Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2006-04-14

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Kevin Leecy elected
Vice President,
National Indian
Gaming Association
page 4
People's Right to Know
page 4-5
The Corrupters of
Their Own
page 4
Top 10 Things
Leech Lake voters
heard in the RV on
Election Day
page 4
It's time. Red Lake got
serious and put its
financial house in order
page 4
Debt continues to dominate Red Lake finances
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
In the early 1990s the Red Lake
Band of Chippewa signed their
firstTribal State Compact with the
State of Minnesota and opened a
small casino on tribal land in Warroad, Yin.
In 1992 the Band, taking advantage of the new gaming fad, opened
casinos at Red Lake, on the reservation, and near Thief River Falls.
People were lining up to gamble
despite the poor facilities—an old
fish processing plant in Warroad,
a former humanities center at Red
Lake, and a metal building at Thief
River Falls.
The gambling craze proved to
be quite profitable for the Band
and the earnings grew to as much
as $5 million a year from gaming
operations by the late 90s.
On May 25, 2001, the Band
opened the expanded casino hotel
and water park at the Thief River
Falls location with great fanfare
and celebration, even though it was
only 90-95 percent complete. The
Band had borrowed $27 milhon for
the project, thinking it would be the
financial golden goose that would
attract people to a destination type
facility.
Shortly after the grand opening
of the water park in May of 2001,
construction problems arose and
tribal officials found themselves
scrambling for funds to complete
the project. When the dust settled,
reports came in confirming the
final costs. Some tribal council
and tribal members were outraged
Early reports stated the project was
as much as $10 milhon over the
authorized $27 milhon amount.
The spending of funds over the
authorized amount had never been
reported to the Tribe by Treasurer
Dan King, nor had the overspending been authorized by the full
Tribal Council. The additional
spending seems to have been promoted by a group dubbed the Fab
Four. Dan King was known as the
leader of that group. The Tribe
struggled to cover the $10 milhon
in over-spending.
Under the Fab Four, Dan King
as the driver, the River Road water
park was undertaken despite the
fact that a feasibility smdy had
advised against it. Also during
this time period, King's group was
instrumental in purchasing addi
tional pieces of property, without
due diligence and, in some cases,
obtaining Council approval only
after the fact These purchases included the Sunset Resort at Wask-
ish, the Cherney Property and the
Super 8 Motel in Wanoad as well
as several farm properties.
These acquisitions were made
without any clear purpose or plan,
such as increased income or opportunities for employment for
the benefit of the Tribe. Several
milhon dollars of tribal monies
were invested in these purchases.
Concern stemming from the
over expenditures and the lack of
reporting to the entire Council led
to the removal, by recall, of Treasurer King. He had been the project manager and had progressed
to becoming the project director
as well since circumstances were
such on the Council that he could
get the majority vote.
Although the tribal constitution
allowed for the process, there was
no ordinance authorizing a recall.
Tribal Council passed the necessary ordinance. A recall election
DEBT to page 3
Leech Lake Band General Fund operates in deficit
By Diane White
CASS LAKE, MN-Under
the Freedom of Information Act,
Press/ON requested from the
United States Department of the
Interior (DOI) the most recent
audited financial statements from
all Minnesota Indian tribes. The
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe's
most recent submitted financial
statements are from fiscal year
2003, which covers the time pe-
riodJuly 1,2002 to June 30,2003.
The Leech Lake Tribal Council is
responsible for the management
of the Band's finances.
During 2003 fiscal year, the
Band went through political turmoil with the ousting of the sitting
Chairman Eli Hunt on October
11, 2002. The Acting Chairman
was the District III Representative Richard Robinson, who was
eventually replaced following a
Special Election by Pete White.
The Secretary-Treasurer during
this fiscal year was Arthur "Archie" LaRose. Tlie government
Controller was Veldon Baird.
The District 1 Representative was
Burton "Luke" Wilson, District
II Representative was Lyman
"DeDe" Losh, and District III
Representative was Richard Robinson. The financial statements
were audited by Joseph Eve, CPA
firm located in Billings, Montana
and the audited financial statements were signed by LaRose and
Baird on April 28,2004.
Joseph Eve gave an unqualified status to the funds that were
audited, with a disclaimer that the
financial statements were not in
compliance with certain government standards known as GASB
34, because they did not report
any of the Band's business-type
activities. Therefore, Joseph Eve
reported, "the financial statements
present only the governmental
funds and do not purport to and
do not present fairly the financial
position" of the Band.
The Band's business activities
are audited by McGladrey Pul-
len who have audited the Band's
casino financial statements for
several years.
The 2003 financial statements
report income and expenses (expenditures) in a very camouflaged
manner, as they combine general
types of programs rather than
using informative expense line
items. For example, instead of reporting Payroll, Fringe Benefits,
Travel, etc., the Band reports in
general the total dollar amounts
expended by programs in a generic
fashion. For example, Education,
Economic Development, Pubhc
Safety and so on. The Statement
of Cash Hows was also missing
from the financial statements.
There were no comparisons to the
previous fiscal year. Also missing
were the Long Term Assets and
Long Term Liabilities which can
seriously distort the true financial
statement of the Band.
Despite the skinny audit, Joseph
Eve found and reported numerous
Material Weaknesses and Reportable Conditions in the area of
internal control. They also noted
Reportable Conditions that did
not reach the level of material
weaknesses within the internal
control of federal awards. Therefore, they could not qualify Leech
DEFICIT to page 3
RLTC Certifies
Candidates for May
17 General Election
CHAIRMAN
Floyd 'Buck' Jourdain
Francis 'Chunky' Brun
Judy Roy
Bobby Whitefeather
SECRETARY
Kathryn 'Jody' Beaulieu
Rob 'Bob' Beaulieu
Stuart Desjarlait
Georgia L. Downwind
Preston H. Graves
Eugene D. 'Sonny' Johnson, Jr.
Joyce (Oliver) Roy
James 'Jimmy' White
Donna J. Whitefeather
TREASURER
Darrell G. Seki, Jr.
LaNae Barrett Pemberton
PONEMAH
REPRESENTATIVE
Clifford C. Hardy
Daniel Crowe
Earl Fairbanks
Greg J. Kingbird, Sr.
Rudy Kingbird
Gary L. Nelson, Sr,
Harlan W. Stillday
REDBY REPRESENTATIVE
Julius 'Toady' Thunder
Donald L. Bellanger
Maureen Thunder' Lvons
Rochelle 'Chelle' Parkhurst
Tom 'Jambi' Westbrook
RED LAKE
REPRESENTATIVE
Donald 'Don Dcz' Desjarlait
Steve Bellanger
Geraldine 'Jayc' Brun
Lee Lussier. Jr.
Donna Sumner
LITTLE ROCK
REPRESENTATIVE
William'Billy'Green
Karen Norris-Barrett
Harlan R. Beaulieu
Alice Morgan Benaisc
Gerald W. Blue
Duane G. Cobenais. Jr.
Doug Desjarlait
Arlan W. Jourdain. Sr.
Brian 'Bruno' Jourdain
Chris Jourdain
Charley Norris
Lydell Jon Roberts
Edward 'Beeb' Strong
Native Health Care at Risk: Budget
Cuts Threaten Urban Natives
By Jean Pagano
Three urban Natives from
Detroit have filed a class-action
suit against the federal government over the President's fiscal
year 2007 budget. In that appropriation, the Administration
eliminates the entire budget for
urban Native health programs.
The savings that these cuts provide will be $33 million.
The plaintiffs claim that the
American Indian Health and
Family Services of Southwestern
Detroit clinic is already under
funded and that this situation is
in violation of treaties and various
federal laws. According to the De-
troitFree Press, 75% of the 40,000
Native Americans in the Detroit
area lack health insurance.
This clinic in Detroit, like many
of the 34 nationwide urban Native
health clinics, faces a cutback of
vital funding and potential closure
due to the draconian measures
proposed by the FY 2007 budget.
According to the 2000 Census,
nearly 70% of Native Americans
live in urban areas. By eliminating the funding for these vital
health services, many may have
lost their only avenue to health
care. Currendy, the Urban Indian
Health Program accounts for
1% of the Indian Health Service
(IHS) budget.
The National Council of Urban
Indian Health claims that the
Urban Indian Health Programs
(UIHPs) "provide unique and
non-duplicable assistance to
Urban Indians who face extraordinary barriers to accessing
mainstream health care." The
UIHPs overcome cultural barriers since Natives are reluctant to
HEALTH to page 6
Evil Anishinabe Godfather in
South Mpis: The Windigoo
By Vincent Hill
The traditional Ojibwe of 'Olden Time' were very superstitious,
according to white Christian missionaries, during first Christian
contact by white Europeans. The
large Ojibwe tribe, along with
cousin Algonquin tribes, occupied
the northeastern Seaboard, including the Great Lakes region, both
in the United States and Canada.
Before white European contact
in tlie 1400s, I estimate our Algonquin Anishinabeg population to
have been around 2 milhon souls;
the Algonquin stock of Indians,
even, extended down to Florida,
and into the Caribbean islands.
The root word caribe in Spanish.
comes from Carib 'Galibe' the
Caribs and; fascinatingly, caribe
(karcba) refers to the piranha fish
('caribe' cannibal); Caribou, of
course, is well known to be Canadian French, derived from Algon-
kian 'xalibu' meaning pawer, the
habit of the animal pawing snow
to find it's food, or grass.
The Carib language family
extended into northeastern South
America: Guiana, northern Brazil,
Venezuela, parts of Columbia and
Peru; also found in Central South
America and the West Indies.
While the Woodland Anishinabeg
religion in die eyes of white Eu
ropeans was devoid of an abstract
God, yet the midewiwin religion
known, as the Grand Medicine,
or Secret Society, was highly
developed. The 'savages' even
dealt with separation of church
& government ( state ) issues.
The Anishinabeg truly knew
and practiced democratic forms
of government, in contrast to
bureaucracies, possibly, good for
immediate progress, but creating
a disconnect with people!
No religion in this world is
perfect, of course; the problem
with Anishinabeg, and other
indigenous religions is that, emphasis, often, was on the dark
side of what they knew of the
spirit world. The WINDIGOO is
a mythical cannibal giant of the
Ojibwe. The Canadians have a
psychiatric classification called
the WINDIGOO psychosis.
I some times wonder, if the
'you know Anishinabe Godfather' character present in every
profit and nonprofit meeting in
Mpis, pertaining to funding for
Anishinabeg, is the WINDIGOO
incarnate, or at least, in spirit.
This evil man continues to control
directly, or indirecdy, any and all
funding for Anishinabeg, at the
Little Earth Housing complex,
WINDIGOO to page 3
web page: www.press-on.net
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Founded in 1988
Volume 18 Issue 42
April 14, 2006
Women's grand entry at the recently concluded Denver Pow Wow. Quinne Chaffee is
on the right of last years Pow Wow princes - leading the entry. Quinne did a great job
competing in the fancy shawl division and was honored with 4th place."
Meth takes a
toll on Indian
reservation
housing
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - LeahFyten
believes that every family on her
South Dakota reservation has
been affected by methamphetamine use.
The drug has torn apart these
families, led to increases in
crime and bumped mortality
rates. And now, die director of
the Flandreau Santee Sioux
Housing Audiority says, it's affecting the reservation's already
desperate housing situation.
Housing is not only ruined
by meth labs, which are highly
poisonous and often difficult to
spot, but also by the destructive
habits that often accompany
drug use. The housing authority
on the Flandreau reservation has
spent coundess dollars fixing
up holes in the walls, broken
windows, ruined appliances and
other damage wrought by bad
hygiene and tlie violent habits
of drug users, Fyten said.
"We have a small budget
that decreases every year and
famdies are growing," she said.
~ Housing gets worse every year.
And to try to repair houses that
are damaged by alcohol and
drug abuse puts a strain on your
budget."
Last year, Fyten and others
recruited Jay Barton to help
alleviate the problem. Barton,
an Oklahoma police officer
who also works for the National American Indian Housing
Council, is traveling around the
country teaching tribal housing
officials what the drug does and
how to spot it. Fyten and others
say the council's seminars arc
breaking through in communities that have so far ignored and
denied the problem, helping
reservations lessen meth's collateral damage.
Barton likes to say he is
shocking his students out of
complacency.
"The response has been tremendous," he said. "Especially
with the funding cuts that tribes
have received, this is really important."
Barton teaches his students
all about the drug _ its effects,
origins, market and chemistry.
He shows them photos of users
with their teeth rotting out and
tells them about the drug's poisonous effect on cliildren who
come anywhere near it.
Statistics on Indian meth
use are scarce, but a Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Ser-
METH to page 2
Tribal chairman: Judges not
discriminated against
By Blake Nicholson
Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D. - The
chairman of the Standing Rock
Sioux says the tribe did not discriminate against three female
judges who were fired, and will
fight their lawsuit in court.
"There are two sides to every
story," Chairman Ron His Horse
Is Thunder said Wednesday.
"Now, since they've stepped into
court, that's probably where well
end up going."
The three female judges have
filed separate complaints in Tribal Court against the chairman and
Tribal Councd members, alleging among other things gender
discrimination and wrongful
removal. Lorrie Miner, Lola
Agard and Leslie Temple-Gipp
seek unspecified damages and
have asked for a jury trial.
Jonathan Sanstead, attorney
for the judges, said il appears
they were forced out for their
views on separation of powers.
"Their position was, "We are
a separate branch ... we should
not be subject to the influence of
the Tribal Council. We should be
able to make reasoned decisions
without pressure from the Tribal
Councd,'" Sanstead said.
His Horse Is Thunder said
the reason for the dispute was
"simply money." He said when
negotiations broke down the
judges were expected to remain
on the job but did not, wliich was
grounds for removal.
His Horse Is Thunder said die
difference in money between
the two sides "wasn't a huge
amount." The court complaints
allege that the tribe's offer was
as much as a 23 percent decrease
from the existing pay in the case
of Agard.
The female judges point out
JUDGE to page 2
Group revives idea of an American
Indian embassy in Washington
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS - A Minnesota group is reviving the idea
of having an American Indian
embassy in Washington, D.C.
The Shakopee Mdewakanton
Sioux Community, which owns
the Mystic Lake Casino, has put
up $ 1 million in challenge grant
to buy a building on the Massachusetts Avenue _ known as
"Embassy Row." The goal is to
raise $12 million dollars to buy
the building to house the National Congress of American Indians
_ the nation's oldest American
Indian advocacy organization.
Supporters said having an
Embassy of Tribal Nations in
the country's capital will help
recognize the reality of Indian
sovereignty.
Vernon Bellecourt and other
American Indian Movement
leaders from Minnesota floated
the idea when they occupied
the Bureau of Indian Affairs in
Washington in 1972.
Bellecourt said he is glad to
see it being revived, as long as
"it does something for Indian
people and it's not just another
building with a name."
So far, the idea has received
the biggest support in Minnesota.
The Prairie Island Sioux Community, owners of the Treasure
GROUP to page 2
Government argues for removal
of judge from Indian case
By Jennifer Talhelm
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - U.S. District Judge Royce I.amberth has
raised many an eyebrow with his
adjective-laden opinions in favor
of the thousands of American
Indians suing the government
for mismanaging billions of their
dollars.
On Tuesday, an appeals court
panel was asked to decide whether
his rulings show he is too biased
to continue with the 10-year-old
lawsuit
"Itis exceptionally rare for us to
make this request we arc making
today, and we make it urgendy,"
Assistant Attorney General Peter
Keisler said, arguing that Lamberth should be removed from the
case to " restore the appearance of
fairness."
Lamberth, a Texas native and
Reagan appointee, is well known
for speaking his mind and setting
high standards for the government
when it appears in his courtroom.
' Observers of the Indian tnist
case _ called Cobell v. Norton _
have said that after hearing years
of arguments about the more than
$100 billion in oil, gas, timber
and other royalties Indians claim
the government mishandled since
1887,1 xunberth's frustration with
CASE to page 2
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