Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2004-12-17

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS i
Tribe exempts
nonprofit group
from hiring
preference rule
page 6
UNM to offer degree
in Native American studies
page 7
BCBS proposes $1 a pack tobacco tax increase
Rv Rill T jiwrenrp affnrHahlp insurance and would      telephone survey of
Eight gifts that don't
cost a thing
page 4
Tell us what you want
No respect
page 4
Dueling motions
filed again in
Leech Lake
wrongful
tennination
page 4
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
Doctor Mark VV. Banks,
President and CEO of Minnesota
Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance (BCBS) announced a legislative proposal that would exchange the 3 health related taxes
for an increase in the Minnesota
tobacco tax. The proposal would
eliminate die MCHA, the Insurance Indemnity tax, and the Mn-
Care Premium tax and raise the
Minnesota tobacco tax from .48
cents to $ 1.00 a pack.
The swap is seen as benefiting
small businesses in particular.
The Minnesota Chamber of
Commerce says rising health
care costs is the "most important issue facing Minnesota."
Raising the tobacco tax would
provide sufficient revenue to
reduce insurance costs for small
employers by 4%.
Minnesota BCBS projects diat
revenue raised by increasing the
tobacco tax to $1 per pack would
amount to $260 million annually.
They believe that Uiis rise in the
tax will "significandy reduce
smoking—and its related health
impacts—in Minnesota.
Currendy in Minnesota, $2.6
billion is spent on health care for
tobacco related illnesses and/or
lost work productivity. Annually, 5600 persons die from tobacco related conditions.
BCBS calls it "smart tax policy and good healdi policy." The
plan would contribute to more
affordable insurance and would
reduce tobacco use. Since it is
an exchange of taxes not a new
tax, the proposed increase would
be revenue neutral. Therefore,
such an increase would not be
inconsistent with the popular
"no new taxes" philosophy. The
company is building a statewide
coalition of small businesses,
educators, health care professionals and citizens to support
their proposal.
Study results provided by
BCBS, indicate that the increase
would keep 63,000 from starting
to smoke and could conceivably
contribute to 38,500 quitting-
that's more than 100,000 who
will either not take up smoking
or will quit. More than half of
those are individuals under 18
years of age.
Fifteen states tax tobacco
packs at less dian 50 cents. At
48 cents per pack, Minnesota is
37di in the country in the tobacco tax rankings. Nineteen states
have a tobacco tax rate of 51-
99 cents. These states include
die southeastern states where
tobacco is a cash crop. Sixteen
states tax tobacco at more dian
$1; they include Michigan, die
highest, at $2; Montana at $1.70
is second highest. Tax rates
for Minnesota's neighbors are:
Nordi Dakota @ 44 cents; South
Dakota - 53 cents; Wisconsin -
77 cents and Iowa - 36 cents.
Information collected from a
telephone survey of 604 randomly selected state residents, conducted in May and June of 2004,
indicate that 98% of Minnesota
citizens feel tobacco is a health
risk and 83% further believe the
risk of second hand smoke is considerable. Eighty eight percent
believe tobacco related illnesses
affect healdi care costs.
In answer to die question
"Would you support a proposal
to increase Minnesota's tobacco
tax to $1 per pack?" 67% answered in support. Thirty one
per cent opposed and two per
cent didn't have a position or refused to answer.
Eighty three per cent believe
the Minnesota tobacco tax should
be higher dian its current place,
wliile 9 per cent feel the state
should rank closer to the 50th
place. Seventy two per cent of
Minnesotans support die increase
in the hope diat it will discourage
youdi from smoking. Sixty nine
percent of Minnesotans were
more likely to support the tax if
the proceeds would be used to
reduce healdi insurance costs.
Professional interviewers conducted the survey for a national
firm. The results diey state were
"projcctable to die universe of
adult Minnesota residents within
+/- 4.1 % out of 100 cases."
,  For more infonnation or to
speak with a Blue Cross Representative, please contact Karl
Oestreich at 651-662-1502.
Appellate Court rules again
Department of Interior gets more time to fix trust
By Jean Pagano
The United States Appellate
Court for die District of Columbia ruled for die second time in a
week on the landmark Cobell v.
Secretary of Interior case. On December lOdi, die Appellate Court
addressed itself widi the Department of Interior's objections to
U.S. District Judge Royce C.
Lamberth's September 2003 niling that defined die Department
of Interior's obligations as trustee
for Individual Indian Money
(IIM) accounts.
The Cobell case began in 1996
amidst charges of incompetence
regarding die management ol
IIM accounts created in 1887 as
part of the Dawes Act. Since diat
time, according to die plaintiffs in
Cobell, tens of billions of dollars
have either disappeared from the
system or been misappropriated.
The Cobell litigation attempts
to rectify die wrongs of die past
whde bringing die accounting for
IIMs into die 21st century.
i  The plaintiffs in Cobell didn't
just decide one day diat die government had blundered. Interior's
"dismal history of inaction and
Policy-makers
to meet with
tribal leaders
By Doris Haugen
Associated Press Writer
SIOUX FALLS - Nearly
three months after South Dakota tribal leaders held talks
with Democratic Sens. Tom
Daschle and Tim Johnson,
diey plan another discussion
with policy-makers. And
this time, it will feature two
prominent Republicans.
Gov. Mike Rounds and U.S.
Sen-elect John Thune are
scheduled to attend a meeting Dec. 16 in Rapid City
widi representatives of Soudi
Dakota's nine tribes to discuss
issues facing Indimi Country,
said Frank Ring, publisher of
The Native Voice, an American Indian newspaper in
Rapid City that is helping
organize die event.
The discussion was scheduled to stait Dec. 16 at 1 p.m.
on die South Dakota School of
Mines & Technology campus.
As planned, only 15 minutes
of opening statements and a
news conference at the session's end are open die public.
Tribal leaders and others
involved in the discussion
had asked that die meeting
be closed, King said. But on
Wednesday afternoon, King
said he was working witii
participants to try to open it to
reporters and odiers.
"N ty personal opinion is
it shouldn't be closed to the
press," King, who also is vice
president oi' Native American
Journalists Association, said.
But 1 ise King, also from
the newspaper, said later
Wednesday that the meeting would remain closed as
MEETING to page 5
incompetence" was detailed in
a 1992 Congressional Report
entided Misplaced Trust: The Bureau of Indian Affairs' Mismanagement of the Indian Tnist Fund.
This report prompted Congress to
pass the 1994 Indian Tnist Fund
Management Reform Act which
requires the Secretary of Interior
to perfonn certain duties relating
to trust funds such as the ITM accounts.
Through two presidential administrations, die Department
of Interior (DOI) has proven to
be a reluctant trustee for Native
American affairs," with' two Secretaries of the Interior being held
in contempt relating to the Cobell
case.
In September 2003, Judge
Lamberth issued a 230 page ruling diat set forth two principles:
"Historical Accounting" and
"Fixing die System". The Ap:
pellate Court's review of Judge
Lamberth's ruling deals direcdy
with these two principles.
In the "Historical Accounting" section, Judge Lamberth
held that the DOI must account
for all funds deposited into the
IIM system since its inception in
1887. In a prior Appellate niling,
the Appellate Court stated diat
IIM beneficiaries have a right to
"a complete historical accounting
of tnist fimd assets" and diat "all
fmids mean all funds", regardless
of when diey were deposited.
At issue are volumes of documentation that have been lost,
destroyed, or somehow mismanaged.
Instead of embarking on a
remedial padi by providing the
court die required accounting, the
DOT instead began to distance
itself from its legal obligation
as trustee for IIM account holders. In one instance, DOI even
claimed it had only to provide
a historical accounting from the
time of die passage of die Indian
Trust Fimd Management Refonn
Act. Judge Lamberth disgreed
and imposed die requirement to
provide a "flistorical Accounting" which was both diorough
and complete.
A mere two mondis alter Judge
Lamberth's ruling, Congress
TRUST to page 4
Pombo took on controversial
topics in 108th Congress
lndianz.com
The 108th Congress was
a busy one for Rep. Richard
Pombo, chainnan of the House
Resources Committee.
The California Republican
was a virtual unknown in Indian
Country when he took over the
panel in January 2003 after an
election diat saw the GOP increase its power in the House
and Senate. At the time, many
tribes were worried about their
standing in Washington, D.C.
But those fears were dashed in
the months to come. From trust
reform to state-tribal relations,
Pombo's background in ranching
and property rights turned liim
into a prominent advocate for
American Indian and Alaska Native issues, somediing that hasn't
gone unnoticed by tribal leaders.
"Our optimism was proven
right," Rachel Joseph, chairwoman of die Lone Pine Paiute-
Shoshone Tribe of California,
recalled at the National Congress
of American Indians conference
in November 2003. "We have
seen you exercise integrity and
independence," she told him.
Over die past two years,
Pombo hasn't slued from controversial matters as chairman
of the panel with jurisdiction
over Indian issues. In 2003, he
stood up against powerful House
Republican leaders who tried to
force a setdement of die Cobell
v. Norton Indian trust fund by
inserting a rider in an appropriations bill.
"If diere is a legislative
resolution, it will be done in
POMBO to page 3
Court: arrest of Wahoo protesters
did not violate speech rights
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The arrest of five individuals protesting
the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo emblem as a racist depiction
did not violate die protesters'
free speech rights, die Ohio Supreme Coiut mled Wednesday.
The court's 5-2 decision upheld
the city of Cleveland's decision to
arrest the protesters in April 1998
alter diey burned an effigy of
Chief Wahoo outside Jacobs Field
in downtown Cleveland.
Some consider the picmre of
die grinning red-faced American
Indian a racist depiction.
The activists said their action
was protected free speech. The
city said die fire was hazardous
and not protected by die First
Amendment.
Justice Maureen O'Connor,
writing for die majority, says
diere was no question diat burn
ing die effigy by itself was constitutionally protected free speech.
She noted diat die protesters
argued diat "the right to free
speech is hollow if it is exercised
at the expense of anest."
"Though we generally agree
widi dus proposition, we find
it inapplicable here because
any suppression of speech was
incidental to Cleveland's important interest in preventing hann
caused by fire," O'Connor wrote.
Chief Justice Thomas Moyer
and Justice Paul Pfeifer dissented, arguing diat diere was no
evidence diat anyone other than
the protesters were in danger.
Therefore, die city had no audiority imder state law to arrest
die protesters, and "die anests
interfered with their freedom of
expression guaranteed by die First
Amendment," Mover wrote.
web page: www.press-on.net
Native ***•
American
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
Founded in 1988
Volume 17 Issue 27
December 17, 2004
AP PHOTO: TED S. WARREN
Daniel Schaaf, 13, and other members of an American Indian cultural dance group, wait
Jbehind a glass door at Chief Leschi School in Puyallup, Wash. Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004,
before their performance at a school assembly dedicated to the memory of Chief Leschi,
who was hanged in 1858 for the death of a U.S. militia soldier in the 1855 Indian War.
Everyone from Leschi's executioner to respected historians have questioned his guilt, and
on Friday, the Chief Justice of Washington state's Supreme Court will convene a historical
trial to seek justice for Chief Leschi. See article on page 3. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Bush urged to
fire head of
Indian agency
By Gale Courey Toensing
Republican-American
HARTFORD -Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal,
in an unprecedented move,
has asked President Bush to
fire the head of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In a letter to die White
House  Wednesday, Blumenthal accused Assistant
Secretary-Indian Affairs
Dave Anderson of being
"completely ineffectual and
unaccountable" and ninning a
"dysfunctional" agency, which
Blumenthal said made "critical and material eirors" in
granting federal recognition to
die Kent-based Schaghticoke
Tribal Nation.
^ Federal recognition makes
Indian tribes eligible for
federal funding for education, healdicare, housing and
economic development and allows diem to operate casinos.
The Schaghticokes, who were
federally recognized last January, are interested in opening
a casino in die western part of
the state.
Bhunendial criticized Anderson for continuing as head
of the BIA after recusing himself from making decisions-related to tribal recognition and
Indian gaming. Anderson was
the co-founder of a gaming
management business, which
he left in 19%.
The recusal has led to a
"void of leadership that clearly has caused this faulty and
fallacious decision-making to
occur and an alarm should be
sounded as high as the White
House," Blumenthal said.
The attorney general
cited the Schaghticoke Tribal
Nation's federal recognition
as "evidence diat die BIA is
dysfunctional."
Bhunendial's appeal of the
Schaghticoke decision was
filed in May and is pending
before the Interior Board of
Indian Appeals (IBIA).
The IBIA, die BIA and the
Office of Federal Acknowl-
BUSH to page 5
Oglala Sioux inaugurate first
female president
Associated Press
KYLE, S.D. - The Oglala
Sioux Tribe's new president
vowed to care for, fight for and
love her people Saturday during
an inauguration ceremony attended by friends, relatives and
odier American Indian leaders.
Cecelia Fire Thunder, the
tribe's first woman president,
said she was grateful for the
freedoms she's had in choices of
careers, education and prayer.
"When I look around the
world and see the oppression and
die violence diat women face, I
diank the creator that I was bom
in a culture where I have freedom," she said.
Fire Thunder wore traditional
dress and spoke Lakota during
much of the program.
Others attending included
Winona LaDuke, an enrolled
member of the Mississippi Band
of Anishinaabeg and a 2000
vice presidential candidate, and
Birgd Kdls Straight, who helped
originate the reenactment of the
Big Foot ride that followed the
December 1890 trek across South
Dakota taken by Minneconju
leader Big Foot and his followers.
Kills Straight presented Fire
Thunder with a knife and shield as
die symbols of presidential office.
He said that even from the
tribe's humble beginnings, evj
eryone recognized Fire Thunder's leadership qualities.
"I recall a long time ago, we
grew up in this community,"
Kills Straight said. "We were
happy even diough we didn't
have anything. We grew up with
oiu grandmodiers."
Outgoing Oglala president
John Yellow Bird Steele said he
came to die inauguration to recognize the new leadership of the
Oglala people.
He asked die tribe to give the
new adniinistration a chance, to
support those elected to office
and not to dwell on gossip and
divisiveness.
"We are our own greatest
enemy," he said. "I do state that
OGLALA to page 3
To catch struggling students,
tribes turn to charter schools
By Julia Silvennan
Associated Press
MISSION, Ore. - Behind a
locked door on the campus of
die newly opened Nixyaawii
Charter School on the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, about a
dozen teenagers have gathered
for their last class of the day.
There are no teachers in
the room, no adults allowed.
The charter school's students
- slouched low in their seats,
baseball caps pulled down,
sweatshirt hoods pulled up - are
talking about how to behave in
school, rel earning kindergarten-
era lessons long forgotten.
"We have to learn how to
govern ourselves," said the
group's de-facto leader, 20-year-
old Jess Stone. "You guys are
leading by example. You have
to lead yourself before you lead
others."
In Nixyaawii's first few difficult mondis, diis group of
students has emerged as a linchpin, helping to hold together a
school on which the hopes of a
reservation are resting.
Similar charter schools are
cropping up throughout Indian
Country, in states hke California, Arizona and New Mexico.
Tribal officials have pinned
their hopes on die startup
schools as their best chance to
reach a generation of Indian
students who've dropped out or
drifted through traditional public schools.
Charter schools receive public
funding - including, for Nixyaawii, $350,000 in one-time
start-up money from the U.S.
Department of Education - but
are free from many of the rules
and restrictions that apply to
other public schools.
The idea is to encourage
experimentation in education;
such schools operate under a
SCHOOLS to page 3
mm