Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-07-30

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
American Indian
physicans focus
on adolescents,
students
page 3
Partners in Trade debut
at 16th Annual White Oak
Rendezvous in Deer Park,
August 6-8
page 6
Tribe reorganizing child      LaRose seeks MCT
welfare program after        intervention in
claims of sexual abuse       Removal Petition
page 5
page 4
U.S. Civil Rights
Commissioner Allen's
Statement
page 4
LaRose petitions court for injunction against July 30
removal hearing
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Jeff Armstrong
In a Tuesday tribal court hearing which may well decide the
political fate of Leech I.ake secretary treasurer Archie LaRose,
RBC attorney Mike Garbow
adamantly refused to accept the
postponement of a scheduled
public heaiing today on an 18-
month-old recall petition against
the embattled LaRose.
"The petitioners have waited
long enough mid the tribal council has gone forward with a 4-0
vote," said Garbow. 'They're going to go forward with [the hearing]"
LaRose contends that the
petition failed to meet the constitutional threshold of 20% of
resident eligible voters and that
tlie issue was disposed of at a
June 2, 2003 RBC meeting, at
which LaRose and then chainnan
Pete White refused to validate it.
He further submitted to the court
a written statement from MCT
executive director Gary Frazer
that the current reservation population would require at least 522
signatures—19 more than the
disputed number of 503 alleged .
to have signed the petition.
If Leech Lake chief judge
Peggy Treuer declines to grant
LaRose a temporary injunction
in order to allow a full hearing on
the validity and constitutional-
ity of the petition, the secretary
treasurer faces—at best—a recall
election within the next 30 days.
He could also be removed outright halfway into his four-year
term by an openly hostile RBC,
which at the time of the petition objected on constitutional
grounds to the secretary treasurer
ordering a financial audit of the
reservation without the approval
of the full governing body.
LaRose obtained an injunction last year to force a hearing at
which he presented evidence that
dozens of signatures on the recall
petition were either forged or
signed by non-resident reservation members. Rather than allowing die tribal court to determine
the validity and sufficiency of the
signatures, both sides agreed to
refer the matter back to the RBC.
As tribal judge B..T. Jones
wrote hi April in a related dispute
over compensation for an attorney representing the anti-LaRose
faction, "the Coimcil did meet
and Defendant I^aRose and Tribal
Chainnan White herein voted
against determining whether the
recall should proceed against
LaRose, while the non-attorney
Plaintiffs voted to proceed with
the election. The Plaintiffs then
sought a temporary restraining
order against Defendant LaRose
and White seeking a court order
directing that the election proceed. The Court declined that
request however because the
Coimcil had not approved of the
recall election by a 2/3 's vote as
required by the MCT Constitution."
hi court tliis week, however,
Garbow argued that die constitutional requirement of a 2/3 RBC
vote applied only to an actual
removal from office, rather than
to the scheduling Of a recall election. The majority RBC defendants also produced a last-minute
transcript of die June 2,2003
RBC meeting on which they base
their claim that White never voted against validating die petition.
The recording was transcribed
by an employee of attorney
Zenas Baer, whose claimed attorney fees have been blocked by
LaRose. The secretary treasurer
has also challenged the validity
of Garbow's legal contract.
LaRose and his attorney, Randy Thompson, requested a continuance until next month to analyze the tape, which was recorded
by Luke Wilson, die RBC member spearheading the LaRose
removal effort. The secretary
treasurer alleged diat documents
pertaining to die June 2 meeting
were stolen from LaRose's office,
from that of his assistant, and
from the tribal court itself.
Treuer confirmed that the court
documents in question constituted "die only files we've ever
been aware of diat are missing."
She agreed to postpone her ruling
two days pending production of
the tape, which Wilson said may
or may not be in die possession
of Baer's law office.
From a legal perspective, however, it would seem a moot point
whedier die vote to validate die
petition was 3-1 or 3-2, since the
MCT Tribal Executive Committee has issued a binding definition of 2/3 of the RBC to mean
four of five members. For Treuer
to nile otherwise would require
her to reverse a finding of a judge
in die same case or to deem die
TEC interpretation unconstitutional—die latter of which is prohibited by die Leech Lake niles
of court procedure.
Indian Health Care Improvement Act inches closer
to passage
Congress and Secretary Thompson seem to agree
By Jean Pagano
Senate Bill 556, the Indian
Healdi Care Improvement Act,
inched its way closer to passage
last week. The Bill, first offered
in March 2003, seeks to reauthorize the Indian Healdi Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) to better
help Native peoples dirough
increased participation in and increased funding of Native healdi
programs. Co-sponsors of the
bill, include Committee on Indian Affairs chainnan Ben Nigh-
diorse Campbell (R-CO) and
co-chair Senator Daniel Inouye
(D-HJ.), as well as Senators often
associated widi Native causes,
such as Senators John McCain
(R-AZ), Patty Murray (D-WA),
Tom Daschle (D-SD), and Tim
Johnson (D-SD).
The main speaker addressing
die committee was U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. Thompson, a previous
no-show at die May heaiing in
front of the Committee of Indian
Affairs, said that his Department
is "strongly committed to<die re-
auuiorization of die IHCIA during diis Congress." Thompson
supported a number of key provisions of S. 556 and its House
counterpart HB, 2440, including
a) improving recruitment and
retention of qualified providers, b) providing for improved
health services lo eligible Native
peoples, c) exempting Natives
from cost sharing in Medicaid
and SCHJP programs, and d)
expanding behavioral healdi programs to provide for prevention
and treatment for child sexual
abuse, family violence; and mental healdi.
The Secretary objected, however, to provisions in die bill that
mentioned consultation widi die
Tribes. The IHCIA attempts to
write into stauie die requirement
diat Federal agencies consult
widi Federally-recognized Indian
Tribes and Tribal organizations.
Thompson slated that die Administration remains committed
to consultation widi Tribes as
alluded to by Presidential Executive Order 13175 and detailed in
the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act
of 1995. Contrary to die wishes
of die Secretary, die strength
of codifying die consultation
component would reside in the
fact dial another act of Congress
would be required to repeal diis
provision whereas any subsequent President, including the
sitting President cmi nullify a
Presidential Executive Order.
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
also argued for passage of die
bill. He cited an often-quoted
statistic that Federal prisoners
are afforded twice die amount of
health care funding than me Native Americans.
In prior hearings on diis bill,
Native leaders were quick to
state diat more funding was
needed to bring Native peoples
up to die same level of healdi
care as is enjoyed by non-Natives. SecretaryTiiompson had \/
been quiet on the topic of IHCIA   '
until the recent hearing, stating
"I reiterate our strong commitment to reauthorization and improvement of Indimi health care
programs mid I hope to work
widi this Committee mid other
Committees of the Congress, die
National Tribal Steering Committee, mid other representatives
of Indimi country to develop a
bill diat all stakeholders in these
important programs cmi support."
Funding for Indimi health care
programs had been cut in the
President's proposed FY2005
budget, and the sudden attention
of die Secretary of Health and
Human Services may be due hi
no small part to die realization
that Native peoples have discovered die power of die voting
boodi mid have the ability to
influence the outcome of state
mid perhaps national elections.
Given die nascent electoral power of Native populations, Native
healdi care has suddenly risen in
visibility for die Administration
mid various Senators mid Representatives in Indimi country.
Doctor stands ground against diabetes
By Angela Mettler
Aberdeen American News
ABERDEEN, S.D. - As a
young woman, Dr. Sara K. Dye
dreamed of becoming a doctor.
Dye is a member of the
SacFox and Shawnee uibes. She
started Indimi Healdi Services'
first noninvasive vascular laboratory at Carl Albert Hospital in
Ada, Okla., in 1984. She directed die lab for 10 years. She is
currendy chief medical officer at
Indimi Healdi Services in Aberdeen. Her main focus is preventing amputations in American
Indian diabetic patients.
VT am fanatic mid passionate,
in in)' area of diabetes, about
getting doctors to examine the
patient's feet," she said.
Achieving her goals was a difficult, long process.
Dye was bom in 1945 mid lived
hi Tulsa, Okla. Her mother died
of alcoholism when Dye was 13.
When healdi professionals visited
Dye's high school during career
days, she became interested hi
die healdi field. But her guidance
counselor said her grades weren't
good enough to get her into medical school, so Dye decided to become an X-ray technologist.
Litde did she know her struggles were just beginning.
"There was a lot of bigotry
mid racism into getting into med
ical school," she said.
After Dye graduated widi die
highest degree on die radiologic
technologist certification exam,
she renewed her detennination to
become a doctor. She worked for
mi orthopedic surgeon, who told
her she'd never make it past the
first year of premedical school.
But she did just that. She
graduated from Nordieasteni
Oklahoma State University in
Tahlequah, Okla., finishing widi
an overall 3.2 grade point average and a 3.8 pre-med GPA.
She applied to several medical schools in die western suites,
DOCTOR to page 3
Official: Probe shows money was being siphoned
from casino
Associated Press
MITCHELL, S.D. -An investigation indicates money was disappearing from die Crow Creek
Sioux Tribe's Lode Star Casino
in Fort Thompson, according
to Cindy Shaw, a lawyer for the
National Indimi Gaming Commission.
"When the investigator went
to die reservation most recently
_ diey go once a mondi _ it became clem- diat there was money
hemorrhaging from die casino,"
Shaw told die Mitchell Republic.
When the problem became
clem, tribal officials closed the
casino, said Shaw, who woidd
not reveal how much money allegedly is involved She did say
the "amount of money leaving
the casino was incompatible widi
running a casino operation."
The tribal council voted last
week to hire anew general manager after hearing the results of
the NIGC investigation. Also
last week, die Lode Star's 115
employees were told diey would
have to reapply if diey wanted
jobs when the casino reopened
in two weeks. The new general
manager has a two-year contract.
"The tribe itself actually
thought, 'You know, we just
need to stop,'" Shaw said. "And
diat was a really good choice, I
would say."
The tribe had mn die casino
since it opened in 1993. Duane
Big Eagle, die uibal chainnmi,
said die tribe might resume control sometime in die future.
"All Indians eventually feel
PROBE to page 3
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Volume 17 Issue 7
July 30, 2004
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Voices of Indian America
Smithsonian
National Museum of the American Indian
William Henry Jackson/NMAI Photo Archives. The Ponca delegation visited Washington in 1877 to complain to
federal officials that undue attention was being paid to their Sioux enemies. This image is from "Native Universe:
Voices of Indian America" (National Geographic Books, Sept. 2004), the official companion volume celebrating
the grand opening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Native Universe: Voices of Indian America
To mark die opening of
the Smithsonian's new National Museum of die American Indimi in September,
National Geographic, in collaboration with the museum,
is publishing a sumptuously |
illustrated cultural history     I
of American Indians written exclusively by Native
people.
An unprecedented publishing event, NATIVE
UNI VERSE: Voices of
Indimi America (National
Geographic Books, ISBN
0-7922-5994-7, September
2004, $40) offers non-Indian
readers a closer understand
ing of Native perspectives, beliefs mid histories.
The book is edited by Gerald
McMaster (Plains Cree member
of die Siksika Nation), deputy
assistant director for cultural
resources mid director's special
assistant for mall exhibitions
for the National Museum of die
American Indimi, mid Clifford
Trafzer (Wyandot/Gemian), professor of history mid director of
American Indimi Studies at die
University of California, Riverside. The introduction is by W.
Richard West (Southern Cheyenne), director of the National
Museum of die American Indimi.
Covering die whole of die
Americas mid die Caribbean,
NATIVE UNIVERSE communicates firsthand the experiences,
observations and intellectual
concepts of the Western Hemisphere's indigenous peoples,
demonstrating that their ancient
philosophies mid folkways me
integral, valuable and applicable
to modern times.
"We hope diat Native Universe
takes you on an intimate journey
into die worlds of Native Americans, providing vou new ways of
thinking about the Native nations
of diis land," the editors write in
dieir introduction.
The book is divided into three
VOICES to page 5
California
judge rules
court has
jurisdiction in
tribal dispute
By Chris T. Nguyen
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES-A Superior Court judge declined to
dismiss a lawsuit by ousted
members of mi American
Indimi Uibe Friday, saying
courts have authority over
legal matters diat mise from
Uibal disputes.
Eleven fonner members
of die Pechanga Bmid of
Luiseno Mission Indians had
sued members of die tribe's
enrollment committee,
claiming dieir rights were
violated after being titrown
out of die tribe in March.
In his niling, Riverside
County Superior Court
Judge Charles D. Field cited
a federal law stating diat
California courts "have jurisdiction over civil causes
of action between Indians or
to which Indians are parties
which arise in Indian coun-
try."
"This case is illustrative
of die increasing assertion of
administrative and judicial
DISPUTE to page 3
Getting out Indian vote a daunting task
By Deborah Baker
Associated Press
BOSTON - Widi die prospeel
of a tight presidential race in November, Democrats are courting
Indimi country widi vigor.
It's a daunting prospect, given
diat Indimi voters are, literally,
few mid far between.
The land occupied by die
250,000-meinber Navajo Nation,
die largest tribe in die United
States, covers more than 27,000
square miles in New Mexico,
Arizona mid Utah. N lany of die
fanners, sheep herders and odiers who live scattered across
the reservation _ mi mea larger
dian West Virginia _ don't have
telephones or televisions mid rely
largely on local Navajo-language
radio stations for news.
Some must travel up to 35
miles over bumpy roads to vote.
"In some ways, our Indian
reservations are more akin to a
Third World situation in terms of
communication mid accessibility," said Duane "Chili" Yazzie,
president of the Navajo tribe's
Shiprock chapter mid an alternate
delegate from New \ le.xico.
Still, Democrats say, Indimi
voters are worth courting. Although Indians make up about
1.5 percent of die U.S. population, thev me sufficiendy con-
centrated in certain states to flex
voting clout.
"In a close election, diev're
critical. In New Mexico, they're
critical," said New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson.
Such was the case in 2000,
when Democrat .41 Gore
squeaked past George W. Bush
by a margin of 366 votes in New
.\ [exico, which has die largest
total Indimi population - 10.5
percent - of any of diis year's
battleground states.
In 2002, a surge in Indimi
voter turnout was credited with
helping elect Democratic Gov.
Brad Henry in Oklahoma and
with helping incumbent Sen. Tim
Johnson, D-SD., keep his seat.
"Without the Native Americans, I wouldn't be standing here
today," said Arizona Gov. Janet
Napolitano, who was elected by
a close margin in 2002.
The same year, voters approved a tribal-backed measure
in Arizona ordering the governor
to sign agreements expanding
gambling at tribal casinos, and
the heavy turnout helped elect
Napolitano.
"Indimi country really does
have these examples of,' I ley, we
came out mid we voted - mid we
made a difference,'" said Alyssa
Burhans, who directs the Indian
voter organizing for National
Voice, a coalition of nonprofit and
community groups working to
maximize the Indimi vote,.
VOTE to page 5