Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-07-16

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Reflections on the
recent Manypenny
decision
page 5
LaRose's letter to
Deschamp
page 4
Tribal Chairman George     The truth about
Goggleye, Jr.'s response   Pete and Archie's
to Archie LaRose Executive Order
page 4
page 4
Jourdain, unseasoned
pilot, to steer Red Lake
Ship of State
page 4
Jourdain wins Chairmanship of Red Lake Tribal Council
Desjarlait, Martin, May and Pemberton win Council seats
By Bill Lawrence
A slate made up predominantly of political newcomers
has been elected to public office
at Red Lake. Results are unofficial until certified by the Tribal
Council
Floyd 'Buck" Jourdain, with
1856 votes, is the winner of the
chairman position at Red Lake.
Three new representatives were
also elected. They are—Donald
E. Desjarlait for the two-year
Red Lake tenn vacated by Roman
Stately; Donald J. 'Dudie" May
for the four-year Red Lake term;
Glenda J. Martin for Ponemah.
Allen D. Pemberton, Redby
incumbent, was reelected. Incumbent Richard Barrett, Sr,
Little Rock District Representative, won a majority of the votes
in the May 19 election and did
not have to run in the July Run
Off election.
All newly elected officials will
take office at the next regular
Tribal Coimcil meeting, August
10,2004. Complete election results are printed below.
Red Lake Band of Chippewa
14-Jul-04
Indians Run Off Election
Chairman                       Red Lake
Roman Stately                         293
Floyd Jourdain                         507
Ponemah
124
288
Redby
179
325
L. Rock
91
222
Absentee
241
514
Total
928
1856
%    :
33.33
66.67
Red Lake I Representative
2-year term
Donald E. Desjarlait
Rose M. Barrett
517
275
159
201
676
476
58.68
41.32
Red Lake Representative
4-year term
Kevin F. Cook
Donald J. May
332
471
179
185
511
656
43.79
56.21
Ponemah Representative
Barbara M. Thomas
Glenda J. Martin
186
228
43
43
229
271
45.8
54.2
Redby Representative
Allen D. Pemberton
Vernon D. Clark
351
156
110
62
461
218
67.89
32.11
Vizenor becomes White Earth tribe's first female chair
By Vicki L. Gerdes
vgerdes (s dlnew spapers. com
'It's truly an historic day
for the White Earth Band of
Ojibwe."
These were the words with
which White Earth Tribal Judge
Anita Fineday greeted the thousand or so White Earth tribal
members and assorted state
and local dignitaries who were
crowded into the ballroom at
the Shooting Star Casino Event
Center Tuesday afternoon.
And the reason why the crowd
was gathered at the Shooting
Star was, indeed, historic: For
the first time, the White Earth
Band of Ojibwe would be led by
a woman.
Erma Vizenor was inaugurated as White Earth's first
female tribal chair on Tuesday,
after a heated and controversial
election — the results of which
had been openly challenged by
Vizenor's competitor for the job,
former Tribal Chainnan Danell
"Chip" Wadena.
But once Judge Betty Laver-
dure of North Dakota's TurUe
Mountain Reservation upheld
the results of the election and
rejected Wadena's complaints,
and a tribal court of appeals upheld her decision, die path was
cleared for Vizenor to take over
the chairmanship from Doyle
Turner (who was defeated in the
primary earlier this year).
Vizenor received a wann
reception from the large crowd
gathered at die Shooting Star for
the noon ceremony, which took
a litde over an hour to complete.
During her remarks, Fineday
praised the White Earth election
board for its efforts in providing
"a very honest, clean election."
Next to speak was White
Earth Tribal Council Representative Irene Auginaush.
'We're going to go down
in history, for having the first
chairwoman in White Earth's
history," she said. 'I'm so proud
of you, Erma... I'm proud to be
a woman today, and proud to be
a member of the White Earth
Reservation."
"It's a good day — it is an
honor to be die first woman
elected to lead our White EarUi
Ojibwe nation — a position of
sacred trust and responsibility,"
Vizenor said in her remarks.
In response to a question regarding what she would like to
accomplish during her four-year
term in office, Vizenor noted,
"It's a difficult question to answer."
'The challenges for us as a
tribal council are many... diere
are so many pressing needs,"
she continued. "Aldiough this is
a day of great celebration, I also
say this is a day of great challenge."
Though Tuesday was a day to
celebrate, Vizenor said, "tomorrow is a work day, and tomorrow, the work starts for me."
Vizenor'spoke of the high
unemployment rate for tribal
members living on the rcsci\;;
tion — more dian 60 percent
— and the problems this has
created.
'We have homelessness, we
have hunger, we have poverty...
CHAIR to page 3
Bemidji woman charges discrimination in warrantless
police search
By Jeff Armstrong
Bemidji resident Sharon Smith
complained diis week that city
police recklessly disregarded
her constitutional rights and die
safety of her children in a warrantless July 11 search of her
home for a criminal suspect.
Smith, a White Eardi enrollee
who suffers from acute arthritis,
said the officers executed a room-
to-room search with guns drawn.
She expressed concern that the
incident may have arisen from a
misidenlilicalion of her 19-year-
old son as the suspect—with potentially tragic results if her son
had been home.
"David fits the description of
Bert Headbird, and if he would
have been here, I was very
afraid that they might have done
something to him because of
the way that they came in with
their guns.. .1 think he's afraid
to come back home because of
what happened, because of the
way that the police came into the
house," said Smith.
Smidi said her daughter formerly dated Headbird, but she
noted that police never bothered
to search her daughter's apartment. She said it was die fourth
time over a two-year period that
police have searched her home
for a person who was not diere.
'1 don't have any idea why
they would come and look for
Bert Headbird here, because I
don't have anything to do widi
him and I wouldn't allow him
in my house. I wouldn't let him
come in here and hang out or
hide out because I have a HUD
lease to uphold, and if I have
criminal activity going on in
my house I could be evicted. I
know better than that. The police should know me better dian
diat," Smith said.
To Smidi, the incident serves
as evidence of racial disparity in
local law enforcement's interaction with the Native community.
She said the raid took place
shordy after her infant grandchildren left.
"I diink if it was a non-Native
family, they wouldn't treat them
like that. I think if it was anyone
else, diey wouldn't have done it
that way," she said.
Smith said she intended to file
a formal complaint with a Bemidji Minnesota Civil Liberties
Union advocate investigating
patterns of racial profiling in die
region.
Website launches with focus on Native health
Site claims to support 4 million people of Native ancestry
By Jean Pagano
A new web site appeared today, sponsored by die National
Library of Medicine, entitled
"American Indian Health".
American Indian Health claims
diat it supports the 4 million
people in the United States that
can trace dieir heritage to a Native American or Alaskan Native ancestor.
American Indian Health
describes its site as being "designed to bring together health
mid medical resources pertinent
to the American Indian population including policies, consumer health infonnation, and
research."
The site, located at http://ame
ricanindi anheal ui. nlm. nih.gov/,
provides a diverse blend of infonnation and interesting links.
Organized into 10 topics including Tribal Infonnation, Health
Topics, Environmental Health,
Traditional Healing, Research,
and Healthcare Access, die site
offers up many facets relating lo
Native Americans.
The 'Tribal Infonnation" section contains links to 28 tribes
or tribal governments from
Apache to Chippewa to Inter-
Tribal Council of Michigan to
Sioux to Wiyot. Each tribal category then expands into separate links for individual tribes
and topics, such as Cheyenne
River Lakota Nation, Oglala
Sioux Tribe, The Lakota of the
Plains, and The Lakota Way,
under the heading "Sioux".
The 'Health Topics" segment has links to government
and public sites diat deal with
a wide variety of Native issues.
Some of these topics include
Minority Women's Health, Native American and Alaskan Native Women, American Indian
Healdi Facts, Native Health Databases, Common Health Problems of Native Americans, Native American Food Guide. The
Native Health Databases, wliile
currently under construction,
will provide a Native Health
History Database, offering citations and abstracts for infonnation dating from 1652 dirough
1966, and a Native Health
Research Database offering the
same information as the History
Database, but from 1966 to the
present. The National Library
of Medicine, the Indian Healdi
Service, and die University of
New Mexico sponsor these databases. The Native American
Food Guide, created by the Association of American Indian
Physicians, details die five food
groups of bread, vegetables,
meat, dairy, and fruit, along
with traditional alternatives that
fulfill die dietary requirements
of the various foods groups. It
also includes recommendations
for traditional sweets and fats.
Under die topic of 'Traditional Healing", 11 additional links
are provided ranging in topics
from 292 articles on Native
American and Traditional Medicine, provided by the National
Library of Medicine, to a fact
sheet of Native American Traditional Heating, presented by
New Mexico AIDS info net, to
Native American Edinobotany,
offered by the University of
Michigan at Dearborn. The Edinobotany site is a database of
foods, drags, dyes, and fibers of
Native American peoples, derived from plants. For example,
birch bark yielded 47 matches
including die tribe that used the
item and die product(s) derived
WEBSITE to page 3
VOICE       OF      THE       PEOPLE
web page: www.press-on.net
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A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
Founded in 1988
Volume 17 Issue 5
July 16, 2004
Narragansett Indian Medicine Man Lloyd Running Wolf Wilcox, left, prepares the peace pipe as Narragansett Indian Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas looks on during a blessing of the circle ceremony in front of the Narragansett
Indian Smoke shop July 14, 2004, in Charlestown, R.I. The Narragansett's had a ceremony commemorating the
one-year anniversary of the raid on the smoke shop by the Rhode Island State Police. (AP Photo/Victoria Arocho)
Tribe marks anniversary of smoke shop raid
Associated Press
CHARLESTOWN, R.I.
- The Nanagansett Indian
tribe was marking die first
anniversary since their smoke
shop was shut down in a state
police raid with a remembrance ceremony Wednesday.
The Nanagansetts opened
the shop on July 12,2003.
Two days later, state troopers moved in to shut it down,
resulting in the anests of
several tribe members, including Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas. The violent
confrontation was filmed by
television news crews.
The state claimed the
smoke shop broke Rhode
Island law because it did not
levy state taxes on die tobacco
sales. The federally recognized
tribe argued diat as a sovereign
nation, it is free from die state's
taxation laws.
A federal judge raled last December diat die state acted properly in shutting down die shop.
The tribe has appealed die rating.
"Our position is we were violated, unneeded and unprovoked,
by die state of Rhode Island,"
Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas
said diis week. "We stood for our
principles. We'll have a day of
remembrance (on Wednesday),
of the day we stood for our sovereignty, just as diey did in the great
swamp era."
The Great Swamp Massacre is
the tribe's name for a 17di-cen-
tury attack by a Colonial militia
on an Indian winter camp.
Thomas said ceremonies were
to begin about 1 p.m., at the
smoke shop site along Route
2. That's about the same time
as when the raid occurred. The
public was invited to a 3 p.m. ceremony on the grounds of die Narragansett Indian Healdi Center.
"There were non-tribal people
tiiere at die time of die raid. We
believe diey should be part of"
die ceremonies, Thomas said.
Authorities confiscated
160,000 cigarettes in die raid. The
shop has been converted to a sovereignty headquarters, where the
Nanagansetts distribute literature
about die tribe and its history
Redby juveniles suspected in multiple car thefts
By Bill Lawrence
A collaborative effort involving the Bemidji police
department, die Beltrami
Comity Sheriff's office and
Red Lake law enforcement
has identified eight juveniles
from Redby as suspects in a
number of auto diefts. The
juveniles, ages 13-16, face
pending charges diat include
vehicle dieft, burglary, arson
and possession of stolen
property. The alleged crimes
occurred in botii Belu-ami
Comity and at die Red Like
Resenation.
Authorities suspect die group
is also responsible for stealing
a transit bus containing a safe.
The bus, one of only two Reservation vehicles with a lift to
accommodate wheelchairs, was
destroyed when it was driven
into a stand of trees.
Five of the boys are suspected
by law enforcement of being
involved in such diefts from as
far back as August 2003. The
cooperative 30-day investiga
tion was launched when auto
dieft agents Mike Mastin, City
of Bemidji, and Steve Andersen,
Beltrami Comity, met widi Red
Lake Criminal investigator Ernest
Smidi after a series of auto thefts
on May 28. The investigation has
resulted in infonnation indicating
diat the boys stole several vehicles which were set afire and/or
willfully damaged. Flames from
one burning vehicle direatened a
Puposky home. They allegedly
stole fireanns and an ATV from a
Nebish residence.
Lawsuits allege abuse at American Indian
boarding schools
By Chet Brokaw against the federal government.
Associated Press That lawsuit contends that die
PIERRE, S.D. - Former
snidents who allege diey
were abused at American
Indian boarding schools in
South Dakota are suing die
Roman Cadiolic Church and
the religions organizations
diat ran die schools.
The lawsuits, which seek
damages for students allegedly hurt at St. Paul's
School hi Marty and St.
Francis Mission School on
the Rosebud Sioux Indian
Reservation, were to be filed
in state courts Tuesday in
Sioux Falls and Rapid City,
said Gary Frischer, a legal
consultant in die cases.
Many of die same fonner
students are plaintiffs in a
similar lawsuit filed last year
federal government failed in its
duty under treaties to protect the
Indian snidents who were sent to
boarding schools across die nation.
The lawsuits seek damages
from die Cadiolic Diocese of
Sioux Falls and die Cadiolic Diocese of Rapid City in addition
to organizations that provided
priests and nuns to work in the
schools, which were transfened
to tribal control about three decades ago.
The lawsuits allege diat die
religious organizations were
negligent in hiring, retaining and
supervising staff at die schools.
They also argue die organizations failed to protect snidents
from abuse or investigate misconduct at die schools.
Jerry Klein, chancellor of
the Sioux Falls diocese, said he
could not respond until he had
seen die actual lawsuit.
"It's difficult to respond very
specifically when we haven seen
what's really being claimed,"
Klein said. "We'll take a look at
it as we're able to, and try to respond appropriately."
Sharon Zeller, communications
director of die Rapid City diocese,
said she also would not comment
until church officials have seen
die lawsuit.
The lawsuit involving die St
Francis Mission School includes
16 fonner students, wliile die
lawsuit dealing widi St. Paul's in
N tarty includes 57 fonner students.
"AH of die Plaintiffs were
beaten and tortured, including
physical, menial and emotional
abuse. Many ol" die children were
ABUSE to page 2