Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1996-11-29

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Finn, Pemberton delinquent on fines
By Gary Blair
Sources at the federal clerk of
court's office in St. Paul, MN say
Harold R. "Skip" Finn and Alfred
"Tig" Pemberton have not made their
first required monthly restitution
payments to the Leech Lake people.
The two were convicted last spring
and are now serving time at the federal
prison camp at Duluth. They were to
make the repayments as part of their
sentence.
Finn, a Leech Lake enrollee and
former Minnesota State senator and
reservation attorney, was sentenced to
57 months for a phony self-insurance
scheme that bilked the LL band out of
more than one million dollars.
Pemberton, who served as the
reservation's secretary treasurer when
the crimes were committed, received
a 33-month sentence.
Finn was ordered to paid $400,000
in restitution and $25,000 in fines.
Pemberton was ordered to pay
$66,440.00 in restitution and fines.
A third defendant sentenced in the
same case, Daniel "Home-alone"
Brown, has paid his fine of $7,500,
but has made no restitution payments.
Brown, Leech Lake tribal chairman
during most of the period in which the
fraudulent insurance company
operated, received one year of
electronically-monitored home
confinement. Brown was ordered by
the court to repay $ 1,300, along with
a fine for his part in the scheme that
garnered him $40,500.
Pemberton, who was found guilty
of receiving over $70,000 in the theft,
started his sentence Oct. 3rd. Finn,
who prosecutors said masterminded
the scheme with the assistance of
Pemberton and Brown, received the
lion's share of the more than one
million dollar theft. Finn also began
his sentence on Oct. 3.
Prosecutors produced documents
and called witnesses during the nearly
six-week trial that showed Finn had
purchased numerous vehicles, boats,
property and other luxury items at a
time when the reservation was nearly
insolvent.
Finn, Pemberton delinquent on fines
31 candidates file for LL & WE special elections
Constitutional committee to examine alternatives
$2.1 mil. targeted at revital. TC neighborhoods/ pg 3
A culture of violence, new arts series/ pg 8
Voice of the People
1
Judge Randall Testifies on Behalf of Indian
Man in Judge Davis' Courtroom
Issues of Indian Culture, Tribal Sovereignty, and Government Favoritism Discussed
By Julie Shortridge
The two judges most in the news
on Indian issues in Minnesota were in
the same courtroom on Thursday,
November 11, 1998. Judge R.A. (Jim)
Randall of the state court of appeals
testified in federal Judge Michael
Davis' courtroom as a character
witness for Steven Humphrey, an
Indian man from Cass Lake whom
Judge Randall had befriended while
the man was in prison.
Judge Davis had presided at the
trials of former State Senator Skip
Finn and Former White Earth Chief
Executive Chip Wadena, and their
respective partners in crime. Davis
recently sentenced Finn to'57 months
Six minority
cadets
terminated
despite poor
representation in
fire department
By Gary Blair
Seven Minneapolis Fire
DT3.rt.;nent cadets were dismissed
this week, confirming more than two
weeks of rumors among regular
firefighters that the terminations were
imminent.
The dismissals come at a time
when the City's fire department has
been under fire for non-compliance
with a federal court order calling for
the recruitment of more female and
minority firefighters.
The firefighter cadets were let go
six weeks into their 17-week training
program. The reason given for their
termination was they did not meet the
Cadets cont'd on 3
in prison with $425,000 in restitution
and fines, and Wadena to 51 months
with $635,000 in restitution and fines.
Judge Davis is also presiding in phase
II of the Mille Lacs treaty lawsuit.
Judge Randall has become well-
known in Minnesota and nationally for
his dissenting opinion on the case of
Cohen v. Little Six. Inc.. in which he
exposes the "myth of tribal
sovereignty," calling it "Red
apartheid." His dissent was published
in the March 1, 1996 issue of the
Native American Press. Judge
Randall's biography, highlighting his
40 year involvement with Indian
communities, was also published in
the August 9, 1996 issue of the Press.
Judge Randall is the only Judge in
Minnesota who is authorized to enter
prisons as a participant in Indian
ceremonies. Steven Humphrey had
been a leader of the Indian culture
group at the prison in Lino Lakes
where Judge Randall frequently
participates in sweat ceremonies and
the annual spring feast.
The November 11 hearing was in
regard to a probation violation by
Steven Humphrey. He is a convicted
felon, and it was discovered through
pawn shop receipts that he had,
pawned a hunting rifle (a Browning
308), and therefore must have been in
possession of the gun in violation of
the terms of his probation. Steven
plead guilty to the charge, but his
attorney, federal public defender Steve
Testify cont'd on 6
Native
Fifty Cents
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity Far All People
Founded in 198B
Volume 9   Issue 7
November 29, 1996
A weekly publication.
I
Copyriyht, Native American Press,  1996
31 candidates file for LL &
WE special elections
Primaries to be held at Leech Lake on December 19, 1996 and in White Earth
on January 14, 1997. Two candidates with the largest number of votes will
square off in general elections scheduled for January 28, 1997 at Leech Lake
and March 11, 1997 in White Earth. The candidates are as follows:
CERTIFIED CANDIDATES
Leech Lake Secretary Treasurer
Bruce Beard
Deanne (Dee) Fairbanks
Pat Finn
Sylvia Gale-
Bob Goggleye
Dale Gotchie
Donnie Headbird
Linda Johnston
Kenn Mitchell
John Morrow
Walter (Frank) Reese
Richard Fairbanks Schulman
Robin Windom
Leech Lake
Primary Election:     Dec. 19
General Election:     Jan. 28
White Earth Secretary Treasurer
Alfred R. Fox
Ralph E. Goodman
Albert J. Goodwin, jr.
Beverly Libby
Marvin Manypenny
Janet Roy
Michael Swan
Marvin CM'.^^l Ti! '
Lrma J  Vizenor
White Earth District 1
George Auginaush
Calvin E. Clark
Steven (Punky) Clark
Marcell Goodwin
Dennis St. Clair
Bert E. Stevens
Michael E. Thompson
Peter M. Thompson
Irene Auginaush Turney
White Earth
Primary Election:
General Election:
Jan.14
March 11
Richard Alan Schulman declares candidacy
for LL Secretary/Treasurer
Boo-zhoo, my name is Richard
Alan Schulman (Fairbanks) and I
would like to introduce myself by
telling you a little about my
background. My early years as a boy
and a young man were almost like a
circle	
I was bom 43 years ago to Ella Mae
Fairbanks, the daughter of George and
Josephine Fairbanks. The first 6 years
of my life I lived in my grandfather's
cabin which was in the Squaw Point
Indian Village, now called Oak Point.
We had an outdoor pump. No
electricity. I recall wandering all
through the village from house to
house with not a care in the world. It
was a wonderful place to grow up and
in all my later years I would always
try to recapture the sense of oneness
and belonging that was first instilled
in me during this period of my life. I
was named Ou-gitch-i-daa.
During the next six years, I was a
ward of the state. I came to learn
firsthand what it was like to be alone,
without my family surrounding me. I
lived in a series of foster homes and
began to develop at a young age the
mental toughness which is inherent in
all of the Indian children who are
forced to pass through the state's
welfare system. I was lucky. At the age
of twelve, I was adopted into a caring
family.
Ira and Mirel Schulman, my
adoptive parents, were new to the
United States, having immigrated here
after WWII. For the next six years,
they taught me the values of hard
work, education, honesty and
integrity. More importantly, even after
living through and witnessing the
Schulman cont'd on 8
State moves for quick appeal in sovereignty
ruling   Alaska will take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court
ANCHORAGE (AP) _ The state
wants a federal appeals court to
reconsider a ruling that might give
tribal councils around Alaska more
tax and police powers and the authority
to regulate hunting and fishing.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals concluded
Wednesday that the Interior villages
of Venetie and Arctic Village and the
1.8 million acres of land they control
arc "Indian country."
That is a legal standing that applies
to reservation land in the Lower 48.
But lawyers aren't sure how far that
ruling opens the door to wider tribal
powers.
Attorney General Bruce Botelho said
the state will file a motion for a
rehearing by the appeals court within
the next couple of weeks. The state
will take its case to the U.S. Supreme
Court if that appeal fails, Botelho said.
The state contends that the 1971
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
did away with the rights of Alaska
Natives to the sort of broad self-
government authority granted to
Indians on reservations in the Lower
48.
The appeals court disagrees. In a
20-page opinion written by Judge
Dorothy Wright Nelson of California,
the judges said Congress and the courts
traditionally have held that statutes
affecting Indian rights "are to be
liberally construed," with "doubtful
expressions being resolved in favor of
the Indians."
To qualify as Indian country, federal
land must have been set aside for
Indians and the government must
maintain a "superintendence"
relationship with Natives, the ruling
said.
Those requirements "are to be
broadly construed," and resolved by a
consideration of six factors that include
the nature of the area, the people who
live there and their relationship to
Indian tribes and the federal
government, and the extent to which
the area was set aside for Indian people,
the opinion said.
Venetie and Arctic Village clearly
qualify, the judges said in language
suggesting that the ruling may extend
to other villages.
In a reluctant concurring opinion,
Judge Ferdinand Fernandez warned
that the decision contains the promise
of years of additional lawsuits.
"There are hundreds of tribes, and
the litigation permutations are as vast
Appeal cont'd on 8
Staff photo
MCT members discuss constitutional reform issues aWhe W.E.'s Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen.
Constitutional committee to examine
alternatives to MCT's IRA structure
By Jeff Armstrong
Nearly a decade after the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribal Executive
Committee passed a resolution for a
constitutional convention, tribal
members took a historic first step
toward developing a governing
document truly representative of the
Anishinabe people.
Both traditional chiefs and White
Earth Reservation Business
Committee members joined about 50
mostly White Earth members at the
Shooting'Star Casino Nov. 25 to begin
what is expected to be a lengthy
process of constitutional change.
Hereditary chief George Earth said
the current tribal governing structure
was forced upon the Anishinabe
nation by the U.S. government. "That's
why we have a failure. We let people
dictate to us. We've been dictated to
enough," said Earth. He said
participation from elders and youth
would be critical to the creation of a
people's constitution.
Inviting all tribal members to join the
constitutional committee she is
forming, organizer Leah Carpenter
made assurances that the new MCT
constitution would not be drafted by
any one individual or governing entity.
"I am not going to write the
constitution by myself in a dark
corner. That's up to the people,"
Carpenter said. "People have been
suspicious of the process; they have
good reason to be suspicious. But
we're working to change that."
Carpenter briefly outlined the history
of the "Minnesota Chippewa" since
the General Council was formed in
1913. The council was made up of
elected delegates from local councils
on the seven reservations (Red Lake
withdrew in 1918). Chiefs had
honorary seats on the executive
committee, but no vote.
Dale Hanks said the committee
should be looking back further still,
to Anishinabe tradition. "There was a
structure there before the blood
quantum, before the one-man, one-
vote system," said Hanks. "The clans
were the governing bodies."
Many others expressed a similar
desire to return to traditional values.
"This constitution takes us away from
the land," said Leonard Butcher.
"We've got to get back to who we are;
that's our connection to the land."
Lummy Van Wert said the Indian
Reorganization Act was one of the
devices used to break down Native
resistance to land and timber theft.
"They got rid of our chiefs. They did
that through the Dawes Act, the
Nelson Act, down through the IRA,
because they would not sell the land.
Without our land, we are no longer a
nation," Van Wert said.
Marvin Manypenny argued that
while tribal members work to create a
new constitution—a process RBC
member John Buckanaga said would
take 10 months to a year-steps must
be taken to enforce the existing one.
"As an interim measure, I think it's
incumbent on us as a people to force
these governing bodies to strictly
adhere to that constitution,"
Manypenny said. "Until we delegate
these authorities, the TEC and RBCs
do not have the powers they have been
exercising," which he said has created
a "constitutional crisis."
Canadian probe uncovers long-term abuse
at Indian boarding schools
By David Crary
VANCOUVER, British Columbia
(AP) _ Canadian investigators arc
amassing evidence of widespread
physical and sexual abuse inflicted on
Indian children decades ago at
government-funded, church-run
boarding schools.
Victims across Canada, coaxed into
confronting their nightmares, have told
police of rapes, beatings, suicides,
suspicious deaths, humiliating
punishments, even the use of a
homemade, low-voltage electric chair.
Two major investigations are in
progress, and dozens of former
boarding school staff members are
likely to be charged. One Catholic
bishop already has been convicted of
sexual assault.
Nearly 80 of the so-called residential
schools existed nationwide, starting
in the 1880s and continuing into the
1970s, before pressure from Indian
leaders forced them to close.
In many cases, children were forced
to attend, separated from their families
10 months of the year while Catholic
and Protestant instructors tried to steer
them away from their native spiritual
beliefs.
Students were punished for speaking
theirnative languages, force-fed white
culture.
In British Columbia, a Royal
Canadian Mounted Police task force,
assisted by Indian groups, is seeking
testimony from former students at all
14 of the province's defunct residential
schools.
"We're talking about thousands of
people who attended these schools,
and hundreds, perhaps thousands, who
were abused," says Constable Jerry
Peters, who oversees the year-old task
force from a Vancouver police
headquarters.
The probe covers 10 schools that
were mn by the Catholic Church, two
by the Anglican Church and two by
the United Church.
There had been some prosecutions
for abuse at residential schools in
previous years, but Peters says the
complainants were usually told, "It
happened 20 years ago. We can't do
Abuse cont'd on 8