Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-03-19

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
2
3
Alcohol poisonings of
11-year-olds reveal
"a breakdown"
White Earth circus
of candidates
Leech Lake
authority responds
Indian concerns on
holdatWCCO
The candidate's
guide to power,
the voter's guide
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
to knowledge
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 6-7
page 4
page 4
page 4
page 4
Red Lake Tribal Roads Engineering Department
Sleight of hand...one hand washes the other...out of hand?
By Bill Lawrence
What do we know about Red
Lake Engineering (RLE) department? The department head
supervises a maximum of nine
employees. He oversees maintenance of 111 miles of paved road
and 30.5 miles of graveled roads
and is charged widi planning future development. The top kick's
salary with fringe, is 594,368.
The 2003 budget projected
$739,881 (29% of the budget) in
salary and administrative costs.
Construction budget was $1.8
million, making a total budget of
$2.54 million.
How does diat stack up against
a comparable operation outside
the resenation? A look at Beltrami County Roads department
reveals the department head there
supervises four administrative
employees, oversees maintenance of 714 miles of paved and
graveled road. The administrative budget is $318,108 (10%).
Construction
allocations
for 2003
amounted to
$3.18 million.
The department
head's annu
al salary is $80,000, plus fringe.
That doesn't look so good. It
bears out die commonly held
perception that diere is a great
deal going on there diat isn't kosher. The people are not getting
die full benefit from die dollars
allocated. What are 10 people
accomplishing widi die $739,881
entrusted to die department? This
appears to be totally out of line
witii a comparable operation. It
seems as diough a few individuals are benefiting at die expense
of tribal members. There are too
many interrelated deals widiout
die normal safeguards of competitive bidding.
hi a report dated 2003, the BIA
stated: "die inability ... to review sufficient financial records
to evaluate the management of
funds seems to be a re-occurring
issue .... The Mdwest Region is
concerned widi the Uibe's inability to present documentation on
die expenditure status of approxi-
7lil.es . . , ,_
Salary &AdiWL
"2lQV
Red Lake
IS
$73%M
Beltrami
Cout]
a
$318108
or
plus fringe
mately $6,000,000 in Highway
Trust Funds."The follow-up
report issued March, 2004,
indicated some improvement
had occurred in die accounting
program, but indicated diey were
not assured diat all fluids had
been accounted for.
Prior to 1999 RLE operated
under PL 98-638 Tide 1. Under
diat die Tribe could contact
for road engineering, but the
northwest region of die Bureau
of Indian Affairs (BIA) retained
oversight and approvals for preliminary designs, plans, contract
agreement - in short, all aspects
of any project.
In 1999 Red Lake became
one of two tribes involved in
a Self-Governance compact
diat allowed for a 3-year demonstration project. Under die
Compact, road engineering went
under die control and authority
of die Tribe.
To date, RLE lias not complied
widi die financial reporting and
administrative requirements. The
fact diat diere is an allocation
of more dian $2,000,000 (widi
$600,000 to $700,000 going to
road engineering staff) is an open
invitation for people to come up
widi schemes to benefit from it.
RED LAKE to page 5
Leech Lake executive officers buying votes
By Diane E. White
CASS LAKE -  Executive
Officers, Chainnan Peter D.
White and Secretary-Treasurer
Arthur • 'Archie" LaRose are
busy buying votes for White's
re-election campaign. Sources
at Leech Lake's headquarters
and accounting department report LaRose has requested an
additional $ 10,000 each (total   •
$40,000) for four council members, including himself, Chairman White and the District II
and III representatives, ostensibly for each to use to help elders.
The Council eliminated the Elders Division in 2003 and agreed
diat the DisUict Representatives
«ill be responsible to help elders
within their Districts.
DisUict I Representative Burton 'Luke" Wilson begun investigating this matter since he was
die only representative who did
not receive an additional $ 10,000
to his elder's budget. Wilson is
affiliated with die Equaywug
political group who are supporting George Goggleye, III in
the Chairman's race. According
to Wilson who asked LaRose
why he didn't get an additional
$10,000, LaRose responded
diat Wilson still has money in
his elder budget wliile die other
council members have used up
their Elder's budgets. Wilson
also accused die Executive Officers of using Tribal Referral
funds to provide large donations
to their campaign supporters and
cites distances of payments for
legal fines, rent, insurance bills,
car repairs, tires and just about
anything else. He and accounting
sources report "money is being
drawn from the money market
account at Centennial National
Bank in Walker" and he is requesting confirmation on this.
Wilson won his lawsuit against
LaRose to gain access to financial data, however, according
to Wilson, LaRose is often out
of the office or odierwise not
available to provide accounting
data. Therefore, Wilson has been
requesting accounting data via
written memorandum with "cc"
to the Tribal Court.
Prior to the on-going election,
Wilson began investigating how
Larry Aitken received a $33,000
contract widi die Band's Department of Resource Management
(DRM). This is a nine mondi
contract where Larry Aiken will v
complete a study on "tribal
Interests" including: 1) a draft
OFFICERS to page 3
Department of Interior internet connection closed, again
Cobell judge cites security concerns
By Jean Pagano
U.S. District Judge Royce
C. Lamberth this week ordered
Department of Interior (DOI)
computers to be disconnected
from the internet due to continuing security concerns. This is
the diird time that Judge Lamberth has disconnected DOI
computers from die Internet, in
each case citing concerns over
the security of Individual Indian Money (TIM) account data
housed on DOI computers.
The issue of computer security at the DeparUnent of
Interior was brought to the
fore by Special Master Alan
Balaran in November 2001,
when he stated that Indian trust
data was housed on systems
that have "no firewalls, no staff
trained/capable of building and
maintaining firewall devices,
no hardware/software solution
for monitoring network activ
ity including but not limited to
hacking, virus, and worm notification." The Court responded to
die Special Master's report by
ordering on December 5, 2001
"diat [Interior] ... shall immediately disconnect from the Internet all information technology
systems that house or provide
access to individual Indian trust
data."
Referring to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report
from September of 2003 entitled "Infonnation Technology:
Department Leadership Crucial
to Success of Investment Reforms at Interior", the GAO reported that 'The Department of
Interior has limited capacity to
effectively manage its planned
and ongoing IT investments."
Additionally, as reported in
Press/ON late last year, die DOI
received its fourth grade of 'E"
in the 2003 Federal Computer
Security Report Card. DOI received a grade of 43 out of 100
for computer security in 2003,
as compared widi 17 in 2000,
48 in 2001, and 37 in 2002.
The Annual Evaluation of the
Information Security Program
at die DeparUnent of Interior'
contained 8 pages of problems
areas, compared to two pages
listing accomplishments.
The Court found that litde has
improved with the infonnation
technology (IT) systems at the
DOI. The Court also found that
by allowing DOI computers
to access the Internet there is
a probabdity diat IIM account
data may be compromised or
damaged, resulting in irreparable harm to the Cobell defendants.
Judge Lamberth stated that
'While Interior will no doubt
DOI to page 3
The Richard Wally
and Gerald Show:
Delusions are
dreams that
don't come true
By Mindy Jones-Ruby
Leech Lake Reservation As
late as Feb. 27,2004 Chairman
White said, "die state will never
open up gaming" at a Special
Meeting, requested by die Local Indian Councils widi die full
RBC. Over die last year 'special
interest groups" widiin die State
of Minnesota have worked to
open die "Indian monopoly on
gaming" yet somehow die Executive Administration of the
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe have
managed to skip this important
issue or die latest extremely well
organized and publicly announced
effort to open up die gaining
compacts of all 11 Indian bands
within Minnesota. The Executive Administration of Richard A
Jones Jr, Gerald White, and Wally
SUobakken focus shoidd have
been directed to insure that the
Band's interests in gaming were
being protected.
Instead die Executive Administration of the LLBO has spent
all dieir shared energies of diis
DREAMS to page 3
Mdewakanton descendants to vote
on constitution
Upward? of I £00 estimated to
visit Redwood, vote May 20;
existing constitution goes back
150 years
By Jackie Lueck
The Redwood Gazette
[Reprinted widi permission]
On May 20, upwards of 1,500
people of Mdewakanton descent
will gadier in Redwood Falls to
vote on a new constimtion.
Their story began 150 years ago.
hi die aftennadi of die Dakota
War of 1862, Minnesota declared
itself an Indian-free state, exti-
ing the Mdewakanton people to
South Dakota.
"A few Mdewakanton people
remained in Minnesota as fugitives," Dr. Barbara Buttes, andiropologist, said. 'They lived along
die river, lived in lean-tos."
In 1994, die United States govenunent purchased 1,000 acres of
land on which diose Mdewakanton people could live.
VOTE to page 3
Chairman White's February press
release misleading
By Diane E. White
In a letter to Chainnan Peter
D. White from John Peterson,
Regional Director IV of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), regarding Chairman
White's 02-02-2004 press release.
Peterson is concerned about
White's February Press Release
that states/The complaints were
reviewed by the NIGC investigator, who concluded that the
complaints had no merit." Mr.
Peterson writes this is inaccurate.
White's press release statements
were also misleading. In fact, no
decision had been made by NIGC
office as to the validity of the
complaints and diat die investigation is ongoing.
Peterson explains, "Mr. Guerber
infonned me, during die meeting
he had widi you and die Tribal
Council concerning diis matter,
die meeting was tape recorded
widi his knowledge. The tape
recording is inconsistent widi
your claims stated in your press
release."
The letter was copied to die
RELEASE to page 6
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
web page: www.press-on.net
Mative *»--
American
Press
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
Founded in 1988
Volume 16 Issue 39
March 19,2004
Lake County
Sheriff Bill
Barron displays
the liquor bottle
found at the
scene where
the bodies of
two 11-year-old
boys were found
southeast of
Ronan, Mont.,
March 11, 2004.
The two 11 -
year-olds laid
down in a freezing, snowy field
earlier in March
and died after
drinking huge
quantities of
vodka. For Barron, it brought
recollections of
finding one of
the dead boy's
brother just
three months
earlier, drunk
and dead in a
burned trailer.
The deaths have
intensified the
spotlight on alcohol abuse in
Indian Country.
Read article on
page 6.
(AP Photo/Jim Blow)
Phillips Neighborhood Weed & Seed Youth Summit
By Vincent Hill
Minneapolis, MN — The
Phillips Neighborhood Weed
& Seed Youdi Summit held
last Saturday was quite suc-
cessiid, in that, community
organizers, law enforcement,
and city/county olficials,
brought close to 300 youth
and teenagers togedier-to
participate in how to end
gang violence, use of dnigs,
and guns.
To show support for
racial/ethnic traditions, City
Council members Natalie
Johnson Lee, Gary Schiff,
and I nited States attorney
Thomas Heffelfinger, joined in
on a Uaditional Ojibwe round
dance perfonned by Anishinabe
youth. Furdier entertainment was
done by a colorful indigenous
Aztec dancing youth troupe, and
an impressive military style drill
by black youth-The Phillips Fire
Military Drill Team.
Concerns of kids brought out in
diis summit were: people in dieir
face selling dnigs all die time-
everywhere; no peace of mind;
seeing their folks addictions; being threatened by guns; afraid to
join a gang-afraid to not; diinking
no one cared about diem, and no
one was protecting diem.
The kids were asking for help
in being able to mm away from
dnigs, guns, and gangs; they
want die lighting to stop-diey
don't want it in dieir faces-seeing it eveyday; they want die
bad folks off dieir streets; diey
want help for people diey know;
they want to know that there are
consequences for actions.
According to Phillips Neighborhood Weed & Seed chair Jan
Metge, and coordinator Carrie
Day Aspinwall, die Youtii Summit was "very powerful."
Metro casino proposed by Red Lake, White Earth
Tribes is one step closer to reality
By Delvin Cree
At a packed hearing at
die State Building in St.
Paid, members of the House
State Government Finance
Committee voted in favor,
6 to 4, the 1 IB 2135 Proposal for a casino to be run
by both die Red Lake and
White Earth reservations,
widi die state sharing in the
proceeds. The hearing took
place on Wednesday, March
17,2004 in Rm. 500N. State
Representative, Bill Haas,
authored die bill.
The bill presented would
Tribes using
influence in
Congress to
bypass local
opposition
By SethHettena
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - When a
Northern California Uibe
wanted help opening a
casino on land 40 miles
away from its reservation,
it turned to a U.S. senator
- from Colorado.
Sen. Ben Nighlhorse
Gunpbell helped write
three sentences into a bill
that will help die Enterprise Rancheria tribe turn
the piece of pasture in
Yuba Comity into tribal
land.
It was one of three instances in recent months
in which California nibes
sought congressional help
to expand dieir reserva-
TRIBES to page 6
authorize die stale lottery lo
operate gaming machines at a
facility in die metropolitan area
operated by an entity made up
of one or more Indian tribal
governments, according to a
bill summary handed out at die
hearing. It further staled dial,
it also allows diat a facility to
operate a card club where un-
banked card games are played.
Stale revenue from die gaming
machines woidd be deprived
from a 20 percent tax on gross
revenue [gross wagering less
prizes].
In a preliminary report it states
the 20 percent in-lieu-of-sales
tax, which will be deposited into
a new gaming facility proceeds
fiuid, of which:
- 1.5% is appropriated to the DeparUnent of Education for Indian
Education and urban schools.
- 1.5% is appropriated to die
Department of Human Services
for programs for minorities and
American Indians living in urban
areas of the state.
- 1.5% is appropriated to die
DeparUnent of Employment
and Economic Development for
REALITY to page 7
Indian tribes looking beyond
reservation borders for casinos
By Erica Werner
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Tide
River Indian uibe runs a booming casino widi 1,500 slot
machines on its reservation in
California's CenU'al VaUey.
But the casino is up a winding road miles from the region's
main route, prompting tribal
members to consider abandoning
their casino and building a new
one at a more lucrative location,
alongside Highway 190.
The Uibe's problem is dial the
site it wants for a casino isn't
pail of its resen'ation. It can't
build a casino (here unless it's
granted a rare exception under
federal law.
That's not stopping Uibal officials from trying. It's one of
a giowing number of tribes in
California and elsewhere diat
are looking beyond reservation
boundaries for larger crowds and
greater profits.
"It is like any real estate.
What are die diree mles? Location, location, location," said
Tom Rodgers, a member of the
Blackfeet tribe in Montana and
a consultant to Tide River and
odier tribes. "Access to market
is everything now."
The trend is being eyed warily
by some local officials, as well
as some of Tide River's neighbors.
"When we voted for Proposition 1 A, diat was to help the Indians gain self-sufficiency," said
Robert Inabinette, a Tule River
opponent, referring to die 2000
ballot measure diat legalized
Indian gambling in California.
"We didn't in our wildest imagination ever diink diat tiiey'd
want to move off die reservation
and put in a Vegas-style casino."
Tribal gambling has exploded
into a S5 billion-a-year industry
in California in die last several
years, with Uibes operating 54
Nevada-style casinos in the state
and trying to open more.
But many Uibes are hampered
by die unfavorable locations
CASINOS to page 6