Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-05-14

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Women of Red Lake:
Take charge
page 4
Politics in action at
Minneapolis LIC meeting
page 4
Leech Lake District I Red Lake
Representative response to Oakes' people,
Lost Youth series beware!!!
Oakes responds to feedback
page 4 page 4
Never
underestimate
the power of
your vote
page 4
Red Lake man arrested for assault
V  O  I  CE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
.Teller} Ixe Oliver, also
known as "Pinky" and as Jeffery
Lee Smith, was arrested and
detained May 8,2004, by Red
Lake Authorities in conjunction
with the beating of a Red Lake
woman. He was charged with
Third Degree Assault (Weapon),
Second Degree Assault (Physical); Handling a Dangerous
Weapon; Disorderly Conduct;
and Obstructing Legal Process/
Arrest. He was detained by Red
Pake police pending a federal
investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified because the
federal government has jurisdiction over major crimes committed on the Reservation by Red
Lake members. Special Agent
John Egelhof filed a complaint
May 13, charging Oliver in the
case and he was turned over to
federal authorities by Red Lake
law enforcement officials on that
day.   In addition to the federal
charges, it is possible that Oliver may also be prosecuted by
Tribal Court.
He appeared today (May 13,
2004) before Federal Magistrate
.\ lary Kay Klein in Bemidji. He
was charged with violation of
Tide 18, US Code, Sections 113.
(a) (6), 1151, 1153 (a) resulting
in serious bodily injury to Geor-
giana Jourdain. Oliver asked
for a court appointed attorney.
The LTS Attorney requested that
he be detained without bail.
He was bound over to Federal
Authorities. He is being held at
the Clearwater County Jail in
Bagley, Minnesota.
Oliver is scheduled to appear
for a detention hearing as well
as a probable cause hearing on
Monday, May 17 in Duluth before Federal Judge Raymond L.
Erickson.
The charges are the result of
an aggravated assault that occurred Saturday, May 8, 2004.
A police officer, responding to
an emergency call, found the
victim, Georgiamia Rose Jourdain, lying, unconscious, in the
yard of a Red Lake residence.
She had been severely beaten
about the head and face and was
lying in a pool of blood.
Witnesses say they saw Oliver bit Ms. Jourdain full in the
face with his closed fist four
times when she attempted to
intervene in a fight between
Oliver; 21 years old, and a 14
year old juvenile. She fell to the
ground. Oliver then repeatedly
kicked Ms. Jourdain in the face.
An affidavit signed by Special
Agent John Egelhof of the FBI
reported that at one point, Oliver
kicked Jourdain so hard that his
shoe flew off.
One witness reported that after having viciously kicked Ms.
Jourdain, Oliver then grabbed a
shovel and "held it over Jourdain
in a manner that indicated he
was preparing to strike her with
it." At this point, the witness,
"put his arms around Oliver
and told him, 'Pinky, chill out!
You're going to kill her!"' Oliver then began to laugh.
The police office who had
ASSAULT to page 6
MCT attorney answers Leech Lake demand to censure
Chairman White, Secretary-Treasurer LaRose
By Diane White
CASS LAKE-On May 3,
2004, Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe's Attorney, Mark A. Anderson, provided a legal analysis memo regarding die Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe (LLBO)
request to censure dieir elected
Tribal Executive Committee
(TEC) members, Chairman Pete
Wliite ("Wliite") and Secretary-Treasurer Arthur "Archie"
LaRose ("LaRose") under "Article X Censure Allegations."
A Demand to Censure petition
was submitted to the Tribal
Executive Committee on 4 21
and discussed on 4/28/04 (transcribed in 4/30/04 NAP/ON
issue).
In the memo, Mr. Anderson
writes, "At the outset, I am not
aware diat the TEC has ever defined die term 'malfeasance' for
Article X, Section 2 purposes.
Other jurisdictions have defined
diat term in the context of the
removal of elected officials, and
in general those definitions require dial diere be an intentional
commission of an unlawful or
wrongful act in die performance
of official duties diat is substantially outside the scope of
the official's authority and that
substantially infringes on die
rights of odiers." He pointed
out that "dereliction of duty" is
also not defined by the TEC and
he specified using a straightforward approach, to be 1) identify
the "duty" mid then determine if
the acts of the official disregard
such duty. He warned, "diat
acts constituting malfeasance,
dereliction and neglect are
distinguishable from acts that
are merely subject to criticism
or disagreement on political or
policy grounds."
Indian tribes irked over handling
of trust fund issues
Task force members say they were left out of plans to reorganize
a $3 billion trust fund program
By Greg Gordon
Star Tribune Washington
Bureau Correspondent
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Tribal
leaders and congressmen berated the Interior Department
on Wednesday for leaving them
out of the loop while imposing a
sweeping reorganization aimed
at fixing Indian trust fund management problems.
Indian leaders told a House
Resources Committee hearing
that Bureau of Indian Affairs officials invited 24 tribal represen
tatives to sit on an agency task
force in search of a consensus
on reforms. The group met 4(1
times, but ultimately, members
said, the BIA officials "walked
out" on die process.
'That action has since set the
tone for the trust reform ... creating an atmosphere of distrust,
sporadic paralysis and uncertainty," said Melanie Benjamin, chief
executive of the central Minnesota Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
who sat on the task force.
FUND to page 7
Leech Lake POST 2001 Veteran's Memorial
Honor Guard Memorial Day Activities
CEMETARY LOCATION/TIME
Saturday, May 29,2004
Waboose Bay-7:00 a.m.
Ryan's Village-7:17 a.m.
Inger Bowstring-8:17 a.m.
Inger Spike-8:31 a.m.
Round Lake/Squaw Lake - 8:59 a.m.
Boyd /Squaw Lake - 9:14 a.m.
Squaw Lake-9:31 a.m.
Federal Dam-10:21 a.m.
Battle Point-10:56 a.m.
Boy River-11:25 a.m.
Zion Lutheran/Boy Lake-11:47 a.m.
Boy Lake-12:09 p.m.
Boy River Bridge- 12:45 p.m.
Windom/Pennington -1:28 p.m.
Fineday/Pennington -1:47 p.m.
Northbird/Buck Lake-2:14 p.m.
Mission Traditional-2:37 p.m.
Wilson/Mission-2:51 p.m.
Thompsonville/Cass Lake - 3:30 p.m.
Ellis/Oak Point Road-4:09 p.m.
Morgan/Oak Point Road - 4:27 p.m.
Chippewa Bible Church/Oak Point
Road-4:27 p.m.
Brown Eagle/Oak Point Road-5:05 p.m.
Goggleye/Oak Point Road—5:05 p.m.
Tanner/Oak Point Road - 5:22 p.m.
Monday, May 31,2004
Onigum Traditional/Onigum Road
—10a.m.
Onigum Traditional/Stony Point
Road—10:17 a.m.
Old Agency Catholic/Onigum -
10:31a.m.
Onigum Episcopal/Onigum-
10:47 a.m.
Hegstrom pleds guilty to drive
by shootings
Minneapolis—A 20 year old
man involved in a series of
drive-by shootings that targeted
die homes of tribal law enforcement officers on the Red Lake
Indian Reservation pled guilty
today in U.S. District Court.
Charles Robert Hegstrom, Jr.
from Red Lake, pled guilty to 4
counts of assault with die intent
to commit murder, one count of
intimidating a federal officer,
and one count of discharging
a firearm during a crime of
violence. Hegstrom entered his
plea before Judge David Doty of
Minneapolis.
During the early morning
hours of January 10, 2004, a
volley of shots were fired into
four homes belonging to Red
Lake police officers. In diree
of die instances, family members, including small children,
were in the homes at die time of
the shootings. Shots were also
fired at die Red Lake Police
Department, the Red Lake Detention Cer, and at vehicles, according to a criminal complaint
filed in die case.
Hegstrom faces a maximum
potential penalty of 20 years in
prison and/or a $250,000 fine on
each count of assault and intim-
indating a federal officer.
He also faces a mandatory
consecutive sentence of 10
years in prison for discharging a
firearm during a crime of violence. The actual sentence will
be determined by Judge Doty
based on die federal sentencing
guidelines. A sentencing date
has not been set. Hegstrom con-
tines to be held widiout bond.
The case is die result of an
investigation by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and Red
Lake Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Braun
prosecuted the case.
The Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe (MCT) Constitution was
adopted pursuant lo an order
approved September 12, 1963,
by the Assistant Secretary of
the Interior, the Revised Constitution and Bylaws of the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe was
submitted for ratification to the
qualified voters of the reservations, and was on November 23,
1963, duly adopted by a vote of
1,761 for and 1,295 against, in
an election in which at least 30
percent of those entitled to vole
cast their ballots in accordance
with Section 16 of the Indian
Reorganization Act of June 18,
1934(48 Stat. 984), as amended
bv the Act of June 15, 1935 (49
Stat. 378).
Amenib dated 4/21 2004
submitted by LLBO District 1
MCT to page 6
Red Lake Tribal
election May 19,
2004 candidates
CHAIRMAN-
2 YEAR TERM
Roman "Ducker" Stately
Floyd "Buck" Jourdain
Ramona R. Desjarlait
Bobby Whitefeather
REPRESENTATIVES
RED LAKE-2 YEAR TERM
Phillip B. Johns
Eugene J. "Slug" Sayers, Jr.
Rebecca A. Barrett
Donna J. Morrison
Robert D. Beaulieu, Jr.
Keith L Stately
Donald E. Desjarlait
William R. "Butch" Jourdain
Rose M. "Rosie Bee" Barrett
William G. "Bill" Pemberton
Donna Mae Sumner
RED LAKE-4 YEAR TERM
Jim White, Incumbent
Deanna K. Lasley
Kevin F. Cook
Collins W. Lussier, Sr.
Donald J. May
REDBY
Allen D. Pemberton,
Incumbent
Sheldon "Skin" Brown
Vernon D. Clark
Dorothy W. Cobenais
PONEMAH
Gail G. Mills
Barbara M. Thomas
Murphy A. Thomas, Jr.
Melvin Whitefeather, Sr.
Pete C. Black
Glenda J. Martin
Randall W. Kingbird
Jeffrey D. Kingbird
LITTLE ROCK
Richard W. Barrett, Sr.
Incumbent
Charles A. [Morris
Chris G. Jourdain
Polls will be open at the
respective Red Lake
Community Centers from 8
a.m. to 8 p.'m.
Minneapolis American
Indian Center Poll will be
open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Or call 612-874-9590 for
more information.
web page: www.press-on.net
HativB
American
Press
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
Founded in 1988
Volume 16 Issue 47
May 14, 2004
(AP Photo/The Herald and News, Ron Winn)
Rodney Clarke, left, chief executive officer of Klamath Alcohol and Drug Abuse, speaks to a crowd
of tribal and local officials Monday May 3, 2004, during the grand opening of the Wemble House
in Klamath Falls, Ore. Trie drug and alcohol treatment program based on tribal values is offering
American Indian youth a chance to break addictions and attend school.
Office of Inspector General Audits BIA's Office of
Indian Education Programs: Contingency funds
used for non-emergency purposes
By Jean Pagano
The Department of
Interior's Offiee of the
Inspeetor General (OIG)
recently audited the Bureau
of Indian Affairs Office of
Indian Education Programs
and found that administrative funds were not being
properly used by the Central
Office. Tins misuse of funds
has increased the risk that
contingency funds will not
be available for actual emergencies.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Indian
Education Programs (OIEP)
administers BIA programs
for 48,000 Native students at
federally funded primary and
secondary schools nationwide. OIEP also mns two
colleges and provides funds
to an additional 25 schools
that are ran by tribes and
tribal organizations.
The Department of Interior provides the majority of
funding for OIEP and they
in turn distribute a majority
of those monies lo the Indian
School Equalization Program
which directly funds instruction
and residential aire for Native
students. A portion of the Indian
School Equalization Program
(ISEP) is placed in reserve for
the Director's contingency fund.
This contingency fund is used
for emergencies and other uncertainties affecting programs
funded by ISEP.
The recent audit by OIG discovered that administrative fimds
were not adequately managed bv
die Central Office of OIEP. The"
audit uncovered die following
issues: a) OIEP used contingency
funds for non-emergency purposes and incorrectly calculated
the amount of money to be put in
reserve in the contingency fund;
b) that OIEP did not adequately
plan for expenditures nor did
they record obligations, especially concerning information
technology systems; and c) OIEP
acquired goods and services
totaling $3.6 million without the
use of competition.
There are no written procedures diat detail how die contin-
gencv fund is to be used. Due to
diis lack of direction, monies that
should have been set aside for
emergencies were discovered to
have been used as a discretionary
funds for the Director of OIEP
and not allocated to the Native
students that are served under the
OIEP.
The report details how in fiscal
years 1999/2000 and 2001/2002,
at least S5 million was spent for
non-emergency purposes such
as: a) $3.3 million for computer
networking projects; b) $800,000
for s smdent statistical initiative
to be used at Native schools; c)
$50,000 used for audit services at
two Native schools; d) $129,500
used for staff development
services ($30,000 for a conference to improve administrative
processes and $89,500 for a summer retreat); mid e) $ 17,121 for
recreational and lobby furniture.
While these expenditures may
have been necessary and even
important, they did not arise out
of emergency situations.
In fiscal year 2000/2001, a
school was in need of $395,000
in emergency funds to complete
BIA to page 5
Court rules
governor
exceeded
authority in
gaming
compact
By Steve Schultze
.\ lilwcmkee Sentinel
Madison - The state
Supreme Court dealt a
deep blow to tribal casino
gambling in Wisconsin
Thursday, ruling diat Gov.
Jim Doyle overstepped his
authority in negotiating an
expansive gaming compact
with the Forest County Po-
tawatomi tribe.
Court System
The court's 4-3 ruling
says diat Doyle's gambling
deals improperly cut the
COURT to page 6
Lawmaker ready to swap stadium
support for northern casino
Associated Press
ST. PAUL - A slate law maker
who voted against the Twins-Vikings stadium bill said on Monday that his vote is up for grabs,
giving new life to the legislation
that was halted in a House committee last week.
Rep. In Anderson, DFL-In-
ternational Falls, voted against
the stadium bill Friday when
the $1.2 billion measure was
defeated in the House Ways and
Means Committee on a 13-13
vote _ a rejection that put the
bill in jeopardy for die waning
session.
Its only apparent chance for
survival lies in the ability of
supporters to persuade lawmakers to change votes in a possible
reconsideration of the bill.
Anderson told die St. Paul
Pioneer Press on N londay that
he'll change his vote if Gov.
Tim Pawlenty, a stadium slip-
porter, will help obtain a gambling casino for International
Falls.
"I'd be happy to switch my
vote if they give me something
for a better International Falls _
like a casino," Anderson said.
"But I can't even get a meeting
with him."
Anderson said he's trying to
get die governor's approval for
a fourth casino for the Red Lake
Band of Chippewa, which operates three such places of gambling in northern Minnesota. If
the governor would consent to a
casino in Internationa] Falls, the
issue would head to die federal
Bureau of Indian Affairs for approval.
Pawlcnty's chief of staff, Dan
.\ IcElroy, declined comment on
Anderson's appeal. He said die
governor is focusing on a plan
to balance the state's budget and
STADIUM to page 3