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

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Time to test the waters
and throw all the layers
overboard
page 4
Tribal member
alert: Will the MCT
follow its own
constitution?
page 4
Indian Health
Services dedicates
newest hospital for
Navajo nation
page 3
Miller & Schroeder
and Red Lake -
strange bedfellows or
just business?
page 4
Commentary
Changing economy
requires prudent
management of tribal
resources
page 4
Tribal group seeks management changes at Mille Lacs,
advocates that corporate commission be abolished
By Bill Lawrence
In two position papers filed with
the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
tribal government during the past
twelve months, a group of Mille
Lacs tribal members recommended
substantial changes in management
of the band's casino and corporate
commission.
The group, led by hereditary
chief and spiritual leader Melvin
Eagle, has even called for the abolishment of the band's corporate
commission. The corporate commission was established ten years
ago by the band to manage their two
casinos and work for the diversification ofthe reservation economy.
Eagle and other critics of the corporate commission complain that it has
grown into a huge and expensive
bureaucracy and is unresponsive to
the band members' needs.
The operation of the corporate
commission has been a controversial issue on the Mille Lacs reservation nearly since its inception in
1992. It is considered to be the
brainchild of former Grand Casino,
Inc. founder and CEO Lyle Berman.
llie operation of the corporate commission was a significant issue in the
defeat of former Chief Executive
Marge Anderson by current Chief
Exec Melanie Benjamin. In her
campaign, Melanie had made commitments to the voters to change the
commission and to raise the amount
of per capita payments made to
band members. She had said that
increases in per caps would be determined after she assessed the financial situation of the band and the
revenue coming in from the casinos.
According to Eagle, the amount
of per capita payments has been increased from about $ 1,500 to the
current $3,750 per year. However,
Eagle and others have told Press/
ONihat there never has been a full
accounting of band finances to the
membership, and that the changes
made to the corporate commission
have only been superficial. Eagle
told Press/ON that he was deeply
concerned about the band's financial
situation. Based upon his own estimates that total revenue from the
two casinos was approximately
three quarters of a billion doUars per
year, and net revenue was in excess
of $100 million. It is impossible for
band members to determine
whether or not they are getting their
money's worth from the management, without access to the financial
records ofthe tribe. They cannot be
kept secret by a few select people,
most of whom are not even band
members. Eagle estimates that the
band has substantial investments,
but due to problems in the economy,
the stock market, and corporate accounting scandals, the MUle Lacs
Band Reform Coalition is concerned about, "where we stand with
our investments.'' With all of the
questionable investments that have
already been made by the corporate
commission, the Reform Coalition
would also like to see for themselves whether or not the recent investment in Eddy's resort, for example, "is really in our tribal interest."
In the first position paper, which
was filed approximately a year ago,
the Mille Lacs Reform Coalition
asked, "What is the true financial
picture ofthe casinos? Is the casino
holding its own in EBITDA, or
earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization? Is
Grand Casino Mille Lacs/Grand Casino Hinkley achieving their minimum required consolidated cash
flow. Looks good on the outside but
how good are we internally? The
real stakeholders, the Mille Lacs
band numbers (all 3600 of us) are
keenly interested in these answers
and many more."
In the epilog to their first position
paper, the reform coalition's concerns included: "Based on what we
have seen and heard over the years,
we feel that there is widespread graft
and corruption in the upper levels of
management of Grand Casino Mille
Lacs, Grand Casino Hinkley and the
Corporate Commission of the Mille
Lacs Band. We feel that what information we have gleaned from very
reliable sources warrants an in-depth
criminal investigation at all levels of
management at all three properties."
The Reform Coalition's second
Position Paper is reprinted in full on
page 8 of this issue of Press/ON.
Beltrami county
judge hears
arguments on
state's closing
Indian education
office
by Clara NiiSka
Judge Paul Benshoof, Minnesota
9* District Court judge in Beltrami
County, heard testimony and arguments on the closure ofthe Bemidji
office of the Minnesota Indian
Scholarship Program on Fridav.
July 26m.
The Bemidji and Duluth offices
were to be closed on June 28"1 as a
cost-cutting measure in the wake of
state funding cuts. According to
the state Department of Children
Families & Learning Commissioner Christine Jax, centralization
of Indian Education office operations in Roseville was expected to
save the state $200,000 annually.
Indian Affairs Council executive
director Joe Day and other members ofthe Indian establishment responded vigorously to the state's
proposed closure of its northern Indian Education offices, and on June
21st the Leech Lake Band of
Ojibwe filed legal action in state
court, seeking to force the state to
keep the Indian Education office
open. Judge Benshoof issued a
temporary restraining order requiring the state to keep the Bemidji office open. The Indian Scholarship
office in Duluth had already been
closed.
Judge Benshoof held on all-day
hearing on July 26"1, with nearly
twenty witnesses, most of whom
were supporters ofthe Bemidji office.
After extensive testimony, and
arguments by Joe Plumer and
Frank Bibeau, attorneys for the
Leech Lake Band that the Bemidji
office improved accountability and
Indian students' accessibility to services, Benshoof instructed the
Leech Lake attorneys and Steve
Liss, attorney for CF&L, to submit
written arguments by August 7"1.
The services provided by the
CF&L are funded by the state, not
by tribal governments.
Three fired I.H.B. doctors to
establish new Phillips Health Clinic
Three physicians fired from
jobs they loved by an administration they despised are planning to
open a new clinic in the Philhps
neighborhood of south MinneapoUs in September.
The three doctors, Lydia Caros,
Carol Krush and Lori Banaszak,
were fired from their positions for
what Indian Health Board officials described as "insubordination." Firings and resignations
have been common occurrences
at the IHB in recent years. The
clinic at 1315 E. 24th St. was the
scene of angry picketing this
spring as Caros was fired in February,, followed by the firing of
Krush and Banaszak in April.
Community members and Indian activists directed charges of
mismanagement and financial
waste at the Indian Health Board.
Clinic patients and others in the
community called for the members of the board of directors to
step down and for the doctors to
be reinstated. The doctors had
hoped that the [federal] Indian
Health Board would respond to
the call but the response from that
board and from any other pubhc
entity were strangely silent. In
the meantime, there have been
more painful departures from the
clinic in recent months. Except
for the resignation of IHB treasurer Stephanie Autumn, calls for
resignation ofthe board have met
with no response and it appeared
that the board of directors were
firmly entrenched at the clinic.
In June, the three physicians,
buoyed by the support they received from a number of Indian
organizations, began talking
about opening a new clinic. The
idea of opening a nonprofit clinic
advanced from the talking stage
to what appears to be quick action. They plan to open a clinic
in September in a strip mall at
13,h and Franklin Avenues, only a
few blocks from IHB.
Dr. Caros says there are too
many serious health issues in the
Philhps area to worry about rivalry. It was her hope that someday the two clinics could work
together. However, Dr. Terril
Hart, who has been IHB chief executive officer since February,
did not share that view. "It's hard
to beheve we could ever have too
many services in Phillips," Hart
said. "I also beheve that competition is good for everyone."
When Hart was asked if any
thought was given to rehiring the
fired doctors, He responded,
"The only thing I can do is express the point of view of the
board and they have never expressed any desire to revisit then
decision."
Auto accident and apparent
retaliation at Lower Sioux
Redwood County—On July
20,2002, an accident involving a
2001 Tahoe owned by Debra
Beckett/Schoen of Lower Sioux
was reported at 5:07 a.m. The
driver, Amber Schaffer, age 20 of
St Paul, lost control of the vehicle, entered the ditch and
rolled. Schaffer and a passenger,
Corinna Hernandez of Lower
Sioux were both transported to
the Redwood Falls Hospital by
ambulance for their injuries. The
vehicle was totaled.
At 6:36 a.m. on the same date,
a complaint was filed by Corinna
Hernandez regarding damage to a
1999 Ford Expedition in which
the rear window ofthe vehicle
was broken with damage estimated at $600. According to police reports from the Redwood
County Sheriff's office, the incident is believed to be retaliation
against Hernandez as the result of
her involvement in the accident in
which Beckett/Schoen's vehicle
was totaled. Both the rollover
and the incident with the broken
rear window are under investigation.
Indians' special trustee leaves post
By Billy House
Arizona Republic Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Thomas
Slonaker, the special trustee for
American Indians who has clashed
with the Bush administration over
fixing the government's historically
mismanaged Indian trust fund system, has resigned.
His resignation, effective Tuesday,
comes after a special court monitor
declared in a May 5 report that Interior Secretary Gail Norton hasn't
given Slonaker the support he
needed to fulfill his fund oversight
duties. Slonaker took over the job
in the final months of the Clinton
administration.
"It has been my pleasure to serve
two presidents ofthe United States
as the special trustee for American
Indians," Slonaker, who is from
Phoenix, wrote in his resignation
letter to President Bush.
"While I have appreciated the
opportunity to serve this adminis
tration, I am resigning my position
to pursue other interests, effective
today."
In a statement released by the Interior Department, Slonaker added,
"I have worked diligently to highlight a number of important issues
that must be resolved for trust reform to be successful in the long
term."
Norton, in her own prepared
statement, thanked Slonaker for his
service and wished him well. She
also announced that Donna Erwin,
the deputy special trustee for
projects and operations, is being
appointed acting special trustee.
The Interior Department has
held American Indian-owned lands
in trust since 1887, leasing the
properties and managing revenues.
In 1996, a group of Native
American beneficiaries filed a
class-action lawsuit, contending
that shoddy bookkeeping over the
decades has caused the government
to lose track of billions of dollars
owed and to whom.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to hold in trust about 11 million acres. Some valuable oil and
gas leases pay thousands of dollars
a month.
In 1999, a federal district judge
found then-Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt and then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in civil contempt
for not producing records and
documents on the trusts they initially said they would produce.
Many had been lost or destroyed.
The judge also ordered the Interior
and Treasury departments to begin
piecing together how much is
owed.
But Slonaker, as the special
trustee for the funds, ran afoul of
Norton when he refused to vouch
for a quarterly progress report on
efforts toward fixing the management ofthe funds. His testimony
proved damaging to Norton and
TRUSTEE to page 5
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Volume 15 issue 9
August 2,2002
photo: Edward S. Curtis (1923) • "A Smoky Day at the Sugar Bowl - Hupa"
Edward S. Curtis, who began his career as photographer the 1890s, is one ofthe most widely acknowledged photographers oflndian people.
Curtis went to Alaska in 1899 as the official photographer of an exploratory expedition, then in the early
years ofthe 20lh century embarked on a thirty-year project which he described as an effort "to form a comprehensive and permanent record of all the important tribes of the United States and Alaska that still retain
to a considerable degree then... customs and traditions."
Curtis eventually took more than 40,000 photographs, and published three volumes of photographs oflndian people between 1907 and 1930. His work was subsidized by such nineteenth-century luminaries as
President Theodore Roosevelt and John Pierpont Morgan, who made a fortune from the burgeoning expansion of railroads. Curtis also accumulated a heavy personal debt to finance his work.
Curtis's photography had faded into obscurity by the time of his death in 1952, but was 'rediscovered in
the 1960s and 1970s.
Tribes find help in health maze
By Judy Nichols
The Arizona Republic
Michael Allison, Native American liaison for the Arizona Department of Health Services, sees
his job as part tour guide, part advocate.
"The government is really a
maze," said Allison, 50, a Navajo.
"Native Americans are happy to
find someone there who grew up
with them. It shows the state is trying to respond to their needs."
Allison coordinates health efforts among the three Indian
Health Service delivery areas in
the state, the 21 tribes and three
urban Indian health programs.
For example, earlier this year,
an urban Indian program had to
move its facility, Allison said.
They applied for a license at the
new location. The paperwork was
sent to the new address, which
was not yet open, and then returned. By the time the program
figured out what had happened,
officials were worried about making their deadline.
"They didn't know who to
call," Allison said. "So here's a situation where I said, 'What can we
do?'"
Allison, hired by the department
last year, helped expedite the inspection and the clinic opened on
time.
Cathy Eden, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, called Allison "amazing."
"He's been able to teach us what
the tribes need," Eden said. "And
he's also able to explain to the tribes
what we're capable of doing.
"For example, when we talk
about bioterrorism measures, we
need to make sure we're communicating with the tribes. They're not a
county or city health department.
They're an independent form of
government."
Eden said tribes had sought a liaison for about 20 years.
"There was a sense of misunderstanding," she said. "We needed to
build a better sense of trust."
Allison is doing that, she said.
"He has the contacts to bring the
right people to sit at the table,"
Eden said.
Maryls Elaine King Sentenced
St. Paul, MN—Maryls Elaine
King, also know as Maryls
Elaine Benais and Maryls
White, was sentenced today in
United States District Court for
an assault that occurred on the
Red Lake Indian Reservation.
King was sentenced to one
year and one day in prison by
Judge Paul Magnuson in St.
Paul for assault resulting in serious bodily harm.
Kind pled guilty in February
2002 to stabbing Joseph William
Howard, known as "Joe," in the
chest on December 8,2001.
The case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Red
Lake Law enforcement. Assistant United States Attorney
Clifford B. Wardlaw prosecuted
the case.
Allison's background is in eco-.
nomics, specifically small-business
development.
"Moving to the health field was a
midlife career change," he said.
"But having a business background
helps."
Before joining the health department, he worked as a board member, then executive director of the
Native American Community
Health Center, an urban Indian program.
Allison remembers going to the
federally run Indian Health Service
as a child.
"I thought it was good, but I
didn't have anything to compare it
to," he said.
Allison said he believes that,
eventually, most tribes will take
over control of their health programs from the Indian Health Service.
"The challenge for tribes is they
have, through history, lost control of
their own destiny," Allison said. "In
the health field, it's the same thing.
You can talk all you want about
statistics, disparities, but what do
you do about it?
"The tribes have already spoken
and the answer is seh-determina-
tion."
To do that, Allison said, community members must educate themselves to take over leadership roles;
tribes must develop resources, jobs
and programs to combat alcohol
and substance abuse.
"If the tribes had full resources, I
don't think the statistics would be
the same," Allison said. "They
would be doing something about
it."