The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1988-10-19

              STATE:
'Peanuts' cartoon changed
following protest
page 2
	
; ■     ■
NATIONAL:
Hatcher and Jacobs aquitted
in newspaper hostage taking
page 3
FAMILY PAGE:
Parents: lookout for home
safety problems
page 7
The
Ojibwe
News
"News by and for the Ojibwe Nation"
Copyright Ojibwe News, 1988
FIFTY CENTS
Founded at Bemidji, Minnesota in 1988
Volume 1 Issue 22
HSSB
Wednesday, October 19, 1988 |
A Weekly Publication
News Briefs
White Earth girl
killed in accident
The Mahnomen County
Sheriffs office reported that
a 13-year-old girl was killed
in a one-vehicle rollover on
county road 114 approximately 10 mile east of
Waubun.
Killed in the accident was
Rhonda Bellanger, daughter
of Ronald Bellanger and
Jeanette Bevins,. of White
Earth.
The accident occured
Saturday at about 6 am.
This is the second fatality
in as many weeks on that
road known by I ocal
residents as Rock Dam
Road.
Minnesota
premiere
for movie
"Far North"
set for Nov. 16
Duluth, Minn. (AP) - The
Minnesota premiere of Tar
North," the Jessica Lange
■movie filmed in
northeastern Minnesota a
year ago, is set for here on
Nov. 16.
Tickets cost $25 for the
premiere, which will
include a champagne
reception. The world
premiere is scheduled for
Nov. 10 in New York.
In addition to Lange, a
Cloquet native, the movie
stars Charles Durning and
Tess Harper. It was written
and directed by Lange's
boyfriend, playwright Sam
Shepard.
rhe movie is about a
woman and her
relationships with her
family when she returns to
her rural home from New
York after her father is
injured.
Duluth officials said $3
million were pumped into
the local economy while
the production company
worked in the area
Bill Voelker-
Traditional and
modern elements
combined to better
understand eagles
By Mark Boswell
Assistant Editor
Eagles and their deeply
rooted ties to Native American
spirituality were the highlights
of a presentation made by Bill
Voelker of the "Eagle Trust
International" at the Detroit
Lakes Area Vocational Technical Institute last Friday. The
presentation, part of the
DLAVTI Indian Student Day,
was held in conjunction with
the Minnesota Indian
Education Association
conference at the Holiday Inn
in Detroit Lakes.
About 75 students and
educators were privileged to
see a tyrant hawk eagle that
Voelker brought with him from
Milstad, Illinois. The eagle, a
species related to bald and
golden eagles of North
America is found mainly in
Latin America v
The bird that was shown at
the presentation is the only
breeding female of her kino
anywhere in the world.
Accidentally trapped several
years ago. the eagle was sent
to "Eagle Trust International"
in Illinois, where it received
appropriate medical treatment
and care.
Voelker has combined his
Native American heritage and
his scientific knowledge to
better understand and help
guarantee the future of these
birds of prey. He has been
very close to eagles all of his
life. From both sides of the
family came a diverse and
often conflicting view of these
sacred and endangered
animals.
"Even though I love the old
ways, I sometimes let my
book learning get in the way,"
he said while tethering the
mottled grey eagle that kept a
watch on the crowd gathered
around.
Voelker said that traditional
naming and taxonomy are
often a problem. "Like the
difference between day birds
and night birds," he explained.
Traditional naming conflicts
with the scientific rationalization that believes that the
difference is between mature
and young birds' coloration
and not difference in kind.
"Actually, the traditional
naming is so much more
elloquent."
Voelker went on to explain
some of his work with the
birds, including the breeding
projects that have involved
eagles from all over the world.
"Eagles, being the large
birds that they are, require
large spaces. A design that
took years to develop for
captive breeding is quite
large. 30 feet by 20 feet, and
between 9 and 15 feet high,
the cages are very big, with
bars across the top that
permit as much light as
possible.
"Typically artificially inseminated, the eagles in captivity
will help insure future
Bill Voelker and a tyrant hawk eagle.
that they once inhabited.
Eagles of all kinds have been
systematically erradicated
from the United States by
ranchers and settlers.
According to Voelker, birds of
prey were seen as vermin.
Wrongfully seen as harmful tc
livestock, ranchers shot them
indiscriminately.   Piles of
"Even though I love the
old ways, I sometimes
let my book learning
get in the way."
Bill Voe
generations of eagles that are
being reintroduced to areas
where they are now extinct,"
said Voelker. An experimental
Rroject in the Appalachians
as met with some success.
Individual eagles have been
reintroduced there and are
regaining some of the territory
eagle carcasses were found
throughout the west. Their
feathers and talons left to rot.
Voelker's father saw this as
a terrible waste and spent a
great deal of his time
collecting and preserving the
feathers, talons and remains
of the quickly vanishing
Photo by Mark Boswell
eagles. These invaluable
eagle feathers and talons were
organized accordingly, and
redistributed to local indians.
In 1962 the sensel ess
slaughter stopped when
golden eagles were protected
by federal laws; other birds of
prey were also quickly put
under the same protection.
Voelker' s mother, a
Comanche Indian, saw the
eagle in a different way.
Something to be revered and
respected as part of the Earth
and the traditional ways of her
people. He has since
combined these different
points of view and now works
to preserve and regain the
vast areas that these great
•birds of prey once ruled.
"Now we see the headlines in
the newspapers about the
federal crackdown on eagle
feathers," explained Voelker.
"For many years our elders,
mainly Comanche and Kiowa
Indains from the southwest,
were afraid to come out in
public with some of the items
they had like these..." Voelker
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Landmark
legislation
passed for
Indian
education
By Mark Boswell
Assistant Editor
"Any time you're talking
about Indian education, you're
talking about tribal
sovereignity," stated Flo
Wiger, at the Minnesota Indian
Education Association
conference last Thursday in
Detroit Lakes. Wiger, last
year's chairman of the MIEA
Board of directors, was
introducing a presentation
that addressed current
legislation concerning Indian
education and its close ties to
tribal sovereignity. The presentation was more like a
forum that contained members
of the group responsible for
legislation that was passed in
the 1988 Legislative Session.
The unique piece of legislation, according to Betsy Rice
of the Senate Counsel, was the
first of its kind anywhere in
the United States. It provides
for a special organization under
the Senate Education
Committee. "That subcommittee," said Rice, "was
formed to look at the needs of
Indian students in pre-school,
elementary, secondary school,
and post-secondary school,
wherever and whenever Indian
people might need and desire
more effective education."
Sen. Gary Dukramer was chair
of that sub-committee, Sen.
Cal Larsen was a member of it,
and other members were from
Minneapolis and various other
parts of the state.
According to Rice, "The subcommittee traveled to various
parts of the state and talked
with parents, administrators,
teachers, school board
members... talked with a lot of
people who were currently
working in school districts as
well as with some of the tribal
contract schools to get an idea
of what some of the problems
Anti-discrimination group members meet with city
By James Johnson
Editor
Joe Sayers and Chuck
Nordenmarker, organizers of
Native American Indians
Against Discrimination met
Tuesday with City Manager
Mike McCurdy and Bemidji
Police Chief Bob Tell.
The informal meeting was to
discuss a number of ideas, and
projects that NAIAD would
like the city's cooperation on.
One of the projects which
has already gotten underway
offers people, Indians and
non-Indians alike, a free ride
home from bars or parties if
they feel they're too
intoxicated to drive, or have
no other way home.
Sayers said they started the
driver program last weekend
and have been well received
by most. He said that he has
gotten the cooperation, of
many bar owners and
bartenders can call the NAIAD
phone number if they feel
someone is too drunk to drive.
As part of the driver
rogram, Sayers and other
A TAD members are out
patrolling the city. They are
using a police scanner at their
home base and information is
relayed through a CB radio to
the driver. If a situation arises
where NAIAD feels they can
assist police officers in dealing
with Indian people, they
respond to the call.
"Our group is willing to work
with the police," Sayers told
Tell at the meeting. "We will
not interfere with police
ft
business, but we will be there,
and I think our presence there
would mean a little bit to the
Indian people."
Sayers said their patrol is
modeled after a similar
program in the Twin Cities
sponsored by the American
Indian Movement.
Sayers warned that this is
not a taxi service and that
each potential customer will
be screened. "We don't want
to butt in on the taxi service,
but bartenders will have our
number available." '-
Police Chief tell agreed that
this is a good idea. "I don't
see any problem with that," he
told Sayers, "as long as you're
not interfering with the duties
of the officers."
"We cautioned our drivers
that they are not to interfere
no matter how things get,"
Sayers told Tell "They are to
stay back and wait until they
are called in."
Sayers said the group will
have jackets and ID cards for
their workers so police can
easily identify them.
The group is working with a
local attorney to establish
non-profit status so they can
apply for grants. "Right now
we are operating strictly on
donations," Sayers said. "We
are hoping to get contributions through fund raisers,
such as dances and a few
other things. All of our people
are volunteers."
Sayers also met with the
Bemidji City Council Monday
night. He suggested that city
employees be required to
\
Chuck Nordenmarker and Joe Sayers
attend workshops on Native
American culture and issues
hoping that a better
understanding of the problems
particular to the Indian
population might reduce the
occurrences of discrimination.
Sayers said the group would
be willing to help set up the
workshops not only for .the
city but for the county as well.
So far the city's response to
the idea has been largely
positive, according to Sayers.
NAIAD is in the process of
collecting complaints alleging
discrimination. Sayers said he
will be turning some of the
pertinent complaints over to
Tell for his review. Tell told
Sayers that if the group
wasn't satisfied with the way
he handled any complaints,
the group could appeal to City
Photos by James Johnson     Sayers and Nordenmarker meet with Mike McCurdy and Bob Tell.
Manager McCurdy. Sayers
said irit was necessary he
would take the complaints to
the state's human rights
board, but McCurdy said he
would hope that Sayers would
appeal to the city's human
rights board before going to
the state.
Tell said he would be glad to
work with the group and
expressed his concern about
the problems of discrimination.
"There was a large concern
(about discrimination) when I
was appointed to this position
eight years ago," said Tell,
"and I feel, in part, that's why
I ended up with the position
rather than somebody else. I
am sensitive to it, and I'm also
sensitive to the people that
work with me. If there's
something that comes across
and the evidence is there, we
will handle it."
Sayers suggested that there
should be a liason officer
between the Indian people and
the police department to deal
with these problems. McCurdy
said he sees no problem with
that as long as the funds were
available, but "we don't have
the funds right now for that."
Tell said the city would like
to hire Indian police officers
but the problem is "we get very
few applicants coming into our
community," he said. "The
other problem we have is that
with any Indian officer, we are
in direct competition with the
Red Lake reservation who
pays much better than the city
of Bemidji."
Tell  told  Sayers and
Nordenmarker that in the
groups continuing battle with
dsicrimination "I don't think
it's happening to the extent
that you think. I don't think
you're going to find as much
as you think you're going to
find."
" I hope not." Sayers
responded.
NAIAD will be holding
abother meeting and taking
more complaints Saturday at 2
p.m. in the Red Lake VFW
post.
Sayers said that if anyone is
interested in making
contributions to the group,
they can send it to the First
National Bank. If anyone is
interested in joining the group,
or needs a ride, they can call
759-1539.