The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1988-09-21

              STATE:
Indian education
conference scheduled
page 2
NATIONAL:
Wisconsin, Minnesota among
states w[th high levels of
radon gas in homes, says EPA
page 3
LETTERS:
A New and
Powerful Day
page 5
News Briefs
Indian
hunting
Bismarck, N.D. (AP) -
Hunting restrictions imposed by Gov. George
Sinner because of the
extreme fire danger do
not apply to North
Dakota's Indian reservations, which are not
governed by state game
laws.
However, the only
people exempt from the
state rules are tribal
members; non-Indians
still must follow state
guidelines.
The opening of the
state's partridge and
grouse hunting seasons
has been delayed
indefinitely in the
western quarter of North
Dakota.
Funds for
assualt
St.   Paul   (AP)   -
Twenty-five percent of
Minnesota counties
have no services for
sexual assault victims,
while state and federal
funds provide only
limited support to
existing sexual assault
programs.
The Minnesota
Program for Victims of
Sexual Assault presented its report Thursday to the state Task
Force on Sexual Violence Against Women.
Dottie Bellinger, assist-
ant director of the
Minnesota Program and
author of the report,
said sexual assault programs receive an average of $7,500 a year in
state and federal funds
for each county they
serve. But some money
must stretch further,
she said.
For example, a coordinator for a sexual assault program in southwestern Minnesota,
reported serving an area
of 3,000 square miles
with less than $15,000 in
state and federal
money, she said.
Water
Quality
St. Paul (AP) - Gov.
Rudy Perpich will stress
th e importance of
Minnesota's surface
water when he conducts
"Capital for a Day"
activities in Cloquet on
Sept. 30, the governor's
office said Friday.
Perpich will announce
water quality initiatives
he plans to present to
the 1989 Legislature
during a speech at
Cloquet High School at
8:30 a.m. on iept. 30.
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 18 Wednesday, September 21, 1988 |
A Weekly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Who owns
the land?
On Sept. 4, 1988, the
Minneapolis Star Tribune
published an article about
the White Earth land
dispute. The article was
written by Louise Erdrich
and Michael Dorris and
originally appeared in the
New York Times Sunday
Magazine.
The version that the
Star Tribune published
was half as long as the
New York Times' version,
and left out all mention of
Anishinabe Akeeng and
much of the discussion
with Darrell "Chip"
Wadena, chairman of the
White Earth Tribal
Council, according to the
authors
The authors noted their
displeasure with the way
the Star Tribune edited
the article in a letter dated
Sept. 10 to the editor of
the Minneapolis newspaper.
The Ojibwe News was
given permission to
publish the entire article
as it originally appeared.
SEE PAGE 6
Earl Hoaglund of Naytahwaush appeared in full regalia at the 4th Annual Harvest Festival held in Naytahwaush on Sept. 9-11.
About 400 people attended the various events that included a feast, parade and pow-wow. The festival, which has grown in
popularity over the past years "was started to reestablish a sense of community," according to Brent Gish, one of the many
organizers responsible for making the festival a success. Photo by Brent Gisn
Indian group says local officials discriminate
By James Johnson
Editor
The group members don't
even doubt that there are
members of the city and
county law enforcement,
and other local officials and
agencies which are intentionally harrassing the
native American population
because of racial differences. To them, that is a
given.
Who is this group? They
are a handful of Indians who
live in the Bemidji area who
have experienced this
harrassment first hand, and
often on more than one
occasion. They know there
are.probably many more
that are afraid to speak out.
Headed by Clarence
Sayers, a middle-aged man
who says he used to drink
but has been sober for
about a year, the group met
formally for the first time
Saturday to start what they
hope will be a campaign to
put an end to the alleged
harrassment of Indian
people by city and county
officials.
Sayers began organizing
this group after an incident
last July in which he says
he was unnecessarily
detained by Bemidji police
when they believed there
was an active warrant for
Sayers' arrest. Rather than
contacting the police
station by radio to check if
the warrant was still in
effect, Sayers said they
transported him to the law
enforcement center, at
which time they discovered
the warrant was inactive.
Upset by this, Sayers
complained to city officials
and sought an apology and
monetary damages for what
his attorney called, "(A
case that) may h ave
serious racial overtones and
may well be handled as a
civil rights violation..."
However, Sayers
demands were rejected by
City Attorney Alan R. Felix.
In a letter elated Aug. 12,
Felix said, "Based on my
review of the circumstances, I find no such
transgressions and I feel
that it is Mr. Sayers who
owes an apology to the
golice officer and the
emidji City Manager."
"I contacted the Human
Rights Department in the
Cities and they told me
they wouldn't handle it (the
case)," said Sayers at the
meeting. "They said we
can't be stepping on those
police officers' feet. I just
laughed at them. . . I said
we just want equal rights.
We're like the Blacks in the
South. Now I know what
those people go through
down there."
"There's a lot of things
that go on that the Indian
people won't bring out, but
a small meeting like this
here, we can all stick
togther," said Sayers to
the group. "We are going
to have to learn to stick
togther as a group and
push for what we want and
what we believe is right for
the Indian people,
especially in this city."
Sayers said he used to
live in Redlake and had
North Dakota license
plates on his car. He said
he frequented the bars in
Bemidji and would get
"drunker than hell."
"I'd drive out of town and
nothing would happen,"
Sayers said, "and when I
put reservation plates on
my car I was stopped that
Friday night for DWI."
One woman told how she
was in an accident in which
her   car   was  struck
broadside by a woman
from St. Cloud who ran a
red light at the intersection
of highways 71 and 2. She
said when the police
arrived at the scene, they
asked if anyone was hurt.
She told the police that
she and her grandson were
hurt. According what
police told her,, the people
in the other car weren't
hurt. After a while, a tow
truck came and took her
car and the police officer,
the only one at the scene,
said he was taking the
people in the other car to
find them a motel. She said
she and passengers were
just left there, and luckily
were able to flag down a
passing cab to get back
into town.
This account and Sayers'
are just a couple of the
examples of what the
group acknowledged as
racism and harrassment by
local law enforcement
officers.
They also noted that not
all law enforcement officers
acted in this manner, but
that it was enough of a
problem that they believe
there must be some
changes if the Indians and
non-Indians are to live
together in harmony.
Bemidji Chief of Police
Bob Tell, however, doesn't
believe that discrimination
and harrassment is a
problem in the area.
"From my point of view, I
don't feel there is (a problem)," said Tell. "I am one
person who is very much
on the alert for anything
like that to happen.
Obviously, it's certainly
possible that it could
happen in our community.
My position ever since
I've had this job," Tell
continued, "is to avoid that
and carefully go out of our
way so that something like
that doesn't occur."
Tell also said that
statistically they have been
arresting and charging
more whites than Indians or
other minorities.
"I would agree, though,
that the percentages in
relation to population are
higher for minorities,
particularly the American
Indian," said Tell.
Tell said that he dpesn't
attribute those figures to
harrassment or discrimination, but to other factors
such as income and unemployment within the
Indian community.
Tell said he doesn't recall
personally receiving any
complaints in the last three
or four years with the
exception of Sayers'.
Beltrami County Sheriff
Orielle Norland also said he
doesn't believe there is a
problem.
Of course, Sayers and his
group feel differently. They
plan to continue meeting
on a monthly basis and
hope to get more Indian
people involved. Sayers
said he would like to get
enough people together to
file a class-action suit
against the city and county.
Elk down to 14 after four found dead
Paul (AP) - The
ths of four  elk,
St
dea
apparently at the hands
of poachers, has reduced
the herd near Grygla to
an estimated 14 animals,
making it unlikely an elk
hunt will be authorized
this year, a Department
of Natural Resources
spokesman said.
The elk herd now may
be at the lowest level
since a program to
re-establish the animals
in the area was begun in
1935, said DNR wildlife
resource manager Tim
Bremicker.
One adult bull elk was
found shot on private
land, and two yearling
cows and one yearling
bull were found dead on
nearby state land near a
food plot, Bremicker said.
The DNR believes the
yearling elk were shot to
death, too, but the
decomposition of the
bodies makes it difficult to
prove, he said. He
estimated the animals died
the last week in August.
Last year, the Legislature
cleared the way for the
DNR to declare a limited
season on elk, the first
authorized in nearly 100
years, after farmers
complai ned that the
animals were damaging
crops.
The hunting season was
intended by the state to
keep the elk herd at no
more than 20 animals.
Bremicker was angered
that the three yearlings
apparently were killed on
state land. He said the food
plots provided for the elk
on state land, last year's
hunt and a program to
compensate private
landowners for damages
caused by the elk were
designed to reduce the
complaints from
landowners.
"Here we are dealing
with the situation, and
someone decides that's
not good enough,"
Bremicker said. "The only
thought process I could
guess is this is arif
individual or a group of
individuals who think that
elk don't belong in this
area."
Bremicker said nine
other elk have been
poached in the area in
the last three years.
A $1,000 reward is
being offered by Turn In
Poachers Inc. to people
who call 1-800-652-9093
and provide information
about the incident.
Radon testing kits in demand
Minneapolis (AP) -
Thousands of people have
called Minnesota health
agencies and test-kit
dealers to have their
homes tested for radon in
the wake of the release of
a federal report showing
high levels of the gas in
homes in Minnesota and
North Dakota.
Minnesota affiliates of
the American Lung
Association, which sells
radon-testing kits, had so
many requests that the
association is considering
getting a bulk mail permit
to handle the orders, Jean
Rieck of the Ramsey
County affiliate said
Tuesday.
*
A seven-state survey
released Monday showed
that 46 percent of 916
Minnesota homes tested
had radon concentrations
higher than guidelines
recommended by the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency.
\