The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1989-08-02

              Health Service agreement
for Red Lake
page 10
r—~~
.-...  :  >""■■'■' ^—
Fifty Cents
Government -to Government
Agreement
page 11
Petition for removal of Wadena
White Earth, Minn. - Tribal members continue to circulate a petition
seeking the removal of Chairman Darrell "Chip" Wadena. When at least
20% of eligible resident voter's names are obtained, the petition will be
presented to the White Earth RBC.
Sources indicate that approximately 250 signatures have been
received. Approximately 500 to 600 signatures are needed in order to
present the petition to the White Earth RBC for action to be taken.
Stevens requests election monitors
White Earth, Minn. - In a written statement announcing his
re-election bid for District HI Representative on White Earth, Dan
Stevens criticizes present tribal government practices and expresses his
belief that Darrell "Chip" Wadena should step down from office as
tribal chairman.
Stevens confirms critics' belief that RTC members will not stand up
to Wadena when disagreeing on issues affecting all tribal members.
Stevens also criticizes the fact that the RTC will not hold public
meetings seeking the input of the people.
"Our government and leadership is blatantly misusing and abusing the
system," Stevens said. Stevens has requested that the Bureau of Indian
Affairs supply election monitors to be present at the next election.
Sources indicate that in the last election Wadena received 26% of the
vote.
Tax trial decison coming down
Duluth, Minn. - A decision is due to be released by August 17 on
Roger A. Jourdain's tax trial.
Jourdain was charged with owing $81,000 in back State Income taxes
for the years 1979-85, and a hearing was held on May 17 at the St.
Louis County Courthouse in Duluth, Minnesota, before Judge Earl B.
Gustafson.
Jourdain, who resides in Bemidji, claimed that he is not subject to
Minnesota Income Taxes because his domicile is still the Red Lake
Reservation. He has not resided on the reservation since the May, 1979
uprising against his policies.
Indian Golf Tournament to be held
Walker, Minn. - The 20th Annual Northern Minnesota Indian Golf
Classic will be held August 12-13th at Tiannna C. C. in Walker. The
tournament is sponsored by the Northern Minnesota Indian Athletic
Association and will draw players from among enrolled tribal members,
employees of the BIA, Indian Health Service and tribal governments.
Tee off time Saturday is 8 am with preregistration beginning Friday.
Entry fee for men's championship is $60 with $50 fees for men's
handicap flights and all women's flights.
For further information contact Joe Aitkin at 751-9239 or the Tianna
C.C. at 547-1712.
"Dispute at White Earth"
will be aired on Channel 9
Bemidji, Minn. - A series entitled "Dispute at White Earth" will be
aired on Channel 9: Part I - Monday, August 7, at 10 p.m. and Tuesday,
August 8, at 11:30 a.m. Part II - Monday, August 14, at 10 p.m. and
Tuesday, August 15, at 11:30 a.m. The series is written and produced
by Becky Lefebver.
King fired as R.L.
tribal prosecutor
By Kathy Thornes
Staff Writer
Red Lake, Minn. - "This has got to
stop. .. it's a mess at the courts. I'm
the best thing that ever happened to
the court system up there. ... It was
so crooked."
Cynthia King was fired, in
violation of due process, as Red
Lake tribal prosecutor, the morning
of Friday, July 21. Clifford Harty,
Associate Judge, informed her that
morning that she was relieved of her
duties. Harty was unavailable for
comment.
To date, she has received no
written notice or her last paycheck,
she said.
"I tried not to make it so political
(court system)," King said. She was
elected to that post two years ago.
In April of this year, Joseph
Dudley was appointed as a tribal
prosecutor.
"I think there was a conspiracy to
get me out of there," King said,
adding, "the council wants total
control of the courts - that's wrong."
At the time of her firing she had
been on requested leave without pay.
King said she had made that request
to Wanda Lyons, Associate Judge.
When asked, Lyons did not confirm
this information.
King said she's fought with tribal
officials since she took the job two
years ago. She charges that judges
read the complaints before they go
into court, making judgments before
the hearings take place.
"How can you go into court with a
fair and open mind," she said, "if
you already know what the case is
about? It's just not proper procedure.
and I tried to stop that."
"My job was to find out if there is
enough evidence to go through with
the complaint, if there's enough
probable cause. I was the chief law
enforcement officer up there," she
said, "they never let me exert my
authority. . . . Instead I had to
answer to the clerk of court and to
the judges."
"I exercise independent
judgement," King continued, "I
shouldn't have to answer to them."
King also charges that Marilyn
Johnson, Clerk of Court, reads the
complaints, calls friends, tells them
what happened and who was
involved. The judges, she added,
read the police narratives checking
to see who is involved before they
go into court.
"Politics doesn't belong in the
courts," she said, "They're getting
rid of the ones that are trying to
clean it up."
When King went to her office on
Tuesday, July 25, the police were
called and an officer came to go
with her into her office to pick up
her things.
"They had already ransacked my
office," she said.
The Red Lake Tribal Council met
on Tuesday, July 25, and officially
fired King and Bruce Graves, former
tribal judge.
"My career as a prosecutor is
over," she said, "I hope my career in
law enforcement isn't over or I'll
take legal action."
"People up there (Red Lake) need
somebody that can give them a fair
shake," King added, "I've dedicated
myself to the people up there."
Founded in 1988
Volume 2 Issue 2
August 2, 1989
° Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1989
A Bi-Monthly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Weaver willing
to fast until death
By Kathy Thomes
Staff Writer
White Earth, Minn. - Jim
Weaver's vow to fast until death
began two days after the nation's
celebration of Independence Day.
Freedom, independence and
democracy, some feel, is foreign to
the Native American experience.
Weaver, a 68-year old tribal elder
from White Earth, is fasting to
protest actions of Tribal Chairman
Darrell "Chip" Wadena, and is
willing to fast until death or until
Wadena steps down from office or is
ousted.
"None of us should have to lay our
life on the line for what we believe,"
said Darrell Boone Wadena,
supporter of Weaver's fast in
opposition to his uncle.
"I'm doing it for the old people
and for the children," Weaver said,
"The old people are ashamed of the
way they have to live."
A group of supporters camp near
tribal headquarters and say they'll be
there until Chairman Wadena
resigns, is removed or until the
Senate Select Committee on Indian
Affairs begins an investigation of
the White Earth RTC.
The group considers themselves
"concerned citizens," and they are
not connected with AIM or
Anishinabe Akeeng, as the media
has portrayed them in the past.
Protestors charge Wadena with:
• using his power for personal gain,*
• nepotism in the hiring of RTC
employees,
• not being accountable for financial
records,
• misrepresenting the people by
supporting the WELS A Act,
• frequent violations of the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribal
Constitution,
• and by so doing, turning his back
on his own people.
Protestors also charge that Wadena
has 23 counts against him in
Mahnomen County, Beltrami
County, in the Fargo, N.D. area and
elsewhere. They charge that there
has been a "cover-up" of these
records which should be released as
public information.
On the poverty-stricken reservation, with high unemployment
Jim Weaver, discouraged with tribal government, is weakening each day from his fast Photo by Kathy Thomes.
ong tribal members, protestors
claim that Wadena has provided
service to non-Indians off the
reservation and financially assisted
white squatters living on reservation
lands, while Indian people have to
stand in line.
Protestors are concerned about the
cross-deputization that Wadena is
initiating at White Earth. They claim
that already an officer from Becker
County had a "plastic card" issued
by the BIA giving him the right to
come onto tribal headquarters.
Rock Keezer said, if headquarters
fully institutes cross-deputization on
White Earth "it will be just like
Marshall Law" and they'll be here
with guns.
Weaver and his supporters are
feeling abandoned by Anishinabe
Akeeng, a coalition on White Earth,
who, protestors say, are fighting
these same issues, because Akeeng
agreed to a "closed door" meeting
with tribal officials.
Keezer said, "None of my protests
were viewed in there," or grievances
of other tribal members.
Also, protestors claim, Akeeng has
not stopped by the camp in support
of Weaver's fast.
Protestors say they did everything
they could in attempting to address
these issues through the legal
process.
"Iron Legs" Weaver, as he's
called, has been fighting tribal
officials since he came back to the
reservation in 1971. And because of
his opposition to tribal leadership, he
said, Wadena has made life on the
reservation harder for him.
Weaver reported to the Grand
Forks Herald that he had run against
Wadena for tribal chairman about
five years ago, not remembering the
exact year, and stated his view that
the outcome of the election was fixed
before the polls opened.
Weaver is prepared to die and,
although he is very weak physically,
spiritually he feels very strong.
When asked repeatedly if he means
to fast until death, Iron Legs said, "If
you have to die — that's all there is
to it." He got up walked over to the
drum and the songs began.
Attempts to interest politicians in
investigating Wadena have not
produced results, Weaver has told
reporters. "It's going to be there
fault if I die."
"But I don't think the people will
let him (Wadena) stay in office if I
die."
RLTC denies Graves request to be reinstated
At a hastily called special
council meeting last week, the Red
Lake Tribal Council by a vote of
8-2 denied a request by Bruce
Graves to be reinstated as Chief
Tribal Judge.
According to council informants.
Red Lake District Reps. Butch
Bran and "Ducker " Stately were
the only councilmen to vote in
favor of reinstating Graves.
Curiously, the 8 to 2 vote is
questionable because Ponemah Rep.
Tom Stillday was not present,
leaving only 9 voting members in
attendance, in addition to Charmain
Jourdain.
Obviously, the vote talley is
incorrect or Chairman Jourdain
voted illegally or as a means of
intimidating other council members,
since the chairman can only vote in
case of a tie.
Informants also told The Ojibwe
News that Graves had requested a
written explanation of the reasons
for his termination. He also asked
for the return of items of personal
property taken in an illegal search
of his home by council employees
Verna Woods and Quentin
Fairbanks along with the Red Lake
police.
The Ojibwe News was unable to
learn whether Graves received a
written explanation of his
termination or was able to recover
his personal property which was
confiscated during the illegal
search.
Are Red Lakers receiving better health care?
According to the documents
examined by the News, Red Lake
health care is more costly than care
on any other reservation in the three
state area serviced by Indian Health
Services. For example, the per capita
health care cost per patient visit at
Red Lake is double the cost at Leech
Lake or at White Earth Reservations
(see chart below).
Regardless of whether the care is
provided to patients at Red Lake or
contracted out to the private sector.
the cost for Red Lake care still is
double that of care provided for
Leech Lake and White Earth.
Interestingly, these costs do not
include the services provided for
through the Comprehensive Health
Program administered by the Red
Lake Tribe (Social Services, Home
Health Care, Ambulance, Security,
etc.). When Comprehensive Health
funds are added to this cost, another
third is added to the total health care
cost.
Does this mean that Red Lakers
receive better care? With all the
extra dollars pumped into Red Lake
health care, why do statistics show
Red Lake leading in serious health
complications and accidents? For
instance, Red Lake has over twice
the cases of congestive heart failure
as Leech Lake and over four times
the number in White Earth.
Accidents, poisonings and violence
related injuries at Red Lake are
reported at 50% more than Leech
         . ___ _ . . .  ;.-...       1
Cost of Indian Health Care
Total Visits
Primary Care    Total Cost
in thousands of $
Cost /Visit
Red Lake
48,883
27,849         6,687
$136.79
White Earth
oo ASfX
15,927         3,700
$110.50
JuCCCIl JLvaJKC
35,683
22,938         3,249
$ 91.05
Lake and over 300% more than
White Earth.
Amazingly, there is a very low
reported treatment of alcholism,
acute or chronic. It is less than 50%
of what would be anticipated based
on the population. According to
tribal directive, blood alcohol levels
are not routinely taken on accident
victims.
Perhaps the disparity in these
figures is due to the different
emphasis placed within the health
care programs between the
reservations. At White Earth 19% of
total health care visits are
preventative health services, while at
Red Lake the total of preventative
visits is a low 4%.
One possible explanation may be
that the reimbursement rate for these
preventative services is lower than
acute or chronic care units
(basically, acute care is emergency
type services and chronic care
covers long term conditions like
diabetes or hypertension).
Where do these excess dollars go?
A review of the Comprehensive
Health program's budget reveals
excessive salaries and other high
indirect costs such as travel
expenditures and low productivity
among many of the staff. '