The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1995-10-22

              White Earth enrollees sue to remove indicted
tribal officials
Minneapolis, Minn. — Seven
members ofthe White Earth Band of
Indians have asked a federal judge to
suspend the alleged corrupt
government at the White Earth
Resenation. In a lawsuit filed today
in Federal District Court in
Minneapolis, Bruce Babbitt, Secretary
ofthe Interior, and Ada Deer, Director
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, are
named as defendants.
It is claimed that these officials are
not properly carrying out the trust
responsibilities of the United States
towards the members of the White
Earth Band of Chippewa Indians.
The plaintiffs in this action are
Erma Vizenor, Joseph B. LaGarde,
Larry Cloud-Morgan, John L.
Sullivan, Raymond J. Bellecourt,
Gary E. Blair and Marvin J.
Manypenny, individually, and as
Enrollees of the White Earth Indian
Resenation, and all other members
ofthe White Earth Indian Resenation
similarly situated.
The suit claims that the federal
government has a duty to remove the
corrupt members of the tribal
government and replace them with a
court appointed trustee to manage the
affairs ofthe White Earth Band.
U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug has
brought criminal indictments against
Tribal Council members Darrell
"Chip" Wadena, Jerry Rawley, and
Rick Clark. In August 1995 they were
charged with stealing tribal funds,
misappropriating tribal assets for their
own personal gain, and "rigging"
tribal elections. The suite claims that
the U.S. Government officials had a
duty to remove these officials and
appoint an independent trustee to
oversee the operations of the White
Earth Band pending the outcome of
the criminal actions, and to oversee
the upcoming tribal elections.
In addition, the suit requests the
Suit cont'd on pg 6
Excerpts of lawsuit WE enrollees v. BIA/ pg 1 & 6
Wellstone refuses to give position/ pg 1
KSTP Radio airs week of Indian issues/ pg 1
Andrew Favorite to S.T. Ath. Hall of Fame/ pg 8
Repub. want resignations of 3 DFL senators/ pg 3
Voice ofthe The People
1
Wellstone refuses to give position on
indictments, accountability issues
By Gary Blair
U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone held a
press conference last week with
members of the Minnesota Minority7
Media Coalition at his St. Paul, MN
office. The first term DFL Legislator
is attempting to build support for his
1996 bid for re-election.
The Saturday morning meeting
started at 8:45 A.M. and Wellstone
soon found himself responding to a
gamut of issues that included
bilingual education, health care,
public education and immigration
issues. Other discussion centered on
urban crime, its cause and solutions.
Questions from the PRESS about
accountability in Indian gaming and
civil rights violations that effect
members of the states' Indian
resenations brought the following
response from a senate aide who was
present at the meeting: "We only have
time for a few more questions, we
need to move on," she said.
However, Wellstone did propose
that issues such as theft on
resenations be handled by the U.S.
Attorney's Office.
Senatorial aide Marcia Keller,
Wellstone's Minnesota communications director, later indicated the
senator had been trying to set up a
meeting with Bill Lawrence,
publisher of the Native American
Press/Ojibwe News, to discuss these
issues. Later Keller said, "Tell Bill
Lawrence he needs to get an
answering machine, we couldn't get
in-touch with him.
"They must not have tried very
hard to reach me," Lawrence
responded to the news. "I'm not that
hard to get a hold of; they have my
home number."
Native
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Shakeup at HOTESS continues
School may see worse times before better
By Gary Blair
Problems at the Heart of the Earth
Survival School (HOTESS), an
alternative school for American
Indian youth, continue to grow. To
date, 18 ofthe 20 teachers who
finished out the 94-95 school year
were either not rehired this year; fired
since the 95-96 term began in
September; or they have resigned.
This week complaints of
mismanagement were made to
officials of the Minneapolis School
District that allege HOTESS is
mismanaging its special education
program which they receive through
the Minneapolis district.
PRESS sources who asked that their
names not be used out of fear of
retaliation say, "If the problems
continue, it will not be long before the
school is forced to close."
The school's upper-level math and
science teacher of five years was
recently fired by HOTESS director,
Tim Woodhull, when the teacher
announced he had taken another job
with a different school. "Woodhull
went off when that teacher told him
he was leaving," an inside source told
the PRESS. "The teacher even said
he would stay as long as it took to
make a smooth transition." But
instead of acting professionally and
with the school's best interests in
mind, Woodhull retaliated against the
teacher and said he was fired rather
than accepting his resignation.
Reportedly, the teacher was too scared
to return to the school to pickup his
personal belongings. "He told me, T
will just let them have the things as a
donation,' " the source explained.
In a similar incident, a teacher who
recently asked to be transferred to
part-time teaching at the school was
fired this week. "Woodhull told her
to get her things out ofthe school by
3:00 p.m.," the anonymous source
said.
Problems at HOTESS are nothing
new to the Minneapolis Indian
community. The twenty-three year
old school has always operated with
various levels of dysfunction. Oyer
the years allegations of
mismanagement have been leveled
against a number of the school's
administrators. Last fall, there were
reports that $200,000 was missing
from the school's budget. Information
received by the PRESS two weeks ago
indicated HOTESS teachers were
considering a boycott ofthe school to
draw attention to the growing,
uncertainty.
Officials at the Minneapolis
School's district office said they are
aware of problems at HOTESS but
were unable to comment at this time.
Attempts to reach HOTESS board
members for comment were not
successful.
:>h.n Rair.bird
Canadian geese forage for food along Lake Bemidji on the journey south for the winter.
KSTP Radio airs week of Indian issues
with Nick Coleman
Butcher seeks dismissal in treaty rights case
By Jeff Armstrong
A White Earth man facing charges
for hunting within disputed
resenation boundaries says the case
should be thrown out of Cleanvater
County court because the state lacks
jurisdiction to impose its consenation
laws on tribal members.
In an Oct. 13 brief submitted to
District Judge Paul Rasmussen,
Anishinabe attorney Shirley Cain
argues that her client, Leonard
Butcher, is entitled to hunt free of
state regulation both on and off the
resenation. The motion for dismissal
on jurisdictional grounds asserts that
"the state ofMinnesota is preempted
from exerting its authority over
Leonard Butcher as the incident
occurred on the thirty-six townships
in the Treaty of 1867."
Butcher was hunting during White
Earth deer season Oct. 23, 1994 on
two of the four resen'ation townships
claimed by the state through the 1889
Nelson Act. He says he was followed
at very close range by an unidentified
vehicle he later found to be driven by
By Gary Blair
This week KSTP A.M. 1500 radio,
also known as "the talk station" in the
Twin Cities, attempted to undue some
racial slurs about American Indians
that aired on one of the station's
programs back in January of this year.
Nick Coleman, a columnist with the
St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper,
hosted Barbara Carlson's regular 9:00
a.m. show while the former
Minneapolis city councilwoman is on
vacation.
Coleman, who's known for his
liberal views on Indian issues, took
part in the attempt to solidify the
media corporation's new warm and
fuzzy relationship with the state's
tribal officials after they pulled casino
advertising dollars from the station in
response to racial slurs made by KSTP
talk show hosts last January.
In March Ginny Morris, the
station's general manager and the
daughter of Stanley Hubbard, owner
ofthe media corporation that owns the
radio station, told the PRESS that the
station would be offering programming on Indian issues. When
asked at that time what the content of
those shows would be Morris said,
"Some of the show's guests will be
Issues cont'd on pg 3
Magistrate rules federal laws apply to Finn
Leonard Butcher
a DNR officer, Greg Spaulding.
Although Butcher stopped,
approached the vehicle and explained
that he was on the resenation, where
he had the right to hunt, Spaulding
confiscated the Anishinabe man's
gun. An argument resulted and police
backup was called—but Butcher was
not arrested. According to the brief,
Photo by John Rainbird
it was not until six months later,
"after he persisted in calling about his
rifle," that Butcher was criminally
charged.
District Judge John Roue ruled last
year that "the state ofMinnesota has
no power to regulate hunting activities
Case cont'd on pg 8
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ A U.S.
magistrate has rejected state Sen.
Harold"Skip" Finn's argument that
the federal government has no
authority to prosecute him on theft
and fraud charges because he is an
American Indian.
Finn, DFL-Cass Lake, and two
other members of the Leech Lake
band of Chippewa are charged with
plotting to steal nearly $1 million
from the band in an insurance
scheme and to cover up their actions.
Magistrate Judge Raymond
Erickson concluded Friday that
federal criminal laws do apply to
Finn and that Finn's heritage does
not make him immune from federal
prosecution.
"We do not believe that a
Congress, which was concerned with
lawlessness on Indian reservations,
would have intended to immunize
those Indians ... from the
enforcement of generally applicable
federal laws," Erickson wrote.
The recommendation was
submitted to U.S. District Judge
Michael Davis, who is to issue the
formal ruling on the matter.
Finn's attorney said he will appeal
Erickson's recommendation.
"I have a feeling that this is an
issue which is destined for higher
courts, no matter which way it's
decided at the district court," said
Minneapolis attorney Doug Kelley.
"We will be taking the issue as far
as we have to."
Finn, a former attorney for the
tribe, was charged with 24 counts of
conspiracy, theft, bribery, mail
fraud, money laundering and
impeding a grand jury investigation.
Also indicted were band chairman
Alfred "Tig" Pemberton and
secretary-treasurer Daniel Brown.
Pemberton was charged with nine
counts of conspiracy, theft, bribery,
mail fraud, money laundering and
making false statements to a federal
investigator. Brown was charged
with five counts of conspiracy, mail
fraud and making false statements.
The trial is scheduled to begin in
early January.
Governor opposes putting tribal land intrust The untold Iroquois influence on early
_ _ ... « ■ ■ *
ST. PAUL (AP) _ Gov. Arne
Carlson has asked the U.S. Bureau of
Indian Affairs to deny a requestby the
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux to
place 590 acres of Indian-owned land
in federal trust, which would exempt
the land from property taxes and local
regulations.
Carlson said Thursday that trust
status for the land would give the
tribe, which owns the Mystic Lake
Casino in Prior Lake, an
uncompetitive advantage over non-
Indian businesses and could increase
property taxes for non-Indians.
More than 3,000 acres have been
purchased by Minnesota tribes and
placed in trust in the past five years.
The governor, in his letter to BIA
area director Denise Homer, said he
supports the right ofthe tribe to expand
its holdings.
"However, I cannot support any
action that would needlessly disrupt a
surrounding community or put non-
tribal entities at a competitive
disadvantage. The Mdewakanton
Dakota request threatens to do both,"
Carlson said.
The city of Shakopee and Scott
County also are opposing the trust
application. The land, now zoned for
agricultural use, is considered a prime
site for development.
Opponents ofthe trust application
say the city could be forced to extend
sewer, water and police and fire
protection to the property if the land
is developed. Because trust land is
exempt from taxation, they say the
cost of improvements could fall on
the entire community.
Tribal Chairman Stanley Crooks
said the controversy is being inflamed
by misinformation. He said the tribe
would be willing to pay for public
costs associated with development of
the land.
Crooks, in an open letter submitted
for publication in the Shakopee Valley
News, said the tribe needs more land
for housing and to diversify its
economic base.
The tribe wants the land in federal
trust, Crooks said, because "the history
of Indian lands is a history of land
lost....Once land (is) taken into trust,
it is very difficult for a tribe to lose
such land."
The BIA is not expected to issue a
ruling on the trust request before
December.
f e m I n IStS    An intrepid historian tracks down the source of their revolutionary vision
alternative that drove their feminist
spirit—not a Utopian pipe dream but
a sensible, doable paradigm?
Then I realized I had been skim-
By Sally Roesch Wagner
I had been haunted by a question to
the past, a mystery of feminist history: How did the radical suffragists
come to their vision, a vision not of
Band-Aid reform but of a reconstituted world completely transformed?
For 20 years I had immersed myself in the writings of early United
States women's rights activists—
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-1898),
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902),
Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)—yet I
could not fathom how they dared to
dream their revolutionary dream. Living under the ideological hegemony
of nineteenth-century United States,
they had no say in government, religion, economics, or social life ("the
four-fold oppression" of their lives,
Gage and Stanton called it). What
ever made them think that human harmony—based on the perfect equality
of all people, with women absolute
sovereigns of their lives—was an
achievable goal?
Surely these white women, living
under conditions of virtual slavery, did
not get their vision in a vacuum.
Somehow they were able to see from
point A, where they stood—corsetted,
ornamental, legally nonpersons—to
point C, the "regenerated" world Gage
predicted, in which all repressive institutions would be destroyed. What
was point B in their lives, the earthly
ming over the source of their inspiration without noticing it. My own unconscious white supremacy had kept
me from recognizing what these prototypical feminists kept insisting in
their writings: They caught a glimpse
of the possibility of freedom because
they knew women who lived liberated
lives, women who had always possessed rights beyond their wildest
imagination—Iroquois women.
The more evidence I uncovered of
this indelible Native American influ-
Untold cont'd on pg 5
)