Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-09-17

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
The truth about
what is happening
at Leech Lake
page 4
Civil rights for
American Indians
page 4
TEC not qualified to
interpret Constitution
page 4
MCT Constitution
A free-for-all
document
page 4
Dean's article
has a snappy
title, not much
substance
page 4
Tribal casino audit lawsuits settled
VOICE      OF      THE       PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
Prairie Island, the last of the
tribes that brought suit to enjoin
the State from releasing casino
audit infonnation to Press/'ON,
volunteered to settle the case.
In volunteering to setde they
have effectively reversed dieir
long-held position that tiieir
entire audits were trade secrets.
The agreement stipulated that
Prairie Island would be allowed
to withhold a minimal amount
of data in the audits. Although
both Press/'ON and the State
of Minnesota continue to hold
that no information in the audits
meets the definition of a "trade
secret," in order to avoid further
legal wrangling, they agreed to
Prairie Island's withholding of a
minimal amount of information.
The stipulation was signed by
Ramsey Comity District Judge
Louise Dovre Bjorkman on
Monday, September 13.
Mille Lacs and Prairie Island
both filed an action in September
2001 in Ramsey County District
Court. Mille Lacs withdrew
from the case in January 2004,
leaving Prairie Island alone in
contesting the "trade secret" issue.
Monday's decision is the latest, and hopefully the final, step
in a process begun more dian
three and a half years ago by the
Native American Press/Ojibwe
News. We requested audits from
Red Lake in February 2001.
The Minnesota Department of
Public Safety (DPS), the agency
charged with the responsibility of upholding the integrity of
Indian gambling in Minnesota,
refused to release the audits,
claiming they were confidential.
Press/ON subsequently requested an advisory opinion on
the matter from the Department
of Admhiistration, whose job
is overseeing the operations of
Minnesota's administrative agencies. On .Time 6, 2001, the Commissioner issued an opinion that
the audit data are public infonnation under the Minnesota Government Data Processing Act.
On June 15,2001, Press/ON
published infonnation, obtained
from DPS, taken from the 1997
Red Lake audit. DPS claimed
die 1997 audit was die only Red
Lake audit in dieir possession.
We additionally requested all of
die other casino audits held by
the state. The next week, Press/
ON published excerpts of White
Earth audits obtained from another source.
Rather dian provide the additional casino audits requested
by Press/ON, die DPS sought the
assistance of tribal attorneys in
barring its release.
In August, 2001 the Commissioner of Administration temporarily classified die casino audit
data as non-public information at
die request of DPS.
Under Minnesota law, the
State Attorney General must review such classification requests.
In September 2001, die Attorney
General disapproved DPS's temporary classification request.
Prairie Island and Mile Lacs
prompdy sued in state court. I
intervened in die lawsuit, and die
Minneapolis Star Tribune filed a
'friend of die court" brief.
Shakopee, Grand Portage and
Lower Sioux sued in federal
LAWSUIT to page 5
Leech Lake
Tribal Council
announces
joining State/
Indian casino
deal
According to a press release issued by Mike Grabow,
LL tribal attorney, members
of the Leech Lake, White
Earth and Red Lake Tribal
Councils will announce dieir
joint, interest in pursuing a
state/Indian casino. White
Eardi and Red Lake have
worked to encourage such
a state/tribe venture during
several past legislative sessions. This venture would be
outside die bounds of existing
State and Tribal gambling
agreements, and rests on the
concept of a large resort
casino project to be built in
die Twin Cities metropolitan
area. It is hoped that such a
casino would be an asset to
both entities, increasing revenue for both the state and the
three northern tribes who's
casino enterprises suffer because of their rural location.
LLRBC asserts sovereign immunity,
LaRose seeks contempt, threatens
federal court action
By Bill Lawrence
The Leech Lake RBC (LLRBC) opposes the decisions
made August-30, 2004, by Judge
Margaret Treuer and has filed
a Motion for Relief from Order
and a Memorandum of Law in
Support of die Motion for Relief.
The Leech Lake Tribal Court
(LLTC) in an Amended Order
dated 8/30/04, nrled that Arthur
"Archie" LaRose was denied
due process at die July 30,2004
Removal Hearing; ordered
die Special Election to replace
LaRose be postponed until die
Removal Hearing was reopened
in order diat LaRose could prepare for a defense against die
charges against him. She further
ordered that die LLRBC ened in
not certifying LaRose as a candidate in the Special Election.
The RBC contends diat the
Court has no authority to interpret Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe's (MCT) Constimtion nor
to reverse Article X Removal
Detenninations because it (die
LLRBC) "never delegated its
final decision-making audiority
to the Tribal Court." The Mo
tion for Relief stated die LLTC
"lacked jurisdiction to hear
LaRose's latest claims as Plaintiffs (LLRBC) "enjoy sovereign
immunity with regard to these
claims."
LLRBC's Motion stated several times that the Court ened
in its niling and that these enors
have led to an •'unjust and unacceptable result diat has Uirown
die Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
into a Constitutional crisis."
In Argument, the Motion
for Relief asserted die Court
is obliged to look a hierarchy
of law in civil cases. The first
directs the Court to study "written laws of die Band." In the
absence of written law, the Court
"shall apply tribal customary and
traditional law if such exists." If *%,J
no such precedent, eidier written
or oral, can be established, die
Court may "request die advice
and assistance of elders whP are
knowledgeable about such matters." Lasdy, failing to find remedy in eidier of the above, "the
Court may apply die laws of any
tribe, die federal government, or
LLRBC to page 5
Appellate Court speaks in Cobell:
Judge Royce C. Lamberth stays put
By Jean Pagano
The United State Court of Appeals for die District of Columbia today refused to remove U.S.
District Judge Royce C. Lamberth from the landmark Cobell
v. Secretary of Interior case.
The appeal was concerning
requests for a writ of mandamus
against Judge Lamberth and
two other former officers of die
Court, namely Special Master Alan Balaran, and Special
Master-Monitor Joseph Kieffer.
Since the filing of die appeal,
Special Master Balaran has
resigned and Special Master-
Monitor Kieffer was removed
by this same Court of Appeals in
2003.
The writ of mandamus attempted to have Judge Lamberth
and Messrs. Balaran and Kieffer
recused from die Cobell litigation because of ex parte information diat Judge Lamberth and die
officers had made or received in
the course of litigation during
the 8 year long case.
Chief Judge Ginsberg, writing
the unanimous opinion for the
Court stated, "Wre now deny the
petition to recuse Judge Lamberth from die pending contempt
proceedings because he stated
he did not receive ex parte communication substantively related
to diose proceedings from either
Balaran or Kieffer."
The petition for writ of mandamus was instituted by 11 of 37
people cited in Contempt Referrals filed in Judge Lamberth's
court. Concerning the writ of
mandamus, die Appellate Court
held that die writ is " an extraordinary remedy, to be reserved for
extraordinary situations."
At issue is the ex parte communications gatiiered by Messrs.
Balaran and Kieffer. This information was gadiered outside of
die nonnal channel of die adversary process injudicial matters
and therefore may be improper
in die context of die ongoing litigation. The petitioners claim that
when die Judge and his officers
met, die subjects of die ex parte
communications were discussed,
dierefore die Judge should have
recused himself from die case.
Yet die Appellate Court con-
cuned widi Judge Lamberth
when he stated diat the "subject
of these consultations was what
die Monitor was doing, not what
he was finding."
Whereas die petitioners questioned the number of hours that
the Judge met widi his officers,
die Appellate Court held that it
was not unusual for Judge Lamberth to "oversee and coordinate
dieir efforts on the court's behalf
during four years of complicated
and contentious litigation."The
petitioners also questioned Judge
Lamberth's impartiality due to
his knowledge of die ex parte
communications. Since the Appellate Court held diat die Judge
did not enjoy the ex parte communications, he had no way to
become impartial by diat knowledge.
The Appellate Court, however,
viewed special Master Balaran's
ex parte communications concerning contempt proceedings,
widi more scrutiny. The Court
held diat "Because Special
Master Balaran had ex parte contacts diat may have given him
COBELL to page 5
Gas station on reservation starts price war in Cloquet
Associated Press
CLOQUET, Minn. - The new
tribady owned gas station on the
Fond du Lac Indimi Reservation is offering cheap gasoline _
so cheap that it's started a local
price war.
The price war dial started after
the station opened in August has
delighted consumers, stymied
competitors and may represent
a new test of independence as
the tribe exercises its growing
economic muscle. It also has
captured the attention of state
regulators who enforce laws
against predatory pricing.
vvWe have had complaints
about gasoline sales in the Cloquet market," confinned Bmce
Gordon, a spokesman for die
Minnesota Department of Commerce.
The Uibe, as a sovereign nation, may not be subject to a state
law that requires gas retailers to
charge at least 8 cents more per
gallon than diey pay. Gordon
said die vv legal issue" would be
reviewed as part of an investigation, if one was under way. However, mles would not allow him
to say whether an investigation
was ongoing.
VNWe are pretty confident we
are not subject to (the law)," said
Gary Harms, planning director
for die Fond du Lac Band of
Ojibwe.
But a mile down die road, just
off the reservation, die B&B
Market is feeling the pain.
"vOur revenue dropped 35 to
40 percent in the first corrple
weeks diey were open," said
John Lind, who sells gas and
groceries, including specialty
meats, an item die band's store
plans to begin offering soon.
On Fridav, Lind's regular un
leaded price was 1.67, the lowest
he could go widiout falling below die state's 8-cent minimum
markup. Fond du Lac was 3
cents lower. At the Wral-Mart Sir-
percenter a couple of miles away,
it was $1.72, die Star Tribune of
Minneapolis reported in its Tuesday editions.
vv A lot of people are checking
out die new store, and you can't
blame diem, I guess," Lind said.
vvBut we're seeing some come
back, and we hope diat continues. That's all you can do."
If the band is exempt from
minimum pricing, diat wouldn't
be its only advantage.
Like odier tribal businesses
on reservations, die station will
be eligible under tribal-state
compacts for a rebate of a large
part of die 20-cent-a-gallon state
PRICE to page 6
web page: www.press-on.net
Native *»-
American
Press
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
Founded in 1988
Volume 17 Issue 14
September 17, 2004
Martha Fasthorse, Gladys Sandland, Judy Barrett, Peter McLaughlin.
Grandparents, other relatives raising children in
Indian country
By Vincent Hill, Mile Lacs
Ojibwe Anishinabe Elder,
and Activist-Mpls
Peggy Melder-longtrme
champion of rights for Indimi children-was present
last week at die mondily
InteiTribal Voices meeting,
held within the Minnesota
Indian Women's Resource
Center facility in Soudi
Mpis. She was astounded to
find the intent of the 1978
Indian Child Welfare Act being grossly violated, again,
by Hennepin Comity cliild
protection services (HCCP).
During the 1960s mid
1970s, HCCP had been hi
die national spodight as
the leading state/county
cliild welfare agency system that placed inordinate
numbers of Indian children
in white foster mid adoptive
homes.
Wliile some of diese cliil
dren, including infants, adapted
in diese white homes, most suffered identity problems, due to
white racism and prejudicial
treaUnent irr towns mid cities
where diey were raised.
Other states with large Indimi
populations, such as Washington
mid North Carolina, had engaged
in similar genocidal polices.
The Seminoles of Florida, Utes
of Colorado, and Sioux Tribes
of Minnesota mid the Dakotas.
had suffered, equally, disastrous
identity outcomes of dieir cliildren. The intent of the Indimi
Cliild Welfare Act was to strike a
balance between cliild placement
polices of States mid Tribal jurisdictions; and to restore control
of Indimi cliildren by Indimi
tribes throughout the United
States.
The issues today, sunound-
ing application of die 1978
Indian Child Welfare Act to
state/county cliild welfare laws
are, on the surface, relatively
strmghtforward, which need to
be examined critically, with or
without prejudice, for purpose
of determining state 'county violations. There is no doubt in my
mind diat HCCP is in violation
of die case of the granddaughter
of Gladys Sandland (Pictured
above) based, primarily, on
a jurisdiction issue. Gladys
and her offspring are enrolled
members of the Leech Band of
Ojibwe. The Leech Lake Band
is requesting intervention of
this case at diis time. Of course,
HCCP is hiding behind bureaucratic legal mles, which it aptly
argued before the Minnesota
Court of Appeals day before
yesterday or on September 14,
2004.
The question of placing Indian cliildren in "mixed blood"
(White mid Indimi ancestry)
HCCP to page 3
American Indian group to put poll watchers in 12 states
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY-A
national American Indian
group plans to put poll
watchers at voting precincts
with a high percentage of
American Indimi voters in
Montana mid 12 other states
on Nov. 2.
The Native Vote 2004:
Election Protection Project
is mi initiative to ensure that
every Indimi voter who is
eligible to vote does, and
that each vote is counted
fairly, said national coordinator Heather Dawn
Thompson.
VNTliis has never been
done hi Indimi Country
before widi the exception
of Soudi Dakota. So we're
pretty excited about it,"
said Thompson, who is also
president of the Native American Bar Association in Washington, D.C.
In Oklahoma, poll watchers cmi only witness die set-up
of voting machines before the
polls open, said Oklahoma
County Election Board Secretary Doug Sanderson.
XNWhen die polls open at 7,
diey have to leave. They can't
remain there for the day," Sanderson said.
Thompson said die Oklahoma
poll watchers will position
diemselves outside the 300-foot
perimeter established by law
mound ballot boxes and distribute nonpartisan voter infonnation and answer questions.
Poll watchers will be re-
cniited among tribal attorneys
and tribal members, said Dana
Jim, one of three Oklahoma co-
chairs.
To detennine wliich precincts
should have poll watchers, coalition volunteers will ask tribal
leaders if they know of problems or confusion in previous
elections, Jim said.
vvWe're still in the organizational stage," he said.vvWe've
circulated some volunteer sheets
at a law school, and folks are
e-rnailing me wanting to volunteer. Wrhat we're trying to do is
get as many volunteers as we
can."
Oklahoma was chosen because it has a large Indian
population and coalition leaders
diink the American Indimi vote
could decide the U.S. Senate
race between Republican Tom
Coburn and Democrat Brad
POLL to page 3
Blacks, Indians, Muslims targets of racial profiling
Associated Press
TULSA, Okla. - Black,
American Indimi mid Muslim Oklaliomans have been
targeted by law enforcement
or airport security personnel
because of dieir race, according to a report on racial
profiling.
The national report released Monday by human
rights group Amnesty International USA calls for
changes in Oklahoma's racial-profiling law mid urges
passage of the federal End
Racial Profiling Act.
The rejxjrt is based on a
series of hearings across die
nation, including one in Tulsa last year. It also analyzes
existing smdies mid reports
regarding profiling practices by
law enforcement.
The report says roughly 32
million people in the U.S. have
been victims of racial profiling.
More dimi half of the states do
not ban racial profiling, mid 46
states do not bmi religious profiling, it states.
The report cites several Oklahoma cases, including reports
from American Indians who say
the} were harassed by police after leaving tribal ceremonies or
stopped because of their tribal
license tags.
Roadblocks by die Oklahoma
Highway Patrol near the N lemo-
rial Day rodeo in Bolcy, a historic black community, are also
cited.
Smidra Rana of the Islamic
Society of Tulsa said Muslims
and people who appear to be
Middle Eastern have been
increasingly targeted by law-
enforcement officers. Rana said
aiiport security officers two
years ago targeted her son _
then 8 _ taking apart his boxed
Boy Scout wooden derby cm- in
front of him.
She said she does not wear
her Muslim hijab or carry the
Quran in an airport mid tells her
children not to speak Arabic
vx because it might mouse suspicion."
vvThe government has deputized the entire population in racial profiling," she said. vvFrom
the president to die governor to
REPORT to page 3