Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2005-05-27

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Family Advocacy
Center to open In
Bemidji June 1
page 3
Top 10 things we were
tricked into believing
by RBC on Leech Lake
Reservation
page 4
Robert Fairbanks'
response to Luke
Wilson; BIA letter
page 4
vlcki Bibeau's
letter to Chairman
Goggleye
page 4
Leech Lake compliance with Law
Enforcement Agreement deficient
Is there a leadership crisis
at Red Lake?
page 4
Press/ON celebrates publication of its 850th article
By Bill Lawrence
This week we congratulate
ourselves on having publishing
this newspaper for 17 years. Our
First issue of the Ojibwe News
appeared 5/24/88. Later, in order
to enter the Minneapolis market
with the other ethnic newspapers,
we began to publish the Native
American Press in August 1991.
From the beginning we have
stated our intent was to provide
coverage of Native American
issues that was lacking in the
mainstream publications. Our
goal was to print accurate, objective, sensitive and timely articles.
Our policy was, and continues to
be, we do the research, present
the data and leave it our readers
to decide for themselves what all
the information means to them.
Further we saw it our mission
to publish articles and editorials
concerning Indian issues from diverse viewpoints and from distant
as well as local spots. We admitted, regretfully, that it would also
be our job to report on the negatives of Native American life in
regard to alcoholism, crime, drugs
and other problems facing Indian
individuals and families.
We have always encouraged
our readers to submit information,
their ideas, their opinions, and their
stories. We have printed what was
sent, withholding names if asked,
Our
ur goal was to print
accurate, objective,
sensitive and timely
articles.
because we believed it in the best
interests of the public we serve to
get infonnation out to the people.
We give ourselves credit for
helping put nine tribal officials
into federal prison for stealing
from their people. Other officials
pleaded guilty to lesser offenses
in exchange for suspended sentences, probation and fines. These
convictions happened, in part,
because of information printed in
our publication. If Press/ON had
not made it pubhc, it would have
remained hidden under wraps by
dictatorial tribal officials.
Among our triumphs we count
winning the lawsuit that confirmed
our belief that the audited financial statements of tribal casinos
was public information. We have
affirmed all the wliile that tribal
governments, like government
at every level and everywhere
throughout the country, must be
accountable to its citizens, must
be open in its dealings, and must
be sensitive and protective of the
rights of the people.
In another lawsuit we did not
fare as well. Although we got
a criminal charge of trespass
dismissed in State Court, we
lost a companion suit in federal
and tribal court. We had sued the
Mille Lacs Pohce Department for
false arrest in their removal of
our reporter from a public, tribal
meeting. It was our contention
that Tribal Council meetings are
public in nature, and we challenged their authority to remove
him. We still feel our actions
were important. We challenged
what we perceived as misuse of
pohce power and would repeat the
experience if necessary.
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
We challenged what
we perceived as
misuse of police
power...
Among our failures we admit
that our stories do not always
produce the desired result. We
have published many instances
of simple mismanagement, suspected corruption and abuse of
power and resources by tribal officials and they have fallen flat,
not because they were untrue,
but because those who could do
something about it chose not to
get involved.
We've reported consistently
on the sorry state of Indian education, the low test scores and
graduation rates and the high
truancy. Again, our efforts have
not produced much improvement
and education, the single most
important vehicle for improving
life conditions, remains on the
reservations undervalued and
underused.
We have always tried to be
a voice for the native peoples,
have made it our business to expose improper activity. Once in
a while we've been able to make
a difference. One story that had
a happy ending was the one of
a mother whose litde girl was
wrongfully kept from her for over
two years by her in-laws. Our
work witii die mother, lawyers
and the courts helped restore the
cliild to her mother's custody.
PRESS/ON to page 4
Leech Lake misses opportunity to regain
Two Points Property
By Diane White
CASS LAKE—Following last
weeks interview with Harold
"Skip" Finn, the Leech Lake
Band of Ojibwe's (LLBO) legal department released public
data regarding the Two Points
Property, including a time line of
events that occurred to remove
the mystery property from Trust,
thus allowing Finn to mortgage
the property to pay LLBO the
balance of tie court-ordered restitution and to resell a portion of
the property.
On January 10, 2002, Michael
Garbow, Tribal Attorney petitions
the Tribal Court to return the Two
Points property to the Band. The
property is legally described as
"Government Lot 1, Section 8,
Township 143 North, 29 West;
and Government Lot 7, except all
that part thereof lying north of a
line parallel to and 300 feet south
of the north line (extended) of
said Government Lot 7, Section
5, Township 143 North, Range 29
West according to U.S. government survey." The petition was
filed and signed by Joseph Plumer
and Mike Garbow.
The purchase began on July
17, 1987 when Finn signed a
$90,000 Purchase Agreement for
the property with Zenith Dredge
Company, naming Finn as the
purchaser. Finn made a $3,000
earnest money deposit for the
property, agreeing to pay the balance of $87,000 at the closing on
August 1, 1987.
On or about July 30,1987, Finn
withdraws $60,000 from the First
National Bank of Walker from a
Leech Lake Reservation Business
Committee account, d/b/a Reservation Risk Management, Inc.
and then purchases a $60,000
cashier's check # 111706 from the
bank, payable to Zenith Dredge
and remitted by LLRBC. On or
about July 31,1987 Finn used the
cashier's check as partial payment
on the Two Points property and
received a Deed diat named RRM
as the purchaser.
On or about May 22, 1989,
Finn issued a RRM check #184
for $300 payable to Okerman
Surveying, Inc. as a down payment to survey the property. On
or about August 26, 1989, Finn
issued RRM check #192 for $715
payable to Okerman Surveying,
Inc. to pay the balance due. On
or about June 18, 1990 Finn
purchased check #04010100 for
$ 13,500 from First Federal Banking & Savings in Walker, MN pay
able to Storlie Construction, Inc.
to pay for the construction of a
road on the property. The $13,500
was drawn on a LLRBC savings
account d/b/a RRM.
On or about December 9,1992,
Finn filed a Quit Claim Deed
transferring the property from
RRM to himself and his spouse
Ted. On October 29, 1993, Finn
filed a warranty deed placing the
property into trust with the U.S.
government.
On an unknown date, Finn
executed a Promissory Note to
RRM for $60,000 due upon 30
days demand. The note was approved by die RRM Board which
included former Chainnan Alfred
'Tig" Pemberton and his wife as
well as Finn and his wife. To date,
LLBO has never received payment of the Promissory Note.
Between the filing of the petition
and August 13, 2003, Michael
Garbow left the Band to pursue
a legal career with the Beltrami
County Attorney's office in Bemidji. Joseph Plumer, the Band's
lead Tribal Attorney at the time of
die filing also left the Band. Frank
Bibeau was the remaining tribal
attorney at diat time. On June 10,
TWO POINTS to page 5
Native
Americans,
Incidence of
Stroke
By Diane White
A stroke can happen to anyone,
but primarily to elderly folks.
Simply put, a stroke occurs when
blood circulation to the brain fails.
The resulting decreased blood
flow and lack of oxygen causes
the brain cells to die. There are
two broad categories of stroke:
(1) caused by blockage of blood
flow and (2) those caused by
bleeding in the brain. The ischemic stroke occurs when blood
clots block the artery leading into
the brain or blocks blood vessels
in the brain. These types of blockages have three main causes: (a)
Thrombisis which is the formation
of a clot within a blood vessel of
the brain or neck (b) Embolism,
which is the movement of a clot
from another part of the body such
as the heart to die neck or brain
and (c) Stenosis, which is a severe
nanowing of an artery in or leading to the brain. A hemorrhagic
stroke is when bleeding into the
brain or the spaces sunounding
the brain occurs.
A person who is having a stroke
may have the following symptoms:
• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble
speaking or understanding.
• Sudden trouble seeing in one
or both eyes
STROKE to page 5
MN Chippewa Tribe to hold
referendum election
By Diane E. White
BLOOMINGTON, MN-On
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 at the
Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington,
the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
(MCT) Tribal Executive Committee (TEC) held a Special Meeting to discuss Resolution 70-05,
which was passed in February
2005. All members of the TEC
were present except White Earth
Chairwoman Erma Vizenor. The
committee agreed to hold a Secretarial election throughout the
Tribe regarding the candidacy of
felons to run for any position of
a Tribal Council.
The referendum was question
is as follows:
No member of the Tribe shall
be eligible to hold office, either
as a Committeeman or officer,
if he or she has ever been convicted of a felony of any kind or
of a lesser crime involving theft,
misappropriation, or embezzlement of money, funds, assets or
property of an Indian tribe or a
tribal organization.
In order to enact this measure, a
majority vote requires that at least
30% of all of those tribal members entided to vote cast ballots
with the majority number of votes
either for or against the measure
to determine the outcome of
die Special Election. The TEC
determined to promote voting,
there will be 30 polling places
throughout the six reservation
bands and 3 off-reservation polling places to include one polling
cite in Duluth and two sites in
the Twin Cities. Absentee ballots
will also be available. A voter
may register on the day of the
election. A voter may vote on the
reservation in which they reside
even if it is not their reservation
of enrollment.
During the meeting, John
Jones, a resident on the Leech
Lake Reservation, but a Grand
Portage enrollee, asked the
Committee if any of them had
ever been convicted of a felony
and not one committee member
indicated they had been. In a
previous PRESS/ON story where
the subject matter involved Chairman George Goggleye, Jr., it was
reported that he was convicted
of a felony 5th degree assault
in Cass County and again confirmed through the Cass County
Court records. The case file is
ll-KX-93-767 and was filed on
September 17, 1993. Goggleye
did respond in the PRESS/ON
at that time acknowledging that
he had some issues, but cleared
them up.
Activist Wally Storbakken questioned, "If it ain't broke, why fix
it?" and Chainnan Nonnan Deschampe questioned, "Do you
think that someone who commits
domestic violence should be the
head of (run) the Social Services
department?" He later stated
that the Reservation Business
Committee members are in fact
die head of the Social Services
department.
Herb Weyaus (Mille Lacs),
Kevin DuPuis (Fond du Lac),
and Archie  LaRose  (Leech
MCT to page 5
web page: www.press-on.net
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2005
Founded in 1988
Volume 17 Issue 49
May 27, 2005
John "Sam" Sapiel, a 74-year-old full-blooded Penobscot Indian who lives in Falmouth, Mass.,
poses for photos at the North American Indian Center of Boston, Wednesday, May 18, 2005 in
Boston. Sapiel gets an uneasy feeling each time he steps within the Boston city limits because a
1675 law still on the books in Massachusetts requires the arrest of any American Indian who sets
foot in the city. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)
Oregon ruling may slow drive for off-reservation
Indian casinos
By Matdiew Daly
Associated Press
WASHINGTON-Momen-
runi for off-reservation gambling at Indian-owned casinos
may be slowing after the Interior Department's rejection of
a deal for a tribal casino near
the Columbia River in Oregon,
lawmakers on bodi sides of the
issue say.
"There are many members
of Congress who are ... deeply
concerned about the proliferation of off-reservation Indian
gambling casinos," said Rep.
David Wu, D-Ore.
Wu, who opposes die Oregon
plan, said the federal decision
" will give Oregonians a chance
to reconsider die kind of state
we wish to be."
On Friday, the Interior Department temporarily blocked a proposal by the Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs to build a casino
in Cascade Locks, about 40 miles
east of Pordand in the scenic Columbia River Gorge. Tribal leaders estimate the casino would
draw 3 mdlion people a year.
The department left open the
possibility that it will approve
the deal later, but said it would
not do so unless it first rales that
the off-reservation land can be
taken into trust for gambling _ a
process that could take years.
The department's decision
represents a reversal from previous policy, when officials typically approved tribal agreements
signed with state governors, then
decided whether to allow off-reservation gambling.
Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman
for die Interior Department, called
die new policy more logical, but
Wu said politics probably played
a role.
VT think the Department of Interior has sensed there is a change
in congressional attitude, and for
various reasons of its own, I think
it is also in the process of shifting its position," said Wu, who
wrote a letter to Interior Secretary
Gale Norton opposing the Warm
Springs plan.
Wliile most of the nation's 411
Uibal casinos are on reservations,
tribes are increasingly looking
OREGON to page 6
Hoeven: Corps
doesn't have
legal authority
to transfer
lake land
By James MacPherson
Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D. - The
Army Corps of Engineers
does not have the legal audiority to transfer land along
Lake Sakakawea to the Three
Affiliated Tribes, Gov. John
Hoeven says.
The corps is holding meetings this week in Bismarck,
Dickinson and Williston on the
proposal, which could transfer
up to 36,000 acres property into
tribe-managed trust land.
The land was taken more than
50 years ago for construction of
Garrison Dam on die Mssouri
River. Tribal officials say die
return of die land could dramatically improve the economy of
die Fort Berthold reservation,
home to the Mandan, Hidatsa
and Arikara, known as the
Three Affiliated Tribes.
CORPS to page 6
U.S. Supreme Court won't
reconsider Oneida ruling
Associated Press
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The U.S.
Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its niling that the Oneida
Indian Nation must pay property
taxes and obey local laws on
former reservation land the tribe
reacquires.
The Oneida request was one of
22 the high court rejected Monday without comment.
"The odds were that they
weren't going to hear it," said
David Barker, city manager of
Sherrill, which successfully
sued the tribe. "We were fairly
confident it was going to come
out the way it did."
Nation spokesman Mark
Emery said die Supreme Court
decision not to review the case
supports the nation's plan to ask
the federal government to put all
nation land into trust.
COURT to page 6
Federal board rejects Utah's appeal
of nuclear dump on reservation
By Chris Clark
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY- federal licensing board on Tuesday rejected
Latah's appeal to thwart the stockpiling of spent nuclear fuel rods at
an American Indian reservation.
The state had argued in April that
radiation could escape from waste
casks if an outer protective shield
was breached, even if the interior
canister holding the fuel rods remained fully intact
But lawyers for the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission said
Utah's argument was too late and
lacked scientific merit, advising the
three-member Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board to reject it.
Although turning aside the state's
argument, the board suggested the
NRC study whether radioactive
waste could leak from a cask that
was damaged but not breached.
The ruling clears the way for
the NRC to approve the project,
BOARD to page 4