The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1988-06-22

              Business Profile
see page   7
The
National
Window Rock, AZ (IPN)
Construction on an
electronics assembly plant,
owned by General Dynamics
Corp., will begin in the third
quarter of 1988 at the Navajo
Indian Reservation, said
General Dynamics officials.
The Navajo Tribe will build
the electronics assembly
plant for General Dynamics'
weapon systems subsidiary
near Farmington, the officials
said.
The 30,000 square foot
facility, located on tribal
lands, is expected to hire
between 150 and 200
assembly workers.
The plant,  which is
expected to be finished in
mid-1989, will be leased b
General Dynamics for 1
years, the company said.
Washington, DC (IPN)
President Reagan is
standing by the comment he
made in Moscow that the
United States government
might have made a mistake
by humoring American
Indians and allowing them to
live on reservations.
"I don't regret that,"
Reagan said. "I do think that
there Were mistakes made
back in the very beginning of
out country with regard to the
Indians and the manner of
handling them."
"Maybe we made a
mistake, Reagan told Soviet
students on June 1. "Maybe
we should not have humored
them in wanting to stay in
that primitive lifestyle. Maybe
we should have said, 'No,
come join us. Be citizens
along with the rest of us.' As
I say, many have. Many have
been very successful."
Indians were given "millions
of acres of land for what we
called preservations, or
reservations, I should say," on
which to live, undissturbed by
the government, Reagan said.
"And we set up these
reservations so they could,
and have a Bureau of Indian
Affairs to help take care of
them," he said.
"Some of them (Indians)
became very wealthy,
because some of those
reservations were overlaying
great pools t>f oil," Reagan
said. And you can get very
rich pumping oil."
Reagan comments were a
response to a student who
asked if he would meet with
three Indians visiting Moscow
under the auspices of the
militant American Indian
Movement.
The Soviet Union has been
pointing to allegations of
human rights abuses suffered
by some American Indians to
counter the same kinds of
accusations made by the
United States about the
Soviets.
Salt Lake City, UT
(IPN)
The trial for the four
Navajo men charged with
the slaying two Navajo
police officers is scheduled
to begin July 11, said court
officials.
Vinton, Bedoni, 31, Ben
Atene Jr., 24, Marques
Atene, 22 and Thomas
Cly, 22 are charged with
the Dec. 4, 1987, shooting
and incineration deaths of
Navajo police officers
Andy Begay, 35, and Roy
(Continued on Page 2)
Ojibwe
News
"News by and for the Ojibwe
Nation"
© Copyright Ojlbwt
New,i983           THIRTY-FIVE CENTS
Founded at Bemidji, Minnesota in 1988
Volume
1
Issue 5
Wednesday, June22,1988
-
BomldJI, Minnesota 56601
BIA Chief
Interviewed
Washington -- Stubborn
and blunt, Ross Swimmer has
emerged as the most
controversial head of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs in 25
years.
Swimmer's constant
advocacy of free enterprise
and self-sufficiency has
angered many Indian leaders
who see the Reagan
philosophy as an assault on
the federal programs that
give them economic and
social support.
During Swimmer's tenure,
the BIA also has been
besieged in Congress and the
press by allegations of fraud,
mismanagement and
meddling in tribal affairs.
The Senate Indian Affairs
Committee is conducting a
special investigation into
charges of BIA theft and
errors that may have cost
Indians billions of dollars in oil
royalties and millions in
government aid.
Through it all, Swimmer,
46, has continued to battle in
Congress and Indian country
for reducing the BIA's
involvement in Indian affairs
and requiring tribal
governments to take greater
responsibility for managing
reservations.
His position has caused
frustrated Indians to describe
Swimmer as a living symbol
of the insensitivity they
believe exists at the top of
the Reagan administration.
But Swimmer had a long
record as a tribal leader
before he became the Interior
Department's assistant
secretary for Indian Affairs in
1985. F|Or 10 years before
that, Swimmer had been the
principal chief of the
Cherokee Nation in
Oklahoma
During that time, the
Cherokee Nation greatly cut
its dependency on federal
dollars and expanded the
number of tribal businesses
operating successfully. That
success convinced Swimmer
that Indians can do more than
they realize on their own. He
seems determined to push
that point of view - whether
or not Indians consider him
insensitive to their history and
culture.
Swimmer discussed his
philosophy, and problems
within tribes and the BIA,
during an interview last week
at his office in Washington,
D.C. A tall man with sculpted
and serious features, he
spoke intently, often returning
to his belief that the BIA must
"get out of the way" of Indian
tribes.
Abridged and edited
comments from that interview
follow:
Q: What is the proper
role of the BIA in
managing Indian affairs?
A: My position has been
that the BIA should be an
agent to help tribes reach
self-government, help them
become capable of managing
their own affairs. I think it is a
matter of the BIA working
itself out of business; as they
assume more responsibility,
we would assume less.
We must move out of the
way. We cannot have two
governments. I cannot have
a superintendent out there
running the reservation and
the tribal chairman running
the reservation. One or the
other has got to take the
reins, and right now it's both
of us.
We look over the tribal
chairman's shoulder. Some
say we do it too much, others
say we don't do it enough.
Well, why should we do it at
all?
Q: Why is it that so
many Indians feel that this
whole approach is really a
backdoor attempt to cut
government support for
tribal governments and
end the special
relationship between the
government and tribes?
A: I have a theory. Our
idea seems so logical. Why is
it that tribal government is
reluctant to run with it?
It's not unlike what's been
phrased the welfare industry
and the poverty industry that
profit from keeping things the
way they are.. . . We find
that an awful lot of people
make a whole lot of money,
and so we have people that
ndian Student Dinner at
Red Lake
By Bob Jourdain
News Staff Writer
Red Lake - The Indian
Student Services program of
Northland Community College
celebrated it's first Red Lake
Indian Student Dinner on
Wednesday June 15th at the
Red Lake cafe. All students
who have participated in the
1987-88 out-reach program
were invited to attend.
The On-Reservation college
program was established in
1986. The program was
designed to bring college level
basic education courses to the
community of Red Lake.
Students who enrolled in the
N.C.C. program would receive
college credits towards an
Associate of Arts degree from
Northland Community College
in Thief River Falls. Such
courses offered have been
Biology 111, 112, & 113;
Introduction to Sociology;
Freshman English 111, 112, &
113; American
Minorities;Cultural
Anthropology; General
Psychology; Basic Computer
Programming; Interpersonal
Communications; Archery; and
Children's Health, Nutrition &
Safety. Students who began
the program in 1986 now have
a total of over 60 credits
towards their 96 credit
requirement for an A.A.
degree. All these courses
have been offered to the
community in the evening,
and have various forms of
financial aid to assist students
with tuition and books. The
instructors are highly qualified
individuals who already teach
in the community of Red Lake
or who have an expertice in
teaching Indian adults.
This Indian Student dinner
was dedicated to the hard
work and sacrifices that the
Indian students endured during
their studies this past year.
All 45 of the students were
dedicated, loyal, and sincere
about their education, and
have the needed potential to
complete their chosen
degrees. Special awards for
outstanding achievement went
to those students who
received a 3.0 G.P.A. or better
and carried a load of 6 credits
or more. They were: Harlene
Blue, Delores English, Phyllis
Gurno, Earlene Jones,
Jacqueline Lussier, Lois
Lussier, Delores Neadeau,
Jacqueline Seki, and Leah
Spears. A special
Exceptional Student Award
went to Roxanne Brun.
Roxanne carried a credit load
of over 12 credits and
received a 2.5 or better
G.P.A. as a full time student
on campus at Northland in
Thief River Falls.
Beginning September 7th
the Indian student Services
Program will begin their third
year of educational services
to the Red Lake community.
The courses once again will
be general education in
nature, and will be held in the
evenings. The classes will be
"Introduction to Art," taught
by Ken Litzow; "Poetry,"
taught by Rick Phillips; and
"Narcotics and Alcohol,"
taught by Patty Lester.
Pre-registration for these
classes will take place
Thursday and Friday, July 21
& 22 in the lobby of the Red
Lake hospital from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m. For more information
about these classes and the
Indian Student Services
program call Melody L.
Winans, Director of the Indian
Student Services Program at
Northland Community
College in Thief River Falls.
(218) 681-2181 ext:17.
tend to (protect) the status
quo.
Q: There are Indian
spokesmen who say that
despite your stated policy,
the reality is that the BIA
believes in
self-government until it
contradicts BIA goals.
When do you make a
determination that you
have to intervene in the
operations of a tribe?
A: Those claims are just
absurd  It's usually when
the tribe itself comes to us
and tells us that they're
beyond repair, they're broke.
The tribal treasurer will notify
us that they're going to have
to close the tribal office
because they can't pay their
bills. Or a case like the Crow
(Nation in Montana) where
another federal agency
comes in and says look, you
got some real problems.
Or where the Inspector
General (of the Interior
Department) goes in and finds
fraud, that there's been
(Continued on Page 3)
Arizona and
Navajos
Reach Pact
Santa Fe, NM (IPN)
The first economic
development agreement
between a state and an
Indian tribe has been
signed, said Navajo Tribal
Chairman Peter MacDonald.
MacDonald and Gov.
Garrey Carruthers signed
an agreement that calls for
an exchange of staff
between the state and tribe,
identifying the location of
potential industrial
development sites within
the Navajo reservation, and
developing, data on Navajo
labor statistics that both
governments will use.
"We enter into this
agreement with the
understanding that the
futures of New Mexico and
the Navajo Nation are
inextricably linked,"
MacDonald said at a press
conference in the
governor's office on June 6.
A Navajo tour guide
training program, a
directory of Navajo
businesses, a Navajo arts
and crafts promotion
program, and development
oT a Four Corners
monument and information
center, all measures to
expand tourism, are also
included in the agreement.
Carruthers said he plans
to propose legislation that
will create college
scholarships for Indians,
while encouraging the
state to work on programs
that will attract Indian
students to pursue higher
education.
The state would be trying
to work out similar
agreements with other
tribes, Carruthers said.
The Navajo reservation
might be a good site, as an
area with cheap labor, to
set up operations for a
foreign company, he said.
Carruthers, who visited
Taiwan and Japan on a
recent trade trip, said
officials in those countries
are interested in setting up
factories in the United
States.
Say something sweet to
a loved one	
Take out a HAPPY AD and
watch them smile	
/