Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2002-05-03

              IKinFV                         . ^tm£m
Obituary:
The person who is
Has the community
Political candidates:
Commentary
Roman
elected must fulfill their
voice been heard?
Joe Johnson,                  | _   _ .
Finances, separation of
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY      2
Sigana
obligations to the people
Donald "Don Dez"
power, urban issues
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS                4   *
who voted for them
Desjarlait, Roman
focus of Red Lake
SMOKE SIGNALS OF UPCOMING EVENTS 5   1
"Ducker" Stately             tv^
candidates forum
CLASSIFIEDS                                            7   | It "
page 3
page 4
page 4
page 6
page 4
FBI files criminal complaint against Red Lake Indian
Gary Lee Wipf charged with possession of child pornography
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By BiU Lawrence and
Clara NiiSka
On April 12\ 2002, Gary Lee
Wipf, 42, was charged with
possession of "material containing an
image of child pornography" in
violation of USC 15 § 2252(a) 5.
The charges were based on a
criminal complaint by FBI Special
Agent John P. Egelhof, sworn to
before U.S. Magistrate Judge
Randall Burg in Bemidji, Minnesota
Wipf waived his rights to a detention
hearing, and is currently being held in
federal custody. There is also a
warrant outstanding for Wipf s arrest
on the Red Lake reservation.
Wipf, the son of Joan nee
Maxwell, is a Red Lake enrollee. He
had worked as school janitor and as a
basketball and baseball coach at St.
Mary's Mission for more than a
decade, but was fired at tlie end of
September 2001. He then went to
work for the Red Lake Band in the
Band's recreation department as
Coordinator of Youth Activities.
According to the F.B.I., on April 4,
2002, Red Lake Police Department
director Patrick W Mills, Sr.
interviewed a twenty year old male,
identified in Engelhof s Affidavit as
"Victim 1." The young man is a Red
Lake enrollee. He reported to Mills
tliat "when he was in the fifth grade,
during the time he was 10 years old,
he attended St. Mary's Mission
School" at Red Lake. He told Mills
that beginning in or around September 1992, Gary Lee Wipf began
sexually abusing him during times
when 'Victim 1 's'mother allowed tlie
boy to stay over at Wipf s house,
located in the Little Rock Section of
the reservation, and, on occasion,
abused him at the school itself.
According to tlie FBI special
Agent's report, 'Victim 1" told Red
Lake police director Mills tliat "this
abuse would take tlie form of Wipf
touching Victim 1 's penis, Wipf s
open mouth kissing of Victim 1, and
Wipf penetrating the anus of Victim 1
with his (Wipf's) penis. Victim 1 told
Director Mills that Wipf, on
numerous occasions, anally
penetrated Victim 1 with his (Wipf s)
penis."
'Victim 1' was reinterviewed on
April 5,2002, by Red Lake police
Criminal Investigator Jason
Lawrence. He told Lawrence that lie
recalled that during the period of
sexual abuse, Wipf would videotape
him.
On April 5,2002, Criminal
Investigator Jason Lawrence
obtained a search warrant from the
Red Lake Tribal Courts for Wipf s
residence. According to the F.B.I.,
"During the execution of this search
warrant, CI Lawrence recovered
numerous VHS and 8 mm video
tapes." He obtained a separate tribal
search warrant to view the video
tapes on April 9,2002, and during
the course of viewing the tapes on
April 12,2002, he discovered that
one depicted Gary Lee Wipf
performing oral sex on a sleeping or
unconscious boy."
Red Lake Criminal Investigators
Lawrence and Donovan Wind
recognized this boy as a now-thirteen
year old boy, who is an enrolled Red
Lake member, and whom tlie F.B.I.
refers to as "Victim 2." According to
Engelhoff s affidavit, "CI Lawrence
told [Engelhoff] that during the entire
course ofthe videotape which depicts
Victim 2 as being sexually abused by
Wipf, and which appears to be two
separate occasions, the boy never
appears to be awake or conscious.
"CI Lawrence told [Engelhoff]
that on the same video tape, there is
filming of a Red Lake Warriors
basketball team trip, and that, due to
the players present, he can date the
video to the school year of 1998 -
FBI to page 3
May 15 2002 Red Lake
tribal election certified
candidates list
Chairman
Bobby Whitefeather, Incumbent
Gerald F."Butch" Brun
Kevin F.Cook, Sr.
Paul Smith,Jr.
FloycT'Buck" Jourdain
Secretary
Judy Roy, Incumbent
Kathryn "Jody"Beaulieu
Treasurer
Darrell G.Seki,Sr., Incumbent
LaNae Barrett-Pemberton
James"Gus"Strong
Rob Blue
Ponemah District
Clifford Hardy, Incumbent
Carolyn Whitefeather
CheryleStillday
Red Lake 4-vearTerm
Delores Lasley, Incumbent
Roman "Ducker"Stately, Jr.
Donna Morrison
RitaWeise
Jason Siddens
Donald Desjarlait
Mamie Rossbach
Edward Perkins, Sr.
Red Lake 2-vearTerm
Jim White
Rosie"Bee"Barrett
Charmaine Lussier-Sayers
Donald RCook,Sr.
Donald J. May, Jr.
Billie Jean Strong
Redbv District
Julius'ToadyThunder,
Incumbent
Thomas"Jambi"Westbrook
Joe Johnson
Truman Schoenbom
Preston Graves
Little Rock 2-yea rTerm
Richard Barrett, Sr.
Charlie Norris
Karen Barrett-Beaulieu
Herman Lussier
Chris Jourdain
Leo Beaulieu
Little Rock 4-vearTerm
Harlan Beaulieu, Incumbent
Gerald Blue
William"Billy"Greene
Robert"Bob"Barrett
Darwin Sumner
DuaneCobenaisJr.
JanisAKelly
Merrill Neadeau
The record turn-out of candidates shows that
there isa haghtered interestinTribal
Govemmentand that democracy isalive and
well in Red UleHectroric balloting will be used
again in thiselecttoaWfe haveall seen how
importantevery vote isandhowevery vote
counts.Pleasevotel!
MembersoftheAbsenteeBallotGammittee
will beavailable from 900 a.m.to 7flOp.m.on
Monday,May 13,2002 atthe MINNEAPOLIS
AMERICAN IN Di AN CENTER, 1530 East Franklin .
Avenue,Minneapolis.
Polls will beopen between 8:00a.m.and &00
pmateach ofthe DISTRICT COMMUNITY
CENTERSand the ABSENTEE POLLING SITE on
WednesdayMay 15,2002. The Absentee Ballot
Committee will make itself availabJe atthe Red
Lake Agency Building each weekdaybeginning
onMondayApril 15,fromft00a.m.to 5:00 p.m.
They will also beavailableon the weekend days
of Saturdayand Sunday from 1:00 p.m.to 3:00
p.m.during the last two weekends prior to the
election to receive in personabsentee ballots.
Absentee ballotsmust be returned in person or
mailed toand received by the Chairperson,
Absentee balbtCommittee,POBox544,Red
lake,MN 56671,on or before 8:00 p.m.on
Wednesday,May15,2002.
White Earth men seriously assaulted
after police chase
By Jeff Armstrong
A White Earth man who
refused to stop for tribal'and
state police was beaten almost
beyond recognition while his
passenger was held at gunpoint
and attacked by a police dog in
the April 4 incident, the two
men say.
James Grandboise says he
refused to comply with what he
claims was an unwarranted
traffic stop on his way home to
White Earth from the Shooting
Star Casino, leading police on a
20-mile pursuit with his tires
shredded by a police device.
"They were stopping me for
nothing," Grandboise said. "I've
always told them they were
illegal from the start. No
sovereign nation can put a
militia on another sovereign
nation."
The 56-year-old Anishinabe
man said he was violently
attacked by arresting officers
when he arrived at his destination and began walking toward
the house.
"I heard 'em say, 'stop or I'll
shoot,'" said Grandboise. "I said
'go ahead and shoot me, I didn't
do anything wrong.'They threw
me on the ground and one of
'em stepped on my head, kicked
me in the head."
Grandboise said another
officer slammed his face
repeatedly on the trunk of a
vehicle while his wife and son
watched from the house.
"There's scratch marks on my
wife's trunk where they
slammed my head," he said.
"They never took me to a doctor
or anything. They took me to
jail."
Neil Howard, a passenger in
the car, said he was dragged
from the vehicle and held at
gunpoint while an officer
unleashed a police dog on him.
Two weeks after the incident,
the bruising and bite marks were
still visible on the side of his
stomach.
According to Grandboise, no
physical force was reported in
the police version ofthe
incident, which led to
Mahnomen County criminal
charges against the Anishinabe
man of DUI, fleeing a peace
officer and obstructing legal
process. He said the complaint
identified only one ofthe
estimated 10 officers involved—most of whom he
believes were from Becker and
Mahnomen County—but did
report tribal participation.
ASSAULT to page 8
Population Data Released by
Census Department: 47% of People
Living on Reservation are White
By Jean Pagano
New populations statistics
released thus month by the U.S.
Census Department present some
interesting demographics concerning people living on Indian
Reservations and Tmst Lands in
Minnesota. Ofthe 12 locations,
Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Grand
Portage, Leech Lake, Lower Sioux,
Mille^Lacs, Prairie Island, Red
Lake, Sandy Lake, Shakopee,
Upper Sioux, and White Earth,
Native peoples account for about
53% ofthe residents on the
Reservation.
Racial breakdowns for the
reservations/commimities vary by
location, but at Fond du Lac, Leech
Lake, Mile Lacs, and White Earth,
whites account for over 50% ofthe
population. The incidences of
mixed peoples (listed as white and
native) across all locations are in
the single percentage points. Red
Lake has by far the highest native/
white ratio with whites accounting
for just over one percent. According to census figures, whites
outnumber natives by three to one
at Mile Lacs.
Leech Lake, with 10,205
residents has the highest population
ofthe reservations followed closely
behind by White Earth with 9,18 8
residents. Sandy Lake and the
Upper Sioux reservations are the
smallest with populations of 70 and
57 respectively. According to the
2000 census, 34,950 residents are
found across the 12 listed reservations. The reservations are located
on 4285 square miles of combined
land and water (not including trust
lands).
There are a total of 18,583
households in the reservations
proper throughout the state. Once
again, the greatest numbers of
households are to be found in
Leech Lake and White Earth, with
6,828 households in Leech Lake
and 4,991 in White Earth. A
combined total of 53 households
are found at Sandy Lake and Upper
Sioux.
The age breakdown of people on
the reservation is interesting. The
largest percentages of people fall
into the 18-64 age bracket at all of
the reservations. Numbers in the
18-64 category are roughly about
twice the numbers found in the 0-
17 categories, with one notable
CENSUS to page 8
web page: www.press-on.net
Native
American
Press
Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2002
Founded in 1988
Volume 14 Issue 22
May 3, 2002
Red Lake: Twin Cities candidate forum draws crowd
by Clara NiiSka
More than two hundred urban
Red Lakers expressed their
concerns about what's happening
'at home' and crowded into a
meeting room at the Minnesota
Indian Women's Resource Center
on Saturday, April 27th. A
majority ofthe 47 certified
candidates running for nine open
seats on the eleven-member tribal
council acknowledged the
importance of absentee voters - a
majority ofthe Red Lake
electorate - and made the five
hour trip to the Cities to-hand out
literature and give campaign
speeches to the crowd.
MUID chair Tony LookingElk,
grandson of Red Lakers Joe C.
and Genevieve (Downwind)
Graves, enlcecd the fonim. ;md
with the help of a timekeeper did
his best to keep the candidates'
speeches short and the meeting
moving along. The political
concerns of urban Red Lakers
exceeded forum planners'
expectations, however, and after
five hours the fonim ended
because allotted time for use of
the meeting room, extended for an
hour to 7:00 p.m., expired. Many
ofthe questions that the crowd
might have asked the candidates
for tribal office went unasked and
unanswered.
After an invocation by Frank
Dickenson, political presentations
began with the candidates for the
four year tenn for Little Rock
district rep, followed by candidates for a two-year term for the
Little Rock seat left long-vacant
by the death of Lawrence Bedeau.
Then, counter-clockwise around
the Big Lake, candidates for rep
positions in Red Lake, Redby,
and Ponemah made their
presentations.
All three ofthe tribal council
officers' seats are up for election
this year, and after a short break
the speeches resumed: treasurer,
secretary, and finally, the five
candidates for tribal chairman
made their presentations.
This writer stopped by the
Press/ON office on her way to the
forum and was delayed by a long
telephone conversation with a
source concerned about retaliation-"! could lose my job"- for
talking to the press. "You know
Red Lake," the source said.
"Yes," this writer acknowledged.
Whether or not the to-be-elected
tribal council manages to change
longstanding problems at Red
Lake remains to be seen, and what
the phrase, "you know Red Lake,"
might mean in four years is an
unanswered question.
The candidates for the four year
seat for Little Rock rep had
already given their presentations
when this writer arrived at the
Women's Resource Center. The
tables in the foyer were filled with
campaign literature, and a standing
room only crowd spilled out ofthe
meeting room into the halls.
Little Rock district
According to Sonoma at the
Red Lake Urban Office, the
candidates for the Little Rock rep's
four year tenn who came to the
Minneapolis candidates' forum
were Billy Greene, Bob Barrett,
Jan Kelly, and Darwin Sumner.
Little Rock two year rep
candidates Herman Lussier and
Chris Jourdain showed up to court
urban voters. Lussier spoke
directly to concerns of urban
voters, including "effective
services" for Twin Cities residents.
CANDIDATES to page 8
Crows squabble over tribal
government
Associated Press
BILLINGS — Members ofthe
Crow Tribe told a federal judge
Thursday the current tribal leaders
are serving illegally and acting
illegally and the tribal court
system is in shambles.
U.S. District Judge Richard
Cebull listened to their arguments
for 45 minutes, reminding an
unusually large audience about
courtroom decorum, and then
scheduled additional pretrial
hearings for June 28 to determine
whether the case will be dismissed.
Ousted tribal secretary Tilton
Old Bull, who initiated the current
suit, told the judge tliat he and
other opponents ofthe tribe's
current leaders plan elections May
18 under provisions ofthe tribe's
1948 constitution.
Cebull asked Old Bull if his
group would try to physically
remove current tribal leaders.
"There woift be any violence,"
said one of Old Bull's lawyers,
Paul McMenaman of Denver.
About 75 people showed up for
the hearing on a lawsuit asking for
removal of current tribal leaders,
and Old Bull noted tliat 270 other
tribal members have joined him as
plaintiffs.
The 15-page lawsuit accuses
the top three officials of tlie Crow
Tribe—including Chairman
Clifford Birdinground — of a
variety of illegal actions. U.S.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton and
her agency also are named as
defendants.
.Among other tilings, the suit
alleges that:
- Top tribal officials illegally
doubled their terms of office from
two to four years;
. - "Attack dogs" and "military
ordnance" were used to harass
people protesting tribal officials;
- Old Bull was illegally removed
as tribal secretary;
- The tribe's new constitution was
illegally adopted;
- And, tribal courts are in
shambles.
Attorney's forthe tribe's ruling
administratioh and for the federal
government asked Cebull to dismiss
the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Lorraine Gallinger said the case is '
an internal tribal dispute tliat should
be resolved in tribal court.
Old Bull said that hasn't worked
before and won't now because the
court system is in disarray.
In November, one tribal judge
appointed Old Bull the new tribal
chairman and fired the current
leaders. The following day, another
judge rescinded the order. Two days
later, a judge issued a warrant for
Old Bull's arrest.
In February, the tribe's three
elected judges were ordered off the
bench and locked out of their
CROWS to page 5
Three sentenced
in tribal
embezzlement
Associated Press
RAPID CITY, S.D.—Three
fonner employees ofthe Oglala
Sioux Tribe have been sentenced for
stealing from a tribal organization
and for conspiracy to embezzle.
After a weeklong trial in federal
court here, a jury in February found
Estelle Goings, 54; her daughter,
Vonnie Goings, 35; and Carol
Vitalis, 45, guilty on all charges.
SENTENCE to page 5
Judge dismisses suit over gaming compact negotiations
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis.—A judge
dismissed a lawsuit Friday seeking
to bar the governor from renegotiating compacts that allow American Indian tribes to run casinos
because Dairyland Greyhound
Park failed to name the tribes in its
lawsuit.
Dane County Circuit Judge John
C. Albert noted in his decision that
Dairyland faced a Catch-22
because the tribes are considered
sovereign nations, which gives
them the ability to claim immunity
to such lawsuits.
But the tribes were an essential
component ofthe case because of
the economic interest they have in
continuing to receive revenue from
their casinos, Albert wrote.
He said the potential loss of
revenue and the social impact on
the tribes would be "catastrophic"
if the compacts ended.
Ron Ragatz, an attorney who
represented Dairyland, said under
Albert's reasoning, the racetrack
has no way to argue in court its
belief that running a casino should
be legal for everyone or no one.
He said Dairyland would appeal
the decision. "We never get our day
in court on tliat," Ragatz said.
Dairyland Greyhound Park filed
the lawsuit in October against Gov.
Scott McCallum and Administration Secretary George Lightboum,
arguing the rights the compacts
granted the tribes are illegal under
the state constitution. Indian tribes
operate 17 casinos in Wisconsin
under 11 compacts, the first of
which expires in August 2003.
The state opposed the Dairyland
suit, arguing it infringed upon the
rights granted the governor to
DISMISS to page 5
BIA restores
relations with
tribe
Associated Press
WEWOKA,Okla.—The
Bureau oflndian Affairs is restoring
relations with the Seminole Nation
after the tribe changed a nile tliat
prohibited descendants of freed
slaves from serving on the tribe's
voting council.
Agency Director Neal McCaleb
notified the tribe by mail this week
after seven months of negotiations.
The BIA had also asked other
federal agencies to withhold funding
for the tribe while the controversy
lasted.
"Everyone was so happy,"
Matthew Kelly ofthe Seminole
Sovereignty Protection Initiative
said Thursday. "The tribal members
were saying last night how long it
had been coming. They were really
beginning to feel the impact ofthe
cutbacks."
The tribe passed a resolution in
October re-seating the slave
descendants—known as Freedmen
— on the general council. In July
2000, Seminole voters changed a
rule in the tribe's constitution that
had required council members to be
at least one-quarter Seminole.
McCaleb's letter says the BIA
recognition is contingent on the tribe
requiring council members to have
one-quarter Indian—not specifically Seminole—blood.
The letter says the Interior
Department recognizes Seminole
council members re-elected in the
2001 election. Bands tliat did not reelect council members had to have
new elections using the new mle.
Kelly said most ofthe tribe's 28
bands have finished tliat process.
Two ofthe council seats are
reserved for Freedmen bands. Kelly
said the one-quarter Indian blood
rule does not apply to Freedmen.
The council this week appointed
Kenneth E. Chambers and Mary
Ann Emarthla as heads ofthe tribe's
executive department. They were
elected last year, but a fonner chief
filed a lawsuit challenging the
election.
A Muskogee federal judge
dismissed the lawsuit this month.