Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1996-11-15

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Judge finds state lacks jurisdiction to rule
on Leech Lake RBC dispute
By Jeff Armstrong
Ruling that the case "goes to the heart
of internal tribal self government in
which the state courts of Minnesota
must not interfere," Cass County
district judge John Smith dismissed a
lawsuit against Eli Hunt filed on behalf
of the Leech Lake Reservation
Business Committee he chairs. Since
the court had no jurisdiction to hear
the merits of the case, however, Smith
did not determine whether reservation
attorneys could ethically represent
tribal officials in a civil action against
their chairman.
In his Nov. 7 ruling, Smith wrote that
it would be "inappropriate for this
court to exercise jurisdiction in a case
such as this which involves the internal
power struggles within the political
structure of the tribe, and which would
require an interpretation of the tribal
constitution regarding the breadth of
the power of the tribal chairman."
The suit sought state legal
intervention to enforce an order from
the "Minnesota Chippewa Tribal
Court" purporting to strip Hunt of
most of his powers of office. Drafted
and filed by Steve Thorne and James
Schoessler, attorneys under contract
with the reservation, the tribal court's
injunction ordered the chairman to
refrain from hiring or firing
employees, adjourning RBC meetings
and cancelling band contracts. The
ruling would also have required the
reversal of Hunt's appointment of five
top administrative staff members.
Hunt defied an August order from a
tribal court he maintained had no
constitutional legitimacy and whose
jurisdiction to hear the case was based
solely on a resolution passed at an
illegal RBC meeting. While refraining
from passing judgement on the
validity of "Ordinance #97-01," Judge
Smith noted that the authorizing act
itself "clearly limits any waiver of
sovereign immunity to tribal courts
only, and specifically disclaims a
waiver in any other court."
In addition, chairman Hunt pointed
Dispute cont'd on 3
Judge finds state lacks jurisdiction on dispute
Former WE RBC conspirators to appear for sent.
2nd An. National Indian Housing Legal Conf.
MCT members reject cash for land offer/ pg 3
Minutes of RL Tribal Council reg. meeting/ pg 8
Voice of the People
1
Former White Earth RBC conspirators to
appear for sentencing in St. Paul Nov. 21
By Gary Blair
On Nov. 21, 1996, U.S. District
Court Judge Michael J. Davis will
sentence three White Earth officials
convicted in June on numerous counts
of corruption. The sentencing will take
place at 9 a.m. at the Federal
Courthouse in St. Paul, MN.
The convicted tribal officials, who
were dubbed the "Wadena gang," are
former reservation chairman Darrell
"Chip" Wadena, secretary/treasurer
Jerry Rawley, and district one
representative Rickie Clark. The
former council members are expected
to receive prison terms that could
range from two to ten years.
In June of 1995, a federal grand jury
indicted Wadena for "bid rigging" and
receiving "kick backs" in the
construction of the reservation's
Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen,
MN. Wadena, who had been tribal
council chairman for the past 20 years,
was also indicted for violation of tribal
members' civil rights. His conviction
for the civil rights violations makes
him the first tribal chairman in Indian
country to be convicted for that type
of offense.
Rawley and Clark were convicted
of   similar   charges   for   their
involvement with Wadena and the
casino construction. They too were
convicted of voting fraud that
stemmed from the reservation's 1994
general election, when Clark helped
Rawley win reelection.
The federal jury that convicted the
trio heard testimony that included the
use of paid Notary Publics, who
stamped fraudulent absentee ballots,
some of which included the names of
deceased reservation members. Other
fraudulent absentee ballots used the
names of tribal members who did not
vote. Some of the fraudulent absentee
Appear cont'd on 6
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Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988
Volume 9   Issue 5
November 15, 1 996
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A weekly publication.
Copyright, Native American Press,  1996
Second Annual National Indian Housing
Legal Conference     New Housing Act passed
By Robert A. Fairbanks
Legal Correspondent
Santa Fe, N.M. _ Nearly 300
Indian housing officials and lawyers
attended the Second Annual National
Indian Housing Legal Conference
here earlier this week. The conference
was sponsored by the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development's
Office of Nafi ve American Programs.
HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary
Dominic Nessi addressed the
conference and introduced the Native
American Housing Assistance and
Self-Determination Act of 1996. Nessi
said the Act signed into law by
President Bill Clinton in late October,
"was the most significant event in the
history of Native American housing."
Nessi said, "The Act recognizes
the government-to-government
relationship between the federal
government and Indian tribes and
acknowledges the federal
government's uust responsibility iu
housing individual Indians and Indian
tribes."
According to Nessi, the Act was the
result of more than one year of
interaction, discussion and
negotiation between the Native
American housing community, the
Congress and various cabinet
agencies. The Act will essentially
eliminate Indian Housing Authorities
and require the various tribes to
develop comprehensive five-year
housing plans before they can receive
formula-based block grants. The plans
iiiual UK. ill piact unu appio\ lu 1>J
Office of Native American Programs
Housing cont'd on 3
Murder trial begins in shooting death of
south Minneapolis Native
photo by Bill Lawrence
The remains of the home of the late Adolph and Agnes Lussier of Redby, (Red Lake Reservation) MN. The home
j^as destroyed by fire the night of 10-31-96. According to PRESS sources arson is suspected. The home was
Vacant aline time ot trie fire. Adoiph, who passed away in 1990 had served on the hereditary chief:. io-^.!! as i
the Red Lake Tribal Council in his over 60 years of political involvement on the Red Lake Reservation. He was
also one of the original founders of the Ojibwe News newspaper in 1988. Agnes passed away in 1991.
Landmark cases affecting tribal court
jurisdiction
By Gary Blair
The murder trial of an African-
American male accused in the
shooting death of 48-year-old White
Earth enrollee Steven L. Blair (your
writer's brother) got underway in
Hennepin County district court on
Wednesday of this week.
Vincent Britton, age 24, is charged
with second degree murder. The
incident occurred after a ten year old
neighborhood girl reported to Britton
that she was called a "Ho" (an insult
meaning "whore") by the victim as she
emptied the trash on June 23, 1996.
Prosecutor Judith Hawley says she
plans to tell the jury that the victim
could have used the Ojibwe
expression of "Ho-Wah" (that's good)
when he spoke to the girl shortly
before the shooting. Karen Wadena
says her brother used the expression
regularly, "It stuck with him from the
'rez days,'" she said outside of the
courtroom.
Public defender Ken Bottema told
the jury that Britton never left his
home the morning of the incident and
that the case is circumstantial. "There
was no gun that was found and no one
has seen the shooting," he said.
The prosecutor says she will call at
Murder cont'd on 6
NIGC's ultimatum to Leech Lake: Meet Dec. 3
licensing deadline or casinos will be shut down
The National Indian Gaming
Commission issued a Nov. 14
ultimatum giving Leech Lake until
Dec. 3 to resolve a licensing dispute
over gaming management or shut down
its two casinos.
Refusing to recognize chairman Eli
Hunt's dismissal of former gaming
director Charlie Brown and controller
George Wells, the Reservation
Business Committee—which also
functions as the Gaming Commission-
-has refused to license their
replacements, who have successfully
completed background checks.
Outside the context of a power
struggle with the new chairman and
continued revelations of corruption on
the part of the incumbent officials, the
RBCs steadfast support forthe former
casino management is difficult to
understand. Although revenues from
the casinos have risen to more than
$32 million annually, profits declined
nearly 400% in the past fiscal year.
Federal officials recently subpoenaed
casino financial records to investigate
possible criminal wrongdoing.
Two   former   RBC/Gaming
Commission members are serving
time for corruption; a third, Myron
Ellis, still sits on the Committee and
the Commission despite his conviction
and prison sentence on similar
charges.
The two dueling factions issued press
releases on tribal council stationery,
each accusing the other side of
refusing to negotiate the dispute.
"As band officials, the district
representatives are in violation of the
Article VI, of the Revised Constitution
and  Bylaws  of the  Minnesota
NIGC cont'd on 8
Tribal voters elect new council, chairman
BELCOURT, N.D. (AP) _ Voters
on the Turtle Mountain Indian
Reservation have ousted the sitting
tribal council members, including
Chairwoman Twila Martin Kekahbah.
And four of the six council members
who were recalled a year and a half
ago were returned to office in
Tuesday's balloting.
One of the recalled councilmen,
Melvin Lenoir, won the race for
chairman by a wide margin against 10
candidates. Martin Kekahbah came in
fourth.
Raphael DeCoteau, another of the
councilmen recalled in April 1995 who
regained his seat Tuesday, predicted
an end to more than 18 months of
turmoil on the reservation.
"I th ink they found out that you can' t
just take out all the experienced people
in government and expect good things
to happen," DeCoteau said. "The
people vindicated us with their vote.
The people have confidence in us once
again.... There's not going to be any
more turmoil here."
Kekahbah said her opponents
created confusion over the integrity of
her administration. But she promised
her support to the new council and
said she will try to ensure a smooth
transition.
"I will never understand that
opposition. I will never understand
why they felt the government was evil,"
she said.
Martin Kekahbah said she brought the
tribe out of debt, made the government
more accessible to the people and*
updated the tribe's legal system.
"It's much easier to say tribal
government officials are corrupt, as
opposed to saying, let's take a look at
what they doing, let's assist them,"
she said.
Two council members remained
after the 1995 recall election _ Matt
McLeod, who was defeated in
Tuesday's election, and Gaillord
Peltier, who did not run for re-election.
After the recall, Martin Kekahbah,
McLeod, and Peltier said they would
hold public forums# to give tribal
members a say in who would replace
the ousted council members. But the
meetings were never held, and the
Martin Kekahbah, McLeod and Peltier
appointed new members to the council.
Martin Kekahbah later said she
Boulder, CO _ The United States
Supreme Court and a Nevada
Federal District Court ruled in
separate cases October 1 on issues
centrally important to the struggle of
Indian tribal courts to protect their
jurisdiction.
In both cases, non-Indians who
allegedly committed torts while on
reservations, and who have been
sued in tribal court by the victim,
sought federal court rulings that the
tribes involved have no jurisdiction
to require them to appear before the
tribal court.
h Strate, et.al. v. A-l
Contractors, et.al., the United States
Supreme Court has agreed to review
a decision by the Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals.
The case involved the jurisdiction
of the tribal court of the Three
Affiliated Tribes of the Fort
Berthold Reservation in North
Dakota to decide a personal injury
case between two non-Indians on the
reservation.
A non-Indian resident of the
reservation Was involved in an
automobile collision on a state
highway within the tribal reservation
with a non-Indian owner/employee
of a company located off the
canceled the meetings because she
feared violence would erupt. She said
Friday that decision may have been a
mistake.
McLeod also promised to support
the new council.
"I wish them the best of luck,"
McLeod said. "1 think they'll do a
very outstanding job for us. They'll
work for the people.
"I pray and hope that the turmoil in
the Turtle Mountains has ended once
and for all," he added.
Martin Kekahbah said she will run
for office again in two years.
"I owe it to the people," she said. "I
owe them another shot at saying 'Yes,
we like your type of leadership,' or
'No, we don't.' I'll be rejuvenated.
We'll sec how the people respond."
reservation but conducting business
on the reservation under a
subcontract with the tribe.
The Eighth Circuit Court of
Appeals had decided that the tribal
court did not have jurisdiction over
the case.
In State of Nevada, et.al. V.
Hicks, et.al., two officers of the
Nevada Division of wildlife, on two
separate occasions, searched the
residence
possessions of a member of the
Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. The
tribal member resides on his Indian
allotment lands within the Fallon
Paiute-Shoshone Reservation.
It was determined that the tribal
member committed no crime. His
possessions were returned, but in
damaged condition. As a result, the
tribal member sued the officers in
and      confiscated   CclSGS COnt'd On 3
Drug, Alcohol prevention grant
targets Minnesota, Wisconsin Indians
AMES, Iowa (AP) _ Researchers at
Iowa State University plan to use a
federal grant to help prevent alcohol
and drug abuse among American
Indians in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The four-year project will be paid
for by a $3.2 million grant from the
National Institute on Drug Abuse.
University researchers will work with
families on the Mille Lacs Band of
Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota, the
Lac Du Flambeau reservation in
Wisconsin and a group of Mille Lacs
Band families living in the Twin Cities.
"The goal is to develop and
scientifically evaluate a family-
oriented alcohol and drug prevention
program that makes sense in the
Ojibwe culture," Les Whitbeck, the
lead project researcher, said Tuesday.
Jerry Stubben, a communities
specialist at the university extension
service, has studied prevention and
intervention programs among Indians
in the Midwest. The success rate is
less than 10 percent for Indians
enrolled in outside treatment
programs, he said. But if Indians
develop and run the program, the
success rate climbs to more than 50
percent, he said.
Whitbeck said researchers will work
with tribal focus groups to develop
ideas.
"What we develop for the Ojibwe
may not work with other tribes," he
said. "But we may be able to develop
a process that can be repeated by other
tribes or cultures."
Court of Appeals says American
Indian man must pay support
ST. PAUL (AP) _ An American
Indian man working on the Red Lake
Reservation remains under the state's
jurisdiction for determination of a
child's paternity and support
obligations, the Court of Appeals ruled
Tuesday.
Verdell Charles Beaulieu had asked
the court to dismiss the paternity
lawsuit against him, contending the
state lacked jurisdiction because he
was employed on the reservation.
Beaulieu is an enrolled member of
the Red Lake Band of Chippewa and
lives on the reservation north of
Bemidji. At the time the lawsuit was
commenced he worked off the
reservation, according to the court.
"Allowing the state court to retain
jurisdiction over this matter does not
infringe on the Red Lake Band's right
to self-government," the Court of
Appeals ruled.
The court said that by virtue of his
employment off the reservation at one
time, Beaulieu voluntarily subjected
himself to state jurisdiction.
The decision affirmed a ruling by an
administrative law judge.