Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-01-31

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Injustices done in
the case of Darrell
Fast Wolf
page 4
Red Lake police
accused of brutality
page 4
6th grader
researching Indian
mascots issue
page 4
Constitutional rights
problems at Leech
Lake
page 4
Commentary
Tribal-state
casino faces
many obstacles
page 4
Red Lake FY 2001 audit finds 28 instances
of non-compliance
by Bill Lawrence
As part ofthe audit of the Red
Lake Band's general fund for the
15 months ending December 31,
2001, the CPA firm of Brady,
Martz, and Associates submitted a
management letter dated September 12,2002 to the Red Lake tribal
council. The letter, along with the
audit report of the same date,
wasn't presented to the council until the regular council meeting on
December 10"1. The management
letter listed twenty-eight findings of
"immaterial instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations."
The twenty-eight findings of "immaterial instances of non-compliance" are in addition to the twenty-
two findings of "material weaknesses" reported in the January 17th
issue of Press/ON. According to
the Brady, Martz audit report dated
September 12,2002, a "material
weakness" is a "condition in which
the design or operation of one or
more of the internal control components does not reduce to a relatively low level the risk that misstatements in amounts that would
be material in relation to the financial statements being audited may
occur and not be detected within a
timely period by employees in the
normal course of performing their
assigned functions."
Press/ON attempted to contact
Brady, Martz auditor Mark Miller
by phone to determine the difference between "immaterial instances of non-compliance" and
"material instances of non-compliance" but he had not returned my
phone call by press time. Press/
CWdid contact CPA Mark Elliott
of Bemidji, Minnesota and posed
the same question. Elliott told
Press/ON that the difference in the
dollar amount involved and frequency ofthe "instance" determines whether an "instance" or a
"matter" is "material" or "immaterial." He said the threshold amount
varies from audit to audit.
Since the audit report covered a
15-month period of time (October
1,2000 - December 31,2001),
during which the financial affairs of
the band were in disarray, Press/
ON is printing the complete list of
all twenty-eight "instances of noncompliance" in this issue. Due to
space limitations, we will not be
able to carry the auditors' recommendations and "management responses," however the Brady,
Martz audit report indicated that
the new tribal treasurer, Darrell
Seki and his financial team are well
underway in correcting the "material weaknesses" and in dealing
with the "noncompliance items."
The reported "immaterial weaknesses" are as follows:
Management Letter Memorandum
For the fifteen months ended December 31,2001
1. Finding: Red Lake Band of
Chippewa Indians does not maintain a comprehensive Information
Security Policy. Documentation of
IS related procedures, policies, job
descriptions, and etc. were limited
and in most cases nonexistent.
2. Finding: A comprehensive
PC software or hardware inventory
list has not been developed. In addition, periodic review comparing
software licenses to software installed on PCs has not been performed.
3. Finding: The Band does not
currently utilize a termination
checklist.
4. Finding: It was noted that no
formal EDP Steering Committee
has been developed to plan, oversee, and review various Infonnation Systems projects. It was also
AUDIT to page 7
Judge hears arguments on motion to dismiss Mille Lacs case
by Clara NiiSka
On Friday, January 24"\ Minne-
apolis Chief Judge James
Rosenbaum ofthe 8* District Federal Court heard oral arguments on
a "Motion for Summary Judgment"
in the Warren E. Burger Federal
Courthouse in downtown St. Paul.
The motion for summary judgment
was filed by Mille Lacs Band attorneys Marc D. Slonim and John B.
Arum, and Mille Lacs Band Solicitor General Mary Al Barber. Peter
Pustorino and Tom D. Tobin represented Mille Lacs County, and
Scott G Knudson, Patrick S. Williams, and Bryant D. Tchida comprised what the Band has called the
"army of lawyers" on behalf of the
First National Bank of Milaca, participating as an intervenor.
If Judge Rosenbaum grants the
Band's Motion for Summary Judgment, it would throw the case
County of Mille Lacs v. Melanie
Benjamin, etal. out of court before
the merits of the case are heard in
court, leaving unanswered the
questions raised by Mille Lacs
County when it filed the original
case, including whether or not "the
exterior boundaries ofthe 1855
Mille Lacs Indian Reservation
were diisestabhshed/diminished by
specific federal treaties and statutes, as the United States Supreme
Court has held."
Oral arguments on the Band's
Motion were heard in the same
courtroom where Skip Finn was
tried in 1996. A crowd of at least
150 spectators came to listen to the
hearing, standing in the marbled
halls outside the courtroom while
another case was heard inside. Although they were conversing fairly
softly, their combined voices were
loud enough to bring a federal marshal to 'shush' the people waiting to
hear the Jvlille Lacs case.
When allowed inside, the spectators quickly filled Courtroom to capacity and the 'standing room only'
crowd was ushered to seating in a
nearby jury assembly room. The
hearing was delayed for about forty
minutes as court staff rigged up a
speaker-phone system so that the
people in the jury assembly room
could hear what was happening in
the courtroom. "This is the first
time we've done this," one of them
explained.
Courtroom has a 'sixties sort of
grandeur. Abankofflorescent
lights illuminates the room from an
expansive lowered'island.' Dark
hardwood veneer paneling, slightly
warped out of place by the years,
covers the walls. An array of large,
almost iconic, portraits of former
judges superintends the proceedings from the side walls, including
an artistically notable portrait of
former U.S. Supreme Court Judge
Warren Burger. A massive statute
of an eagle atop an abstractly conical bejeweled mountain stands in
the comer to the Judge's left, and
an antique-framed mirror gives the
judge a reflected view of the jury
box. The would-be spacious el
JUDGE to page 6
Special Master reports findings on
deleted emails: Department of
Interior described as "chaotic"
By Jean Pagano
Special Master Alan Balaran, reporting to U.S. District Court Judge
Royce C. Lamberth in Cobell v.
Secretary ofthe Interior (Cobell),
issued a report last week entitled
Corrected Report of the Special
Master Regarding the Deletion of
Individual Indian Money Information by Former Secretary - Indian
Affairs Neal McCaleb. The report
details a Department of Interior in
disarray and a senior Bureau of Indian Affairs official, namely
McCaleb who not only disregarded
policy on the retention of emails,
but also then lied to cover up his involvement.
The 52-page report details another sad example ofthe Department of Interior's long-standing neglect and mismanagement of issues
surrounding Individual Indian
Money (DM) accounts. In the
many years since IIMs were established, over $10 billion is reportedly missing and accounting
records are still missing or unaccounted for. Even more tragic, the
most senior BIA official, entrusted
with the stewardship of BDVIs, has
allegedly been deleting the very
records he is supposed to preserve.
The Special Master's report was
provoked by a report of the deletion of emails by the then Secretary
of Indian Affairs, Neal McCaleb.
Balaran asked the Department of
Interior to explain: a) who deleted
McCaleb's emails for 10 months;
b) why the McCaleb emails were
not printed and filed, as required by
the U.S. District Court; c) when the
destruction of McCaleb's emails
FINDINGS to page 7
"Eliminating Health Disparities"
An "Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative Community Forum" was held at the Minneapolis
American Indian Center on Tuesday, January 28"'.
Tuesday's forum, sponsored by
the Metropolitan Urban Indian
Director's (MUID) sub-committee, in conjunction with the Minneapolis Indian Health Board
(IHB), began with drumming by
Midnight Express and a prayer by
Lee Staples. The keynote
speaker was Bemidji IHS director
and White Earth Chippewa Dr.
Kathleen Annette, M.D.
"Breakout session" speakers included psychologist Dr. Anthony
Stately on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, IHB
physicians Dr. Lynnae Lawrence
on cardiovascular disease and Dr.
Sarah Schofield on breast and
cervical cancer, Joanne Carpenter, R.N. on diabetes. Dr. Sylvia
Martinez, M.D. also spoke.
White Earth Pillager David
"Buck" Genung, who covered the
event for Press/ON, took photographs of exhibits and listed the
speakers at the event. He reports
that, "Dinner was delicious!
Baked turkey, wild rice, cranberry sauce, fresh fruit/vegetable
tray, vanilla pudding, rolls, spring
FORUM to page 6
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web page: www.press-on.net
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A weekly publication.    Copyright, Native American Press, 2003	
Founded in 1988
Volume 15 Issue 34
January 31,2003
Mille Lacs
defendants reply
to Press/ON
federal appeal
Mille Lacs reservation attorney
John Arum has submitted a response
to Press/ON publisher Bill Lawrence
and reporter Jeff Armstrong in their
appeal of a U.S. district court ruling
dismissing a civil rights suit over
Armstrong's 1997 arrest by a tribal
officer at a Tribal Executive Committee meeting.
Acknowledging the jurisdiction
ofthe federal appellate court, Arum
asked the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the district court's
summary dismissal without hearing
oral arguments.
Arum previously argued in a tribal
court hearing that former Mille
Lacs officer Marc Gabiger arrested
the reporter under the reservation's
APPEAL to page 5
photo: Vince Hill
In the aftermath of alleged police brutality toward Ronald Lee Johnson and an as-yet unidentified
woman, city councilman Dean Zimmerman addresses a crowd rallied at the Little Earth housing
project. Zimmerman says that he said that he has compiled a "one inch thick stack of documentation of incidents" of police brutality in Minneapolis.
Police brutality in Minneapolis
by Clara NiiSka
In the early afternoon of
Wednesday, January 29th, a crowd
-of about 175 - 200 people gathered in a parking lot on 24"1 and
Ogema Place in the Phillips
neighborhood in South Minneapolis. The parking lot is a part
of the Little Earth public housing
project in south Minneapolis, and
the event was publicized as a
press conference by Metropolitan
Urban Indian Directors (MUID)
leadership and the directors of the
Little Earth of United Tribes
Housing Corporation.
According to MUID's press release, on Friday night, January
24, two Little Earth residents saw
a police squad car pull into the
Little Earth parking lot at 2434
Ogema Place, and watched the
officers drag an Artierican Indian
male and female out of the squad
car. A witness then reportedly
watched the police officers beat
the man unconscious, then the
police drove away, leaving the
unconscious man in the parking
lot in the zero degree winter
night.
One ofthe witnesses reportedly
contacted the off-duty police officers working on the Little Earth security force. According to Minneapolis police chief Olson, these off-
duty officers took the man to
Hennepin County Medical Center
for medical attention. He then reportedly spent the night in Detox.
MUID co-chair Tony Looking
Elk subsequently identified the
man who was beaten by the police
in the Little Earth parking lot late
Friday night as Ronald Lee
Johnson, a Minneapolis resident
who moved to the Twin Cities from
Duluth. Press/ON contacted
Johnson, who, after consulting with
his attorney, Larry Leventhal of
JVIinneapolis, declined to be interviewed.
The MUID press release also reports that, "when residents and staff
reached the male [Johnson], they
further discovered his upper torso
and head were urinated on during
this incident."
Ellie Webster, executive director
at Little Earth, told the crowd
standing in and around the parking
lot on Wednesday afternoon that
the Minneapolis police officers'
treatment of Johnson and the
woman, who has not yet been
publicly identified, was "one of
the most egregious, despicable
acts." These people were "left on
the ground," she said, the police
acted in "violation of all protocol." According to Webster, the .
witness, a Little Earth resident,
said "I couldn't call 911," because she was afraid of the police.
"I think that is a travesty." Indian
people's taxes "paid for the police
department," Webster said. "It is
a serious matter, in violation of
human rights. If it can happen to
this couple, it can happen to you."
Minneapolis City Councilman
Dean Zimmerman told the crowd
that what happened on Friday
night "is not an isolated incident."
He said that he has compiled a
' 'one inch thick stack of documentation of incidents" of police
brutality in Minneapolis. Even
though "many ofthe Minneapolis
police are good," he added, the
ongoing police brutality must be
addressed. Zimmerman said that
 POLICE to page 6
Tobacco lawsuit
records public
Some billing records from
lawyers why argued the state's
case against tobacco records are
public data, the Minnesota
Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.
The appeals panel overturned
a Ramsey County district
judge's decision to give blanket
attorney-client protection to the
records, ordering the lower
court to decide when invoices
should be shielded on a case-
by-case basis.
O'fy Pages, a Twin Cities
weekly newspaper, is seeking
access to billing forms related
to work done by the Robbins,
Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi law
firm for the state and Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Min
LAWSUIT to page 6
Robert George
Head, Jr.
sentenced for
assault
JVIinneapolis—Robert George
Head, Jr., age 46, from the Red
Lake Indian Reservation was
sentenced today, January 29,
2003, to over 8 years (100
months) in prison for assault
with a dangerous weapon. Head
was sentenced by Judge Ann
Montgomery in Minneapolis.
During his guilty plea hearing
in August 2002, Head admitted
that he used his pick-up truck to
assault a non-tribal member.
Two co-defendants in this
case, Jeffrey Lee Dolson, and
Head's daughter, Alana Lee
Brown, have pled guilty and
ASSAULT to page 5
Aquash murder case gets new
grand jury hearing
photos: Buck Genung
(Top) Big brothers Big sisters of the Greater Twin Cities: Jessica
from and Tania Montgomery. (Bottom) Division of Indian Work:
Thunderhawk, Jack Sharp, and Naya Woodstock
By Carson Walker
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Afed-
eral grand jury in Rapid City took
testimony this month on the slaying
27 years ago of American Indian
Movement member Anna Mae
Pictou-Aquash, according to a
woman who testified.
A rancher found the frozen body
of Aquash, a member of Mi'kmaq
Tribe of Nova Scotia, Canada, on
Feb. 24,1976, north of Wanblee,
on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. She had been shot once in the
head, execution style.
Aquash had been taken from
Troy Lynn Yellow Wood's home in
Denver in late 1975.
In an interview, Yellow Wood
said she testified Jan. 14 before a
grand jury in Rapid City.
"She had been brought to my
house as a place of refuge. To hide,
basically. That's about all I can say.
She was at my home," Yellow
Wood said.
The Rapid City grand jury is latest of several to take up the case
over the years.
Grand juries meet in secret. Federal investigators and prosecutors
AQUASH to page 6
U.S. official
cautions on
Indian gambling
revenue sharing
Associated Press
PECHANGA INDIAN RESERVATION, Calif. (AP)—The new
chairman ofthe U.S. commission
that regulates Indian gambling told
tribal officials Thursday that revenue-sharing between tribes and
the state would not automatically
meet with federal approval.
Philip Hogen, head of the National Indian Gaming Commission,
told the Eighth Annual Western Indian Gaming Conference that Interior Secretary Gale Norton wrote to
a New York tribe recently expressing concern over its revenue-sharing agreement with the state.
The interior secretary "I think
was sending a shot across the bow
to those folks who are going to be
sending in new compacts to the
secretary for review and approval
— be careful where you go with
this revenue-sharing business because they're not all going to be automatically approved," Hogen said.
California tribes and the state
will soon be seeking approval of
new compacts, the tribal-state
agreements that govern Indian
gambling. The state signed compacts three years ago with 61
tribes, of which 50 operate casinos, and they're due to be renegotiated in March.
Under federal law tribes cannot
be taxed but they can agree to share
revenue. Gov. Gray Davis has said
GAMBLING to page 6