Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2003-09-26

              INDEX
Felon
Definition of
Racism hits close to
If the shoe fits
Time for an
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
2
3
kangaroo court
home for indigenous
people
Accounting!
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
classifieds
7
page 4
page 4
page 4
page 4
page 4
Department of Interior budget for 2004 passes Senate:
$20 billion bill sent to conference committee
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Jean Pagano
The United States Senate on
Tuesday approved a $20 billion
spending bill for tlie Department of Interior for fiscal 2004.
The measure, Senate Bill 1391,
approved on the Senate floor by
a voice vote, now advances to a
joint House-Senate conference
committee to resolve any differences between the two versions
of the bill.
The bill withstood two challenges mounted by Senate
Minority Leader Tom Daschle
of South Dakota. In tlie first
challenge, Daschle tried to tack
on $292 million to tlie bill as
additional funding for tlie Indian Healdi Service. Daschle
brought forward the argument
that die Federal government
spends $3800 per prisoner
while it provides only $1900
per Native American or Alaskan
Native.
A special budget rule necessitates that at least 60 votes are
needed to amend spending bills
and the challenge failed when
45 Republican senators voted
against it. Five Republican
Senators voted for die amend
ment. They are Senators Ben
Nighdiorse Campbell (Colorado), Susan Collins (Maine),
John McCain (Arizona), Lisa
Murkowski (Alaska), and Ted
Stevens (.Alaska). All but Senator Collins come from states
widi significant Indian populations. Senator Mark Dayton
voted for the measure wliile
Senator Norm Coleman was one
of the Republicans who voted
against it.
Senator Conrad Burns (R-
Montana) was the leader of the
opposition to the amendment
and stated that over $1 billion
had been allocated to Native
American health care programs
over die last five years and that
there are "extremely limited resources."
Daschle's second amendment
attempted to move $79 million
from the Department of Interior
budget to die Indian Healdi
Service. This shifting of funds
would have prevented the Bush
Administration from furdier reorganizing die Bureau of Indian
Affairs by expanding die Office
of die Special Trustee. Widi two
notable excepUons, die vote
against die amendment was
along party lines. Only Senator John McCain (R-Arizona)
voted for the amendment, while
Indian Affairs Committee Vice
Chairperson Senator Daniel
Inouye (D-Hawaii) was the sole
Democrat to vote against it.
The Office of die Special
Trustee is set to increase almost
50%, from $152 million to $275
million. Most of the additional
funds will be used to fill newly
created jobs and not to enhance
any Native programs. Similarly,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs
budgetary increases will not go
towards Native programs.
Earlier this year, Secretary of
Interior Gale Norton stated that
it would cost upwards of $2 billion dollars to perform a historical accounting of die Individual
Indian Money accounts. In both
die Senate and House versions
of die spending bill, the request
for $ 130 million for a historical
accounting was slashed to $75
million. Seemingly, the need
for a historical accounting does
not rate highly in die houses of
Congress.
Leech Lake Housing Board suspended
By Bill Lawrence
Cass Lake, MN - On September 18, just prior to an emergency Housing Board Special
N feeling, Judge Margaret Treuer
granted an Emergency Ex-Parte
Temporary Restraining Order
suspending die Housing Board
"from taking further action
whatsoever in connection with
Leech Lake Housing Audiority."
This drastic measure was die end
result of an internal audit performed by Don Romero of RSM
McGladrey Pullen during die
weeks of August 4 and August
11.
The impetus for die internal
audit came when an employee
was fired by die Board for
"whisde blowing." The employee had questioned why the
Board was allowed to provide
themselves widi payroll advances, which is against die Housing
Audiority's Employee Policies
& Procedures. This staff member went to the Tribal Council
and requested to return to work
after being fired for requesting
a payroll advance dial had been
denied by Marlene Mitchell, the
Interim Housing Director and
the Housing Authority Board
members. According to anonymous sources, when die staff
member slated dial Housing
Executives and the Board were
in violation of their own policies,
Board Member, Martin Robinson, (District 3 Representative's
brother) and Jenny Wind Reyes
(sister to Tribal Inspector John
Wind) pushed for die employee's
termination. Arthur "Archie"
LaRose, Secretary-Treasurer,
and District 2 Representative,
Lyman "DeDe" Losh provided
a reinstatement letter and die
employee returned to work only
to be fired a second time by die
Housing Board.
Romero had performed an audit (last summer) of die Band's
government accounting office
mid presented numerous findings
of suspicious financial activity
diat are nearly identical to his
recent Housing Audiority audit
findings.
According to die Housing Authority internal audit findings,
dated August 28,2003, there are
three main programs die Board
is responsible to oversee. The
first is Low Rent, Mutual Help,
funded by the US Department
of Housing and Urban Development-federal monies. The Tribal
Constituent Services Program is
funded by Leech Lake Gaming
monies, which is allowable in
accordance widi the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Tlie third
program, Non-Tenant Services is
funded by rental income, paid by
tenants.
Tlie Housing Board violated
Human Resources and Travel
policies by providing themselves
and Executive staff widi payroll
advances, abused travel advance
practices and "odier" advances.
Romero cites "Odier" advances
to include "allowing employees
to buy computers, work clotiies
and tools and pay die Tribe back
dirough payroll deduction,"
which action violates die Human
Resources policy diat prohibits
payroll advances.
"Housing Board members are
not following established policies and procedures for travel,"
Romero wrote and cited: 'Travel
advances are not closed widiin
five business days of travel.
There are 56 instances totaling
over $41,000 dating from October 2001 where travel closeouts
for Housing Board members
were not performed. In addition
we have no evidence the Board
members actually used the advances for travel. Travel advance
requests are not consistendy approved by die division head or
controller. There are 4 instances
where the Board took advances
BOARD to page 7
Report: Police stop minorities more often than whites
By Patrick Howe
Associated Press
ST. PAUL - Black, Hispanic
and .American Indian drivers
were more likely to be stopped
and searched by pohce in Minnesota last year than white drivers, even though diey were less
likely than whites to be found
with anything illegal.
The pattern was discovered
in a broad-based racial profiling
study released Wednesday by
die nonprofit Council on Crime
and Justice and the Institute on
Race and Poverty, which is associated with die University of
Minnesota Law School.
"These patterns suggest a
strong likelihood that racial/
edinic bias plays a role in traffic stop policies and practices in
Minnesota," die authors wrote.
Under a plan passed hi the
2001 legislative session, law enforcement agencies were offered
state money to purchase video
cameras for police vehicles if
diey agreed to collect traffic-stop
data during 2002.
Officers were asked to determine die race of drivers they
stopped in 194,189 total stops.
Sixty five police agencies volunteered and study authors said
they found the same basic pattern in nearly every one. Audiors
and participating police agencies
were asked not to comment until
after a Wednesday afternoon
news conference.
The patterns were especially
strong for black and Hispanic
drivers.
If police in the study had
stopped drivers of all racial
groups at the same rates, about
18,800 fewer blacks, 5,800 fewer Hispanics and about 22,500
more whites would have been
stopped by the 65 police agencies, they found.
Particularly troubling, die audiors said, is diat police were far
more likely to find contraband
during searches of vehicles driven by whites. In all, 24 percent
of searches of whites turned up
contraband, compared to 11 percent of searches of blacks and 8
percent of searches of Hispanics.
The study found diat American
Indians were stopped at a slighdy
greater rate than whites and contraband was found in a slighdy
lower percentage of stops, about
20 percent.
The patterns were particularly
strong in Minneapolis, the largest
city participating in die study.
"Taken together, these patterns warrant serious examination," the report says. "It is fair
to conclude that die problems
diat they suggest are not isolated
to a handful of jurisdictions or
present only hi diose jurisdictions that chose to participate in
this study."
Kansas Attorney General asks court to suspend
gambling at Indian casino
By Carl Manning
Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. - Two federal
agencies failed to enforce laws
protecting a national historic site
diat's being used as a casino by
an American Indian uibe, Kansas Attorney General Pliill Kline
said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
In die lawsuit, die attorney
general asked U.S. District Judge
Julie Robinson to order the
Department of Interior and die
National Indian Gaming Commission to suspend gambling at
die casino until full compliance
of die law has been met. No
hearing date was set Tuesday.
The Wyandotte Nation of
Oklahoma opened its casino
on Aug. 28 in narrow trailers
attached to the Scottish Rite
Temple in downtown Kansas
City, Kan. It is next to die tribe's
liistoric Huron Cemetery, which
was established in the 1840s.
Neither agencv would com
ment Tuesday on die lawsuit.
The Wyandotte Uibe referred
calls to its attorney, David McCuUough of Oklahoma City, who
didn't return phone messages left
at his office.
In the lawsuit, Kline said die
two agencies didn't enforce provisions of die National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act
as diey pertain to modifications
or defacements of die landmark.
The tribe wasn't named as a
defendant in the lawsuit. Kline
spokesman Whitney Watson
said diat was because "die two
federal agencies are the ones
charged widi die oversight of die
tribe and in federal court they are
die ones you sue."
Kline said the temple is on
die National Register of Historic
Places. The lawsuit said die tribe
"has engaged in conducting
certain demolition, modification
and-or alternation to the interior"
since taking possession of die
temple.
The state doesn't know die
extent of die changes because die
tribe has refused to allow state
inspectors to check die premises,
Kline said in the suit. He also
said the two agencies didn't conduct required evaluations of potential adverse impact nor did the
state have a chance to provide
any input.
The casino offers about 150
bingo games, "pull tab" games
and a variety of electronic pull
tab devices diat look and play
like slot machines.
'Hie Interior Department in
June ruled die tribe's downtown
land was eligible for federally licensed Qass II gambling activities, which allows such games.
In 1996, the Wyandotte Nation
asked die Interior Department to
take die property in trust for die
SUSPEND to page 7
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Volume 16 Issue 15
September 26, 2003
Firefighters and officials investigate the scene where two Duludi, Minn., police squad cars came to
rest after colliding, one in the front porch of the Thunderbird House, a transitional housing facility
for Native American men, at the intersection of Fourth Avenue West and Third Street in Duludi early
Wednesday, Sept. 24,2003. The two collided as they came lo help a third squad that had stopped
suspects in a shooting on Interstate Highway 35 near downtown Duluth. (APPhotoT/fe Duluth News
Tribune, V. Paul Yirtucio)
Leech Lake Indians seek Cass' help for proposed
casino, marina on Leech Lake
By Monica Lundquist
Cass County Correspondent
WALKER - The Leech
Lake Indian Reservation will
need Cass County cooperation to make a proposed small
casino and marina on Leech
Lake a reality.
Bob Goggleye, Leech Lake
vice president of economic
development and construction
manager for tribal properties,
presented design concepts
to the county board Tuesday.
The proposed building
would replace die former Sliin-
gobee Inn restaurant on Shin-
gobee Island between Walker
and the present large
Leech Lake casino and hotel,
Northern Lights, at die Y junction of Highways 371 mid 200.
Goggleye said die plan calls
for 56 boat slips on Sliingobee
Bay, with potential for expanding to 70 slips. The existing
building, which has been
closed for business the last two
years, would be torn down in the
next two weeks.
A new log style building is
proposed to replace it, with a
deck overlooking the bay.
While Cass County zoning
permits are not required on tribal
trust land such as this, Tribal
Council Chair Peter White told
the county board tribal officials
have found the county owns
properties involved in the proposed project area.
Because die land involved was
used in conjunction with the former Sliingobee Inn, no one realized die county actually owned
segments, he said.
He asked the comity to vacate a road on Sliingobee Island
the county now owns. It is the
former Highway 34 the state
dedicated to the county when the
current Highway 371 was built
through that area.
White also said the Shingobee
Island community sewer and water system water treatment building is located on land adjacent
to the building site. The county
owns diat under a contract with
the state whereby state funds
were granted to the county to
construct the system. A property
owners users board has operated
the system since it was constructed.
He said die Leech Lake Reservation would be interested in
assuming ownership of the entire community sewer system if
ownership could be transferred
legally.
There also is adjacent county
land die tribe would like to obtain, White said.
The county board asked
County Administrator Robert
Yochum to meet with tribal
representatives, including the
tribe's legal counsel, and county
LEECH LAKE to page 6
Bellanger
arrested
Minneapolis - U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger announced the arrest of a Crow
Wing County man who was
allegedly involved in the
distribution of cocaine and
methamphetamine in Beltrami and Hubbard Comities.
Jamieson Lee Bellanger,
age 28, from Bemidji, was arrested by the Brainerd Police
on a federal narcotics warrant. Bellanger was indicted
bv a federal grand jury on
July 22, 2003 on charges of
possessing with the intent to
distribute 9.1 grams of cocaine, possessing with the intent to distribute 5.8 grams of
methamphetamine, and as a
ARREST to page 6
Thunder convicted
Duludi, MN - Following
two weeks of trial mid 3 *A
days of deliberations, a federal jury convicted a 38-year
old man of sexually abusing
two minor girls.
Ralph Joseph Thunder, Jr.,
also known as Bill Thunder,
was convicted late Tuesday,
September 8, on three counts
of aggravated sexual abuse.
Evidence during trial showed
that between 1996 and 2002,
'Thunder knowingly engaged
in sexual penetration on several different occasions with a
THUNDER to page 6
Looking Cloud's lawyer asks
to be taken off case
By Carson Walker
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The
lawyer representing a man accused of killing American Indian
Movement activist Anna Mae
Pictou-Aquash wants off the
case, saying he and his client,
Arlo Looking Cloud, don't get
along.
Also Tuesday, an AIM leader
said the group wants to either
help the lawyer or provide attorneys to represent Looking Cloud.
In a motion filed in US. District Court, Tim Rensch of Rapid
City cited "a total and complete
breakdown of the attorney-client
relationship" that's "irrevocable" and makes it impossible for
him to continue.
Looking Cloud and John Graham, also known as John Boy
Patton, are charged with first-
degree murder in die slaying of
Aquash on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation.
Aquash vanished from Denver
in December 1975. Her frozen
body was found in February
1976 near Wanblee. She had
been shot in the head.
Graham has not been anested
and is thought to be in Canada.
Looking Cloud was arrested in
March in Denver.
U.S. District Judge Law renee
Piersol granted two requests
from Rensch to delay Looking
Cloud's Rapid City trial. It was
initially set for June, dien pushed
back to Sept. 30, and earlier this
month was rescheduled for February after Rensch said he was
not ready mid needed more time
to prepare a defense.
Rensch wrote in an affidavit
that he did not want lo go into
the details of why he wants to
withdraw because prosecutors
could use dial "to gain mi ad-
vantage or edge against" Looking Cloud.
In an order filed Monday,
Piersol said he received a letter
from Looking Cloud last week
that "partially addressed" die
issue of his relationship with
Rensch.
"The defendant must be more
specific about the irreconcilable
conflict and the breakdown of
his relationship with Rensch,"
Piersol wrote.
The judge gave Looking
Cloud and Rensch until Sept.
30 to submit more documents.
Then he will decide whether lo
schedule a hearing on Rensch's
request. Piersol ordered the letter
sealed so the public and prosecutors couldn't see it. But a hearing
would be public, he said.
Rensch did not return a phone
call seeking comment, mid prosecutors would not talk about the
pending cases.
Looking Cloud's cousin, Ber-
nice Bull Bear, said part of the
problem is that Rensch did not
CASE to page 7