The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1995-05-26

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Leech Lake Man wins sentencing delay
By Jeff Armstrong
An Anishinabe man convicted in
Cass County court of fifth degree
assault and disorderly conduct for
quarreling with a Leech Lake social
worker received a delay in sentencing
after filing a conflict of interest
complaint against his attorney. Silas
(Jake) Blue, who faces up to one year
imprisonment on the charges, sent a
letter to the state public defender's
office, the human rights department,
and the chief judge ofthe 9th judicial
district, accusing attorney John Valen
of misrepresentation and alleging
various due process violations against
the County. Blue's sentencing has
been set for June 5, after which he
hopes to appeal the decision.
Blue said the verbal confrontation
was an internal tribal matter over
which the state had no jurisdiction,
but Valen refused to challenge the
court's authority.'
"The public defender would not
challenge the subject matter
jurisdiction when I requested it, saying
only that Public Law 280 does apply
in this case," said Blue in the letter.
"This is where the conflict of interest
arises. The public defender contract
is signed by Leech Lake Chairman
Alfred Pemberton under the Leech
Lake Criminal and Juvenile Defense
Corp. Alfred Pemberton also does
the hiring of the Leech Lake social
workers. So the charges are brought
by an employee of Leech Lake
resenation and I am defended by an
employee ofthe resen'ation."
Valen is one ofthe attorneys retained
by state senator Skip Finn's Walker,
Minnesota law office under a
$ 107,000 annual state-tribal contract
to defend resenation members. Tribal
members are appointed attorneys from
the defense corporation unless they
dismiss them and request a state public
defender. Blue said he would have
done so earlier, had he been aware of
that right. "If you go with a tribal
public defender, get ready to go to
jail," said Blue.
Valen said he did not contest state
jurisdiction because the issue has already been resolved, stating that he
did not feel inhibited as a tribal defender from presenting any valid legal arguments. "I'll raise any defense
for a client that I think has a good
faith basis in fact and law. But if it
isn't, I don't do it," said Valen.
But Blue cited a January 6 resolution by the Leech Lake RBC challenging the Minnesota Senate's authority to investigate Finn's activities
as an argument to support his sovereignty position. The resolution states
in part, "that any state investigation
into the relationship between the
Leech Lake Band and Senator Skip
Delay con'td on pg 6
Minnesota Native news: the week in review
By Gary Blair
Prairie Island trespasser
On May 18th a rally was held for
Dennis Wells, a member ofthe Prairie Island Dakota Community, outside
the court house in Red Wing, Minnesota. Wells has been charged three
times with trespassing for entering his
resenation's casino and each time the
state court has delayed his trial.
Wells was part of a larger group that
took over the Treasure Island Casino
last fall and has since been barred
from entering the facility.
Wells' attorney, Trudell Greau, told
supporters, "The state doesn't want
anything to do with this case and is
willing to postpone its prosecution for
three months and that will give me
time to get the matter into tribal
court."
The Minneapolis Legal Rights Center attorney also informed the gather
ing ofhis plans once the case is placed
in the resenation's court. "I plan to
challenge the case in tribal court on
the grounds that the tribal court has
no jurisdiction either," he explained.
"Under old English law no court can
have a conflict of interest. The Blue
Dog law firm once represented the
resen'ation and now they run the
resenation's tribal court. Not only is
that a conflict, but the Prairie Island
tribal council also appoints their relatives to run the court and that makes
their court invalid."
The PRESS has learned that Wells
and his supporters left the Goodhue
Court House after his hearing and
went to their casino to have supper
and for the fourth time he was ticketed for trespassing.
Dakota duel enrollment
The issue of duel enrollment is being used as a weapon to gain power
at Shakopee and Prairie Island. Both
ofthe Mdewakanton bands' constitu
tions call for a relinquishment of enrollment from another resenation
before a member can be enrolled
there.
Recently, it's come out that many
ofthe resenations' members also retain enrollment with the other
Mdewakanton band or with the Santee Sioux of Nebraska.
At Shakopee, the issue could determine who controls the resenation and
the size of the per-capita pot if certain members are found to be ineligible. It's been reported that
Shakopee's annual per-capita payments were to reach $500,000 this
year and that amount could even go
higher if some of the present members are removed.
According to a newspaper article
two of Shakopee's present members
have been charged with welfare fraud.
The article states they were a mother
Review cont'd on pg 3
King family fights child removal by Red
Lake and Beltrami County
By Jeff Armstrong
A Ponemah family will file an
injunction in tribal court May 31 to
regain custody of two children taken
from their home on the basis of
allegations initiated by a non-Native
counselor for the Red Lake school
district. Susan King, the children's
grandmother who has raised them
since infancy, said her 14-year-old
grandson was picked up from school
by Red Lake police, handcuffed, taken
into custody, and held in the jail for
four days on what she was told was an
outstanding warrant. It was only
aftenvards that King received a court
order placing the youth in Beltrami
County protective custody. The order
stemmed from unsubstantiated
accusations of sexual abuse involving
him and his younger cousins.
From Red Lake, he was sent to the
Evergreen House in Bemidji, a facility
for young people who ran away from
home. "He wasn't a runaway, though,
when they picked him up. Then they
put him in there and he ran away from
there because he said they treated him
bad." King said the youth is now-
incarcerated in Crookston, where he
faces juvenile criminal charges.
Shortly thereafter, King's 9-year-
old grandson was placed in a
resenation foster home through
Beltrami County by order ofthe Red
Lake Tribal Court. The removal
orders appear to be based solely on
the reported testimony ofthe 9-year-
old and his 8-year-old female cousin.
No tape or transcript was made of any
of the inteniews with the children,
and the reports to the tribal court
reflect confusion about such basic
facts as who the children's parents
are. Family members are demanding
to know why they were never notified
of the accusations, some of which
date back more than a year, and how
U.S. should turn juv. corr. into private system/ pg 1
Leech Lake man wins sentence delay/ pg 1
Minnesota Native news: review/ pg 1
UCC CAI Ministry to hold Natl. Gathering/ pg 5
Pine Point Perspective/ pg 4
Voice of the Anishinabek (The People)
1
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All  People
Founded   in 1 988
Volume 6    Issue 48
May EG, 1935
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News,  1995
the children were questioned without
parental consent. They say the
children have virulently denied
making the alleged statements.
"That's a violation of tribal law,
that's a violation of federal law, the
Indian Child Welfare Act. They said
[the charges] were not serious enough
to report topolice, now they're serious
enough to remove the children from
their family. The tribal judge said,
too, when those allegations came out,
why weren' t those children removed?"
said Louie Paquette, the boys' uncle.
"If our kids are being sexually abused,
we want them to have help. We don't
have anything to hide. But we want to
know who gave the Tribal Council
the right to take away those kids; who
gave Beltrami County the right?
Through the treaties, they don't have
no rights," he said.
School counselor Jenny Fiepel said
Child cont'd on pg 3
The Kingbird Juniors carry on the singing tradition at a recent pow wow.
U.S. should try turning juvenile corrections
into private enterprise system
By George Hart
Jury selection begins in trial of tribal chairman
By Matt Kelley
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) _
Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribal
Chairman Russell Hawkins faces the
fight of his life beginning Tuesday,
when jury selection gets under way
for his trial on a federal conspiracy
charge.
At stake is not only his freedom _ he
faces up to five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine if convicted _ but also
his post as chairman of the 9,200-
member tribe, a job he held from 1982
to 1992 and recaptured with a narrow
election victory last November.
Hawkins will be automatically
removed as chairman if he is
convicted. He already flexed his
political muscle to avoid being
suspended after his indictment,
breaking a 7-7 tribal council tie to
keep his seat.
Whether the chairman's political
savvy will translate into courtroom
success is another matter.
Hawkins is accused of plotting to
lie to the federal government and
steal from the Seminole Tribe of
Florida in 1993, when he was out of
office and working both for the
Seminoles and for Dakota Machinery
Exchange of Sioux Falls.
Prosecutors say Hawkins helped
obtain equipment under the name of
the Seminoles, then persuaded
Seminole officials to sell the gear to
DME. The company then tried to
resell the equipment at a hefty profit.
Trial cont'd on pg 4
The following is George Hart's solution to the problems afflicting our
national juvenile justice system. The
first part appeared in the May 19,
1995, edition ofthe Native American
Press and detailed the reasons why
the justice system has failed our kids.
We must do something different, in
order to have a different outcome. The
history of reform suggests that to
make effective changes would require
a thorough reallocation of legal responsibility and pruning ofthe dense
web of patronage exchanges between
public and private sectors. If other
nations can manage to have a significantly lower incarceration rate (and
generally safer societies), we should
be able to discover some workable
means to reduce our reliance on prisons and to become more civil.
Foundations and our various gov
ernments have funded many great
demonstration projects. Job Corps is
a successful jobs training program.
Head Start is another holistic federal
program which merits emulation.
AmeriCorps is an example of how
government can assist college bound
youths. The point is not which models are best; the point is we have no
vehicle or means to copy and reproduce all the best models.
Violence and fear cuts across state
lines, and impacts every family, every community. The national effort to
reduce crime must be driven by giant
hopes, not penasive cynicism. Federal leadership will be required to revise the patchwork approach taken
thus far to resolve the problem of juvenile delinquency. Because the
public's interest and well-being is
paramount, a new dynamic for juvenile justice must have status as a jus-
tice-sening organization. A national
public corporation can effectively conduct research (access records), garner
public support, address zoning issues
and other regulations.
But government has historically
focused on standardization and
"accountability," to the detriment
of innovation and personal service. Distinct cultural and religious identities are critical for
personal growth, but very difficult for government to encourage.
If government could have solved the
puzzle of juvenile delinquency with
good laws and substantial funding, it
would have done so before now.
Government agencies have little
incentive to measure objectively the
quality of their own performance, and
less reason to criticize a political
system which provides substantial
growth and increasing promotional
opportunities. Government operates
with limited budgets, which often
constrain the commitment staff may
Private cont'd on pg 8
Indictment alleges former tribal councilman
stole casino money
Neighborhood Watch Group to form on Leech Lake
By Jeff Armstrong
Complaining of increased youth
violence and gang activity, a
neighborhood crime watch group
calling itself "Ogichidaag" held a
May 22 community meeting on Tract
#33 ofthe Leech Lake Resenation.
Tract residents say the community
is becoming too dangerous for
children and elders, and the problem
will continue to spiral without a strong
grassroots response. "The little kids
grow up and see the older ones running
around with guns, beating people up,
and they think that must be what you
do when you grow up," said a woman
who identified herself only as Dallas.
In what organizers hope will sene
as a model for communities
throughout the resenation, the group
signed up about 25 volunteersto patrol
Tract #3 3 in nightly shifts with walkie-
talkies provided by Leech Lake
Security. "If they're coming around
to claim their turf, we should tell
them we're keeping our turf," said
Helen Condo. Condo said the
neighborhood patrol would work
closely with resenation security and
countv law enforcement to monitor
and report criminal activity, an idea
borrowed from what she said was a
successful program in Minneapolis'
3rd Precinct.
Wallace Humphrey said part ofthe
initiative for forming the group came
from the failure of Cass County
Sheriff's deputies to respond to
resenation calls. "There was an elder
who had his door kicked in. The kids
came in, .pulled a gun to his throat,
backed him up to the wall. The cops
never went to ask him any questions,
so it was not even a reported crime at
all," said Humphrey.
Bill Burnelle, an Anishinabe Cass
County deputy and former resenation
game warden, admitted the county is
unable to keep up with the volume of
complaints from Leech Lake. "We
just don't have the manpower to do it.
It's just not here," said Burnelle.
"What I would like to see is if they did
get a tribal police department. Do the
same thing as Mille Lacs did; go to
the state legislature and apply for
both criminal jurisdiction and
handling everything but gross
misdemeanors and felonies."
16-year-old Krista Wilson, however,
said that for all the talk of problems
with the youth, young people were
never asked for their input.
"Everybody's asking the adults and
they don't even know exactly what's
Group cont'd on pg 4
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ A former
Omaha Tribe of Nebraska councilman
is accused in a federal grand jury
indictment of stealing money from
the tribe's casino.
Edward W. Webster, 40, of Macy,
is named in an indictment that was
made public on Wednesday.
The indictment charges Webster
with interstate transportation of a
$43,000 check in 1993.
The indictment alleges that Webster
created a phony organization, the
Nebraska Indian Hall of Fame, to
obtain the check from a management
company that runs CasinOmaha in
Onawa, Iowa. The Omaha Tribe owns
the casino.
In April 1994, the Omaha Tribal
Council suspended Webster after an
audit turned up irregularities and the
shell company. Webster resigned a
month later.
The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the FBI investigated. Some
members ofthe tribe said they have
waited more than a year for the results
of the probe.
"It's about time," tribe member
Charles Baxter said. "Everybody that
I'm involved with was getting the
feeling that nothing was going to be
done because it's taken so long. I
think some ofthe people are jumping
for joy now."
Baxter campaigned for Webster
when he ran for the tribal council.
Webster, elected to the council in
November 1992, was a leader on
gambling issues.
Baxter said he later led a recall
movement after he learned that
Webster never disclosed a 1974 felony
conviction in a council candidacy'
application.
Records in U.S. District Court in
Omaha show that Webster pleaded
no contest in 1974 to forging checks
drawn on the Tribal Youth Center's
account when he worked there.
Under provisions ofthe U.S. Youth
Corrections Act, he was placed on
probation for two years.
The indictment released on
Wednesday alleges that Webster
misused an approved tribal policy for
making charitable donations from
casino revenues.
It says that in July 1993, he
submitted a request for a check for
$43,000 for a donation to the Indian
Hall of Fame. The Tribal Council had
not approved the donation, but
Webster said it had.
A check was issued, and Webster is
accused of depositing the money in an
account he had opened a week earlier
under the name ofthe Nebraska Hall
of Fame at the Siouxland Federal
Credit Union in South Sioux City. He
then spent the money, the indictment
alleges.
If convicted of interstate
transportation of a check obtained by
fraud, Webster would face a maximum
sentence of 10 years in prison, a
$250,000 fine and three years of
supenised release.
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