Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2006-02-24

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Upcoming BIA-IRA-
MCT Constitution
Article V& VI
Elections
page 5
Leech Lake Reader
questions local news
coverage
page 4
■Buck's" Floydian slip, in      Rise, Fall of Red
articles's paragraph 13 Lake Leadership
page 4
page 4
Reservation drug
trafficking attracts the
New York Times
page 4
Drug Traffickers Find Haven in
Shadows of Indian Country
By Sarah Kershaw
New York Times
St. Regis Mohawk Reservation,
N.Y. — He had eluded the authorities for years. Witnesses against him
had mysteriously disappeared. Shots
were fired from his highly secured
compound here last year when the
state pohce tried to close in.
The man, John V. Oakes, like
a fast-rising number of American
Indian drug traffickers across the
country, saw himself as "untouchable," as one senior investigator
put it, protected by armed enforcers and a code of silence that ruled
the reservation.
After he was finally arrested
last May, Mr. Oakes was recorded
from jail talking on the phone
with his estranged wife. "I can't
believe people let this happen to
me," he said, according to Derek
Champagne, the Franklin County
district attorney who listened to
the recorded call. "You can't touch
me. I'm on the reservation, and I do
what I want."
Investigators described Mr.
Oakes as an mtimidating trafficker
who concentrated on stealing
drugs and cash from a prosperous
and growing cluster of criminals
who, like Mr. Oakes, have built
sprawling mansions near worn-
down trailers on this reservation
straddling the Canadian border.
Law enforcement officials say
Mr. Oakes and the drug lords he
is accused of stealing from are part
of a violent but largely overlooked
wave of trafficking and crime that
has swept through the nation's
Indian reservations in recent years,
as large-scale criminal organizations have found havens and allies in the wide-open and isolated
regions of Indian country.
In the eyes of law enforcement,
reservations have become a critical link in the drug underworld.
They have helped traffickers
transport high-potency marijuana
and Ecstasy from eastern Canada
into cities like Buffalo, Boston and
New York, and have facilitated the
passage of cocaine and methamphetamine from cities in the West
and Midwest into rural America.
In some cases, outside drug
gangs work with Indian criminals to distribute drugs on Indian
and non-Indian lands. And on a
growing number of reservations,
drug traffickers — particularly
Mexican criminals — are marrying Indian women to establish
themselves on reservations.
At the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation in northwestern Wisconsin, for instance, several members
of the Latin Kings gang married
Indian women while a tribal offshoot of the gang built a $3 million
crack cocaine ring moving drugs
from Milwaukee into and around
the reservation over the past few
years, prosecutors said.
Increasingly American Indians
are breaking away to build their
own violent, Mafia-like enterprises, according to an examination of dozens of court records
and interviews with more than
John V. Oakes has pleaded guilty to
selling drugs to undercover agents.
50 federal and local prosecutors,
tribal law enforcement officials
and tribal members.
"This is very serious and has
created major problems in the
community," said Clifford Martel,
a former senior pohce investigator
for the Red Lake Nation in northern Minnesota, who was fired in
July and said it was because he
had tried to rid that reservation of
drug traffickers with close ties to
powerful tribe members.
"The amount of drugs was really
impacting that community, our
community, just as if it were Chicago, and big loads were coming
in all the time," Mr. Martel said.
For traffickers of marijuana,
cocaine, methamphetamine, painkillers and people, reservations
offer many advantages. Law enforcement is spotty at best. Tribal
sovereignty, varying state laws
and inconsistent federal interest
DRUGS to page 6
Leech Lake Judge denies TRO
By BUl Lawrence
On Monday, February 20, Leech
Lake Tribal Court Judge Anita
Fineday ruled against a request
for a Temporary Restraining order
(TRO) that would have delayed
the Spring 2006 election process
for the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribes (MCT). In her ruling she
stated the plaintiffs had failed to
show how the Leech Lake Tribal
Council's actions had irreparably
harmed potential candidates. The
LL Tribal Council requires candidates to pay a $50 registration
fee to cover the cost of a criminal
background check in addition to
the nominal fees specified in the
MCT ordinance #10.
Plaintiffs Frank Bibeau, Wallace Storbakken and Ralph Schaaf
had petitioned for a delay of the
election process in order that the
constitutionality of the $50 fee
could be tested. It is their belief
that, since Leech Lake is the only
one of the six MCT bands that is
charging an additional fee, the
LLTC is violating the Uniform
election ordinance required in the
MCT constitution.
They further believe that depriving a candidate from seeking
public office because of undue
financial hardship imposed by a
tribal council constitutes irreparable harm.
Frank Bibeau had filed as a
candidate for District 1 Representative but was not certified by the
ORDER to page 6
WHITE EARTH, LEECH LAKE CANDIDATES CERTIFIED
White Earth Secretary/Treasurer gave notice to The Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe that the following list of candidates has been certified as candidates for the 2006 Primary election. Secretary/Treasurer Arthur "Archie"
LaRose provided the list of certified candidates at Leech Lake.
Candidates certified to run for office at Leech Lake and White Earth are:
WHITE EARTH SECRETARY/TREASURER:
Franklin "Bud" Heisler*
John B. Buckanaga
Luciie'Teedo" Sullivan Silk
Robert Durant
Geraldine "Fuzzy Bellanger
Darryl "Boone" Wadena
Teresa A. "Terri" Thompson
Lori "Queenie" Gellings
Elmer "Gene" Tibbetts
Kenneth R. Fox, Jr.
WHITE EARTH DISTRICT I REP
Irene "Rene" Auginaush
Henry G. Fox
Steven "Punky" Clark
Alfred E. Fox
Don Herchell Goodwin
Nathan LaFriniere
Mary Jane Beaulieu
WHITE EARTH DISTRICT II REP
Anthony "Tony" Wadena
Robert "Hud" Webster
Joe Bush, Jr.
Terrance "Terry" Tibbetts
DelAllen "Del" Bellanger
Monte Malbori
Terry Roy
Larry Olson
Terrance "Amik" Burnette
Harold Alvarado
LEECH LAKE SECRETARY/TREASURER
Burton "Luke" Wilson**
Walter "Frank" Reese
Franklin E. Bowstring
Arthur "Archie" LaRose*
Donnie Headbird
Delores Fineday
Benay Nazhike Fairbanks
Leonard M. "Lenny" Fineday
red K. Jackson, Jr.
LEECH LAKE DISTRICT I REP
James Howard
Robbie M. Howe
Milton Gotchie
Samuel Johnson, Jr.
Mike Brown
Lawrence Gotchie, Sr.
Steven A. Jackson
Sandra Fairbanks
Lewis Bowstring
Gary Charwood
LEECH LAKE DISTRICT II REP
Lyman Losh*
Marlene Mitchell
Bonita Brown Desjarlais
Harry "Jon" Greene
Deborah "Debbie" Tibbetts
* Incumbents
**Current tribal council officer
Girl arrested after Leech Lake
reservation school threat
Associated Press
A 13-year-old girl was arrested
after an alleged threat to carry out
a shooting at the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-
Shig School on the Leech Lake
Indian Reservation, authorities
said Tuesday.
Interim Police Chief Gilbert
Mitchell said school officials
found out about the aUeged plan
after a teacher was given a note
created by the girl about 1:15 p.m.
The note contained "a map and a
detailed description of a premeditated plan for a school shooting,"
according to Superintendent Carol
Aenne.
The girl faces possible criminal
charges.
After the principal and Aenne
were notified, the in-school police officer quickly separated the
girl from other students, and she
was later questioned and arrested,
Mitchell said.
The remaining students were
evacuated from the building after
being told school was closing early because of snowy weather. Radio stations were notified to alert
parents to the early dismissal. The
students boarded buses outside the
district's two major buildings and
were taken home.
Mitchell said he expected the
girl to be charged Wednesday
with making terroristic threats in
Cass County District Court. "At
any point we're going to take it
seriously," he said. "Especially a
note like that."
Authorities believe the girl
acted on her own and that no other
GIRL to page 6
Police investigating death of UND
Native Media Center director
Associated Press
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Police
say the director of the University
of North Dakota's Native Media
Center died after falling out of a
moving car and they arrested a
UND instructor in the incident
Paul V. Boswell, 46, fell out of
the car in Grand Forks about 10:45
p.m. Friday, and died later of his
injuries, police said.
Jenny Saplis, 25, of Grand
Forks, was arrested on a charge of
actual physical control of a motor
vehicle. Police Lt. Rahn Farder
said officers found evidence that
Saplis was in control of the car
while intoxicated, though it was
not moving.
Saplis is listed in the UND
directory as an instructor at the
communications school. Farder
said she had called police to report
Boswell feU out ofthe car. She was
free on $500 bail pending municipal court appearance Thursday.
UND to page 6
Quaderer
sentenced to
16 years
By Bill Lawrence
Richard Allen Quaderer, 20,
was sentenced to 16 _ years
in prison by Beltrami County
District Judge Paul Benshoof on
Tuesday, February 21. Quaderer
pled guilty in January to felony
charges of second-degree murder
in the shooting death of Scott
Lyle Bailey, 25, and first-degree assault for wounding Scott
Wayne Vaughn, 26. The shootings occurred in the early hours
of October 12 at a South Bemidji
convenience store.
Quaderer stated in the criminal
complaint that after a heated discussion in the parking lot, he took
his SKS rifle out of his vehicle
and fired a burst of three rounds
at Scott Bailey's car as it was being driven away. Vaughn was a
passenger in the vehicle.
•' ChristopherMcDonald,23,was
with Quaderer at the time of the
shooting. The discussion in the
parking lot related to testimony
against McDonald, given by a
relative of Baileys, in a drug related court case. McDonald was
not charged in either of the two
shootings.
Judge Benshoof sentenced
Quaderer to 198 months in prison
on the second-degree murder
charge and 122 months in prison
on the assault charge. According
to Beltrami County Attorney Tim
Faver the two sentences will run
concurrently.
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
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Founded in 1988
Volume 18 Issue 34 ^ February 24, 2006
Inspiring our minds to look deeper into what the land has to offer. Featuring photography, paintings, print works and more from regional artists. Indigenous artists exploring landscapes.our
relationships with the land and its voice. We are honored to share works with you from the following artists around the theme of Land Speaks: Joe Allen, Frank Big Bear, Star Big Bear,
Andrea Carlson, Gordon Coons, Lisa Fifield, Dale Kakkak, Patrick Rolo, Jonathon Thunder,
Catherine Whipple. Artist Speak Panel April 21, 4-6pm. Land Speaks Exhibit opens March 2-
April 21 at the Two Rivers Gallery. For more information, www.maicnet.org or Two Rivers Gallery
612.879.1722.
Trust
relationship not
convincing to
Supreme Court
Indianz.Com.
The U.S. Supreme Court
refused to block a small religious group from using a
hallucinogenic tea in a unanimous decision on Tuesday
that included some potentially
hostile language about the trust
relationship.
By an 8-0 vote, with new
Justice Samuel Alito not participating, the court said the
Bush administration failed to
demonstrate why the sect cannot use the leaves ofthe hoasca
plant in ceremonies. The tea
leaves contain an illegal drug
known as DMT, a substance
that is listed under the same
federal law as peyote.
As part of the case, the Department of Justice argued that the
federal Indian trust relationship
provided a basis to allow members of the Native American
Church to use peyote, a hallucinogenic plant, in ceremonies
without violating the law. But
Chief Justice John G. Roberts,
another new arrival on the
court, wrote that the political
status of tribes can't be used to
justify why non-Indians should
be excluded from the same
religious protections.
"If such use is permitted ...
for hundreds of thousands of
Native Americans exercising
their faith, it is difficult to see
how those same findings alone
can preclude any consideration
of a similar ^exception for the
130 or so American members of
the UDV who want to practice
theirs," Roberts wrote in reference to the members of the O
Centro Espirita Beneficiente
COURT to page 3
Red Lake chairman denies
allegations he blocked drug probe
Associated Press
RED LAKE, Minn. - Red Lake
Tribal Chairman FloydJourdain Jr.
angrily denied allegations that he
thwarted investigations into drug
activities on the northern Minnesota reservation, according to a
pubhshed report.
The allegations by a former
tribal law enforcement officer,
reported Sunday in the New York
Times, are "ludicrous... character
assassination and slander by a dis
gruntled former employee" trying
to influence tribal elections in May,
Jourdain told the Star Tribune of
Minneapolis in a story published
on Tuesday. Jourdain said he will
seek another term as chairman.
Clifford Martell, aformer police
investigator at Red Lake, accused
Jourdain of hampering investigations of relatives, friends and political associates, according to the
RED LAKE to page 3
Pine Ridge police captain has
30 years experience
Associated Press
RAPID CITY, S.D. - The new
captain ofthe Oglala Sioux Tribe
Department of Public Safety has
30 years of experience in law
enforcement.
Patrick Mills, 53, is a tribal
member who served in the Army
and then returned to Red Cloud
Indian School in the mid 1970s
to be a coach. He said his brother,
who was on the police force at
the time, encouraged him to try a
career in law enforcement.
"I've been with (law enforcement) ever since," Mills said.
Mills said he now has spent 30
years in the field _ the last 19 as a
Bureau of Indian Affairs criminal
investigator.
Mills has worked on reserva-
POLICE to page 3
Judge advances Chippewa trust
mismanagement case
Four Chippewa tribes who were
awarded $52 million for the loss
of their lands can challenge the
United States for allegedly mismanaging those funds, a federal
judge ruled last month.
In a 55-page opinion that the
Native American Rights Fund is
calling a "stunning victory," Judge
Emily C. Hewitt ofthe U.S. Court
of Federal Claims said Congress
created a fiduciary responsibility
when it appropriated money to pay
the tribes for the loss of 20 milhon acres. She rejected the Bush
administration's attempt to deny
the existence of a trust relationship
and avoid an historical accounting
of the funds.
In two separate proceedings, the
Indian Claims Commission had
awarded the tribes $52 million,
money which was sent to the Treasury Department for the intended
beneficiaries. So there can be no
dispute that such funds are "trust"
funds even if the word "trust" is
not mentioned in the acts of Congress that authorized the award,
Hewitt concluded.
"Both the intent of Congress,"
Hewitt wrote and long executive
branch practice support the conclusion that 'funds appropriated
TRUST to page 3