Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-06-11

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
As popularity of
gambling, problem
players finding few
treatment options
page 5
Army of families, health
workers battle devastating
page 3
Red Lake Treasurer
sends clarification
page 4
Slow down
leadfoot
page 4
Letter to Red
Lake candidates
page 4
Red Lake Tribal Council considers recommendations
for court reform
VOICE      OF      THE      PE  OP  L   E
By Bill Lawrence
At the regular meeting June
8, the Red Lake Tribal Council
approved a resolution to implement the recommendations
made by Judge Mary Pearson
to improve the Tribal Court.
Responsibility for this task was
assigned to Michelle Paquin/
Johnson, an attorney for the
Tribe. Ms. Paquin/Johnson, in
a phone conversation, indicated
that it was not clear at this lime
exactly what would be involved
in die implementation. Some of
the recommendations involve
a considerable financial commitment, some the drafting pf
protocols, rules, amendments
to the code and others suggest
substantive changes in adminis-
trative procedure and policy.
A letter entitled "Interim
Report of Consultant on Tribal
Court Evaluation" from Pearson
to the Tribal Council was also
distributed upon die request of
two members. The matter came
to light after it was mentioned
in last week's article, "Red Lake
Court Evaluated."
Judge Pearson mentioned
there were "several matters that
need to be addressed immediately rather than wailing for the
entire... Evaluation." The three
issues she expressed concern
about were'#l the possibility
that the State might require the
Tribe to reimburse funds received for foster care payments.
Ill an alleged failure of the tribal
police, the prosecutor and the
I IS attornej to prosecute a rape
case diat is over a year old. #3
a case in which the tribal court
reopened a final judgment or
divorce decree and amended an
award of the proceeds of two
life insurance policies "widiout
any audiority and without notice
to the former wife..."
The letter is dated 4 18/04
and was received 4/23/04 but
was not made available to tribal
council members until the June
8 meeting. In spile of the fact
that Judge Pearson stated 'Time
is of the essence and it is die
reason for me faxing this letter to you," it appears from the
lengdi of time the letter was
held that an attempt was made
to keep the letter and its contents from the full Council.
The letter was made available only after council members
Jim White and Richard Barrett
asked for it. This appears to
be a serious matter and might
entail a financial obligation to
die Tribe that could extend as
far back as 1997 when the public law diat governs foster care
payments was enacted.  The
letter indicates drat Children
and Family Services (CFS) had
notified Judge Charnoski of dre
problem more than once but rro
REFORM to page 5
Four New Chair, Five New Committeeman elected in
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe's General Election
By Diane E.
White
CASSLAKE-
The Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe's
General Election
for Chairman and
one or two com-
nritteeman was
held on Tuesday,
June 8. Many of
the incumbents
have lost their bid
to retain their seats
and Erma Vizenor upset Darrell
"Chip" Wadena in
the White Eardi
Chairman's race
where he won on
the Reservation and
Enna's absentee
ballots helped her
pull ahead. The
new Chairperson's
are: Erma Vizenor,
George Goggleye,
Jr., Peter Defoe,
and Kevin Leecy.
.\ lelarrie Benjamin
and Norman Des-
champe bodr won
dreir respective races in tire Primary
election where diey
each received over
50% of the vote.
The new Committeeman are:
Donald "Mick"
Firm, Dean F. De-
schampe, Eugene
Reynolds, Roger
'Bouda" Smith,
Sr, and .Alicia Lyd-
ia Skinaway. See
Table for results.
MCT Official Election Results
Leech Lake
Chairman
Resident
Vote
Mpis
Vote
Absentee
Vote
Total
Votes
Peter D. White
508
174
232
914
George Goggleye, Jr.
1123
78
157
1358
District 3 Representative
Richard Jones
405
61
127
593
Donald "Mick" Finn
667
92
160
919
Grand Portage
District Representative
KennetyA. Sherer
81
0
69
150
Dean F. Deschampe
81
0
74
155
Fond du Lac Chairman
Robert "Sonny" Peacock
312
0
187
499
Peter J. Defoe
472
0
105
577
District 1 Committeeman
Clifton Rabideaux
190
0
150
340
Eugene Reynolds
316
0
56
372
| District 3 Committeeman,
Lavern Koon Shotley
63
0
30
93
Roger "Bouda" Smith, Sr.
97
0
23
120
White Earth Chairman
Darrell "Chip" Wadena
1143
0
176
1319
Erma Vizenor
1051
0
879
1930
District 3 Committeeperson
Kenneth "Gus" Bevins
621
0
240
861
Ralph "Bucky" Goodman
446
0
286
732
Mille Lacs
District 1 Representative
Sandra Lee Blake
142
0
27
169
Alicia Lydia Skinaway
185
0
4
189
Bois Forte (Nett Lake)
Chairman
Gary Donald
126
120
246
Kevin Leecy
141
200
341
District 1 Representative
Raymond Villebrun, Sr.
84
125
209
Wendy Morrison
106
87
193
A Fair Election
at Leech Lake
By Diane E. White
CASS LAKE- On Tuesday,
June .8, die focus at Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe (LLBO)
General Election was die Cass
Lake precinct where dirring
the Primary election many
eyewitnesses reported voting
irregularities. These complaints
included ballots beirrg held at
tire Cass Lake Post Office mid
the Secretary-Treasurer, Arthur
"Archie" LaRose walking
intoxicated voters into the
precinct and helping them to
vote for incumbent Peter D.
White and his cousin, Richard
Jones. Jones won the Primary
election for District 3. Anotiier
eyewitness reported seeing
ballots held at die Cass Lake
Post Office at die request of one
of die Election Judges, and diis
was reported to die Post \ faster
widr a request to investigate the
matter.
Disuict Representee Burton
"Luke" Wilson alleges main
people have come into LaRose's
office and he has escorted diem
to die Election Board office and
observed tirem voting absentee.
An election fraud investigation
is pending regarding I .aRose.
Chairman White and Executive
Director Gerald White for
allegedly buying votes using
Tribal Referral funds. Last
Fall, die Tribal Referral office
reportedly spend their entire
annual budget, and to date no
ELECTION to page 6
MCT activist reflects on two
decades of struggle for land,
constitutional rights
By Jeff Armstrong
Tribal activist Marvin
Manypenny has been in the
irridst of every contemporary
movement in the six-reservation
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe for
land recovery, human rights and
constitutional reform. Formerly
a leading member of Anishinabe
A-keen and Camp Justice I and
II, Manypenny helped organize
and currendy directs the Detroit
Lakes Airishinaabe Center.
\ lanypenny grew up on White
Earth, but he left the reservation
as a teenager and gave it little
thought afterwards. Manypenny,
however, experienced a personal
and political awakening as a
seminary student in the early
1980s, when he mel Anishinabe
A-keen members Ray Bellcourt,
Dale Hanks and Vernon Belle-
court at dre Minneapolis Indian
Center. The land recovery activists related the wrenching story
of fraudulent White Earth laird
transactions which had dispossessed a proud people who continued to carry on the struggle
against historic injustices.
"My eyes were really opened
when I started understanding die history of our people,"
Manypenny says. "A whole new
world opened up that nobody
had ever told me about."
N lanypenny asked for a one-
year leave from tire seminary to
work in the land movement on
White Earth, but once there he
never looked back.
"I came back to my roots,"
he says. "I got involved and just
kind of stayed involved."
Manypenny soon learned a
valuable lesson about die naftire
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
when the federal agency began
caving in to political pressure in
the 1980s to settle land claims
by tribal heirs in the interest of
white landowners on die reservation.
"Initially, they (BIA) were
gung-ho on litigating this for
the benefit of the heirs...They
certainly should have played a
greater role radier than acquiescing on saying, 'Oh well, a legislative solution is better.' A legislative solution was not better
for the people or the heirs who
were affected by this. We had no
voice."
With odier tribal activists mid
heirs, Manypenny traveled to die
Lf.S. capitol in a quixotic effort
to defeat the White Earth I .and
Settlement Act. Chairman Mark
Andrews cast the deciding vote
in favor of WELSA on the Select
Committee on Indian Affairs, but
die surprisingly close margin of
victory in the Republican-controlled Senate and a secret letter
in the name of dien-cliainrran
Darrell (Chip) Wadena to N lin-
nesota congressman Bruce Vento
prompted congressional support-
ACTIVIST to page 6
web page: www.press-on.net
Native a-4
American
Press
Founded in 1988
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
June11,2004
Volume X) Issue S©
A Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Election Clerk from Cass Lake precinct gets arrested during election
for outstanding warrant, and the Secretary-Treasurer, Arthur "Archie" LaRose makes phone calls.
The woman arrested is allegedly Mr. LaRose's aunt.
Report: Tribes' financial records subpoenaed
Associated Press
CONCHO, Okla. - A federal grand jury has subpoe-
I financial records from
the Cheyenne and Arapaho
Tribes for an investigation
into how casino profits and
other tribal income has been
spent, a newspaper reported.
The subpoenas require die
records be delivered by June
15, when the grand jury is to
convene in Oklahoma City,
Hie Oklalioman reported in
its Sunday editions.
The tribes made an estimated SlO million last year
from their two Lucky Star
casinos and received several hundred thousand more
dollars dirough a gasoline
compact with the slate. Since
1999, the tribes have received $2.5 million through
the gasoline compact, said
Lehman Coyote, the tribes'
tax programs director.
According to financial records,
die Uibes spent thousands of dollars for vehicles and trips, many
of them to I .as Vegas': The ()ki;t
homan, citing unnamed sources,
reported diat travel records were
among the documents requested
by die grandjury.
The Oklalioman reported die
FBI mid the National Indian
Gaming Commission are investigating allegations that elected
tribal officials squandered casino
profits on themselves and favored constituents and workers.
However; FBI spokesman
Gary Johnson said he could discuss any subpoenas or confirm
the existence of air investigation.
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes
business committee members
Robert Wilson and Bill Blind
said diey had not been subpoenaed. Blind also said his wife Vi-
nita Sarrkey, who is also a busi
ness committee member, was not
aware of any subpoenas.
By law, money from die
gasoline compact must be used
by the tribes for law enforcement, roads, health, education
or corrections. But former roads
program director Bill Tallbear
said bis office stopped receiving
money following a November
2001 business committee directive that the gasoline compact
money go to the finance office
instead of to the tax commission.
That action gave the business
committee direct access to the
money, Tallbear said.
Tallbear, now the tribes' acting
business manager, said he and
odier affected program directors requested meetings with the
business committee but repeatedly were denied.
"We just wanted to know how
die money was spent," he said.
Competing gambling initiatives both favored
By Don Thompson
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - Two
competing Indian gambling
initiatives on the November
ballot would each increase
the number of slot machines
in exchange for giving die
state a share of casino profits. And each would pass if
the vote was today, according to a Field Poll released
Wednesday.
So far, "California voters
are read)' to expand op-
pornrrrities for the public to
gamble so long as gaming
operators provide additional
revenues to state and local
coffers," reported pollsters Mark DiCanrillo and
Mervin Field.
One proposal would lift limits
on dre number of slot machines
and other games. In return,
tribes would pay die same state
taxes as do corporations, 9 percent. That measure is backed by
one of the most profitable tribes,
die Agua Caliente Band of Ca-
huilla Indians.   .
The other ballot measure,
backed by card rooms and racetracks, would tax tribes' gambling revenues at 25 percent and
require them to accept state laws
and court jurisdiction. If any
one of the 61 gambling tribes
balked, die measure would let
16 racetracks and card rooms
operate 30,000 slot machines,
with a third of the proceeds
going to state and local government programs.
The measures are supported
by a majority of voters, according lo the telephone poll of 388
registered voters between May
18-24.
The first measure was favored
by 53 percent of voters and opposed by 30 percent. The second
was favored by 57 percent and
opposed by 26 percent. In each
case, 17 percent were undecided.
The pollsters speculated that
the seeming public acceptance
may stem from California's loug
history with gambling, dating
from Gold Rush days. Card
rooms with limited gambling
have remained legal ever since,
wliile horse betting has been
around for more than 70 years
GAMBLING to page 3
Ex-felon
Wadena
trounced in
White Earth
election
Associated Press
MAHNOMEN, Minn. - A
convicted felon and live-
time chairman of the White
Earth Band of Ojibwe lost
Iris bid to return to political
power to his rival _ a woman whose testimony helped
send him to prison eight
vears ago.
Darrell "Chip" Wadena,
for years the most prominent American Indian leader
in Minnesota; drew just
41 percent of the vote in
Tuesday's bitterly contested
WADENA to page 5
Casinos not exempt from law
Indian gaining must comply with labor codes, board rules
By Doug Abralims
Desert Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A federal
labor agency niled it lias jurisdiction over Indian casinos, which
could aid unions in their efforts to
organize tribal workers, including
die two Agua Caliente operations
in the Palm Springs area.
The immediate impact of
die National Labor Relatious
Board's decision late Friday was
unclear-.
It overturned nearly 30 years
of precedent, which had basically
left tribal businesses outside of
federal labor jurisdiction.
But die board held that since
tribal casinos hire m;iny non-Indians and compete with commercial
gambling operations they must
comply with federal labor laws.
In California, tribal casinos
and governments employed
44.300 workers in April, up
16.6 percent from April 2003.
Coachella Valley casinos employ
about 5,100.
Jacob Coin, executive director
of the Sacramento-based California Nations Indian Gaming Association, said 90 percent of the
people working for die tribes are
not Indian.
The federal board's decision
was a surprise to many observers. Its impact on the Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance negotiated in 1999 as an adjirnct to tire
gaming compacts the Uibes have
widi California was not known.
"We were disappointed,"said
\ lark van Norman, executive
director of the National Indian
Gaming Association. "From our
point of view, (regulation) of
CASINOS to page 5