The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1995-03-03

              Minneapolis fire fighters issue focuses on
facts and figures
By Gary Blair
The controversy surrounding the
City of Minneapolis' hiring practices
of Native American fire fighters continues to go unresolved.
The city claims to have numerous
Indians who work for the fire department, but checks of the city's civil
service records reveal that most aren't
tribally enrolled. And while the lack
of legitimate efforts to recruit Indians
for the fire department is a profound
part ofthe issue, racial discrimination
is apparently at the root of the problem.
Minneapolis Native American fire
fighter Mike Beaulieu says he was
once told by one of the fire captains,
"We'd rather hire Indians than
niggers."
Last Friday, the bi-monthly meeting ofthe Fire Fighters Steering Committee (FFSC), formed by a federal
court order to monitor the hiring of
minorities by the city's fire department, became heated when it was
learned that reports requested by the
committee had been substituted.
Ron Edwards, the FFSC chairman,
says the group was given a list of fire
fighter recruitment efforts by an
American Indian Opportunities and
Industrialization Center (AIOIC) staff
member that were from a different
year and compiled by a different organization. AIOIC is a training and jobs
program for Native Americans located in south Minneapolis and has
been under fire for receiving recruitment dollars from the city and never
having recruited any Indians that were
hired by the fire department.
Apparently, the AIOIC recruitment
register contained names of people
that were recruited in 1991 by the
Anishinabe Council of Job Developers, Inc. (ACJD), and an attempt was
made to pass that roster off as recruitment efforts made by AIOIC in 1992.
Wilma Mason, director of ACJD,
says she recognized the only documented Indian that was hired by the
fire department that year. "I remembered his name because I checked out
his enrollment when we did the recruitment," she said.
Fire cont'd on pg 6
Notice: Sentencing for Senator Harold
"Skip" Finn scheduled for Friday at 3:00 at
the U.S. Federal Courthouse, 110 SoAuth
Fourth Street, Minneapolis
Voice of the Anishinabeg (The People)
1
Fifty Cents
Finn's future hangs in balance
By Jim Ragsdale
Staff Writer, St. Paul Pioneer Press
When Minnesota Sen. Harold
"Skip" Finn faces a federal judge this
week, his future may hinge on differing interpretations of a private meeting in his law office only weeks after
he was sworn in as a new senator.
Finn, a soft-spoken lawyer from Cass
Lake, pleaded guilty in August to a
misdemeanor charge of misapplying
funds ofthe LeechLake Band of Chippewa. He is scheduled to be sentenced
Friday by U.S. District Court Judge
James Rosenbaum.
While his career in the Legislature
hangs in the balance, Finn's legal
defense received a set-back last week.
A co-defendant, Leech Lake tribal
leader Myron Ellis, said in a sworn
statement that Finn tried to cover up
critical evidence as prosecutors were
closing in.
Finn, 46, is a Leech Lake band
member who attended the University
of Minnesota Law School and came
home to become the tribe's attorney
and a lawyer in the Walker area. In
November 1990, he made history by
being elected as state senator from
District 4, covering a large swath of
north-central Minnesota.
When he was sworn in on Jan. 8,
1991, he became the first American
Indian to serve in the Minnesota Sen
ate. He remains the only American
Indian in the 201-member Legislature.
Finn is not legally required to resign, because the charge to which he
pleaded guilty is a misdemeanor. But
Finn, a Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe say Finn will
probably step down if he receives any
jail time. Moe has held off Republican
calls for Finn's resignation until he is
sentenced.
Finn's trouble with the federal government stems from private firm he
set up in the mid-1980s to provide
insurance coverage for the Leech Lake
band.
Finn cont'd on pg 4
ajibwi
News
We Support Equal  Opportunity  For All People
Founded   in 1988
Volume E    Issue 36
March 3, 1995
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News,  1995
Ex-con stabbed by girl he terrorized
By Gary Blair
Another round of violence on the
White Earth resenation has left one
man dead and a fourteen year old girl
in custody—charged with 2nd degree
murder.
Arnold Belland, 32, was found dead
at his girlfriend's home in White Earth
last Friday evening after Becker
County authorities were called. Reports from the White Earth commumty say Belland was stabbed shortly
before midnight while involved in an
altercation with his girlfriend's teenage daughter.
On Wednesday, county officials the
PRESS spoke with said the matter is
still under investigation and because
it involves a juvenile they can't divulge additional information.
A close relative ofthe girl the PRESS
spoke with says the incident should
have never happened. "Everytime he
(Belland) got drunk, he started picking on [the girl]."
He says it took the Sheriffs deputies
over an hour to respond. "They're
pretty slow when they know it's an
Indian," he said.
Becker County Attorney Joseph
Evans told the PRESS, "The person
who called in the report didn't say
anything about someone being
stabbed," he said. "All they said was
that it was a domestic problem."
Lowell Bellanger of White Earth
responded, "It makes no difference
what type of call they [the Sheriff's
Department] received, they shouldn't
have taken that long to respond."
PRESS sources say the girl's mother
had been in the hospital and that she
had been staying with an aunt most of
the time because of Belland. He had
been staying at the house even though
the girl's mother had told him not to
go there while she was away.
The night of the murder, the girl
was at the house with a friend and
Belland came in, apparently using a
key. He kicked in the door to the
bedroom where the two girls were and
that's where the altercation that led to
the stabbing took place. It has not
been revealed what type of instrument
Belland was stabbed with.
PRESS sources say after the incident Belland's relatives stopped on
the road outside the house where deputies were investigating the death and
made threatening remarks to the girl.
Belland had recently been released
from Stillwater prison this past July,
where he had sened a five year sentence for second-degree manslaughter involving the beating death of
James Goodman.
Keveon Kingbird from Red Lake sings an honor song with his drum group, "Bad River," at the break of
Submitted photo
their victory game against Lake ofthe Woods, 94-55, February 24.
Red Lake mauls the Bears
Division of Indian Work comes to Lake Street
Minneapolis, Minn. — Mayor
Sharon Sayles Belton joins other
elected officials, lead donors, and corporate and community leaders in. a
multicultural celebration. The speakers address the successful effort in diversity that has produced this important new building to provide services
to the American Indian people in
greater Minneapolis.
Designed by AmerlNDIAN Architecture with traditional symbology
and built with a record-setting 50+%
of construction dollars and labor by
communities of color, the new Division of Indian Work building is a positive contribution to the Chicago-Lake
neighborhood that welcomes good
news.
On Monday, March 6, from 4:00 to
4:30 p.m., there will be an upbeat,
good-news celebration of diversity in
architecture, fundraising, community
service, construction and labor. There
will be American Indian drumming
and dancing by young people, as well
as multilingual room blessings, with
cedar branches and eagle feathers, by
tribal elders in traditional garb and a
Christian pastor in vestments, accompanied by the invited speakers and
guests.
Speakers include Mayor Sharon
Sayles Belton, Raymond "Sonny"
Crooks, Chairman of the Board,
Little Six, Inc., representing a
$500,000 pledge from the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Dakota Community,
the largest gift ever made by a Native
American tribe outside a reservation;
City Councilmember Brian Herron;
State Senator Linda Berglin; State
Rep. Linda Wejcman; Barbara
Koch, Capital Campaign co-chair,
major individual donor; James
Colville, president, United Way of
Minneapolis; Robert Sayre, Exec.
Vice Pres. First Bank Systems, donors
of the building site; and a statement
from Senator Paul Wellstone read by
Diana Seegar, Native American liaison.
The Lake Street Division of Indian
Work is located at 1001 East Lake
Street (on Lake between 10th St. and
11th St., just southeast of the Sears
building). It is a rectangular building,
72 feet by 92 feet, encompassing
26,000 gross square feet. There are
four levels on a sloping lot, allowing
entrances on two levels to serve different programs.
The exterior finish is primarily light
green rock-face block manufactured
by Anchor Block & Concrete of North
St. Paul. It represents lakes and waters that are significant for regional
tribes. Colored Spectraglaze block is
used to create turtle and dragonfly
motifs at the first and second stories.
By Julie Strong
V/ith reserves playing the first
and last quarters, the Red Lake
Warriors added an easy win to their
undefeated (in American play)
record, Friday night at home, against
the Lake of the Woods Bears, 94-
55. Red Lake closes off its season at
home Monday night against Fond
du Lac.
The Bears started the game
confidently with two buckets,
keeping Red Lake from scoring for
a minute and a half, when Keveon
Kingbird woke up the crowd with
an acrobatic 360 degree driving
layup. Red Lake, playing 4 seniors
3 of which were reserves dropped
two tres and finished the quarter
with a 16-8 run, 26-16.
Red Lake's starting five started
off the second period with a 7-0 run,
and upped the advantage by 25 at
halftime, 53-28.
Lake of the Woods switched to a
man-to-man defense in the second
half, but to no avail as Red Lake
out-scored them by 15 in the third,
and an all B-team fell short by only
one in the fourth.
Three Red Lakers scored in double
figures led by Keveon Kingbird with
26 points and 2 rebounds, followed
by Randy Holthusen with 20 and 7,
Robert Barrett 16 and 7, Shane
Garrigan 8 and 4, Jeremy Martin 6
and 3.
Keith Lajuenesse 6 and 0, Tom
Sayers 5 and 4, Gerald Kingbird 3
and 0, Arnold Pemberton 2 and 0,
and Kyle Garrigan 2 and 0.
Matt Speiker led the Bears with 25
and 15, followed by Darren Mans
14 and 0, Jason Russell 9 and 0,
Alan Johnson 4 and 0, Orin
Thorsness 3 andO, Clayton Gubbels
0 and 3, Ed Hureneuke 0 and 2, and
Cornelius Matthins with 0 and 1.
Keveon Kingbird led the three
point scorers with 3, followed by
Holthusen with
Mans with 1.
2, Russell 1 and
BIA's plan to streamline put on hold
Work cont'd on pg 3
Decisions, Decisions: A Fraction Worth Millions
By Paul Mcenroe
Minnesota Journal of Law
and Politics - March 1995
If their blood isn 't red enough—
and three-quarters of the
Mdewakanton membership's
blood is not—it may cost $500,000
a year.
There may be something troubling
about a lot of white people—"experts"—fighting it out to define the
centuries-old family relationships of
Native Americans. It's 1995, and
we've got Europeans trying to figure
out whose red blood is less white.
Maybe it's because of what lies on
the outcome.
The family tree of the
Mdewakanton Dakota in Shakopee
is starting to shake in federal court
in St. Paul and if the vibrations are
strong enough, it could cost mil
lions to any branches that fall.
In the homes around the booming
Little Six Casino, the question on
everyone's mind is who has enough
Native American blood to stay eligible on the tribe's membership rolls.
If it can be proven there's too much
blood of non-Native American ancestors running through your veins—
remember that old fur trapper your
great aunt always talked about?—
you could just find yourself getting
cut out ofthe gambling profits.
Attorney James H. Cohen has a
nice little case going on in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Richard
Kyle. Addressing history, greed, tribal
laws and sovereignty, it is seen as one
of the most significant I ndian gaming
cases in the country.
That's because the outcome of the
case will more clearly define how
much immunity the politically
charged tribes have from federal gambling regulations. Tied up in this is
the issue' of tribal membership and
the power struggles ofthe leadership
when it comes to interpreting tribal
membership rolls.
Cohen is representing a group of
tribal members—including former
chairman Leonard Prescott—who believe their rolls have been severely
diluted, allowing too many people to
receive gambling profits. This is not
a mere academic question. The gambling profits are estimated to be over
$500,000 per year per person.
It's a battle of fraction: worth millions.
The defendants in the case, led by
tribal chairman Stanley Crooks, believe they can control the membership rolls any way they wish and that
the federal government does not have
jurisdiction.
Deciding exactly who in the tribe is
entitled to a share of the yearly cut
from the money grinding out of the
slots and off the blackjack tables
By Bunty Anquoe
Indian Country Today
WASHINGTON - As the old saying goes, "the squeaky wheel gets the
grease" and mounting tribal anger
over BIA streamlining plans has won
a year-long moratorium in the heated
issue.
Ada Deer, assistant secretary for
Indian affairs, last week told tribal
leaders Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has agreed to scrap current reorganization proposals and has approved a one-year extension to allow
tribes and bureau officials to find an
alternative plan to downsize the
agency.
"We explained (to Babbitt) that there
was serious opposition from tribes
and we were successful in continuing
talks with tribes," she told the mem
bers ofthe Senate Indian Affairs Committee at a budget oversight hearing.
The BIA is expected to eliminate
448 full-time staff slots and reduce
administrative expenses by $34.5
million during the 1994-1996 fiscal
years as a part of the Clinton
administration's overall plan to
streamline government by slashing
the federal workforce by 252,000 by
1999.
The BIA developed a streamling
plan with several options which was
presented to and strongly rejected by
tribes over the last month. These
included: consolidating the 12 area
offices to six or eight or directly slashing central and area office personnel
by 50 percent.
Ms. Deer and other officials recently wrapped-up a month-long
swing through all 12 BIA areas to
open hostility throughout Indian country.
Tribal leaders have angrily charged
the bureau with steamrolling the plan
by not consulting with them and accused the agency of ignoring a four-
year, multimillion-dollar BIA reform
plan crafted jointly by tribal and federal officials.
They also insist that any savings
brought by downsizing measures be
reinvested in resenation communities.
"I want to emphasize that I was not
sitting in my office dreaming-up these
ideas," Ms. Deer said ofthe BIA plan.
"These came from the administration.... The BIA developed the most
feasible plan under constraints."
Jesse Taken Alive, Standing Rock
Sioux chairman, said he is pleased
BIA cont'd on pg 5
By Philip Brasher
discuss the proposals which met with
Efforts to steer work to Turtle Mountain angers union
transcribed, and Dorgan got $4 only one tribe that would qualify: The
million put into its 1995 budget to pay Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa,
aprivatecontractortodothejobona which owns a company that has
trial basis.
"It was pork barrel if you ever saw
pork barrel," said Witold
Skwierczynski, who represents
employees in the agency's field offices.
"No analysis has been done to indicate
that there will ever be any savings."
The job must be put up for bids, but
Dorgan included language that said
"special consideration" should be
given to an Indian tribe that has
WASHINGTON (AP) _ On North
Dakota'slndianresenationsjobsare
scarce and wages are low. Sen. Byron
Dorgan figured they would be great
places to send some federal jobs.
But Dorgan's effort to steer work
from the Social Security
Administration to the Turtle
Mountain resenation has angered the
labor union that represents the
agency's employees
performed data processing for the
Internal Revenue Senice and other
government agencies.
The Social Security Administration
didn't ask for the project, and agency
officials don't know whether they will
save money by using Indians to do the
transcriptions.
But Dorgan says he is certain the
tribe can do the work cheaper than the
government, and it will free up the
,_.       .   . The agency has a huge backlog of  experience in data processing. Cff^rfc rnnt'H nn nn ^
DeCISIOn cont'd on pg 3   telephone messages that must be       Social Security officials know of   CIIUI lb COniO On pg O