The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1988-09-14

              o I A I't.
Circle of Life School receives
$7,500 grant from Otto
Bremer Foundation
page 2
NATIONAL:
Idaho women named Miss
Indian America 1988
page 3
OP-ED:
The last of the
Last Fontier
Page 5
News Briefs
Minnesota
fire trucks
head west
Brainerd, Minn. (AP)-
Five Minnesota fire
trucks and about 16
firefighters prepared to
leave Friday to help
battle the forest fires in
Yellowstone National
Park, a spokeswoman
said
Mimi 8 a r z e n ,
information officer with
the state Department of
Natural Resources, said
a similar size crew with
fire trucks left St. Cloud
Thursday night, also
bound for Mammoth Hot
Springs near the
Montana border.
Before this week, state
volunteers had been
dispatched to help fight
the Yellowstone fires,
but no equipment had
been sent.
"This is the first time
we've sent out fire
trucks," Barzen said.
The fire departments
which are loaning their
trucks are Garrison,
Crosslake, Randall,
Backus and Belle Prairie.
The firefighters are
expected to stay in
Yellowstone a miniumum
of two weeks.
Paul Peterson of the
Brainerd Regional
Forestry staff said the
trucks will be used to
fight structural fires.
Drought
bleaches fall
colors in parts
of Minnesota
St. Paul (AP)- The
summer drought means
Minnesotans in the
central and southeastern
parts of the state won't
see as much color when
the leaves change this
fall.
Central Minnesota, in
an area from Cambridge
to Brainerd to
Alexandria, was hardest
hit by the drought and
will have a very
uncolorful fall, said Barry
Morse, the Department
of Natural Resources'
state land management
supervisor.
Fall leaf color is
related to the amount of
moisture that trees
receive during the
summer, he said, so the
intensity of color will-
reflect the severity of the
Southeast Minnesota
was hit by the drought,
but had some spotty
rain, he said, so some
color may be evident, but
it won't be especially
birtoHt
Northeast Minnesota,
especially along the
North Shore of Lake
Superior, is one of the
favorite areas for viewing
fall colors, Morse said,
and the trees there
should be as brilliant as
ever. "The northeast had
pretty fair moisture," he
said.
The
Oji bwe
News
"News by and for the Ojibwe Nation"
Copyright Ojibwe News, 1988
THIRTY-FIVE CENTS
Founded at Bemidji, Minnesota in 1988 Volume 1   Issue 17 Wednesday, September 14, 1988 |
A Weekly Publication Bemidji, Minnesota56601
Umpo Eaqlefeather and Jennifer Boswell take a break from classes during the first week of the new school year at the Circle of Life School in White Earth.
Photo by Mark Boswell
Documents indicate
BIA failing to enforce
Red Lake contracts
By William J. Lawrence
Publisher
According to documents
obtained from an anonymous source, nearly all
Bureau of Indian Affairs
contracts and grants
administered by the Red
Lake Tribal Council are in
near-total non-compliance
with contract terms and
conditions.
Most of the violations are
for non-submission of
quarterly financial and
program progress reports.
In addition, the documents appear to indicate
that the Red Lake Agency
and the Minneapolis Area
Office of the BIA may have
been negligent in their
enforcement of the contract and grant terms and
conditions on behalf of the
federal government.
One of the contracts reviewed included an over-
expenditure of $64,000 of
fiscal year 1988 funds.
The contracts reviewed
were Social Services/ Child
Welfare, Wildlife and Parks,
Tribal Court, Johnson-
O'Malley (education) and
Self- determination grant.
The documentation also
revealed that the Red Lake
Tribe does no.t have the
personnel, property or pro-
cument systems in place as
required under the Code of
Federal Regulations. However, BIA personnel have
certified that the systems
are in place and operating.
In the Red Lake case,
those who are responsible
for seeing that regulations
are enforced are Minneapolis Area Director Earl
Barlow and Red Lake
Agency Superintendent
Rex Mayotte.
Indians to meet on issues
of Racism and harassment
There will be an informal
meeting of Native
American residents of
Bemidji and the
surrounding area
concerning allegations of
Racism and harassment by
the Beltram i County
Sheriff's office, the Bemidji
City Police and some city
officials.
The meeting will be held
Saturday Sept. 17 at 2 PM.
at 701 America Ave. for
further information contact
Clarence (Joe) Sayer's at
759-1539.
Prairie Island Indians want
control of their bingo hall
Red Wing, Minn. (AP)-
The Mdewakanton Sioux
tribe plans to have
financing and management in place next week
for a proposed buyout of
the St. Paul company
that has managed the
tribe's bingo operation
the past four years, a
lawyer said.
Tribal leaders hope to
negotiate a buyout of
Red Wing Amusement
Co.'s management
interest in the bingo hall
by Sept. 15, Diane
Townsend- Anderson, a
lawyer for the tribe, said
Tuesday.
The names of financial
backers and proposed
managers of the hall will
not be revealed until next
week, she said. The tribe
has been seeking to take
over the operation since
January.
Tribal leaders say the
Tribal Council wants
control of the hall
because it believes the
tribe's return from the
operation is too low. The
tribe received $1.6 million
on $44 million in sales
over four years.
The tribe also is
concerned that it has not
received proceeds from
the hall since October,
Townsend-Anderson
said.
"It is inconceivable to
think that a bingo parlor
of that size and with the
attendance it has cannot
make distributions (of
profits) to the tribe," she
said.
Red Wing Amusement
President David Kluender
said the company has
not received any offers.
He declined to comment
on the tribe's criticism.
Townsend-Anderson
outlined the tribe's plans
after a hearing in
Goodhue County District
Court Tuesday in which
Red Wing Amusement
accused the tribe of
violating a recent court
order preventing it from
interfering with operation
of the bingo hall.
The accusation stems
from the tribejs plans to
operate a video casino.
The tribe installed two
mobile homes near the
hall last week as a site
for the casino, said
Joseph Campbell Sr., a
member of the Tribal
Council.
V. Owen Nelson, a
lawyer for Red Wing
Amusement, said the
company has exclusive
control over vi deo
betting gams under its
1983 management
agreement with the tribe.
But tribal leaders say
the agreement provides
no authorization for the
games, which Red Wing
Amusement has run in
the hall since August
1984.
Therefore, the tribe
contends, the company is
violating the management agreement and, in
turn, tribal law.
The tribe also has
accused Red Wing
Amusement of underpaying it by more than
$100,000 in profits from
those games.
Both sides agreed to
delay the hearing on the
alleged violation until
Sept. 15.
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