The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1995-05-12

              'n -:.
Minneapolis minority firefighters meeting
reveals additional recruitment problems
By Gary Blair
Last Friday, the Minneapolis
firefighters steering committee held
its bi-monthly meeting. Attendance
was lower than usual but the meeting
was informative, revealing additional
problems associated with the recruitment and hiring of Native Americans
by the Minneapolis fire department.
The firefighters steering committee, formed by a federal court order to
monitor the city's hiring of minorities, is made up often members. Two
are senior Native American
firefighters, Mike Beaulieu and
Leonard Thompson.
The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights
recently charged the City with discriminatory hiring practices involving their present hiring routine with
Native American firefighter applicants.
According to Ron Edwards, the
steering committee's chairperson, the
city reports to have nearly 30 Native
Americans employed by the fire department. However, it'sbeen revealed
that only nine of those firefighters
have produced tribal enrollment verification. According to assistant fire
chief Rocco Forte, who was at the
meeting, his department now plans to
sponsora summer cadet program. The
person responsible for developing that
program for the fire department told
the group that she had only recruited
minority candidates from the city's
North High School.
When questioned further she admitted that she had not inquired at the
South High School were many Native
American students attend. Appearing
frustrated by the steering committee's
questions she told the group that she
didn't know who to contact in the
Indian community.
At that point Larry Blackwell, the
city's affirmative action director, told
her she should speak with Valarie
Sheehan, the City's Native American
Liason.
At that point the PRESS inquired
about the recommendation made by
Blackwell. The group was asked if
this was the same Sheehan who has
not produced her own proof of tribal
enrollment since being hired by the
city. And, wasn't this the same
person Clyde Bellecourt pressured the
city's first black mayor to hire? And,
hasn't Clyde Bellecourt been the chairperson of the American Indian Opportunities and Industrialization Center (AIOIC); organizer of the contract with the city to recruit Native
American firefighter applicants, for
which none were ever hired?
At that point, Native American elder Ira Sailor asked the group why
anyone would want to be involved
with Clyde Bellecourt.
There was no response to any of the
questions.
Friday's meeting ended soon after. Another meeting will be held in
two weeks at the Minneapolis Public Health Building, Room 515, at
1:30 p.m.
RL grandmother left out in cold after fire/ pg 1
Red Lake plans radio station/ pg 6
Activists call for ouster of tribal government/ pg 1
Have belief in yourself teen quest '95/ pg 5
Voice of the Anishinabek (The People)
1
Fifty Cents
Activists call for ouster of tribal government
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity Far All People
By Jeff Armstrong
Expressing mounting frustration
with the pace of a US investigation
into corruption and election fraud
within the six-reservation Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe, Anishinabe
community activists called for united
action at the tribal level to create a
more accountable, traditional form of
government.
"It's time to make an ultimatum,"
said Franklin (Doc) LaRose at a May
6 meeting on the Leech Lake
Resenation. "We need to force a
meeting with the Tribal Executive
Committee in front of all the people,"
said LaRose. "If they don't show up,
maybe we'll decide to shut down the
resen'ation businesses, the casinos.
Maybe we'll vote to remove the TEC
and form our own government. We
don't know what the people will
decide, but it will be our choice," he
said.
White Earth activist Joe LaGarde
pointed out that there is great potential
for outside legal and financial support
for the movement, including an offer
by attorney Miles Lord to file an
injunction to stop the establishment
of resenation courts. But to utilize
that support, LaGarde said, a coherent
organization must be established.
"There is help out there," LaGarde
said, "but it's gotta be more
coordinated. Once we can come
together, I think we can bring this
government down. We need to tear
down the whole structure."
A spiritual leader ofthe Anishinabe
resistance, Larry Cloud Morgan
pleaded on behalf of the elders for
some sort of expression of sovereignty,
treaty rights and recover}' of the land.
"Let's assert our sovereignty and go
to court and see what the court has to
say about our rights. We're going to
Ouster cont'd on pg 3
Founded   in 1988
Volume 6    Issue 46
May 1Z, 1995
\
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News, 1995
Enrollment issues divide Prairie Island Dakota
By Gary Blair
The Prairie Island Dakota Community, located six miles north of Red
Wing, Minnesota, is joining the ranks
of Minnesota Indian resenations embroiled in controversy and division
over a recent election outcome.
The case in point was triggered by
the resenation's 1993 bi-annual general election when all five incumbent
council members were ousted. As a
result of the dispute, an ad-hoc committee was formed by tribal members
who are questioning the enrollment
status ofthe tribal council. The committee is looking into the possibility of
dual enrollment that could disqualify
at least four of the present council
members who currently hold office.
Ad-hoc committee members became
aware ofthe possibility after two separate responses were issued by the BIA
office in Minneapolis. In a letter
dated December 15, 1993, Denise
Homer, Acting Area Director, responded to incumbent chairman Freeman Johnson's inquiry:
"The Area Office is in receipt of an
'Order' dated December 10, 1993,
which is signed by Election Judges
Walker and Johnson. The Area Office can find no authority for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to review or
approve this document. This is in
keeping with the federal policy of
tribal self-determination. The Area
Office cannot recognize anyone as
newly elected Tribal Officials until
the election results are certified by the
Election Judges.  Once the Election
Judges have made a final certification
as required by the Constitution and
Amended Election Ordinance #3,
please inform the Area Office of this
act. Any questions you may have in
this regard may be addressed to Elliott
L. Moffett, Tribal Operations Specialist."
Two days later Vincent D. Keahna
another Acting Area Director from
the same office also responded to Freeman Johnson. Keahna wrote: "As you
know, the Constitution and Bylaws of
the Prairie Island Indian Community
in the State of Minnesota (the Community) provides at Article IV Section 1, the governing body of the
community shall be duly elected by
secret ballot by the qualified voters of
Enroll cont'd on pg 8
A Red Lake family is forced to live in tent and shed (background), fire destroyed home (foreground).
Photo by WJL
Red Lake grandmother left out in cold after fire
By Jeff Armstrong
For more than a month since a fire
consumed her house in the Redby
area, Darlene Fisherman has had no
home for her six children and two
grandchildren but a tent set up near
the charred remains of her home. She
struggles daily for sunival, with no
graduation standards
m * m + protection   from   near-freezing
StUdentS        bleak     SCOreS     TOSter    fear    TOT   temperatures at night and occasional
raids by two-legged and four-legged
prowlers.
Fisherman said that since the April
7 fire, her blankets have been stolen,
her daughter's car windows have been
broken and tires slashed, and two
hungry bears have set up camp in the
woods near her tent. "The bears have
been bothering us really bad. They
By Maura Lerner
Mpls. Star Tribune
The first trial run of Minnesota's
new graduation standards has given
state officials and educators something
to worry about.
Only 62 percent of eighth-graders
were able to score at least 70 percent
on a sample test ofbasic math skills in
December.
And the numbers were even bleaker
for minority students, according to
preliminary results released this week.
These are the same basic skills that all
students will have to master to
graduate a few years from now.
"It's a wake-up call," said Tom
Peacock, a member ofthe state Board
of Education.
The test was designed to measure
skills that students should have
learned or been taught by the eighth
grade, said Ceil Critchley, assistant'
education commissioner.
They're also the kinds of things
that graduates will have to know in
order to function in society, officials
say, such as making change, using
fractions, estimating how far you can
drive at a certain speed and time,
using a ruler, averaging sports scores
and reading maps and charts.
"If their scores are like this four
years from now, that says the
education system has failed," said
Georgina Stephens, Board of
Education president.
But she and other state officials
said the test results only reinforced
their faith in the need for graduation
standards.
"It's not that we're bad; we need a
focus and it needs to be a more relevant
type of learning," said Critchely.
"This points out a need for clear,
consistent, high expectations for all
students, so that the students, their
parents and their community know
what those expectations are early on."
The test, which was given to 9,833
students statewide, did not have a
pass-fail mark. But if the students
had had to answer 70 percent of the
questions correctly, the preliminary
report said, here's how many would
have passed:
Caucasians: 67 percent; Asian
Americans: 31 percent; American
Indians: 30 percent; Hispanic
Americans: 26 percent; Blacks: 17
percent.
"I think it points out that we clearly
do have a learning gap in this state,"
said Critchely, "and we need to
aggressively address that issue."
Peacock, the board's only Indian
member, agrees. "What it points out
is that there are other issues out there,
that education doesn't exist in a
vacuum," he said. "To me, it should
challenge us to do something about
the education of our children."
In the future, officials say, they'll
start testing students earlier - in the
third and fifth grades as well as in
eighth grade - to see who might need
extra help in the basic skills. "That's
another way that the learning gap
will be helped, too," said Critchley.
In 1993 the Board of Education and
the Legislature decided to start the
graduation rules with the graduating
class of 2000 (today's seventh-
graders). Under those rules, which
are still being refined, students will
have to pass tests in reading and
math, and later in writing and science,
to graduate. By the time today' s fifth-
graders reach high school, they'll also
have to complete a "profile in
learning" that sets even higher
sleep right next to us. Two big gigantic
bears came there the other night and
tore up the groceries we had there;
they were laying all over the ground.
The cooler was turned upside down,
and they tore off the mesh cover on
the tent," said Fisherman. Although
she found a place for her one- and
three-year-old grandchildren to sleep
at night, Fisherman worries that her
young children in particular are at
risk of serious illness. "It gets cold,
really cold. I'm afraid they'll catch
pneumonia. They haven't had a
decent meal since that fire broke,"
she said.
But despite her dire circumstances,
Fisherman says she has received little
assistance beyond private donations
of blankets and a tent. From Red
Lake, she obtained a sum total of
$300 in aid, a clothing allowance
from the tribe. "The Red Lake Tribal
Council and social senices, they
wouldn't even talk to us," said
Fisherman. "I went to housing, and
there was nothing available, they said.
There was a couple houses vacant,
but they gave those houses to someone
else. [Housing director] Mike
Bowman told us we'd just have to
make do with what we got, the tent,
until they get the house built," she
said.
Fisherman argued that the fire could
have been prevented if the housing
office had made necessary repairs she
had brought to their attention. "I told
them over and over at that Housing; I
said my wring is bad, my electricity
Cold cont'd on pg 3
Chippewa spearfishers already haul in
record number of Walleye
By Robert Imrie
The catch during the Wisconsin
Chippewa tribe's spring spearfishing
season has set a record with several
days still to go, state officials say.
The six bands of Lake Superior
Chippewa, using off-resenation
fishing rights retained in 19th century
treaties, had speared 28,809 walleye
through Tuesday night.
The total easily eclipsed a record
25,969 walleye set in 1988, said
Mike Coshun, afishery biologist with
the state Department of Natural
Resources in Woodruff.
"I would say this year is our best
chance ever of topping 30,000,"
Coshun said Wednesday.
The cool, drawn-out spring _ the
11th modern-day season of Chippewa
spearfishing _ has created almost
perfect conditions for tribal members
who are spearing on more lakes at
peak spawning times, Coshun said.
"It is not one of those years when
everything is happening at once at
every lake," he said. "It has been a
spring where the spawning season
has been stretched out. It made it
possible for (tribal members) to plan
a little bit."
Last year, 25,922 walleye were
speared. The average catch has been
about 24,000 a year since 1990,
Coshun said.
The Indian practice of catching
spawning walleye with fork-like
spears resumed in 1985 after federal
courts ruled the tribe retained ofF-
resenation hunting fishing and food-
gathering rights in 19th century
Haul cont'd on pg 6
Dedication date set for Crazy Horse Memorial
White beats Belgarde for
Devils Lake Sioux Chairman
FORT TOTTEN, N.D. (AP) _ Elmer White
regained the chairmanship ofthe Devils Lake Sioux
Tribe, unseating incumbent Peter Belgarde in
Tuesday's election.
Unofficial results had White winning 397 to 207.
In seeking the position he held in the 1980s, White
vowed to open the tribal government to the public.
He promised a full independent audit of tribal
expenditures and supported opening casino records.
"If the spending ofthe money is right, there should
be no problem with open books," he said.
Ho-Chunk Casino closed,
searched after telephoned threat
LAKE DELTON, Wis. (AP) _ The Ho-Chunk Casino was
reopened today after having been evacuated and closed
Sunday following a call threatening security at the facility, a
spokesman for the Ho-Chunk tribe says.
A bomb-sniffing dog searched the casino after about 1,000
people were evacuated about 6:45 p.m., spokesman Tom
Krajewski said.
Nothing was found, he said, and the casino was reopened
at 8 a.m. today.
The Sauk County Sheriffs Department and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation are investigating the incident,
Krajewski said.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) _ A
dedication date has been set for the
face of the Crazy Horse Memorial in
the Black Hills. Project organizers
say the June 3, 1998 date is ahead of
schedule for the monument.
It's the first fixed deadline on a
Crazy Horse detail.
Six straight mild winters have
allowed caners to work year-round
on the project that began in 1947.
Drilling and blasting for the head
began in 1989.
"Nobody's ever tried to be difficult
about setting a date for completion,
including Korczak," said Ruth
Ziolkowski, widow of Crazy Horse
founder Korczak Ziolkowski.
"It was just that it was so nebulous,
anybody could guess at it," she
explained. "But when we got the
forehead done and both eyes and the
nose down and turned under the tip,
then it became realistic to look at the
portrait and say, 'Hey, we're down
halfway. We ought to be able to get
down to the chin in this much longer."'
Korczak died in 1982 and never
saw the details of his vision emerge
from the granite outcropping. The
shape of the Oglala Lakota leader's
head now regularly makes front-page
news around the world.
The face is two-thirds complete,
with a 27 1/2-foot-long nose and both
cheekbones finished this past winter
and both cheeks roughed to the jaw-
line.
Pursing of the lips begins this
summer, while blasting continues
along the head's right side, the chest,
arm and horse's mane.
That foreground work, unlike
attention-grabbing changes on the
skyline head, is nearly lost to visitors.
The obsenation deck is one mile from
the mountain.
But viewers can judge the three-
dimensional advances by taking the
annual Volksmarch to the mountain
in June.
Horse cont'd on pg 3