Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2002-12-13

              INDEX
Native American
Open letter to the powers-
Candidate's plans
Dee Fairbanks
Commentary
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
?.
prisoners, prison
that-be (tribal, federal,
for reforming tribal
responds to
cj|H
Planetary power
NEWS BRIEFS
3
rights
state, county, school, dis
government include
letter-writer
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
trict, city & township) in
Elders Council
■L   ^
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 4
north central Minnesota
page 4
page 4
page 4
page 4
Special primary election notice
ASpedalF^maryM^rBSOlaChirjrjevra
Tribal Election ofthe Leech Lake Reservation
Business Committee (RBC) a/k/a tribal coun-
rJ will be held on Decanter 17,2002 to 1 the
vacant positicn dtnbal chairman.
Election date: December 17,2002
Poling will be from 8:00am. to8:00p.m.
Leech Lakers to vote for chairman in
primary election on December 17th
LaRose petition still not validated
Polling places:
District I:
■Inger-Community Center
■Bal CM>Community Center
■S. Lake - Community Center
District H:
•Bern-Community Center
•Sugar Point - Community Center
•Smd<eyPdnt-Joserjhsie Sanders Resi-   '
dence
District HI:
■Cass Lake - Tribal Council Office
■Mission - Community Center
■Onigum - Community Center
■Cass River - Pemhgton (Community Center
•Oak Point -Community Center
General Reservation Election Board
Adjacent to Dairy Queen, Cass Lake
-"ABSENTEE VOTING*"
Leech Lake Twin Cities Voting Precinct
Minneapolis American Incfan Center
1530 EFrankHn Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Duluth Voting Precinct
Damiano Center
206W.4th Street
Duluth, Minnesota
Candidates
The Leech Lake Reservation Tribal Council
has certified those individuals feted below and
has found them eligble to run for office and
their names are to be placed on the ballot for
Ihe December 17,2002 Primary Election.
Position: Chairman -For the remainder of
an unexpired 4 year terra
CaixidatesristedhoirJCTrfsigjiingLpfor
election:
WalterReese
JohnJohnson
ErnestW. Dunn
DearinaL Fairbanks
Mark Evans
Robert Whipple
Boice M. Johnson
Glen Fisher, Jr.
Peter D. White
Lester Monis
AMn John Wind, Jr.
James E.AIen
Fred K. Jackson, Sr.
Samuel Papasadora
Henry Sherer-Nason
CfiefteneG. (Fineday) Jenkins
Tony Hare
Clifford Wilson
Joe Jones, Sr.
Doris M. Jones
Laurie D.Harper
Curtis Brown
Jeffrey A Keezer
HersheU.Ogema
Spencer Shotley
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe RBC
Chairman-Vacant
Arthur "Archie" LaRose - Secretary/Treasurer
Burton 'Luke" Wilson - District I Representative
Lyman L Losh - District II Representative
Richard Rcbinson, Jr.-Districtlll Representative
On Tuesday, December 17*,
Leech Lake will be holding a Primary Election to narrow the field
of twenty-five candidates running
for tribal chairman. Unless one of
those candidates wins the upcoming primary election with more
than 50% ofthe vote, there will be
an Election on Tuesday, February
11*, 2003 between the two candidates who get the most votes in the
December 17"1 primary election.
Former Leech Lake tribal chairman Eli Hunt was recalled by
Leech Lake voters in a recall election held on October ll*. 527 eh
gible Leech Lake resident voters
had signed a petition to recall Hunt,
charging him with three violations
of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
constitution, in addition to seventeen specific charges. After about
half of the charges against Hunt
were heard during a special meeting of the Leech Lake RBC on
September 13"\ Hunt waived his
right to hear the rest of the evidence
against him, and the RBC agreed to
hold the recall election. Hunt was
removed by 56% ofthe 1453 votes
ELECTION to page 3
Tribal court judge refuses to evict
Leech Lake family
By Jeff Armstrong
Leech Lake Tribal Court judge
Margaret (Peggy) Treuer rejected an
attempt by the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribal Housing Corporation to foreclose on its loan to a family which refused to pay for a shoddily constructed $83,000 home (Leech Lake
members face eviction, Nov. 22
Press/ON).
Treuer ruled that the MCTHC reneged upon its responsibility to oversee construction standards and failed
to even produce a signed copy ofthe
mortgage.
"It appears that the Plaintiff did not
adequately inspect the quality ofthe
work and materials on this home before approving payments to the various contractors,'' wrote Treuer.
'Tlainuff never advised defendants
that the work being done on their
home was not up to normal building
standards."
Treuer also held that the housing
corporation had no legal basis to file
for foreclosure in the reservation
court, dismissing housing corporation
attorney Larry Kimball's effort to
found the action on state law. She
ruled that Leech Lake must first of all
enact a mortgage foreclosure code.
"Foreclosure by action is apparently a statutory right under the laws
of the State of Minnesota. Those laws
are not binding on this Court. The
LLBO Judicial Eviction Code expressly forbids issuance of an eviction order unless a mortgage foreclosure order is first obtained in the
Tribal Court," Treuer wrote.
"The [Court] believes that although the Tribal Court has been
granted broad civil jurisdiction, a specific code permitting foreclosure action on Indian trust lands should be
adopted by the RBC before such actions are allowed to proceed."
Defendant Leota Hardy rejoiced at
the news of the ruling, but she predicted that the MCTHC would bring
the family back to court before taking
any steps to make the house suitable.
I haven't heard anything from [the
housing corporation] since we went
to court," said Hardy. "We're probably going to go back to court."
Hardy said the decision should
serve as a strong message to housing
officials that' they got to foliow their
guidelines. Finally, someone exposed
them for what they should have been
doing all these years.''
While Treuer's decision did leave
open the possibility of a future foreclosure attempt, it also guaranteed the
defendants right to file a counterclaim against the MCTHC and its
contractors.
Mpls police: federal mediation update
A press release was issued on December 9,2002, in lieu of a press
conference by the Community Negotiating Team regarding federal mediation between the Community Negotiating Team and the Minneapolis
police. It contains all information
authorized for release by the Community Negotiating Team Underthe
federal mediation rules ofthe U.S.
Justice Department's Community
Relations Service, mediation participants are barred from commenting
publicly about the process once mediation begins.
The first mediation meeting was
scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. on
Tuesday, December 10*, although
there are rumors that the meeting was
delayed for a week in order to resolve
questions about mediators' representation ofthe communities involved.
Mediation is scheduled to continue
for three months.
The Community Negotiating
Team elected Ron Edwards to act as
its Spokesperson at the bargaining
table. The CNT has developed a preliminary list of demands based on 5
UPDATE to page 7
McCaleb testimony called into question:
BIA staff member testifies concerning missing emails
By Jean Pagano
Special Master Alan Balaran,
named by U.S. District Court Judge
Royce C. Lamberthin the landmark
Cobell v. Secretary Ofthe Interior,
called Bureau of Indian Affairs staff
member Jean Maybee to testify in the
matter ofthe disappearance of 10
months worth of emails from outgoing
Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb.
Judge Lamberth has required that Interior file and print emails relating to the
Cobell case, including McCaleb's.
In a sworn 19 November affidavit,
McCaleb has admitted to not following Department of Interior (DOI)
policy in filing emails as well as not
observing a court order to keep these
same emails. Additionally, McCaleb
stated that his'ririsrmderstanding''
about the emails was directly related to
Maybee. McCaleb told Balaran that
he was under the impression that
Maybee was saving the documents for
him. In the 10 December interview of
Maybee by Special Master Balaran,
Maybee denied McCaleb's claim that
she was responsible in any way for the
saving of his emails.
It was learned in the Tuesday interview that Maybee had taken notes
during the times in question during
which McCaleb realized that his
emails had been destroyed. Maybee
detailed how she attempted to help
McCaleb recover the emails from
weekly backups performed at DOI.
Maybee discovered that McCaleb had
not followed the proper procedures to
allow his emails to be backed up and
that the DOI backups would not have
these critical documents that were to
be maintained.
Subsequent to the McCaleb affidavit, the Assistant Secretary was recently called to testify under oath
about the events surrounding the deletion ofthe emails. McCaleb's Deputy,
Aurene Martin, has been called to testify this Friday, 13 December, concerning the emails. Martin, a former
staff member for Sen. Ben Nighthorse
Campbell (R-Colo) began serving
with McCaleb in October 2001 at
about the same time that the emails
started disappearing. She served as his
legal counsel.
On December 11"1, Special Master
Balaran requested additional docu-
BIA to page 7
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<i&e,
Native
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Press
Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2002
Founded in 1988
Volume 15 Issue 28       December 13,2002
, photo: Clara NiiSka
Representatives from the Minneapolis Police Department (from right to left) Lieut. Chris Ameson, Minneapolis Police Chief
Robert Olson, 3rd Precinct Commander Sharon Lupinski meet with MUID and community members atthe December 10,h MUID
meeting at the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
Chief Olson addressed the group at length, and responded in part to the demands presented to the Minneapolis City Council
on November 22nd. Those demands included: a complete and full investigation of the recent death of Carol Garbow; a full
investigation of and re-opening of all the unsolved murder and rape cases on record, involving American Indian people for past
decades; identifying and providing specific data on murder and rapes of American Indian people in the Twin Cities; providing
increased police presence and safety programs in significant city areas of murders and rapes of Indian people; developing an
on-going mutual working relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department and the American Indian community; providing
meaningful cultural sensitivity training to the Police Department and related agencies on American Indian culture and values;
and establishing round-table meetings between city agencies and groups such as the City Council, Police Department and the
Civil Rights Department. Olson provided summary data on rapes and unsolved murders of Native Americans in Minneapolis,
and handed out a report which detailed six of the unsolved murders.
Mpls Police Chief Olson meets
with Indian community leaders
Mpls Police Chief Olson, along
with 3rd Precinct Commander
Sharon Lubinski and Lt Ameson,
met with Anishinabe community
leaders at the Mpls American Indian Center on Tuesday, December
10,2002. The meeting was hosted
by the Metropolitan Urban Indian
Directors (MUID).
The Mpls police chief was well
armed with facts, graphs, statistics,
and names of victims surrounding
Native American homicides and
rapes since 1990. With specific factual data to back him in a Q & A
format after his presentation, Chief
Olson responded quite well to
questions posed. He was not so
evasive and political, as appeared
the case when angry Anishinabe
demonstrators had confronted him
at City Hall on November 22,
2002.
The following are some Native
American homicides and rapes
stats from 1990 to the present time.
American Indian Violent Crimes
Analysis, December, 2002, by the
Special Investigations Division,
Mpls Police Dept (MPD).
1. Native American Homicides,
1990 to present: 58 cases with 46
of these having been solved or
termed under "clearance." The
clearance rate is shown at 79.3 per
cent Twelve Anishinabe cases are
therefore still under investigation, and
are "open homicide cases."
Open homicide cases by race
show Anishinabeg at 4.8 percent of
the total which is disproportionate to
their small population of less than 1
percent of the total general population. Black victims are 61.2 percent
ofthe total homicide cases. Black homicide cases are often black on
black, but not so with the
Anishinabeg, according to homicide
by race studies done several years
ago.
2. Sexual Assaults of Native
Americans. MPD, Sex Crimes Unit,
Lt Mike Sauro's memo to Chief
Olson dated 12-10-02 was handed
out at the MUID meeting. According to the memo, between 1993-
2002 approximately 10% of all
Criminal Sexual Contact Rape
(CSCR) cases were Native American. And, for the year 2002, twenty-
four CSCR cases were routed to the
Sex Crimes Unit
The sexual assault report states
that the vast majority of these cases
involved stranger on stranger
CSCRs. This is a shocking 100 percent rate of strangers raping
Anishinabe eqway-wug. Only 7 percent of strangers are involved in all
OLSON to page 7
Unsolved murders of Native
Americans in Minneapolis
Since the Evan Denny murder,
there are 175 unsolved murder
cases in Minneapolis. 67% are
black victims, 22% are white victims, 6% are Latino victims, and
3% of these are Native Americans
who have been murdered:
• Male, 24,10/20/90- shot: Lake
& Chicago
• Female, 49,4/18/92-beaten:
Third Pet
• Male, 41,6716792-beaten: near
3rd Ave. Bridge
• Female, 31,9/12/92-shot: 17th
&GirardN.
• Female, 49, U/ll/92-stabbed:
llth&5thN.
• Male, 17,12/9/95-shot: under
hwy overpass
• Male, 20,5/31/96-shot: in alley
27th St.
• Male, 38,5/31/96-beaten:
Franklin Ave.
• Male, 21,10/1/96-shot: 26th
street
• Male, 45,9/19/97-beaten: railroad tracks
• Male, 42,9/22/00-beaten: under bridge
• Female, 41,9/19/01-beaten: by
194
The report handed out at the
MUID meeting by Chief Olson
highlighted six of these unsolved
UNSOLVED to page 2
Man accused in
murder of Frank
Parker withdraws
demand for
speedy trial
Redwood Falls—According to
the November 18,2002 issue of
The Redwood Gazette, Christopher
Sander waived his right to a speedy
trial at an Omnibus hearing in the
judge's chamber at Redwood District Court on Friday, November
15th. Sander was asked by his attorney, Barry Voss of Minneapolis,
to be patient a while longer so that
there would be plenty of time to
prepare the defense of the murder
charges against him. Sander and
fellow defendant Dennis
Pendleton, Jr., are accused of gunning down Frank Irving Parker II,
of Minneapohs on June 19,2002.
The murder occurred on the Lower
Sioux Indian reservation. Both
Sander and Pendleton are members
ofthe Lower Sioux Indian Community.
Voss told the court that there
were three potential issues on the
MURDER to page 6
Authorities fear violence in Leech Lake tribal election
Associated Press
CASS LAKE, Minn. — Fearing
violence could result from recall
petitions and the election of a
Leech Lake tribal leader, a group of
law enforcement officials in northern Minnesota have asked the U.S.
attorney for help.
Tom Heffelfinger, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, received a letter
last week from five northern Minnesota prosecutors and law enforcement leaders expressing concern about the election and about
violence in the area. He said he dis
cussed the issues with a few people
who had signed the letter.
A primary election is scheduled
for Dec. 17 to replace former
Tribal Council Chairman Eli O.
Hunt, who was recalled by a vote
in October. There are 25 candidates
for the seat and the primary wih
narrow the field to two, a tribal official said. Meanwhile, members of
the community have begun another
recall petition against Secretary-
Treasurer Arthur (Archie) LaRose.
A committee is scheduled to meet
Monday to determine whether the
503 signatures on the petition are
valid.   .
"I heard then concerns and I
agreed that to the extent the federal
government has authority, we wih
work with local and tribal law enforcement to protect the safety of
the people at Leech Lake and the
integrity of their election,"
Heffelfinger said.
The federal government does not
run tribal elections, but as in local
government elections, it has an in-
VIOLENCEtopage6
Audit: Tribal gaming revenue, profits up since 1997
By JR Ross, Associated Press
MADISON, Wis.- Wisconsin's
11 American Indian tribes made
$428.3 milhon in profits last year
from almost $970.9 milhon in net
revenues at the casinos they operate around the state, an audit
showed Wednesday.
The report prompted several
lawmakers to call for the state to
demand more money from the
tribes in exchange for extending
the compacts that allow them to
run the casinos. The compacts be
gin to expire in August 2003.
Gov.-elect Jim Doyle wants to
negotiate a bigger chunk of that
money for the state in exchange
for longer compacts, spokesman
Thad Nation said. Doyle beheves
the $24 milhon the tribes paid last
year was too low, Nation said.
"He beheves that payment
should be increased," Nation said.
"Longer compacts are good for
the tribes and good for Wisconsin
because they'U help spur more investment in Wisconsin by the
tribe, more economic development."
Tribal profits were up $158.2
milhon from 1997 at the 24 casinos, an increase of 58.6 percent
according to the Legislative Audit
Bureau.
Profits are the net revenue minus expenditures. Those expenditures include such things as systems to monitor electronic casino
games and payments to private
AUDIT to page 6
Governor signs gambling compacts
with Arizona tribes
ByBethDeFalco
Associated Press
PHOENIX— Gov. Jane Huh
signed gambling agreements with
10 Arizona tribes Wednesday, the
first step toward enacting a voter-
approved initiative to expand gambling on American Indian reservations.
"This truly is a great great day
— a historic day for Arizona," Hull
said. "It is good for the sovereignty
ofthe Indian tribes and the interests
ofthe state of Arizona."
Proposition 202, an initiative that
narrowly won voter approval in
November, orders the governor to
sign deals to increase the number
of slot machines that tribes can operate and allow tribes to offer Las
Vegas-style house-banked blackjack, which was not aUowed previously.
In exchange, the tribes wih give
the state up to 8 percent of revenue,
depending on how much casinos
GOVERNOR to page 5
Carlton County cops shoot FDL
man in testicles
By Lance Holder
It's no big secret that for many
years on the Fond du Lac reservation natives have been terrorized by
and Uve in fear of local pohce,
namely, Carlton county sheriffs
dep. Allegations that include rape,
dmg trafficking and murder by poUce have circulated in the community for years, so it's easy to see
why residents feel they're being
bullied by the very people hired to
protect them.
One of most recent cases involves the shooting of Tippy Thompson.
According to Lou Thompson,
Tippy's wife, Tippy had just fled
the his job under the Huber Work
Release and returned home to wait
out his sentence. On the night of
the shooting, "Our son had just gotten home and 3 seconds later he
SHOOTING to page 7