The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1995-12-07

              Employee files suit against AIOIC
Alleges misuse of federal funds
By Gary Blair
A former employee of the American
Indian Opportunities and Industrialization Center (AIOIC) has filed a
lawsuit that asserts she was fired for
blowing the whistle on the
organization.
AIOIC is a nonprofit job training
and employment program located at
1845 East Franklin Avenue in South
Minneapolis.
The four count complaint was filed
in Hennepin County District Court
earlier this week. The complaint says
Carleen LaChapelle, a White Earth
enrollee, was eventually terminated
after she reported the misuse of federal
funds by the JTPA (Jobs Training
Partnership Act) program. The suit
seeks compensatory damages,
expenses, attorney's fees and the
option to amend the complaint to
include punitive damages.
The Factual Background of the
complaint reads as follows: "Line 7.
Immediately after beginning her work
at the MIS (management information
systems) Office, similar to a
community college financial aid
office, plaintiff began observing
misuse of grant monies including
misappropriation of testing service
grant money.
"Line 8. Plaintiff reported her
observation to her immediate
supervisor and commented on
violations of law in her weekly staff
meetings several times during the
Spring and Summer 1995.
"Line 9. Plaintiff was told by her
immediate supenisor that she should
file a grievance with the Director of
the agency if she encountered any
violations of law or agency policy.
"Line 10. Plaintiff began
experiencing harassment in the form
of supervisors calling plaintiff
incompetent, isolation of plaintiff
from co-workers, and even
threatening plaintiff with physical
harm if she reported violations of law
outside the agency.
"Line 11. In early August 1995,
plaintiff informed .her immediate
supervisor that she also intended to
make a direct report to the United
States Department of Labor regarding
the violations of law. "Line
12. On August 8,1995, Plaintiff was
severely reprimanded in a
memorandum by the Executive
Director, William Means, for
vocalizing her intention to make a
report to the Department of Labor.
Plaintiff was informed she should not
Suit cont'd on pg 3
Employee files suit against AIOIC/ pg 1
US Attorney seeks consolid. of WE & LL suits/ pg 5
Cass Co. law enforce, accused of harassment/ pg 1
Letter: Johnson getting off easy/ pg 1
RL Fisheries looks to future and change/ pg 6
Atty. Gen. Reno addresses Harvard sympos./ pg 1
Voice ofthe The People
1
Cass County law enforcement accused of
harassment
"Native population distrusts the chminal justice system"
By Jeff Armstrong
In a report last year by the Public
Defender's Office of Minnesota's 9th
Judicial District, the Cass County legal
system was singled out as one most in
need of improved race relations in a
region marked by racial disparity.
"...Cass County has a very high
Native American population that has
traditionally distrusted the existing
criminal justice system," reported a
July 1994 study for the state Board of
Public Defense. The report made
specific recommendations for
improving legal representation, but
provisions related to racial and
economic status seem to have been
shelved. Not unexpectedly, the county
has done little, if anything, to improve
its reputation.
As two recent incidents suggest,
discrimination based on race and/or
politics continues to be a driving force
in Cass County law enforcement. 15-
year-old Tasha LaRose was one of
five young Anishinabe women who
say they were stopped last month by
police without explanation or
justification, searched by the male
officers, and subsequently notified by
mail of what they say are trumped-up
charges designed to cover for police
misconduct.
The teenage girls were purportedly
* stopped for questioning Nov. 18 near
thesceneof an assault on Tract #3 3 of
Leech Lake, but they were never asked
about the incident. "They never told
us what they were searching for, what
they were stopping us for," said
LaRose. "They just stoppped and
grabbed Christa [Wilson]; they didn't
say nothing at all. They put her in
handcuffs and patted her down."
LaRose said she was also handcuffed
and searched "for guns or knives."
LaRose, whose mother Roxanne is a
prominent political activist, said it
was not the first time she has been
arbitrarily harassed by deputies, and
Wilson has previously reported being
physically abused by law enforcement
officers to the PRESS.
According to an investigation report
by deputy Tim Berglund, police were
led to the five girls by victim Louise
McKennett, who "pointed toward a
mob of female juveniles who she stated
had beat her up," according to the
report Berglund said McKennett, who
was waiting for an ambulance with
Leech Lake security guard Leroy
Accuse cont'd on pg 3
iXattA/e
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity Far All People
Founded  in 1988 Volume 8   Issue 8        December 7, 1995
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, Illative American Press,   1995
Fatal abuse is probed further
Toddler had legs broken, bruises, fractured ribs
The boy, his mother, Roberta Sam,
By Pat Doyle
Minneapolis Star Tribune StaffWriter
Investigators are intensifying their
efforts to reconstruct an alleged
pattern of child abuse that ended in
the death of a 15-month old boy from
the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation.
Dallas Anderson, 21, has been
charged with second-degree murder
in connection with the Nov. 1 death
of his son, Robert Sam. The toddler
allegedly suffered head injuries Oct.
31 in the home of Anderson's
grandmother, Mille Lacs tribal chief
executive Marge Anderson, while she
was in California on a business trip.
and Dallas Anderson had been living
with Marge Anderson and her
husband, Merlin, for the past six
months.
An autopsy showed that the boy also
had broken bones in his legs and ribs
fractured "within the past couple of
months" before his death, according
to a criminal complaint.
Investigators from the Minnesota
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
and the Mille Lacs County Sheriff's
Department interviewed Marge and
Merlin Anderson and found no
evidence that they or other relatives
knew of any abuse, authorities said
Monday.
"Should they have [known] or not?"
said Assistant Attorney General
William Klumpp Jr. "That's one issue
we want to explore."
Doctors are expected to meet this.
week   with    investigators   and I
prosecutors to try to determine more
precisely when and how the injuries
occurred.
Marge Anderson was not available
for comment Monday. A tribal
spokeswoman, Melanie Benjamin,
said Marge Anderson's travels would
have afforded her little opportunity to
notice any abuse ofthe boy.
Accordirtg to the complaint and
Fatal cont'd on pg 5
Roxanne LaRose, a Leech Lake enrollee, & Marvin Manypenny, a White Earth enrollee, answer questions
at the tribal members meeting in Cass Lake last Saturday. Photo by John Rainbird
Former U.S. Attorney joins gambling panel
Attorney General Janet Reno addresses
Harvard symposium on tribal courts
By Robert Fairbanks
Cambridge, Mass. — Attorney
General Janet Reno, speaking recentiy
at a Harvard University symposium
on American Indian tribal courts and
self-governance, announced that the
Department of Justice is committed
to increasing self-determination for
American Indian tribal governments
by strengthening tribal justice
systems.
Reno said, "Our goal is to help
insure that tribal justice systems can
take their rightful place as partners
with state and federal courts in the
nationwide administration of justice."
Reno, relying on Supreme Court
decisions, told symposium attendees
which included tribal court officials,
native law students and law
professors, that tribal courts retain
inherent jurisdiction over civil
litigation. She even went so far as to
say tribal courts could exercise civil
jurisdiction over non-Indians. Reno
emphasized the role of tribal courts
as "important vehicles for helping to
resolve family problems."
She added, "Tribal justice systems
are ultimately the most appropriate
institutions for maintaining order in
tribal communities." However, she
was not willing to endorse tribal court
felony jurisdiction over Indians or
non-Indians, making it clear the
federal government regarded "Indian
tribes as 'domestic dependent nations'
" and the Department of Justice
Reno cont'd on pg 5
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Philip
Hogen, aformerU.S. attorney in South
Dakota, took his seat Friday on the
National Indian Gaming Association
and promised to help speed the
approval process for casino
operations.
Hogen, a member of the Oglala
Sioux tribe, is one of two Indians on
the three-member commission along
with Chairman Harold Monteau. The
third member is Tom Foley, a former
county attorney in Minnesota.
Hogen was sworn in to the position
Friday by Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt. Commissioners are appointed
by the president.
The commission is responsible for
approving contracts signed by tribes
with outside companies to manage
their casinos. The commission
attempts to screen out criminal
elements and unscrupulous
contractors.
"Decisions and reviews must be
made on a timely basis by the
commission and it must recognize
the right ofthe tribes to make business
and economic decisions related to
gaming which affect their future,"
Hogen said.
Tribes want to put their casinos
into operation as quickly as possible
to get a head start on competitors,
said Rick Hill, chairman of the
National Indian Gaming Association.
"I still think they're under budget
and understaffed and it's still going
to be an uphill task" to speed the
approval process, Hill said.
Hill said Hogen was a "fair-minded
person ... with good judgment."
Before joining the commission,
Hogen practiced law in Rapid City,
where he represented tribes and tribal
gambling commissions.
He served as U.S. attorney in the
1980s. During the Bush
administration, he served as first
director of the Office of American
Indian Trust in the Interior
Department.
Supreme Court: State may prosecute for
crimes on Indian land
Letter: Johnson getting off easy
Colleagues call jail time inadequate
By Patrician Lopez Baden
Minneapolis Star Tribune Staff Writer
Two state legislators say that
prosecutors in Beltrami and
Sherburne counties are being too
lenient on legislative colleague Rep.
Bob Johnson who is serving time in
Beltrami County on a drunken-
driving conviction.
In a letter to the prosecutors, DFL
Sen. Gene Meniam and Republican
Rep. Charlie Weaver say Johnson
should serve more than the 60 days
that he apparently would be given
under an agreement between the two
prosecutors.
They write that a new state law, for
which Johnson voted, requires repeat
offenders serve consecutive, not
concurrent, sentences.
Johnson was convicted of habitual
drunken driving Beltrami County
District Court last week. He is
scheduled to appear on a drunken-
driving charge in Sherburne County
District Court next week.
If the judge in Sherburne County
accepts the agreement, Johnson would
serve about 30 days in jail for the two
offenses.
That is because the sentences would
run concurrently, and because he
would be given credit for 28 days
spent in an alcohol treatment center,
as well as credit for good behavior.
Johnson racked up three drunken-
driving arrests in six and a half weeks
starting in late August — one each in
Burnsville, Beltrami County and
Sherburne County.
A law passed during the last
legislative session bars concurrent
sentencing for such multiple offenses.
On Tuesday, Weaver and Merriam,
co-authors of that bill, sent a strongly
worded letter to the prosecutors in
both counties saving that they expect
consecutive sentences for Johnson—
and no deals.
The joint letter by Merriam, of Coon
Rapids, and Weaver, of Anoka, says
that "courts in both Beltrami and
Sherburne counties must impose
consecutive sentences. This situation
involving multiple DWIs is precisely
the type of case we intended to address
with our legislation . . . The
Legislature made a deliberate effort
to toughen the laws on repeat DWI
offenders. It is important that the
courts and prosecutors treat these
cases with equal seriousness."
Weaver, himself a prosecutor in
Anoka County, said he was surprised
to learn that Beltrami County, where
Johnson was sentenced last week,
apparently had worked out such a deal
with Sherburne County, where
Johnson is scheduled to appear next
week.
Last week, Beltrami Assistant
County Attorney Randy Burg said
Johnson would serve 60 days with
credits for time spent in the alcohol
treatment program and for good
behavior. An additional 10 months of
jail time would be stayed unless
Johnson violates probation. When
Easy cont'd on pg 6
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The
Supreme Court on Monday upheld
the right of the state of Connecticut to
prosecute people who commit crimes
on sovereign Indian land, even if the
crimes are committed by Indians.
The court, without comment,
turned down arguments by Lake
Spears that he could not be prosecuted
by Connecticut authorities for an
incident that occurred on the
Mashantucket Pequot reservation.
Spears was arrested Nov. 29,1991,
by a state trooper who responded to a
call about a disturbance at Spears'
on-reservation home in Ledyard,
Conn.
The federally recognized tribe was
granted its 1,800-acre reservation
underthe 1983 Mashantucket Pequot
Indian Land Claims Settlement Act.
Spears, a member of the
Narragansett Indian tribe, was
charged with assaulting a police
officer and other offenses. But he
argued that the state lacked authority
over crimes committed by or against
Indians on the reservation.
A judge refused to dismiss the
charges, and Spears then pleaded
guilty to assault, disorderly conduct
and interfering with an officer on the
condition that he could appeal the
judge's ruling.
A Connecticut appeals court threw
out the convictions, saying the 1983
law did not give the state criminal
jurisdiction over the reservation. But
the Connecticut Supreme Court
reinstated the convictions.
Federal law expressly gave the state
jurisdiction over crimes committed
on the reservation, the state's highest
court said.
Connecticut Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal said the state
court's decision, which now stands as
the final decision on the issue,
"protects the public' s interest in strong
and effective law enforcement against
crimes committed on reservations."
The state court's interpretation of
the Settlement Act also established a
precedent for Connecticut courts to
hear civil matters regarding Indians
and non-Indians on reservations,
Blumenthal said.
Indian school builds self-esteem, better grades
By Karl Puckett
RED WING, Minn. (AP) _ Ramona
Jones sat at her desk, which was
overloaded with paper work. After
the third interruption in the span of
just several minutes, she sighed and
marveled at the amount of work it
takes to run a school.
It's easy to take for granted, she
said, all of the basic essentials
provided through the public school
system.
"It's just phenomenal," said Jones,
director ofthe newly formed charter
school on the Prairie Island
Mdewakanton Dakota Reservation.
"I find myself thinking, 'Will I ever
get done with my day?''
After approval by the Red Wing
School Board and state Board of
Education earlier this year, the charter
school began its inaugural year in
September in the Prairie Island Dakota
community center.
There are eight teachers and a 15-
person staff attending to 57 students
in prekindergarten through grade 12.
It is the second charter school in the
state serving primarily American
Indians.
"We decided our students shouldn't
be failing," said Jones ofthe decision
to open the school.
The school is not solely for the
Prairie Island community. Other races
are represented there.
But its name is Dakota _ Tinta
Winta Mdewakanton Dakota Wicoti
School cont'd on pg 3