Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-03-28

              INDEX
Should take
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
2
3
responsibility for
their own actions
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
CLASSIFIEDS
7
norm A
In support of equal
opportunity and
protection for all
page 4
Building a viable
future at Leech Lake
page 4
Minneapolis Public
Schools Supt.
explains Four Winds
restructuring
page 4
Commentary
Minnesota
Gaming Equity
Act will test
party ideology
page 4
Anishinabe coalition to hold human rights forum in Bemidji
By Jeff Armstrong
The Anishinabe Peace and Justice Coalition has scheduled a public hearing in Bemidji April 2 to address what the group claims is a
growing list of grievances over the
treatment of Natives in the
Beltrami County judicial and corrections systems. Hearing testimony at the meeting, to be held 1-
5pm at 505 Bemidji Av., will be
county law enforcement and corrections officials.
APJC spokesman Frank
Dickenson said indigenous inmates
in the county jail are routinely denied access to medical care and are
often subjected to humiliating and
Discriminatory treatment Dickenson
cited complaints from women prisoners who say they are forced to ask
jailers for sanitary pads.
"That's degrading as hell. That's
racial discrimination at its worst,"
he said.
Dickenson said the group has
achieved little in private discussions with county officials.
"Nothing's going to change unless we change things ourselves,"
said Dickenson. "We're trying to
get things changed in Bemidji. I realize we're not going to do it overnight, but maybe we can start educating people."
Coalition member Feather Rock
said she was aware of one instance
in the county jail in which a woman
was allegedly denied access to her
diabetes medication, with life-
threatening consequences.
"Her diabetes level was up to
540.1 think when you get to 500,
you're just about dead," said Rock.
Rock said inmates who cannot
afford the $5 copayment are effectively deprived of their human right
to health care.
"According to the jail's own
policies, they're not supposed to be
denied medical treatment because
they're indigent. But they're denied," said Rock.
Rock said even those who can
afford the fee are not guaranteed
access to a health professional.
' "The nurse decides who gets to
see the doctor. It's up to the jailer to
decide who gets to talk to the nurse.
It's like whoever you talk to, it's
someone else's fault," she said.
Dickenson says the APJC was
organized in April of last year to fill
the void occupied by the Bemidji
Area Race Relations Council,
widely viewed as a black hole into
which issues of discrimination are
jettisoned. The APJC organized
one ofthe largest demonstrations in
Bemidji's recent history last year in
response to an allegedly racist incident at a McDonald's restaurant.
Archie LaRose
statement
Leech Lake, MN -1 have decided to dismiss my lawsuiL without
prejudice, in the Leech Lake Tribal
Court in order to allow the Petition
for Removal/Recall to proceed before the Reservation Business Committee (Tribal Council). Despite the
fact that I have prevailed in each of
the three Orders issued by the Tribal
Court, I am taking this action now
because I have accomplished the
goals I established for this litigation.
Further proceedings would not be in
the best interest of the Band or the
Tribal Council.
During this lawsuit I have been
successful in demonstrating the
following:
• No one is above the law, not
even a tribal council member, when
rights guaranteed by the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe Constitution are being violated.
• The Leech Land Band Tribal
Court as the right to hear claims for
constitutional violations.
• The process used to petition for
my removal/recall did not follow the
requirements et down by the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Constitution.
• No one including the Leech
Lake Tribal Court had the original
petition until March 18,2003. Only
the petitioners had access to the
original. The original petition has
been proven to have been altered
and tampered with.
• There are serious questions as to
whether the Petition has met the
minimum constitutional requirements. The petition clearly contained forged signatures and signa-
LAROSE to page 5
LaRose Waives Trial, Public Hearing
By Diane E. White
On Friday, May 21s', a sign on Ihe
Leech Lake court room door read,
"PUBLIC NOTICE There will be
no hearing today. The case was
settled."
The case of "Arthur "Archie"
LaRose, Secretary/Treasurer ofthe
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe vs.
Burton 'Luke" Wilson, et al, and
Lenore Bareness and 502 resident
Members ofthe Leech Lake Reservation," Case No. CV-02-64 was
settled. The Stipulation of Dismissal
Without Prejudice read, "COMES
NOW, Plaintiff, Defendant and Intervenors, who agree to the dismissal ofthe above styled action
WITHOUT PREJUDICE. The
terms and conditions of the Stipula-
LaRose withdraws suit, agrees to RBC
hearing on recall
By Jeff Armstrong
In a surprise move, Leech Lake
secretary treasurer Archie LaRose
withdrew his own lawsuit seeking an
injunction against a petition to remove him from office under the tribal
constitution. Asserting fraud and denial of due process, LaRose had obtained a series of tribal court rulings
restraining his fellow RBC members
from acting on the petition.
"While I was confident of prevailing before the Tribal Court, it was
clear that this process could take
many months because of appeals. At
a time when the Leech Lake Band is
facing a deficit of over two million
dollars, continued expenditure ofthe
resources ofthe Band on this petition
process, and the distraction from the
operations of tribal government, was
too high of a price to pay," said
LaRose in a prepared statement
There is little risk for LaRose in
the move, since the MCT Tribal Executive Committee has interpreted
the constitutional requirement of a 2/
3 vote to mean that four ofthe five
RBC members must approve in order to effect the removal or recall of
an office-holder. Chairman Pete
White has adamantly opposed the recall effort as a divisive and groundless diversion from pressing business,
meaning LaRose would have to vote
in favor of his own recall. The RBC
is expected to make its decision to-
HEARING to page 5
Red Lake takes fourth in State Class
1A Tourney
photo: Clara NiiSka
Red Laker Dominick Johnson sets up a play for the Ogichidaa in the game
against Ellsworth on Friday, March 21s' at the Class 1A State Tournament
in Target Center in Minneapolis. Red Lake lost to Ellsworth 58-51, and finished 4th at the State Tournament.
March 21": Panthers beat Red Lake
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Trail-,
ing 25-23 at halftime, Ellsworth's
Dylan Kvaale scored 14 points in
the second half to lead a comeback
and eventual 58-51 win over Red
Lake Friday in the Class 1A semifinals at the Target Center.
"It was a good effort on our
part," Red Lake assistant coach
Kevin Sigana said. "But, they
seemed to have a lime more energy
than us at the end."
Kvaale scored six straight points
as part of a 9-2 run that helped
Ellsworth push its lead to 53-46
with 1:16 left.
Red Lake (23-9) stormed back
to score five straight points in the
game's final minute.
Matt Graves nailed a 3 with 51
TOURNEY to page 3
Duluth casino drops bingo
By Jane Brissett
Duluth News-Tribune
DULUTH, Minn.—Fond du
Luth Casino in downtown Duluth
will begin a $ 2 million remodeling
project at the end of the month that
will add more video slot machines
and send bingo players to Black
Bear Casino in Carlton, Minn.
Meanwhile, Black Bear is looking at expanding bingo games to
seven days a week and is considering long-range plans to expand its
hotel and casino.
By the end of April, Fond du
Luth will have 700 slot machines,
including 144 that will be installed
in what is now the bingo area, according to casino manager Maurice
Ojibway. New carpeting and lighting are also part of the plan, and the
concessions area on the second
floor will be converted to a full-service bar.
The last bingo game at Fond du
Luth will be played March 30,
Ojibway said.
The project will net a few jobs,
adding to the 300 already there.
Some employees will be laid off
during the transition, and they will
be the first to be hired back,
Ojibway said.
The Fond du Luth and Black
Bear casinos are owned by the
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Supe-
BINGO to page 6
Surprises Again:
Ernst & Young
Report in Cobell
States that only
$61 is missing in
IIM case
By Jean Pagano
A bill signed into law last month
by President Bush requires that an
Ernst and Young accounting report
on the Individual Indian Money
(DM) accounts of four ofthe five
plaintiffs in the Cobell v. Secretary of
the Interior, be released. The report
was released on March 25*.
The Ernst & Young report, commissioned by Congress and produced at a cost of $20 million, found
a discrepancy in one account for $61.
The Attorney for the plaintiffs in the
Cobell case claims that through the
government's mismanagement over
$100 billion has been squandered
since 1887Congress has been asking
for a copy of the report for a number
of months. U.S. District Judge Royce
C. Lamberth had previously declined
to release the report because it contained personal financial data for four
ofthe defendants. A2003 budget bill
mandated the release ofthe date. The
copy ofthe report released to Congress omitted Ernst & Young's disclaimer that no efforts were made to
check ihe accuracy of the documents
provided by the Department ofthe
Interior.
The source ofthe Ernst & Young
report was date provided by the Department of Interior. Dennis Gingold,
an attorney for the plaintiffs claims
that the report is a waste of money
because the date in question is not reliable. The subject ofthe lack of security of Department of Interior data
has been one ofthe issues that led to
a contempt citation against the Secretary ofthe Interior, namely "committing a fraud on the Court by making
false and misleading representations
starting in March 2000, regarding
computer security of DM trust date."
(Memorandum Opinion, Judge
Royce C. Lamberth, 17 September
2002)
The Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 requires
the Department of Interior (DOI) to
perform an accurate accounting of all
DM trust funds held in trust. The
Ernst & Young report was completed
over a year ago as an attempt to de-
REPORT to page 5
VOICE      OF      THE       PEOPLE
tion Without Prejudice are as follows: 1. The Court will sign the accompanying Order lifting the temporary restraining order. 2. The
Plaintiff withdraws his claims without prejudice from the Court in order to allow the matter to be returned to the Reservation Business
Committee for further proceedings.
3. The Petition will therefore be referred back to the Reservation Business Committee for further action.
This Stipulation can be accepted by
the Court in separate signed Stipulations, and will be effective as though
all signatures are contained on a
single Stipulation. The Court can
immediately enter the attached Order." Signed by: Zenas Baer & As-
TRIAL to page 5
web page: www.press-on.net
/v&o
Native *
American
Press
Ojibwe News
 ■ We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2003
Founded in 1988
Volume 15 Issue 42
March 28,2003
Three casino
gambling plans
circulating at
Capitol
By David Phelps and
Melinda Rogers
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Revenue-starved legislators now
have at least three casino proposals
to consider as they struggle between
the issues of gambling expansion in
Minnesota and the state's overwhelming budget deficit
On Wednesday, a House committee heard a bill to permit the
White Earth and Red Lake bands
of Chippewa to construct a $300
million casino in a northern Twin
Cities suburb in exchange for 40
percent of the gambling profits being turned over to the state.
A separate plan to add slot machines and video gambling to the
Canterbury Park racetrack in
Shakopee, with a slice for state coffers, is slowly gaining momentum.
And a third plan for a privately financed horse track and casino for
the Blaine area is being shopped
around legislative corridors.
Estimates of annual revenue for
the state range from $75 million to
$150 million, sums that could grow
in appeal as legislators wrestle with
a $4.23 billion deficit for the next
two years and unpopular reductions in Local Government Aid to
cities.
Representatives of existing Indian-owned casinos see a financial
power play at work in the Legislature to end their exclusive authority
to offer blackjack, slots and other
video gambling games.
"This is a major shift in public
policy — state-run gambling," said
John McCarthy, executive director
ofthe Minnesota Indian Gaming
Association.
At a hearing Wednesday before
the House Governmental Operations and Veterans Affairs Policy
Committee, Rep. Bill Haas, R-
Champlin, championed the idea of
a stete-and Indian-operated casino
in an undesignated northern suburb.
He said it would provide 3,000
to 4,000 jobs, many of them set
aside for inner-city Indians who are
CASINO to page 6
Photos: Bill Lawrence
Supporters of the Minnesota Gaming Equity Act rallied at the
Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, March 26th.
White Earth tribal chairman Doyle Turner speaks in support of the
Minnesota Gaming Equity Act.
Questions stall tribal casino bill
By Don Davis
Bemidji Pioneer
ST. PAUL—White Earth and
Red Lake American Indians say
they have waited a long time for
equity, and now have to wait a few
more days.
A House committee Wednesday
delayed voting on a bill to allow
those two bands to run a northern
Twin Cities casino because too
many questions remained unanswered. Leaders ofthe two bands
say the casino would give them eq
uity with tribes that already have
Twin Cities-area casinos.
"He is right to pull it" White
Earth Chairman Doyle Turner said
after representatives debated the
bill for two hours.
Rep,. Bill Haas, R-Champlin,
told the committee he wanted more
time to work on the bill before a
vote. The bill probably will return
early next week in the House Government Operations Committee.
The committee heard the White
QUESTIONS to page 6
Statement of Darrell Seki
Before the Minnesota House
Government Operations and Veterans Affairs Committee
March 26, 2003
Honorable Chairman Rhodes and
Honorable Committee,
My name is Darrell G Seki,
Sr., and I am tribal treasurer of
the Red Lake Nation.
I'm honored to be given this
opportunity to speak to all of you
regarding the Minnesota Gaming
Equity Act - the joint State-Indian urban entertainment / gaming complex bill that was introduced last Tuesday by Representative Bill Hass, Republican of
Champlin, on behalf of Red Lake
SEKI to page 6