Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2002-06-14

              INDEX
*4fe
Books for
Kim Baker's
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
2
3
1 Babies program
letter "not
factual"
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
5. \
smoke signals
classifieds
6
7
I page 3
page 4
EPA "needs to do
more" on Indian lands
page 3
Haven't you people
had enough of
Bobby
Whitefeather?
page 4
Commentary
MCT elections cuase for
optimism
page 4
MCT election results: six new faces on the RBCs
Dupuis, Heisler and LaRose win Secretary/Treasurer seats, Caribou,
Morrison and Weyaus re-elected
VOICE       OF       THE       PEOPLE
web page: www.press-on.net
i>e>e>
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 3
June 14,2002
photo credit: Clara NiiSka
White Earth voters cast absentee ballots at the Minneapolis American Indian Center on June
11th. Polling for Leech Lake absentee voters was also held at the Indian Center.
by Clara NiiSka
Three new Secretary/Treasurers
wiU be seated on MCT tribal councils as a result ofthe June 11th elections.
At Fond du Lac: Kevin Depuis
challenged Ferdinand Martineau,
Jr. for the seat being vacated by
Pete Defoe, who is retiring.
Depuis won by 5.8% ofthe vote,
573-510.
At Leech Lake: current incumbent Linda Johnston did not file for
re-election. Arthur "Archie"
LaRose and Fred K. Jackson, Jr.
emerged from a fourteen-way primary election as contenders for
Johnston's seat. LaRose won the
June ll"1 election by 18.6% ofthe
vote, 1158-795.
And at White Earth, chaUenger
Franklin "Bud" Heisler ousted incumbent Erma J. Vizenor by 4.5%
of the vote, 1357-1241.
The three new RBC officers
elected to the Tribal Executive
Committee may be offset by three
returning incumbents.
The incumbent Secretary/Treasurer at Bois Forte, David C.
Morrison, Sr. retained his seat by a
vote margin of 7%, 350 - 304.
At Grand Portage, incumbent
Gilbert Caribou withstood Dean F.
Deschampe's challenge, winning
by 14% ofthe vote, 206- 154.
Caribou came into office four
years ago with a one vote margin,
171-170.
And at MUle Lacs, incumbent
Herb Weyaus remains in power,
defeating Sheldon Boyd by an
18.5% margin, 442 - 304. The incumbent District II and III reps
also remain in office.
There were two rep / committeeman seats for which no incumbent
ran: District II rep at Fond du Lac
and one ofthe committeeman at
large seats at Grand Portage. Eight
incumbent reps / committeemen
remained in office: Distict I rep at
Bois Forte, District II (Sawyer) rep
at Fond du Lac, the other committeeman at large at Grand Portage,
both committeemen at Leech
Lake, both reps at Mille Lacs, and
District I rep at White Earth. The
only race in which the incumbent
rep was ousted was for District II
rep at White Earth, where Tony
Wadena beat incumbent Terrance
Burnette by 13.4% of the vote, 511
-390.
Tribal elections, only briefly addressed by the MCT Constitution
(Article IV), are regulated by
twenty-four pages of detaU in the
Minnesota Chippewa Election Ordinance #8. adopted unanimously
at a special meeting ofthe Tribal
Executive Committee on March 6,
2001. (Ordinance #8 is posted on
Fond du Lite's official website, at
http://www.fdlrez.com/
electionordinance.htm).
Minneapolis American Indian High School
Graduates honored
photo credit: Clara NiiSka
Friends, family and community members line up to congratulate American Indian graduates
from the Minneapolis public schools. The graduates were honored at a feast held at the
Minneapolis Shrine Center on June 6th.
by Clara NiiSka
Fifty-two American Indian
high school students graduated
from the Minneapolis school
district this spring, according to
information maintained by the
federally-funded Johnson
'| O'Malley program, the state Indian Education program, and
the foundation-funded Success for
the Future program.
The Minneapolis Public
Schools' coalition oflndian Education Programs recognized the
graduates' accomplishments at a
graduation dinner on June 6lh.
Kerry Dean Bird, presiueni Of the
National Indian Education Asso
ciation, was keynote speaker for
the after-dinner ceremonies. The
nineteen graduating seniors who
attended the Indian graduation
program were awarded certificates signed by the Mayor of
Minneapolis and were given
GRADUATES to page 6
State explains closure of Bemidji,
Duluth Indian Education Offices
District II committeeman
Cara Dahl
Marvin Bilinear*
Tom Benjamin
Voids/Blanks
District 111 rep
Diane Gibbs
Voids/Blanks
School Board Dist. 1
Rick Anderson
Arlene Wcous
34
16
79
0
81
36
12
*3
16
84
2
129
■ The Minnesota Department of
ChUdren, Families & Learning
(CFL) faced approximately $8.5
milhon in cuts from the 2002
Legislature. As a result, we have
had to reduce aU state spending.
Since February, we have eliminated over 60 state-funded positions, which constitutes 25% of
our state-funded staff.
• Minnesota has oiUy 163 state-
funded, classified positions remaining to serve the state's K-12
education system made up of over
851,384 PK-12 students and their
parents, 343 pubhc school districts, 69 charter schools, 62,475
licensed educators, 15,619 h-
CFL to page 3
CFL Commissioner
Christine Jax, Ph.D.
Man Slain on
Lower Sioux
Agency near
Morton
The annual Pow-wow held on
the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation was marred by the killing of a
22-year-old Minneapolis man. The
Redwood County Sheriff's Office
received a 911 caU on June 9,
2002, at 7:07 a.m. reporting that
someone had been shot. When the
law enforcement and ambulance
personnel arrived on the scene, a
short distance from the pow-wow
grounds where many people had
camped, they found the victim,
MAN to page 3
IVoids/Blanks
White Earth
Secretary/Treasurer
Enna J. Vizenor*
Franklin "Bud" Heis
District I rep
Steven "Punky" Clark
764
477
1241
Irene Auitinaush*
133 317
District II rep
Terrance Burnette*
MCT to page 3
' incumbent
Police raid ceremony, arrest spiritual leader
By Jeff Armstrong
State law enforcement and corrections officers arrested 54-\ car-
old Roger Thundershield May 25
while the Lakota spiritual leader
w as conducting a pipe cercmonv
on the 1 .eeeh Lake Reservation.
The officers then returned to
Thundershtekl's home with a reservation cop to confiscate and allegedly desecrate sacred ceremonial objects, according to friends
and neighbors who describe the
incident as a direct assault on religious liberties and the latest in a
long campaign of official harassment.
"A Leech L;tke tribal officer,
without a search warrant, forced
open the trunk of a woman's car."
said Feather Rock. "They tore
open tobacco ties. They scraped
out the pipe and they took this
medicine man into custody "
Neighbor and fellow pipe-car-
Roger Thundershield
rier George Whipple said the destruction of tobacco ties and eagle
feathers constituted sacrilege of
the highest order.
"It's realh bad. They shouldn't
have done that." he said.
Rock attributed responsibility
for the incident to Thundershieid's
probation officer. Bob Christy. Referring to the latter. Rock said, "he
thinks he's George Armstrong
Custer himself."
Christy could not be reached for
comment, but Thundershieid's
former correctional supervisor,
Craig Hemmingsen confirmed that
the Standing Rock native has been
barred from leading ceremonies.
"He's not supposed to be conducting anything." said
Hemmingsen.
In addition to several aUeged
corrections violations,
Thundershield is being charged
criminally with failing to register a
vehicle which belongs to his wife.
An accomplished traditional artist and descendant of Sitting Bull.
Thundershield pleaded guilty in
1994 in Cass County under an
Afford plea, by which he maintained his innocence of the
charges. He was also convicted in
ARREST to page 3
Legal tussle over
tribal casino,
consultants
settled
By Joe Kafka
Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. —The 8th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
has overturned a federal judge's
dismissal of a lawsuit against a
Minnesota firm that had a consulting contract with the
Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe.
The appellate court ruling on
Friday reinstates a lawsuit filed
by tribal member Maynard Bernard of Sisseton in the name of
the federal government. The
tribe is not involved in the suit,
but will benefit if Bernard eventually prevails.
Bernard's suit was lodged under a century-old federal law, often caUed the bounty hunter's
TUSSLE to page 3
Joseph Wayne White charged with
first-degree murder
Minneapolis - A federal grand
jury in Minneapolis has returned
an indictment charging Joseph
Wayne White, age 36, with murdering his wife, Rhoda Ann
Stately, and assaulting two juve-
nties on May 28, 2002.
White was charged in the indictment with one count of first-
degree murder, one count of sec
ond-degree murder, one count of
assault with a dangerous weapon,
and two counts of simple assault
against a juvenile.
According to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in the
case, in the early morning hours
of May 28,2002, officers with
MURDER to page 3
Douglas Wayne Tarnow indicted
for robbery
Minneapolis - Douglas Wayne
Tarnow, a 21-year old Red Lake
man who allegedly robbed the
Gas Hut located at the 'Trading
Post" area of the Red Lake Indian
Reservation, was indicted today
for robbery.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, at approximately 5:00 p.m. on the
evening of May 17, 2002. the gas
station attendant was exchanging
thirteen dollars in coins for dollar
bills for a customer when Tarnow
allegedly started taking cash from
the register. A surveillance video
showed Tamow fleeing the scene.
FoUowing an alert issued by
the Red Lake Police, officers
with the Beltrami County
ROBBERY to page 3
Just in time for Father's Day:
Better Prostate Health
By Jean Pagano
As Father's Day rolls around,
one question that may be asked is:
"what is one of the most unwelcome visitors for American men?"
The answer is prostate cancer.
180.000 American men wiU be diagnosed this year with prostate
cancer and 37,000 men will die
from the disease. While the groups
w ith the highest prostate cancer incidences are African-Americans
and whites, there will invariably
be Native American men counted
among the 37.000 casualties of
this disease.
While the average age of diagnosis is 65 years old. this is an insidious disease: since there are no
outwards symptoms, most men
only find out that they have the
disease after problems arise. There
are a number of factors that can
help a man reduce his risks of
FATHER to page 3
Census:
Unemployment,
poverty down on
reservations
Associated Press
Although unemployment and
poverty rates on Minnesota's Indian reservations dropped by a
third during the 1990s, serious
problems still persist on outstate
reservations, according to the
Census Bureau.
CENSUS to page 6