The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1995-11-17

              U.S. appeals court finds IRA land statute
unconstitutional
By Jeff Armstrong
In a decision the chairman of the
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe termed
"ludicrous" and "racist in nature," a
three-judge panel of the 8th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals struck down
as unconstitutional a provision ofthe
1934 Indian Reorganization Act
allowing the BIA to place land on or
adjacent to resenations in federal
trust.
The decision immediately placed on
holdall trust applications in the seven
states comprising the 8th Circuit. But
the court was silent on what effect, if
any, the repeal of the one redeeming
feature ofthe IRA would have on the
legal status of the act itself, and on
tribal councils who derive their
authority from it.
The appeals court's unprecedented
ruling comes amid growing clamoring
by city, county and state officials—
including MN governor Arne
Carlson—for Congress to slow tribal
land reaquisition, which they say
threatens state tax revenues and
regulatory authority.
While stating that the Association
of Minnesota Counties (AMC) has
yet to take a formal position on the
issue, Indian Affairs task force analyst
Merry Beckman said the AMC tended
to view it favorably. "I know the
[county] commissioners that have
called have been very supportive of
the decision," she said.
The ruling is certain to be a major
topic of a Nov. 16 AMC task force
meeting, and of a board vote that day
by the League of Minnesota Cites
(LMC) on a resolution asking
Congress to balance tribal sovereignty
considerations with local tax
demands. Dennis Kraft, the League's
Indian Sovereignty task force chair,
could not be reached for comment.
But the ruling appears to exceed the
most optimistic expectations of state
and municipal governments. By a 2-
1 vote, the court interrupted more
than half a century of federal policy
allowing tribes to rebuild viable land
bases after being stripped of 9 million
acres through genocidal allotment
legislation. "The court invalidates
today a congressional enactment
designed to acquire land in trust for
Indians that has been in place for over
Court cont'd on pg 3
IRA land statute ruled unconstitutional/ pg 1
LL members sue BIA for constitutional rights/ pg 1
Senator says ruling not good for S.D.I pg 3
Hiawatha & Minnehaha place names explored/ pg 5
Stolen artifacts returned, reward for others/ pg 8
Voice ofthe The People
I
Fifty Cents
Indicted tribal officials make sure their
lawyers have a merry Christmas
By Gary Blair
Corruption on the White Earth
reservation is apparently continuing,
despite federal indictments of three
council members who allegedly
received kickbacks from the
construction of the Shooting Star
Casino. The council members were
also charged in late August with
voting fraud and money laundering
as part of the government's recent
probe into crime on the northwestern
Minnesota reservation.
Sources close to the case say
attorney fees to defend reservation
chairperson Darrell "Chip" Wadena,
secretary/treasure Jerry Rawley, and
councilmember Rick Clark have been
prepaid and the amount could be as
high as $750,000.
When questioned about the fee
arrangement on Wednesday, attorney
John Brink, who represents Wadena
had this to say: "We don't comment
on anything involving the client/
attorney relationship and that's my
answer."
Rawley and Clark's legal counsel
Leech Lake
constitutional
By Jeff Armstrong
Leech Lake Resen'ation enrollees
joined tribal members from White
Earth in filing suit against the Interior
Department to compel the BIA to
install an interim government as a
transition to traditional democratic
leadership.
Roxanne LaRose, a plaintiff in the
litigation, announced the lawsuit at a
Nov. 16 press conference at the
Reservation Business Committee
office in Cass Lake. "One ofthe things
we hope this lawsuit will bring out,"
LaRose said, "is that we have no
human and civil rights here and we
could not be reached for comment.
Attempts to request recent White
Earth tribal council meeting minutes
and financial reports from the
resenation's gaming board were also
unsuccessful. Endeavors to reach
tribal council members for comment
at their offices in Mahnomen and the
casino were, likewise, futile.
Sources on the resenation say the
illegal activities of the tribal council
are still occurring. Reports that ten
new snowmobiles were purchased by
Wadena and Clark from a dealership
in Detroit Lakes, MN has the
markings of sales tax evasion. The
source, who asked to remain
anonymous, said the machines were
charged off as heating oil for the
reservation's casino located at
Mahnomen, MN. Sources at the
casino say the snowmobiles will be
used to build a race team promoted
by Wadena and Clark.
Calls to the BIA office in
Minneapolis found only one
"essential" worker manning the
phones during the deadlock in
Washington. That person was a
bureau police officer who said that the
other workers weren't required to
report for work. However, he did say
that the Minneapolis BIA office had
been instrumental in bring about the
investigation at White Earth that,
produced the recent criminal charges.
Nonetheless, he refused to speculate
as to what Bureau Director, Ada Deer
and her boss, Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt, would do about the recent
lawsuits filed by members of the
Leech Lake and White Earth
resen'ations. The purpose ofthe suits
is to force, by court order if necessary,
the Interior Department to fulfill its
trust responsibilities to Leech Lake
and White Earth tribal members and
remove indicted tribal officials from
office while the matter is being
adjudicated.
In an attempt to combat further
criminal activities by White Earth
tribal "leaders", a meeting will be
held at the Circle of Life School in
White Earth on Saturday Nov. 18th
for all members of the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe interested in seeking
action on these issues. The gathering
will start with a feast at 12:00 P.M.
and a meeting will follow at 1:00 P.M.
Native
American
Ojibwe
News
We Support: Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded  in 1988
Volume 8   Issue 5        November 17, 1 995
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, Native American Press,   1995
::>v;.;t':
members
rights
have no recourse to do anything when
we're denied."
Since the June 7 indictment of tribal
chair Alfred (Tig) Pemberton and
secretary treasurer Dan Brown,
Anishinabe activists have sought their
removal, along with RBC member
Myron Ellis. Ellis sen'ed a 30 day
sentence last summer for his role in a
$1.5 million insurance scheme
orchestrated by former tribal attorney
Harold (Skip) Finn, a state senator
who retracted a similar plea agreement
and now faces numerous federal
charges.
In response to June 9 demands by
Leech Lake tribal members for the
appointment of a trustee to monitor
sue   BIA   fory
Women's fancy shawl dancer.
Photo by Meliss Gerr
reservation assets, then BIA
superintendent Frank Annette stated
the Bureau's position that "until the
matter is resolved in Federal Court no
programmatic changes willbe made."
Tribal Executive Committee President
Norman Deschampes refused to cal 1 a
special TEC meeting to address the
Native Americans meet for Tribal
Government Summit'
DENVER (AP) _ Native American
leaders from across the countn are
issue for what he claimed was lack of meeting in Denver this week in hopes
tribal jurisdiction, and the Leech Lake  of reinventing communications with
RBC has declined any public
discussion of the matter.
In July, Walter (Frank) Reese filed a
federal suit aimed at suspending the
indicted Leech Lake officials from
office and blocking payments to the
RBC from the state ofMinnesota for
Rights cont'd on pg 5
the government and assessing the
impact of federal budget cuts on
reservations.
More than 50 tribal governments
are participating.
During the first day of talks at the
three-day "Tribal Government
Summit," Ernie Robinson, a member
of the Northern Cheyenne, said
American Indians are trying to recover
from a dependency created by the
federal government.
"We want to work out a plan to get
out of this dependency, to get from
depending on federal dollars and
becoming independent, solvent
nations," Robinson said. "We have
got to get our own act together."
Congress is seeking to cut $7 billion
from a variety of Indian programs,
including those to improve health,
welfare and education on reservations.
Leonard Burch, chairman of the
Southern Ute in southwestern
Colorado, said the tribe wants to pay
for social programs by selling water,
energy and other resource rights
granted under federal treaties.
"We want to see what Indians can
do... as a self-determined people. We
wanttobe 100 percentself sufficient,"
he said.
"We want to be able to say to the
government at the end of seven years,
'Look what we have done for
Summit cont'd on pg 3
Becker County jailers investigated by
the state for misconduct
BIA says it lacks authority tosupport casino
request at ArdenHills arsenal
By Gary Blair
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension (BCA) will conclude
its investigation this week into
allegations of misconduct by three
part-time Becker County jailers. Two
of the jailers are females accused by
male inmates, who are Native
Americans, of having initiated sexual
contact with them. The third jailer, a
male, is alleged to have known about
the involvement but did not report it.
Becker County Sheriff Thomas
Hunt told the PRESS on Wednesday
that the investigation should be
reviewed by the Becker County
Attorney's Office next week.
However, he refused to speculate as
to whether there will charges brought
or what those charges might be.
"That's why I called the BCA, I didn't
want to be accused of a cover-up," he
said.
The probe by authorities could
' reveal one of most unusual complaints
made by inmates against jailers. The
issue of credibility is a concern.
Sources at the sheriff's department say
two ofthe inmates are trying to cut a
deal to stay out of prison, but there is
other e\idence to support the inmates'
allegations.
According to a press release issued
by the sheriff's department, the jailers
who have been put on suspension with
pay are Roselyn Graham, (20), Lori
Moltzen, (30) and Terry Wallace, (27)
who worked at the jail on weekends.
Raymond Vanwert, of White Earth,
is one of the inmates alleging sexual
contact with a female jailer. "I admit,
I am trying to cut a deal to keep from
going to Stillwater, but that's not the
reason I reported what they've been
doing to us," Vanwert told the PRESS.
"One day I just started crying and I
told another female jailer what had
been happening," he explained. "She
started crying with me when I was
Jailer cont'd on pg 3
Land-trust ruling could have big impact
on area tribes
By Dean Rebuffoni
Minneapolis Star Tribune Staff Writer
The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
has decided that it cannot legally
support any tribe's request to build a
gambling casino on federal land at
the Twin Cities Army Ammunition
Plant in Arden Hills.
The BIA's decision was revealed
Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Bruce Vento,
D-Minn., whose congressional district
includes the big arsenal site, which is
expected to become available for
nonfederal use. Vento, who opposes
legalized gambling on the site, had
asked the BIA for a ruling on the
issue.
The Prairie Island Mdewakanton
Dakota Tribe made preliminary
inquiries last spring about acquiring
surplus federal land at the arsenal.
Tribal leaders said they were
interested in moving many members
because of their concerns about living
next to the Northern States Power
Company's nuclear power plant in
Red Wing. They also said the
construction and operation of a casino
at the arsenal site was a possibility.
About 200 of the band's 480
members live on or near the Prairie
Island Indian Reservation, where the
tribe owns the Treasure Island Casino.
In a letter sent to Vento last week,
the BIA said it "will not support a
request from a federally recognized
Indian tribe" for acquiring federal
land for the purpose of gambling. The
agency also said it lacks the authority
to acquire federal property for that
purpose.
However, the BIA said it would
consider a request from the Prairie
Island band to acquire surplus land at
the arsenal for schools and other
nongambling purposes.
Vento praised the decision by the
BIA and its parent agency, the Interior
Department, He said the casino
proposal had "understandably
generated a great deal of controversy
[around the arsenal]. This serves to
make it plain and clear that gambling
in not possible [there]."
Leif Rasmussen, a Minneapolis
attorney who represents the Prairie
Island band, said it is more interested
in possibly using the site for housing
than for building a casino.
"The band is exploring all options
in regard to relocating a portion of
their lands," he said. "The land at
Arden Hills is one of those options,
but need not be at Arden Hills."
This article is reprinted from the
Tuesday, November 15, 1995, edition
ofthe Minneapolis Star Tribune.
By Dennis Cassano
Minneapolis Star Tribune Staff Writer
An appeals court decision blocking
the federal government from placing
land in trust for a South Dakota
American Indian tribe has major implications for tribes in Minnesota and
across the nation, lawyers said Saturday.
A three-judge panel ofthe 8th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals based in St.
Louis declared unconstitutional last
week the federal law that gives the
U.S. Interior Department authority to
place land in trust for Indian tribes.
Trust land cannot be taxed or regulated by state or local authorities.
One unanswered question about the
decision is whether it affects land already placed in trust. If the decision
is upheld through appeals and made
retroactive, it would remove trust status from hundreds of thousands of
acres of land and raise legal questions
about the authority7 of local government and even about ownership ofthe
land.
The 2-1 decision is certain to be appealed, and the issue eventually may
make its way to the us supreme Museums rush to comply with artifact deadline
Court. South Dakota Attorney General Mark Barnett and a lawyer representing Indian tribes in Minnesota By Carolyn Thompson
said Saturday that, in the meantime,
the ruling will prevent the department
from acting on pending applications
to place thousands of acres ofMinnesota land in trust, including nearly
600 acres in Shakopee purchased by
the Mdewakanton Sioux.
The attorney for the tribe in that
case could not be reached for comment
Land cont'd on pg 3
BOSTON (AP) _ Thousands of
American Indian artifacts that have
been on display or in storage for
decades at museums around the
country are coming a step closer to
being returned to the tribes that claim
them.
The museums have until Thursday
to finish an inventory of all human
remains and funeral objects in their
possession and submit the list to the
government so the tribes can see what
the museums have.
Nebraska and that state's tribes are
among those who have conducted
transfers for tribal reburial of ancestral
remains.
Repatriation will ensure that sacred
objects are given proper treatment,
said Russell Peters, president of the
Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal
Council in Massachusetts.
"Even time a construction site is
started, when the bulldozers come in
and move the earth, they uncover
remains," said Peters, who is on the
repatriation committee ofthe Peabody
Museum of Archeology and
Ethnology at Harvard University.
"The land has been taken from us
and in a sense, desecrated, and I think
what this law is doing is sening
notice to everybody that these sites,
whenever they are uncovered, are
Comply cont'd on pg 6