Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-08-22

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Research finds
Indian social
dividions in early
Moundville life
page 3
Educators looking for
solutions to Indian
students' problems
page 3
Mille Lacs Lake:
another Red Lake
page 4
Gentrification, red collar
crime, etc.
page 4
Law & Order
lacking on res
page 4
Recall petition for 2 Lower Sioux council appears
to be stalled
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
It appears there has been
no movement on the petition
calling for the removal of Ann
Larsen, tribal president, and
Brian Pendleton, treasurer, of
the Lower Sioux Indian community.
Sources told PressON that the
petition was prompted after a
heated discussion at a quarterly
meeting in late July between
members of the community and
die tribal council. At tire heart
of the discussion were the loans
made to certain Lower Sioux
members.
One of handouts made
available at the meeting was
a special loan report (printed
in this issue), showing Ann
Larsen receiving loans totaling
$68,777.49 from 1995 through
September 30,2002. As of
September 30, 2002, tlie balance owed on the loans was
$51,136.33.
According to information
received by PressON, a new
general consumer loan program
was to have gone into effect in
September allowing members to
borrow up to $25,000. Allegedly, the first check for $25,000
was written to Ann Larsen,
before the loan program was to
have gone into effect.
Some members feel the special
loan report handed out at the
July meeting was not a complete list because there are other
members who have received
loans of various types, i.e.,
housing, personal, and business.
The big question is why the
council would hand out a loan
report that is so incriminating
to tribal council members. Four
out of the five council members
have outstanding loans.
For sure, there are many
questions to be answered and
it would seem that tlie petition
was warranted and should be
responded to as soon as possible. It has also been reported
that one of the members who
had initially signed the petition,
called and asked that his name
be removed from the petition
after he was presumably intimidated by tribal council president
Larsen, because he had also
received loans. Stay tuned!
Editor's Note: Turn to page
4 for to view the special loan
report.
Leech Lake CEO denies selling company to
would-be casino financer
By Jeff Armstrong
According to information obtained by Press/ON, Leech Lake
Corporate Commission CEO
Michael Johnson sold his St.
Paul trucking company for nearly $1 million to a subsidiary of a
company which had proposed to
finance a controversial $20 million casino expansion project on
the reservation.
Johnson agreed to sell Commercial Trucking and Leasing,
Inc. for $980,000 to Citi-Cargo/
Larson Properties on March 29,
2003, just days before signing a
one-year, $127,200 employment
contract with Leech Lake. The
sale was concluded on May 29,
less than one month after Johnson persuaded the RBC to sign a
May 1 letter of intent approving
the financing and management
proposal offered by W.D. Larson Companies, Ltd., a trucking
and equipment supply company
operating through much of the
upper Midwest.
As a supplement to the
agreement, the company also
"requested that Mike Johnson's
Employment Agreement be
extended for at least three years
to assure that Mike will be the
constant agent for the Band in
regard to these projects," according to a May 7 letter from
tribal attorney Frank Bibeau to
the RBC. Johnson's apparent financial benefits from the agreement raise obvious conflict of
interest questions with regard to
his role as Leech Lake CEO.
Though Johnson denies any
connection whatsoever between
Larson Properties and W.D. Larson Companies, corporate registration documents filed with the
Minnesota Secretary of State reveal that the CEO of Citi-Cargo/
Larson Properties is none other
than W.D. Larson. Among die
past listed addresses of the latter entity is one identical to the
Bloomington, MN location of
W.D. Larson's corporate office
filed with tlie state and posted
on the company's website. The
company has apparendy registered under a variety of names
listing the same address and
CEO, including Management
Acquisitions, Inc., the guise under which Larson concluded the
letter of intent with Leech Lake.
Johnson was evasive about the
company's request that he serve
as point man for the reservation
in negotiations with the company, claiming not to understand
the question, but he agreed to an
interview on the issue at a later
date.
Leech Lake secretary treasurer Archie LaRose said the
reservation has no intention of
terminating Johnson's contract
and said the RBC was aware of
his recent business dealings with
W.D. Larson at the time the letter of intent was signed. LaRose
repeatedly stressed that the
casino relocation aspect of the
agreement was "a dead issue" as
far as he was concerned, though
he acknowledged he could not
speak for the other four RBC
members.
The secretary treasurer said he
was not concerned about incurring reservation financial liability for breaching the agreement,
which stipulates that Leech
Lake waives sovereign immunity for purposes of enforcement
of the pact and agrees to binding
arbitration in Hennepin County,
Minnesota, including potential
responsibility for the company's
attorney fees.
"There's not going to be any
action taken [by the compam |,"
LaRose said. "If anything like
that was going to happen, it
would have happened already,"
he said, pointing to die 30-day
expiration date of the May 1 letter of intent.
LaRose said die reservation
does intend to proceed with
certain aspects of die agreement,
including the construction of
100 affordable homes available
for tribal member ownership at
a rate of $200-$300 per month
and, possibly, a slot machine
operation at the Shingobce
Restaurant in Walker, MN. The
secretary-treasurer, however,
said he was unaware of whether
W.D. Larson would be financing
the projects.
Press/ON will continue to
investigate Johnson's past business dealings and role in the
casino expansion proposal over
the coming weeks.
Minnesota releases list of schools not making
adequate yearly progress, Native schools on list
By Jean Pagano
On July 7\ the Minnesota
Department of Education released a preliminary list of 259
schools that were not making
adequate yearly progress (AYP)
towards the 'Leave No Child
Behind program instituted by
President Bush. The release of
the preliminary data began a
30-day period during which
schools could be removed from
the list. The new list presented
on 14 August, totaling 144
schools, represents the results of
schools being removed from the
preliminary listing. Six schools
with significant Native populations are included in the list of
144.
Schools are evaluated based
upon, in part, the results of
student scores on the 3rd and 5lh
grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments in math and
reading. Schools are required to
have a certain percentage of students exceeding the 'proficient'
level as well as having 95% of
students taking the test.
Ninety-three of the original
259 schools were removed from
the list after making corrections
to their data, some by appeal to
a three-member panel appointed
by the Commissioner. 18 of the
school were removed after alternative learning centers were
granted more flexibility by using either attendance or graduation data to determine their
status. An additional 4 Native
schools, under the jurisdiction
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA), were removed to allow
the BIA to determine their status and not the Department of
Education.
Out of the scaled down list of
144 schools, 119 of the schools
were listed for the first time.
These schools face no additional
consequences for the listing
other than the fact that they are
on the list. Ten of the remaining
schools have been on the list
for two consecutive years and
will offer public school choice.
The final 15 schools, on the list
for a third year in a row, will
make supplemental services
available. 'Public school choice'
means that the school must offer
supplemental services, such as
tutoring, to the disadvantaged
group of students.
Schools that were identified
as not making adequate progress in the 'Native American/
Alaskan Native' subgroup on
the July list were: Bemidji, in
the Math proficiency; Bug-O-
Nay-Ga-Shig, in both Math and
Reading proficiencies; Cass
Lake, for participation level in
both Math and Reading (below
95%); Fond Du Lac Ojibway,
in Math proficiency; Heart of
Earth Charter Schools, in both
Math and Reading proficiencies; Mahnomen, in both Math
and Reading proficiencies;
Nay-Ah-Shing, in both Math
and Reading participation levels
(below 95%); and Red Lake, in
Math proficiencies. All of the
schools except Bemidji are Tide
1 schools.
Native students make up a
small but significant percentage of students in Minneapolis
SCHOOLS to page 3
Jury: Garbow Jr. guilty in Mille Lacs beating death
by Brett Larson
and Joel Patenaude
Messenger Staff Writers
A Mile Lacs County jury on
Friday convicted Roger Garbow
Jr., 20, of participating in the
intentional killing of Melvin
Eagle Jr., 45, on Jan. 4.
After a six-day trial, Garbow
was found guilty on all three
counts of second-degree murder
with intent to cause Eagle's
death, while committing a
first-degree assault and as a
result of using a dangerous
weapon.
The six men and six women
on the jury deliberated for five
hours before returning the verdict at 9:15 p.m. The charges
required die jury to determine
whether Garbow took part in a
beating so severe Eagle's death
was inevitable.
Garbow was not charged with
premeditated murder. But his
conviction hung on whether the
jurors believed that once the
beating began, Garbow and his
accomplices either intended to
kill Eagle — using their feet, a
metal chair, a board and a dustpan — or his death was a foreseeable outcome.
Garbow, who didn't take the
stand, had admitted to investigators he and two others — his
cousin Coleman Weous, 18, and
a 17-year-old male friend —
kicked, stomped and beat Eagle
at the home of Debra Smidi,
Eagle's girlfriend and Garbow's
aunt.
"I'm pleased with the outcome, but the whole thing was
sad for both families," said
Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan
Kolb.
William Klump Jr. and Cheri
Townsend of the Minnesota Attorney General's office handled
the prosecution. Kolb said she
provided assistance behind the
scenes. Having observed the
trial, Kolb said she and assistant
county attorney Wade Kish are
prepared to take to trial in September the youngest of the three
defendants accused of ganging
up on Eagle.
She declined to speculate
whether the other two defendants, whose attorneys
DEATH to page 7
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August 22, 2003
On drum from left: Lloyd Irvine, Jordan Gardipee, and Chris Shorty, of the Chippewa-Cree Singers
sing during the Rocky Boy Powwow Aug. 1, 20G3, in Rocky Boy, Mont. The group recently received
a recording contract with Sweetgrass Records of Saskatchewan. (AP Photo/Great Falls Tribune, John
W. Listen)
Indian Drummers releasing more CDs as native
music grows
By JENNE1FER PEREZ
Great Falls Tribune
GREAT FALLS (AP)
- When the Chippewa-Cree
Singers strike dieir drum and
sing their songs, their music is
a sound familiar to powwow  .
fans on the Montana circuit.
But when the family-style
drum group from the Rocky
Boy's Indian Reservation releases its recording later diis
year, members hope it will
reach a much broader audience.
The Chippewa-Cree Singers
are one of many drum groups
from Montana signing recording contracts with companies
such as Sweetgrass Records
of Saskatchewan, and Indian
House Records and High Star
Publications, both of New
Mexico.
Last month, the Parker
School Singers, also of Rocky
Boy, released a CD they re
corded in March in Santa Fe,
N.M. It was dedicated in memory of Keno Standing Rock and
Jesse Colombe, both of whom
died last year.
When the Native American
Music Awards were launched in
1998 new recordings exploded.
The number of new releases
by Native American artists
climbed from 64 in 1997 to 144
in 1998. Although new recordings dropped to 97 in 1999, another 130 were released in 2000
and 140 more were for sale in
2001, according to die NAMA
Web site.
Leading the Chippewa-Cree
Singers is Vernon Gardipee,
a singer and composer from
Rocky Boy.
Since he started singing in
1977, Gardipee has sat in the
drum circle with some of the
top groups in the United States
and Canada and shares his songs
with other drum groups.
*T ve been very blessed to
keep it alive and to maintain that
positive feeling for my fellow
singers," Gardipee said.
The Chippewa-Cree Singers
consists of his four sons, Vern
Jr., 18, Mke, 17, Jordan, 13,
and Koda, 5., and six nephews,
James Gardipee, 30, Alanzo
Gardipee, Doug Standing Rock
Jr., Anthony Standing Rock, John
Murie and world-champion grass
dancer Wesley Windy Boy.
His daughters, nieces and other
young ladies often stand outside
die drum circle, which is customary, using their high-pitched
voices. Other male guest singers
often sing beside the young and
older men.
^Respecting die drum _ that's
first and foremost to us," Gardipee said.
The group has an original style
of music, and the songs don't
contain specific words unless
CD to page 3
2 are sentenced in tourist's death
Judge decried drinking involved in violence on Leech Lake reservation
By Larry Oakes
Star Tribune Northern Minnesota Correspondence
Walker, MN—Anguished
families wept Monday as a
judge sentenced two young
northern Minnesotans in the
robbery, kidnapping and baseball-bat killing of a 21-year-
old tourist—a crime blamed
partly on widespread underage
drinking and illegal drug use
on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
"I don't know when hi
our community and county
we will overcome the damage alcohol and drugs," Cass
County District Judge John
Smith said. He then sentenced
17-year-old Kenneth Conger
Jr. of Federal Dam to 35 years
in prison for his role in the
killing of Brian Jenny of Sha-
kopee, who was on a fishing trip
when he was attacked.
"I don't know what it will
take," Smidi continued, "for
people to realize what a menace
it is to society."
Smith later sentenced 21-year-
old Stephanie Losh of Bena to a
year in jail and 40 years' probation with a variety of conditions.
The sentencings followed
healings during which Jenny's
family members asked for
maximum terms and told die defendants how grief-stricken and
angry they are.
"Deadi is a lifetime without parole, widiout letters or visitation,
without pictures or dreams," the
victim's father, Joe Jenny said
through tears.
He had wanted Conger to receive a life term, but in the end
the Jenny family went along with
a plea agreement in which Conger admitted to second-degree
murder, widi a maximum 40-year
term. The family agreed after
Cass County Attorney Earl Maus
explained diat trial would come
with risks, including the possibility diat a jury would pity Conger
because of Ins youth; he was certified to stand trial as an adult.
When it was Conger's turn to
speak, he tearfully apologized.
His family wiped away dieir own
tears. "I know I've done something wrong, and there's noticing I can do to change that." He
said. T m sorry for all die pain I
caused the family."
Afterward, Conger's grandmother, Linda Morris of Cass
Lake, said Indian elders in Conger's family had "told him to tell
TOURIST to page 3