Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-05-09

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
In support of the
racino and the
state-tribal casino
page 4
Empowering the
People at Leech
Lake
page 4
An Open Letter to
PFC Jessica Lynch
page 4
Squaw Peak or
Piestewa Peak?
page 4
Red Lake Tribal
Constitution is
clear and concise
on process for
succession
page 4
Leech Lake officials assert emergency executive powers
Editor's Note: The two executive orders are printed on page
By Jeff Armstrong
Declaring a constitutional crisis over the refusal of three RBC
members to recognize the political authority of the two top reservation officials, Leech Lake
chairman Pete White and secretary treasurer Archie LaRose issued an executive order Monday
assuming temporary executive
governing authority—pending a
full membership General Council meeting within the next
month to reform the reservation
bylaws. The move appears to
be part of a
strategy aimed at breaking out
of Leech Lake's political paralysis by mobilizing the grassroots.
"The Executive Officers of
the Leech Lake Reservation
Business Committee have determined that there is a need to issue Executive Orders to address
shortcomings in the governing
documents that serve our reservation. These
orders will be issued only with
the consensus of both the Chairman and the Secretary Treasurer. The orders will be rescinded when the governing
documents are amended to address the shortcomings," wrote
White and LaRose in the first
executive order, issued May 5.
The Leech Lake officials,
both of whom were elected in
the last year with nearly 60% of
the vote, reaffirmed their position that the recall petition
against LaRose is "null and
void" under the MCT Constitution. In support of
their position, the executive officers cited a recent TEC resolution stating that the political
conflict is an internal reservation matter. They pointed out,
however, that petition supporters retain a constitutional right
to appeal the final decision to
the BIA.
"The petitioners seeking to remove the Secretary-Treasurer
have the due process option, under Article X, Section 5, to appeal to the Secretary of the Interior. Any actions taken by the
RBC since the removal of the
previous chairman are null and
void. They are illegal actions
and will be viewed as contra-
LEECHLAKEtopage8
RLTC to consider appointment of interim chair at
May 13 meeting
By Bill Lawrence
According to Red Lake tribal
secretary Judy Roy, the Red Lake
Tribal Council will take up the issue of succession of the recently
vacated position of chairman due
to the untimely death of Gerald R.
"Butch" Brun on April 26, at its
regular scheduled monthly meeting
on May 13.
Brun, age 64 was elected to a
second non-consecutive four-year
term as chairman of the Red lake
Tribal Council in August 2002 and
a suffered a slight stroke just prior
to taking office. His current term of
office would have run through
2006. He had previously served as
chairman from 1990-1994.
The Red Lake Revised Constitu
tion and ByLaws requires that the
tribal council appoint a replacement to serve as chairman only until the next regular election, which
is scheduled for May 2004. Article
X, Section 3 states as follows:
"The Tribal Council shall by an
affirmative vote of the majority
shall appoint a replacement to fill
any vacancy of a district representative or officer, caused by removal, or resignation, provided the
term ofthe replacement shall not
exceed beyond the next regular
election regardless ofthe length of
the unexpired term."
Roy also told PressON that the
district representatives conducted
meetings in all the reservation communities during the week to
soliciate members input on filling
the chairmanship vacancy. She also
said that the reservation or tribal
wide meeting that was originally
set for last Friday is rescheduled for
this Friday May 9 at 1:00 p.m. at
the Red Lake Humanities Center.
Red Lake tribal administrator
Francis Brun told PressON in a
phone interview that he had heard
that in addition to tribal secretary
Judy Roy and treasurer Darrell
Seki as the most likely candidates,
he had also heard that "Red Lake
district representative Roman
"Ducker" Stately expressed a willingness to serve if selected by the
council." He also said "more candidates may express themselves at
Friday's open meeting."
The Trial Begins: Cobell v. Secretary of Interior Enters Phase 1.5
By Jean Pagano
On 1 May 2003, the case of
Cobell v. Secretary of Interior entered the Phase 1.5 trial. U.S. District Court Judge Royce C.
Lamberth had previously set the 6*
of January as the deadline for the
submission of plans detailing how
the Department of Interior would
implement trust reform. 'Tmst reform' is the term used to describe
repairing a long-broken relationship of trustee and trust. In this
case, the United States Government
acting under the office ofthe Secretary ofthe Interior holds the trust.
The trustees are a large number of
Native Americans, perhaps numbering as many as 500,000, who receive trust payments from the
United States government for such
enterprises as oil and gas production, mineral resource payments,
etc, on lands owned by Native
Americans but held in trust, by law,
by the United States.
This story begins in 1887 with
the Dawes Act, an Act that would
"provide for the allotment of lands
in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the
protection ofthe laws ofthe United
States and the Territories over the
Indians, and for other purposes."
The words "and for other purposes" are most indicative here.
According to U.S. Senator Henry
M. Teller, speaking in 1881, "the
real aim [ofthe Dawes Act] is to
get at the Indians land and open it
up for resettlement." Under the
terms of the Dawes Act or the General Allotment Act of 1887, the
Secretary ofthe Interior was the
holder ofthe trust. From this point
forward, Native monies are held in
trust by the United States government.
Fast-forward to 1934 and the
Wheeler-Howard Act otherwise
known as the Indian Reorganization Act. The Indian Reorganization Act was instituted to "conserve
arid develop Indian lands and resources; to extend to Indians the
right to form business and other organizations; to establish a credit
system for Indians; to grant certain
TRIAL to page 6
Constitutional Reform Series ofthe Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Compiled by Wallace W.
Storbakken
On September 29-30,2001, the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe sponsored a Constitutional Hearing at
the Grand Casino JVIille Lacs. This
is the third of a series of -quotes—
based on oral testimony at the hearing. The testimony has been edited
to conserve space, while attempting
to include the major points, opinions, and ideas ofthe speaker. Every effort has been taken so as to
not present the testimony out of
context. We apologize that the presentations are not in chronological
order and that in many cases the
speaker is not identified. The full
transcription ofthe hearing testimony is available through the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe facility in
Cass Lake, Minnesota.
Excerpts and quotes from testimony of Burton -Luke—Wilson-
Leech Lake:
- -Good Afternoon. My name is
[Luke] Wilson, the newly elected
District 1 Representative from
Leech Lake Reservation Tribal
Council. Before I was elected I
served on local councils for about
thirteen years and about eight years
ago, we formed a General Council
on JLeech Lake and it kind of dissolved, but our local councils are
still active. About three [or] four
months ago we started having these
meetings again. All our local councils come by. One was in April and
we had one in June. We delegated
Mr. Storbakken and Roxanne
LaRose as our delegates to speak
for us on our behalf...—
- -... [W]e came forth on agreeing
to come up here as a panel and
present what Mr. Storbakken just
talked about.—
Excerpts and quotes from testimony of Wally Storbakken -
Leech Lake:
- -I am enrolled at Leech Lake. By
virtue of that, a member of the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. I have
been involved in what I will call
here, for lack of a better word, this
constitutional struggle, for at least
14 years. I think that the things that
were said earlier were right on.
However, my opinion is that the
business that we should be doing
here today, they wanted us to, and I
know it is in here, to limit our comments to what is here [the proposed
amendments]. But I think thats inappropriate ...—
- -[Representing the people that
met at Leech Lake, we agree that
the current constitution is inadequate and it needs to be replaced
with something. We also have
agreed from Leech Lake, that this
piecemeal approach, these here
recommendations, as they are, is an
inappropriate way to undertake
that. And we agreed, at Leech
Lake, that we should come up with
MCT to page 3
BIA takeover of police department may
lead to new constitution for Blackfeet
Associated Press
BROWNING - Longtime
Blackfeet Tribal leader Earl Old
Person and one of his former
political adversaries agree - the
tribe's 70-year-old constitution
needs to be updated.
"We need something to separate the (tribal) council from the
courts," Old Person said. "Our
law and order is very important
to our reservation."
The Blackfeet tribal constitution, drafted in the 1930s, does
not provide for a separation of
powers. In fact, the tribal council is granted sweeping powers
over offices from natural resources to the courts.
In February, the BIA took
over law enforcement on the
reservation after reports that
tribal politicians were meddling
in police affairs.
"In modern society, there are
checks and balances," said
former tribal chairman Bill Old
Chief. "But not here. Not in Indian Country. In mainstream
politics, there are boundaries
you can't cross between executive and judicial branches. In
tribal politics, those boundaries
get blurred."
"Times have changed. The
constitution hasn't," Old Chief
said. "We need a separation of
powers if we're ever going to
get away from corrupt influence,
or at least the appearance of corrupt influence."
Old Chief said he's seen tribal
council members demand to get
their relatives out of jail.
Tribal prosecutor Allie Edwards
said she's seen council members
apply subtle pressure to help
friends and relatives who got in
trouble with the law.
"If it wasn't council interference and intimidation, I don't
know what it was," Edwards
said. "At times it seemed like
certain council members were
directing which way the court
should rule."
Old Person said the council
discussed complaints about the
police department - whose chief
was Old Person's nephew - but
nothing was ever done. He
blames it on the frequent turn-
BIA to page 3
Let's tell it like it is
By: Pauline Thomas
Community Collaborative
Last week I talked about how the
JVIinneapolis City Council has
made a mockery of Federal Mediation.
Although a good idea originally,
the City's insistence on controlling
the composition ofthe community
team has made the whole mediation process a joke.
We will not be involved in a
sham mediation. We appreciate the
time and efforts ofthe Department
of Justice (DOJ) Community Relations. Service to voluntarily mediate this dispute, but the MinneapoUs City Council has proven that it
will never make voluntary change.
A mediation process controlled by
the city with a community team
picked by the city is totally un acceptable and a waste of our time.
From what we hear the community
team is to be stacked with people
that are financially beholden to the
city including employees ofthe
city. Since it appears that the fix is
already in we're moving forward
with 2 new plans.
First, we filed a Patterens and
Practices Complaint against the
CITY COUNCIL to page 5
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Volume 15 Issue 48
May 9, 2003
Lacy is first Navajo to win Miss Indian World
Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE - Onawa
Lynn Lacy wasn't raised on the
Navajo Nation or taught as a
child to speak Navajo. But her
study of the Navajo culture as
an adult paid off last week
when she became the first Navajo to be crowned Miss Indian
World.
Lacy, a 20-year-old University of New Mexico prelaw major studying English, grew up in
Gallup and Raton.
After two days of pubhc
speaking, traditional dancing
and traditional talent competitions, Lacy was chosen last
weekend from 34 young Indian
women from around the country at the annual Gathering of
Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque.
Lacy's coal miner father,
Rodney, is Anglo. Her mother,
Rena, is Navajo, a native of
Church Rock and a member of
the mud clan.
Lacy, a 5-foot-10-inch former
basketball player at Gallup High
School, grew up trying to reconcile her two parts and become
comfortable in both worlds.
"Being biracial, I'm really
Lstuck in two different places,"
Lacy said. "I felt it was my duty
to really get in touch with both of
my cultures. I've really had to
want to know what I know. I've
had to work hard for what I know
and to ask from the heart."
Lacy competed but did not
win the 2001 Miss Intertribal Indian Ceremonial crown when she
was 19. A month later, she competed at the State Fair for the
Miss Indian New Mexico title.
She won and she spent the year
representing New Mexico at
powwows and other gatherings
and at events in Washington,
D.C., and New York City.
Lacy hopes to go to law school
and to someday represent the Navajo Nation.
"It isn't about a crown and a
banner," she wrote in her essay
for the Miss Indian World competition. "It's about representing
indigenous people - their beauty
4
Copyright © Kimberlie R.
Miss Onawa Lynn Lacy
Hall
and diversity and all the uniqueness
you find in them."
Over two days last week Lacy
and the 33 other contestants were
judged on their poise, their knowledge of Indian issues and tradition,
their specific knowledge of their
tribe and on their Indian dance performance.
Lacy did not place first in any of
the competitions, but she took second in every category, and that consistency gave her the overall top
score.
Lacy credited her academic
study and especially the tutoring of
her Navajo grandmother, Ella Mae
Yazzie, for her performance.
After she was crowned, she hugged
her grandmother and said, "This is
where I've learned it all."
Lacy will spend the next year as
a college student and as an ambassador in Indian Country and across
the world.
Her theme will be the importance of higher education among
Indian youths.
Peltier sues journalist for saying he had role in Aquash killing
By CARSON WALKER
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.Leonard Peltier has filed a libel
lawsuit over accusations that he
was involved in the 1975 killing
of fellow American Indian Movement member Anna Mae Pictou-
Aquash.
The case, filed in U.S. District
Court in Minneapolis, names as a
defendant Paul DeMain, editor of
News From Indian Country, a
newspaper based in Wisconsin.
Aquash's frozen body was found
in February 1976 on South
Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The 30-year-old woman
had been shot in the head in mid-
December 1975 after being taken
from Denver.
Arlo Looking Cloud of Denver
and John Graham are charged with
first-degree murder committed in
the perpetration of a kidnapping.
Looking Cloud was arrested in
Denver and taken to Rapid City,
where he pleaded innocent. Federal
prosecutors hope to extradite Graham from his native Canada to
South Dakota to stand trial. He has
not been found.
The lawsuit quotes from an
editor's note pubhshed in March in
which DeMain said, "The primary
motive for the murder of Annie
Mae Pictou-Aquash by other members of the American Indian Movement in mid-December 1975, allegedly was her knowledge that
Leonard Peltier had shot the two
agents as he was convicted."
The lawsuit also challenges
DeMain's statement that Peltier
was actually convicted. "The government has admitted that it cannot
prove that Mr. Peltier shot the two
agents," it states.
Peltier, who is serving two back-
to-back life sentences in
Leavenworth, Kan., called the
editor's note an "irresponsible
PELTIER to page 6
Daughters of slain AIM member frustrated by lack of information
By Carson Walker
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.-The
daughters of a slain American Indian Movement member said they
are frustrated and insulted by the
way Canadian officials are handling the search for a suspect in
their mother's death 27 years ago.
John Graham is wanted in the
death of Anna Mae Pictou-
Aquash, who disappeared from a
Denver home in late 1975 when
she was 30. Her frozen body was
found on the Pine Ridge Reservation in February 1976 and she had
been shot, in the head.
Denise Maloney Pictoh, Pictou-
Aquash's daughter, said Thursday
that U.S. authorities give her and
her sister regular updates but
they've heard nothing formal from
the Canadian government.
"What is insulting is how our
noses have been rubbed in it daily
by the level of apathy and injustice
we experience by both govern
ments, Canadian and American, for
the past 27 years and counting,"
Pictoh said in a statement released
late Thursday.
A second suspect in the Slaying,
Arlo Looking Cloud, was arrested
in Denver in March on a charge of
first-degree murder committed in
the perpetration of a kidnapping.
Looking Cloud, who grew up on
the Pine Ridge reservation, was
transferred from Denver to Rapid
City March and pleaded innocent.
His trial is scheduled June 24. He
would face a mandatory life sentence if convicted.
Canadian officials said they are
limited in what they can tell Pictoh
and her sister, Debbie Maloney
Pictoh. Both hve in Canada.
'We want to make sure that before a proceeding, we're OK with
the documents we've received
from the U.S.," Patrick Charette,
spokesman for Canada's Department of Justice, said Friday.
"Our main objective is to make
sure there's a proper administration
of justice," he said.
U.S. prosecutors said they're not
allowed to speak about the case.
Graham's whereabouts are unknown. Graham, who is also
known as John Boy Patton, is originally from the Yukon Territory.
In a 2000 interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. show
"The Fifth Estate," Graham denied
any involvement in Pictou-
Aquash's death. He acknowledged
being with her when she left Denver but said she was not kidnapped.
Graham and Looking Cloud
worked as security guards at AIM
events during the 1970s, when tensions between AIM members and
government-backed factions ended
in numerous deaths on the Pine
Ridge reservation.
Pictou-Aquash, a member of
Mi'kmaq Tribe of Canada, was
among Indian militants who occupied the village of Wounded Knee
for 71 days in 1973.