The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1993-10-15

              State investigation of former Hennepin
County Detox Center completed
By Gary Blair
The state of Minnesota's Department of Health and Human Services
is getting ready to issue their findings
on the investigation of alleged client
abuse atthe former Hennepin County
Detox Center. The detox center was
closed late last year.
According to PRESS sources at the
state level, Hennepin county officials
are now trying to find ways to soften
the blow they know is contained in the
report. It will be released to the public
as soon as the county submits their
official response.
Over a year ago, the PRESS reported the first story about the client abuse
that led to the above mentioned
investigation. Within weeks, the old
detox center was dubbed the' 'chamber of horrors." According to former
detox center clients who reported being abused, both female and male told
of being beaten, raped, mutilated and
denied services. Records and reports
from former staff and clients of the
old detox center, then located at 1800
Chicago Avenue South in Minneapolis, reveal the abuse had occurred for
over ten years.
During the first six months of the
State's investigation, Hennepin
county officials tried to downplay the
charges being made against the detox
center staff by two other staff members. Irene Wade and Lynn
Fitzpatrick, who blew the whistle on
their colleauges for taking part in the
abuse or not reporting it, say they also
became the objects of assault and
harassment by these same detox center staff, including their supervisors.
On October 12, 1993, the PRESS
contacted Robert Olander who has
remained the head of the county's
chemical health division and is officed
two floors below the old detox center.
Olander stated, "I never said there
wasn't any problems." Information
obtained by the PRESS says Olander
is one of the Hennepin County officials most heavily criticized in the
report. Olander mentioned the
changes the county has made in their
top level management and how they
had removed most ofthe former detox
center staff. He said they had been
working with some members of the
Indian community hoping to open up
a new detox center. He said, "You
know the county will never operate a
detox center again."
The PRESS called Hennepin
county's assistant administrator,
Carol Olgren, who is new on the job.
She moved up the ladder when Frank
Kenny was recently removed as the
county's administrator. Olgren had
little to say other than she had heard
about the report but had not seen it.
When told that some of the abuse
allegations had been substantiated in
the report, she said. "Well that type
of stuff won't be tolerated.''
According to sources in the Minneapolis Native American community,
the abuse issues that once surrounded
the old detox center are far from
over. When the State issues theirfind-
ings, Lynn Fritzpatrick, one the
former detox center staff who reported the abuse, is going to produce
another three hundred abuse reports
• she says the state investigators have
deliberately overlooked.
Fritzpatrick told the PRESS,' 'They
[the State] took seven of my reports
and their investigator said she would
come back and get the rest, but she
never did." Fritzpatrick also said that
she had personally delivered client
abuse reports to state officials before
and nothing was done.
Kathleen Messinger, spokesperson
for the Native American Coalition for
Civil Rights, a group formed to address the detox center client abuse,
when it was discovered that so called
Indian leaders had been covering it
up, said, "We're expecting the U.S.
Justice Department to now get involved. We want criminal charges
brought."
"We have no guarantee from the
county that this same type of thing
won't happen again, "she added. "In
fact, they haven't taken any
responsiblility in the matter." She
also said, "The Indian community
hasn't received anyjustice so far. The
county still has the perpetrators working in the shelter they've opened since
the state forced them to close the center.
The two women who came forward and
reported the abuse have lost months of
wages over this incident and we want to
see thatthey'reproperly compensated,"
she continued.
"If they hadn't come forward, Lynn
Fritzpatrick would still be making out
client abuse reports and her supervisor
would still be covering them up,"
Messinger blasted.
Although state officials are glad
they've concluded their investigation
of the detox center client abuse, they
admit there is little they can do. The
PRESS was told, "There is no license
involved. The county already gave that
up." And Hennepin County can't prosecute itself.
For now the community will have to
wait and see if the U.S. Justice Department is willing to get involved. PRESS
sources say one of their investigators
has already been meetingwith people in
Minneapolis.
Clyde would you please...? In Vizenor's excerpt/Page 1
Temporary Restraining Order quashed/ Page 2
UMD Resource Center starts new tradition/Page 1
Janet Reno, Attorney General comes to St. Paul/Page 5
Leech Lake politics are examined again/Page 4
BIA Area Director on leave pending investigation/ Page 1
Voice of the Anishinabeg
1
The
Fifty Cents
OJibwwi
News
We
Equal Opportunity For AH
Founded  in 1988
Volume 5   Issue IE October 15, 1993
iiiitfiiiiiiiiiiB^m
\
Ojibwe Mews, 1993
Prosper Waukon new RAP Fare SHARE
Director
St. Paul - Prosper Waukon of
Hudson, Wisconsin, has been appointed director of Fare SHARE,
Ramsey ActionPrograms' multi-state
St Paul-basednot-for-profitfood program (SHARE stands for Self Help
And Resource Exchange).
Waukon received a B A in business
administration from the University
of St. Thomas in 1985. Since that
time he has been employed as senior
lead administrator atHoneywell, Inc.,
as senior program administrator at
Aliiant Techsystems, as executive
director of the St. Paul American
Indian Center and as president of
Prosper Industries, Inc., a contract
manufacturing and assembly company.
He has been involved with many agencies including the Martin Luther King
Center, Minnesota American Indian
Chamber of Commerce, St. Paul Area
Council of Churches, St. Paul Indian
Health Board, Science Museum of
Minnesota and Juel Fairbanks Chemical Dependency Services. He has been
a minority recruitment advisor for the
University of St. Thomas and chairs
that institution's Pow Wow Commit
tee. In 1989 he received the Honeywell
community service award for 11,000
volunteer hours.
A Native American, Waukon was
born in 1951. He was raised on the
reservation at Winnebago, Nebraska.
Waukon hopes marketing will increase
RAP/Fare SHARE'S visibility: "I tuiV,
very enthusiastic about the potential of
thisagency. RAP/Fare SHARE can'tbe
kept a secret any more. Fare SHARE
can help out so many, and I believe we
can succeed in this with the teamwork
we'll do together," he told employees
on September 13,hisfirstdayonthejob.
Photo by Mel Rasmussen
Pictured is Rick J. Smith, Director of the American Indian Learning Resource Center
UMD's American Indian Learning Resource
Center announces new directions
Former Indian Health Board Committee re-
enacted to address recent issues
By Gary Blair
Plans to request the U.S. General
Accounting Office to audit the Minneapolis Indian Health Board (IHB)
are now under way. On October 13,
1993, eleven members ofthe Minneapolis Native American community
met and re-enacted the old Indian
Health Board committee and named
Charlie Deegan as chairman. The
Health Board Committee was the parent group that originally started the
IHB clinic.
Deegan arrived from California last
Sunday with the expressed intentions
of getting to the bottom ofthe allegations now hanging over the
organization he helped start over 25
years ago. Deegan said, "I
believe I have enough information to
get the GA's office involved. I plan to
have other people with me when I go
to their office on Friday," he said.
Recently, IHB was hit with numerous counts of employment
discrimination and allegations of financial mismanagement. Eight of the
14 counts that have been filed so far
with the State of Minnesota's Human
Rights Department were brought by
the commissioner.
Wednesday's meeting lasted nearly
four hours arid produced discussions
about the IHB's chances for survival
and the clinic's low intake count. One
of the committee members said, "f
went over there last week and the
waiting room was empty."
According to other members, the
complaints against IHB are welldocu-
mented. In a letter received by the
PRESS, the State of Minnesota's Department of Jobs and Training Service
has also had to take action against
IHB. In a recent decision dated September 17, 1993, the State reversed
an earlier decision that denied a
former IHB employee unemployment
benefits. In a letter from Richard
Mandell, an Unemployment Insurance Judge, the following is written:
"An employer does not have the
right to interfere with the
lawfulactivities of employees outside
the workplace so long as the employees perform their work duties. In
addition, an employer should not make
disparaging comments about an
individual's cultural and spiritual
heritage. Further, the claimant in this
case was required to perform substantially more work and different types
of work than she had performed previously during the last several months
of her employment. Taken as a whole,
these circumstances give the claimant good cause attributable to her
employer for her voluntary separation from employment."
Health Board/See Page 8
Native writer shares insight on AIM in book
By Mel Rasmussen
In an interview with Rick J. Smith,
director ofthe UMD American Indian
Learning Resource Center it was
revealed that there is a great need for
support from the Native American
community for the Native American
students at UMD. Accordingto Smith
there are a number of projects in the
works and some that have come to
fruition that support this end.
The first project that is being
developed is an auction during
February 1994. The purpose of the
auction is to raise funds for the
resource center so they can provide
better services to their students. Smith
stated that due to financial constraints
and cutbacks from the state there is
not enough supportive service monies
available for the students. Programs
that have been impacted are American
Indian cultural speakers (elders),
American Indian student works, a
new student hardship fund, student
emergency book loan fund, American
Indian culturally sensitive library.
Currently these vital services are low
on operating funds and have been
curtailed due to this lack of funds.
Smith stated that they are starting
to develop this auction and will be
seeking artwork and items that are
made by Native Americans from
across the country. Smith is asking
that artists donate some of their works
for the auction. He expects to receive
donations from across the country.
Any artist(s) who is interested can
contact the Resource Centerfor further
information.
Another major event that has
occurred for the Resource Center was
development ofa new scholarship for
biology students. Smith said that the
development of this scholarship was
on behalf of a former student at the
school. The scholarship is called the
Tina Guimaes Memorial Scholarship.
It is set up for any Native American
student or any individual who has
been identified as enrolled in a
federally recognized tribe or a
descendent. It is designed for
undergraduates other than freshman
who are majoring in the field of
biology. Students must have a 2.5
GPA and must have a minimum of 36
credits a year to qualify. It will be an
annual gift of $2,100 per year or $700
per quarter. The intent of the
scholarship is to supplement the
financial aid package of American
Indian biology scholars at the
University ofMinnesota, Duluth.
Smith stated that the scholarship
was set up in honor of Cristina (Tina)
Marie Sherer Guimaraes who was a
Minnesota Chippewa, White Earth
member and born in 1963. She had
graduated from the University of
Minnesota in May 1988 with a major
in biology and a minor in American
Indian Studies. She the died in a
automobile accident in December of
1988. Smith stated that she had fodr
brothers who graduated from the U of
M system and went on to become
medical doctors. One brother, Dr.
Omar Guimares and his wife Susan
decided to endow a scholarship in her
memory. The scholarship is dedicated
to Tina, her simplicity, her courage,
her perseverance, and most
importantly, her sense of humor.
Smith stated that there were two
recipients of this scholarship for this
UMD/SeePage3
By Gerald Vizenor
The following is an excerpt from
Manifest Manners: Postindian Warriors ofSurvivance. Gerald Vizenor
is professor ofNative American Indian literature in the Ethnic Studies
Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of
many books on tribal histories, literature, and critical studies, including
The People Named the Chippewa. He
edited Narrative Chance, a collection of essay on Native American
Indian literatures. His autobiography, Interior Landscapes:
Autobiographical Myths and Metaphors, and Bearheart, his first novel,
were published by the University of
Minnesota Press. The Heirs of Columbus, a novel, and a new collection
of short stories. Landfill Meditation.
were published by Wesleyan University Press.     Griever: An American
Monkey Kins in China, his second
novel, won the American Book Award.
Dead Voices: Natural Agonies in the
New World, his fifth novel, was published last year by the University of
Oklahoma Press. Manifest Manners:
Postindian Warriors of Survivance
was published this year by Wesleyan
University Press. Vizenor is general
editor of the new series, American
Indian Literature and Critical Stud*-
ies, at the University of Oklahoma
Press. He is a former staff writer for
the Minneapolis Star Tribune, former
Director of Indian Studies at Bemidji
State University, and a member of the
White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians
RADICAL DURANCE
The Vietnam War, and the horrors of
racialism recounted in the literature
of survivance, aroused the nation to
remember the inseparable massacres
at My Lai, Sand Creek, and Wounded
Knee.
That narrative turn in consciousness, and federal legislation to
transmute poverty in the nation, created the third historical nomination
of tribal leaders by outsiders: the first
was the simulation of tribal chiefs,
the selection of men to negotiate agreements and treaties that served colonial
and national territorial interests; the
second was tied to literacy, the federal
reorganization of tribal governments,
relocation, and assimilation policies;
the third was related to the revisions
of tribal histories and federal poverty
programs. At the same time, in the
late sixties, there were simulated leaders in the cities who wore bone, beads,
and leather, and strained to be the
representations of traditional tribal
cultures.
Vizenor/SeePage3
Bureau of Indian Affairs officials placed on
administrative leave
By Mel Rasmussen
On October 12, Dr. Earl Barlow,
area director for the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, Minneapolis Area Office and
his Executive Assistant, Deanna
Rasmussen were placed on
administrative leave with pay. This
action is in response to the charges
that Barlow and Rasmussen received
gifts and cash from various casinos.
In a news article released last week
it stated that Barlow and Rasmussen
accepted over $300 in vouchers when
they were at the Jackpot Junction
Casino in Morton, Minnesota. This
occurred prior to Barlow's approval
of a gaming contract a week later.
Currently there is an acting director
in place at the Minneapolis Area
Office. Ms. Carol Bacon from the
central office in Washington, D.C.
took over the reins as of October 12
for an indefinite period of time. In an
interview with Ms. Bacon she stated
that she had been sent to Minneapolis
to continue on the business of the
Bureau. Bacon could neither confirm
or deny that there was a investigation
concerning Barlow or Rasmussen's
actions. She did not know how long
she would be in this position and that
this would be up to her superiors in
the Washington central office.
Ms. Bacon is the current Director of
the Office Of Tribal Services in
Washington, D.C. This office deals
with social services, housing, self
determination services,tribal
government services and child
protection as opposed to the
administration ofthe trust funds part
of the bureau.
In a telephone call to the Assistant to
the Secretary's office of Ms. Ada Deer,
the PRESS tried to obtain information
about the administrative action that were
occurring. The staff at her office were
unaware of the situation at the
Minneapolis office but indicated that
they would be back in touch.
If there is to be an investigation or any
disciplinary action it would have to
come from the Washington, D.C. level
of supervision. Bacon's position of
Acting Director would not involve her
in any such adverse actions or
punishments. This would have to come
from Ms. Deer's office. Also the
administrative leave with pay would
indicate that there will be an
investigation and possible sanction
against Barlow and Rasmussen.