Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-01-09

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
2
3
Tribal law ensnares
northern Nevada
woman
Brain-wasting
disease
No more illegally-elected
President for U.S. public
Leech Lake's current
mess makes Eli's
Drugs and Crime
Election 2004
campaign issues
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
J\ *:'
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 3
page 4
page 4
page                                  BkJ|
page 4
Red Lake Tribal police officer's home attacked
VOICE       OF       THE       PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
Early Saturday morning,
January 3, 2004, an unknown
individual fired multiple shots
at the home of Red Lake Band
of Chippewa Officer William
White. White's family, his wife
and three small children, were
inside. No one was injured.
Officer White's police vehicle
was also peppered with shots.
It appears from casings found
at the site that the shooting was
done with a .22 caliber rifle.
Officer White was one of the
arresting officers in the Charles
Donnell case. Donnell was arrested after a high-speed chase
in Redby, Minnesota in October. The case was dismissed by
Red Lake Tribal Court Judge
Garnet Comegan in November
on a technicality. During the arrest small, sale-ready packages
of methamphetamine, marijuana, crack paraphernalia and
firearms, including two loaded
handguns and three loaded
rifles were discovered in the
Donnell home.
There is a possibility that
there is a tie-in between the Sat
urday shooting of White's home
and the Donnell case.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved in the investigation along with the Tribal
Police. The incident is regarded
as an assault with a dangerous
weapon; there may also be more
serious charges upon apprehension of a suspect.
Red Lake police are requesting that anyone with information
that might be helpful in leading
to an arrest of the offender call
218-679-3313.
Three charged in drug bust on Leech Lake
Reservation
By Bill Lawrence
Larry J. Robinson, 46, was
arrested January 6, 2004 after
a search of his residence on the
Leech Lake Reservation near
Cass Lake, Minnesota. Am-
brosio Tapia-Hernandez, 44,
and Omar M. Castillo, 21, both
of Minneapolis, were also arrested. The three men are in the
Cass County Jail awaiting court
appearance, which will be Monday, January 12, 2004.
Tapia-Hernandez and Castillo, both believed to be non-
Indian, have been charged with
Possession of First Degree Controlled Substance and Sell and
Conspiracy. Robinson, in addition to these charges, was charged
with Convicted Felon in Possession of Firearms. Bail of $50,000
each was set. It is unknown
whether they have been appointed
an attorney at this time.
Larry Robinson is the brother
of Rich Robinson, District 3
Representative on the Leech
Lake Tribal Council. He is
a member of the Leech Lake
Band of Chippewa and a resident of the reservation.
Sheriff Randy Fisher reported
that suspected controlled substances, cash and firearms were
seized at the site by law enforcement officers. The arrests
are the result of a long-time,
ongoing investigation conducted
by officers of the Cass County
Sheriff's Office, Leech Lake
Tribal Police, Paul Bunyan
Drug Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms.
Leech Lake first quarter financials under question by
Tribal Council District Representatives
By Diane E. White
Cass Lake - At the Leech Lake
Band of Ojibwe's (the "Band")
Quarterly Meeting, held at the
Palace Casino in Cass Lake on
January 2, the highlight of the
meeting was Secretary-Treasurer, Arthur "Archie" LaRose's
mandated quarterly financial
report of government funding
and Gaming enterprises. The
quarterly financial report covered
the first quarter of the 2004 Fiscal
Year, July 1 to October 31,2003.
District Representatives I and III
requested back-up documentation
to the report to which Chairman
Pete White agreed and directed
the Controllers to provide by next
week. Ultimately, the quarterly
financial report was not approved
even after Chairman White attempted to make a deal with the
Representatives to approve it.
The unaudited financials did
not make much sense to the
crowd either until after specific
questions were asked and officials revealed that certain significant and material information was
not put into the report. Controller Dan Erickson stated that no
capital expenditures are reported
within the quarterly report, and
for discussion purposes, some
capital expenditures were made
after October 31, therefore, do not
pertain to the current report. The
capital expenditures made include
the Band's on-going projects: the
100 Homes Project, the Shingobee Casino construction, the
expansion of White Oak Casino,
and remodeling of the Business
Corporation building and how
these projects are being funded
was not revealed.
The sale of Ojibwe Reflections
retail store in Walker, Minnesota
(for $250,000) and the Centennial Bank Shares that were sold
(LaRose reported for $400,000)
were not reflected in the Financial Report either. The Business
Corporation Financial Statements
reported the Tribe's "for profit"
business operations at an overall
loss of ($629,289). This loss is
subsidized by Gaming dollars. Interestingly, the financial report did
not show Accounts Receivable
or Depreciation or any meaningful ratios that help the financial
reader to identify ways in which
the businesses are losing money,
which can be through loss of cash
receipts, inventory or write-offs of
accounts receivable.
The Gaming financials did
report net earnings with and
without Depreciation and Interest
Expense. Depreciation is a paper
transaction that reflects the cost
of assets by reducing the initial
cost of such asset over a period of
years. Years vary by type of asset.
Due to the controversy surrounding capital projects, the District Representatives strongly contended they were purposely misinformed or not informed about
them and were not aware of their
contracts or costs. Luke Wilson,
District I Representative, stated
they [District Reps] were not allowed to participate in any budget
process or modification for the
Business Corporation to begin
operations, suggesting improper
funding by Gaming dollars. He
further stated there were Business
Corporation projects started on
a two-person vote of White and
LaRose, which violate tribal policies and Chairman White's own
Executive Directive.
Chairman White then appointed
the District Representatives to
supervise the Business Corporation, but later would not agree
to this arrangement officially by
resolution or Executive Order.
When pressed to either rescind
the Executive Order or to make
a resolution to change his current
policy that effectively keeps the
District Representatives "in the
dark" by not allowing access to
accounting records and also by
making the former CEO, Mike
Johnson accountable only to him;
he first stated all he needed to
do was to write a new Executive
Order, but later stated he would
need the Council to rescind the . |
order unanimously. He did neither. Then before the end of the
meeting, White proudly accepted
the "challenge" to fix the current
controversy, however, this "challenge" was not made by anyone
to him.
District I Representative, Luke
Wilson asked Bob Goggleye,
Vice President, Business Commission, why he did not stop
construction on two projects
(Shingobee casino and White Oak
Expansion) after he received a
December 5 memo signed by the
District Reps and Chairman Pete
White directing him to stop these
two construction projects. Goggleye responded that he could not
stop the projects without determining where in the construction
phase they were and what steps
need to be taken to protect what
had already been done. He stated
he called Wilson later that day,
but Wilson was not in the office,
but that he talked to District 2 and
3 Reps who indicated it would be
okay to keep the construction going. (The two district representa-
COUNCIL to page 5
American
Indian tribe
plans casino at
Kenosha dog
track
Associated Press
KENOSHA, Wis. - An American Indian tribe has agreed to
buy a dog track for $40.5 million
to build a casino there.
Dairyland Greyhound Park
investors unanimously approved
the sale option Tuesday, but the
Menominee Nation's plan is
contingent on local, state and
federal approval.
"It's not a slam dunk issue,"
Menominee Tribal Chairwoman
Joan Delabreau said. "Nobody
has promised us anything."
Tribal officials hope to have
an application before the Department of the Interior's Bureau
of Indian Gaming by June. The
purchase option expires in 2008.
Tribes and developers have
viewed the track, on Interstate
90 near Kenosha, as a potentially lucrative casino site. In
2001, then-Gov. Scott McCal-
lum rejected another plan by the
Menominee to turn the track into
a casino.
A spokesman for Gov. Jim
Doyle said Tuesday the governor
KENOSHA to page 3
Nez Perce doctor sets sights high
By Hannelore Sudermann
Idaho Spokesman-Review
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho
- Dr. Kim Cunningham-Hartwig
never thought about the odds.
A Nez Perce from Lapwai,
Idaho, in a country where only
54 percent of Indian people finish high school, she graduated
with honors.
And though many of her peers
didn't go on to college, Cun-
ningham-Hartwig's grades and
desire to play basketball landed
her a full-ride scholarship at
prestigious Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles.
After majoring in the difficult
field of biochemistry, she took
the same rigorous approach
toward medical school, passing
grueling exams and gaining entry
to the University of Washington
medical program in 1997.
Cunningham-Hartwig became
a doctor last year, and today is
one of only a few hundred Native American medical doctors in
the country. She is the only doctor from her tribe. And she's the
mother of three young children,
besides.
"Basketball is what ultimately
prepared me for life," she said.
Thousands of hours of practice, and winning, losing and
living with high expectations
helped her succeed. She also
credits her community and fam
ily for their encouragement.
"She never did think there
was an obstacle in her way,"
said Bill Picard, a member of the
Nez Perce tribal executive committee and the tribe's education
liaison.
The basketball star from Lapwai is now treating Spokane-
area patients in the first year of
her residency, and grounding
herself for a career in family
medicine.
"By bettering herself, she's
bettering the whole tribe,"
Picard said. "A lot of children
look up to her. But also, a lot of
adults look up to her, too."
For Cunningham-Hartwig, 31,
basketball and becoming a doctor were a blended effort. Medicine first caught her interest
when, as an eighth-grader, she
watched a doctor treat her older
sister for a basketball injury to
her knee.
Though she didn't know
any doctors, she had a plan. In
high school, she signed on for a
competitive University of Idaho/
Washington State University
program for teens from rural
communities to get a taste of the
medical profession.
"She was in our first class of
Medical Scholars," said Michael
Laskowski, former director and
now a professor in the UW med-
DOCTOR to page 3
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Founded in 1988
Volume 16 Issue 29
January 9, 2004
An overview of part of the Thunder in the Desert powwow, shown Jan. 6, 2004, in Tucson, Ariz., is going on all week and ends on Sunday. A quadrennial new year's celebration by Indians and other indigenous people worldwide here this week is, for many, a key way to stress to their children and upcoming generations the importance of culture, tradition and identity. (AP Photo/John Miller)
Thunder powwow kicks off near Tucson
Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. - Tribes
from around the world are
gathered near Tucson for 12
days of dancing and music in
the desert.
Participants at the "Thunder in the Desert 2004" powwow held a sunrise ceremony
Thursday to greet the new
year.
An Aztec troupe from
Mexico City danced across the
grass at Rillito Park to the steady
beat of drums as the powwow
kicked off Wednesday afternoon.
"Everyone is here because of
their commitment to their culture," said organizer Fred Snyder.
More than 30 groups representing American Indian tribes
from across the U.S. are expected to dance at the powwow. The
event also features an arts and
crafts market with more than 20
artisans and food booths offering
fry bread-and other munchies.
The event is sponsored by the
nonprofit Reservation Creations
Women's Circle Charitable Trust
and the National Native American Cooperative.
Thunder in the Desert was
first celebrated to usher in 2002
and there are plans to repeat the
event in 2008 and 2012.
Study aims at preventing diabetes in American
Indian women
Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE - Diabetes has robbed Ayn Whyte's
aunt of so many things.
Her job, the sight of her
grandchildren and her independence have all been taken,
and she now depends on a
dialysis machine four times a
week to keep her alive.
"She's blind and she has
to stay home all the time,"
Whyte said. "She had nine
children but can't cook for
them or herself. She can't care
for herself."
Whyte, a researcher at the
University of New Mexico Office of Native American Diabetes Programs, wants to help
other Indian women avoid her
aunt's fate.
The center is in the middle
of a five-year study aimed at
preventing diabetes in American
Indian women. The $1.8 million
study is being funded by the National Institutes of Health.
"It's hard to see people trying
to make changes to their lifestyles when it's very, very late,"
Whyte said.
For Whyte's aunt, who she
didn't want to mention by name,
the effects of diabetes have already taken their toll.
The center hopes to develop
methods to teach Indian women
how to prevent the disease. And
the need is urgent: Indians are
three times more likely to get
diabetes than whites. Diabetes
death rates are four times higher
for Indians than for whites, according to the center.
The study's focus is on women because, traditionally, they do
more of the food preparation in
Indian families, said the center's
director, Janice Thompson.
STUDY to page 5
Tribal role models featured on Turtle Mountain
calendar
Associated Press
BELCOURT, N.D. - Turtle
Mountain reservation families
are featured in a new calendar
that seeks to promote healthy
living.
Dr. Angela Erdrich, a Bel-
court pediatrician, produced
the Turtle Mountain Chippewa
Good Healthy Life calendar.
"A doctor can only do so
much patient education in the
office, one-on-one," she said.
"My goal is to share positive
health messages with a wider
audience in a format that is
catchy. As a bonus, I think the
calendar helps promote community pride.
"A major message in the
calendar is that we are our
own best medicine," she said.
"I hope this comes through on
every page."
Erdrich, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain
Band of Chippewa and a native of Wahpeton, has been a
pediatrician for Indian Health
Service since 1997. She produced calendars twice on the
Oneida Reservation in Wis
consin and twice on the Navajo
Reservation in Chinle, Ariz.
"This is the fifth calendar I
have workedon, and I think it is
my best effort so far," Erdrich
said.
The calendar includes articles
focusing on aspects of healthy
lifestyles, and photos of people
who can be considered role
models.
"I come across some wonderful families in my line of work,
and when I spot someone who is
a good role model, I sometimes
ask if I can take their photo for
use in a poster or the calendar,"
Erdrich said. "I wanted to illustrate to the public that there are
plenty of local Turtle Mountain
Chippewa people who are making everyday healthy choices."
Breast-feeding is one practice that Erdrich has sought to
promote. Erdrich, who is still
breast-feeding the youngest of
her three children, designed
the calendar cover to feature a
young mother with her breastfed baby.
Seeing the familiar faces of
tribal people brings the issue of
healthy living closer to home,
said Marsha Azure, coordinator
of the Honoring Our Health Diabetes Coalition, which backed the
calendar project.
"It really instills a sense of
pride," Azure said.
Along with providing information, calendars can, over the
years, give tribal members a history of how healthy choices make
a difference, she said.
"I see it as being very user
friendly," she said. "Angie has
just done a phenomenal job."
Nearly 10,000 calendars have
been given away. Calendars went
to students and staff of the Bureau of Indian Affairs schools on
the Turtle Mountain Chippewa
Reservation and two other public
schools in the county that have a
high American Indian enrollment.
Physicians at Quentin Burdick
Memorial Health Care Facility
in Belcourt have been giving the
calendars to patients.
A large share of the calendar's
funding came through the American Legacy Foundation, which
CALENDAR to page 5