Native American Press / Ojibwe News(Bemidji, Minnesota), 1996-01-18

              Penner trial delayed: Deputy charged with 40
crimes still on Mahnomen payroll
By Jeff Armstrong
Mahnomen County deputy Kevin
Penner is being charged in state court
with 11 counts of criminal sexual
conduct and 29 other charges of
brutality, abuse and misconduct, but
the criminal complaints have not yet
affected his law enforcement license
or caused him to miss a single
paycheck.
Rod Nyennuis, a spokesman for the
MN Peace Officers' Standards and
Training (POST) board, said
revocation of Penner's POST
certification is a virtual certainty--but
not until he is convicted. "He's entitled
to due process on everything,
unfortunately." he said.
Nyenhuis said he found the situation
personally frustrating as a staff
member of the law enforcement
regulatoiy agency-. "It's unfortunate
that an an individual like this can
total up this number of complaints,
and in the meantime we as taxpayers
have to pay his salary," Nyenhuis
said. "It looks as if this individual
used the authority of his position to
abuse Native Americans in an almost
systematic way."
The most serious allegations against
Penner involve his use of police
powers to regularly rape Native
women on the White Earth reservation
he patrolled. According to the charges
against him, Penner would pick up
the victims in his squad car, sometimes
threatening or earning out illegal
.arrests and violent acts.
The deputy was placed on
administrative leave June 9, 1995,
less than three weeks before he was
arrested and jailed on the charges.
Penner spent just three days behind
bars before posting a $75,000 surety
bond.
Acting Sheriff Gene Moore did not
Penner cont'd on 3
Deputy charged with 40 crimes still on payroll/ pg 1
WE man seeks to cancel debt for daughter/ pg 1
Suspect in Naytahwaush slaying turns self in/ pg 1
Tribes haven't asked for renego. of compacts/ pg 5
KTCA documentary tells story of Dakota exile/ pg 8
Voice of the People
1
White Earth man seeks to cancel debt for
daughter abducted by mother
By Gary Blair
White Earth enrollee Michael
Bellanger is attempting to have a
Ramsey County District Court Judge
overturn a previous child support
order from the county.
Bellanger says his attorney will seek
the forgiveness of $5,000 in back
child support obligations and to have
the county return $5,000 that he has
paid in the last year.
He asserts that his two children
were kidnapped from him 14 years
ago by their mother. "I shouldn't have
had to pay child support during that
time. I had a custody order for my
children, but I wasn't able to get it
enforced," states Bellanger. "I also
didn't know where she was for most
of those years and I also didn't have
the money to hire an attorney." he
explained.
Bellanger says Linda St. Clair is the
person who took his children from
him. "She's also from White Earth,
but was never raised there," he
continued. "We met while attending
the University of Minnesota. We were
never married," Bellanger added.
PRESS attempts to contact St. Clair
at her St. Paul home were
unsuccessful. Her phone number is
unlisted.
Bellanger also plans to seek custody
of his sixteen year old daughter in the
upcoming court hearing scheduled for
January 31st. "I want to get to know
my daughter," he stated. "She called
me about two years ago; she was
attending the Flandreau Indian
School in South Dakota at the time."
Bellanger's son is now 20 years old.
"He stopped by to visit me not too
long ago. He was on his way to Iowa,
to marry an Indian girl who lived
there. I told him I thought he was
too young to get married," Bellangei
said.
He says the couple's relationship
deteriorated after six years, and the;
eventually separated. "A short time
later, she returned with the kids and
asked me if I'd take care of them. I
told her 'sure.' I love my children and
I wanted to get to know them and love
them," Bellanger explained.
"She told me that she wanted to go
to some pow-wows that summer and
that was the reason she wanted to
leave the kids with me," he recalled
"After about a year she came back
and told me that she had fallen in love
with someone else. By that time, I
had been seeing other women, so I
didn't make a big thing out of it," he
Seeks cont'd pg 3
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Founded In 1988        Volume 8   Issue 14       January IB, 1996
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Copyright, Native American Press,  1996
Suspect in Naytahwaush slaying turns self in
The Mahnomen County Sheriffs
Department reported that a juvenile
suspect in the slaying of 15-year-old
Donovan Keezer has turned himself
in to police one day after Keezer's
body was discovered in Naytahwaush
Jan. 15.
Investigator Brad Athmann said the
youth, whose name could not be
released; will be charged with 3rd
Degree Murder, 2nd Degree
Manslaughter, Felony Theft and
Arson. He declined comment on
reports that the victim was shot, then
set aflame, stating that information
on the circumstances of the crime
would be released along with further
information at a later date..
Athman denied reports that the
killing may have been gang-related.
"We have no evidence of that
whatsoever," he said. The Mahnomen
County investigator also said police
have found no links between Keezer's
killing and the Dec. 15 execution-
style murder of Evan Denny, age 17,
in Minneapolis. Denny and Keezer
were half brothers.
Additional charges are expected to
be filed later this week against
unnamed individuals suspected of
direct or indirect involvement in the
Naytahwaush murder case.
Athman said he did not know
whether the county will prosecute the
juveniles as adults. "I can't say on
that. That's something that the County
Attorney is going to have to decide by
looking at prior records and other
factors," said the investigator.
In other news from Mahnomen
County, it was discovered that two
men charged with several counts of
first and second degi ee buigiai iv aim
theft, Lawrence and Kevin Clark, are
nephews of White Earth tribal council
member Rck Clark, rather than his
sons, as was reported in the Jan. 11
PRESS.
Did Minnesota Chippewa Tribe grinches
steal tots' Christmas presents?
By Gary Blair
Each Christmas season, the United
States Marine Corps Reserve training
unit at Fort Snelling, Minnesota
conducts its annual Toys for Tots
program, providing thousands of gifts
for needy children throughout the
state, including Indian reservations.
However, last year, as well as the
previous Christmas, the PRESS
received complaints that few, if any,
toys were distributed on the White
Earth Reservation.
This year, sources say, Darrell
"Chip" Wadena, the reservation's
chairman, was seen leaving Cass
Lake, Minnesota with more than one
pickup load of toys. What the
indicted tribal leader did with those
toys is open to speculation, but tribal
members say he gave the toys to his
relatives and supporters, or to anyone
else that he thinks he can buy votes
from.
Wadena is presently awaiting trial
on numerous felony charges
stemming from his involvement in
the construction of the reservation's
Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen.
Wadena and two other council
members were recently charged in a
44-count federal indictment of
receiving kickbacks from and fixing
bids on the casino's construction. The
trio is also charged with election
fraud and income tax evasion.
Records at the U. S. Marine Reserve
unit show that on December 14,1995,
Gary Frazer, Executive Director of
the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe,
picked up 1,450 toys.
On December 19, 1995, White
Earth enrollee Nancy Larson signed
for 197 toys from the same program.
Toys cont'd pg 3
Crooks wins bitter Mdewankanton race
Membership dispute fed campaign feuds
By Pat Doyle
Star Tribune Staff Writer
Stanley Crooks was reelected
Tuesday as chairman of the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Dakota, owners of
Mystic Lake Casino, in a race between
relatives who disagree over who can
call themselves tribal members and
share casino profits.
Crooks beat his cousin, Leonard
Prescott, 71 to 34. Prescott had been
chairman in the late 1980's and early
1990's, but Crooks unseated him in
1992.
In an interview after the vote Tuesday
night, Crooks said he viewed the
results as a rejection of Prescott's claim
that the tribe was enrolling people
who were not eligible to become
members in sharing casino profits.
"His issue, that children and
grandchildren [of members] are not
eligible to be enrolled as full-fledged
members--I think that has been put to
rest," Crooks said.
Prescott all but conceded the election
hours before the votes were tallied.
"I don't hold out any hopes of coming
out on top," he said, and accused the
Crooks government of using casino
profits to buy political loyalty. After
the results came in, Prescott said he
would ask the federal government to
overturn the election and call a new
one.
Mystic Lake is the most profitable
casino in Minnesota and believed to
be the second largest tribal casino in
the nation. And the stakes in the
Crooks con't pg 5
One involved in brawl charged with felony
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ One of
the seven people arrested after a brawl
on the Turtle Mountain Indian
Reservation faces a federal felony
charge.
Abraham Bernard was charged
Friday with assault with a dangerous
weapon with intent to do bodily harm,
said U.S. Attorney John Schneider.
Officials have not been able to verify
where Bernard is from, but believe he
is a 26-year-old Aboriginal from
Canada, Schneider said.
Rod Trottier, a Bureau of Indian
Affairs investigator in Belcourt, said
Friday that U.S. marshals transferred
Bernard to Bismarck on Thursday.
Bernard made his initial appearance
Friday morning before a U.S.
magistrate.
Bernard was arrested Monday after
a brawl in Belcourt at the main office
building of the Turtle Mountain Band
of Chippewa. Members of a local
Indian group called Makwa, as well
as other tribal members and members
of other Indian tribes in the United
States, clashed with tribal officials. -
Schneider said Bernard is accused
of using a 2-by-4 piece of wood as a
weapon during the brawl. Four people
suffered minor injuries, including
Tribal Chairwoman Twila Martin
Kekahbah.
Schneider said that as of Friday he
didn't think any of the others charged
in tribal court would face federal
charges, although that is still possible.
Bernard could face up to 10 years in
prison if convicted of the felony,
Schneider said.
fi      I
The Catholic Mission, located south of White Earth Minnesota burned to the ground on Dec. 18,1995.
Missouri not required to provide sweat lodges
ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Missouri does
not have to provide an American
Indian sweat lodge for prison
inmates, a three-judge panel of the
8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
ruled Friday.
The appeals court overturned a 1994
ruling. Senior U.S. District Judge
Scott O. Wright of Jefferson City
ruled in November 1994 that prison
officials must allow convicted killer
Mark Juan Hamilton to grow his hair
long and build a sweat lodge in
keeping with his Indian religious
beliefs.
Hamilton, an American Indian who
grew up in the St. Louis suburb Fenton,
is serving a life sentence at the Potosi
Correctional Center, Missouri's
maximum security prison.
Missouri Attorney General Jay
Nixon had argued against the sweat
lodge because of security concerns.
"The safety of guards and inmates
must be foremost in a maximum
security prison," Nixon said Friday.
"We do not believe that inmates
should be able to spend extended
periods of time inside an opaque
structure, where guards cannot
monitor their activities, with
potential weapons such as deer antlers
or rocks."
In its ruling, the panel said prison
officials must be given "wide latitude
within which to make appropriate
limitations."
Hamilton claimed he could not pray
unless purified in a sweat lodge
ceremony. A sweat lodge is made of
bent willow poles covered with hides,
blankets or tarpaulins. Heated rocks
are placed in the center of the lodge.
Water is poured on the hot rocks,
making steam.
Violent crime leaves ugly imprint on reservations
By Susan Gallagher
BROWNING (AP) _ Willard Young
Running Crane writes letters to the
Browning newspaper each year to
make people remember the unsolved
murder of hisyounger sister in 1986.
He writes of her, and of her killing
on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation,
where he still lives. Patty Young
Running Crane was the 19-year-old
mother of a baby boy when she was
stabbed repeatedly and her skull
crushed. Her body was left in an
abandoned building in Browning, the
reservation's hub.
"I know the murderers are here,"
said Young Running Crane, who
became the teen-age head of a
household when his parents died. "I
try to speak to them through these
letters."
Patty's murder, still an open case at
the U.S. attorney's office in Great
Falls, is one in a string of violent
crimes on Montana reservations over
the years.
Reliable statistics on Indian Country
crime over the past decade are hard to
comeby, but peopleonthe reservations
and federal prosecutors say there is
little dispute that crime is rising.
Bureau of Indian Affairs crime
statistics suggest the murder rate on
fiveof Montana's Indian reservations
is at least 2 1/2 times the national
murder rate, and more than six times
the Montana rate.
Those comparisons are based on
1994, the most recentyear comparable
figures are available. And there were
at least twice as many murders on the
reservations in 1995 as in 1994.
People blame alcohol and drug
abuse, unemployment, police and
court systems, the influence of the
world beyond the reservation, and
vanishing values.
"There has been a fundamental
breakdown in the moral fabric and
the traditions of this tribe and others
across the nation," said Joe McKay, a
Blackfeet tribal attorney and former
judge who dealt with many juvenile
defendants.
"One of the questions I asked every
kid was, 'Do you know what values
are?'"
Most would shrug and shake their
heads. A few took the question as a
mathematical one, and offered
numbers in reply.
BIA statistics for five of the seven
Imprint cont'd pg 3
Former Sioux leader charged with attempted murder
MORTON, Minn. (AP) _ The
former leader of the Lower Sioux
Community faces attempted murder
charges for a traffic incident
apparently stemming from a fight
over sharing casino profits from
Jackpot Junction.
Jody Goodthunder, 49, is accused
of ramming his pickup truck into a
car he mistakenly thought was driven
by tribal foes, members of the
Pendleton family.
Tribal member Robert Pendleton
had fought Goodthunder and other
tribal council members for years to
gain a share of casino profits.
Goodthunder also blamed two
unidentified Pendletons for shooting
at his house last year.
The car rammed early Saturday
belonged to Dennis and Beverly
Roper. The Ropers' car was hit three
times, ending up on top of a snowbank,
police said.
A sheriffs deputy said he found
Goodthunder in the pickup at the
scene. When the deputy asked
Goodthunder if he knew the people in
the car, Goodthunder said, "Yeah, I
know 'em. At least I hope I know
'em," the complaint said.
Goodthunder declined to comment
Thursday on his arrest. He was
charged with two counts of first-degree
attempted murder and two counts of
second-degree assault.
i
Robert Pendleton denied this week
that he or his sons shot at
Goodthunder's house last year.
He said Goodthunder harbored a
grudge against him because he
challenged Goodthunder's policy of
denying a monthly casino profit-
sharing check to tribal members who
moved back to the reservation.
Pendleton, a former secretary-
treasurer of the tribe, moved to
Minneapolis in the late 1980s but
returned to the reservation in 1991.
Goodthunder denied him and several
dozen other members monthly casino
payments for a couple of years until a
federal court ruled in their favor on
the issue.