Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2002-04-26

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY      2
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
SMOKE SIGNALS OF UPCOMING EVENTS 5
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Rep. Erickson
announces
public hearing
on Mille Lacs
fisheries
page 5
Leech Lake is
trying to get it
together
page 4
Public Statement
Metropolitan Urban
Indian Directors Issue:
Indian Health Board
page 4
Political
candidates:
Lenore Barsness,
Rita Weise
page 6
Commentary
We need an
independent court
at Red Lake
page 4
JAWNIE HOUGH UPDATE:
Red Lake tribal council allegedly tries to rewrite
federal law for state court
by Clara NiiSka
On March 4*, 2002, Judge
Terrance C. Holter ofthe 9" District
Court of Beltrami County ruled in
the case Jawnie Kay Hough vs.
Donald James Brun, Jr. He found
in his Conclusions of Law that
"parental rights are a fundamental
right under the United States
Constitution, which requires a
reliable due process prior to
depriving a citizen of those
substantive and important rights."
Pummeled by a legal nightmare
which took root in the jurisdictional
interface between state and tribal
courts, Jawnie has not seen her
daughter, Meghan Brun, for over
fifteen months. The three year old
chtid was ripped from her arms by
University of Minnesota ponce on
the evening of January 10,2001.
Jawnie was at the U of M hospital
with a famtiy member undergoing
cancer treatment; the potice were
acting on an ex parte Red Lake
tribal court order rubber-stamped
into state jurisdiction under
"principles of comity."
Jawnie Hough had been awarded
custody of her daughter Meghan as
a part of June 1999 divorce granted
by the Beltrami County court.
Despite the state court's having
asserted ongoing jurisdiction over
Meghan's custody in that divorce
judgment, Donald Brun, Jr., sought
reversal of state-ordered custody in
the Red Lake tribal court. The Red
Lake tribal court - administered by
Donald's uncle Francis "Chunky"
Brun - unUateraUy asserted its own
jurisdiction after the chtid's paternal
grandparents removed Meghan to .
Red Lake reservation in direct
violation ofthe state court order
prohibiting the removal of the chtid
to the Red Lake reservation. The
tribal court granted Donald custody
in ex parte proceedings. The tribal
court order was dated May 22,
2000.
In his March 4 ruling, Judge
Holter found that the Red Lake
tribal court had "created a substantial deprivation of parental rights"
through those ex parte tribal court
proceedings, which disregarded
both state court orders and rudiments of due process. Judge Holter
ordered that Meghan "be promptly
returned to the proper custody" of
Jawnie Hough "before 5:00 pm,
March 10,2002."
Communicating through his
Bemidji attorney, Michael
Ruffenach, Donald informed Jawnie
and her attorney that he did not
intend to return the child in
accordance with the state court's
order. Jawnie's attorney responded
with a letter urging the Court to
"please encourage counsel to assist
with the enforcement of the March
4,2002 Order." Ruffenach resigned
as Donald's attorney.
Apparently depending on legal
precedents indicating that he would
not be subjected to state criminal
penalties as long as he remains
within the external boundaries of
Red Lake reservation, Donald has
refused to return the child.
There is another hearing
scheduled on May 20lh in Beltrami
County, in which Donald is
requested to "show cause" as to
"why the Court should not hold you
in contempt" for violating the
court's March 4,2002 order, as weU
as for "perpetuating misconduct on
the District Court of the County of
Beltrami... when you used a tribal
court Order under a de facto Ex
Parte comity recognition process."
In state court - unlike the Red
Lake tribal court - consritutionaUy
mandated standards of due process
require that aU parties be properly
notified prior to a court hearing.
Donald's household avoided
personal service ofthe recent court
papers by sending a young child to
answer the door (state rules require
HOUGH to page 7
Monthly statements for Red Lake gaming show
financial problems continue to persist
By Bill Lawrence
According to an internal
financial report dated April lsl and
prepared by Gaming Management
for the two-month period ending
February 28,2002, Red Lake
Gaming Enterprises reported that it
had net income of $789,335 on
total revenues of $5,919,422.
Although the combined January
and February net incomes of
$314,778 and $474,557 respectively were 128% higherthan
Gaming income reported for the
first two months of 2001, they were
$477,817 or 38% lower than
budgeted by Red Lake gaming
management for those two months.
In addition, despite showing an
apparent a profit of $789,335, the
January and February 2002
financial statements do not reflect
payment of a number of Red Lake
Gaming's financial obligations.
The reported net income does not
include expenditures of $356,462
in principle payments on the $28
milhon River Road Motel and
Water Park loans, nor required
transfers to the tribal general fund
of $333,580 (two month's
payments at $166,790 per month),
nor "other uses of cash" (for
example, leasing of slot machines
and payment of construction costs)
budgeted at $726,506. These
expenditures or payments were
listed in Red Lake Gaming
Management's 15 months financial
projections, which was included in
their September 2001 Financial
Statements. These projections were
reprinted in Press/ON several times
last Fall and Winter.
Red Lake Gaming's current
liabilities (debt) continue to exceed
current assets by a 2 to 1 ratio and
remain near the $8 million level
where they have been for the past
six months. Current liabilities are
debts or other obligations of a
business that are normaUy satisfied
or paid within a one-year period of
their occurrence. Combined with
the $31 miJJion in long term debt
for the construction of the motel
and water park, Red Lake Gaming
Enterprises has the Red Lake band
in debt for over $39 million.
The River Road Casino Motel
and Water Park expansion was
opened on May 25,2001.
Red Lake Gaming Enterprises is
an enterprise of the Red Lake Band
of Chippewa Indians and is
responsible for managing tlie
Band's three casinos at Red Lake,
Thief River FaUs and Warroad,
Minnesota.
Minnesota test scores released: Native students score
below state average
By Jean Pagano
The Minnesota Department of
Children, Families, and Learning
released eighth-grade basic skills
test scores last Thursday, April 18th.
Indian schools, which have some of
the highest per student costs in the
state, finished below average among
Minnesota schools.
Minnesota students must pass the
Basic Skills Tests in order to
graduate from grade 12. OveraU, 80
percent ofthe state's grade 8
students passed the reading test,
while 74.5 percent ofthe %^ graders
passed the math test. Reading test
rates were 79.7 for the year 2000
and 78.8 for last year. Math test
rates were 72 percent for 2001.
The rates in Indian schools,
however, told a much different story.
Compared to the 80% numbers
statewide, Red Lake reading scores
were at 31 percents passing, Bug-O-
Nay-Ge-Shig at 41 percent, and
Cass Lake at 60 percent. In math,
the schools foUowed a similar trend
with Red Lake at 19% passing,
Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig at 23%, and
Cass Lake finishing at 39%. These
numbers beg the question: what is
wrong with schools having
predominantly Indian enrollment.
In prior years, the test scores at
these Native schools showed some
differences. At Red Lake, a wide
variation of scores is seen over the
last 5 years. For reading, for years
1998 through 2002 passing
percentages are 15.4%, 27.7%,
33.8%, 29.3%, and 30.6%. In math,
scores for the same time period
yielded percentages of 19.2%,
14.3%, 19.7%, 10.1%, and 19.0%.
Although the numbers for reading
for Red Lake are far from the
average, one cannot help but notice
the improvement in test scores over
the last 5 years. The percentage of
passing students has doubled since
1998. This is an encouraging trend.
The scores in math, while fluctuating between 10% and 19%, seem to
find common ground around 19%.
Passing percentages for Cass
Lake for the same time period show
higher overaU numbers and a
general improvement. However,
Cass Lake is approximately 25
percent white, while the other two
schools are over 99% Indian.
Passing percentages for 1998
through 2002 were 44.3%, 45.0%,
62.2%, 52.3%, and 56.5%
respectively. Although the percent-
SCORES to page 5
Fusillade of shots sends two Red Lakers to hospital
by Clara NiiSka
A fight at a Bemidji bar
aUegedly led to a shooting in
Redby, on the Red Lake reservation, beginning shortly after 1:30
a.m. on Thursday, April 18*. The
FBI subsequently found 19 buUet
casings, indicating that at least 19
gunshots had been fired, although
area residents say they heard "weU
over that amount of shots."
Randy Lee Garrigan and Arnold
James Pemberton, who according
to the criminal complaint filed in
US District Court on April 19* are
"both Indians," were charged in
federal court with "aiding and
abetting each other," in the April
18th assault with firearms resulting
in serious bodily injury of Robert
Charles "Whitey" Anderson and
Leland Dean Lussier, Jr. Garrigan
and Pemberton had a detention
hearing on Wednesday, April 24th in
federal court in Minneapolis, and
are currently in custody at a
halfway house in the Twin City
area, until space opens up in an
area detention facility. The federal
prosecutors have tJiirty days during
to file an indictment, and according
to Karen Bailey, media liaison at
the U.S. Attorney's office, Garrigan
and Pemberton wtil face a federal
grand jury.
According to the FBI Special
Agent Keith Hanzel's criminal
complaint, Garrigan and
Pemberton, both aged 23, got into
a fight with Anderson and Lussier
at the Blue Moon bar in Bemidji.
Bar bouncers broke up the fight
and told Garrigan and Pemberton
to leave the bar.
According to the complaint, Red
Lake criminal investigator
Donovan Wind received a report of
gunshots on the Copper City road
in Redby at about 1:49 a.m.
Officer Maurice Lawrence ofthe
Red Lake potice department was
headed toward Redby in response
to the shooting report when he met
a white Oldsmobile headed in the
other direction toward Red Lake at
96 miles per hour. The car, driven
by Melissa Lussier, sped through
the town of Red Lake and puUed
up at the emergency entrance, its
windows shattered. Both Anderson
and Leland Lussier got out of the
car covered with blood, Anderson
seriously injured.
According to a statement given
to FBI special investigator Timothy
BaU by Mehssa Lussier later on the
morning of April 18, she, Anderson,
HOSPITAL to page 5
VOICE       OF       THE       PEOPLE
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Native
American
r rBSS ojibwe News
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A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2002
Founded in 1988
Volume 14 Issue 21
April 26,2002
(AP Photo/Havre Daily News, Luke Vickrey)
Members of Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation walkdown ParkerSchool Road in Rocky Boy, Mont.
Thursday, April 11,2002, on their way to a tribal council meeting to protest the 2002 secretarial
election held last month. Several members of the reservation werenot properly notified of the
election and did not get to vote on a controversial issue of dual reservation memberships.
Partial settlement reached in Mille Lacs civil rights
suit, claims against reservation police to continue
by Clara NiiSka
While the federal district court in
Minnesota considers whether to
tieai their civil rights law suit against
the Mtile Lacs Tribal Police, Press/
ON plaintiffs Jeff Armstrong and
Bill Lawrence this week accepted a
settlement offer from Mille Lacs
County over its role in detaining the
reporter in order to prevent him
from attending an Oct. 22,1997
meeting of the MCT Tribal
Executive Committee. The
agreement specificaUy preserves the
plaintiffs' claims against the Mille
Lacs Tribal Police, which hinge
upon the constitutionality ofthe
arrest and the county-reservation
law enforcement pact under which it
was effected.
Armstrong and Lawrence said the
monetary settlement would send an
unmistakable message to counties
operating under similar law
enforcement agreements that they
cannot escape liability for their
actions by hiding behind tribal
sovereign immunity. Although the
Mtile Lacs policing agreement
requires the governing RBC to
waive its immunity from suit for
purposes of law enforcement, the
county had supported efforts by
reservation attorneys to force
transfer of the case to the Mtile
Lacs Tribal Court.
"I believe we have shown that
the state is bound by its own
constitution and that ofthe United
States, both of which supersede the
terms of an agreement with a
Reservation Business Committee
which itself has no tribal constitutional authority to make such an
agreement," said Armstrong.
Tlie plaintiffs further expressed
hopes that removing the county as a
party to the litigation would clarify
and narrow the issues before the
federal court.
Federal magistrate Raymond
Erickson ordered a stay of proceedings in the case Aug. 2,2000,
holding that the plaintiffs must
exhaust tribal remedies before
bringing claims against the
reservation to a U.S. court.
"Of necessity, therefore, we leave
this jurisdictional question to the
Tribal Court, in the first instance, but
the ultimate issue of jurisdiction
will, of equal necessity, be subject to
SETTLEMENT to page 6
Indian tribes giving to GOP
By Greg Gordon
Minneapolis Star Tribune
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
Until recently, it seemed that
Democrats could count on
lopsided financial support from
aU 11 of Minnesota's American
Indian tribes.
Ofthe tribes'$367,501 in
donations to federal campaigns
from 1993 through 2000,
Republicans got only $15,201.
But unease in the Prairie Island
Dakota Tribe about huge casks of
nuclear waste hteraUy sitting in its
back yard has changed that. The
Mdewakanton Dakota Community, which donated last year to
Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul
WeUstone, now is also a substantial contributor to his Republican
opponent, who favors a plan to
open a national disposal site for
the waste.
Last month, three tribal officers
wrote a $25,000 check for a
Minneapolis fundraiser for GOP
senatorial hopeful Norm
Coleman, then stood smiling for a
picture with President Bush.
The Prairie Island tribe's recent
donations of $37,000 to Republicans show how Indians enriched
by profitable casinos are begin
ning to flex political clout on both
sides ofthe aisle, particularly on
local issues.
"Before, we never had the
opportunity to spend this kind of
money," said Audrey Kohnen,
president ofthe Prairie Island
Dakota. And, she said, the tribe
has learned that "we have to be a
part of the process to get our
voice heard."
She declined to discuss the
tribe's profits from its Treasure
Island Casino and two resorts in
Red Wing. But she said that,
while the tribe's campaign
donations of more than $86,000
since Jan. 1,2001, might seem
"astronomical" compared to
earlier sums, they probably seem
like "pennies" to the tribe's 609
members.
The southeastern Minnesota
tribe wants the government to
convert a remote Nevada
mountain to a nuclear waste
storage facility. Then, Kohnen
says, the tribe's "nuclear
neighbor" 600 yards from the
reservation—Xcel Energy's
power plant—can ship the
deadly radioactive waste to
Nevada.
GOP to page 4
Indian business leaders make
headway in Minnesota economy
By Renee Ruble
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS—When Ken
BeUanger sought money to start a
business in the berries, syrup and
rice of his Leech Lake Reservation,
he found he was just a helpless seed
in the corporate woods.
Unable to get a bank loan and
rejected by some state loan
programs, BeUanger risked his
savings to start his Indian products
business.
"One backer told me, 'We don't
loan money for twigs and berries.'
No one would invest in me, so we
did it by ourselves," said BeUanger,
a member of the White Earth Band
of Ojibwe.
He took classes, bought a lot of
how-to books and sought advice
from Indian business leaders around
the state. Soon, his Northland
Native American Products earned a
LEADERS to page 3
Indian Affairs officials California ties bring controversy
By Don Thompson
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO —Atop U.S.
Interior Department official is
distancing himself from a former
California business partner's
attempt to drum up business by
claiming influence over federal
decisions affecting Indian tribes
and lucrative tribal casinos.
Wayne Smith, Interior's deputy
assistant secretary for Indian
affairs, was a chief deputy attorney
general under former California
Attorney General Dan Lungren.
After Lungren left office three
years ago, Smith began a partnership with Philip Bersinger of Gold
River, near Sacramento, that helped
register card rooms — establishments that offer limited gaming far
short ofthe Las Vegas-style casinos
established by California Indian
tribes.
Smith and Bersinger moved to
formaUy dissolve the consulting
firm in December, shortly after
Smith was named to the Bureau of
Indian Affairs No. 2 position in late
October. The firm was dissolved
within the last month.
But that didn't stop Bersinger
from using the partnership's old
letterhead in solicitation letters to
two Indian tribes, Smith acknowledged.
In February, Bersinger wrote the
Chinook Tribal Council asking for
$ 1,000 a month to press the
Oregon tribes' case for federal
recognition, a highly sought,
lucrative designation.
"I am in a position to be
COUNCIL to page 5
Arizona tribes
continue working
with governor on
gaming
By Scott Thomsen
Associated Press
PHOENIX —Seventeen Indian
tribes that negotiated a deal with
Gov. Jane HuU for new casino
operating agreements are continuing
to work with the governor to obtain
approval from the Legislature.
But the tribes may hedge their
bets by running an initiative that
would ask voters to approve new
casino compacts. Such a baUot
measure may have different
provisions than the deal now before
state lawmakers.
"We've been planning for months
for the possibility of running a baUot
campaign," David LaSarte,
executive director for the Arizona
Indian Gaming Association, said
Friday. "We're fuUy prepared to do
it, but we have not committed to it
yet"
That decision must be made by
early May, LaSarte said.
In the meantime, the tribes will
continue their efforts at the
Legislature despite a vote Wednesday by Republicans in the Senate
Rules Committee to block the btil
(SB 1001).
"What happened this week
confirmed tribal leaders' worst fears,
but they think there still might be a
viable solution there," LaSarte said.
"This is basicaUy the economic
future of tribes in Arizona They're
not going to abandon any solution
as long as there's a possibility"
Tribal leaders met with HuU and
Sen. Herb Guenther, D-Tacna
Friday to review the status of their
btil and discuss how to continue.
Guenther has enough signatures on
a discharge petition to force a floor
vote if the Rules Committee does
GAMING to page 3