Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2005-12-02

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INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Time to bury
the table
page 4
BIA Secretarial Elections,
Resolutions 70-05
page 5
Youth Violence effects
all reservation wide
page 4
BIA/MCT Secretarial
Election Challenge
page 5
Jourdain plea
leaves many
unanswered
questions
page 4
Minnesota blames MCT for consenting to depriving
tribal members' civil rights
In what has irreverently been
called the new "Separate But
Equal" civil rights case in northern Minnesota, a young, Anishinabe mother's benefits have
been financially sanctioned,(i.
e. she has lost 30% of her Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFTP) benefits) by Aitkin
County for not accepting that
she must use MCT Employment
Services exclusively.
"I may be an Indian, but I live
off-reservation and pay Minnesota taxes like other state and
county citizens who get to use
Aitkin County's MFTP Employment Services" said Buddie
Greene, "it should not be any
different for me."
Greene has been appealing her
denial of Aitkin County's MFTP
Employment Services for nearly
a year. Because of the denial and
loss of benefits, Greene and her
five year old daughter have had
to move back home to Malmo,
Minnesota, with her parents. "My
moving home does create an additional financial burden on my
parents who have other children
still living at home" said Greene.
She added, "when Aitkin County
realized I was living at home
they told me my parents needed
to verify their incomes." Greene
continued, "but that kind of backfired on Aitkin County because
my parents avoid engaging in any
state/county services."
Aitkin County Health and Human Services has insisted that,
because Ms. Greene is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe (MCT), she must use MFTP
services provided by MCT. She
chose not to do so and was punished by the county taking away
30% of her benefits.
Greene has hired attorney Frank
Bibeau in a suit against the Minnesota Department of Human
Services and the Aitkin Count
Health and Human Services.
A hearing has been scheduled
for December 6,2005 at 9:30 AM
at the Aitkin County Courthouse,
Aitkin, Minnesota before the
Honorable Judge John Leitner.
Homeless tour 2005
By Ann Dunn
The Long Hairz Collective and
Annie Humphrey recendy traveled
through mid and northern Minnesota bringing the 6th annual "How
Far is Home" tour to 14 venues in
eight days in November.
The tour was organized six
years ago to benefit the homeless. At that time a small group
of concerned people became
aware of the growing number
of homeless in the Bemidji area.
Bemidji is the hub city of 3 reservations—Leech Lake, Red Lake
and White Earth.
The group was further alarmed
that Native Americans represented
more than 70 per cent ofthe homeless population in area shelters.
As a result, the group informally
organized to present a music event
in Bemidji and in Minneapolis.
All proceeds were donated to the
House of Hospitality, Bemidji, and
Project Offstreet, Minneapolis.
The purpose of the event was
to address the needs ofthe homeless and to increase community
awareness for the homeless and
the conditions they endure.
Tour 2005 was sponsored by Sister Brave Heart Lodge, Inc., a small
co-op operated by Anishinabe
women, co-founded by Humphrey
and her mother, Ann Dunn.
This year the musical benefit
stopped in 8 towns/cities and 3
reservations. The tour also featured the pre-release showings of
"Trudell," a documentary of the
life of poet/activist John Trudell.
As Humphrey's old blue road
truck hurtled across Minnesota,
the Long Hairz took turns riding
in the unheated camper. They
wrapped up in a Pendleton blanket
and a star quilt. They kept warm
by singing, laughing and clapping
hands.
Joe Reilly, 27, has been with the
tour since 2002. When it was his
turn to enjoy the warmth offered
by being in the cramped backseat
of the club cab, he spoke of being
a musician. He said he sometimes
gets caught up in personal issues
and forgets how important it is to
share his music.
"It's not just about me," he said.
"It's about community and Creator, It's my sacred responsibility
to share my gift. It gives me a
chance to provide a different message. To offer another view of the
world, the country, the violence,
the war.
"Social services are under
funded and the war here gets
worse. It still gets cold and there
are still homeless people, domestic
violence and hate crimes."
Brian Babb, 26, works in a San
Diego shelter for youth, ages 14-18.
This is his 3rd time on the tour.
When he thinks about the tour,
he considers the organizations and
the people who will benefit and the
people who make it happen.
"I think of the people who I
will meet on the way and at the
shows," he said. "I think about
us as a family... a road family.
"I think the tour touches people
with compassion and understand-
TOUR to page 5
McCain proposes major amendments to IGRA
Indianz.com
Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)
has proposed a sweeping set of
amendments to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act despite pleas
from tribal leaders not to reopen
the law.
On November 18, McCain
introduced the S.2078, the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act Amendments of 2005. In a floor statement, he said the tribal casino
industry, which has grown by
leaps and bounds over the past 17
years, is due for some changes.
"When IGRA was enacted in
1988, Indian gaming was a $200
million dollar industry," said McCain, the chairman of the Senate
Indian Affairs Committee. "Today, the industry earns $19 billion
a year and is spread throughout the
nation. The amendments reflect
the need to re-evaluate what constitutes appropriate regulation of
this vastly changed enterprise."
The most significant amendment restricts off-reservation
gaming. The bill bars tribes from
moving across state lines to open a
casino, a practice that has become
controversial even though no tribe
has successful in doing so.
The bill also adds a new test to
detennine whether a tribe can conduct gaming on newly-acquired
lands. The Interior Department
must find that a tribe "temporal,
cultural, and geographic nexus" to
the land in question before taking
it into trust.
"These amendments to IGRA
will put an end to the most troublesome of these proposals by
eliminating the authority of the
Secretary to take land into trust
off-reservation pursuant to the so-
called 'two-part determination'"
process, McCain said.
Another significant amendment
comes in response to a federal
court decision that found the National Indian Gaming Commission lacks the authority to issue
and enforce regulations for Class
IU gaming, a lucrative class that
includes slot machines and table
games. In a landmark ruling, a
judge said IGRA left that role
to tribes and states through the
compacting process.
Although the NIGC says the
ruling only applies to the tribe that
initiated the litigation, McCain is
IGRA to page 6
Judge in Indian case holds little back
By Jennifer Talhelm
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth may
have long ago chosen to work in
straight-laced Washington, but he
radiates his love for his home state
of Texas.
The Reagan appointee has been
known to appear at conferences
wearing his 10-gallon hat and a
shirt sewn like the Lone Star State
flag. When he shakes your hand,
friends say, he grips your shoulder
so hard your whole body rocks
back and forth with the movement.
Given his good of boy image
and conservative background,
much has been made about how
Lamberth has handled the case for
which he is best known in Washington these days _ a class-action
lawsuit by thousands of Ameri
can Indians accusing the Interior
Department of mishandling more
than $ 100 billion in royalties from
their lands back to 1887.
The nearly 10-year-old case,
known as Cobell v. Norton, involves the dry question of whether
the government adequately kept
records to show how it handled
money from oil, gas, grazing and
other royalties it has held in trust
•for Indians.
Lamberth's decisions, however,
have been anything but boring.
Fans and detractors alike have
marveled at how this cowboy has
sided with the Indians.
Twice, Lamberth ordered the
department to disconnect its computers from the Internet for failing
to provide adequate security for
the Indians' trust records. He has
held Interior Secretary Gale Norton and her Clinton-era predeces
sor, Bruce Babbitt, in contempt for
their handling of the trust fund.
Often, the Court of Appeals has
reversed Lamberth's opinions,
including the contempt order
against Norton. This month, that
court vacated Lamberth's order
that the government do a detailed
historical accounting ofthe money
it owes the Indians.
The Bush administration has become so frustrated with Lamberth
that it has taken the unusual step
of asking he be removed from the
case.
Lamberth is highly respected as
a judge nevertheless. The Almanac
ofthe Federal Judiciary rated him
"tops in legal ability," but also
warned: "He is no shrinking violet. He can get angry."
In a ruling in July, Lamberth let
JUDGE to page 6
Notah presenting the Native American Cup trophy to Sault team captain Alan Bouschor. Article on page 3.
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Volume 18 Issue 24
December 2, 2005
Twelve year old Quinne Goodwin-Chaffee wins Fancy Shawl Contest and overall first place at the
Detroit Lakes Pow wow last weekend.
Tribe says Abramoff arranged
for Dorgan donation after letter
By John Solomon,
Sharon Theimer
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - New evidence is emerging that the top
Democrat on the Senate committee currently investigating
Jack Abramoff got political
money arranged by the lobbyist
back in 2002 shortly after the
lawmaker took action favorable
to Abramoff's tribal clients.
A lawyer for the Louisiana
Coushatta Indians told The Associated Press that Abramoff instructed the tribe to send $5,000
to Sen. Byron Dorgan's political
group just three weeks after the
North Dakota Democrat urged
fellow senators to fund a tribal
school program Abramoff's
clients wanted to use.
The check was one of about
five dozen the Coushattas
listed in a tribal ledger as being issued on March 6, 2002,
to various lawmakers' campaigns and political causes at
the instruction of Abramoff, tribal
attorney Jimmy Faircloth said.
Many of the recipients were
lawmakers who had just written
letters to the Bush administration or Congress supportive of
Abramoff's tribal causes, documents show.
"I am confident of that fact,"
Faircloth said when asked whether
AbramOff had requested the donations listed in a tribal ledger
obtained by the AP.
The revelation came as Dorgan
took to the offensive Monday,
saying there was no connection
between the $20,000 in donations
he got from Abramoff's firm and
tribal clients in spring 2002 and
a February 2002 letter he wrote
urging the Senate Appropriations
Committee to fund the tribal
school building program.
Dorgan's letter noted that the
Mississippi Choctaw, one of
Abramoff's clients, had suc-
ABRAMOFF to page 3
American Indian-owned armor
plant expects record revenue
By James Macpherson
Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D.-An
American Indian-owned armor plant based in Fort Totten
expects record revenue this
year thanks to the war in Iraq.
Sioux Manufacturing Corp.,
which opened in 1974, will
surpass $20 million in revenue
for 2005, said Carl McKay, the
company's president and chief
executive officer.
The company reported a
record $17 million in revenue
in 2003. Revenue was down
slightly last year because of a
shortage of special fibers used
for the bulletproof material
that protects U.S. troops.
McKay said Dupont Co.'s
Kevlar and similar material
from other manufacturers used
to make body armor are no
longer in short supply.
"That's gone away in the
last few months," McKay
said. Sioux Manufacturing
uses a loom to weave Kevlar fibers
that are used in helmet construction and armor for vehicles. The
company also makes breast plates
for ballistic vests, or flak jackets.
Composite tiles manufactured at
the factory are pieced together to
line interiors of military vehicles,
ships and aircraft.
Sioux Manufacturing has doubled its work force since 2003 to
about 220 workers. It runs three
shifts and has been operating nonstop since the war in Iraq began,
McKay said.
The company is owned by
the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe, on
the Spirit Lake reservation in
northeastern North Dakota. The
tribe also owns a casino and other
manufacturing businesses on the
reservation.
Nearly all employees at the
plant are American Indians.
The tribe, which numbers about
5,000, has several members serv-
REVENUE to page 5
Jourdain enters
guilty plea in
Red Lake case
By Joshua Freed
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS - Red Lake
Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain
Jr. said his teenage son admitted
to using the Internet inappropriately but is not responsible for
the 10 lives lost in last March's
shooting on the reservation.
Louis Jourdain, 17, pleaded
guilty Tuesday to a charge of
"threatening interstate communications" in connection with the
shootings at Red Lake, according
to a docket released by a federal
court in St. Paul.
Two other charges _ conspiracy
to commit murder and conspiracy
to commit offenses against the
United States _ were dropped.
Jourdain was arrested a week
after the. March 21 shooting, and
had been held since then. He was
still in custody on Tuesday, Floyd
Jourdain said.
"The ray of light for us is that
the conspiracy charges against
my son have been dropped, and
he accepts responsibility for his
actions," Jourdain said of his son.
"He admits to his wrongheaded
and inappropriate use of the
Internet, but he does not accept
responsibility for the 10 lives lost
at Red Lake on March 21 because
he is not responsible."
The docket, some of which
had been blacked out, gave few
details ofthe charge, saying only
that Jourdain used a computer to
conduct interstate communications that "could be taken by an
objective observer as threatening" sometime between Jan. 1,
2003 and March 2005.
Most ofthe proceedings involving Jourdain have been closed to
the public because of his age, and
the release of the docket marked
the first time the charges were
even disclosed.
Jourdain was a friend of 16-
year-old Jeff Weise, who killed
his grandfather and the man's
girlfriend, then went to Red Lake
High School where he killed
seven people and himself in the
JOURDAIN to page 3