal in
Minnesota and on the state's Indian
resenations. The compact signed
between the state and Indian tribes
allows only slot machines and
blackjack. Kier says every morning,
starting around 5 or 6 o'clock, he saw
people gathered around the corner
table. Some, he says, were blackjack
dealers and other casino employee;
others were Mahnomen area residents,
some of whom came in regularly.
"By eight-o'clock all these slips
would be collected and slipped into a
folder and taken to their blackjack
office."
Kier's description was
independently corroborated by a
Minneapolis man who spoke with the
FM News Station on the condition he
not be named. The man says early
one morning last January, between 4
and 5-o'clock, he and two friends
were playing blackjack at the Shooting
Star when they saw people gathered
around the corner table. He says,
quote, "It was obvious what was going
on." He says he and his friends went
over to the table and placed a bet on a
pro football game; the man says a
Shooting Star employee who worked
in the blackjack area took the 20-
dollar bet. The man says his friend
later returned to the casino and
collected when they won. The source
said of sports betting at the Shooting
Star, quote, "It's not a huge secret to
people who gamble."
State Gambling Enforcement
Division officials say a sports
bookmaking, whether in a casino or
not, can be a felony if the wager is
high enough. They say until now, no
one has been arrested for illegal
gambling in any Minnesota tribal
casino. U.S. Attorney David
Lillehaug declined to comment on
the White Earth casino, but said his
office would vigorously prosecute
violations of federal gambling laws.
Former suneillance employee Dan
Kier resigned from Shooti ng Star last
March; he says he quit in protest
because when he reported what he
thought was bookmaking to his
superiors, they did nothing.
"My complaint would go to my
shift lead, who like I said was related
to some of these people that were
involved in this, the blackjack dealers.
And he was awful protective of the
blackjack area as a whole. And he
didn't want nobody looking in on
blackjack, he'd override my camera
and put my camera on a different area
to scan something else."
"We do not run any sports betting
here. Never have, never will, it's
impossible for that to happen as a part
of this casino." Ed DiNofrio is Vice
President of Operations for Gaming
World International, the casino
management company that operates
Shooting Star. Several weeks ago,
when the FM News Station showed
casino managers photographs of the
blackjack table activity that Dan Kier
took through his casino stuveillance
camera, casino officials said they had
not been aware of the activity —
whatever it was. This week they said
they'd investigated and found no basis
forKiere'sallegations. DiNofrio said
he's "flabbergasted by the
Minneapolis man's story about
placing football bets at the blackjack
table. He says if there was betting
going on, casino management knew
nothing about it.
"To me, it's no different than if
something went on at a turkey
MPR cont'd on pg 3
Voice ofthe Anishinabeg (The People)
1
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded  in 1988        Volume 6   Issue BE        November 25, 1 334
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews,  1994
New Visions saved by outside source
By Gary Blair
The New Visions chemical dependency treatment program for Native
Americans closed its doors last Friday, due to finanical problems. However, the PRESS has learned that the
closing may only be temporary.
According to Victoria Abraham,
New Visions executive director, the
treatment center plans to reopen for
outpatient care as early as December
1. 1994. The closing, announced last
week, was prompted by Hennepin
County's decision to stop referring
clients to the center because the staff
wasn't getting paid. The county's action came right after the IRS enforced
a lien and seized $60,000 from state
and county reimbursements that normally go to support the center's services.
Abraham says New Visions tax bill
was closer to $47,000 and the IRS
plans to return the difference as soon
as possible. "They told us the money
they returned will have to go to pay
past bills and it can't be used to pay
past salaries," she said. (The last time
New Visions staff was paid was October 21, 1994.)
Now PRESS sources say New Visions has been approached by a locdl
resenation with an offer of a direct
grant to help the treatment center stay
afloat. As part of that offer, the reservation plans to support a gambling
addiction outpatient program that
would be offered at the treatment center.
On November 18, New Visions staff
and community members held a pot-
luck dinner at the treatment center.
Herb Sam offered tobacco and prayer
and a drum group sang honor songs to
mark the program's closing.
A former client who asked to speak
told the group what the treatment
center meant to him and how it had
changed his life.
New Visions board of director's
chairperson Joe Estrada, told those
who were present, "Where are all the
people who say they care about New
Visons? You can tell who cares about
New Visions, by those who are here."
The problems that closed the 13-
year-old chemcial dependency treatment program located in south Minneapolis, were not soley financial.
Abraham explained, "For the first four
years, when Terry Smith was the director, Hennepin County received
finanical reports from New Visions.
We always had financial audits done
by outside accounting firms."
"Then one day," she continued, "they
said we owed them (Hennepin County)
$165,000. Joe Big Bear was our contract manager, he's been aware of New
Visions' finanical situation."
Loraine Rohl, a news reporter for
KSTP Channel 5 in Minneapolis who
covered the treatment center's closing, told the PRESS, "There didn't
Source cont'd on pg 3
I  I I •■ -"eft
\\ 'toM**.
*,,
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i&dQ
®SS
This picture was taken from a surveillance camera at the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen, Minn. The
picture shows a copy of a sport page of what is believed to be the USA Today newspaper laid out over a casino
blackjack table. The picture appears to list the NFL games for the weekend of December 4 and 5,1993. The
picture was taken by Dan Kier, a White Earth band member and former security employee ofthe Casino.
Inouye warns against reliance on 'New
Buffalo" of Indian gambling
Finn may face Senate ethics charge
Sen. Johnson says he'll file complaint at session's start
By Robert Whereatt
Mpls. Star Tribune
On the first day ofthe 1995 legislative session, Independent-Republican
Sen. Dean Johnson will file an ethics
complaint against Sen. Harold (Skip)
Finn, hoping it will lead to the DFLer's
expulsion from the Senate.
Finn, an attorney from Cass Lake,
pleaded guilty in August to a federal
misdemeanor charge of misusing
$13,000 that belonged to the Leech.
Lake Band of Chippewa.
Since then, federal prosecutors have
said that Finn, an American Indian,
also took hundreds of thousands of
dollars in tribal money through a
phony insurance scheme, though those
accusations have not resulted in additional federal charges. .
In August, Johnson, the minority
leader from Wilmar, urged Finn to
step down. He refused, contending
that he has done nothing improper
since he was elected in 1990.
Since Finn will not leave voluntarily, Johnson said this week that he
will seek to force his resignation or
expulsion through Senate ethics rules.
"I still maintain that I have done
nothing in my position as a state
senator. What gives the Senate or the
Ethics Committee jurisdiction to review my activity?" Finn said in a
telephone interview Thursday. "The
Senate has already begun its [1996]
election cycle," Johnson said.
But he said that the actions to which
Finn has pleaded guilty constitute
"conduct unbecoming a Minnesota
state senator." As such, Johnson
said, the Special Committee on Ethical Conduct should require Finn to
explain the federal charges and the
additional accusations that he and
others divided $750,000 in tribal insurance premiums that Finn was to
administer.
The committee has the authority to
investigate matters and recommend
any warranted disciplinary actions to
the full Senate. Discipline could range
from a reprimand to expulsion. Under Senate rules, Johnson can only
file a complaint when the Senate is in
session; the 1995 session begins Jan.3.
In action related to the federal
charges against Finn, the Minnesota
Lawyers Professional Responsibility
Board has begun investigating his
activities as legal counsel to the Leech
Lake Band and administrator of its
self-insurance fund.
Marcia Johnson, director of the
board that oversees attorney conduct,
confirmed the investigation, but declined to comment, citing rules governing confidentiality.
Finn's sentencing date hasn't been
set, though it could be as early as next
month. He already has agreed to pay
themaximumfineof$100,000. Prosecutors have said they will seek a
prison sentence of 12 to 18 months.
[Reprinted with permission ofthe
Mpls. StarTribune 11/18/94.]
By Carl Hilliard
DENVER (AP) _ U.S. Sen. Daniel
Inouye warned Indian leaders not to
rely too heavily on the "new buffalo"
of gambling on their resenations or
they will risk losing the lessons taught
by their elders.
Inouye, chairman of the Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs, also
told the National Congress of
American Indians at its 50th
Anniversary meeting, that changes
in national policy, brought by last
Tuesday's elections, will force a fight
to keep Indian programs gained in
prior administrations.
Inouye, D-Hawaii, said: "You will
not have the luxury of division among
yourselves. You will have to work
together much more closely."
Inouye said he will sene as the
Indian affairs panel's vice chairman
when the Republican-controlled
Senate and U.S. House convene next
year.
If polls are correct, voters wanted a
lighter tax burden, a balanced budget,
increased defense spending, reduction
of discretionary spending and a line
item veto, he said.
"If the new Congress is serious, it
will take an extraordinary effort on
our part to maintain the present level
of spending on Indian programs,"
Inouye said Wednesday.
The new Republican majority has
said it intends to reduce budgets by
one-third to one-half, he warned.
It would be unwise to assume new
members of Congress are
knowledgeable about Indian issues,
he said.
"The most important and
fundamental issue facing us is that of
religious rights of our native people,"
Inouye said. "Without resolution of
this matter, the health and survival of
your identity as Indian people will be
in jeopardy. One cannot separate
religion from culture."
Indian people have suffered greatly
from "the enlightened process of
religious and cultural frenzies," he
said, pointing to the danger of laws
prohibiting religious ceremonies;
prohibiting the speech of native
languages and allowing desecration
of sacred burial sites.
In a personal obsenation, Inouye
warned against too much reliance of
what he called "the new buffalo," or
gambling on Indian resenations and
pueblos.
It brings the promise of prosperity,
"and with it comes the potential for
worship ofthe almighty dollar." He
said "there will be great temptation
for the younger generations of Indian
people to place a greater value on the
trappings of wealth than on the
teachings of their elders."
Inouye cont'd on pg 4
So called medicine man pleads guilty to
rape during healing ceremony
Financial woes force New Visions to close
doors: Chemical-dependency treatment program
By Steve Brandt
Mpls. Star Tribune
New Visions, a small chemical-
dependency treatment program that
sened American Indians in the Twin
Cities area, is closing today.
The 19-year-old agency in
Minneapolis decided to shut down its
inpatient program, which treats up to
20 people, after the federal
government seized state payments to
New Visions forback taxes. Hennepin
County was informed Wednesday and
stopped sending people to New
Visions for outpatient treatment. The
county had seven inpatients and five
outpatients in New Visions programs
this week. They will be sent elsewhere.
Program officials were unable to
sav Thursday whatthe chances are for
restarting either program.
"We had no choice. This was a hard
decision," said staff director Vickie
Abraham.
New Visions offered the only
culturally specific inpatient treatment
program for Indians with chemical
abuse problems in the Twin Cities area.
There are two other such programs in
the state, both in northern Minnesota.
There is only one other culturally specific
outpatient program in Hennepin County
for Indians seeking treatment, and it
senes only women.
The New Visions program has been
dogged by financial problems for
years. Hennepin County7 calculates
"that New Visions owes it $223,586.
Most of the debt dates to the mid-
1980's, when New Visions was under
different leadership. County officials
said that agency was overpaid clients
were discharged early.
But Jim Dahlquist, an attorney
Visions cont'd on pg 3
FORT WORTH (AP) _ The owner
of an American Indian art gallery
who claims to be a medicine man has
pleaded guilty to raping and
sodomizing a woman during what he
called a healing ceremony.
Marrion Three Hawks, 50, was
sentenced Tuesday to 10 years
probation and 90 days in jail.
The second-degree felony sexual
assault conviction carries up to 20
years in prison. But Three Hawks,
under his probation, must sene 90
days in jail and enter a treatment
program for sex offenders, prosecutor
Lisa Mullen said.
He also was ordered to pay a $500
fine and to stay away from the victim,
who said she was pleased with the
sentence.
"The treatment is very important to
me. Punishment is not the only thing,"
she said. "All I wanted to do was hear
him say, 'I'm guilty.'"
The victim, also an American
Indian, went to Three Hawks seeking
a remedy for a numbing pain in her
hands that turned out to be carpal
tunnel syndrome, she said.
She said he gave her an herbal tea
that paralyzed her, then raped and
sodomized her on a bed covered with
white deerskin.
Blood tests showed no evidence of a
drug in her system, but Ms. Mullen
said she believes some substance was
used.
Three Hawks, who owns an
American Indian art gallery in Fort
Worth and has often spoken to
schoolchildren and civic groups about
Indian lore, was arrested in January.
He also was fined in August 1993
on a misdemeanor assault count after
another woman said she was
assaulted during a ceremony
purportedly intended to cure her,
Ms. Mullen said.
"He holds himself out as a spiritual
counselor, and that's his entree to
doing the things he does to women,"
Ms. Mullen said.
Although he pleaded guilty, Three
Hawks denied any wrongdoing once
he was outside the courthouse.
"There's no such thing as justice. I
have to spend 90 days in jail for
something I didn't do," he said.
"Everything the victim said was lies."
He said he pleaded guilty because
he is on probation for driving while
intoxicated.
"If I didn't plead, they would have
revoked my probation and I would
have spent a longer time in jail," he
said.
Three Hawks received deferred
adjudication, meaning the charge will
be erased from his record if he
successfully completes his probation.
If he violates the probation, he can
be sentenced to prison.