The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1988-08-03

              NATIONAL:
Hatcher to run for
governor of North
Carolina
Page 2
STATE:
Waybenais suing BIA for
shooting
Page 3
OP-ED:
The continuing Saga of
Chief Bemidji
Page 5
National
Prison Officials
Say Wine Would
Set Precedent
Marion, IL (IPN) - Prison
inmates cannot celebrate
mass with wine because a
precedent might be set
that would allow American
Indians to use marijuana
during their ceremonies,
said a prison official. A
Bureau of Prison
spokeswoman said inmates
are not allowed to consume
alcohol, and officials do not
want to open the door to
demands by Indians to use
marijuana.
Oes Moines Bishop
William Bullock had written
to prison officials asking
that activist priest Frank
Cordaro, imprisoned at the
Federal Prison Camp in
Marion, be allowed .to use
wine to celebrate daily
mass because it would help
Cordaro's "spiritual
welfare."
Father Cor.daro, of
Logan, Iowa, is serving a
six-month jail sentence for
trespassing at Nebraska's
Strategic Air Commasnd
headquarters. He is serving
his time at the Federal
Prison Camp in Marion.
Cordaro had been taking
bread and wine during the
Eucharist with a prison
chaplain, but the chaplain
was transferred in early
July.
Indians Plan
Trip to West
Germany
Oneida, WI (IPN) - Plans
are being made to send a
delegation of Oneidas to
West Germany to promote
cultural exchange, tourism
and business trade
between Wisconsin and the
German state of
Baden- Wurtembery, said a
tribal spokesman.
About 150 Indians would
make the tentatively
scheduled trip as cultural
ambassadors tor the sstate
in September, said Gordon
McClester.
The delegation would
visit   s c
demonstrate
lo oIs   to
ndian art and
culture, he said, adding
that U.S. military bases
where hundreds of Indians
are stationed in West
Germany might also be
visited.
"There is a lot of
excitement in Stuttgart
about this already. I think
it's going to happen," said
Lloyd Powless, a tribal
official.
The Oneidas made a 10
city tour of Germany last
November, and thousands
of Germans attended the
cultural presentations,
McClester said.
The Great Lakes
Intertribal Council was told
last week that each tribe
will be asked to contribute
$1,000 to help defray
expenses of the trip, which
is expected to cost about
$100,000.
As many as 14 tribes
might participate in the
tribe, said McClester, who
visited West Germany in
May to lay the groundwork.
The
Ojibwe
News
"News by and for the Ojibwe Nation"
Copyright Ojibwe News, 1988
THIRTY-FIVE CENTS
Founded at Bemidji, Minnesota in 1988
Volume 1 Issue 11
Wednesday, August 3, 1988 |
A Weekly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Red Lake Tribal Council
spent $341,0 00 for travel
du r i n g   te n   months   of   1987
According to documents
obtained from an
undisclosed source, the
News learned that the Red
Lake Tribal Council spent
$341,000 in travel costs
during a ten month period
ending in July, 1987. The
News was unable to obtain
records for the remaining
months of 1987. The travel
records for the ten months
ending in July of 1987
reveal that the following
tribal council members and
employees received the
following amounts for per
diem, mileage, lodging, air
fare and other expenses;
see the summary chart on
page 6.
The source also
indicated to the News that
many expenses claimed for
said travel are not
supported by adequate
documentation. The News
has turned the records
over to representatives of
the Red Lake People's
Council for their review
and formal presentation to
the U.S. Justice
Department for possible
violations of federal law.
Embezzlement from an
Indian tribe is one of the
ten major crimes on
reservations within the
jurisdiction of the federal
courts.
Although some were able to get out and enjoy Beltrami County Fair
Auditor finds Red Lake
Tribal Council books
unaudi table
In a letter to the Red
Lake Tribal Council, tribal
C.P.A. Henry S. Krigbaum
of Henry S. Krigbaum, Ltd.
found the tribalrecords so
erroneous, incomplete and
inaccurate that he was
unable to audit them. The
text of the letter appears
on page 6.
The News has been
aware that tribal members
have been attempting to
obtain constitutionally
guaranteed tribal financial
documents for years, but
have always been denied
them by Council Chairman
Jourdain.   This situation
has resulted in the Red
Lake People's Council
submitting a resolution to
the Minnesota
Congresssional delegation
requesting a cut off of Red
Lake contract and grant
funds until the tribal council
complied with the tribes
constitution. The News
suspects that the recent
recall of BIA area office
auditor Dee Fitch from the
Red Lake Reservation (see
the July 27th edition of the
News) is also related to the
councils management of
the tribes finances.
Appellate Court overturns
Treuer's decision on
Leech Lake Elections
By James Johnson
Acting Editor
The appellate court
established by the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
to review election protest
by Walter Reese reversed
the decision of Election
Judge Margaret Treuer on
Monday.
Treuer had ruled the
June 14 elections in Leech
Lake invalid because none
of the candidates for
chairman received more
than 50 percent of the
votes. According to the
tribal constitution,
candidates for office need
a "majority" of the votes to
win. Treuer interpreted that
to mean candidates needed
more than 50 percent to
win.
In the June 14 elections,
Daniel Brown unseated
incumbent chairman
Hartley White by a vote of
820 to 727. Walter Reese,
who filed the protest with
th e el ection board,
received 183 votes.
At a press conference at
the Holiday Inn in Bemidji
yesterday, Leech Lake
Tribal Attorney Kim
Mattson said that ever
since the tribe has been
having elections, it has
always been that who ever
receives the most votes
wins the election. In 1984
prior to the elections, the
issue of majority vote was
being questioned at the
Fond du Lac Reservation
and they were asking the
tribe to officially interpret
the meaning of "the
majority of the votes."
Mattson said the Tribal
Executive Committee hald
a meeting and heard
various arguments from
representatives from the
reservations and decided
back then that "majority"
meant the most votes.
According to Mattson,
Treuer overstepped her
bounds in handing down
her decision to invalidate
the elections. Mattson said
her only role, as
established by the election
ordinance, is to determine
if there were any
"substantial and grave
election irregularities.
"Although we didn't want
to appear as if we were
interferring with anything
internal at Leech Lake,
Darrell "Chip" Wadena,
president of the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe and
chairman at White Earth,
"the decision (by Treuer)
did render some direct
precedential effect on all of
us, in that we felt Treuer
overstepped her boundary
of her authority by trying
to interpret the
constitution."
" decision rendered under
the (election) ordinance is
final," said Mattson. "But a
decision that's rendered
outside the ordinance and
goes beyond the power
given the judge is not final
-- it's reviewable."
Had Treuer's decision
not been overturned, it
may have affected every
tribal election this year
since similar instances of
candidates not receiving
more than 50 percent of
the vote occurred on all six
of the reservations.
According to Wadena,
now that the judges, Daniel
Morrison Sr., Donald
Hoaglund and John
Jacobson, have reviewed
the matter and made their
decisions, there are no
more avenues of appeal for
the election protesters to
pursue as far as the tribe is
concerned.
Mattson said that Brown
was sworn in as Leech
Lake tribal chairman
Tuesday at the Leech Lake
tribal offices. It's not
known whether Reese or
White will continue to
pursue the matter now that
the appellate court has
made its decision.
... Others were not quite as fortunate.
(Photos by James Johnson)