Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-06-06

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
CLASSIFIEDS
2
3
4
7
The Sioux Today:
Self-Determination,
1975-2000
page 6
Water vs Coke: U scientists
research shows Coke
contributes to heart disease
page 5
Door to financial
information Is an open
one, NOT SO
page 4
A letter to the people
of Mille Lacs Band of
Ojibwe
page 4
Commentary
Do Indian
reservations equal
apartheid?
page 4
Reorganization at the BIA and the new face of the DOI
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Jean Pagano
The reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and
the Office of the Special Trustee
(OST) is under way across the
country. Beginning in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the plan,
unveiled on Tuesday, has already
met with negative reviews.
Already, the Indian Educators Federation (IEF), the union
that represents employees of die
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
and Office of the Special Trustee
(OST) is threatening a lawsuit to
stop or delay the reorganization.
In addition to die IEF, the chairman of the governors of the 19
New Mexico pueblos said that he
would ask President Bush to stop
the reorganization.
The reorganization plan is being
presented this week to Federal
employees of BIA and OST in
Albuquerque, and to northwest
and western region BIA and
OST employees in Pordand,
Spokane, and Phoenix. The Department of Interior (DOI) has
said Uiat tribal leaders will be
briefed on the changes after the
presentations to employees. The
reorganization is an attempt by
DOI to 'increase accountability
and efficiency in its trust man:
agement functions' according
to a June 2nd press release. The
reorganization shifts jobs and responsibility away from BIA and
moves people and resources to
OST. According to DOI, this reorganization is part of the changes required by the 1994 Indian
Trust Reform Act. The changes
are also invariably a result of die
ongoing Cobell v. Secretary of
Interior lawsuit, which attempts
to address shortcomings in tlie
management of Native American Trust programs, especially
Individual Indian Money (IIM)
accounts.
DOI is consolidating all Indian
Trust Asset Management functions under an Assistant Secretary 'with trust experience',
according lo DOI's 'Reorganization to Improve Indian Trust
Asset Management. Due to an
evaluation by Electronic Data
Systems (EDS), the recommendation was made to 'immediately
appoint a single, accountable,
Trust Reform Executive Sponsor' to head Indian Trust Asset
Management. Previously, die
responsibility for Indian Affairs
rested squarely on die shoulders
of the Secretary of Interior, but
die Indian Trust Reform Act
created the Office of the Special
Trustee to improve accountability and management of Indian
funds held by the federal government. Oddly enough, die position
created in 1994 was chartered
to do the same thing as die new
BIA reorganization.
Some positions of importance
under the reorganization are die
Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, and the Special Trustee for
American Indians. The
Bureau of Indian Affairs is
responsible for administering
Federal Indian Policy, fill filling
Federal Trust responsibilities to
American Indians, Tribal Governments, and Alaskan Natives,
along widi promoting tribal
self-determination and self-governance. It is interesting to note
diat in die Departmental Manual
of die DOI, BIA trust responsibilities are listed as protect and
preserve trust lands. According
to DOI, the Bureau of Indian
BIA to page 5
Ombudsman's office closes after 30 years watching
out for people's human and civil rights
By Jon Shields
One of die more quiedy kept
cutbacks that slipped through
the legislature this spring was
a provision in the Judiciary
Finance Omnibus bill to repeal
MN stamtes 241.41 through
241.45 and thereby eliminate
the Office of die Ombudsman
for Corrections. This office
originally started in 1973 as a
result of riots and prison disturbances in the state of New York
and was responsible for the
independent investigation of allegations of abuse, misconduct,
and unfair treatment in all of
Minnesota's prisons and jails.
Over the years, the office was
instrumental in leading changes
in how Minnesota reforms inmates as well as looks after an
increasingly vulnerable prisoner
population.
Currentiy led for the second
time by a Native American,
David E. Larson, die office was
often investigating issues related
to spirituality rights, racial bias,
and blatant discriminatory practices by jail and prison officials.
These controversial issues unfortunately have not been fully
resolved and now prisoners of
color will not have an independent office to review their grievances. " I worry what this will
lead to in the months and years
ahead. All it will take is one
slip up and thirty years of hard
work will be undone and scores
will suffer." said David Larson,
Ombudsman. "If only one minor disturbance occurs, the cost
will be many times what would
have been spent in keeping diis
office open."
The victim of its own success,
the Ombudsman's Office was
instrumental in 1994 for investi
gating the deadis of mentally ill
inmates and leading the charge
for drastic changes in how mentally challenged inmates are
treated in the system.
Facing fiscal challenges each
and every year, the office's
budget was slashed from over
$600,000 in 1998 to just over
$168,000 in 2002 and its staff
was reduced from ten employees to two during that period.
Finally, with the election of a
conservative governor and the
elevation of the office's primary
nemesis (Rich Stanek) to Commissioner of Public Safety, the
office's fate was sealed.
On June 30th the office will
shut its doors after 30 years
of fighting for justice and fair
treatment for everyone inside
Minnesota's jails and prisons.
Constitutional Reform Series
Compiled by Wallace W.
Storbakken
On September 29-30, 2001,
die Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
sponsored a Constitutional
Hearing at the Grand Casino
- Mile Lacs. This is the fifth
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 of the speaker.
Every effort lias 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
tiirough the Mimiesota Chippewa Tribe facility in Cass Lake,
Mimiesota.
Excerpts and quotes from testimony of Lori Gellings- Leech
Lake:
"[W]hat we are not really
acknowledging within diis Constitution Reform meeting, and it
hasn't even been said once yet,
is the fact that when we look
at who is our RBC and who is
our TEC, they are one and the
same. They are just everybody's
faces at one table who moves to
another table. Who is going lo
look at this and take our voices
and actually say this is what the
people want? The TEC is, but
the TEC has more invested in
this than we do because they
want our inherent rights. Our
inherent rights also include our
natural resources. The right to
be sustainable within our own
lands .. . They are going to have
our inherent rights that were assigned to us under treaties."
"Where is the check and balance? We don't have check and
balance in our government because our RBC sits on the TEC.
We have no separation of powers. We see this in our judicial
system. We sec this in our law
enforcement systems."
"Everybody talks about
change for the better, but nobody
has talked about our human and
civil rights within the reservation
borders, within the State of Minnesota."
"lawyers benefit more by
hurting us. By terminating us
under the LInited States' governments and they are using die
RBC's to do it to us."
Excerpts and quotes from testimony of Ted Shotley- Leech
Lake:
"...Getting back to what I
started to say about die enrollment. I have a nephew who is
enrolled, I am half, my brother
is half, his son is XA, but his
mother is full blood Ojibwa from
Canada. He is only a Va, and he
SERIES to page 6
Bison jump site is prized archaelogical site in
northeast Wyoming
BySAMHERLEY
Gillette News-Record
SUNDANCE, Wyo. (AP) _
Driving in his pickup from Sundance on U.S. 14, Gene Gade
points out the site's location, virtually invisible from a distance
to the untrained eye.
'You don't get die feeling that
there's a big hole over there,"
said the bearded, stocky man,
pointing along the ridge that
forms just along Interstate 90.
After a few more minutes of
driving, Gade stops his truck and
gets out, passing a couple of ragtag signs that show-and-tell the
tale of the site.
Just beyond the signs, it is
finally visible: a 200-foot-wide
sinkhole, a piece of land that
caved in when the roof of an underground cavern collapsed.
At first, it might not look like
much.
"Some people are disappointed when they first see it," Gade
said.
The odds are good diat passers-by on 1-90 won't even notice
the Vore Buffalo Jump site. But
it was here for 300 years that Indian tribes from across the western and central plains killed and
slaughtered thousands of bison.
Evidence at the site shows that
a variety of tribes - the Kiowa,
Apache, Absaroka, Shoshone,
Hidatsa and possibly the Mandan
and Arapahoe - used the buffalo
jump. Gade said oral accounts
written down in the 20th century
show diat the Northern Cheyenne used it as wed.
Hidden in the hole are the
bones of an estimated 20,000
buffalo, plus at least 1,000 Indian
artifacts, weapons and tools.
The irony of the site is that
the subdety that allowed it to
become so successful in the first
place by tricking thousands of
buffalo to stampede over its lip
to their deaths also keeps it from
being noticed today.
Those who do come have only
a few simple rules to follow: no
digging or disturbance of the site
in any way. No object, plant or
animal life may be removed.
"Unauthorized digging here is
like tearing the pages out of an
ancient manuscript," Gade said.
Gade is president of the Vore
Buffalo Jump Foundation. He is
also a University of Wyoming
extension educator based in Sundance.
As well as anyone, he visualizes what the site once was, and
what it one day could be.
"This isn't just a pile of
bones," Gade said before ventur-
BISON to page 5
BUFFALO JUMP-FACTS
By The Associated Press
Facts about the Vore Buffalo lump Site in northeast Wyoming:
WHAT: A place where different Indian tribes stampeded buffalo into a
natural sinkhole between 1500 and 1800. After the stampede, the tribes
butchered the animals for food and supplies. The bones of an estimated
20,000 buffalo are at the site, where sediments have preserved remains and
Indian artifacts.
WHERE: Five miles west of the Wyoming-South Dakota border on U.S. 14,
alongside Interstate 90. There is no direct interstate exit to the site, but it is
easily reachable from either Sundance or Beulah.
TOURS: The site is open to anyone. No digging is allowed. For detailed
tours, groups can call the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service in Sundance at (307) 283-1192. The office is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday but is often flexible to schedule tours outside the
hours or on weekends.
ON THE NET: http://www.sundancewyoming.com/vore.htm
web page: www.press-on.net
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Volume 15 Issue 52
June 6, 2003
' Press/ON publisher Bill Lawrence receives a Freedom of Information Award.
Press/ON publisher receives Freedom of Information award
By Sara Lawrence
Press/ON publisher Bill Lawrence received a Iieedom
of Infonnation Award from
ihe Society for Professional
Journalists (SP.I) diis week in
-Minneapolis.
Ihe prestigious Peter S.
Popovich Award is given by
the board of the SPJ Minnesota Chapter each year
for aggressive defense ol' the
public's right to know and
consistent support of the first
Amendment.
I awrence received the
award for his pursuit through
bureaucratic and legal channels to make the audited
financial statements of Indian
casinos public information
under die Minnesota Government Data Practices Act
(MGDPA).
The effort began more
than two years ago when
Press/ON requested audits
of the Red Lake Chippewa
Tribe (of which Lawrence is a
member) from the Minnesota
Department of Public Safety
(DPS), Gambling Enforcement
Division. The request was denied by the DPS on the grounds
that the information was confidential. Press/ON then requested an advisory opinion from the
Department of Administration
who decided the audit data did
in fact meet the criteria of being
public information under the
MGDPA.
Furdier requests for audits
by Press/ON were curtailed
when tribal attorneys began
pressuring the state. The issue
was escalated to State Attorney
General Mike Hatch who found
the DPS did not have the legal
standing to prevent the audits
from being made public and a
flurry of legal action ensued.
The Prairie Island Dakota (owners of Treasure Island Casino)
and the Mille Lacs Band of
Ojibwe (owners of Grand Casino Mile Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley) sued the State of
Minnesota in state court while
\ h stic Lake Casino's Shakopee
Mdewakanton tribe and odiers
sued in federal court.
In an effort to maintain
focus on the First Amendment
ramifications rather than allowing it to be misconstrued
as a "government against the
Indians" drama, Lawrence intervened in the state suit as an
"interested party", acting as his
own attorney. Additionally, the
Minneapolis Star Tribune filed
an amicus curiae ("friend of the
court") brief.
On April 23, 2002, the state
district court ruled diat the
casino audit data were private
because they contained "trade
secret" information, even going so far as to say the financial
statements derive independent
economic value by remaining
secret. An appeal was filed
jointly bv die state and Press!
ON aiid on April 1, 2003, a
three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled
that most of the information in
Indian casino audits is public
information.
The federal suit went Law-
AWARD to page 3
Charges fly at meeting on bison range management
Associated Press
MISSOULA - Charges of
racism and questions of competence flew Tuesday night
at a meeting to discuss a
proposal to turn management
of the National Bison Range
over to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
"How dare you pretend to
care about the Confederated
Salish and Kootenai Tribes,"
said Cathy Dupuis of Poison,
a 30-year employee of the
tribal government.
"No matter how many of
you stand up here and say
why die tribe should not do
this or that, we will stand up
here and tell you why we can.
How dare you pretend to be
talking in a reasonable manner?"
Tribal members accounted
for about half the 250 people
who filled the Big Sky High
School cafeteria for the meeting. It was organized by
opponents of the proposal
to contract out management
of the Bison Range mid the
Pablo and Ninepipe national
wildlife refuges to die tribes.
The three federal sites are
within die boundaries of die
Flathead Indian Reservation. By
law, the tribes can petition the
U.S. government for management rights.
Federal and tribal officials
convened an official public
hearing on die proposal last
month in Ronan. Comments
there were solidly in favor of
tribal management.
On Tuesday, some non-Indians questioned the tribes' ability to manage the 18,000-acre
Bison Range. Some Indians,
in turn, wondered whether the
comments were grounded in
reason or racism.
Victor resident Hoot Gibson
spoke out against the proposal,
calling it "another handout to
die Indian people."
Robert Torgerson of Missoula
said tribal members "are not
accountable for their actions,"
complaining that Indians who
shoot moose from their vehicles
up Rock Creek are cited for il
legal hunting practices but then
get off.
"What I'm talking about here
has nothing to do widi the culture of these people," Torgerson
said. "I don't want someone
who is not accountable running
the Bison Range."
Dan Decker, a wildlife biologist for die tribes, questioned
the motives of several in the
audience. He said he overheard
one audience member say he
" wished die tribes would follow
the herd right over die buffalo
jump."
"That's the heart of the issue," Decker said. "Because
it cannot be contested that die
tribes have competent management.
"Why do people from the
Bitterroot come to the reservation to hunt pheasants'? Because
there are better opportunities on
the reservation. I have gentlemen come to my property every
year to fish, because there are
more brown trout on the reservation dian anywhere else,"
Decker said.
County will fight for tribal land lawsuit
Associated Press
Mille Lacs County will appeal a federal judge's dismissal of its lawsuit to have 61,000
acres declared outside the
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe's
reservation.
The County Board voted in
a closed meeting last week to
appeal to the 8di U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals, Commissioner Frank Corteau said
Wednesday.
Earlier diis month, U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum
said die county failed to show "a
real dispute" between the comity
and die American Indian band
and dismissed the lawsuit with
prejudice.
Although Rosenbaum acknowledged it would be a
"momentous" ruling to clarify
whether the land is part of the
Mille Lacs reservation, he said
that fact alone doesn't mean it's
the proper time to render such a
decision.
The County Board has spent
rougldy $1 million since deciding in autumn 2001 to pursue die
reservation issue.
Corteau said they expected the
appeals court to hear the case
diis fall and rule by die end of
die year.