The Native American Press (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1993-06-18

              Community concerned aboutcriminal records
of Peacemaker Center associates
By Delvin Cree
The Native American Coalition for
Civil Rights (NACCR) will hold a
press conference Monday, June 21st,
at 11:00 AM. The location ofthe press
conference will be on the north side of
Minneapolis City Hall at 350 South
5th Street.
According to members of the
NACCR, a lot of concern has been
raised in the Native American
Communi ty about certain individuals
that are associated with the Peacemaker Center. Many people feel that
Ron 'Bear' Cronick and Chris
Westerman, participants in the
Center's youth activities and the
American Indian Movement Patrol
[AIM], shouldn't be around the Center at all because of ther past criminal
records which range from armed robbery to child molestation charges.
Court documents obtained by The
Press, which are public information,
reveal that Bear Cronick was being
investigated back in 1988 for his involvement with a young boy. In the
police report by the Hennepin County
Child Protection Program it states that
Bear Cronick was a single foster parent licensed through the American
Indian Center in St. Paul, Minnesota,
and at the time he was currently on
parole for aggrevated robbery. The
report states that staff members at the
St. Croix Camp in Wisconsin intercepted letters written to a teenage boy.
The letters contain language and
phrases that one would expect to be
spoken only between a man and a
woman. They are filled with references to sexual acts commited by
Cronick and the boy and with anticipation of more to come.
A portion of the report reads as
follows: "Attached are copies of letters written by Cronick to which
were intercepted by staff at St. Croix
Camp and which are strongly suggestive that Cronick, a homosexual, was
sexually involved with _. We are
greatly concerned about the safety of
 who also has been a previous
sexual assault victim .''
NACCR/SeePage5
People of Phillips Pow Wow changes location/Page 1
Jim Northrup's book walks us down the Rez road/Page 4
Indian land claims cloud home titles for homes and business/See page 6
Vem Bellecourt busted in Detroit lakes by police/ Page 1
Upward Bound holds summer sessions/Page 5
Peacemaker Center leadership has varied and lurid background/Page 1
The Largest Weekly Native Newspaper in North America
Mpls City Council President supports
request for M.A.I.C's financial records
r,	
The
Native
American
1
By Gary Blair
Concern about the Minneapolis
American Indian Center continues to
grow. This week Sharon SaylesBelton,
President of the Minneapolis City
Council, added her name to the list of
those interested in MAIC's operation.
However, Belton, the Council President and a Minneapolis mayoral
candidate, went a step.further and put
her concerns in writing. In a letter to
Francis Fairbanks, Director of the
Minneapolis American Indian Center, obtained by the PRESS, Sayles
Belton wrote the following:
"Dear Frances: Representatives of
the Native American Press contacted
my office regarding a concern they
have with the Minneapolis American
Indian Center. It is my understanding
they have requested certain documen
tation regarding the operation of the
MAIC, such as board minutes, annual
reports and other information of a
public nature. It would appear to me
that this is a reasonable request and I
hope you would honor it, unless there
are compelling reasons this cannot be
done. I will await a response from you.
Thank you for your attention to this
matter. Sincerely, Sharon Sayles
Belton, President, Minneapolis City
Council, Eighth Ward."
The letter is dated June 15, 1993,
and was written on city letterhead.
This week the PRESS has learned
that SaylesBelton may not be the only
Minneapolis City Council member
who has developed an interest in
MAIC. Council member, Jim Niland,
whose ward the Indian center is located in, told the PRESS, "The
Minneapolis American Indian Center
is a public institution and its books are
public information and they should be
available for viewing.''
Niland says he supports the Indian
community and their right to see the
information called for by the PRESS.
With the growing poverty in the Minneapolis Native American community
organizations such as the Indian center with large budgets funded mostly
by 0. S. taxpayers, county/city tax dollars, and corporate foundation dollars
are bound to fall under scrutiny as to
how they administer their funding.
For the past ten months the PRESS
has made numerous requests of the
Indian center to obtain the
documenation mentioned in Sayles
Belton's letter to Fairbanks. After being put off numerous times the PRES S
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1991       Volume 3   Issue 6        June IB, 1993
1
Copyright, The Native American Pre«», 1 993
MAIC/SeePage5
Minneapolis school board candidate under
investigation
By Rob Hotakainen and Mark
Brunswick, Star Tribune
Ron Otterson, a DFL-endorsed candidate for Minneapolis school board,
was fired last winter for allegedly
misusing at least $17,000 while he
headed an alternative city school by
taking a junket to Las Vegas and
forging checks written to himself.
School officials claim that Otterson
misused a credit card when he took a
part-time janitor to Las Vegas last
fall. In addition, they're accusing him
of forging the signature of a board
Minneapolis police are investigating
Otterson, 54, who faces possible criminal charges after his dismissal in
December from the school in south
Minneapolis. He was suspended in
October for taking an unexcused absence to make a five-day trip to Las
Vegas, said Jim Roth, the school's
attorney.
Otterson, a member of the Minneapolis Library Board, faces other
legal troubles, as well. He was arrested on drunken-driving charges in
Eden Prairie on April 13 and refused
to submit to a chemical test. His first
June 23.
Otterson and his attorney, Stephen
Cooper, declined to comment on any
ofthe charges Tuesday, through Cooper said a "sharp difference of
opinion" exists between the two sides.
Otterson said he knew that a run for
the school board carried risks, but he
decided to run after consulting with
elected officials.
"I've been very aware of my personal difficulties, and I 've shared them
with people.... I decided that the risk
was worth it and I would not diminish
NAP File Photo
Vernon Bellecourt, AIM leader and Indian activist.
Vernon Bellecourt Arrested following high
speed chase
member on the unauthorized checks,   court appearance in that case is set for   OttCrSOIl/See Page 3
Gaming Bill Amendments Introduced in
Congress
Legislation introduced late last
month in the U.S. Congress would
give states the right to refuse to negotiate gaming compacts with Indian
tribes, would establish a moratorium
on any new tribal-state compacts, and
would prohibit gaming on lands not
held in trust at the time of enactment
ofthe Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
(IGRA). The legislation would also
expand membership of the National
Indian Gaming Commission from
three to five and would provide that
the two new members be chosen by
the President from state officials and
confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
"The Gaming Integrity and State
Law Enforcement Act of 1993", introduced by Rep. Robert Torricelli
(D-NJ) and NevadaDemocratic Senators Harry Reid and Richard Byran,
would according to a Torricelli press
release'' simply give back to the states
the right to say 'no' to gaming on
(Indian) reservations unless that form
of gaming is expressly allowed by
state laws of that state." The bill
would also give the U.S. Attorney
General authority to conduct back
ground checks using all pertinent
government documents to ensure the
suitability of any individual involved
with the ownership, financing, management or operation of a Native
American gaming operation.
"When IGRA was first passed there
was little indication that organized
crime was infiltrating gaming on reservations. However, over the last five
years this has become a significant
problem," Torricelli said.
Indian gaming advocates quickly
tabbed the legislation the "Donald
Trump Relief Act" or "Donald
Trump Protection Act." The titles
were references to the suit filed by the
New Jersey billionaire last month
against the Secretary of the Interior
and the Chairman of the National
Indian Gaming Commission claiming that the IGRA gives "unfair
competitive edge'' to Indian tribes by
"exempting them from taxes" and
allowing gaming on Indian reservations without state approval. But
according to the nationally syndicated Jack Anderson and Michael
Binstein column printed May 30 edi
tion ofthe Washington Post, Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt said when
asked about the suit, "It is really
absurd to think that a self-proclaimed
tycoon is threatened by a few bands of
impoverished Indians. It is the theater ofthe absurd.'' Trump owns and
operates several casinos in Atlantic
City, N.J.
And Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Indians Chief Executive Officer
Marge Anderson said in a prepared
statement,' 'The reality is that Indian
gaming is taxed 100 percent because
every dollar generated must go back
into the reservation by law." She said
the Mille Lacs Band met with Rep.
Toricelli's staff a few weeks ago and
learned that Toricelli was "concerned" about Native Americans.
' 'We told him that two years ago, our
reservation unemployment rate was
Indian activist Vernon
Bellecourt was arrested Monday
afternoon, June 14, north of Detroit Lakes after allegedly leading
a state patrol officer on a high
speed chase on Highway 59.
Bellecourt, 61, of White Earth,
was charged Tuesday in Becker
County District Court with fleeing an officer, a gross
misdemeanor; and careless driving and speeding, both
misdemeanors.
He was held in Becker County
Jail overnight, but he could not be
reached for comment. The Minnesota State Patrol Office in
Detroit Lakes referred all calls
about Bellecourt to the Department of Public Safety in St. Paul.
According to Kevin Burns, assistant commissioner for public
safety, Bellecourt was clocked on
radar at 83 mph about five miles
north of Detroit Lakes. He was
heading south on Highway 59,
driving a 1993 Cadillac four-door.
The state patrol officer, who
was heading north, pursued and
Bellecourt "tried to outrun" the
officer, Burns said. Bellecourt
then allegedly passed two cars
illegally, one on the left in a no
passing zone and one on the right.
He continued south on 59, then
turned into Sherbrooke Asphalt
gravel pit, about three miles north
of Highway 10.
The state trooper blocked
Bellecourt's exit as he tried to
break out of a dead end. Bellecourt
was arrested without incident,
burns said.
"This was observed to be a routine traffic stop,"
Bellecourt is a leader in the
American Indian Movement,
AIM.
[Reprinted with permission from
the Detroit Lakes Tribune.]
Ojibwe News to be re-published as a separate
newspaper
By Bill Lawrence
Effective June 25,1993, the OJIBWE
NEWS will again be published as a
separate newspaper. Circulation will be
restricted to the Northern part of the
State ofMinnesota and will include all
seven Chippewa reservations. The
cents per copy and will have a begining
circulation of 4000 copies. The decision
to goback to the two separate newspaper
format, i.e. theOJIBWE NEWSandthe
NATIVE AMERICAN PRESS, was
based on advertising, circulation,
economic and news coverage reasons.
TheOJIBWE NEWS originally began
publication inMay of 1988, asa weekly,
and was combined into the NATIVE
AMERICAN PRESS on May 15,1992.
The NAP will continue to be circulated
in the Twin Cities area, the southern
part ofthe state, and outstate as a free
publication. Circulation of the NAP
will be 12,000 copies per week. Both
papers will also be sold on a subscription
basis.
45 percent, but today at Mille Lacs, Ojibwe News will be will be sold for 50
unemployment is effectively zero,"
Phillips Unity PowWowforcedto changesite
Anderson said. "Today atMille Lacs,
babies are living because ofthe good
that comes from Indian gaming,'' she
Gaming/See Page 3
Grace Thorpe, Daughter of Olympic hero Jim
Thorpe, aids Red Cliff Band
due to Park Board ineptness
By Mel Rasmussen
By Mel Rasmussen
Ms. Grace Thorpe, daughter of
Olympic Gold medalist Native
American Jim Thorpe, visited the Red
Cliff Reservation this past Wednesday
to kickoff theRed CliffTribe's efforts to
concern people with environmental
protection.
Thorpe's father, Jim Thorpe, was one
of the greatest all around athletes in
world history. He was an outstanding
collegiate and professional football
playerand major league baseball player.
Jim Thorpe was the first athlete in
Olympic history to win gold medals in
both the decathlon and pentathlon in
1912. He was also inducted into the American tribes and the public. She has
Football Hall of Fame in 1952 for his become a figurehead for pro-active
professional football career with the involvement and environmental
Chicago Bears. consciousness in Indian Country.
Part of the tragedy that has haunted        Thorpe, who now resides in
Jim Thorpe's legacy to Native Oklahoma, travelled to Red Cliff to
Americans was when he had his Gold participate and be the keynote speaker
Medals stripped form him because of at a banquet that will be held at the Red  Julie Beaulieu, stated that there had
his playing semi-pro baseball in his CliffElderlyNutrition Siteon Saturday,  been an apparent or what it seemed to
youth. He played ball in order to June 19, 1993, at 5 p.m.
The People of Phillips, Phillips
Unity Pow Wow, A circle of Nations
Pow Wow has been forced to relocate
their powwow. The Pow Wow will
now be held at Cockroach Park,
otherwise known as East Phillips Park
near Holy Rosary Church in
Minneapolis. The park is at the
intersection of 24th St. and 17th Ave.
S.
According to Pow Wow organizer,
survive. Thorpe had his medals
restored to him approximately 10
years ago due to the efforts of Ms.
Thorpe and other family members.
Grace Thorpe, 72, is now retired and
has devoted herself to raising awareness
of environmental issues amongst Native
The purpose ofthe banquet is to raise
funds that will assist local collegiate
athlete Bob Bissell to tour Europe with
Team Amerisport 1993. Team
Amerisport 1993isagoodwillbasketball
program for Midwestern college
athletes.
be a insidious attempt to sabotage the
Pow Wow Beaulieu stated that their
organization had arranged with the
Minneapolis Park Board in the early
spring for the use of Peavey Park.
This arrangement had been made with
Harvey Feldman, Assistant
Superintendent the Minneapolis Park
Board. Feldman assured them that
there would be no problem and that
there was no anticipated construction
or renovation work scheduled until
the fall. Then the Park Board would
be reseeding the grass during the fall.
However, Murphy's law raised its ugly
head to help tiirow confusion into the
scheduling ofthe Pow Wow. One ofthe
workers on the Pow Wow committee
was driving by Peavey Park on Monday
and saw that the Pa rk Board crews were
intheprocessoftearingupthesodinthe
park at the Pow Wow site. They rushed
to the People of Phillips office and told
Ms. Beaulieu ofthe impending disaster
that was occurring to them. In shock,
Beaulieu wentto the parkand confronted
the supervisor who is called Andy and
asked what was going on. Andy stated
that they were going to start their
reseedingproject early insteadofwaiting
until the fall. Andy was asked ifheknew
that the park had been reserved for a
Pow Wow that upcoming weekend. He
stated that he was awareof it and figured
that the Pow Wow would move anyway
once they saw that the park was torn up.
He wasn't really concerned about any
inconvenience to the community.
Because of this last minute
inconsideration by the underlings of
the Park Board, or possibly their
planned cynical form of harassment,
the Pow Wow has been forced to go to
Cockroach Park. The PRESS requests
that all of the community pass the
word about this change of location to
their families and friends and any
vendors who may be coming to town
for this event. Also it would be nice to
have your displeasure raised about
this inconvenience by calling Mr.
Feldman at the Minneapolis Park
Board. The telephone number is (612)
348-2142.