Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1996-05-17

              The Chippygate trial begins in St. Paul
By Gary Blair
On Monday the fraud trial of White
Earth tribal chairman, Darrell "Chip"
Wadena's gang got underway at the
federal courthouse in St. Paul,
Minnesota.
Wadena is accused of diverting
nearly $429,000 through bid-rigging
on the band's casino, with the help
of Jerry Rawley, tribal secy/treas. and
council member Rick Clark. The
three are charged with conspiracy,
bribery, theft, embezzlement and
money laundering. Clark also is
charged with mail fraud.
Three others, Carley "Baby Doll"
Jasken, Henry Harper and Peter
Pequette Jr. were charged with
conspiring to commit election fraud,
including paying band members to
falsely file hundreds of absentee
ballots and shredding election
documents.
Harper's case has been separated
from the rst because of medical
problems. Prosecutors said Monday
that charges against Pequette will be
dismissed in exchange for his
testimony and because he has agreed
to plead guilty to a lesser charge in
state court.
. On Tuesday afternoon the trial was
stopped when judge Michael J. Davis
left the courtroom do to a family
emergency. Court personnel say the
trial is now schedule to resume on
Monday, May 20,1996, at 9:00 A.M.,
provide Judge Davis is available.
. Opening statements by government
and defense attorneys included the
following remarks: "This is a trial
about corruption. This is not only a
trial about stealing money. It's also
about stealing votes to keep them in
power," lead prosecutor, Jean
Graham, told the jury.
Motioning towards "Chip" lead
defense attorney, John Brink, told the
jury, "The government doesn't want
an Indian making $258,000 a year.
This is about the White Earth band's
constitution and the mental state of
tribal leaders at the time that they
acted. They believed that they're a
sovereign government, similar to any
other governing body" he said.
Brink than portrayed "Chip" as a
resourceful leader who only had the
best interest of "his people" in mind.
He than blamed the dissident (camp
justice group) on the reservation for
causing the unrest. Brink told about
the development of the reservation's
casino at Mahnomen, MN and the
effort of the reservation's tribal
Trial cont'd on 3
Tribal council was highly paid, but did little
work, witness says
By Pat Doyle
Star Tribune Staff Writer
A former White Earth tribal council
member told jurors Tuesday that
council members who are on trial for
corruption wrongly accepted a
lucrative casino contract and took
other gambling-related payments for
little work.
Dan Stevens testified in U.S.
District Court in St. Paul that he also
accepted excessive payments for work
involving the Shooting Star Casino,
but later had misgivings that
convinced him not to seek reelection.
" Of all the things I did, that stays
with me," he said of serving on a tribal
gambling commission that paid
council members tens of thousands of
dollars more than their salaries. "That
was wrong."
During cross examination, defense
attorneys sought to portray Stevens as
an agent of tribal dissidents and
someone who understated the amount
of work that the tribal officials did to
plan and build the casino.
Officials also have been accused of
vote fraud, but the cross examination
of Stevens aimed at depicting a
political system where election rules
were bent, if not broken, by all sides.
Stevens was the lead prosecution
witness in the corruption trial of
Darrell (Chip) Wadena, two other
tribal council members and an
election judge from the White Earth
Band of Chippewa, owners of the
Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen.
Wadena, secretary-treasurer Jerry
Rawley and council member Rick
Clark face charges of embezzlement,
theft, conspiracy, bribery and mail
fraud related to casino construction
and their role on gambling and fishing
commissions. Clark, Rawley and
election judge Carley Jasken are
charged with conspiring to rig tribal
elections.
Stevens testified that he didn't
become aware that a drywall firm
owned by Clark was a subcontractor
at the casino until after it opened.
"To me, it's a conflict of interest
because he sits on the tribal
government," Stevens said of Clark.
Council cont'd on 3
Supreme Court ruling puts future of Indian
gambling in question
By Philip Brasher
WASHINGTON (AP) _ A Senate
committee has been told the future of
Indian gambling is up in the air after
a Supreme Court ruling that states
can't be forced into federal court to
settle disputes over tribal casino plans.
Tribes say federal law allows them
to seek help from the secretary ofthe
interior. But Thomas Gede, a special
assistant attorney general for
California, said Thursday that such
action would be "contrary to law,
unwarranted, unwise and highly
provocative."
Without a process for mediating
disputes, states are likely to have the
upper hand in negotiating about
starting new gambling operations and
restricting existing ones.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who
heads the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee, said he won't allow states
to use the situation to curtail Indian
casinos because they are too important
to tribal economic well-being.
But Arizona Gov. Fife Symington,
who has refused to negotiate compacts
with additional Arizona tribes, hailed
the ruling as "a real states' rights
victory."
At issue is whether the Interior
Department can intervene in disputes
that haven't goneto courtfirst. Federal
appeals courts have issued conflicting
opinions.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is
seeking public comment on how he
should handle the disputes, but any
decision "is likely to draw legal
challenges ... that may take years to
resolve," Seth Waxman, associate
deputy U.S. attorney general, told the
committee.
Interior Department lawyer John
Leshy called the Supreme Court ruling
a "threat to the continued success" of
Indian gambling.
A 1988 law requires tribes to
negotiate agreements, known as
compacts, with their states before
starting casino-style gambling. The
compacts determine what kinds of
games and machines the casinos can
By Rob Hotakainen
Star Tribune Staff Writer
The Minnesota Board of Education
is facing a tough new question: Are
American Indians people color? On
Monday, Indian leaders and other
school officials pressed for a
permanent exemption from
Minnesota's new desegration rule,
saying that Indians are members of
sovereign nations and are not
minorities.
"American Indians are not people
of color and should not be defined as
people of color," the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe told the board in a
resolution.
Indians around the state are
applauding the stance, which puts
board members in a pickle. Only two
months after signing off on a new
desegration rule, the board is ready
to reopen talks to consider the
exemption.
It would apply to schools on or near
reservations that are  "racially
Red Lake Tribal Council election results/ pg 1
All but one incumbent remain in office
Chippygate trial opens/ pg 1
Sup. Crt. ruling put future of Ind. gambling in ?/ pg 1
Pow wow trail/ pg 8
Voice ofthe People
have and how they will be regulated.
The law allowed tribes that negotiate
with states in good faith to sue them
in federal court. In March, the
Supreme Court ruled that was
unconstitutional. While the law says
tribes can seek help from the secret a r
of interior, state officials argue he can
only step in after the case has gone to
court.
Since the ruling was issued March
28, six tribes have asked the Interior
Department to intervene in gambling
cases.
California officials have been locked
in a long court battle over whether
tribes can have slot machines.
South Dakota has indicated it will
seek to renegotiate its compacts as
they expire.
Symington, however, said he sees
the ruling as meaning Arizona won't
have to renegotiate when its compacts
begin expiring in 2002.
States whose tribal compacts have
no expiration date, such as Minnesota,
are not affected by the court decision.
Minnesota must decide whether Indians are
people Of Color   Board of Education facing new question
identifiable," with heavy Indian
enrollments.
As the talks begin anew, the stakes
could be high. The state attorney
general's office is warning the board
that such an exemption would be far
too sweeping and could pose legal
troubles.
Assistant Attorney General Cindy
Lavorato said the proposed exemption
could make it impossible for the state
to respond to discriminatory conduct.
Illative
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity Far All People
Founded  in 1988
Volume B   Issue 3 1
May 17, 1996
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, Motive American Press,   1996
Restored trading post serves as a gift shop at the Mille lacs Indian Museum. The new museum will open
this Saturday, May 18 on the shore of Lake Mille Lacs. Opening ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m.
Red Lake Election results
PONEMAH DISTRICT
* Bruce Stillday -146
Tom Stillday - 124
REDBY DISTRICT
* Lawrence Dudley - 191
Robert G. Head, Sr. - 36
Wanda Lynn Lyons - 20
Joyce Ann (Oliver) Roy - 124
Thomas "Jambi" Westbrook 105
RED LAKE DISTRICT
* Fabian "Nickel" Cook 334
Kathryn "Jody" Beaulieu -101
Dave Brown, Jr. -16
Keith Wayne Lussier - 39
James "Jim" White - 75
LITTLE ROCK DISTRICT
* Lawrence Bedeau 134
Mitch Johnson - 97
Patrick James Pierre - 45
Referendum Yes -1,119
No - 425
The debate: How Indian is Indian enough?
By Paul Levy
Star Tribune Staff Writer
Jess Larrabee was born on South
Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux
Reservation in 1976. She has been an
enrolled member of the Cheyenne
River Sioux Tribe since 1977.
Her daughter, Angela, born in
Shreveport, La., 22 months ago, has
been ruled ineligible for enrollment
with the tribe.
But when Larrabee'sattorneys asked
that she regain custody of her
daughter, citing a federal law created
to protect Indian children in adoption
cases, a Louisiana appeals court came
to this conclusion:
"She wasn't Indian enough," said
Mark Fiddler, executive director of
the Minneapolisrbased Indian Child
Welfare Law Center.
While the House of Representatives
approved a bill Friday that would
make it more difficult for tribes to
block non-Indians from adopting
children with native American blood,
Indian leaders across the country are
debating another issue:
Which Indians are considered
Indians by the federal government,
and who should decide?
"Toying with issues concerning the
legality of Indian identities is an age-
old game with deadly consequences,"
lamented Rayna Green, director of
American Indian Studies at the
National Studies at the National
Museum of American History at the
Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C.
But the debate over who is Indian
enough has been echoed on
reservations as well as in courtrooms
- from the political struggles at White
Earth in northwestern Minnesota to
the financial bartering in Prior Lake,
where hopefuls try to gain tribal
enrollment and cash in on revenues
generated by Mystic Lake Casino.
"The federal government is doing a
good jog of pitting Indian against
Indian," said Winona LaDuke,
executive director ofthe White Earth
Land Recovery Project. "Indian
communities traditionally have been
inclusive, but the budget constraints
Debate cont'd on 6
Color cont'd on 3        Scherr family apologizes for death of Rough Surface
Lawyer for tribal members sues for legal fees
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ An attorney
who represented members of the
Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota tribe
is now suing them.
The lawsuit by attorney James
Cohen offers a rare glimpse at the cost
of some legal battles between
American Indians in the era of casino
gambling. The Shakopee Dakota own
Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake.
Cohen says Leonard Prescott and
some allies paid him $542,000 in
legal fees, but still owe $937,932. Ten
people, including Prescott and his
mother, Rose, are named in the suit.
Cohen agreed to represent the
Prescott faction in its attempt to
prevent expansion of tribal
membership. The faction argued that
reducing blood requirements for
membership diluted the character of
the tribe.
More than culture was at issue.
Adding members had the potential
effect of sharing profits from Mystic
Lake Casino with more people. Those
profits have reached $576,000
annually per member, the suit said.
The dispute also pitted the Prescotts
against their longtime rival, Tribal
Chairman Stanley Crooks.
Prescott said Saturday that Cohen
approached Dakota members "like a
Santa Claus lawyer," asking only for
use of a computer in addition to a base
fee. Prescott agreed with Cohen's
assertion that the two parties signed a
contract in October 1994 that
guaranteed Cohen a monthly fee of
$40,000, but Prescott said that contract
elapsed last June.
"He charged us for his furniture. He
charged us when he got a new floor
put in his office. He charged us for
breakfast, lunch and dinner," Prescott
said. "That's financially draining."
In the suit, Cohen says he succeeded
in preventing some unqualified people
from becoming tribal members, while
preventing the tribe from stripping
the Prescotts of membership. The
Prescotts and their allies worried about
losing their monthly profit-sharing
checks when they signed a retainer
with Cohen, the suit said.
Cohen said he continues to represent
other members ofthe tribe in the fight
over tribal membership.
"It does distract from the larger
issues here," Prescott said ofthe suit.
"We wish it wouldn't have to go that
far."
ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) _ The
family of a Mobridge man who
pleaded guilty last week to his
involvement in the death of Candace
Rough Surface issued a formal
apology Monday.
In a written statement released by
attorney Reed Rasmussen, the family
of Nicholas A. Scherr discussed their
remorse about the death of the 18-
year-old American Indian girl.
"We are terribly sorry for the loss of
this beloved family member. We
cannot imagine the pain and suffering
the family has endured," the statement
said.
Scherr, 31, admitted in court that
he killed Rough Surface in 1980.
Scherr pleaded guilty to a reduced
charge of first-degree manslaughter.
He had been facing first-degree
murder charges, which carries a
mandatory life sentence.
The family statement also called
for racial healing because the incident
had. so divided the community.,
"We are also distressed over the
anguish and strife this incident has
caused the local community. It is
unfortunate it has ignited an ugly and
divisive racial conflict," the statement
said.
"We wish it would be possible to
build a bridge of understanding to the
Native American community."
Rasmussen told Aberdeen radio
station KKAA that he was upset with
the national media for suggesting
Rough Surface's death may have been
racially motivated.
Rough Surface disappeared after
an August 1980 trip to Mobridge, just
across the Missouri River from the
StandingRockSiouxReservation She
was found nine months later when a
rancher discovered her decaying
remains in an evaporating bay in the
Missouri River.
The case remained a mystery until
Scherr's cousin, James E. Stroh II of
Eagle River, Wis., confessed last fall
that he had helped Scherr beat, rape
and fatally shoot Rough Surface.
At a preliminary hearing, Stroh
said his family was on vacation and
had stopped for a few days in Mobridge
when he, then 15, and his 16-year-old
cousin, Scherr, met Rough Surface.
After the three leftapartyin Scherr's
truck, the woman hit him, Stroh said.
That angered Scherr, who stopped
the pickup truck, dragged Rough
Surface outside and raped her, Stroh
said.
Stroh said he also raped the woman
at the insistence of his cousin. He said
they shot her, chained her body to the
truck, dragged it to the river and
dumped it.
Scherr will be sentenced May 22.
He faces up to 100 years in prison.