Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-04-02

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY ■ 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Truthful
recognition
page 4
This is my life by
George Goggleeye, Jr.
page 4
Election irregularities
helpful to incumbents?
page 6
Finn thanks Leech
Lake voters
page 4
Press/ON's
response to
McKnight and
Garrigan
page 4
Red Lake DNR—who benefits
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
by Bill Lawrence
In the mid-1990s Red Lake
Fisheries collapsed.  The lake
was fished out and multiple families lost their livelihood. The
tribal economy lost $3-1 million
of revenue per year.
The lake is slowly recovering
under the guidance of a consor^
tium of governmental entities,
fishing camiot resumed until
2006. \ lore than a decade will
pass without benefit of Uiis wondrous resource. With fishing not
scheduled to resume until 2006,
die tribe will have gone ten years
without the revenue from (his
resource, an amount estimated to
be $30-40 million.
The Red Lake Department of
Natural Resources (RLDNR or
DNR) is responsible for protecting the overall environment,
husbanding natural resources
(fish, game, forests), and preserving quality of water, air, soil, etc.
Where was the DNR when the
lake was over fished?
The fishery has a long and distinguished history. It has been a
mainstay for over 80 years.
The lake itself is the 6th largest
fresh water lake in the I fnited
States. 1 iighty-five percent is
within the Reservation. Fifteen
per cent is under the jurisdiction
of the State of N linnesota DNR.
It has been home to die RL nation since the mid 1700s.
The Commercial fishery was
established in 1917,'during the
First World War, to provide a
source of fresh meat for Minnesota citizens. It was the only
commercial walleye fishery in
the I 'nited States.
The industry, operated as a
cooperative and governed by
its members, supported several
hundred commercial fishers and
Uieir families. The cooperative
in turn supported the financial
foundation of the tribe by paying
a royalty of five per-cent of gross
receipts from the sale of fish to
die tribe.
There was a walleye quota of
650,000 pounds imposed by
government regulation for any
single fishing season to protect
and preserve the fish population
and insure the continuation of
the fishing industry.
By 1996 die population of walleye w as in a slate of collapse. It
is evident that the quota was not
being enforced by anyone.
Here is a recap of the mean
number of walleye taken in experimental gill-nets from 1987-
2002.
1987 27        1992      3
1988 23        1993       2
1989 14        1994       1.5
1990 6    1995    .       .5
1991 13 1996 0
In 1997 the members of the
1 isheries cooperative voted to
close the lake (for die first time
in the history of the lake) to fishing. This action was followed
in 1998 by Tribal Council's vote
to put a moratorium on Red
Lake fishing. In 1999 a ten-year
moratorium was formalized.
A technical committee was
established and charged widi
developing a plan lo restore the
walleye population to Red 1 .ake.
The committee membership included: RI. Fisheries, RL DNR,
Minnesota DNR, the BIA, US
1 ish and Wildlife Service and
the I iniversity of N linnesota.
Over the years walleye fry
have been planted in die lake
and there is every likelihood and
in fact actual evidence that the
walleye population is being rehabilitated.
The big question is: Where
was the RLDNR through all
this? The RL Band had lost a
major resource, one that sustained hundreds of families.   The
loss of livelihood has no doubt
contributed enormously to the
condition of economic insecurity
and social unrest that exists on
die reservation. The royalty to
DNR to page 3
Budget discussions for 2006 begin:
Department of Interior budget to shrink 3.6%
By Jean Pagano
Now that heainngs are under
way for President Bush's 2005
budget, the White House is turning its attention to the FY 2006
allocation of fluids. In a letter
from P. Lynn Scarlett. Assistant
Secretary - Policy, Management
and Budget to Department of
Interior (DOI) personnel, Scarlett
made it Clear that there will be
less money for DOI in 2006 dian
diere was in 2005 and in some
cases even less than was enacted
in 2003.
According to Scarlett, the department-wide planning level is
S259 million dollars below the
SI0.8 billion requested by the
President in the FY2005 budget.
Therefore the FY 2006 budget
for the Department of Interior
will be $87 million less than in
FY 2004. The March 12th letter states "Given the magnitude
of the reduction in die planning
level, you may need to propose ,
substantially curtailing, eliminating, or combining programs in
a strategic manner; across the
board reductions should not be
proposed."
The formulation of the new
DOI bureau budgets has already
begun and will run dirough mid
\ lay. In early June, die Secretary
of Interior will meet with the
various Bureaus widiin Interior
for a 10 day period. From mid
June to mid July, the preparation
of budget analyses is.conducted
and the Secretary will make her
final decisions by August 1st.
The finalization of budget materials is to be completed by mid
September.
.All divisions in DOI are slated
to have their budgets cut in 2006.
The Bureau of I .and Management, Wildland Firelighting,
LT.S. Geological Senice, Bureau
of Indian Affairs (BIA), and die
Office of Insular .Affairs all have
planned allocations below the
enacted budgets amounts for FY
2003. The Minerals Management
Sen ice, Office of Surface Min-
iug, Fish and Wildlife Senice,
National Park Sen ice. Department Management, Solicitor,
Office of Inspector General, and
the Office of Special Trustee will
see the budget numbers drop
from FY 2005, but not as low as
in FY 2003.
The BIA budget for FY 2003
was S2.267 billion. This amount
was increased to $2,306 billion
in FY 2004. fueled mostly by a
rise in the Office of the Special
Trustee. FY 2005 request falls
below FY 2003 levels by $13
million and die FY 2006 proposal plunges to $2.199 billion.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs,
headed by Assistant Secretary
Dave Anderson, is taking the
second largest decrease in the
DOI planning process by having
its budget reduced by $55 million. Only the National Park Service has a larger reduction at S56
million. Overall, BIA has had its
funding reduced by $107 nui-
lion in the last two years. Wliile
BUDGET to page 6
Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe Election
By Diane E. White
The election results are in! Melanie
Benjamin, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
and Norman Deschampe, Grand Portage
were bodi re-elected to another four year
term by receiving over 50% of the voles.
In Wliite Earth, it was very hard to swallow die results where convicted felon
D;irrell "Chip" Wadena received 30%
of the votes and will be the leader going
into the General Election against former Secretary-Treasurer Enna Vizenor.
Incumbent Doyle Turner was removed
from office by litis election. The major
race at Leech Lake will be between cousins and rivals, incumbent Peter D. White
and Casino Manager, George Goggleye.
Jr. Al Fond du Lac, incumbent Sonny
Peacock will run against young Pete
Defoe, a former Secretary-Treasurer. At
Bois Forte, incumbent Gary Donald will
run against Kevin Leecy.
There were no District 3 winners
outright and Mille Lacs did not have a
District race this season. Leech Lake will
certainly have one of the most interesting District races between Donald
"Mick" Finn and Richard Jones. Jones
was acquitted alongside his cousin, the
cunent Secretary-Treasurer Arthur "Archie" LaRose, of armed robbery of the
Tribe's Bingo Palace & Casino nearly
10 years ago. At Wliite Larth, Ralph
"Bucky" Goodman will have to make
up more than 15% to even catch Kenneth "Gus" Bevins who look 32% of the
primary vote. The Grand Portage race is
a little closer between Dean Deschampe
and Kenneth Scherer. At Nett Uake, Raymond Villebrun, Sr. has a 7% edge over
Wendy Morrison with more than 50% of
die primary ballots up for grabs.
At Fond du Lac. there arc two district
races, District 1 and 3. In District 1, Clifton Rabideux has a big lead over Eugene
Reynolds. There were 34% of the ballots
cast for other candidates in that race. In
the District 3 race, Laveni Sholley and
Roger Smith, Sr. are nearly head to head
widi only 28% of the primary ballots lo
vie for.
For complete results of your favorite
candidate, please review the chart of results. N. lelanie and Norm can relax wltile
the rest of you candidates have to get out
there and hustle! Good Luck in June!
MCT RESULTS to page 3
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Prim an Election Results
FOND DU LAC - Chair
#
%
Robert "Sonnv" Peacock
332
32%
Garv McFatridge
14
1%
Clarence "Chuck" Smith
215
21%
Peter J. Defoe
292
28%
Louella (Martineau) Peacock
30
3%
Charlin F. Diver
73
7%
Robert A. Abramowski
81
8%
Total # of Ballots Cast
1,037
100%
FOND DU LAC - District 1
Representative
#
%
Clifton Rabideaux
289
41%
Lonny Susienka
34
5%
Archie Villiard
8
1%
Eugene Reynolds (Eny)
170
24%
Lee Tibbetts
29
4%
Bob Martineau
91
13%
Carl "Jr." Abramowski
76
11%
Total # of Ballots Cast
697
100%
FOND DU LAC - District 3
ReDresentative
#
%
Lav em Koon Shotley
67
34%
Bryan "Bear" L. Bosto
21
11%
Roger "Bouda" Smith, Sr.
74
38%
George B. Dupris
4
2%
Rebecca "Becky" Salmon
4
2%
Kelly "Deer Leg" Smith
5
3%
Tony Northrup
8
4%
Anna Wait
12
6%
Total # of Ballots Cast
195
100%
Bois Forte - Chair                        #         %
Gan Donald
237
45%
Kevin Leecv
153
29%
Stanley Dav
127
24%
Spoiled Ballots
1
0%
Blank Ballots
4
1%
Total # of Ballots Cast
522
•100%
Bois Forte - District 1                     u.          <y
Representative
Raymond Villebrun, Sr.
105
27%
Rhonda Hoaglund
38
10%
Shane Gan- Drift
63
16%
Frank Connor
50
13%
Frank Villebrun. Jr.
45
12%
Wendy Morrison
76
20%
Spoiled Ballots
2
1%
Blank Ballots
6
2%
Total # of Ballots Cast
385
100%
web page: www.press-on.net
American
Press
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
Founded in 1988
Volume 16 Issue 41
April 2, 2004
Klamath Tribes Chairman Allen Foreman is shown March 8, 2004, standing along the Williamson River near Chiloquin, Ore., where tribal members once gathered to harvest salmon. Since
1917, when the first of a series ofhydroelectric dams was built on the Klamath River, there
has been little hope of seeing salmon return to the upper Klamath Basin. Klamath Tribes and
others now want PacifiCorp to restore salmon passage as a condition of renewing its federal
license tooperate the dams. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)
Tribal politics may hurt casino bill
By Jim Ragsdale
Pioneer Press
Reprinted with permission
The possibility that a
Minnesota tribal leader
could regain power after
serving a prison term for
theft and bribery has dealt a
blow to the tribe's hopes for
a new casino.
Darrell "Chip" Wadena,
a former chainnan of the
White Larth Band of Ojibwe
who was convicted in 1996
of stealing from die band
during construction of its
casino, finished first in die
primary Tuesday. The voting
comes as the White Earth
and Red I .ake bands seek legislation to build a metro-area casino
to funnel an estimated $65 million a year to each tribe.
Wadena still must win a runoff
election in June to become tribal
chainnan. But the legislative session is scheduled to end in May,
and Wadena's re-emergence
could complicate attempts to sell
legislators on the bill.
"I don't support it." Wadena
said Wednesday of the metro-
area casino bill. "It's something
tliat I think we don't need. It
opens the door to the state for
other tilings." He said he believes the band should focus on
building business at its existing
casino in Mahnomen.
"I think it does complicate die
issue," said Sen. Sandy Pappas,
DFL-St. Paul, Senate sponsor of
the Red Lake-White Earth bill.
"It does concern me."
Wliite Earth and Red Lake are
the most populous Minnesota
tribes, but their reservations are
so far from population centers
that their casinos produce a small
fraction of the revenue collected
by metro-area tribes. The two
reservations, located in nortii-
western Minnesota, are plagued
by high rates of poverty and unemployment.
TRIBAL to page 6
Taught by elders, they listen and lead
By Paul Levy
Star Tribune
Reprinted with permission
Tony LookingEIk still
relishes die childhood visits
he'd make from Minneapolis to Soudi Dakota's Pine
Ridge Reservation. There, he
would sit at his grandfatiier's
feet, mesmerized by the
sootliing cadence of die older man's voice. It mattered
little diat his grandfatiier's
words were in Lakota, a
language LookingEIk didn't
speak.
"I couldn't respond o him,
but I listened," LookingEIk
said. 'It's hard to say how
important listening is to me."
"There is wisdom in the words
of our elders," said Justin Kii
Huenemann. "When die elders
speak, you're there to listen first
— and to leani."
LookingEIk is 39 and Huenemann is only 30, but die urban
Indian community now listens to
them — and widi the blessings of
some of die community's better-
known elders. As cochairmen of
the Metropolitan Urban Indian
Directors (MUID), leadership
body of die urban Indian community, LookingEIk and Huenemann are key voices in determining the political, economic and
cultural future of the Little Earth
community.
"It's an interesting dynamic
because in Indian culuire, you're
taught to be respectful of elders
and it's natural for elders to be
leaders," said Robert Lilligren,
Minneapolis City Council vice
president and a White Eardi
uibal member.
"We needed new blood," said
Nina Mata, 52, finance director
for the Peacemakers Center for
native youtii in Minneapolis.
"Tony and Justin are smart. They
have energy. We needed somebody dynamic to step forward
and say, 'I represent the Indian
ELDERS to page 3
Kansas casino
won't close
Wednesday
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Kan.
- Action will not be taken
Wednesday to close a tribal
owned casino in downtown
Kansas City, Kan., officials
said.
State and local officials
announced last Thursday
that die National Indian
Gaming Commission had
determined the casino was
operating illegally and had
given the Wyandotte Tribe
of Oklahoma one week
to respond. Word of die
commission's decision came
iu a letter to die govenunent
agencies and the tribe dated
last Wednesday.
Attorney General Pliill
Kline said last week dial die
state would not take any ac-
CASINO to page 6
Supreme Court splits on gaming
suit, sends case to appeals court
By JR Ross
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - Unable to
reach a decision of its own, the
state Supreme Court on Tuesday
sent a lawsuit seeking to end
casino gambling in Wisconsin
to an appeals court for further
review.
The justices split 3-3 on
Dairyland Greyhound Park's
lawsuit that sought to stop die
renew ill of compacts allowing
American Indian tribes to operate casinos. The track argued diat
a 1993 amendment to the stale
constitution oudawed casino
gambling, an industry die tribes
say now employs 35,000 people
in Wisconsin.
Lawmakers have filed a
separate lawsuit over American
Indian gaining! claiming die
governor lacked die authority to
sign expanded compacts with the
tribes last year in exchange for
millions of dollars in additional
revenue for the state. The court
did not address diat lawsuit in its
decision.
"The direat is very real. Indian gaming in Wisconsin is in
grave danger," said.Jeff Crawford, attorney general of the
Forest County Potawatomi Community.
Attorney Ronald Ragat?, who
represented Dairyland, said he
was disappointed die court failed
to reach a decision on die lawsuit. But he said it was positive
half of die justices who weighed
in were prepared to end casino
gambling in Wisconsin.
"It's not right diat that casino
gambling has grown into die
massive enterprise that it is today
widi die people never having
voted to legalize casino gambling," he said.
Justice Jon Wilcox did not par-
COURT to page 6