Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2005-06-03

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Future decisions
key to managing
Columbia River
under added stress
page 4
'The Real Red Lake,'
from an indigenous:
Miskwa-gamiiwi-
zaga'iganing perspective
page 4
Carrying the
message to Turtle
Island Nation
page 4
Recitation of events
surrounding Harold 'Skip'
Finn's fulfillment of his
Restitution obligation
page 4
Joint meeting
Leech Lake
Tribal Council/
Beltrami County
a good thing
page 4
Family Advocacy Center dedicated
By Bill Lawrence
Victims of family violence and
sexual crimes will soon be able
to find assistance in their own
environment. Immediate help
and medical/mental health treatment will be available because of
a new facility in Bemidji. About
50 persons from several involved
agencies attended a ceremony
inaugurating the establishment of
the new Family Advocacy Center. The new center is scheduled
to open this fall; it will be located
at the North Country Hospital in
Bemidji.
It will serve those who have
experienced child abuse, sexual
assault and/or trauma resulting
from domestic violence. The
Center will be unique in that the
victim will have access to immediate medical and emotion attention,
assessment of family and personal
medical history, after which, vital
referrals will be made on the spot
for follow-up services with the appropriate medical, mental health
or social services agency.
Law enforcement concerns will
... prosecution and
punishment of offenders
[is] not sufficient to end
the problems of family
violence crimes
be meshed into the service delivery
system with the emphasis remaining on meeting chent care needs as
well as collecting evidence.
All residents of northwestern
Minnesota will be eligible for
services at the Center, but there
will be a special concentration
on culturally relevant services for
Native Americans living on the
three northern reservations—the
Red Lake, Leech Lake and White
Earth.
The Center is unique in the country because of its collaborative nature having been developed by a
coalition of tribal, law enforcement
and odier human services agencies,
and because of its ability to provide
immediate response from medical
and mental health professionals
as well as follow up referrals to
appropriate agencies.
Board Members of the new facility are: Red Lake Tribal Chainnan
Floyd Jourdain, Jr., and Secretary
Judy Roy; Jim Hanko, CEO, and
Ted Will of North Country Health
Services; Randy Beck, Merit Care-
Bemidji; Earl Maus, Cass County
Attorney; Lori Petermeier, Itasca
County Health and Human Services; Pohce Cliief J. Bruce Preece
of Bemidji, and Dr. Carolyn Levitt
of Midwest Cliildren's Resource
Center of St. Paul.
Tom Heffelfinger, United States
Attorney for Mnnesota, and his
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
The Center has the
potential, over time, to
reduce the incidence of
such violence.
staff, will provide technical and
developmental support.
The concept is the brainchild of
the U.S. Attorney's office—Tom
Heffelfinger, chief, and his staff.
Heffelfinger and U.S. Assistant
Attorney's Chris Wilton and
Erica MacDonald, in realizing
that prosecution and punishment
of offenders was not sufficient
to end the problems of family
violence crimes, wanted to find
a new, comprehensive and more
effective way of attacking the
problem. They contacted tribal
officials at Red Lake, medical,
human services and law enforcement professionals in Bemidji. All
agreed it was time for a change in
die system.
Although several, separate
components of the program are
currently in place, like victim
assistance programs, adult abuse
centers, etc., instances of domestic violence keep recurring, seemingly in a cycle that is oblivious to
CENTER to page 3
LLTC cuts LaRose's official
constitutional duties
By Diane White
CASS LAKE-Effective May
6, 2005, Goldleaf Financial Ltd.
officially bonded Leech Lake
Band of Ojibwe (LLBO) Secretary-Treasurer Arthur "Archie"
LaRose in the amount of $ 10,000,
which is the recommended bonding amount for elected officials
LaRose told the PRESS/ON.
LaRose sought to be bonded after he had made many attempts
to regain his official Treasurer duties, which had been re-assigned
by Resolution to Committeeman
Donald "Mick" Finn. LaRose
explains he provided the proper
Leech Lake agent with his official signature on February 25,
2005, in compliance with Article
IX of the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe (MCT) ConstiUition, but has
been repeatedly denied signature
authority by the Tribal Council.
Article IX - Bonding of Tribal
Officials, Section 1 requires all
persons charged by the Tribe or
Reservation with responsibility
for the custody of any of its funds
or property to give bond for the
faithful performance of their official duties. The bond shall be
furnished by a responsible bonding company and shall be acceptable to the beneficiary and to the
Secretary ofthe Interior. The cost
of the bond shall be paid by the
beneficiary. According to Lenny
Fineday, Interim Executive Director, all employees, including the
elected officials except LaRose are
covered by the Band's $3,000,000
bond. The Goggleye Administration charge that LaRose is not
bondable because he is under an
internal investigation and they
Archie LaRose
wrote a policy to exclude him.
The PRESS/ON twice requested
a copy of die Band's bond which
covers the Tribal Council members, but to date has not received
anything.
In a May 13,2005 letter written
by LaRose to area banks doing
business with LLBO, any financial warrant (i.e., checks) written
on behalf of LLBO will be considered null and void if they do
not have LaRose's signature along
withChairman George Goggleye,
Jr. and such warrants will be reported to the U.S. Department of
the Interior and possibly to the
Band's legal department. The
letter went to Wells Fargo Bank
(Bemidji); First National Bank of
Deer River; First National Bank of
Cass Lake, and Centennial Bank
of Walker.
In his letter, LaRose quotes the
MCT constitution, Article 1, Section 3(a): "With the Chairman,
affix his signature to official
LAROSE to page 5
DOI ordered to
produce emails:
Cobell data
security still in
question
By Jean Pagano
U.S. District Judge Royce C.
Lamberth, presiding over the
landmark Cobell v. Secretary of
Interior case, late last week ordered the Department of Interior
to produce all emails for certain
Interior individuals.
Judge Lamberth had previously
ruled that all emails relative to the
Cobell case must be preserved by
the Department of Interior. Over
the course of the Cobell litigation, the destruction and lack of
retention of emails has become
an issue for both the plaintiffs
and the judge. Former Assistant
Secretary Neal McCaleb admitted he had destroyed emails,
which violated not only courts
orders but also internal Interior
policies. McCaleb's "misunderstanding" concerning emails was
the subject of a blistering report
by former Special Master Alan
Balaran in January of 2003.
As a result of McCaleb's
destruction of emails, an Information Retention and Recovery
Management firm was hired
by the Department of Interior.
Zantaz, a Pleasanton, California
firm, collects and archives all
electronic communication generated by Interior. Judge Lamberth's
DOI to page 6
Son of Red Lake chairman faces
two charges
Judge orders records, heavily edited, unsealed
By David Hanners
Pioneer Press
The teenage son of Red Lake
tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain
Jr. faces two unnamed federal
charges in connection with the
deadly shootings at the reservation's high school, according to
records ajudge ordered unsealed
Tuesday.
A heavily blacked-out copy
of the docket sheet in the case
shows that the attorney for Louis
Jourdain has also tried without
success to get his client released
from federal custody.'
Jourdain has been the only person charged in connection with
the March 21 shootings at Red
Lake Senior High School and a
private residence, which were
carried out by his cousin, Jeff
Weise, 16. Weise, described by
some as a creative but depressed
loner, killed nine people and then
himself.
Some of Weise's family members have theorized that the youth
was angered over being banned
from school, and that action
— coupled with mood changes .
brought on by a doubting of his
daily dose of the antidepressant
Prozac — drove him to carry out
the killings.
Jourdain, 16, was arrested a
week after the shootings. Sources
with knowledge of the federal
investigation have said Jourdain
and Weise exchanged e-mails in
which they planned die shooting
spree, and that there may have
been additional targets besides
the school.
Floyd Jourdain Jr., chainnan of
the Red Lake Band of Chippewa,
has said his son is "naive" and
"real green," but is innocent of
the charges.
A federal grand jury has met at
least once in Mnneapolis to hear
testimony in the case. Witnesses
have included other youdis from
the reservation, attorneys for
some of the witnesses said. Federal officials have said they have
interviewed more dian 400 people
and seized 117 computers as part
of their investigation.
Because Louis Jourdain is a
juvenile! the details of his case
are not considered public, as they
would be in a case involving an
adult. U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger could prosecute Jourdain
under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Protection Act, where
die proceedings would remain
secret, or he could ask ajudge to
transfer the case to a district court.
There, Jourdain would be treated
as if he were an adult.
After reporters were excluded
from initial court hearings for the
youth in Duluth, attorneys for the
Pioneer Press and its sister paper,
the Duluth News Tribune, filed
motions to open the court pro-
CHARGES to page 6
Leech Lake
reorganizes
government
By Diane White
CASS LAKE-On Wednesday,
June 1, 2005 Interim Executive
Director of the Leech Lake Band
of Ojibwe (LLBO) Lenny Fine-
day held a press conference at the
Palace Bingo & Casino Paradise
Room to announce the Band's
plan to reorganize the governmental structure and change governing document Ordinance #1. He
was supported by Tribal Attorney
Cory Wawasic. The meeting was
sparsely attended and included
two Tribal Council members, Secretary-Treasurer Arthur "Archie"
LaRose and Committeeman Bur-1 !
ton "Luke" Wilson. There were
only a few Division/Department
heads present including Rocky
Papsodora, Carol White (Court
Services), Burton Howard (Accounting), and Richard Shuhnan
(MIS Department).
Lenny Fineday explained the
Band is reorganizing, because the
current structure is too Laize Faire
(loose, informal) and because of
the many complaints they have
heard regarding the current structure. He explained he has led the
charge to restructure the government since December 2004 when
he began working at the Band
as a Special Projects Director.
He explained the reorganization
plan is a product of the Band's
Division Directors and the Tribal
Coimcil. Tribal Council member,
Secretary-Treasurer Arthur "Archie" LaRose stated this is the
first he had heard of the proposed
government re-structure since he
LLBO to page 5
web page: www.press-on.net
native 4**4
American
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2005
Founded in 1988
Volume 17 Issue 50
June 3, 2005
Red Lake senior Vernelle Lussier, right, smiles as she puts on her cap and gown in front of her cousin
Jessie Johnson, left, and her mother Muriel Stately moments before leaving for her graduation
ceremony at Red Lake Middle School Saturday, May 28, 2005, in Red Lake, Minn. Vernelle was
valedictorian and gave a speech during the ceremony. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Rennee Jones)
Associated Press
RED LAKE, Minn. - There
were plenty of tears in Red
Lake on Saturday, but for
once, diey were tears of joy.
Graduation ceremonies
were held for 92 seniors at
Red Lake High School, who
persevered dirough a horrific
school shooting to get their
diplomas.
Valedictorian Vernelle Lussier said the achievement was
a lifelong dream.
"This is something that 1
needed to finish," Lussier said
from her home in Redby, just
hours before the graduation
ceremony. "And I did."
It wash t always a sure tiling diat
the day would come.
On March 21, schoolmate Jeffrey Weise opened fire on the
school, killing seven inside the
school and two more outside it
before nirning the gun on himself.
Seven others were wounded.
- The tragedy brought the nation's
eyes onto the Red Lake Indian
Reservation, which did not sit well
with the intensely private Ojibwe
community.
The people of the reservation
struggled under die intense media
scrutiny. Slowly but surely, however, they are getting more positive
things to talk about.
When the school reopened, only
about one third of the students
returned for the half-day classes,
most too traumatized to set foot
back on the grounds.
Nevertheless, the seniors made
it through.
" Graduation day is a big step
for all of us," said elder Thomas
Stillday. "This day will help."
On Samrday, Red Lake's largest graduating class ever took part
in commencement ceremonies at
die middle school, which were
closed to die media.
Lussier gave the keynote
speech, telling her fellow classmates and die proud family mid
RED LAKE to page 6
HIV/AIDs: A
threat to Native
Americans,
especially those
25 and under
Reprinted with permission.
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome:
Acquired means you can get
infected widi it; Immune Deficiency means a weakness in
the body's system that fights
diseases. Syndrome means a
group of healdi problems that
make up a disease.
AIDS is caused by a vims
called HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Vims. If you get
infected widi HIV, your body
will try to fight the infection. It
wdl make "antibodies," special
molecules to fight HIV.
A blood test for HIV looks for
these antibodies. If you have
them in your blood, it means
that you have HIV infection.
People who have die HIV antibodies are called "HJV-Posi-
tive". Having HIV-positive, or
having HIV disease, is not die
same as having AIDS. Many
people are HIV-positive but
don't get sick for many years.
As HIV disease continues,
it slowly wears down the
immune system. Viruses,
parasites, fungi and bacteria
that usually don't cause any
problems can make you very
sick if your immune system is
damaged.
You don't actually "get"
AIDS. You might get infected
with HJV, and later you might
develop AIDS. You can get
infected with HIV from
anyone who's infected, even
if they don't look sick and
even if they haven't tested
HIV-positive yet. The blood,
HIV/AIDS to page 7
Metis descendents upset with care
of Pembina County cemetery
Associated Press
PEMBINA, N.D. - Descendants
of French Canadian fur trappers
and American Indian women say
die Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa has neglected a Pembina
County cemetery left in its care.
The 19di-cehtury Metis Du-
moulin Cemetery, part of the
first Christian mission in North
Dakota, was rediscovered just
soudi of the Canadian border 10
years ago.
Prodded by Metis descendants
in northwestern Minnesota and
Canada, die Nordi Dakota Legislature in 2001 approved giving
$15,000 to Pembina Comity to acquire die 10-acre site and maintain
it as a cemetery.
The county then transferred
control to die Turtle Mountain
tribe, over die objections of Union
Nationale Metisse, a Manitoba-
based organization founded to
preserve die Metis culmre.
The group says weeds and
grasses have been allowed to
creep up die plain white crosses
diat were planted in 2001, and the
Turtle Mountain tribe 150 miles to
die west has not kept its promise
of caring for die burial grounds.
"Turtle Mountain has not
shown any interest in taking care
of it," said Ed Jerome, a Metis
descendant who lives in Hallock,
Minn. "The wrong people have it.
It should have been given to us."
Dennis Bercier, a member of die
METIS to page 7
Memorial walk designed to stop
chemical dependency
Associated Press
WHITE EARTH, Minn. - Residents of the White Earth Indian
Reservation celebrated Memorial
Day in a different way _ with a
six mile walk to remember young
people whose lives have been lost
due to chemical dependency.
Many walkers carried signs
or wore T-shirts with the names
of people they've lost as they
walked from Roy Lake to powwow grounds near Rice Lake.
There, diey joined others who
were waiting with drums, camp-
fires and food.
The Memorial Day walk began
on the reservation about seven
years ago, after five young people
died id traffic accidents, most involving drugs or alcohol. The walk
was led by White Eardi elders to
draw attention to the problem.
"We only had about 15
people that first year," said Ray
Auginaush, who helped organize
the walk. "We had about 120
people turn out to walk in die rain
last year," he said.
About 200 people attended diis
year's event, which Auginaush
said was dedicated to die people
killed in the school shooting at
Red Lake. In addition, four people,
ages 20 to 29, died last week in a
fiery crash near Roy Lake. Alcohol was at least paidy to blame,
friends and relatives said.
"Our tribal council is putting
a lot more into working with
our kids, and our chemical dependency programs are starting
to make a difference," he said.
"But now meth is an epidemic in
our area. That's caused problems
besides die highway accidents. In
the past six months, we' ve had a
number of drive-by shootings diat
were connected to drugs. There are
gangs on the reservation, and kids
as young as 10 or 12 have been
WALK to page 7