Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2002-06-07

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Bug O Nay Ge
Shig held high
school prom
page 3
Steal from the
Dead
page 4
Giving up gossip for
just one month....
page 4
To the women of
White Earth
page 5
Commentary
Hopefully June 11th
MCT elections will lead
to positive changes
page 4
State to close Indian ed offices in Bemidji and Duluth
By Bill Lawrence
In a letter dated June 4,2002,
Christine Jax, Commissioner ofthe
Minnesota Department of Children,
Families & Learning informed Minnesota tribal leaders that the Bemidji
and Duluth Indian education offices
will be closed effective June 28. In
the June 441 letter, Commissioner Jax
told tribal leaders that the closure
was "due to a shortage of funds"
caused "by the near $8.5 million
budget reduction enacted by the
2002 Minnesota Legislature." Jax's
letter goes on to assure tribal leaders
that the closure ofthe two offices
will not result in a diminution in any
of the agency's existing Indian Education programming, including the
Minnesota Indian Scholarship Program.
According to the Jax letter, labor
contract restrictions prevents the
agency from simply transferring the
existing positions in Bemidji and/or
Duluth to the State office in
Roseville. "Because we cannot
transfer the positions and the staff in
those positions, the agency will create new employment positions in
Roseville." Jax said, "we hope that
our current Bemidji and Duluth staff
will consider serving in those positions."
In a phone conversation, Yvonne
Novack, manager, State Indian Education programs, told Press/ON that
OFFICES to page 7
VOICE       OF       THE       PEOPLE
Green candidate McGaa launches campaign in tight
three-way Senate race
web page: www.press-on.net
^v&o
Native
American
Press
Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2002
Founded in 1988
Volume 15 Issue 2
June 7,2002
Green candidate for U.S. Senate Ed McGaa discusses party platform issues at a May 30"'
meeting in Minneapolis.
by Clara NiiSka
U.S. Senate candidate Ed McGaa
wrote in his bid for Green Party endorsement, "I am running to Win because this position is as open as the
Governorship was last election."
McGaa was endorsed by the
Green Party of Minnesota at its May
18* convention on the second ballot
despite a contingent of Greens, in
cluding Indian activist and fonner
vice presidential candidate Winona
LaDuke, calling for "no endorsement" and urging GP delegates to
back incumbent Democrat Paul
Wellstone against the likely Republican challenger, former St Paul mayor
Norm Coleman.
After McGaa's endorsement,
Wellstone met with northern Minne
sota tribal officials in Bemidji, actively courting Native votes and
praising LaDuke's efforts to persuade
the Greens not to nominate a candidate in the senate race.
Wellstone also reaffirmed his ties
with the tribal establishment at Red
Lake, which has been a DFL stronghold at least since the late 1950s
MCGAA to page 7
Gambling on
poverty: 2000
Population
Demographics
Released
By Jean Pagano
The United States Census Bureau
released population demographic
profiles on Monday from the year
2000 census for the state of Minnesota. Included in this data are social,
economic, and housing characteristics for the state of Minnesota and
for reservations as well. What
emerges from the statistics are a
wide variety of demographics. This
article will concentrate on two facets
of the data presented: families with
poverty status and median family income.
Population on Minnesota reservations varies from the Upper Sioux
Reservation with 57 people to
Leech Lake Reservation at 10,205.
As varied as the population is at
each reservation, economic statistics
also paint different pictures across
GAMBLING to page 8
Lace Ladies
By Maxine V. Eidsvig
Sometime in the mid 15th century, in Valenciennes, a city in
northern France, near the Belgian
border, women began making a
lace that became quite popular in
the world. In the late 1800's, another group of women in Minnesota began making lace in a cottage
industry, which began with the help
of three missionary women.
The Minnesota lace industry was
started by Sybil Carter, who had
visited a school in Japan. Upon her
return she prevailed upon Episcopal Bishop Whipple to set up similar schools on Indian reservations
in Minnesota. She opened her first
school at White Earth in 1886 and
when it became successful, opened
others at Red Lake and Leech
Lake.
The Dakota Indians, who had
been removed from Minnesota in
1863, began returning to the state
after a generation of exile. They
returned gradually, beginning in
1883, and settled near the site of
the old Redwood Agency. In January of 1 894, Miss Carter opened a
From right to left: Mrs. Hibbard, Mrs. Henry St. Clair, Susan Salisbury
(niece of Bishop Whipple), and Jeanette Crooks (daughter of George
Crooks). Photo taken in the 1890s at Morton, Minnesota.
sold for as much as $ 1,000, the ladies at the Lower Sioux Agency
made doilies, edgings, insertions
and pillow cases. A pillowcase was
school at the Lower Sioux Agency.
Mary Whipple was in charge ofthe
school until 1905, when Susan
Salisbury, the bishop's niece, took
over. Miss Salisbury's assistant
was Mrs. Ameila St. Clair, the wife
of the Reverend Henry St. Clair.
In addition to bedspreads which
purchased by the queen of England, who wrote a letter of recommendation on the work ofthe mis-
LACE to page 5
Two Minneapolis men and Red Lake
teen charged
Minneapolis—Two Minneapolis men and a Red Lake teenage
girl who were involved in a
deadly assault on the Red Lake
Indian Reservation were charged
today a federal grand jury in
separate indictments.
In one indictment, the grand
jury charged Frederick Duane
Fisher, age 22, and Shaun Emery
White, age 18, each with assault
with the intent to commit murder,
assault with a dangerous weapon,
assault resulting in serious
bodily, and discharge of a firearm.
In a second indictment, the
grandjury charged Valentina
Marie Manzi, age 19, with murder in the first degree and discharge of a firearm during a
crime of violence.
Both indictments relate to the
CHARGE to page 3
Housing hoard member faces drug
charge
by Steve Brandt, Staff Writer,
Minneapolis Star Tribune
A Minneapolis pubhc housing
commissioner has been accused of
trying to smuggle marijuana into
the state prison in Oak Park
Heights, where he is a religious
worker.
Washington County authorities
filed the charge earlier this month
against Steven D. Chapman, 50.
He has been a board member of
the Minneapolis Pubhc Housing
Authority since the agency was
formed in 1990, and he was appointed to the board of its predecessor agency in 1986. The City
Council reappointed him late last
year to a term that expires at the
end of 2004.
According to a complaint, the
Minnesota Gang Strike Task
Force was investigating a killing
when it learned of drug-smuggling
plans. It said the brother of an inmate gave Chapman marijuana inside a balloon wrapped with electrical tape and that Chapman was
to give the package to the inmate
at a sweat lodge ceremony in the
prison yard.
But the strike force obtained a
search warrant and when
Chapman was asked if he had
drugs, he pulled the package from
a rear pocket, the complaint alleged. Chapman has not entered a
plea, according to Assistant
County Attorney Michael
Hutchinson. Chapman couldn't be
reached for comment.
The pubhc housing agency runs
an anti-drug, anti-gang program
aimed at youth living in pubhc
housing. The agency also evicts
BOARD to page 8
judge based on the federal sentencing guidelines.
The case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and Red Lake Law
Enforcement. Assistant United
States Attorney Clifford Wardlaw is
prosecuting the case.
Jeffrey Lee Dolson indicted
Minneapolis—Twenty-two-year    sentence would be determined by a
of Jeffrey Lee Dolson from Red
Lake Indian Reservation was indicted today by a federal grandjury
for assault with a dangerous
weapon.
The grandjury charged Dolson
with using a .410 shotgun to assault
another member of the Red Lake
Tribe on December 10,2001.
Dolson was also charged with
brandishing a firearm during a
crime of violence.
If convicted, Dolson faces a
maximum potential penalty often
years in prison an/or a $250,000
fine for aggravated assault and a
seven-year mandatory consecutive
sentence for brandishing a firearm
during a crime of violence. Any
Lakes, casinos
put rural
income growth
on fast track
MCT General Election on June 11
by Clara NiiSka
The regular Minnesota. Chippewa
Tribal elections will be held on
Tuesday, June 11 ,h between 8:00
am. and 8:00 p.m. At stake are the
seventeen open seats on the Reservation Business Committees ("tribal
councils") ofthe six MCT member
reservations, including the Secre-
taryAreasurer for each reservation.
Bois Forte (Nett Lake)
At Nett Lake, Mark E. Drift Sr.
challenges incumbent David C.
Morrison Sr. for the Secretary/
Treasurer's office. Gordon Adams
Jr. faces Down M. Benner for District I Rep, and Phyllis M. Boshey
and Kevin Albert Strong are the
contenders for District II Rep.
Fond du Lac
Ferdinand Martineau Jr. challenges Kevin Dupuis for the office
of Secretary/Treasurer at Fond du
Lac, and V.R. "Butch" Martineau
and John Martin Jr. are the contenders for the only rep seat open, District II (Sawyer).
According to the FDL RBC, polling places will be at the Fond du
Lac Tribal and Community Center
(ENP Dining Hall), at the New
Brookston Community Center, and
at the New Sawyer Community
Center.
Grand Portage
Candidates for Secretary/Treasurer at Grand Portage are Gilbert
Caribou and Dean F. Deschampe.
James Corcoran and Lorraine
MCT to page 7
MCT Election
June Hth, 2002
Bois Forte
Secretary/Treasurer:
David C. Morrison Sr.
Mark E. Drift Sr.
District I representative
Gordon Adams Jr.
Dawn M. Benner
District II representative
Phyllis M. Boshey
Kevin Albert Strong	
Fond du Lac
Secretary/Treasurer:
Ferdinand Martineau, Jr.
Kevin Dupuis
District II (Sawyer) rep:
V.R. "Butch" Martineau
John Martin, Jr.
Grand Portag
By Karren Mills
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — The lure of
the lakes and the success of Indian
casinos has helped boost the median income of households outside
Minnesota's nine urban counties
faster than in the Twin Cities,
Duluth and St. Cloud areas.
However, census figures released Monday show that household incomes outside the metro ar-
CASINO to page 3
Court agrees to review damage
award to Navajo Nation
By Gina Holland
Associated Press
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court agreed Monday to
consider the government's case in a
$600 milhon contract disagreement
with the Navajo Nation.
Justices will decide if an appeals
court wrongly opened the government to kabihty from the Navajo
Nation — and potentially many
other tribal governments in future
cases.
At issue is whether a federal
agency failed to protect the tribe's
interest in mining leases on reservation land and must pay for it.
The Navajo claim that former Interior Secretary Donald Hodel secretly conspired with Peabody
Coal Co. to undermine tribal contract negotiations with the company
in the 1980s. The tribe leases mining rights to Peabody for two strip
mines — the Black Mesa Mine and
the Kayenta Mine — in northeast-
em Arizona
"Any Indian tribe that beheves,
with the benefit of hindsight, that it
could have negotiated a better
mineral lease deal may seek to
obtain damages," Solicitor General Theodore Olson told justices
in court papers. "At a minimum,
such a development will subject
the United States to costly litigation over such matters."
Paul E. Frye, attorney for the
tribe, said the government instead
of protecting Indians from unfair
transactions as the law requires
actively worked to hurt the tribe.
The Federal Circuit Court of
Appeals ordered a lower court to
award damages. The Navajo are
seeking $600 milhon.
The Supreme Court will consider the case along with another
tribal case in the term that begins
in the fall. The court announced
in April that it would decide if the
government can be sued for allowing buildings on Indian land
to fall into disrepair.
The cases are United States v.
Navajo Nation, 01-1375, and
United States v. White Mountain
Apache Tribe, 01-1067.
Secretary/Treasurer:
Gilbert Caribou
Dean F. Deschampe
Committeeman at large:
James Corcoran
Lorraine Wipson
Committeeman at large:
Darlene LeGarde
John Morrin
Leech Lake
Secretary/Treasurer:
Fred K. Jackson Jr.
Arthur "Archie" LaRose
District I committeeman
Burton "Luke" Wilson
Peter D. White
District II committeeman
Lyman "DeDe" Losh
Cara Dahl
MiHe Lacs
Secretary/Treasurer:
Herb Weyaus
Sheldon Boyd
District II rep:
Marvin Brunear
David Aubid
District III rep:
Harry Davis
Diane Gibbs
White Earth
Secretary/Treasurer:
Erma J. Vizenor (Incumbent)
Franklin "Bud" Heisler
District I rep:
Irene Auginaush
Steven "Punky" Clark.
District II rep:
Terrance Burnette
Tony Wadena
I