Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2002-02-08

              INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 7
Indians faced with
lack of respect
pg4
Bug O Nay Ge
Shig School's
Reading
Program a
success
pg3
Enrollment dispute at
Prairie Island
pgi
Losses mount at
Red Lake gaming
pgi
King's voodoo
accounting
pg4
Losses mount at Red Lake gaming
Internal financial statements reveal net loss of $2,337,656 in three months
by Bill Lawrence
According to un-audited financial statements provided to Press/
ON by an anonymous source, the
Red Lake Gaming Enterprises
had a reported net income of
SI, 176,219 for the three months
period ending December 31,
2001. This is $1,339,460 less
than budgeted by Red Lake gaming. Surprisingly, these two
amounts were not mentioned in
the cover memo to the financial
statements dated January 19,
2001 from Veldon Baird, Red
Lake gaming accountant, to Roy
Ferris, Red Lake gaming C.O.O.
and presented to the Red Lake
Gaming Board at the board meeting on January 30, 2002. The
Red Lake Gaming Board is com
prised of the eleven members
Red Lake Tribal Council.
Equally surprising is the fact that
nowhere in the cover memo or
the financial statements is there
any mention of the other required payments and other uses
of cash which must be paid from
gaming funds on a monthly basis. These include payments to
the tribe as owners of the Red
Lake gaming enterprises, loan repayments, health insurance payments and room and sales tax
payments. Other mandatory uses
of cash include operational/construction equipment costs and
gaming equipment costs.
According to Red Lake
gaming's 15 months projections
(see copy on page 8 of this edi-
Enrollment dispute at Prairie Island
by Clara NiiSka
Marcella Blue Stone, age 78,
was born at Prairie Island when it
was still Strom's Crossing
whistle-stop. She is the daughter
of Walter Jesse Leith, the first
I.R.A. tribal chairman of Prairie
Island, and Cora Lawrence Leith.
She is listed, #325, on the "Prairie Island base rolls"—the
B.I.A.'s Indian Census Roll of
April 1, 1934 of the "Purchased
land reservation of the Pipestone,
Minnesota jurisdiction"—as 5/8
Mdewakanton Sioux, residing
on-reservation. Marcella's full
brother, Chris Leith, is a widely-
known 'spiritual leader' at Prairie
Island.
According to Marcella's son,
Lawrence Larson, after the unrest
and "uprising" in 1862-63, the
imprisonment of many Dakota at
Fort Snelling, and Abraham
Lincoln's execution of 38 men at
Mankato, "a lot of us ended up in
Santee," but some eventually
"wandered back" and settled at
Prairie Island. "My great-
grandmother's three relatives"
were among those hung at
Mankato, Larson said. "There
were just young boys," Agnes
Frazier Lawrence told Larson,
'not evea neaf die uprising.
They were innocent." "She re
fused to speak English," Larson
told Press/ON, because of the
wrongful execution of her relatives. Larson says that he learned
his native language translating
for his great-grandmother.
Marcella's son Lawrence
Larson grew up at Prairie Island.
He talks about growing soybeans
there to buy clothes for school,
and reminisced about the land of
his childhood with deep affection. The sixty-one year old
Larson was bom in February
1941, and is too young to have
been listed on the base rolls. Article III of the 1936 Constitution
and Bylaws of the Prairie Island
Indian Community delineates the
requirements for enrollment. It
provides that "membership in the
Prairie Island Indian Community
"shall" include "all children of
any member who is a resident of
the Prairie Island Reservation at
the time of the birth of said children" (section c). There is no
blood quantum requirement for
Prairie Island enrollment—and
nearly a third of the people on
the 1934 base rolls are listed as
only 1/16 Indian.
Eighty-one year old Harvey
Owens was also born and raised
at Prairie Island. He is the son of
Julia W. Owens, who is listed,
#390, on the Prairie Island base
rolls as a "fullblood." Harvey is
the full brother of Prairie Island's
renowned spiritual leader Amos
Owens. According to Owens's,
Larson's and Bluestone's attorney, Gary Montana, Harvey
Owens was not enumerated on
the 1934 B.I.A. census because
he was working at the depression-era C.C.C. camps. Owens
subsequently joined the Army,
and was reportedly a "decorated
World War II veteran."
Even though the three elders'
obviously have both Dakota ancestors and clear ties to the Prairie Island Indian community,
they are not included on the
present membership rolls. Despite repeated applications for
enrollment, according to Larson
"approved three times by the enrollment committee," the Prairie
Island Community Council declined to act on their application.
In November 1999, Wisconsin
attorney Gary Montana sued in
tribal court on their behalf. In
June of 2001, the case was- finally - heard by the tribal court
of appeals. At press time, the
tribal court had not yet rendered
a decision in the case.
ENROLLMENT to page 6
Bena woman
questions Cass
Lake school
discipline
By Jeff Armstrong
The mother of a 9-year-old Cass
Lake Elementary School student is
rethinking her choice of educational venues after school officials
attempted to impose an unusual
discipline on the third grader.
Bena resident Lisa Beaulieu said
principal Pamela Olson suspended
her son from riding the bus for 10
days for refusing to turn off his CD
player as instructed. But what angered Beaulieu was the principal's
additional stipulation that the student pay $10 for an alternative bus
fare and relinquish his recess time
in order to clean up the school cafeteria and library for the duration
of the suspension. The fine was to
be eannarked for student services.
"I found it odd. I found it extreme," said Beaulieu. "I don't
think the principal can actually
charge someone for a ride."
Questioning the legality and propriety of the fee, Beaulieu wrote to
Olson requesting that she put her
prescribed penalty in writing.
"I still have not received a response," she said.
Olson was out of town and could
not be reached for comment.
BENA to page 5
Suspect arrested
in Ron Long, Jr.
murder
The F.B.I, arrested a juvenile
on January 27* in Hennepin
County. The juvenile is a suspect
in the murder of Ronald Wayne
Long, Jr., and is currently in custody pending further court proceedings. F.B.I, spokesman Paul
McCabe of the Minneapolis office told Press/ON that it is their
policy not to release the names of
juveniles.
Ron Long, Jr., who would have
turned 19 last December 18th,
was "discovered by Red Lake
tribal police, who were on routine patrol" on Saturday, December 22, in a wooded area on Red
Lake reservation. "Foul play is
suspected," McCabe told Press/
ON at that time, and the F.B.I. is
"currently investigating."
Judge blasts "totally improper"
request by Norton
Norton again demonstrates "total
inability to understand role of
trustee"
fivm Indianiiun.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. -Afed-
eral judge sharply criticized Interior
Secretary Gale Norton today for a
"totally improper" attempt to circumvent a court order sealing the personal financial data of Indians who
are challenging Norton in court over
mismanagement of the Individual Indian Monies (TIM) trust.
U.S. District Judge Royce C.
Lamberth rejected a request by
Norton that he lift a protective order
that the government's own lawyers
had drafted and asked Lamberth to
approve in 1996.
'The Court finds that the filing of
this motion is itself a violation of the
Secretary's fiduciary duty to the trust
beneficiaries, and the motions are
hereby denied," Lamberth's written
order said. "Secretary Norton has
demonstrated once again her total inability to understand the role of a
trustee in relation to a beneficiary by
seeking to release to Congress -
knowing that it will be made public -
the confidential financial infomiation
of these beneficiaries."
Norton testified on February 6 before the House Resources Committee, where she had planned to reveal
the confidential financial data.
Tlie judge's ruling comes in the
middle of Norton's contempt trial before Lamberth for ignoring a court
order to reform tlie failed IIM trust,
submitting false reports to the judge
about Interior's supposed progress
on trust refonn and failing to provide
even rudimentary computer security
for IIM trust accounting data.
In today's order, Lamberth said he
would be willing to consider a request from Congress to amend his
19% order. "Should such a motion
be filed, the Court will be obliged to
consider the relevant legal questions
surroiuiding possible release of the
report, including whether release is
in the public interest. What the Court
will not do, however, is entertain a
totally improper request from Secretary Nortoa"
Cobell calls for Congressional
backing to place individual Indian
trust in receivership
Court Supervision, Professional
Management Are "Only Rational Solution"
from Indiantrust.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Elouise
Cobell, the lead plaintiff in class
action litigation to force reform of
the failed Individual Indian Monies
(IIM) trust, called on Congress today to support placing the trust in
temporary, court-supervised receivership until more than a century of government mismanagement and neglect can be overhauled.
Testifying before the House
Committee on Resources, Cobell,
a member of the Blackfeet Nation
and a Browning, Montana, banker,
called receivership "the only rational solution" to overcoming the repeated failure of the Secretaries of
Interior and Treasury to either
manage the trust professionally or
comply with court orders and Congressional urging to clean it up.
"Congress has appropriated
more than $614 million for trust refonn since 1996," Cobell said,
"and it lias gotten virtually nothing
in return - no accounting of Individual Indian Trust monies, no rehabilitation of the woeful system,
no improvement in infonnation
technology.
"The court and the Congress
have not even gotten the truth from
the Interior Secretary, in part because she and her advisors do not
know the truth and lack the qualifications and skill to leam the truth
before they inflict more irreparable
harm on individual Indian trust
beneficiaries."
Norton and Assistant Secretary
for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb
currently are on trial in federal
court here on five counts of contempt for ignoring a judge's 1999
order to reform the trust, submitting false quarterly reports about
their supposed progress and failing
to safeguard computerized trust accounting data.
U.S. District Judge Royce C.
Lamberth is weighing a request by
the plaintiffs in Cobell v. Norton to
take the IIM trust out of Interior's
COBELL to page 5
VOICE
O    F
THE
People
web page: www.press-on.net
tion) for the three months period
ending December 31,2001, other
required payments and other uses
of cash were projected to total
$3,984,842. Subtracting
EBITDA (earnings before income tax and depreciation allowance) of $2,085,053 reveals a net
loss of $1,899,789 for the three
months period by the Red Lake
Gaming Enterprises. In addition,
Red Lake gamine management
failed to include $437,867 of administrative costs in the consolidated financial statement for the
three months ending December
31, 2001. Adding the $437,867
to the previously reported net
RED LAKE to page 8
Native  *~
American
II u uu Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2002
Founded in 1988
Volume 14 Issue 10
February 8, 2002
Red Lake tribal council chairman
Bobby Whitefeather hobnobs
with a guest at Red Lake Days at
the Capitol on the evening of
Wednesday, February 6.
This year's State Capitol lobbying effort by the tribal council
stressed multiple "legislative is-
to»-a," ranging from education to
gaming. According to an informational packet handed out at the
e\ent, the tribal council hopes that
tie money appropriated by the
state of Minnesota for expenditure
bv the tribal council will include:
Education: a $40 million grant
for construction and related improvements to schools, ongoing
funding for state school district
#38 at Red Lake, and money targeted for education of American
Indian students. The tribal council has also "identified a great
need for a Tribal College," and
has "pursued" establishing a charter school at Red Lake.
Human Services and Health:
Due to unemployment rates "at
approximately 60 percent," the
tribal council is hoping that the
Legislature will give on-reservation Red Lakers an exemption to
statewide welfare time limits. The
tribal council is also asking for
state funding for affordable housing, "suitable jobs," childcare,
chemical dependency programs
and "out-of-home placement" for
Indian children. The tribal council writes that it will "support any
legislation that calls for an increase or continuance of funding"
for programs to address health
disparities affecting Indian people.
Economic Development,
Housing, and Community Development: The tribal council would
like state money to help pay for
"in excess of 400" low income
family houses, and for "programs
and funding" administered
through state departments. It is
also asking the legislature to assist
in job creation," and for a $4.1  ■
million dollar state bond to subsidize "economic development."
Public Safety: The tribal council is hoping that the Legislature
photo credit: Clara NiiSka
will give it money to seek "solutions to its many public safety issues." It highlights the new Detention Center and Battered
Women's Shelter in the public relations material handed out to legislators and state officials.
The tribal council also outlined
its position on several issues not
directly involving state appropriations, including:
Department of Natural Resources: The tribal council notes
its opposition to commercial harvest of peat at Pine Island, and   ■
seeks additional input in regional
environmental issues including
"the ATV trail plan," Red Lake
watershed issues, and the "final
designation of Con-Con lands."
Redistricting: The tribal council
"strongly supports" the redistricting plan which will keep Red
Lake and White Earth "together in
one district."
Gaming: The tribal council indicates that it is "supportive of
Senator Doug Johnson's bill for a
state/tribal casino."
Norton announces new money
for American Indian trust fund
By Robert Gehrke
Associated Press
WASHINGTON- President
Bush will seek an additional $83.6
million next year to fix a mismanaged American Indian taist fund
that has become a thorn in the Interior Department's side, Secretary
Gale Norton said Friday.
Norton's announcement of a 76
percent funding increase came as
she sought to smooth over differences with suspicious Indian leaders, and prepares to woo members
of Congress skeptical of her plan to
fix the trust fund.
Meanwhile, her attorneys will be
in federal court, trying to convince
an increasingly frustrated judge that
Norton should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with
changes to the trust he ordered two
years ago.
It is the latest chapter in what a
Senate committee called one of the
most egregious examples of government mismanagement.
The tmst debacle dates back to
1887, when Congress assigned Indians small allotments of land, but
took responsibility for managing the
grazing, timber and oil and gas
rights on the land.
The Interior Department was supposed to collect tlie royalties and
disburse the money to the Indian
land owners. But much of the
money was stolen or misappropriated, and record-keeping was in
such a shambles that nobody knows
how much was squandered, although some estimates are as high
as $40 billion.
In 1994 Congress created a special office in the Interior Department to head efforts to reform the
trust. Two years later, Elouise
Cobell, a Montana banker and
FUND to page 5
Mille Lacs Band,
county wrangle
over 61,000
acres
By Renee Ruble
Associated Press
ONAMIA, Minn. - Tensions between the Mille Lacs Band of
Ojibwe and its neighbors are rising
again, less than three years after the
U.S. Supreme Court settled a dispute over the band's fishing and
gathering rights.
This time, the dispute is over
whether the Mille Lacs reservation
even exists.
The Mille Lacs County Board
says it doesn't, and the band says it
does. After almost a year of negotiation that went nowhere, the
county board voted unanimously
to pursue legal action against the
band. It has set aside nearly $1 mil-
MILLE LACS to page 5
Federal appeals panel upholds court's jurisdiction
in Indian casino
By Deborah Baker
Associated Press
SANTA FE - A federal judge
in Albuquerque has jurisdiction
to hear the lingering state-tribal
dispute over casino revenue, a
federal appeals court has niled.
Attorney General Patricia
Madrid announced Friday that
the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of
Appeals in Denver affirmed the
federal court's jurisdiction and
sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Bruce Black.
Ten tribes settled the lawsuit
brought by Madrid, but
Pojoaque Pueblo and the
Mescalero Apaches remain as
defendants.
"I would like to resolve the issues with these two tribes,"
Madrid said. "However, if they
wish to continue litigation, I am
prepared."
Madrid sued a dozen tribes in
2000 for non-payment of the 16
percent of slot machine proceeds required under 1997
state-tribal gambling compacts.
The ten tribes that settled
agreed to make S91 million in
back payments. They also
signed new compacts that require they pay the state a maxi
mum of 8 percent of their slot
machine proceeds.
"I encourage the Mescalero
Apache Tribe and the Pueblo of
Pojoaque to reconsider their opposition to the new compacts
and join in the settlement with
the other 10 tribes," Madrid
said.
The tribes that were sued argued that the state's lawsuit
should be dismissed because the
federal court lacked jurisdiction
over the matter. They appealed
to the 10th Circuit when Black
CASINO to page 6