The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1993-11-05

              Arrests made in Palace Bingo and
Casino robbery
Arraignments Friday in Cass County courthouse
By Diane E. White
WALKER, Minn. - According to
Cass County Sheriff, Jim Dowson, four
men were taken into custody early
Wednesday evening, November 3 on
probable cause charges of Armed Robbery ofthe Cass Lake Bingo Palace &
Casino which occurred September 30,
1993. Two ofthe alleged robbers were
housed overnight at the Beltrami County Detention Center in Bemidji while
the two other alleged robbers went directly to the Cass County Detention
Center in Walker, Minn. Sheriff
Dowson stated the two housed overnight in the Beltrami County Jail were
transported to the Walker jail.
There will be a preliminary arraign-
ment in the Cass County Courthouse on
Friday, November 5.
Arrested were David M Jones, age
24; Bert Headbird, age 20; Merrel L.
Hill, age 22; and Richard A. Jones, Jr.,
age 26; and all men are from Cass Lake,
Minn. Dowson stated that the arrest
came as a result ofa month long investigation by BCA Agents, BIA, FBI
Agents and the Sheriffs Deputies from
Cass, Hubbard, and Beltrami Counties
and the Cass Lake police.
The Sheriff also stated that the investigation is continuing.
On the night of the robbery a cabin
near the Palace burned and authorities
believe is was arson. Also, there were
heavy logs in the middle of one road and
nails were thrown onto a road that
would be an inevitable route for the
sheriff and police responding to the
robbery which took place at 4:35 am.
on September 30. Sources indicate that
at least one Beltrami County squad car
needed new tires.
Sheriff Dowson indicated the arrests
can be attributed to good investigation
work. Fingerprints were found in the
stolen car that was used as the "getaway" car in the Palace robbery. The
stolen car is described as a dark Chevy
camera and was stolen from Park Rapids and later found in the woods in the
mission area following the robbery. A
pistol was also found laying on the
ground next to the stolen car.
No other details ofthe case are available at this time.
Circle Editor continues under undue pressure and harassment/ Page3
Remembering and Reflections for Veterans day/Page 5
Shakopee Sioux buile new recreation center/ Page 5
Palace casino robbers caught/ Page 1
Eembers seek ouster ofTribal Chair Tom Maulson/ Page 1
airie Island band member has home destroyed/Page 1
Voice of the Anishinabeg
i
Rally for Accountability  in
Indian gaming a huge success
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For AB Peapii
By Diane E. White
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - The Minnesota Indian Gaming Association's
conference on the current state of
gambling in the state of Minnesota
was held last Thursday, October 28 at
the Hyatt Regency hotel in Minneapolis. At 8:30 a.m., while the
conference attendees gathered inside
for breakfast, a group of approximately 20 protesters rallied outside
the hotel to state their concerns publicly about the gaming industry. The
protesters represented all reservations,
including the a Lower Sioux reservation in southern Minnesota.
Throughout the day the protesting
group grew to approximately 120 including teenagersfromtheRed School
House who brought their singers and
drummers and protest signs. It is very
important to share concerns with the
younger reservation members because
so many of them will be trapped in
this web of deceit and corruption in
the near future and will be the ones
who will have to right the wrongs.
60 Minutes Interview
The protesters received much media coverage including a visit from a
60 Minutes writer, Claudia Weinstein.
Ms. Weinstein met with approximately 10 members of the protesting group
who represented most ofthe reservations in the state of Minnesota. The
most interesting finding: all of the
reservation representatives held the
same concerns regarding the effects
oflndian gaming on the reservations
and urban Indians. The first concern
was the lack of accountability in casino operations to the enrolled
reservation members. The protesters
stated that they did not know how
much profit was being made at the
casinos and that if there was in fact no
profit—they wanted to know about
that and wanted to know why. Many
ofthe reservations do not receive any
type of per capita payment or any
other benefits that the MIGA officials
claim. The reservation tribal councils, who have too much control over
the casino operations, do not share
any information regarding the casino
operations with their enrolled members and express to the public myths
of how Indian gaming has improved
the lives of their enrolled reservation
members.
The representatives from the Prairie Island Sioux stated that although
they are receiving benefits, including
a per capita, they are losing their land
to the casino operations. Their reservation is very small and the casino is
becoming the reservation. The representatives felt that their reservation
tribal council should start buying land
in order to create proper housing for
their members who want to live on the
reservation. Furthermore, the reservation tribal council is blindly
following the orders of some lawyers
who counsel them not to give out any
information to even enrolled mem
bers because of their tribal sovereignty-
Representative Darelyn Lehto from
Prairie Island writes a newsletter,
'' Voices ofthePeople'' which is written for the members by the members
of theMinnesotaMdewakanton Sioux
Tribe of Prairie Island. The newsletter was presented to the Native
American Press/Ojibwe News Publisher, Bill Lawrence and illustrates
what the protest group is all about.
"Voices ofthe People:"
The newsletter states the policy of
the Treasure Island casino, "Treasure
Island has, and will, continue to practice Native American preference in
hiring. If a Tribal member's qualifications are equal or exceed a
non-Indian's qualifications, the Tribal member is selected forthe position.
Receiving a degree or certificate of
completion ofa technical course does
not necessarily qualify an individual
to be a department manager. All openings are posted two weeks in advance
for Tribal members."
[This is Darelyn Lehto's experi-"^
ence.] I was personally passed over
for a promotion and the management
job was given to an uneducated non-
tribal member.Let me explain some
ofthe background first. I worked for
Treasure Island for a year and a half
in the marketing department. During
that time, I helped coordinate the
Rally/See Page 3
Founded in 1988 Volume S   Issue 19 November 5, 1993
ll
Copyright:, The Optnve Mews, 1993
Stan Hie Photo
Joseph Campbell's home being destroyed by Tribally hired Construction Company
Removal and Relocation alive and well in
Indian Country
NIEA kicks-off silver anniversary
Mobile, Alabama - The National
Indian Education Association celebrates an important organizational
milestone this year with its 25th annual convention in Alabama. The first
national Indian education gathering
was held in November, 1969 at the
Lemington hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
To commemorate NTEA's early organizational history activities are
planned for the 1993 convention at
Mobile. These include special historical presentations by former NIEA
presidents at the 25th annual welcoming reception and during each general
assembly. The first NIEA board of
directors will be honored at the NIEA
convention pow wow on Tuesday
evening.
Historical footnotes developed by
NIEA Silver Anniversary historian,
Dr. Will Antell, will be integrated into
commemorative calendars will be offered at a convention exhibit booth..
The NIEA Silver Anniversary logo
will be officially unveiled at the 1993
NIEA convention banquet on Wednesday evening. The logo will be
integrated into all proposed activities
of next year's Silver Anniversary,
which culminates at the 1994 convention in St. Paul, Minneasota.
National education forums at Mobile will initiate a different structure
for future NIEA conventions, according to NIEA President-electPhil Baird.
Setting the mode for a working convention, a slate of forty^eight forum
sessions on key educational issues are
scheduled during morning sessions
after each general assembly.
"As a follow-up to the White House
Conference on Indian Education and
to U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye's request, we have a mandate for a national
in 1994," Baird said, referring to an
NIEA resolution passed at last year's
Albuquerque, NM convention.
"The forums will not only begin to
address this blueprint, but will also
provide direction for native education
research, tribal and state education
planning, and changes for federal education legislation," he said. "The
most pressing issues are related to
legislative changes for federal Indian
education programs.''
The reauthorization of Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
programs - including Title V, Chapter
One, JOM, bilingual education, and
Impact Aid - will be addressed through
forum discussions. NIEA Legislative
Analyst Karen Funk indicated that
key U.S. Congressional staff will facilitate discussions on major legislative
proposals on Monday and Tuesday
theconventionprogram. Special NIEA   Indianeducationblueprinttobeshaped   iNU^A/SeePageo
Casinos may be bad deal for workers
By Dave Shaffer
St Paul Pioneer Press
[Reprinted with permission ofthe St
Paul Pioneer Press]
An employee at St. Croix Casino in
Turtle Lake, Wis., who loses his job
shouldn't bother applying for unemployment benefits. The casino's
ex-employees aren't eligible.
Anyone injured working at Grand
Casino Mille Lacs could havea frustrating fight over benefits. A judge in that
case said the casino is exempt from state
workers' compensation regulations.
And anyone who sues Treasure Island Casino near Red Wing, Minn., for
sexual harassment, as five former employees have done, should know the
casino says it's immune from sex harassment laws.
Across Minnesota and Wisconsin,
where Indian tribes have opened 39
casinos and bingo halls, workers are
discovering an unpleasant truth - a
tribe's legal status may exempt it from
basic labor laws.
How could this be? Actually, it's always been that way. But hardly anyone
cared until Indian casinos began employing more than 10,000 people in
Minnesota and more than 4,500 in
Wisconsin, mostly non-Indians.
Tribes are exempt from some state
and federal laws because of sovereign
immunity. Fortwo centuries, tribes have
been treated almost like foreign governments - immune from U.S. laws —
unless Congress and otherwise.
To their credit, many tribes voluntarily comply with worker protection laws.
Fond-du-Luth Casino in Duluth, which
employs 250, pays state unemployment
compensation taxes and carries workers compensation insurance, manager
Dennis Erchul said.
Isle Vista Casino at Red Cliff reservation near Bayfield, which employes 110,
also pays state unemployment compen-
sation taxes and carries workers
compensation insurance, according to
Tom Lee, assistant to the manager.
Spokesman for other Northland casinos couldn't be reached for comment.
Government agencies that enforce
workplace laws say tribal casinos aren't
like other employers - and many employees don't realize it.
The major workplace laws in question are:
Jobless benefits. Tribal casinos are
exempt from state unemployment compensation taxes, which other businesses
must pay. Some casinos pay the tax
voluntarily. But more than 20 casinos in
Wisconsin and Minnesota don't pay
leaving their laid-offworkers ineligible
for benefits, state officials said. Tribal
casinos must pay federal unemployment taxes, but jobless workers can't
get benefits unless the casino pays the
state tax
Workers compensation.  Although
Casino/See Page 6
By Gary Blair
"Removal" and "relocation",
that's what the U.S. Government did
to Native Americans when stealing
their land and making'' reservations''
a painful reality for our forefathers.
Now, it appears that the Prairie Island
Tribal Council (PITC) has forgotten
that part of our history.
Joseph Campbell, an enrolled
member and resident of the Prairie
Island Reservation, located north of
Red Wing, Minnesota, told the PRES S
that is exactly how the PITC has dealt
with him. He says that before they
completed his removal and relocation
he was forced to seek debt relief, was
put in jail for trespassing on his own
property, had his house torn down
without giving approval, and was
removed to a location where he does
not want to live. All this was done
without just compensation, he says.
Campbell, who is 50 years old, is
well-informed, has his documentation
and says he plans to do something
about it. In fact, he now has legal
counsel and is preparing a list of those
who were involved in the "Manifest
Destiny" plot and plans to sue them.
He also has been nominated for the
reservation's next tribal council
election, a post he once held for over
six years.
Campbell stated, "They know I
won't do anything to hurt my people.
If I sue the tribal council, I'm suing
myself, my grandchildren and my
relatives." However, he does plan to
sue the tribe's legal counsel, the
construction company who tore down
his house, the Goodhue County
Sheriffs Department and the Red
Wing Police Department.
Campbell was born in Minneapolis
and was raised on the reservation by
his grandmother. He says things that
led up to the recent incidents go back
to 1970, when he moved his family
there because he didn't want his
childrenraisedinMinneapolis. "The
PITC gave me the only house they
had at the time. It was old and it was
located in the flood plane of the
reservation, but I took it," he said.
For the next nine years, Campbell
commuted to work in Minneapolis
and then sought an opportunity to
earn a living closer to home. He said
that he knew about farming having
worked as a youngster with his
grandfather and uncle who had once
farmed on the reservation. It wasn't
until he read a book entitled "Indians
in Minnesota" by the League of
Women Voters that he decided to try
farming on his own. Campbell said,
"I became angry when I read that
there was farm land at Prairie Island
and they said Indians were 'too lazy'
to farm it."
In 1979, he entered into a five year
farming partnership with his two
cousins who had a land lease
agreement with the reservation. The
second year their crop dropped from
65 to 16 bushels per acre. Conflicts
arose between Campbell and his
cousins so he bought them out the
next year with a loan from the FHA.
He says that he then fulfilled the
remaining three years ofthe first lease
agreement and obtained a second one
for a term of 25 years. This lease was
canceled by the PITC after only one
growing season, however, because it
hadn't been officially approved by the
B.I.A. office in Minneapolis.
Campbell says he was on the tribal
council at the time but did not vote on
anything effecting his farming
operation and wasn't aware that his
lease never received official approval.
At the same time that his lease was
called into question, the reservation
was entering into a casino
management agreement with a
company from St. Paul, Minnesota.
Campbell says they were prepared to
give the reservation $ 100,000 up front
to be used for a personal loan program
for the residents. Campbell recalls
later having to collect for those loans
and it cost him his council seat in the
next election.
Even though he could not farm any
Removal/See Page 5
Members call for Lac du Flambeau Chairman's
ouster
By Stephanie Seidel
Lakeland Times reporter
[Reprinted with permission of the
Lakeland Times Reporter]
A press conference regarding gaming
turned into a firing squad of scathing
accusations toward Lac du Flambeau
Tribal Chairman Tom Maulson, including demandsforMaulson's removal
as chairman.
About 20 tribal members and several
media representatives attended the conference Wednesday during which
Maulsonaddressed apetition regarding
concerns about tribal gaming opera
tions.
Some members called for a federal
investigation of tribal council members
andanaudit OtherpetitionedMaulson's
removal from office.
A primary contention was the management of the Lake of the Torches
Casino and the spending of$2.4 million
to purchase new slot machines from
National Gaming Systems (NGS). Trib-
al members insisted Maulson
overstepped his powers and defied the
tribal constitution and bylaws when he
signed an agreement with NGS Oct. 21
without presenting the issue to membership in a referendum.
The item was expected to be addressed
during a vote in August, but was allegedly stricken from the referendum when
Maulson declared a referenced unnecessary because the tribe already had a
contract with NGS for approximately
400 slot machines to initially stock the
casino.
During the Oct. 25 tribal council
meeting, Maulson told members there
was a referendum vote a year or two ago
that provided the use ofthe money. A
referendum is required when tribal coun-
cil spends more than $50,000.
MauIson/SeePage5
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