Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-11-12

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Harvard Institute's
links to gambling
industry draw
criticism
page 5
Tribal PAC influence at
Minnesota State Capitol
page 7
Letter to Editor from
Candidate Skip Lyons
page 4
Fairbanks response
to vince Hill letter
page 4
Post election
thoughts
page 4
ISSUES IN HEALTH:
Tobacco not just a sacramental plant
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Jean Pagano
Tobacco has long been a ceremonial and sacramental part of
Native tradition. Yet the use of
tobacco products in Native life
extends beyond the realm of the
sacred and has health implications for Natives in general.
Lung cancer accounts for the
largest number of cancer deaths
among Native Americans. Natives rank third behind African
Americans and whites for the incidence of lung and lung-related
cancers. Cardiovascular disease
is the leading cause of death
among Natives and tobacco use
is one of the risk factors identified for this affliction.
Recent statistics on cigarette
smoking show more Natives
smoke than other racial groups.
34.1 % of Natives smoke, as
compared to 26.7% of African
Americans, 25.3% of whites,
20.4% of Hispanics, and 16.9%
among Asian Americans. Roughly 1 in 3 Natives smoke, with a
greater percentage of men smoking than women. The rate of
Native smoking varies by region,
with Alaskan Natives having the
highest smoking rate at 45.1%
and southwestern Natives having
the lowest rate at 17.0%.
Over the last 25 years, women
in their childbearing years, 18
to 44, have shown decreases in
cigarette smoking. This decrease
occurred among all racial groups
except Native women. 44.3% of
Native women in this category
smoked, contrasted to 5.7%
among Asians in the same age
bracket.
High smoking rates were
also found among Native high
school seniors, with rates higher
than other racial groups. 41.1%
of males and 39.4% of females
in this category were identified
as smokers. Since Native areas
are sovereign lands, state laws
restricting the sale of tobacco to
minors may not apply, thereby
allowing easy access to cigarettes by younger smokers.
The tobacco industry has often
used its financial resources to
make inroads into Native communities. Native events such as
powwows and rodeos are often  '
sponsored by the tobacco industry and cigarette producers have
used these venues to gain access
into the community.
The use of certain imagery
has also been employed to make
cigarette smoking more attractive to Native smokers. "American Spirit" cigarettes promote
its product by claiming that it is
'natural'. The package portrays a
pipe smoking American Indian.
The Centers for Disease Control operate 6 tobacco control
support centers. These centers
assist tribes dealing with high
tobacco use among their Native
constituents. The six centers are:
Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairman's Health Board, the Alaskan
Native Health Board, the California Rural Indian Health Board,
the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, the Muscogee Creek Nation,
and the Northwest Portland Area
Indian Health Board.
The Indian Health Service
(IHS) also provides educational
materials to help Native peoples
deal with smoking related issues.
The materials Consist of pamphlets, posters, and videos that
promote health and awareness
with a special emphasis on the
Native community.
Tobacco use, especially
cigarette smoking, has infiltrated
Native American culhrre to the
point where at least one of every
three people smokes. Smoking
contributes greatly to the mortality rate in Indian Country and
while smoking related illnesses
take a heavy toll on Native communities, the fact is that many
smoking related illnesses could
be prevented. With statistics
pointing to very high percentages
of Native High School seniors
already smoking, early education will play an important part
in helping Natives to decide for
themselves what course of action
they should take.
Tribal casino profits lure drugs
Tribe denies per-capita checks funding drug culture
By Phillip Wagner
Central Michigan Life
Isabella County Sheriff's
Deputy Kevin Dush Sr. knows
what community is responsible
for the biggest drug problem in
the Mount Pleasant area.
And it is not the students of
CMU, he said.
Dush said the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe has the biggest problem with drug abuse
because of substantial revenue
allocated to all tribal members.
"Our No. 1 drug problem in
this county is the crack epidemic
that is fueled by the per-cap
checks," he said.
The tribal per-cap checks
come from profits made by the
Saginaw Chippewa's Soaring
Eagle .Casino and Resort, 6800
Soaring Eagle Blvd., and are distributed to individual members
of the tribe, which would not
disclose the value of the checks.
Joe Sowmick, spokesman for
the Saginaw Chippewa Indian
Tribe, disagreed with Dush's assertions.
"I would find that highly suspect," Sowmick said. "To link to
one group of people would not
be correct."
Dush said some tribal members use this significant income
to finance a crack-cocaine habit.
"I arrested a lady for crack-cocaine that said she spent so much
money (on the drug) that she had
to go get a job to feed her family," he said.
Crack-cocaine destroys brain
cells and causes arteries to shut
down because of a lack of blood
flow, Dush said.
Sowmick said the tribe is taking a proactive approach to combat what problem there is and
they have a close working relationship with local police officers
and with the Bay Area Narcotics
State ordered
to notify water
rights holders
in San Juan
Basin
Associated Press
AZTEC, N.M.-A judge
handling a case involv ing water rights on the Navajo Nation and the San Juan Basin
says more than 10,000 water
rights holders in the basin
should be told they are parties
to the 30-year-old lawsuit.
vvIt affects all water right
users. It becomes necessary
that they be notified," judge
pro tempore Rozier Sanchez
said Tuesday. vxl don't want
the federal court to say we
have to go back" because
people weren't notified.
Perry Abemathy, an Albuquerque attorney representing
the state engineer, opposed
having to contact individual
water users, saying the state
doesn't know who they all
are.
xvThe hundreds of people
notified 25 years ago do not
WATER to page 5
Enforcement Team.
BAYANET consists of police
officers from various police
departments within a six-county
jurisdiction who are committed
to stopping the abuse and distribution of drugs.
Team Lt. Melvin Mathews
said drug dealers target tribal
members just as much as any
other group of people in the surrounding area.
"Yes, there were individuals
targeting Native Americans for
the per-cap checks," he said.
"Those individuals had just as
many customers that were Native Americans as any other
United States citizen in the (Isabella County) area."
While Mathews agreed that
some tribal members do have -
certain substance abuse problems, he believes the influence
of memamphetamines is becoming stronger. Mathews cited two
recent meth busts by BAYANET
as proof.
"There was meth lab found
on the reservation and we found
an individual making it in Clare
County and selling it to Native
Americans in Isabella County,"
he said.
Dush said tribal members'
money is a contributing factor in
them being targets.
"It's not about who they are,"
Dush said. "They are targeted by
dealers because of their money."
While some members of the
tribe might abuse illegal drugs,
they are not alone in the area.
In the first nine months of
2004,54 cases of drug-related
arrests in Isabella County had
been forwarded to the county
prosecutor's office. Many of
these arrests were of CMU students.
"Drug use is very prevalent
on campus," said Capt. Ron
Griffiths of the CMU Police Department. "We are more involved
in drug enforcement and we
know more about what is going
on."
Griffiths credits BAYANET
for keeping CMU Police informed about area drug traffic.
"If we didn't have drugs and
alcohol problems in our community, we would have a lot smaller
jail," Dush said.
Mathews said CMU has individuals who experiment with and
sell drugs but abuse and distribution is not any more prevalent
here than it is at any other major
university around the country.
"In a college town you're go
ing to have individuals who have   :
drugs and sell drugs," he said. "Is
there a mass epidemic on die campus? No, not that I'm aware of."
Among college-aged individuals, Dush said the dnig Ecstasy
is the biggest problem.
"It creates a lot of body
heat and forces you to remove
clothes," he said. "A lot of sex
offenders will use Ecstasy."
The abuse of a wide variety
of drugs throughout the area is
believed to lead to more crime in
other areas.
"It's hard to tell whether
people steal tilings to get drug
money," Griffiths said. "I suspect
some of it has to do with drugs."
While local law-enforcement
agencies believe crack-cocaine,
meth and Ecstasy create the
most problems, they also caution
about the use of a more common
drug, marijuana.
Dush dismisses the notion
marijuana isn't harmful because
it is so widespread.
"Back years ago, they said
smoking cigarettes was good for
us and they know what they say
about that now," he said.
Schwarzenegger's office accuses
tribes of violating gambling
Associated Press
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's office
warned two Riverside County
Indian tribes that they were violating state gambling compacts
by operating games that look
and play like slot machines.
Peter Siggins, the governor's
legal affairs secretary, wrote in
Nov. 4 letters to the Morongo
and Pechanga bands that their
video lottery terminals were
vv virtually indistinguishable
from slot machines" and unauthorized under the gambling
deals.
Even if they were permitted,
he argued, the number currendy
in use would increase the tribes'
total gaming devices beyond the
legal maximum. He accused die
Morongo tribe of operating at
least 225 of the lottery machines
and planning to put an additional
1,800 into service, and Pechanga
of having 1,671 of the games.
Both tribes already operate
2,000 vvgaming devices" permitted by gambling compacts.
Devices are subject to state
fees up to 13 percent of gross
revenue. Schwarzenegger has
agreed to give some tribes unlimited slots, but he raised the
state's cut to as much as 25 percent of gross revenues on some
machines.
Calls to the Morongo and
Pechanga bands, which operate
two of the state's biggest and
most successful casinos, were
not immediately returned Monday night.
The administration asked the
tribes to remove the machines
and ship them back to the manufacturer.
If the tribes don't comply
within 60 days, vvthe state reserves die right to take appropriate action under the terms of the
compact," Siggins wrote.
Morongo was a major financial backer of Proposition 70,
which would have removed the
2,000-per-tribe cap on slot machines and allowed tribes to operate Las Vegas-style games such
as roulette and craps that are currendy banned in California.
In return, casino-owning tribes
would have paid the state 884
percent of their net income from
slot machines and table games.
The measure was soundly defeated, pulling about 24 percent
of the vote.
web page: www.press-on.net
native
American
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A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
Founded in 1988
Volume 17 Issue 22
November 12, 2004
Pictured: Pretty Voice Hawk Woman by Lisa Fifield
,»
"Storyteller-
showcases
nationally
acclaimed
American
Indian artist
Lisa Fifield
Ancient Traders
Gallery exhibit
opens November 19
Widi a watercolor palette of dazzling insights, Lisa Fifield
(Oneida, Black Bear Clan) makes a direct hit on the human heart
in the "Storyteller," an exhibit diat opens with an artist's reception at Ancient Traders Gallery, 1113 East Franklin Avenue in
Minneapolis, from 5-9 p.m. on Friday, November 19. The event
is free and open to the public.
"Somediing personal shines dirough Lisa's work that evokes
an emotional response," says Lee Brooks, owner of Arctic Raven
Gallery in Friday Harbor, Washington. "It's hypnotic. It defies
explanation."
Fifield's birds, animals, and humans — whether aiding or
learning from each other, transforming or shape shifting — affirm a harmony and wisdom bom of shared spiritual and physical
kinship Classically trained at die Atelier LeSueur School of Art
in Wayzata, Fifield is a self-taught watercolorist.
ARTIST to page 5
Tribes seek
accord with
state
Associated Press
LANDER, Wyo. - Northern Arapaho and Eastern
Shoshone leaders are urging
lawmakers to negotiate a
fonnal policy for die working relationship between die
state and tribes.
Ivan Posey, who was
Wyoming's first tribal liaison before die position's
recent dissolution over a
funding disagreement, told
the Legislature's Select
Committee on Tribal Relations on Monday that the
state needs a policy similar
to ones in New Mexico and
Washington state.
Such accords define how
state agencies work with
tribes, he said.
Posey and odier tribal
leaders noted diat tribal liaison positions in other states
are paid for entirely by state
budgets and not partially by
die tribes, as was the case in
Wyoming.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal
eliminated the position last
month because the Northern Arapaho refused to pay
their $25,000 share of the
position's $100,000 yearly
cost. The state was to pro-
ACCORD to page 3
Tribal contracts pose conflict
for U.S. Supreme Court
The LT.S. Supreme Court heard
oral arguments on Tuesday in
a tribal self-determination case
that one justice called a "competition between two bureaucracies."
During a one-hour hearing, members of die top court
struggled widi the question at
the core of die case. The justices wondered whedier federal
agency contracts with tribal
governments should be treated
differendy dian other contracts.
If they aren't any different,
then tribes are owed full support
costs for administering federal
programs. Tribal leaders say diey
are being shortchanged millions
for carrying out healdi, social
service and other programs.
But if the two types of contracts are different, dien die
federal govenunent has a right
to widihold money from tribes.
Going by die questions posed
to both sides of die dispute, the
justices appeared divided on this
issue.
The side leaning towards the
tribes was led by Justice Stephen
G. Breyer. He questioned why
the govenunent couldn't fulfill
its obligations under the landmark Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act
of 1975, which calls for the Department of Healdi and Human
Services to enter into contracts
widi tribes to manage hospitals,
clinics and other health care programs.
"People who enter into contracts need certainty," he said.
The side leaning towards the
government was led by Justice
Antonin Scalia. Early in the
hearing, he called the concept
of self-determination contracts
"strange."
"The [HHS] secretary has to
give the tribes the authority to
take over these federal functions," he said, emphasizing the
word "give." "It seems to me a
strange way to run a railroad."
Lloyd Miller, an attorney for
the Cherokee Nation and the
Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute
Tribe of Nevada, told the justices they should view the tribal
agreements under standard contracting law. He said tribes are
being forced to reduce critical
on-die-ground services because
the Indian Health Service, an
agency df HHS, is not paying
100 percent of the contracts.
"No contractor would take that
risk in dealing with the government," he said.
Sri Srinivasan, a Department
of Justice attorney, argued that
IHS is within its right to withhold funding in order to pay for
"administrative" functions. He
said die agency only takes 2 per-
CONTRACTS to page 7
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