The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1989-03-01

              Police chief says
officers need cultural
awareness education
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gT Wisconsin Indians
*       to educate West
Germans
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v.
DNR's scheme
to regulate Red
Lake fishing
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Indian Studies director assaulted
Kent Smith, 45, director of the Indian Studies program at Bemidji
State University, was treated for multiple bruises at North Country
Hopital after he was assaulted with a wrecking bar by a 17-year-old
youth.
The incident occured at Smith's home Sunday morning shortly before
5 a.m. when Smith awoke to find the youth standing over him with a
crowbar. The youth, who was known to Smith, later turned himself over
to authorities after leaving Smith's home, according to Sgt. Ray Holter.
Officers retrieved the crowbar, along with reinforced wire and a filet
knife, at Smith's home.
Authorities are seeking a second youth who was present during the
assault but not considered a suspect.
Man indicted for bald eagle death
Minneapolis (AP)—A 32-year-old Chisago City man has been
indicted by a federal grand jury for killing a bald eagle.
Steven James Lindell was indicted Friday on charges of violating the
Bald Eagle Protection Act, passed in 1940 to protect eagles as a national
symbol.
Lindell, who is accused of killing an eagle Sept. 29, faces a maximum
penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
Eagles also are protected by the federal Endangered Species
Conservation Act of 1969 and die Migratory Bird Conservation Act.
Police officer becomes
Beltrami County sheriff
Bemidji police officer Dwight Stewart was appointed sheriff of
Beltrami County by the county board Thursday night.
Stewart will serve out the two years remaining in the term of the
former sheriff, Orielle Norland, who resigned effective Feb. 15.
Norland said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Twelve people had applied for the sheriff's post and seven were
interviewed by the board. Among those applying was Undersheriff Ron
Otterstad.
Traffic deaths up in 1988
St. Paul (AP)—Traffic accidents claimed 615 lives in Minnesota last
year, an increase of 85 over the 1987 highway death toll, state officials
said Tuesday.
Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Paul Tschida cited three
possible reasons for the increase:
• Minnesota motorists drove more miles last year than in 1987.
» Late winter storm's caused poor driving conditions in some parts of
the-state.
• Minnesotans are driving faster overall, particularly when conditions
require slower speeds.
While not all data for 1988 is in yet, Tschida said it appears that the
impact of drunken driving on highway fatalities has not changed
significantly.
Based on figures from the National Safety Council for the first 10
months of 1988, Minnesota was of 33 states showing an increase in
road deaths, Tschida said.
Fifty Cents
Founded in 1988
Volume 1  Issue 41
March 1, 1989|
Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1989
A Weekly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Cold
Weather
Work
Mike Thielen, of Detroit Lakes, took a break from the reconstruction of Strawberry Lake
Store, near Strawberry Lake, yesterday. He and two others from Foltz Construction have been
working on the new building since Monday. The Strawberry Lake Store, owned by Jim
Chelmo, burned to the ground on Jan. 2. The new store will be built on the same site as die old
building and is expected to open sometime this spring. It will house a convenience store,
laundromat and bait shop. photo by Mark Boswell
Lottery bill wins approval of Senate committee on 7-2 vote
By Gene Lahammer
Associated Press Writer
SL Paul (AP>—A bill setting up a
state-run lottery passed its first
legislative test Friday when the
Senate General Legislation and
Public Gaming Committee approved
the proposal on a 7-2 vote.
"I'm very, very happy right now,"
said Sen. Robert Lessard,
DFL-International Falls, chief
Senate sponsor. "It was bigger than I
thought," he said of the vote.
Five DFLers and two
Independent-Republicans voted for
the bill, while the "no" votes were
cast by Sens. Dean Johnson,
IR-Willmar, and Charlie Berg,
DFL-Chokio.
Berg said one of the reasons he
voted against the bill was because,
"the people in my (Senate) district
did not vote for the lottery."
The vote sent the bill to the Senate
Judiciary Committee. Lessard said
the bill must also clear the Tax and
Finance Committees and possibly
the Senate Governmental Operations
Committee.
But he said the first vote was
crucial.
"I am absolutely convinced that
we will have a lottery," he said.
Voters in the general election last
fall removed a constitutional
prohibition against a lottery. Sen.
Joe Bertram, DFL-Paynesville, said
he regarded the vote on the
constitutional amendment as
instructions to lawmakers to set up a
lottery.
If the final bill is not approved
until mid-May, which appears likely
at this point, Lessard said a lottery
probably will not be operating until
early January.
Because the Senate and the House
are taking separate approaches on
many aspects of lottery regulation, it
appears a conference committee will
be necessary to resolve the
differences.
One major difference, for
example, is that the Senate bill
permits lottery tickets to be sold in
liquor establishments that recently
had charitable gambling operations.
Rep. Joe Quinn, DFL-Coon
Rapids, chief House author, has said
lawmakers should protect charitable
gambling interests from competition
from a state-run lottery.
official in state government.
Gov. Rudy Perpich is paid
$98,914, which would have meant
the director could have been paid as
much as $89,023.
But an amendment by Sen. Phyllis
McQuaid, IR-St. Louis Park, to scale
The House bill would prohibit * back the salary was approved on an
lottery tickets from being sold in    8-0 vote.
bars and restaurants that have liquor
licenses and that, within the previous
five years, had charitable gambling
operations on the premises.
Another difference developed
Friday when the Senate panel
decided to set the salary of the
lottery director at $57,500 to
$78,500, the same range set for
several other top state officials,
including the commissioners of
finance, education, transportation
and revenue.
The Lessard bill originally called
for the director, who is appointed by
the governor, to be paid up to 90
percent of the governor's salary,
which would have made the lottery
director the second highest paid
An attempt by Johnson to prohibit
anyone who has served in the
Legislature in the previous four
years from being appointed director
of the state lottery was defeated on a
5-4 show of hands.
Johnson said he did not know if
Perpich had any intentions of
appointing a current or former
legislator to the position. But he said
he wanted to remove, as much as
possible, any inference of political
favoritism in the selection process.
Sen. Marilyn Lantry, DFL-St.
Paul, said the amendment would
discriminate against legislators and
former legislators.
Lessard said Minnesota would be
the 31st state to establish a lottery.
He said he expects the lottery to
produce $65 million for the state in
its first year of operation.
"I say this is conservative," he
said.
Within five years, he expects the
lottery to yield $140 million to $150
million annually for state coffers.
"I think that's a very realistic
figure, given what's happened in
other states," he said.
Berg disagreed.
"I think the lottery star has set and
the lottery will decline (in
popularity)," he said. "I don't think
it's going to do any of the great
things the proponents say."
The Senate bill says that at least 45
percent of the gross sales must be
distributed in prizes. Lessard said he
expects 15 percent to 18 percent of
total income will be used for
administrative costs with nearly 40
percent going into the state treasury.
Mountain Iron-
Buhl School
Board fights to
save the district
Mountain Iron, Minn. (AP)—It's
now up to voters to determine the
Mountain Iron-Buhl school district's
fate, say some school board
members hoping for a special levy to
make up for funds lost because of
open enrollment transfers.
Faced with the loss of $1.2 million
a year in state money as a result of
Minnesota's open enrollment
program, the board voted Tuesday to
all but close one of its two schools
next fall.
The board also voted to hold a
levy referendum April 18 to give the
financially troubled district a chance
to balance its budget. Referendums
have been rejected three times in the
past three years.
Bill creating
tourism department
approved by House
subcommittee
SL Paul (AP)—A bill creating a
separate state Department of
Tourism, long a goal of the
tourism industry, was approved
Thursday
The bill was sent to the full
committee on a unanimous voice
vote. The Commerce Committee
is expected to vote on the measure
this Thursday.
The current Office of Tourism
is part of the Department of Trade
and Economic Development,
which has about 270 employees, *
Supporters said a separate
department would give the
growing tourism industry more
visibility, and having a
commissioner appointed by the
governor would give the
department direct access to tbe
governor's office.
Jayne Khalifa, chief of staff for
the Department of Trade and
Economic Development, said the
department opposes the bill.
Bill to negotiate reservation
gambling gets Senate nod
St. Paul (AP)—The governor, in
counsel with the attorney general,
would be authorized to negotiate
with Minnesota Indian tribal leaders
over regulating some reservation
gambling under a bill that has won
preliminary Senate approval.
The measure, authored by Sen.
Marilyn Lantry, DFL-St. Paul, on
Monday was given initial approval
on a voice vote with some audible
dissent. It comes up for final action
on Thursday.
A successful amendment offered
by Sen. Fritz Knaak, IR-White Bear
Lake, removed the speaker of the
House, the Senate majority leader,
or their designates, from the
negotiating process.
Historically, the state has
empowered the governor to enter
into negotiations, said Knaak,
adding that he saw no reason to add
the Legislature to the process.
"It just seems to me that what
we're doing is creating a special
negotiating procedure," said Knaak.
Involving legislators, he said, might
set a precedent and lead organizations to seek lawmakers' involvement in other negotiations. "It is
simply adding more confusion to the
process."
But tribal leaders want the
Legislature's involvement in this
negotiation, Lantry said in opposing
Knaak's amendment, which was
approved 30-22.
Although the amendment doesn't
allow legislators any input, Lantry
said she still voted for her amended
bill.
A recent federal law established
three classes of gambling and left
authority over Class III gambling,
such as video poker and video
blackjack, to state and tribal leaders,
she said.
Lantry's amended bill authorizes
the governor to negotiate with tribal
leaders over whether those forms of
gambling will be permitted on
reservations and, if they are
permitted, how they will be
regulated.
Earlier this month, the Senate
General Legislation and Public
Gaming Committee was told that
Class III gambling may be
conducted only under three
conditions: If it is authorized by
ordinance of the tribe; if it is in a
state that permits that type of
gaming, and if it is conducted in
conformance with a tribal-state
compact entered into by the tribe
and the state.
Dale McDonnell, committee
counsel, said video poker and video
blackjack are permitted in
Minnesota as an entertainment
device, but payoffs on the results are
prohibited. He said video poker is
used as a gambling attraction in at
least one reservation casino.
Negotiations are likely to focus on
whether gambling on those video
games can continue, McDonnell
said.
    —
Bingo player
wins $500,000
Tower, Minn. (AP)—Bois Forte
Indian Reservation member Frank
Dupree, 71, has won $500,000 in
Bois Forte's Fortune Bay Bingo
Palace at Lake Vermilion near
Tower.
The game—MegaBingo, a new
national game played via satellite
on 12 Indian reservations across
the country—offers a $500,000
jackpot nightly to the first person
filling in a bingo card in 50 or
fewer of the numbers called.
Dupree, who plays bingo every
evening, filled in his card on the
49th number late Wednesday.
His prize is possibly the largest
gaming prize ever paid in
Minnesota and may be the largest
bingo prize every won anywhere,
said Bill Seaton of Gamma
International of Dallas, which
created and manages MegaBingo.
Some bingo jackpots are as high
as $1 million, but no one has won
them, he said.
Dupree's success was relayed
immediately to the 3,000
MegaBingo players across the
nation. At Fortune Bay, 181
players cheered Dupree's good
fortune, said Bill Tibbetts, Fortune
Bay personnel director and a
friend of Dupree.
Dupree received $1,000
immediately and was scheduled to
fly to Tulsa, Okla., Friday to
receive $24,000. He or bis heirs
will receive $25,000 every Feb. 22
for the next 19 years, Seaton said.
Dupree, who wasn't available
for comment, lives at Lake
Vermilion with his wife and three
of his 21 grandchildren, Tibbetts
said. He was born and raised at
Nett Lake and spent a year in a
German prisoner-of-war camp
during World War II, according to
Tibbetts.
MegaBingo began last Friday at
Fortune Bay and Little 6 Bingo in
Shakopee; Oneida Bingo in
Wisconsin, and reservations in
California, Alabama, New Mexico
and Oklahoma.