Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2005-10-28

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Enough is Enough
page 4
Betrayal in the
House of Our
Friends
page 4
The way we elect our
leaders has always
been a mystery
page 4
Open the Peacemaker
Center or tear it down
page 4
Guest Commentary:
Anishinabe Nationalists
take back the MCTI
page 4
MCT members to decide on two constitutional
amendments 11-22-05
By Bill Lawrence
In a letter dated 10/13/05,
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
(MCT) Executive Director Gary
Frazer notified Leech Lake
Secretary/Treasurer Arthur
"Archie" LaRose of the approval
by the Bureau of Indian Affairs'
(BIA) for a Secretarial Election.
The purpose of the election is to
submit two proposed amendments
to the MCT constitution to the
people for consideration.
X. The election is scheduled for
November 22, 2005; polls will
be open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:
00 p.m. at Bois Forte, Fond Du
Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake,
White Earth, Mille Lacs, Duluth
and Minneapolis. The polling
stations are listed in a schedule
that appears elsewhere in this
issue. Voters enrolled in any one
ofthe six bands ofthe MCT may
vote at any polling place. Voter
registration on site on election day
is permitted; absentee voting is
permitted. Contract Gary Frazer
ofthe MCT for details.
Two amendments, both to Article
IV - Tribal Elections ofthe MCT
constitution, will be on the ballot.
Proposed Amendment "A" would
require all candidates to reside on
their home reservation for one
year prior to the election. This
residency requirement has been in
existence, having been established
by ordinance. The proposed
amendment adds this residency
requirement to the constitution.
Section   two,   the   residency
requirement, would read:
Section 2. A candidate for
Chairman, Secretary-Treasurer
and Committeeman must be an
enrolled member ofthe Tribe and
reside on the reservation of his or
her enrollment for one year before
the date of election. No member of
the Tribe shall be eligible to hold
office, either as a Committeeman
or Officer, until he or she has
reached his or her twenty-first
(21) birthday on or before the date
of election.
Proposed Amendment "B"
would prohibit anyone who had
ever been a felon from nrnning
for office. The proposed text of
Amendment "B" follows:
Section 4.   No member of the
MCT to page 5
Joint Commission planning to conduct accreditation
survey at Red Lake Hospital
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations will conduct an accreditation survey at Red Lake Hospital
on Nov. 21 and 22.
The purpose of the survey will
be to evaluate the organization's
compliance with nationally established Joint Commission standards. The survey results will be
Assistant Police
Chief Wind trial set
Earl Maus, Prosecuting Attorney for Cass County, stated
that a pre-trial conference for
Alvin John Wind held 10/24/
05 was continued, i.e. postponed; to 11/28/05. Wind has
been charged with two counts
of sexual misconduct. Trial
has been tentatively scheduled for 12/15/05.
used to determine whether, and
the conditions under which, accreditation should be awarded the
organization. Joint Commission
standards deal with organization
quality, safety-of-care issues, and
the safety of the environment in
which care is provided.
Anyone believing that he or she
has pertinent and vahd information
about such matters may request a
public information interview
with the Joint Commission's field
representatives at the time of the
survey. The infonnation presented
at the interview will be carefully
evaluated for relevance to the accreditation process.
Requests for a public information interview must be made in
writing and should be sent to the
Joint Commission no later than
five (5) working days before the
survey begins. The request must
also indicate the nature of the
information to be provided at the
interview.
Such request should be addressed to: Division of Accreditation Operations; Office
of Quality Monitoring; Joint
Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations; One
Renaissance Boulevard, Oak-
brook Terrace, 111, 60181 or faxed
to (630).792-5636 or e-mailed to
complaint@jacho.org.
The Joint Commission's Office of Quality Monitoring will
acknowledge in writing or by
telephone requests received 10
days before the survey begins. An
account representative will contact
the individual requesting the public information interview prior to
the survey, indicating the location,
date and time ofthe interview and
the name ofthe surveyor who will
conduct the interview.
Red Lake shooting suspect's trial will begin Nov. 14
By Terry Collins
Star Tribune
RED LAKE, MINN. - The
trial of Louis Jourdain, son of
the Red Lake tribal chairman, for
his alleged role in the March 21
fatal shootings at Red Lake High
School, is scheduled to begin Nov.
14 in Minneapolis.
That information was obtained
from a subpoena seen by a Star
Tribune reporter.
Jourdain, 17, has been held on
conspiracy charges since a week
after the shootings, in which his
cousin, 16-year-old Jeffrey Weise,
killed nine people before taking
his own life.
Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain
declined to comment Wednesday,
as did his son's attorney, Jon
Hopeman of Minneapolis.
"I wish I could, but I can't,"
Hopeman said.
U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger also declined to comment
Wednesday. Heffelfinger's office
unsuccessfully sought this summer
to have Jourdain tried as an adult.
Eight people - five other students, a teacher, a guard and Weise
- died at the high school, making it
the second-deadliest school shoot-
were wounded.
Before the killings at the
school, Weise's grandfather and
his grandfather's girlfriend were
shot to death at their home.
Juvenile proceedings in federal
court are typically not open to the
public or the media.
Prosecutors have not said what
Jourdain is accused of doing.
But sources with knowledge of
the investigation have said he is
charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
In federal court, that charge
carries a possible life sentence, if
the defendant is convicted as an
adult. However, in a juvenile case,
a person can only be held until age
21, in most cases.
Teenagers prosecuted as juveniles in federal court do not have
the right to a jury trial, but they also
can't technically be convicted of a
crime — only found delinquent.
Prosecutors are alleging that
Jourdain and Weise had worked on a
plan for more than a year via e-mail
all Weise's
grandfather, steal his weapons and
kill people at the school.
In an interview two weeks ago,
Floyd Jourdain described Louis as
a relatively quiet, easygoing boy
close to his family.
While he would not comment
specifically about next month's
case, Floyd Jourdain said the fate
of his son, who was in school during the shootings, rests on what
was said or discussed in nearly 900
pages of e-mail, instant message
and text-message chats between
Louis Jourdain and Weise.
Those chats were introduced
during a closed hearing in St. Paul
in July to detennine whether the
younger Jourdain should be tried
as an adult.
"It's all about a lot of words,"
TRIAL to page 3
Tribal council      Tribal leader joins fight against meth
suspends leader
Oglala Sioux president
will get hearing on
membership, loan
complaints
The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council suspended President Cecelia
Fire Thunder on Tuesday while a
hearing is scheduled to look into
complaints against her.
The council voted to accept two
complaints against Fire Thunder,
and, according to a tribal ordinance, that results in her immediate suspension, said Lydia Bear
Killer, a council representative
from Pass Creek.
A hearing will be set within 20
days. A judge will hear all sides
of the case and decide whether to
dismiss or accept the complaints.
Fire Thunder said the suspension
is part of the process, and she is
confident there are no grounds to
impeach her.
"Impeaching the president of
a great nation requires greater
charges," she said.
William Birdnecklace Tate, who
served as the tribe's utilities manager from 2001 to 2003, filed a
complaint in August that said Fire
Thunder was not legally enrolled
in the tribe when she ran for president last fall.
"The complaint is all over the
place. It accuses me of not being a
member. I had all my paperwork,"
Fire Thunder said. "I'm just worried that by accepting this complaint without any merit, it opens
the door for any and all complaints
against council members."
Persistent complaints from
OGLALA to page 3
By Mike Stark
The Gazette Staff
Carl Venne's only son lost control ofthe car he was driving three
years ago, killing himself and two
others. The car was traveling at
106 mph, the Highway Patrol said.
Methamphetamine was a factor.
"There's not a day goes by that I
don't think about my son and what
could've been," Venne said.
On Tuesday, the Crow tribal
chairman said he was joining the
advisory council for the Montana
Meth Project in hopes of saving
others the grief he went through.
"If you really think about it, it
doesn't matter what color your
skin is or how rich or poor you
are, meth is going to get to you,"
Venne said. "We all have to fight
this together."
Earlier this year, Thomas
Siebel, a billionaire and part-time
Montana resident, put up $5.6 million for the Montana Meth Project, which produces hard-hitting
advertisements aimed at giving
teenagers a look at the ugly side
of the drug.
The Missoula-based project is
focusing especially on reducing
first-time use.
Venne joins the project's advisory board as the only tribal representative. He has seen the effects
of meth on the Crow Reservation,
where the drug was linked to the
deaths of six young people last
spring, he said, and numerous
other incidents.
"We have a meth epidemic on
our reservation," he said. "I felt
like I had to make a decision to
stand up and talk about it and fight
METH to page 3
Federal judge: Tribal court lacks
jurisdiction in land dispute
Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. - A federal
judge here issued a temporary injunction against the Crow Tribal
Court, preventing it from getting
further involved in a land dispute
between non-tribal members on a
small section ofthe historic Custer
Battlefield.
U.S. District Judge Richard Ce-
bull said the Crow Tribal Court
does not have jurisdiction in the
dispute between the owners ofthe
Fort Custer building in Garyowen
and the Custer Battlefield Preservation Committee, who are locked
in a fight over a gravel parking
lot.
Cebull in his order Friday said
the tribal court does not have
jurisdiction because none of the
parties involved in the dispute
are members of the tribe and the
land at the center ofthe fight is not
tribal land.
"It's clear to me under the law
tribal court doesn't have jurisdiction," Cebull said.
The federal judge noted he also
does not have jurisdiction to settle
the land dispute, an issue he said
should properly be resolved in
state court. Cebull's order only
addresses the issue of whether
the tribal court has jurisdiction,
he said.
DISPUTE to page 5
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Founded in 1988
Volume 18 Issue 19
October 28, 2005
Rod Ariwite, a Lemhi Shoshone who traces his ancestry to Camawaite, Sacajawea's brother is seen
near a portrait of Sacagawea at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005, in Pendleton, Ore. In schoolbooks Lewis and Clark were heroes who explored the unknown that became the
American West. Many of the tribes they came across see it differently. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Cass County
youth shot to
death; two
others wounded
Associated Press
WALKER, Minn. - A 17-
year-old Cass Lake boy died
and two 20-year-olds from
Cass Lake were injured in an
early morning shooting in a
rural area north of Cass Lake
on Friday, the Cass County
sheriff's office said.
Brandon Humphrey was
killed while Shea Fleming
and Charles Croaker were
wounded, the sheriff's office
said. Their conditions were
not immediately released.
The shootings were reported shortly before 6 a.m. There
were no immediate anests.
Investigators from Cass
County, Leech Lake Tribal
Police, Pike Bay Police, Cass
Lake Police and the Bureau
of Criminal Apprehension
were collecting evidence and
interviewing witnesses Friday
evening.
Warroad Ojibwe want government
to recognize their existence
By Tom Robertson
Minnesota Public Radio
WARROAD, Minn. (AP)
- Don Kakaygeesick of Wanoad
beams with pride. He's sitting on
a couch in a trailer home near the
shore of Lake of the Woods, digging through a bunch of files. It's
hard to believe what he pulls from
a plain, white envelope; a faded
document of historic importance.
It was drafted in 1905 and is signed
by then President Theodore Roosevelt.
"This is the original land patent,
giving (land to) our great-grandfather, Kakaygeesick, or otherwise
known as Everlasting Sky," Kakaygeesick said. "And as you can
see, this is the original, because
there's the seal on there. There's
Theodore Roosevelt's signature."
Don Kakaygeesick says the tattered document is a key piece of
evidence. It shows that 100 years
ago, the federal government recognized his Ojibwe community as
Indians. The land grant was one of
two in the Wanoad area that gave
the Indians a total of about 215
acres of land.
What the federal government really wanted at the time was for the
Wanoad Indians to move, either to
the Red Lake or White Earth reservations. But Kakaygeesick says
his ancestors had lived in the Lake
of the Woods region for centuries
and they refused to leave.
The 1905 land deal allowed them
to stay. But it meant they were not
part of a recognized tribe. They
essentially lost their identity as
Ojibwe Indians, at least in the
eyes ofthe federal government.
Today, the federal government
recognizes their land as Indian
land. But it doesn't recognize the
owners of that land as Indians.
The Ojibwe community in War-
road number in the hundreds. There
isn't much left of their original land
grants _ just a six-acre lot on the
shore of Lake of the Woods. It
used to span 100 acres. But a
nearby dam built years ago raised
the level of Lake ofthe Woods and
flooded most of the property.
OJIBWE to page 7
McCain says Indian casino regulations need review
By William Mccall
Associated Press
Sen. John McCain said Monday that gambling regulations
for American Indian casinos
need to be reviewed because an
industry that has grown to nearly
$20 billion in annual revenue on
mostly cash transactions is vulnerable to corruption.
The Arizona Republican noted that tribal casino revenue was
just $500 million a year when the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
was passed in 1988.
"It must be revisited, and we
will," McCain told leaders ofthe
nine main tribes in Oregon during a meeting at Portland State
University.
Several of the tribal leaders
told McCain, who is chairman of
the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, the gambling regulations
are adequate and should not be
changed.
"Once you open those doors,
anything can happen," said De-
lores Pigsley, chairwoman of the
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz
on the Oregon coast.
But McCain was firm in his
response. "We have a difference
of opinion," McCain said. "This
is an industry with a long history
of corruption, so we'll just have to
respectfully disagree."
The senator was more receptive
to tribal concerns about salmon
conservation, reservation land
disputes, health care and forest
management.
McCain, joined by fellow Sens.
Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith of
Oregon, agreed that improvement
in health care was a top priority,
especially for Indian children and
teens. "Too many Native American
teens are falling through the cracks
in the health care system," Wyden
said. "For me, this is a moral blot
on our state."
Smith, whose son committed
suicide as a college freshman in
2003, said he introduced a bill to
help prevent teen suicide, after
the senators noted the rate among
American Indian teenagers is nearly
three times the national average.
Rebecca Miles, chairwoman
of the Nez Perce Tribe, urged the
senators to prevent development of
an RV park near the burial site of
Chief Joseph on Wallowa Lake in
northeastern Oregon.
She noted the property owners,
the K&B Family Limited Partnership, have refused offers to sell the
land to the federal government or
historic preservation groups.
"An RV park on this site is disgraceful and unacceptable from
any point of view," Miles said.
MCCAIN to page 2
Interior Department wins delay of computer
shutdown order
By Jennifer Talhelm
Associated Press ■
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The
Interior Department won a
reprieve Friday from a judge's
order to disconnect from the
Internet all computer systems
with access to accounts it manages for thousands of American
Indians.
In a motion filed in federal courts, officials had said
disconnecting the computers
would cause "massive injury
to the public interest and the
operations of government."
An appellate court on Friday
granted a stay allowing the department to appeal the judge's ruling.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the shutdown on
Thursday, saying the department's
computer security was so bad that
hackers could easily break into the
system and access and manipulate
the Indians' account information.
He directed the department to
disconnect all but those systems
necessary to protect from fire or
threats to life, property or national
security.
Department officials say the or
der would affect as many as 6,000
computers across the country
plus "an undetermined number"
of others with indirect access to
trust infonnation.
Lamberth's order was much
more extensive than his previous opinions, which required the
Bureau of Indian Affairs and other
Indian agencies to go off-line to
protect trust data.
In an almost 10-year-old class-
action lawsuit, American Indians
contend the government has
COMPUTER to page 2