The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1988-11-23

              STATE:
Study shows few Indian
students in Minneapolis
graduate on time
page 2
P 1
Children's Theatre
Company to perform
The Bemidji Community Education will be sponsoring the
internationally renown Children's Theatre Company's Two
African Tales: Rumplestiltskin, and Kalulu and his Money
Farm. The show is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.
in the Bemidji Senior High auditorium.
The Children's Theatre Company is North America's
largest professional theatre for young audiences and
families. The company is known for its unprecedented
tradition of adapting children's literature to the stage.
Tickets for the performance are $5 for adults, $3 for
children 5-18 years old, free for children under 5 years of
age and $3 for senior citizens 62 years or older. Tickets are
available now until Dec. 2 from the Bemidji Community
Education office, 15th St. and Bettrami Ave., Bemidji, MN
56601. (751-2160 ext. 183) and at the door the night of the
performance.
Man found competent to
stand trial on murder charge
Grand Rapids, Minn. (AP)- A Deer River man is
mentally competent to stand trial in the shooting death of
another Deer River man, an Itasca County District judge
has ruled.
Judge John Spellacy said Monday that William Yern, 65,
must stand trial on a second-degree murder charge in the
Sept. 1 death of Dorian Serfling, 58.
Yern appeared in court for the first time following his
evaluation at the State Security Hospital in St. Peter.
Spellacy accepted the hospital's findings and kept bail at
$100,000 until a chemical dependency evaluation is
completed.
Yern is scheduled to appear in court again on Monday.
Woman pleads innocent
in man's shooting death
Grand Rapids, Minn. (AP)- A 54-year-old Granu1 Rapids
woman has pleaded innocent in the shooting death of a
Grand Rapids man.
Joanne LaFrenier, charged with second-degree murder in
the death of Kenneth Watson, 61, in his apartment on June
25, appeared in Itasca County District Court on Monday.
LaFrenier was declared mentally competent to stand trial
in August, following an evaluation at the State Security
Hospital in St. Peter. Her lawyer, Larry Rapoport, said he
wants her to undergo independent psychological
evaluations.
LaFrenier is free on her own recognizance. Her trial date
was moved back to Feb. 21.
C <d> mm fi im g   E v e im it §
November 23: Boxing tournament. Veteran's Memorial Building
(Bingo Palace), Cass Lake. Action starts at 7:15 p.m. Boxers from
the Duluth, Red Lake, Naytahwaush and Leech Lake boxing clubs
will be competing. Sponsored by the Leech Lake Boxing Club.
November 24: Fifth Annual Thanksgiving Feed for the Elderly.
Noon to 2 p.m. at the Red Lake Elementary School. No charge.
Sponsored by Barrett's Game Room, Joe and Rose Barrett,
679-3538.
November 25-27: Anishinabe Classic All-Indian Basketball
Tournament. Cass Lake High School gymnasium. Play begins
Friday night at 6:15 p.m., Saturday at 9 am. and Sunday at 10 am.
Championship game starts at 4:15 p.m. on Sunday- Tickets
available at the door. $2 for adults and $1 for children 17 years and
younger. Tickets must be purchased each day of the tournament.
November 29: AIDS: Illusion and Reality. A community workshop
for the business community, educators, church leaders, health care
professionals and other concerned persons. 8:30 am. to 4 p.m. at
the Bemidji Holiday Inn. $15 registration fee (pre-registration
preferred). Sponsored by the Beltrami County AIDS Task Force
Members. Call (218) 751-0979 or toll-free in Minnesota
1-800-942-8324 for more information.
NATIONAL:
Hundreds of rivers eyed
for federal protection
page 3
fAMILYPAGE:
Nation's median age
heading upward
page 7
Ojibwe
"News by and for the Ojibwe Nation"
News
FIFTY CENTS
Founded at Bemidji, Minnesota in 1988
e 1 Issue 27
Wednesday, November 23, 1988 |
Kevin Locke, of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in South Dakota
thrilled an audience at Bemidji State University last Thursday
night with hoop dancing, flute music and storytelling. See page 6
for more photos and story. Photo by Janes Johnson
Lawrence files appeal in fish case
Attornies for William J. Lawrence,
publisher of the Ojibwe News, have filed
an appeal in the Minnesota Court of
Appeals for his conviction of two counts
or illegal sale and on6 count ui illegal
possession of Minnesota game fish.
Lawrence was arrested on August 30,
1987, near Bemidji, with nearly 5,000
walleye pike in his possession.
Lawrence, an enrolled member of the
Red Lake band of Minnesota Chippewa,
says he had purchased the fish from Red
Lake tribal commercial fisherman.
The fish, which were all packed on ice
in coolers, were confiscated and are
allegedly still in the possession of the
Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources.
Lawrence was found guilty of violations
of Minnesota Game and Fish laws by
District Court Judge James E, Preece, of
Bemidji.
Lawrence, who claims that the DNR
does not have the authority to regulate
the transportation of commercial fish
from the Red Lake reservation, based his
appeal on reserved treaty rights of the
tribe, the Indian Commerce and the
Supremacy Clauses of the U.S.
Constitution, the invalidity of a 1949
agreement between the Bureau of Indian
Affairs and the DNR, and a 1951 order (no.
1303) of the Minnesota Commissioner of
Conservation (now called the DNR).
Lawrence estimates that after the
normal exchange of legal briefs between
the parties, oral arguments before the
Court of Appeals will take place in
Bemidji sometime this spring.
Lawrence stated that he is confident
about winning the case and "getting the
DNR out of Red Lake business," once the
court makes a full review of the legal
issues involved. Lawrence also stated that
he was surprised at the continued silence
of the Red Lake Tribal Council in view of
the involvement of the treaty rights.
"I guess the Jourdain councHhas made
too many under-the-table deals with the
DNR to get involved with this one," he
said.
Bemidji trial Attorney Romaine Powell
will represent Lawrence before the Court
of Appeals.
Jourdain's tax
trial rescheduled
Jourdain charged with owing
$81,000 in back taxes to state
By William J. Lawrence
Publisher
Due to the hospitalization of
Red Lake Tribal Chairman
Roger Jourdain on Oct. 11, the
Minnesota tax court has
rescheduled his trial for Dec.
20, 1988 at 10 am. in Duluth,
Minn.
Jourdain, 79, who has been
chairman at Red Lake since
1958 and has lived off the
reservation since the "Red
Lake People's Revolution* in
1979, is charged with owing
the State of Minnesota
$81,000 in back taxes.
The Minnesota commissioner of taxation alleges that
Jourdain failed to file
Minnesota Income Tax
returns from 1979 to 1985.
Jourdain h ad been
hospitalized in Bemidji
following an apparent heart
attack and was said to be in
good condition at the time.
White Earth Reservation License Plates
Changes to the taxation and design of plates in progress
By Mark Boswell
Assistant Editor
According to Calvin Haluptzok,
acting liaison for tribal vehicle
licensing and reciprocity in White
Earth, there will be proposed
changes to the way that taxes are
dealt with when purchasing motor
vehicle licences on the White Earth
reservation.
The proposed changes are
necessary to insure the State's
recognition of the tribe's authority
to license commercial vehicles, the
changes will also effect personal
vehicle purchase and licensing.
Haluptzok said, "We've run into a
small snag in terms of our Sept. '87
agreement in which Public Safety
did not want to take the responsibility to collect the excise taxes."
According to a document obtained
from the White Earth Clerk of
Court's office, the September 1987
agreement between the White Earth
Reservation Tribal Council and the
State of Minnesota was intended to
allow the Minnesota Department of
Public Safety to recognize tribal
license plates through mutual
agreement between the governments. Problems arose from the
wording of that agreement which
"could be construed in such a way as
to remove or impare the mechanisms
currently in place whereby state
officials monitor the collection of
sales and use tax on vehicles
purchased in Minnesota"
Ambiguities in this agreement led
to a situation where the excise tax
The current design of the White Earth Reservation motor vehicle license plates.
This new design should be available within the next few months. Photos by M. Boswell
4
7i
paid on motor vehicles was not being
accounted for in either the state's or
the reservation's accounts.
Haluptzok illustrated the point by
explaining what had happened when
the problem first became apparent.
Allegedly, a private vehicle wa's
purchased at S & T Motors in Mahnomen wherein the excise taxes due on
the purchase were remitted to the
RBC in White Earth. Haluptzok then
called Minnesota Public Safety in
order to find out where the tax
money should be sent.
Haluptzok explained, "I started
negotiating, with Jack Wilds of Public
Safety to rind out where the money
should be sent. He said, 'Don't send it
anywhere. Keep it, it's the
reservation's"; and I said, 'No, it isn't.
We don't want to start collecting
taxes."
Haluptzok further explained that
the current changes will verify the
position that has existed all along,
that the taxes due on a motor vehicle
purchase belong to the State of
Minnesota
"We had to have some way of
assuring the state that the tax would
be collected when purchasing reservation plates," said Haluptzok, "What
we're going to do and what we are
doing as a result of these negotiations
is to require verification that the tax
has been paid in the form of a reciept
from the county registrar's office."
Currently, the revenue department
has been handling the taxation
»
problem of Indians in a manner similar
to revenue sharing, where a statistical
sum of money is paid back to the
reservation in order to theoretically
maintain the constitutional stipulation
'Indians not taxed'. This would include
vehicle tax.
The complexities of the vehicle tax
situtation should now be corrected.
"So I guess that it's kind of a show of
good faith to the State of Minnesota
that we're not trying to pull anything
sneaky," said Haluptzok.
f