Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-08-01

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Native studnets
complete U of M
McNair Scholarship
Program
page 3
Alzheimer's Association
"Someone to Stand by You"
page 4
Relay for Life of Red
Lake Nation
page 4
Striving to be positive in Advisory committee
a negative environment materials to be posted for
comment
page 4
page 5
A Quiet Crisis
Federal Funding & Unmet Needs in Indian Country
A Report of US Commission on Civil Rights Office of Civil Rights Evaluation
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
This report, currently in draft
form, dated July 16,2003, contends, "The federal government's
failure to avail Native Americans
of services and programs available to other Americans violates
their civil rights.... [The] report
demonstrates that funding for
services critical to Native Americans.. .is disproportionately lower
than funding for services to other
populations.... Under funding
violates the basic tenets of the
trust relationship between the
government and Native peoples
and perpetuates a civil rights crisis in Indian Country" (P.6)
The study's premises and conclusions are:
1. Premise -The federal government has a trust to provide for
Native Americans in exchange for
land taken.
'The federal obligation to Native
Americans is a matter of both
moral and legal imperatives. For
centuries, Native Americans
ceded or were displaced from
culturally and historically vital
territories on the agreement that
the federal government'would, in
perpetuity, assume trust responsibility for them.... however, federal funding for services purported
to compensate native peoples for
their sacrifices is unequal to the
task...."(P.4)
2. Premise - The government
can, through adequate funding of
programs for Native Americans,
promote self-governance and
self-determination for Tribes.
3. Premise - Native Americans
are better off living on reservations and having services supplied there.
The premises of the report are
flawed, and the recommendations
(discussed later) are singularly
hackneyed and unoriginal.
"The federal government lias a
trust to provide for Native Americans," this is simply paternalism,
the philosophy that is largely
responsible for die creation of the
condition of dependency that Native Americans experience today.
It ignores or minimizes the fact
that individuals and tribes have
the talent and the capacity to help
themselves. It does not report
on ways or expectations diat individuals might be helped to be
responsible for meeting their own
needs or on how tribes could better serve their members.
The report is somewhat predictable in its assertions that more
money, even if poorly administered, would solve die problems
on the reservations.
More importandy, the report
neglects to comment on gam
bling. It states (radier erroneously) "very few tribes have generated significant wealth from casino
revenue" and contends that gaming is "complex and outside the
scope of Uiis report." (p.4). This
is a serious omission especially in
a discussion of needed resources
for tribes and self-governance.
Over the past ten years, the
presence of casinos has attracted
Native Americans back to the reservations.   Casinos are economic
engines on the reservations and
provide resources independent
of state and federal governments.
They constitute great potential for
good.  They are also intensely
political and drive the tribal
councils because control of the
casinos is lucrative for the council
members. Gaming has an enormous influence of Indian politics,
programs and services, and governance.
Casinos could be the means -
through which more tribal needs
are met. This eventuality, combined with greatiy needed reforms
in tribal government, could lead
to meaningful self-governance.
Both die positive and die
negative impacts of casino related
activity must be factors in any
report on die status quo in Indian
CRISIS to page 7
U.S, Attorney Heffelfinger testifies that tribal
amendments to so-called Oliphant-fix too broad
On Wednesday, July 30,
2003, in Washington, D.C, U.S.
Attorney Thomas B. Heffelfinger testified, as the representative of die United States Department of Justice, before the U.S.
Senate Committee on Indians,
regarding Tribal Govermnent
Amendments to the Homeland
Security Act of 2002 (S-578):
Heffelfinger also spoke on
Tuesday, as the representative
of die U.S. Department of Justice, at a forum, sponsored by
die LIS. Senate Committee on
Indian Affairs, and attended by
tribal leaders and governments
officials, regarding "The Role
of Tribal Government in Assuring America's Homelands are
Secure."
At the tribal leaders' forum,
Heffelfinger focused his remarks on the importance of including Native American communities in national homeland
security preparation. He also
spoke about the need for information sharing at all levels of
government, including die Uibal
government level.
In his U.S. Senate Committee testimony, Heffelfinger addressed specific changes that are
being proposed to the Homeland
Security Act of 2002. Heffelfinger noted diat Section 13 of this
bill, as currendy written, is too
broad because it would expand
tribal criminal jurisdiction over
non-Indians without adequately
providing for common rights
defendants expect in federal or
state courts..
Heffelfinger, who serves
as Chairman of the Native
American Issues Subcommittee for Attorney General John
Ashcroft's Advisory Committee,
was invited to testify by Committee Chairman U.S. Senator
Ben Nighthorse Campbell, of
Colorado, and Committee Vice-
Chairman U.S. Senator Daniel
Inouye, of Hawaii.
Copies of Heffelfinger's re   ■^m
marks from July 29 and July 30,
2003, are reprinted on page 4-7.
EPA orders
International
Paper to test
Cass Lake sites
for contamination
By Jeff Armstrong
Abandoning months of negotiations with the company
responsible for the cleanup of
a federal superfund site on the
Leech Lake reservation, the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency ordered International
Paper to test 103 sites in the
vicinity of the former St. Regis
Paper Company facility in Cass
Lake for dioxins and other hazardous wastes.
"We proposed to [International Paper] a consent order.
They found some language in
there they could not agree with,
so we had to take more unilateral action," said regional EPA
specialist Tim Drexler.
EPA legal counsel Tom
Turner said the federal agency
EPA to page 6
The Department of Interior, Unplugged:
Judge Lamberth Disconnects
Interior from Internet
By Jean Pagano
U.S. District Judge Royce C.
Lamberth this week issued a
Preliminary Injunction against
the defendants in the Cobell v.
Secretary of Interior (Cobell)
case that immediately disconnects the Department of Interior (DOI) computers from the
Internet. The order affects all
computer systems that house or
access Individual Indian Money
(IIM) accounts, with several exceptions.
The preliminary injunction
was in reaction to the Department of Interior's refusal to
allow Special Master Alan
Balaran's continued attempts
to infiltrate DOI computer systems. Balaran has been determining whedier the systems are
secure from unauthorized access
from external sources, namely,
the Internet. Since April, the
Department of Interior has been
trying to stop the Special Master
from performing his duties as
relates to Cobell. The Special
Master and Special Master-
Monitor have been appointed by
the Court to help with the longstanding Cobell lawsuit.
A consent order was entered
into in December of 2001 as a
result of concerns that the IIM
data stored on DOI computers
was not secure. In hearings held
in late June, it became obvious
to Judge Lamberdi diat adequate
progress was not being made
towards this end. Previously,
it was the Special Master's responsibility to decide whether a
DOI computer containing IIM
data was safe from unauthor-
ized Internet access, as was
stipulated in the 2001 Consent
Decree Since the Department of
Interior has objected time and
time again to the Special Master, Judge Lamberth decided to
make judgments concerning the
DOI to page 6
Online gaming bill worries Indian advocates
By Andrew Pritchard
Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Gordon Adams Jr. worries that
Congress will cut American
Indian casinos out of die online
gambling market while leaving
states with a massive revenue
source. Mark Van Norman says
anything that hurts gaming
could cripple tribal infrastructure. And John McCarthy fears
that attempts to stop illegal Internet gambling could snowball
into stricter casino regulations.
All.three Indian gaming advocates point to the same source
of their unease: legislation that
would prohibit the use of credit
cards and other electronic money transfers for illegal Internet
gambling.
The bill's advocates counter
that their proposal would not
change existing gaming law, but
would instead provide a tool
for enforcing laws against gambling Web sites.
"The problem of Internet
gambling is especially worrisome because not only adidts,
but children, can place virtually
an unlimited number of bets ..
. in just a few minutes' time,"
said Rep. Mark Kennedy, R-
Minn., who cosponsored an
early version of the bill.
To recognize states' autiior-
ity to determine what forms of
gambling are legal within their
borders, the legislation exempts
from die regulations businesses
"licensed or authorized" by a
state government. In Nlinnesola
and many other states, such enterprises include die state lottery
and horse-racing tracks.
Unique sovereignty
But Indian tribal governments hold a unique form of
sovereignty that makes them
independent of states. Tribes
negotiate government-to-government agreements with states
regarding what gambling will
be allowed on reservations. As a
residt, Indian gaming advocates
say, Congress' online-gambling
bill would allow states to license
the online sale of lottery ticket
sales or horse-race betting,
while Indian tribes would be cut
out of the market.
"It's going to create a multi-
billion-dollar industry specifically for states, and it excludes
tribes from doing the same,"
said Adams, Midwest delegate
to the National Indian Gaming
Association's executive committee. "We feel that's very, very
unfair."
Indian tribes that wanted to
offer online gambling on a reservation might have to renegotiate
their contracts with slates. And
tribes that sought to offer Internet betting that crossed state
lines would likely be barred by
the federal Wire Act, which prohibits use of a "wire communication facility" or "transmission
of a wire communication" for
gambling.
Van Norman, NIGA's executive director, said that because
the proposed Internet gaming
bill would be more recent and
more specific dian the Wire Act,
it might be interpreted as'allowing state-licensed Internet gambling while prohibiting Indian
casinos from offering betting
online.
"We feel that if there is go-
BILL to page 6
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Founded in 1988
Volume 16 Issue 7
August 1, 2003
AP Photo /Michael W. Roybal
This bronze wire sculpture, depicting Indian warriors on horseback, was formally dedicated on June
25, 2003, as part of a memorial to the Indians who fought at the Battle of Little Bighorn 167 years
earlier, shown in this undated photo. The memorial stands a short distance from a hilltop obelisk
bearing the names of Lt Col George Armstrong Custer and some 200 U.S. 7th Cavalry troopers,
massacred by the Indians in the battle known as Custer's Last Stand.
Little Bighorn: New memorial honors Indians
who fought Custer
By RICHARD PYLE
Associated Press
LITTLE BIGHORN B AT-
TLEFIELD, Mont. - Always
worth a visit, even when it
l was hard to reach and told
only half of the story, the site
of "Custer's Last Stand" has
lately added a new feature - a
memorial to the Indians who
actually won the batde.
Few places in the United
States evoke die flavor of
history as does this national
monument in eastern Montana, where Lt. Col. George
A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry
famously met disaster in the
seminal event of the Indian
Wars.
History purists can be bodi
amazed and grateful that the
grassy hills, ravines and the
Litde Bighorn River valley,
where die Indians encamped,
look almost exacdy as diey did
on the hot Sunday afternoon of
June 25,1876.
Not that there haven't been
changes. Interstate 90 connecting Billings, Mont., with
Sheridan, Wyo., now runs
nearby _ but not so obtrusively
as to destroy the battlefield's
ambiance, as interstates have
at other historic sites around
the country. And the entrance
♦
is now marred by a commercial
complex _ gas station, gift shop
and casino. This is, after all, part
of the Crow Indian Reservation.
But once inside the gate and up
the hill, history still rules.
Dispatched as part of an Army
campaign to subdue rebellious
tribes in die spring of 1876,
Custer divided his 600-man force
into three parts and recklessly
attacked an Indian encampment
whose warrior strcngdi, some
2,000 by latest estimates, he had
grossly misjudged.
The result was the massacre of
Custer and about 200 of his immediate command, in what Robert Udey, author of die excellent
National Park Service booklet,
calls "a spectacular triumph for
the American Indian in his four-
century struggle to hold back the
white people who finally overpowered him."
First news of "Custer's Last
Stand" reached die East on July
5, stunning a nation still celebrating its lOOdi birthday. Custer
_ Civil War hero, impetuous,
theatrical and fearless _ became
the subject of a conttoversy diat
endures today.
Made a national monument in
1946, die site was long known
as the Custer Batdefield - to the
considerable annoyance of the
Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho
tribes who pointed out that their
ancestors, after all, were die winners.
.After decades of political
and tribal wrangling, President
George Bush signed legislation
in 1991 changing the name to
Little Bighorn Batdefield and approving an Indian memorial. On
June 25,2003, die batde's 127th
anniversary, the sculpture "Spirit
Warriors" was dedicated in a ceremony attended by 4,000 people.
Among them were Indians in
tribal dress, cavalry re-enactors
and several descendants of Sitting
Bull and Crazy Horse, the Sioax
leaders most identified with the
Indian victory.
The memorial is on I^st Stand
Hill, near the granite obelisk
marking the mass grave where
Custer and some 225 officers,
troopers, Indian scouts and a few
civilians were buried in 1881.
(Officers' remains were later
moved, including Custer's, now
interred at West Point)
A fenced-in area marks where
most of Custer's men, includr
ing his two brothers, Tom and
Boston, fell. One marker bears
George Custer's name, although
researchers now say his body ac-
MEMORIAL to page 5
Red Lake man charged with
aggravated sexual abuse
St. Paul - Twenty-six-
year-old Edward Wayne
Whitefeatiier from die Red
Lake Indian Reservation was
sentenced on Friday 25,2003,
in United States District Court
for aggravated sexual abuse.
Whitefeatiier was
sentenced to 240 months in
prison by Judge Donovan
Frank in St. Paul. Judge
Frank found that there were
aggravating factors and
imposed a sentence that was
an upward departure from the
sentencing guidelines.
During his guilty plea
hearing in May 2003,
Whitefeatiier admitted that
between January and December
2000, he sexually abused
a female using force and
threatened the victim by placing
her in fear of deadi, serious
bodily injury and kidnapping.
The case is the result of an
investigation by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and
Red Lake Law Enforcement.
Assistant United States Attorney
Clifford Wardlaw prosecuted
die case.
Two Red Lake residents convicted
for assault
Minneapolis—Two residents of the Red Lake Indian
Reservation were convicted
on Friday, July 25, 2003, by
a federal jury for assaulting
anodier member of the Red
Lake tribe.
Kurds Tarnow, age 20, and
Deanna Renae Defoe, age 30,
were convicted of assaidt with
a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily
injury. The jury heard 2 Vi clays
ASSAULT to page 3
New generation
of Indian
Americans looks
to politics
By Terence Chea
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Hoping to
translate dieir growing economic
clout into political influence, a
new group of Indian Americans
gadiered here Saturday to inspire
budding politicians and discuss
tricks of the political trade.
"If we really want to be part of
the political process, we need to
get more people elected," said Va-
run Nikore, president of the Indian
American Leadership Initiative.
"This is die last frontier for Indian
Americans."
Over the past four decades, Indian immigrants and their children
have achieved success in fields
such as medicine, engineering and
business, becoming one of the
wealdiiest and best-educated ethnic groups in die United States.
Yet die nation's 1.7 million In-
POLITICS to page 7
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