Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2005-02-25

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
People of Leech
Lake have spoken
page 4
Sick and tired
of government
page 4
Pawlenty tries 'divide
and conquer" tactics
against Minnesota T.I.
Nations
page 4
Mining operations will
poison both Red Lakes
page 4
Encouraging
community action
page 4
LaRose to take office Friday
By Bill Lawrence
The results are official. Archie
LaRose's election has been certified
by the Leech Lake Tribal Council.
According to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Election Ordinance #9,
chapter 1, Section 10(b2), the winning candidate takes office at 12:
01 a.m. on the tenth day following
election day provided the election
is not protested.
No protests have been filed,
therefore, LaRose can simply take
office on Friday, February 25.
The Leech Lake Band of
Ojibwe issued a press release
February 23, announcing that
the results of the Special General
Election of February 15, 2005
show Arthur "Archie" LaRose
received more votes than Donnie Headbird, securing him the
position of Secretary /Treasurer.
LaRose defeated Headbird by a
vote of 915 to 732.
Chairman George Goggleye, Jr.
said, 'We will honor the vote by
a majority of participants in this
election and will seat LaRose in accordance with the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Election Ordinance."
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
Archie LaRose
The chairman commented on
the Tribal Council's appeal to
the Minnesota Chippewa Tribal
Court of a Leech Lake Tribal Court
decision that dealt with candidate
certification. He said, 'The decision of the Appeals Court will be
used to show precedent in future
elections. For the present, all we
require is that LaRose fulfill the
responsibilities of his elected position, and work with the rest of the
Tribal Council in seeking to meet the
needs of our people." The outcome
of the February 15 election will be
unaffected by whatever decision the
Appeals Court might make.
However, Chainnan Goggleye
indicated that LaRose continues
to be the subject of investigation by the Council. He said,
"Continuing internal investigations have uncovered too many
instances of questionable actions
and transactions. I hope LaRose
still strongly supports an audit of
our finances, since we are planning to issue REPs so that we can
hire an outside firm to conduct a
diorough audit. We feel a neutral
outside party can provide us widi
the tools to take corrective action
against those who have abused and
misused our system."
LaRose was ousted by the current Tribal Council last August
for alleged mishandling of funds
and for hiring an outside forensic
auditor widiout full authorization
by die fonner Council.
In response to Chainnan Goggleye's comments, LaRose said he
has always believed he was working for die people of Leech Lake.
web page: www.press-on.net
Update
"PeeWee" Hanson
By Bill Lawrence
Harry "PeeWee" Hanson is
no longer a fugitive. According
to personnel at the Prosecuting
Attorney's office of St. Louis
County, Missouri, Hanson was
indicted February 16, 2005 on
one count of robbery, 2nd degree,
and of resisting arrest His case is
pending in St. Louis County Circuit
Court, 9di division, awaiting a trial
date. He is represented by Edward
Sehlig, a private defense attorney.
Hanson is accused of robbing the
U.S. Bank of Florissant, a suburb
of St. Louis, Missouri. He was
apprehended by pohce officers as
he fled the scene. He was in possession of the money when he was
taken into custody.
Terrence Corbett of DeSota,
Missouri, was driving the get away
vehicle and was taken into custody
along with Hanson.
Red Lake community searches for
missing man
By BUl Lawrence
Individuals interested in participating in the search for Lavan
Cyril Stillday should meet at 9:30
a.m. Friday (2/25/05) at the Red
Lake Humanities Center. Red
Lake Police, under the direction of
Chief Pat Mills, will over see the
project as well as provide instructions and divide participants into
teams to search the woods, either
on foot or in ATVs. Search dogs
wdl also be employed. Individuals who are not able physically to
walk the woods can assist in the
search in a variety of other ways.
Volunteers are instructed to
dress appropriately for winter
weather. Bag lunches will be distributed to searchers. Transportation to the various search areas will
be provided. The day's activities
will end with a debriefing and sup
per at the Humanities Center.
Stillday has been missing
since January 24. He was last
seen playing basketball at the
Ponemah Community Center
He is describes as weighing 145
pounds, and is 5*5" in height. He
is believed to have been wearing
white basketball pants and a gray
sweatshirt.
He is die son of Louis Kingbird,
Jr. and die grandson of Louis (Sr.)
and Elizabeth Kingbird. All reside
in Ponemah.
The Red Lake Tribal Council
has audiorized a reward for information concerning the case.
Individuals with information
about Stillday's disappearance of
whereabouts are asked to call the
Red Lake Police at 218-69-3313.
Structural injunction for Cobell returns: *jS
Judge Lamberth reinstates historical accounting order
Cobell v. Secretary of Interior
is entering its 9di year as a monumental class action suit. Cobell
aims to right the wrongs aUegedly
perpetrated against Individual
Indian Money (IIM) account
holders since the inception of die
EM system under die Dawes Act
of 1887. Accounting for the bd-
lions of dollars diat pass through
the IIM system has only recendy
taken on the semblance of modern-
day accounting. In the past, records
were poorly kept, and it is hard to
understand how the Department
of Interior could act as a trustee
for die many thousands of Native
Americans who hold and have held
IIM accounts. Records have been
lost, destroyed, and damaged, and
die plaintiffs in Cobell claim that
billions of dollars are missing.
The Department of Interior,
first under former President Bill
Clinton and. now under President
George Bush, has fought the Cobell litigation even step of die way.
Secretaries of the Interior Bmce
Babbitt and Gale Norton, along
with a number of odier individuals,
have been held in contempt for not
cooperating with Judge Royce C.
Lamberth's attempts to bring closure to over one hundred years of
mismanagement of IIM accounts.
The Department of Interior has
refused to give information, has
refused to obey court orders, and
has continued to destroy records,
even after being ordered not to do
so. The plaintiffs in Cobell want
the truth and accountabdity; the
Department of the Interior and the
current administration want Cobell
to go away.
On September 25th, 2003, Judge
Lamberth issued a Structural
Injunction ordering a complete
historical accounting and setting
forth a timetable for the completion of this huge task. The administration balked and had Congress
enact Public Law 108-108 wliich
stalled the historical accounting
Justices refuse to remove judge
in Indian trust case
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected
die efforts of Interior Department
officials to remove a federal judge
from overseeing an 8-year-old
lawsuit by American Indian
landowners seek an accounting
of trust funds set up on their
behalf.
Tlie court declined to consider
a last-ditch appeal by the government concerning U.S. District
Judge Royce Lamberth. A number of current and former Interior
Department officials claim he is
biased.
Lamberth found President
Clinton's Interior and Treasury
secretaries, Bruce Babbitt and
Robert Rubin, in contempt for
failing to turn over documents;
and found current Interior Secretary Gale Norton in contempt
of court for failing to follow his
orders, a niling later overturned
by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The suit alleges die government
mismanaged oil, gas, timber and
grazing royalties going back more
dian a century on behalf of more
than 300,000 American Indians.
The Interior Department says it
has conducted more than 30,000
intricate accountings so far of individual Indian money accounts,
found almost no discrepancies
exceeding $1 and that the multimillion-dollar effort has turned up
in total only hundreds of dollars
in discrepancies:
Meanwhile, Norton on Tuesday rejected Lamberth's latest
entreaty to appear in his court
to answer allegations her department retaliated against Indians
who brought the suit.
Lamberth two weeks ago gave
Norton the choice of appearing in
his court or facing the prospect
he'll rule against her.
Justice Department lawyers
representing Norton filed a brief
Tuesday saying she "respectfully
decline(s)" the judge's request.
They said she believes that his
"principal finding of retaliation
- tiiat trust checks were withheld
or ordered withheld - is not supported and, indeed, contrary to the
record."
Her lawyers also said that if
such a hearing were required,
"officials of a lower level than a
Cabinet officer would more appropriately provide evidence."
Lamberth mled last October
that the Bureau of Indian Affairs
had acted as if it must end all contact widi Indians about land sales
and account statements to comply
widi an earlier order from him.
Still in dispute is whether payments to Indians were ever actually stopped or delayed.
process until December 31,2004.
Along with this new law, the Department of Interior and the administration filed an appeal widi
die Appellate Court to overturn
Judge Lamberth's Structural Injunction. In the Appellate Court's
twelfth niling in the Cobell case
(CobeU XII), the Court stated that
Congress gave 'Interior temporary
relief from any common law or
statutory duty to engage in the historical accounting for [Individual
Indian Money Tmst] accounts."
The Court of Appeals concluded
diat the historical accounting provisions of Lamberth's Structural
Injunction were "without legal
basis" as long as die law remained
in effect. With the expiration of
the December 31st date, Judge
Lamberth was free to reinstate
his Structural Injunction. And on
Febmary 23rd, he did just that.
Judge Royce C. Lamberth
COBELL to page 3
Gambling
addicts lost in
hopeless betting
cycle
By Clifton Adcock
The Muskogee Daily Phoenix-
Times Democrat
MUSKOGEE, Okla. - It started
with a nickel, then went to a dollar,
dien five dollars, but it took only
seven months for Stephanie Pruet
to lose all her money, most of her
possessions, her home, her job
and two cars, and become nearly
$50,000 in debt at age 19 due to
compulsive gambling.
"I had two cars repossessed,
loans everywhere, I can't even
afford to file bankruptcy, or I
would," Pmet said. "I stole my
mom's ATM card thinking I would
win die money back."
But quitting gambling may not
be an easy task for any compulsive
gambler. Officials say Oklahoma
lacks infrastructure right now for
helping compulsive gamblers
like Pruet. The state does not
have qualified experts to deal
with gambling problems and it is
setting relatively litde money aside
to help addicts.
Experts in the field say the lack
of funding and professionals in
this area can lead to several social
problems including increases in
crime, bankruptcy filings, wel-
ADDICTS to page 6
American
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A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2004
Founded in 1988
Volume 17 Issue 36
February 25, 2005
(AP Photo/Albuquerque Journal. Roberto E. Rosales)
Zelda Chaplin, a cook at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, takes out a piece of frybread during the
lunch hour Feb. 2, 2005, in Albuquerque, N.M. The president of a national Indian rights organization
has fired a hot, greasy little dough ball into the heart of Indian Country. In an essay in a national
Indian newspaper, Suzan Shown Harjo urges other American Indians to join her in an abstinence
pledge - vowing to never eat again the puffy, fried dough disks sold across the country at powwows, fairs and Indian rodeos.
American Indian activist raises ruckus over
eating fry bread
By Leslie Linthicum
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
- The president of a national
Indimi rights organization has
fired a hot, greasy litde dough
ball into die heart of Indian
CoiuiUy.
In an essay in a national Indian newspaper, Suzan Shown
Harjo urges other American
Indians to join her in an abstinence pledge --vowing to never
eat again die puffy, fried dough
disks sold across the country at
powwows, fairs and Indian rodeos.
Harjo says fry bread has replaced "firewater" in stereotypical portrayals of American
Indians as "simple-minded
people who salute the litde
grease bread and get misty-
eyed about it"
She knocks die reservation staple
as unhealthy and a prime contributor to the growing obesity and diabetes epidemics among Indians.
Harjo is Cheyenne and Muskogee and works in Washington,
D.C, as president and executive
director of The Morningstar Institute. She also writes a weekly
column for Indian Country Today,
and she said she has received more
response to tlie fry bread essay than
she has to any others.
At the Indian Pueblo Cultural
Center in Albuquerque, fry bread
was cooking up hot and brown in
the Pueblo Harvest Cafe kitchen
and nobody was regarding it as
anything but tasty.
"I love fry bread," said Paulene
Shebala, half Navajo and half Zuni
and die 2003 Miss Indian New
Mexico.
Shebala's platform as she trav
eled around the states during her
reign was diabetes education. It's
not die fry bread diat's die problem, she said; it's cars, easy chairs
and remote controls.
Like it or not, fry bread _ a basic
white flour dough patted fiat and
fried in boiling lard _ has become
a pan-Indian cultural symbol.
Look at die T-shirts for sale at
powwows and on die Internet,
where sloganeers, as does Harjo,
usually write fry bread as one
word: "Got Frybread?" "Frybread University." And "Will
Work For Frybread."
A shirt made popular in the
American Indian film classic
"Smoke Signals" imitates Superman's crest and says "Frybread
Power."
Before fry bread got cool, it
FRY BREAD to page 3
Supreme
Court won't
hear group's
challenge
of Michigan
compacts
By Dee-Ann Durbin
Associated Press
DETROIT - The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday
it won't consider an anti-casino group's challenge to some
Michigan tribal compacts, a decision that allows two casinos to
remain open and makes it easier
for tribes to open two more.
The court, widiout comment,
declined to hear an appeal of a
2004 Michigan Supreme Court
decision diat four tribal compacts didn't violate Michigan's
constitution. New Buffalo-
based Taxpayers of Michigan
Against Casinos had appealed
that decision.
Then-Gov. John Engler
negotiated and signed the compacts widi die Pokagon Band
of Potawatomi Indians near
New Buffalo, Little Traverse
Bay Band of Odawa Indians in
Mackinaw City and Petoskey,
Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians in Batde Creek and Little
River Band of Ottawa Indians
in Manistee.
The state Legislature approved the compacts by a
resolution during a late-night
session in 1998. A resolution
COMPACTS to page 3
Justice says Canadian should be
extradited for 1975 AIM killing
Associated Press
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A British Columbia judge
recommended Monday diat a Canadian man should be extradited to
the United States to stand trial on
charges diat he killed an American
Indian Movement activist in Soudi
Dakota 29 years ago.
John Graham is wanted for
first-degree murder for die killing
of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash on die
Pine Ridge-Indian Reservation in
late 1975. Her body was found in
Feb. 24,1976. She had been shot in
the head.
Graham remained composed as
Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth
Bennett read the order Monday.
Family members behind Graham clutched eagle feathers and
sobbed.
"I'm very disappointed," Graham told reporters outside court as
supporters chanted and chummed
behind him. "I'm not surprised.
Our new extradition laws don't
give us powers to go up against
the U.S."
One of Aquash's daughters, Denise Maloney Pictou of Halifax,
Nova Scotia, praised the court for
focusing on die facts.
"So John Boy's going stateside,"
she said in a telephone interview.
"For us it's die most important
thing. It lets us know that the Canadian government puts value in
my modier's life and confirms that
her life mattered and this belongs
in a court of law."
"This decision presents him
an opportunity to tell about his
knowledge and his involvement in
my modier's murder."
Graham's lawyer, Terry La
Liberte, said the ruling will be appealed. The case coidd continue into
next year due to the levels of appeal
available, he said.
The Canadian justice minister
must sign a removal order before
Graham can be sent to tlie United
States.
Justice Bennett said evidence
on Graham's alleged involvement
and some evidence confinning his
identity were enough to warrant the
order.
"There is sufficient evidence ...
to commit John Graham for extradition to the United States to face the
charge in die murder of .Anna Mae
Aquash," she said.
Tlie justice did say some of the
evidence presented to her on behalf of die United States had been
given in "a most unsatisfactory
manner."
The order will be made official
March 2, when Graham may be
taken into custody.
La Liberte said Graham is not a
flight risk and shoidd not be jailed.
He was arrested in April 2003 but is
currendy on bad with strict conditions.
While die prosecutor has agreed
to tlie continuation of bail, I .a I ib-
erte told Bennett another prosecutor
will be taking over the case.
That prosecutor, Roger Mc-
Means, told La Liberte on Friday
diat he will oppose continuation of
bad.
Aquash's death came amid a
AIM to page 3