Native American Press / Ojibwe News(Bemidji, Minnesota), 1996-01-25

              Auditing firm cannot express opinion on
American Indian Health Care Association
By Gary Blair
The PRESS has obtained a copy of
a 1993-94 independent auditors report
that involved the financial
management of the American Indian
Health Care Association, Inc.
(AIHCA) shortly before it moved its
operation from St. Paul, Minnesota to
Denver, Colorado.
A full audit was never completed
due to the lack of proper record
keeping, but the audit firm of Brown,
Simonet, Dickie and Winter, LTD did
issue a preliminary findings report.
Contained in a letter dated January
19, 1994, and signed by Julie A.
Houle, Audit Manager for Brown and
Company, are the following
comments: "We were engaged to
audit the financial statements of the
American Indian Health Care
Association, Inc., as of and for the
year ended September 30,1993. Our
report dated January 19, 1994 stated
that, because we were unable to satisfy
ourselves about begining balances of
deferred revenue, grants receivable
and fund balance, the scope of our
work was not sufficient to enable us
to express, and we did not express,
an opinion on the basic financial
statements."
Houle's report to AIHCA board of
directors indicated that funding the
organization receieved through
government grants appeared to be
unaccounted for, such as travel
expenses. Project reports to federal
flinders also appeared to be missing
from ATHCA's records.
Former employees of the health
assocation say funds were misused
and often unaccounted for just before
AIHCA moved its operation to
Colorado.
Reports indicate the organization is
still continuing to have financial
problems and its survival is a concern
in the Indian health community.
Auditing firm can't express opinion on AIHCA/ pg 1
U.S. Interior Dept. denies trust obligation/ pg 1
Prairie Is. Community, NSP reach agreement/ pg 3
A different concept of justice for legislators/ pg 5
Fed. judge preparing first ruling in tribal case/ pg 1
Voice of the People
1
U.S. Interior Department denies trust
obligation to block vote fraud, theft
By Jeff Armstrong
The U.S. Department of Interior
rejected appeals by members of the
Leech Lake and White Earth
reservations to remove indicted
officials from absolute control over
tribal elections and finances. Both
chairmen and secretary treasurers,
holders of the most powerful positions
on their respective Reservation
Business Committees, are under
federal indictmentfor dozens of counts
of fraud and theft of tribal funds
In its Jan. 16 response to suits by
Anishinabe tribal members seeking
the installation of an interim
government to oversee a transition to
democracy, the government alleged
that the plaintiffs had not exhausted
tribal remedies and had no authority
to file suit against the United States.
Seeking dismissal of the cases, the
memorandum also denies the
government's trustresponsibility over
anything but programs it directly
administers. The Interior Department
also claims it lacks authority to
interpret the tribal constitution it
drafted in the 1930's.
U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle
will hear arguments 8 a.m. Feb. 14 at
the federal court in St. Paul on the
government's motions to dismiss for
lack of subject matter jurisdiction and
failure to state a claim upon which
relief can be granted.
Roxanne LaRose, a Leech Lake
plaintiff, said Interior's brief left her
speechless, but not surprised. "They're
the ones that are allowing these
corrupt, indicted men to remain in
power against the will of the people.
If the [Minnesota Chippewa Tribe's
Tribal Executive Committee] has no
Denies cont'd pg 3
Native*
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All Peopli
Founded in 1988        Volume B   Issue 15       January 25, 1996
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, Native American Pruee,  199E
White Earth tribal council orders burning of
old Catholic boarding school
By Gary Blair
The Dec. 18,1995, ordered burning
of the old Catholic Mission Boarding
School by the White Earth
Reservation Tribal Council could
generate an investigation by the
Minnesota Historical Society. The
White Earth tribal council received
$30,500 in federal and state
preservation funds for the building
that was listed on the National
Registry of State Historical Sites.
State Historical Society officials say
they're now concerned with how those
taxpayer dollars were spent.
Charles Nelson, whose office
monitors and oversees maintenance
dollars for state historical sites,
commented on the destruction of the
building. "No one called us, or told
us that the building was going to be
burned," he explained. " We have to
account for the federal and state funds
that go into the preservation of the
buildings."
"I am going to call for an
investigation," he added.
Historical Society staff say a 1983
federal grant of $15,000 was
supposed to have been matched by the
reservation for $10,000 in cash and
$5,000 in donated labor. "Those
dollars were supposed to have been
used to improve the building's
foundation and roof," the sources who
Order cont'd on 3
Duluth teen charged in Naytahwaush death
Many people were busy digging out of the severe storm that hit Minnesota last week.
Staff photo
MAHNOMEN, Minn. (AP) _ A
15-year-oldDuluthboy was arraigned
Friday on charges of third-degree
murder, second-degree manslaughter,
arson and felony theft in connection
with the death of a Naytahwaush teenager.
Donavan Keezer, 16, was found
dead last Saturday on the White Earth
Indian Reservation. The Mahnomen
Comity sheriff s office found a burned
vehicle with what appeared to be
Keezer's remains inside.
The teen's half-brother, Evan
Denny, 17, died five weeks earlier
when he was shot on a Minneapolis
street.
On Friday, bail was set at $50,000
for the Duluth boy, according to a
statement from sheriffs investigator
Brad Athmann. The teen was being
held at the Moorhead detention center.
Charges are pending against others
in connection with Keezer's death,
Athmann said.
Authorities have said it is unlikely
the two boys' killings are linked.
Family members had speculated that
they were.
American Indian Movement leader
Clyde Bellecourt, great-uncle of both
boys, had said he feared the two were
killed by Indian youths affiliated with
gangs.
Minneapolis police said this week
that no arrests have been made in
connection with Denny's death, which
they described as an execution-style
slaying.
Sacred land returned Property in California seized
by federal government is transferred to Indian tribe
Federal judge preparing first major ruling in
tribal rights case
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A federal
judge is considering whether to
dismiss the Menominee tribe's claim
to off-reservation hunting and fishing
rights in northeastern Wisconsin.
A decision could come from U.S.
District Judge Barbara Crabb within
a few weeks on a state motion seeking
to dismiss the case as having no legal
basis.
Crabb also is to decide whether to
grant intervenor status to several
interested groups, including the
Wisconsin Paper Council and the
Wisconsin Commercial Fisheries
Association. Intervenor status would
allow the groups to have full legal
standing and involvement in the case.
The Menominee tribe filed suit in
January 1995, claiming the right to
fish, hunt and gather natural resources
on lands throughout northeastern
Wisconsin based on treaties of 1831,
1836 and 1854.
The area defined in the suit
encompasses the original lands of the
Menominee, who have lived in
Wisconsin for more than 5,000 years.
It includes Green Bay, Lake
Winnebago, the Wolf River and parts
of Lake Michigan and the Wisconsin
River.
Menominee Tribal Chairman John
Teller said he doubts Crabb will
dismiss the case on the basis of the
state's arguments.
"We're hoping for a favorable
response thatthe case go forward," he
said. "We feel we have a very well
thought-out action."
But James Haney, a spokesman for
Attorney General James Doyle, said
Crabb should throw out the lawsuit.
Ateam oflawyers and treaty historians
worked on the state's case, Haney
said.
"We believe the state is on solid
legal footing," he said.
The state argues that the tribe gave
up rights to use natural resources in
an 1848 treaty in which the tribe
agreed to move to a reservation in
Rights cont'd pg 6
Washington, D.C. (AP) — A remote
four-acre clearing in northwestern
California, seized by the government
from an alleged marijuana grower,
has been returned to an American
Indian tribe that considers it sacred.
For centuries, Karuk Indians have
used the site above a Klamath River
waterfall for an annual ceremony "to
renew the world and ensure the
salmon and acorns come back," Alvis
Johnson, tribe chairman, said in a
phone interview Tuesday.
Johnson spoke after Attorney
General Janet Reno announced an
agreement between the Justice and
Interior departments to return the land
to the tribe. The Bureau of Indian
Affairs will hold it in trust for the
tribe.
The federal government seized the
land July 27, 1993, from Bradley
Throgmorton, owner of a fishing
lodge built in the 1950s, on the site of
Katimin, an ancient Karuk village.
In the off season, Throgmorton
cultivated marijuana seedlings to be
transplanted later in the adjacent
Klamath national Forest, a Drug
Enforcement Administration agent
said in an affidavit.
Facing narcotics and other charges
Throgmorton accepted a plea bargain
and pleaded guilty to state weapons
charges. Because California has no
civil forfeiture statute, U.S.
prosecutors used the federal forfeiture
law and seized the property based on
the state conviction.
The U.S. attorney then offered the
land near the Oregon border for sale.
The Karuk lacked the money to buy
it but asked the Bureau of Indian
Affairs to claim it under a federal
policy that encourages transfer of
forfeited property to further the
mission of federal agencies.
"I'm very excited about, this
transfer," Reno said. "Land once used
by a criminal who flouted the law will
be returned to those native peoples
who hold it sacred. This agreement
benefits not only the Karuk but all
Indian people sin the Klamath River
basin."
The fishing lodge burned down after
the seizure. Johnson said the tribe
plans to remove some outbuildings
and fences and "restore the land to its
original state."
Johnson said that his tribe returned
to the site for religious ceremonies
year after year and that ceremonial
dances still were conducted just
outside the lodge fence for many
years. The land now is occupied only
by a medicine man who acts as tribal
caretaker and his family.
Mohegan casino management contract
raises questions
Senators want legislature involved in gaming talks
MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A
commission of legislators, the
governor and possibly the attorney
general should be formed to guard the
state's interests when new tribal
gaming compacts are negotiated, a
lawmaker says.
"The next round of compacts, if
agreed to, are going to set the direction
of gambling in this state, and the
Legislature needs, clearly, to be
directly involved," said Robert Jauch,
D-Poplar, who proposes creating a
Wisconsin Gaming Compact
Commission.
Sen. Robert Welch, R-Redgranite,
agrees that the Legislature, not just
the governor, should be involved
when the state negotiates new
compacts. But he prefers a simpler
approach: requiring legislative
approval of the compacts.
Welch and Jauch planned to meet
this week to  discuss  possible
legislation.
As gambling operations began
growing into a major fund-raising
mechanism for Indian tribes, the
federal government required states to
negotiate the seven-year compacts
with tribes, setting some conditions
for the games.
The Legislature in 1990 adopted a
law giving the governor sole authority
to negotiate the agreements. No
legislative ratification was required.
The first compact, the Oneida
Nation's, expires in 1998. The
compacts with other Wisconsin tribes
expire in 1999.
Jauch said the growth in casino
profits gives the state a strong interest
in negotiating for a share of them.
And, the tribes want state approval to
open casinos in new locations and
broaden the kinds of gambling
allowed, he said.
Even without granting the tribes
those wishes, approving new compacts
raises the controversial issue of
expanding gambling in the state,
Jauch contends.
Jauch said his proposal isn't
intended to stymie negotiations.
"I'm not setting up a mechanism to
block the continuation of the
compacts," he said.
Welch said he and Sen. Scott
Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, have been
assigned by Majority Leader Michael
Ellis, R-Neenah, to report to the GOP
caucus on the options available to the
Legislature on the Indian gaming
compacts question.
Welch said he opposes casino
gambling, but if casinos are allowed,
he feels the state should get some
money for allowing them to continue.
Gov. Tommy Thompson last week
said he would insist on there being
"more money on the table" when
negotiations open.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ Two of
the three members of the National
Indian Gaming Commission believe
the contract for the Mohegan Indian
casino gives too much money to the
management company, according to
a published report.
The two commissioners also believe
the company's key executives were
not adequately investigated as Gov.
John G Rowland has suggested, The
Hartford Courant reported Tuesday,
citing internal memos it obtained.
The contract for the Mohegan
casino, now being built in Montville,
was approved by Chairman Harold
A. Monteau in late September.
The chairman of the Gaming
Commission has the authority to act
on behalf of the other two
commissioners even without their
votes.
Since approval of the contract, the
key man responsible for managing
the casino, international developer
Solomon Kerzner, has come under
attack by the governor.
Federal law says fees paid to
companies managing Indian casinos
should not exceed 30 percent of net
revenues except under special
circumstances. But Kerzner's group
can make 40 percent under the
Mohegan cont'd pg 6
Crows try to protect battlefield from construction
CROW AGENCY, Mont. (AP) _
The Crow Tribal Council has passed
a an emergency resolution to protect
the Little Bighorn National Battlefield
and the Bighorn Riverfrom "historical
corruption, commercial construction
and pollution."
The resolution adopts an 11,800-
acre "viewshed" established in 1986
by the national Park Service, to protect
the battlefield from commercial
encroachment.
But some landowners fear the
resolution, passed Jan. 13, will be
another hindrance to the effort to
attract private investment on the
reservation, where high
unemployment is a problem.
Tribal officials say the resolution
was aimed, in part, at Christopher
Kortlander, who plans to open the
Custer Battlefield Museum at
Garryowen -this spring. Kortlander
already has opened a trading post and
post office and has plans for a
convenience store.
Kortlander said he expects to
employ 25 to 30 people during the
peak season at the 24-hour gas station.
Under an agreement with the Tribal
Employment Rights Office, at least
97 percent of the employees will be
Crow tribal members. It is the kind of
development, Kortlander said, that
tribal members should welcome.
The most negative aspect of
Kortlander's plan is a proposed 45-
foot sign for the gas station. Kortlander
said he has offered to work with Park
Superintendent Gerard Bakerto make
the sign as inconspicuous as possible.
The Park Service owns only 765
Crows cont'd pg 6