Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2006-02-17

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
NEWS BRIEFS
2
3
Lack of leadership
at Red Lake
Band calls for change in
how Tribal membership
is determined
Indian Health Services
problems at White Earth
Downfall of...
society...has always
been...moral decay
Leech Lake Trials,
Tribulations (and
cover-ups)
. COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 5
page 4
page 4
page 4
page 4
Leech Lake Assistant Chief of Police gets plea agreement
By Bill Lawrence
Leech Lake Tribal Assistant Police Chief Alvin John
Wind avoided a full-blown trial
Wednesday, February 15, when
he plea-bargained to the lesser of
two charges of 4th and 5th Degree
Criminal Sexual conduct, called
an Alford Plea. This allows a defendant to claim innocence while
admitting that there is sufficient
evidence that he could be found
guilty.
In Cass County District Court
in Walker, Minnesota, Wind pled
guilt to a Gross Misdemeanor
charge. Judge John Roue of
Crookston replaced Cass County
District Judge John Smith. Due
to a scheduling problem Judge
Smith was unable to continue
with the case.
In April 2005, a complaint
signed by Cass Lake Prosecuting
Attorney Earl Maus, states that
John Wind, the defendant, "did
engage in non-consensual sexual
contact...on or about January 1,
2005."  After several postpone
ments the case was finally scheduled for trial this month.
From what we've been able to
learn about the case, Wind's plea
agreement will eliminate any jail
time. Whether he will be required
to register with authorities as a
sex offender will depend on the
Judge's sentencing. These matters will be decided in six to eight
weeks after Wind has undergone
a court-required sexual offender
and chemical dependency evaluation. Final sentence is stayed
pending the outcome of these
evaluations. Depending on the
outcome, the judge could refuse
to accept the plea bargain.
The Police Officers Standards
and Testing (POST) Board will
review Wind's right to carry a
firearm and his status as a peace
officer after the sentencing.
Throughout the year-long period between the formal filing of
charges and a trial, Wind has been
permitted by Leech Lake tribal
officials to continue in his position as Assistant Police Chief. A
memo exists, dated 4/7/05 from
the Leech Lake Executive Director to former Chief Steven Day
that advises that Wind had been
placed on administrative leave.
Day was formally advised not to
permit Mr. Wind to work in any
"administrative role or in a capacity in which he is a representative
of the Leech Lake Tribal Police
Department."
The Executive Director requested that Day notify him,
in writing by 5/13/05, that the
items on the directive had been
completed. None of the details
of the memo were observed and
Wind continued to carry a badge,
and a gun and enjoyed all the entitlements of the assistant police
chief position.
Press/ON spoke with the victim before press time. She reported that she had agreed to the
plea bargain. She said she wasn't
interested in revenge, simply in
seeing that Mr. Wind would be
held accountable for his actions.
Spring 2006 election process begins on all seven
Minnesota Chippewa Reservations
By Bill Lawrence
The Candidate filing period for
the Spring 2006 MCT election
at Leech Lake Reservation has
closed. Eleven individuals have
filed for the Secretary/Treasurer
position; thirteen have fded for the
District I spot; five have filed to
run for District II representative.
Secretary/Treasurer candidates
are: Burton "Luke" Wilson,
Walter "Frank" Reese, Franklin
E. Bowstring; Arthur "Archie"
LaRose (incumbent); Wallace W.
Storbakken; Donnie Headbird;
Delores Fineday; Benay Nazhike
Fairbanks;,Leonard M. "Lenny"
Fineday and Fred K. Jackson, Jr.
District I candidates are: James
Howard; Robbie M. Howe; Milton Gotchie; Samuel Johnson, Jr.;
Mike Brown; Lawrence Gotchie,
Sr.; Steven A. Jackson; Frank
Bibeau; Sandra Fairbanks; Lewis
Bowstring; Gary Charwood.
District II candidates are: Lyman Losh {incumbent); Marlene
Mitchell; Bonita Brown Desjar-
lais; Harry "Jon" Greede; Deborah
"Debbie" Tibbetts.
At the White Earth Reservation,
twenty-eight persons have filed for
three positions that will be open,
the position of Secretary/Treasurer
and Representatives for Districts
1 and 2. Incumbents Secretary/
Treasurer Franklin "Bud" Heisler,
District 1 Committee person Irene
"Rose" Auginaush and District
2 Committee person Anthony
"Tony" Wadena have all filed for
re-election. All three are being
challenged in the spring election.
The names of the other candi
dates have been withheld until
each has passed a background
check and been officially certified
to run.
The background check will be
the first implemented after the recent adoption, in November 2005,
of an amendment to the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe (MCT) constitution that prohibits elected officials
from any of the six member tribes
from taking office if s/he has ever
been convicted of a felony, or a
lesser crime involving theft, misappropriation or embezzlement of
tribal funds, assets or property.
Additionally, the MCT has adopted the requirement that all
candidates for elective office in
any tribe must be members of that
tribe, be twenty-one years old and
have been a resident on that reservation for at least one year prior to
the election.
Gary Padrta, tribal public relations officer, expected certification
of White Earth candidates to be
completed by mid-week.
Primary elections are scheduled for April 4 for all six MCT
bands. The top two vote getters
will then stand for a general election on June 13.
The Red Lake Band of Chippewa election for the 3 officers
and 4 district representatives will
be May 17, 2006.
The positions held by Floyd
"Buck" Jourdain, Chair; Judy Roy,
Secretary; and Darrell G. Seki,
Sr., Treasurer, will all be open.
The terms of incumbent District
Representatives Clifford C. Hardy
(Ponemah), Julius "Toady" Thun
der (Redby), Donald E. Desjarlait
(Red Lake) and William Greene
(Little Rock) will also be up for
election.
Candidates must be: 25 years
of age and meet the one year
residency requirement; never have
been convicted of a criminal offense (nor be under indictment),
never have been removed from
tribal council office (for any reason); and must pay an appropriate
filing fee ($150 for each officer
position and $75 for each District
Representative position). Further
they must file in writing, and provide certification they have never
been convicted of a felony or ever
been removed from tribal council
office. A notary pubhc must sign
the filing documents.
The filing period opens March 3
and closes at 4:00 p.m. March 18,
2006. Existing tribal regulations
do not permit write in candidates.
Candidates must win a majority
of the votes in order to win; if
there is not a clear majority, tribaK
ordinance provides that the two
top vote getters will proceed to a
run-off election, the date for which
is set by the Tribal CouncU. Successful candidates will take office
July 23. In the event of a run-off
election, the successful candidate
wdl take office August 2,2006.
To be eligible to vote, individuals
must be 18 years of age and be
residents of Red Lake Reservation. Voters are required to vote
in their district of residence. There
are provisions for absentee voting.
Contact Tribal Council Secretary
for details.
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
web page: www.press-on.net
Native
American
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2006
Founded in 1988
Volume 18 Issue 38 3'^ February 17, 2006
As part of the Timberwolves celebration of Native American Heritage Night, Post 2001 from Leach
Lake (in blue) and the White Earth Veterans Association (in camouflage) presented the colors
before the Timberwolves game against the Seattle Sonics on Feb. 15.
Minnesota Educational Program Faces Elimination
Under Bush's 2007 Budget
By Jean Pagano
President Bush's 2007 budget
calls for the elimination of $16
million of funding for the Johnson
O'Malley program, which is used
to provide tutoring, counseling,
and other services to Native
children in public schools. If the
President has his way, this program will be terminated.
While the funding request for
the FY 2006 budget for Johnson
O'Malley was $8 million, the
enacted amount of funding for the
program amounted to $16 million,
double what the White House had
originally requested.
The Office of Management and
Budget's (OMB) report states
that 93% of all Native students
attend public schools, compared
to the 48,000 that attend Bureau
of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools.
This fact alone would seem to
be a justification for keeping this
program, especially in light of
President Bush's commitment
to leave no child behind. Yet,
the OMB report claims that "the
state public schools have other
sources for funding for activities
funded by the Johnson O'Malley
grants."
The Johnson O'Malley program
in Minnesota has a mission statement which claims that it "is to
address the unique cultural needs
of American Indian students attending the Minneapolis Public
Schools through a supplemental
program of services planned,
developed and approved by the
Local Indian Education Committee."
To receive Johnson O'Malley
(JOM) funds, the Minnesota
Public School District contracts
with BIA. The guidelines for
JOM allow for programs to be
developed to meet local needs.
There are two main requirements
under the Johnson O'Malley Act
which assure parent participation
and control. These are the Indian
Education Committee and the
Education Plan.
The Local Indian Education
Committee (LIEC) is an elected
governing body that is made up
of parents of eligible Native students who will be served under
the contract. Legal guardian and
parents of adopted children may
also serve on the LIEC as long as
they are neither school officials
nor school administrators. According to tribal regulations, each
LIEC should be comprised of at
least five members and no more
than eleven members.
The Education Plan outlines a
program to meet the educational
needs of Native students, which
are often different than those of
other public school smdents. The
Educational Plan is developed as
a joint effort between the school
district and the LIEC. This document identifies the needs of the
Native student, specifies the
goals and objectives that are to
be attained, and outlines the pro-
BUDGET to page 3
Navajo herbalist combines the best of her two worlds
By Levi J. Long
Arizona Daily Star
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - As a
Navajo herbalist and entrepreneur,
Virginia Boone has learned to
walk a fine line.
In her youth, Boone learned
Navajo traditions and language
while living with her famdy off
the reservation.
Today she's learning how to
balance a career as the head of a
traditional Navajo healing herb
company, based in Marana, without compromising family and
tribal traditions.
"We were taught at a young age
about our connection to the Earth
and to the plants," said Boone, 50,
owner of Medicine of the People
LLC, which makes all-natural
healing balms and herbal spa products. "We also learned to respect
their medicinal qualities."
With her father's teachings,
Boone and her siblings spent their
childhood and teen years learning about the healing qualities of
plants and herbs found throughout
northern Arizona.
The Boone famdy hved near the
Navajo Army Depot, now known as
Camp Navajo, in Bellemont, outside
Flagstaff. Weekend visits and summer vacations were spent with relatives on the Navajo Reservation.
Though traditions were emphasized, education was also highly
regarded in the Boone household.
"The idea was to remain modern and educated. But my mom
and dad were adamant about learning Navajo teachings and beliefs,"
Boone said. "Language was key.
That was the one thing my parents
did not want us to lose."
Boone has parlayed a long-held
famdy tradition into selling a line of
products that include sage-lavender
massage oils, peppermint foot balms,
conditioning hair ods, white-sage
creams and sore-joint salves.
The products are sold at local
guest ranches, museums, cultural
centers and regional gift shops,
including a few at Sky Harbor
International Airport in Phoenix.
Using ljerbs and plants found on
the Navajo Reservation, Boone,
along with her partner Leonard
Marcus, create the products at
their home. The company incorporated in 2004.
Product growth started to pick
up last summer, due in part to a
new marketing plan, redesigned
packaging and an updated Web
NAVAJO to page 5
U.S. Attorney
Heffelfinger,
after Red Lake
probe, to resign
By AMY FORLITI
Associated Press Writer
MINNEAPOUS (AP) _ U.S.
Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, just
weeks after wrapping up his
investigation into the worst U.S.
school shooting since Columbine,
announced Tuesday that he wdl
step down at the end ofthe month
and return to private practice.
Heffelfinger, who was appointed to the post shortly after
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
said he was stepping down for
personal and family reasons.
While the shooting at Red Lake
High School was not a reason
for his departure, he said, the
case did play a role in the timing of it.
v^It was very clear to me
personally that I was not going
to quit this job until after I met
with the victims of the tragedy,"
he said. "This was a very difficult decision."
Heffelfinger oversaw his
office's investigation into the
March 21 shooting that claimed
10 hves on the Red Lake Indian
Reservation in far northern
Minnesota. Just two weeks
ago, Heffelfinger presented the
findings of his investigation to
victims' family members and
some tribal officials.
Heffelfinger was criticized
by some families for not sharing more information about the
investigation.
Although he did not make
the findings public, relatives
who heard the presentation said
Heffelfinger told them as many
as 39 people had some sort of
advance warning of 16-year-
old Jeff Weise's plans to open
fire at Red Lake High School.
Weise killed nine people on the
reservation, including seven at
the high school, before taking
his own life.
The only person prosecuted
was Louis Jourdain, 17, the
son of the tribal chairman. The
teen admitted to exchanging
threatening communications
with Weise.
The reservation is a sovereign
nation, so crimes committed
there are tried in federal court,
rather than by state authorities.
Heffelfinger said he worked
hard to address issues on the reservation such as famdy violence,
Indian gaming and gangs and
drugs. When he returns to private
practice, he plans to focus on
Indian law, among other things.
This was Heffelfinger's second stint as U.S. Attorney;
RESIGN to page 3
FEC official seeks to rein in tribal
political donations
Indianz.com.
A Republican lawyer who
played a key role in approving
a redistricting plan engineered
by Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas),
under scrutiny for his ties to Jack
Abramoff, is going after tribes in
his new position at the Federal
Election Commission.
Hans von Spakovsky, the newest member of the FEC, posted a
statement on the agency's web site
this week that called on Congress
to rein in tribal political donations.
He said tribes are exploiting a
"loophole" in the Federal Election
Campaign Act (FEC A) that adows
them to contribute an unlimited
aggregate amount to politicians
and political action committees.
"The main excuse given for not
applying the FECA restrictions
to Indian tribes is that they are
'sovereign' governments," von
Spakovsky wrote in his two-page
statement
"That status gives them the
right to impose tribal laws on their
members and on their reservations," he continued. "But when
they leave tribal lands, they have
to abide by the same laws and
regulations that apply to everyone
else - and that should be particularly true when they participate in
political campaigns that affect how
all citizens are governed."
In taking a stand on what has
become a hot issue in Washington,
von Spakovsky broke with his fellow commissioners, who voiced
support for tribal sovereignty
principles at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing last week.
FEC chairman Michael Toner and
vice chairman Robert Lenhard
FEC to page 5
Yakamas complain about tribal
court, take cases to federal court
Associated Press
TOPPENISH, Wash. - Several
Yakama Nation tribal members
who allege they were wrongfully
fired from tribal jobs have taken
their cases to federal court amid
mounting frustration with the
tribal court system.
Long delays and the lack of a
tribal appellate court prompted
the recent filing of three cases
in Spokane federal court, said
Moses Lake attorney Ted Mahr,
who is representing several tribal
members seeking back pay and
job reinstatement.
In one case, Mahr said, tribal
plaintiffs waited nearly four years
before finding out that their case
was being dismissed.
"None of it needed to go to federal court, but when tribal court is
unresponsive, then what do you
do?" Mahr said. "If they just treat
their members accordingly, none
of this would be happening. We
wouldn't be in court."
Mahr said he's also filing civil-
rights lawsuits against the tribal
court system for not following its
own procedures.
The cases follow a report last
fall from the National Indian
Justice Center that revealed the
tribal court suffered from daily
breaches of confidentiality and
security, conflicts of interest, a
mounting backlog of cases and
the lack of any appeals process.
According to the report, the
tribal court wasn't handling appeals, though it did accept the $80
filing fees for them.
The report also noted that these
COURT to page 3
Nez Perce youth reclaim bison
hunting tradition; first in 140 years
By Tim Woodward
The Idaho Statesman
GARDINER, Mont. - The
wind was blowing so hard it was
all Coty Reuben could do to stay
upright on a snowy hillside in
the Gallatin National Forest. He
peered down the barrel of his father's .300 Magnum Ruger, took
five deep breaths and squeezed
the trigger.
"It seemed like the wind was
about to blow me over," he said
as swirling snow hid the peaks
in a valley of heart-stopping immensity. "There was so much
adrenaline I had to wait to make
sure my hands didn't shake. I
wanted to make sure I got a good
shot."
The shot wasn't merely good;
it was historic. When he drew
his fifth deep breath and pulled
the trigger Feb. 4, the 17-year-old
became the first Nez Perce Indian
in 140 years to shoot a buffalo in
one ofthe tribe's ancestral hunting
areas.
Last fall, the state of Montana
opened its first hunt in 15 years
of bison leaving the park. Thousands of hunters applied for 50
licenses, but that isn't why the
Nez Perce are here. They don't
need licenses.
BISON to page 5