The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1989-03-29

              Appellate court upholds Lawrence conviction
The Minnesota State Court of
Appeals upheld the conviction of
William J. Lawrence for violation of
state game and fish laws.
Lawrence was convicted last May
16 by the Ninth Judicial District
Court for buying fish from
individual fisherman on the Red
Lake reservation instead of from the
Red Lake Fisheries Association.
District Court Judge Jim Preece
had convicted Lawrence of the gross
misdemeanor offense of buying and
selling Red Lake walleye. Preece
stayed the sentenced for one year.
On Aug. 30, 1987, Lawrence was
arrested with approximately 2,000
pounds of walleye fillets. A 1951
state regulation prohibits the sale of
fish caught on the reservation except
by or through the fisheries
association.
Lawrence, 49, works for
Honeywell in Minneapolis, operates
Bill's Wholesale Fish Ltd., and is
publisher of the Ojibwe News, which
was established last May after the
Ojibwe Times ceased publication.
When he was arrested, Lawrence
admitted he had bought the fish for
resale off the reservation. Possessing
a state food-handler's license,
Lawrence has been selling fish to
seafood restaurants in the Twin
Cities.
Lawrence's attorney, Romaine
Powell of Bemidji, said they plan to
appeal the case to the state Supreme
Court.
Lawrence, who has a law degree
from the University of North
Dakota, argued that the application
of state fish and game laws to him
would violate his treaty rights and
the Indian Commerce Clause. State
laws, he said, are preempted by
federal laws.
Since Powell and prosecuter Tom
Keyes agreed on the facts in the
case, the appellate court had to
decide whether the lower court erred
in applying the law.
"The trial court determined that
Minnesota Game and Fish Laws are
applicable to Lawrence," the
appellate court said in its
unpublished opinion. "We agree. . .
The trial court did not err in
applying the state game and fish
laws to Lawrence."
The appellate court also said that
the possession of a food-handler's
license did not exempt Lawrence
from state game laws.
Tuesday, Lawrence said he was
disappointed that Judge Fosberg,
who was not present during the oral
arguments, wrote the appellate
Bill would help low-income
people own homes
Affordable housing may not be pie in the sky for low-income families
wanting to own their own home, according to legislation the Housing
Division of the Minnesota Financial Institutions and Housing
Committee heard March 13.
Rep. Andy Dawkins (DFL-St. Paul) said his bill HF140, would create
five pilot housing projects around the state. The Minnesota Housing
Finance Agency would manage the projects with grant money from
governmental units or nonprofit organizations. To start up the program,
Dawkins' bill would appropriate $1 million, allocating $200,000 to each
pilot.
Dawkins said the projects would link public housing to neighborhood
social services agencies. Together, they would work to preserve the
level of housing stock in blighted neighborhoods.
"It empowers neighborhood organizations, stops blight and crime, and
it rums have-nots into have-stake homeowners," Dawkins said.
Homebuyers eligible for the program must be "at risk," according to
Dawkins. Those "at risk" would include people who recently lost their
jobs, those on public assistance, and recovering chemical abusers.
Homebuyers would pay 30 percent of their incomes on property taxes,
utilities, hazard insurance, and home maintenance. The committee gave
the bill preliminary approval on a 10-3 vote.
Minnesota Legislature considers
proposal for new state flag
Minnesota lawmakers listened to a proposal March 16 for a
design for the state flag. Rep. Gil Gutknecht (TR-Rochester) and Rev.
William M. Becker, associate pastor, Church of St. Pius X, Rochester,
testified in favor of the new design before the House Governmental
Operations Committee.
A Minneapolis woman designed the first state flag in 1893 as an entry
in the Chicago World's Fair. In 1955, the Legislature formed a
commission to simplify the flag, without creating an entirely new
design. The state adopted the commission's recommendations in 1957,
just in time for Minnesota's centennial celebration. Proponents of a new
flag say the 1957 design is too crowded, indistinct at a distance, and
expensive to make.
Designers of the proposed flag say it better identifies Minnesota and
its ideals. The wavy field in the flag represents the Dakota Indian word
"Minisota," which means "sky-tinted waters." They say the gold North
Star in the corner of the flag symbolizes Minnesota's statehood,
northern location, and our guidance and hope for the future. It also
recalls the explorers, pioneers, and immigrants whom the star guided
northward to Minnesota. The star bears a trefoil which marks due north
on a compass and is composed of a sprig of pine (state tree), two loons
(state bird), and a lady slipper (state flower).
The colors in the flag represent Minnesota's natural qualities: blue for
lakes and rivers, green for fields and forests, yellow for mineral wealth,
and white for winter snows. Some lawmakers suggested that the flag
should have more white, in light of a recent snow storm.
Many committee members support studying the flag proposal.
However, the state seal, which the Minnesota Territory originally
adopted in 1849, and the state modified slightly in 1858 and 1883,
would remain the same.
House committee rejects death penalty,
recommends life without parole
People whom the courts convict of first-degree murder may face a
penalty of life in prison without parole under a bill the Minnesota House
Judiciary Committee recommended to pass March 20.
Lawmakers rejected a move to reinstate the death penalty in
Minnesota after more than six hours of testimony on March 17. The
committee defeated the proposal on a 21-to-2 bipartisan vote.
Many Lawmakers said they disagree with the death penalty because
it's irrevocable. One member told the committee that 25 executions
have taken place in the U.S. in which evidence produced later proved
the executed person's innocence. Studies also show that execution cost
more than life imprisonment, though lawmakers said finances aren't the
crux of the issue. Critics of the death penalty said its history "reeks with
discrimination." They also said it doesn't deter crime. In fact, many
states that execute criminals have experienced much larger increases in
murder than Minnesota.
Current Minnesota law states that those convicted of first-degree
murder are eligible for parole after serving 20 years. Under the life-
without-parole bill, the Board of Pardons is the only authority that could
approve the release of a person convicted of first-degree muder, but not
until the person has served at least 30 years in prison.
The bill goes next to the House Appropriations Committee.
court's opinion of the case.
"It is evident that from a reading
of Judge Fosberg's one page,
unpublished opinion that he not only
did not read the transcript of the oral
argument or our legal brief," said
Lawrence, "or he would have known
that the Bailey case did not involve a
Red Lake tribal member and we
raised additional issues in the Good
case which he didn't even mention."
It is the State vs. Bailey (\9%1) and
the State vs. Good (1986) cases on
which the proseuction based its
arguments.
"I guess that I shouldn't be
surprised by the Fosberg decision,"
said Lawrence, "because this is the
normal treatment Indian resource
issues receive from the state courts.
"It doesn't appear that I am going
to get any consideration of the legal
issues involved in this important
case until I get to the federal courts."
Senate committee ok's tougher drunk
driving standard—page 2
Conviction raises concern over
race relations—page 3
Cultural differences contribute to high
native college dropout rate—page?
Founded in 1988
jsue 45
' Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1989
A Weekly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Tension built during a raffle at the Rainy River Community College's First Annual Pow Wow in International Falls last weekend.        Photo by Mark Boswell
Bemidji draws fire for turning down federal housing money
Bemidji (AP) The city council's
decision to pass up nearly $1.5
million in federal money for low-
income housing has shocked poor
residents of this north-central
Minnesota where 180 families are
on a waiting list for subsidized
housing.
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development last fall
awarded the city the money to
provide subsidized houses for 20
poor families, but the council
rejected the offering saying it
needed to study the city's housing
needs first.
"You don't just take the money
and run," said Doug Peterson,
Bemidji's mayor for 14 years. "I've
learned you study a problem first,
find out what your needs are."
"The city would be putting the cart
before the horse if it spent the
money before knowing what the
need is," said John Ostrem, director
of the development commission
that's conducting the study.
But critics say the council is just
avoiding facing up to some difficult
problems in a city that is a tourism
gateway to northern Minnesota.
"The city doesn't want to admit
that the heart of their city needs attention," said John Loftus, a
Beltrami County commissioner.
"And they don't want to deal with
the underlying social and economic
problems." Loftus represents a district that includes some of the city's
most blighted houses. He has become the loudest critic of housing
policy.
The HUD award, $1,468,400, was
a coup. With the money, the city
was supposed to buy 20 houses with
at least three bedrooms, big enough
for large families. The houses would
be rented to families who qualify for
housing assistance.
Those houses represented nearly
one-sixth of the houses HUD
planned to finance in the entire state
of Minnesota.
"The need's tremendous," said Jim
Klein, director of the city's Housing
and Redevelopment Authority. "Just
drive down that street and you can
see," he said of America Ave., one
of the shabbiest in town;
A block away from City Hall is a
four-bedroom shelter where 342
homeless people stayed last year. To
the north, beyond the prosperous
downtown, are the drafty, crowded,
peeling houses crowded with poor
people, many of them Indians.
Public housing for the poor rs new
territory for the city. Although about
220 poor families already are
receiving housing assistance, they're
living in privately owned apartments, not in public housing. The
only public housing in the city a
100-unit building for elderly people.
Federal officials were more than a
little surprised when the city council
rejected the offer.
"There's hardly any money out
there for housing, so if we had a clue
they didn't want it, they'd never
have gotten it," said Pat Mack, a
HUD information specialist in
Minneapolis. "It's unusual for
anyone to turn down public housing
in this day and age.'
It hasn't happened before in
Minnesota as far as anyone can
remember, she said. But a reluctance
to provide public housing for the
poor isn't all that rare. Public
housing for the elderly exists in all
but 10 Minnesota counties, but 46
counties have none for the poor.
"Elderly housing, yes—but
families are another issue," Mack
said. "Most people don't want poor
families with children living near
them. Like my boss said, the only
thing most people want next door is
a park."
Red Lake Mission School to close
Tribal funding withdraw/
By William Lawrence
Publisher
The, News has learned that the Red
Lake Mission School is to close at
the end of the current school year for
financial reasons.
According to several undisclosed
sources, the Red Lake Tribal
Council's withdrawal of financial
support is the primary financial
reason for the closing.
The Red Lake Tribal Council has
been providing the mission school
with $15,000 of support annually.
Sources indicate that the council
intends to use next year's funds to
operate an alternative school on the
Red Lake reservation.
Chief proponent of the alternative
school concept on the reservation is
reported to be Verna Wood, tribal
education director.
The Red Lake Mission School was
established on the reservation by the
Benedictine Order of monks and
sisters on Nov. 1,1888.
The school has educated thousands
of reservation residents and is highly
regarded for educational excellence
on the reservation.
The school has a current
enrollment of 100 students in grades
1 through 6, and employs four
full-time and one half-time teachers.
Annual tuition costs are $170 per
student with a sliding scale for
multiple-student families.
Official action to close the school
is scheduled to take place at a
diocese meeting in Crookston, Minn,
on April 11,1989.
Leech Lake tribe objects to MCLU campaign against sports nicknames
Minnesota Civil Liberties Union
officials are studying a request by
the Leech Lake band of Minnesota
Chippewa that the MCLU and the
state Board of Education drop their
efforts to eliminate Indian
nicknames from public schools.
Several tribal leaders, meanwhile,
applauded Leech Lake's resolution
and said the entire Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe—six reservation
bands with a combined enrollment
of more than 30,000 people—could
adopt similar positions.
"I'd support such a resolution,"
said Eugene Boshey, chairman of
the Bois Forte (Nett Lake)
Reservation. "I don't care whether
it's up here in Orr, where we have
the Braves, or in a Twin Cities
suburb. If they take pride in the
name, let them use it."
The Bois Forte Business
Committee is expected to pass a
resolution in support of the nearby
Orr school's keeping its nickname,
the Indians, Boshey said. "A big
percentage of our kids go to that
school," he said.
A similar resolution was passed on
the White Earth Reservation in
support of the Mahnomen school
keeping its nickname, also the
Indians.
"A lot of schools have pride in
what they're doing and have taken
the time to become more
knowledgeable about another
culture. To take that away is like
reverse discrimination," said Robert
Peacock, chairman of the Fond du
Lac Reservation.
Leech Lake leaders said Tuesday
that a survey of residents
overwhelmingly found pride, not
offense, regarding the use of the
names.
The band's unanimous resolution
is the first official protest by an
Indian government to a campaign
this year to rid state schools of team
names such as Indians, Chiefs and
Warriors. The MCLU said the
campaign, which includes threats to
sue up to 50 Minnesota school
districts in federal court if they don't
change team names, was designed to
stop disparaging references to
Indians.
The MCLU's push prompted the
state Board of Education to urge
schools to drop their Indian
emblems and symbols. Many
schools, including 10 iri the Twin
Cities area, are discussing the
question.
However, some Indian leaders said
the MCLU and state educational
administrators neglected to ask
Indians how they felt about the
issue.
"We are opposed to the action of
the MCLU, and we question their
authority to speak on our behalf,"
said Myron Ellis, a representative on
the Leech Lake Reservation's
Business Committee, the band's
governing body.
"We view the use of Indian names
as a point of pride if they are used
respectfully and in good taste," he
said. "The vast majority of our
people do not have a problem with
the various school districts using
Indian names to represent their
teams."
Matthew Stark, the MCLU's
associate director, said he needed to
study the Leech Lake action before
commenting.
"Right now the plan is that at a
certain point we go to federal court
and go forward with the litigation,"
he said. "I will say that it's
delightful that this whole issue is
being discussed."
State Education Commissioner
Ruth Randall was out of town
Tuesday and Wednesday and could
not be reached for comment.
The Leech Lake resolution asks
the MCLU and the Board of
Education to stop their efforts to
change team names, and instead
work with the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe and the Minnesota Indian
Education Advisory Council to
decide which names or symbols are
being used in a derogatory way.
It also asks that "the MCLU and
the state Board of Education refrain
from attempting to speak for all
Indian people without consultation
of the elected tribal officials."