The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1993-12-17

              tyirtwawfoMWuft-
What's traditional about a $7 admission fee?
By Delvin Cree
This week the PRESS received a
few calls from people in the
Minneapolis area concerned about
the 6th Annual Traditional Powwow,
Alcothon and Feast coming up this
month at the Minneapolis American
Indian Center (MAIC).
The powwow, which is being put on
by the AIMPatrol-Peacomaker Center
and the MAIC has been labeled as a
"traditional" powwow and it is
angering some Native people who
oppose such false labels.
Phil St. John told the PRESS that he
was upset with leaders and directors
of organizations in the Indian
community who take advantage of
the word "traditional".
St. John said, "There is nothing
traditional about a powwow if they
are going to charge people an
admission fee and what is really
unbelievable about this one is that
they are charging seven dollars per
person. For a family of 5 that's $35
just to get in the door one day. Paying
for the gas, lodging, and food is one
thing, but then to pay $35 just to get
in the door of this traditional
ceremony doesn't sit right with me."
"There's nothing traditional about
admission fees," he added.
Myra Lawrence, an elder from the
Red Lake Reservation, said, "It is
very disrespectful that our own Indian
people take advantage of their culture
and in the process pocket money for
their personal use."
What also concerns people is the
fact that Little Six, Inc., is listed as
helping to sponsor the powwow and
feast and yet there is still a $7
admission fee. It's only logical that
members of the community would
wonder how much money was actually
donated by Little Six, Inc., and how
that money was spent.
St. John stated, "If the Little Six
Casino is one sponsor, the Peacemaker
Center is another sponsor and they're
having it at the Indian Center why are
'Franny and Clyde' charging a seven
dollar admission fee?"
The PRESS tried to reach Glen
Crooks ofLittle Six, Inc.,for comment
but our calls had not been returned by
press time. However, a spokesperson
for the powwow told us that the
admission fee was to pay the dancers
and singers.
The PRESS will be sure to inform
the communityjust how much individual
dancers and singers were paid.
"Santa spotted at White Earth /p. 4
Scrooge spotted at Red Lake /p. 4
MIAC meeting agenda /p. 4
What's old at White Earth /p. 5
Ron Otterson charged with forgery /p. 1
Klobuchar: Ironlegs, iron will / p.4
r
Voice of the Anishinabeg
1
Wahpeton Superintendent appears before grand jury
By Marilynn Wheeler
FARGO, N.D. (AP) The embattled
superintendentof the Wahpeton Indian
School appeared Thursday before a
federal grand jury to respond to school
employees' allegations of fraud,
mismanagement and student abuse.
Robert Hall said later he welcomed
the investigation.
"When the U. S. Attorney says 'We're
going to go in there and take a look,'
whena state investigative team on child
abuse comes in here, I know we're
going to be cleared," he said in a
telephone interview.
His hearing before the grand jury
lasted roughly 20 minutes. Hall also
met with afederal prosecutorfor about
two hours.
U.S. Attorney John Schneider, who
did not speak with Hall himself, said he
could not discuss the grand jury
investigation, which was prompted by
the release of five teachers' affidavits
about conditions at the tribal school.
But neither could Schneider conceal
his concern.
"When you receive sworn-under-oath
statements, you have td assume those
statements are credible until there's
evidence that they aren't," he said.
'' Such allegationsyou have to take very
seriously."
Hall said the school was served with
an injunction Thursday prohibitingany
action against the whistleblowers. He
said the five employees had filed a
related lawsuit seeking an undisclosed
financial settlement.
"The bottom line is that these people
are after money," Hall said.
Wahpeton lawyer John Bullis said his
firm wds representing the five school
employees who said they were told they
could be fired.
Schneider said the warnings-
apparently were in retaliation for their
public complaints about Hall.
"I don't know that for a fact," said
Schneider. "But (if) I put on my old
labor lawyer hat, that's the conclusion
I've got to come to."
Hall, however, characterized the five
as troublemakers with complaints about
schedules, promotions or supervisors.
And he insisted they were outnumbered
by his supporters at the school.
Grand Jury/ See Page 3
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Founded in 1988 Volume 5   Issue H5        December 17, 1933.
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Copyright, The Ojibwe News, 1 SO3
Duluth diocese to close Indian-run outreach office
By Susan Stanich
Duluth-Tribunc
The Kateri Center, an Indian run,
Indian outreach office ofthe Catholic
Diocese of Duluth, will shut its doors
in June, the diocese announced
Wednesday.
A white nun will take over Indian
outreach for the diocese, but with a
whole new focus. Bishop Roger
Schwietz wants her toorganize Indian
Catholic leadership throughout the
diocese, which includes five Chippewa
reservations, said Rev. Bill Fournier,
diocesan director of communications.
"We want many people to be doing
one-on-one ministry, instead of just
one person paid for by the diocese,"
Fournier said.
Currently, Don Goodwin, a Catholic
deacon and a pipe carrier, and his
wife Lucille Goodwin lead that effort
in the diocese. They have run the
Kateri Center for almost three years.
For the previous six years, they did
diocesan outreach on the Nett Lake
Reservation. The Goodwins are White
Earth Chippewas.
Sister Marie Rose Messingschlager
has been named director of the new
Department of Ministry to Native
American Peoples. She previously
worked on the Pine Ridge Lakota
Reservation, through the diocese of
R;;pid City. S.D. She also spent 10
years working with Navajo people in
Arizona and New Mexico.
Don Goodwin travels widely in the
region, ministering to Indian people
in their homes, in prisons and
elsewhere. He performs baptisms,
weddings and funerals, and leads
prayer, and twice a week he goes to
the Mash-ka-wisen Treatment Center
on Fond du Lac Reservation, where
he works mostly with clients who are
in a 12-step program. He also visits
monthly during family time, said
Director Elwin Benton. Mash-ka-
wiscn is sponsored by all the tribes in
Minnesota; elected tribal officials
make up its board, "Don does an
excellent job," Benton said.
Fournier said Messingschlager has
the organizational ability needed for
the new focus.
"One thing Sister Marie Rose wants
to do is encourage C
be more sensitive to native rites and
symbols, and wherever possible
include them in the liturgy," he said.
"Not only in native congregations,
but in mixed congregations, so whites
also will be exposed to the richness of
Indian symbolism."
Messingschlager declined comment
Photo by Gary Blair
Newly elected Prairie Island Dakota tribal Officials, Michael Childs, Allen Childs, and Curtis Campbell Sn, being
congratulated by Prairie Island Tribal members outside tribal headquarters, following a swearing in ceremony.
Prairie Island Dakota Council sworn in
Diocese/ Page 3
Babbitt issues order on trust responsibilities
By Gary Blair
WASHINGTON, D.C. -Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has
instructed Departmental bureaus
and agencies to prepare and publish procedures and directives to
comply with a Secretarial Order
he has issued to clarify their responsibility in protecting the trust
resources of federally recognized
Indian tribes and their members.
"It is the intent of this Order that
each bureau and office within Interior
operate within a government-to-government relationship with Indian
tribes," Babbitt wrote in Secretarial
Order #3175 issued last month.
"It clarifies the responsibility of
the Interior bureaus and offices to
ensure that the trust resources of federally recognized Indian tribes and
"All consultations with tribal governments are to be open and candid
so that all interested parties may
evaluate for themselves the potential impact of the proposal on trust
resources," the Order states.
their members that may be affected by
the activities of those bureaus and
Otterson charged with forgery
Ronald G. Otterson, a former
Minneapolis private school director
suspected of misusing school funds,
has been charged with check forgery.
According to a criminal complaint
filed Dec. 7 in Hennepin County
District Court, he forged checks
totaling about $3,000 on the Center
School's checking account.
He allegedly signed school board
member Carol Brieschke's name on
the checks, which were written
between May 13 and Sept. 30, 1992,
and deposited them in his personal
accounts.
The complaint also said he is
suspected of misusing an
additional $14,000 by using the
school's credit card to pay for trips
and entertainment unrelated to
official business.
Otterson was fired as director of
the private alternative school in
south Minneapolis in the winter
The front page ofthe Red Wing
Republican Eagle newspaper carried
big bold letters that read. "Tribal
offices are identified, conserved and election results rejected". The
protected," he said. subheading read, "Judgescharge poll
In a November 29 meeting with irregularities" and "Wells fed up
liaison personnel from each of with rest of council". The headlines
Interior's bureaus, agencies and as- referred to the Dec. 3 tribal council
sistant secretaries offices, American elections atthe Prairie Island Dakota
Indian Trust Office deputy director Reservation located six miles north
Marshall Cutsforth said predecessors of Red Wing, Minnesota,
of Secretary Babbitt had indicated Out of 206 eligible voters 178
that other bureaus and offices in Inte- ballots were cast making the election
rior had a trust responsibility to Indian the largest in the tribe's history. The
tribes, but Babbitt was the first one to following is taken from thcRed Wing
call for written plans and procedures Republican Eagle and is an account
of how the election first started to
Babbitt/ Page 7 shape up:
"Initial results posted Dec. 3
showed Curtis Campbell Sr. and
Byron White, brother of the late
Chairman  Jim   White,   whom
BIA budget for 1994 is $2.3 billion
WASHINGTON, D.C. - President
Clinton has signed into law the Department ofthe Interior's fiscal year
1994 budget - the last such federal
department to receive FY '94 appropriations - that totals $2.3 billion in
total budget authority for the Bureau
oflndian Affairs (BIA) including $1.5
billion for the direct operation oflndian Programs (OIP), and $287 million
for construction, loan programs and miscellaneous payments to Indian people.
The remainder of $533 million is
permanent and trust funds for which
the Federal government is committed.
The appropriated amount of
$1,777,653 falls $30.6short of the FY
1994 request by BIA, but exceeds the
FY 1993 enacted budget of $1.5 bil
lion by $229 million.
Ofthe six activities -- Tribal Priority Allocations, Other Recurring Programs, Non-Recurring Programs,
Central Office Operations, Area Office Operations, and Special programs and Pooled Overhead - in
BIA's OIP budget is categorized, the
Other Recurring Programs category
heads the listintotalfundingof $761.4
million.
The program amounts are headed
by education with $445.6 million;
human services, $110.6 million; tribal government, $92.4 million; community, development, $65.7 million;
resource management $44.1 million;
and tribal services, $3 million.
The second activity - Tribal Prior-
of 1992. He was a DFL-endorsed
candidate for the Minneapolis school
board this past summer, but withdrew
in June after a newspaper report
revealed the allegations.
Brieschke, who is now the
director ofthe Center School, told Minority people in Minneapolis and
investigators that only she was St. Paul are more likely to live in
authorized to sign checks, the poverty than minorities in the core
complaint said. cities of any of the nation's other
Otterson declined to comment major metropolitan areas, according
on the charges last night. to 1990 census data.
An analysis of the data by the
Metropolitan Council shows that 43.7
percent ofthe nonwhites in the two
ity Allocations which are priorities as cities live below the poverty line,
rankedby Indian tribes-totals $429.9 That's the highest rate for any ofthe
million. Public safety andjustice ranks 25 core cities in the most populous
at the topof tribal priorities with $94.9 metropolitan areas surveyed. It is three
million; tribal government comes in times the rate for Los Angeles and
second with $91.5 million; resource San Diego and more than double the
Freeman Johnson replaced midterm,
had substantial leads. Vice Chairman
Johnny Johnson was tied with Michael
Childs, Sr. and one vole ahead of
Lehto. Pacini and Taylor-Jacobson
were less then 10 votes behind."
According to what the PRESS has
learned, from thatpointon the election
seemed to lake on a personality of its
own. First, two of the election judges
left without signing the count sheets.
Sources say they were mad because
their sister hadn't won. Ron Johnson,
son of Freeman Johnson who was an
election judge, then had to takeover,
along with alternate judge Chris Leith,
and two clerks.
Ron Johnson, it is reported, shook
everyone's hand election night and
thanked them for the "smooth
election". But. what was to happen
next set the stage for the present
troubles faced by the council-elects.
They say Ron Johnson left thinking
his father had won the election. But,
because of an earlier mix-up in
mailing out the off-reservation ballots
and the Thanksgiving holiday, there
had been council approval to extend
the deadline for receiving absentee
ballots to Dec. 6. When those ballots
were fi nally counted the election then
became an upset. Apparently, no one
saw it coming. It was only at that
point that Ron Johnson started
claiming election irregularities had
taken place. Irregularities that he has
yet to explain.
If the election results hadn't been
challenged, Tribal Chairman
Freeman Johnson; Vice Chairman
Johnny Johnson; Secretary Edith
Pacini; and Lu Taylor-Jacobson would
have already beenejected from office.
The fifth member of the council,
treasurer Vine Wells, didn't seek reelection so his seat wasn't effected.
Council/ Page 5
Twin Cities has worst poverty rate for minorities
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP)
poverty rate was 17.8 percent, which
ranked 16th.
The poverty rate for whiles in
Minneapolis and St. Paul is 11
percent. It is 5.9 percent forthe entire
metro area. Ofthe metropolitan areas
surveyed, the Twin Cities had the
smallest percentage of nonwhites.
The calculations are part of an
ongoing study of census data for the
state legislature by the Metropolitan
Council, the intergovernmental
planning agency for the region.
"That kind of breaks a bubble," said
Pete Rode, research director for the
Urban Coalition.  "We think of
percentage point gap in nonwhite
poverty rales between the central cities
and the suburbs is the largest of any of
the top 25 areas.
"At this point, the disparities are
great and are of concern," said Michael
Munson, a principal planner for the
Met Council. "The question is whether
these people can be brought into the
economic mainstream to raise their
i ncome so we don't have these statistics
that are not characteristic of the
region's overall wealth."
The Metropolitan Council findings
come in the wake of an Urban
Coalition study that showed poverty
which   management, $66.6 million; human Poverty rate for nonwhites in New ourselves as being a metro area that's rates for Twin Cities minority groups
services, $57.7 million; education, $36 York, Denver, and Washington. D.C. better off than most metro areas, and climbing   during   the   decade,
million- tribal services  $29 7 mil- The Twin Cities metropolitan area- (in general) we may be right, but it's According to the study, published
lion- administration $27 8 million; -an 11-county area that includes certainly not uniform." during the summer, poverty rates for
and community development $23.1 Minneapolis, St. Paul, and their The poverty thresholds for the 1990 blacks and Americans Indians rose
million suburbs-ranks third among the census were $8,076 for a two-person 10.7 percent during the 1980s, and
In the Non-Recurring Programs nation's 25 most populous metro areas household and $12,575 for a four- the poverty rate for Asians increased
($85 5 million) tribal services heads in the percentage of nonwhites living person household with two children 8.4 percent,
the list with $33.8 million; resource below the poverty line-33.8 percent, under 18.                                              Urban Coalition President Yusef
management, $28.7 million- commu- For all races, the poverty rate in the The Met Council's analysis also Mgeni stressed the problems of poverty
nitydevelopment,$10.7million;tribal Twin Cities area was 8.1 percent, tied shows that only 14 percent ofthe among nonwhites in some ofthe Twin
government, $9.2 million; and public for 24th lowest among the 25 metro nonwhites living in the suburbs fall
RnHaPt/ SppP        ~K areas. In the central cities, the overall below the poverty line. The 29 .bee xOVerty/ page 7
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