Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2006-06-02

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
MCT flight
to Know
page 6
To the People
page 5
Fond du Lac
Committeeman
Candidate requests
your support
page 4
Lukey's Big Giveaway
to All Leech Lake
Board Members
page 4
The Mojaves
prosper by
balancing values
of two cultures
page 4
Recount of
election results
at Red Lake
shows little
change
By Bill Lawrence
The Red Lake Band of
Chippewa Indian General
Election Board conducted
a recount of ballots on May
31, 2006. The recount was
requested by Chairman Floyd
"Buck" Jourdain who cited
issues involving availability
of official ballots incorrectly
posted hours
In the new count, Jourdain
and Bobby Whitefeather each
gained 3 votes. Judy Roy
gained one vote and Francis
"Chunky" Brun's vote remained unchanged.
For results, go to page 6.
Extended State, Federal investigation
results in conviction of White Earth,
Red Lake drug dealers
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
U.S. Attorney's Press Release
Minneapolis - For over fifteen
years, David Bower managed a
sophisticated cocaine distribution
operation on the White Earth and
Red Lake Indian reservations.
Today Bower was sentenced in
U.S. District Court to 150 months
in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiring to
distribute and possessing, with
the intent to distribute, cocaine.
Bower was sentenced by U.S.
District Judge Michael J. Davis
in Minneapolis.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Hollenhorst commented,
"Bower was one of the most
significant drug distributors in
the history of the White Earth
Indian Reservation. His sentenc
ing, and those of his suppliers and
distributors, has put a notable
dent in drug trafficking activities
on the White Earth and Red Lake
Indian reservations."
Bower's drug conspiracy
stretched back to the early
1990s and continued until he was
charged by a federal grand jury in
May of 2005. Bower admitted in
court that during the conspiracy,
he obtained multiple kilograms
of cocaine from suppliers in the
Twin Cities area. Then, using a
network of couriers and low-level
sellers, including juvenile family
members as young as ten years of
age, he distributed the drugs on
the White Earth and Red Lake
Indian reservations.
RESULTS to page 3
Leech Lake's Assistant Police Chief Wind jailed
By Diane White
CASS LAKE, MN-On May
20,2006, an early Saturday morning at bar closing time, Bemidji
Police Officer Charlie Dolson
patrolled the Bemidji downtown
area where he noticed a black
vehicle jerking its way out of a
parking space about one-half block
away. The nearest bar was the Hard
Times Saloon & Bar according to
Incident report filed and the driver
of the vehicle turned out to be
Alvin John Wind, Jr., the Leech
Lake Band of Ojibwe's Assistant
Police Chief. Dolson noticed the
black vehicle struggled to get out of
the parking space nearly hitting the
car next to it and so continued to
observe the vehicle's path. Dolson
noticed the vehicle was a Black
Avalanche and it crossed over the
center yellow line only once, but
had continued to weave back and
forth in its lane as it traveled north
on Bemidji Avenue.
Dolson pulled the vehicle over
and as he came closer to the driver
he recognized him as Leech Lake's
Assistant Pohce Chief John Wind.
Dolson could smell a strong odor
of alcohol emanating from within
the vehicle and saw that Wind's
eyes were bloodshot. There were
no other apparent signs of intoxication on Wind, but the passengers
appeared to be very intoxicated
according to the police report.
Wind denied drinking any alcohol,
but admitted to being in the Hard
Times Saloon & Bar where he
drank "only pop."
Dolson asked Wind if he was on
probation or whether he had conditions of release. According to the
report, Wind stuttered and sounded
nervous as he told Dolson, he was
not on probation until June and
that the court did not place any
conditions of release upon him
when he was Released on Personal
Recognizance (RPR'd). Dolson
checked with the Beltrami County
Dispatch to verify the answers
and the dispatcher was unable to
find through their computers any
conditions of release for Wind. A
former Cass County Sheriff's dep
uty, Dolson thought it was highly
unusual to release an individual
awaiting criminal sentencing
without conditions and had heard
through casual conversations with
Cass County law enforcement
officials that Wind, a well-known
and high ranking police official
had been RPR'd with at least one
condition—to refrain from alcohol
consumption.
During the stop, Wind was
requested to submit to a Portable
Breathalyzer Test (PBT), which
he did. It took three attempts to
properly blow long enough into
the PBT to obtain a reading. Wind
blew a .045 despite his initial answer to Officer Dolson that he had
only drunk pop while he visited the
Hard Times Saloon & Bar earlier
that evening. After Dolson showed
Wind the results ofthe PBT, Wind
admitted he lied about drinking
alcohol.
Prior to the PBT, Dolson reported
he wrote the pohce report number
WIND to page 7
Prairie Island gaming revenues soar in 90s
By Diane-Whit
BEMIDJI, MN-Under the
Minnesota Data Practices Act,
Press/ON received audited financial statements of the Treasure
Island Resort & Casino for the
years 1992 through 1997 from the
state of Minnesota.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, Press/ON also received
from the U.S. Department of Interior, the most recent governmental
audited financial statement ofthe
Prairie Island Community.
Bill Lawrence, owner/editor of
the Press/ON joined the lawsuit
between Prairie Island and the
Minnesota Department of Pubhc
Safety to gain access to Indian
casino financial statements. These
statements were held as private
infonnation because they purportedly held trade secrets. However,
the Tribes lost their case to keep
gaming information a secret.
The 1992 Treasure Island Bingo
& Casino financial statements
were audited by Erickson, Riet-
mann, Welsch & Roufs, Ltd. and
indicated these statements do not
present fairly the financial position of the Community, because
they only reflect gaming activity.
Given that, the financial statements do present fairly the gaming
operations.
From 1993 through 1997,
GrantThornton, (a Minneapolis
accounting firm) completed the
audits and in each year gave Treasure Island financial statements a
good review, meaning, the statements do present fairly in all material respects the financial position
of the gaming operations.
In 1995, a letter from Grant-
Thornton surfaces with internal
control concerns. In the area of
payroll, GrantThornton noted that
time cards are printed and signed,
but were not verified to the hours
which were downloaded into the
ADP payroll system. In the area of
Vault Accountability, they noted
vault personnel did not properly
record ATM cash fills and recommended a new procedure for
counting and filling the canisters
and applying a signed strap to
indicate the dollar amount. In the
area of player tracking, they recommended an independent party
to reconcile the player points.
Between 1992 and 1997, the
number of slot machines grew
from 1,200 to 1,480 while the
Blackjack tables remained stable
with approximately 50 tables.
Their Bingo hall seats 500 customers. They had 1 restaurant, 1 lounge
and 1 banquet facility. In 1997,
they opened a 240 bed hotel.
According to the 2006 Treasure
Island Resort & Casino website,
they now boast 2,500 slot machines, 44 blackjack tables, bingo
hall, lounge, hotel, and restaurant.
Press/ON estimates the casino net
income has doubled since 1997
based upon the additional slot
machines and the popularity of
gaming in the State.
There are more factors that
make up net income. Revenues
and expenses are two important
components shown in Chart 1:
Revenue/Expense Trend 1992-
1997 where revenues grow over
the years and expenses remain
fairly steady over the years.
From the Balance Sheet, one
notices the Cash account has
made some giant leaps from one
year to the next and shrunk quite
REVENUE to page 5
Mashantuckets appoint former        Assembly fails
hotel executive as Foxwoods chief   to override
Associated Press
MASHANTUCKET, Conn. _
The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal
Nation has appointed a former
hotel executive as president of
Foxwoods Resort Casino, the
tribal nation announced.
John A. O'Brien, who held
management posts at Hilton
Hotels Corp., will succeed William Sherlock as president of
Foxwoods Resort Casino. Sher
lock announced his retirement
in March after nine years with
Foxwoods.
He served as president and
chief executive for six years.
O'Brien is executive vice president and chief financial officer of
Foxwoods, a post he has held for
nine years.
Foxwoods has 7,400 slot machines, 380 table games, restaurants, retail shops and nightclubs.
Stolen Firearms Recovered,
Three Persons Arrested
Walker, MN—Cass County
authorities report that firearms
stolen during a burglary at Reed's
Sporting Goods, in Walker, on
May 18th were recovered yesterday by law enforcement officers.
Three persons were arrested and
are being held in the Cass county
Jail pending formal charges.
Authorities report the arrests
and recovery of firearms and
other property was a result of an
ongoing investigation involving
officers from the Cass County
Sheriff's Office, Leech Lake
Tribal Police, Walker Police,
Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force,
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension, Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms, and the
FBI.
Cass County authorities have
identified the three persons arrested on Wednesday as follows:
Michael Monroe, age 19, of
Walker was criminally charged
with one count of 1st degree burglary. Monroe is currendy being
held in Cass County Jail with bail
set at $100,000.
Stephanie Molash, age 22, of
Walker was criminally charged
with one count of 1st degree burglary. She is currently being held
in the Cass County Jail with bail
set at $100,000.
Nicholas Kruse, age 19, of St.
Paul was criminally charged with
one count of possession of stolen
property and is currently being
held in the Cass County Jail with
bail set at $100,000.
Doyle's veto of
casino approval
bill
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - The state
Assembly on Wednesday failed to
override Gov. Jim Doyle's veto of
a bill that would give lawmakers
the authority to approve new casinos, ending a high-profile battle
that divided the state's American
Indian tribes.
The failure means lawmakers
will continue to have no oversight of plans for off-reservation
casinos such as those proposed by
tribes in Shullsburg, Beloit and
Kenosha.
Those projects need blessings
from a federal agency and Doyle
to move forward. The bill passed
by lawmakers would have allowed
Doyle to approve the projects only
if the Legislature let him.
But Doyle said involving 132
state lawmakers in the decision
would be too complicated. He
said the review process already
includes extensive study by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, which
must conclude the casino is in a
community's best interest.
The Assembly voted 54-43 to
override Doyle's veto on Wednes-
BILL to page 6
web page: www.press-on.net
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2006
Founded in 1988
Volume 18 Issue 49
June 2, 2006
Leech Lake selects Brady Fairbanks and Joe
Campbell to Boys State
The Leech Lake Reservation
Honor Guard & American
Legion Post Boys State Program 2006
In January 2006 the Leech
Lake American Legion Post
2001 officially initiated its
First Annual American Legion Boys State Program.
Seven public schools and
their Local Indian Education Committees / Indian
Education Program offices
were invited to participate
by nominating one or more
high school junior boys for
consideration.
The seven schools are located on/near the Leech Lake
reservation are: Blackduck,
Bemidji, Cass Lake-Bena,
Bug O Nah Ge Shing, Deer
River, Remer and Walker.
Four schools sent in nominations and the Post's Boys
State committee recommended two candidates be selected
for this first ever reservation
American Legion Post 2001
award.
The prestigious Boys State
program is a national program that selects outstanding
students that have completed
their high school junior year.
The Minnesota program is
in its 58th year and be held
on the campus of St. Johns
University, Collegeville, MN
from June 11-17,2006.
Brady Fairbanks of the Cass
Lake-Bena school and Joe B.
Campbell, Jr., Bug O Nah Ge
Shing, school respectively were
selected by the Leech Lake Legion Post with Robert W. Parker,
Jr. of Bemidji school the first
alternate. The registration is
complete and the boys have been
officially accepted to participate
in the 2006 program.
Brady Fairbanks was nominated
by the CLB Local Indian Education Committee and the Indian
Education Program. Bev Lee,
Chairperson of the CLB - LIEC
indicated several of Brady's personal characteristics as, "having
outstanding school attendance,
zero discipline issues at school.
He is strong academic smdent, an
outstanding basketball player,
captain of the basketball and
football teams, spends time
with younger student athletes
stressing hard work, drug-alcohol free life style and strong
school attendance. Brady is
past president of UNITY and
spends many hours volunteering in the community on a
variety of events. He holds a
part-time job at Teals grocery
store arid is known for his
quiet, pleasing and attractive
personality. Brady also is very
aware ofthe opportunity, privilege and honor to represent his
family, school, community and
the Leech Lake reservation in
STATE to page 3
Prairie
Island Indian
Community
Reclaims
Ancestral Land
New legislation gives Parcel
D to Minnesota tribe to replace flooded tribal lands
Red Wing, Minn., May 31,
2006 - On May 12, President
Bush signed legislation placing
into trust parcel D for the Prairie Island Indian Community
in southeastern Minnesota. The
land is intended to replace tribal
land that was flooded during
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' construction of Lock &
Dam Number 3 in Red Wing,
Minn.
Parcel D, a 1,290-acre piece
ofthe Community's homeland,
was seized by the Department
of War in 1934 with the promise
it would eventually be returned
to the tribe. However, 800 acres
of this land was then flooded
during dam construction. This
land, which remains underwater today, contains hundreds of
burial mounds, 12 stone memorials, dozens of lodge circles,
LAND to page 3
Kempthorne takes helm at
Interior Department
Indianz.com.
For the first time since the start
of the Bush administration five
years ago, there's a new face at the
top of the Interior Department.
Dirk Kempthorne began his
first day of work as the 49th Interior Secretary on Tuesday. The
former governor of Idaho promised to work closely with tribes,
states and other stakeholders as
he leads a department responsible
for millions of acres of Indian and
public lands.
"Throughout my public service,
I have worked to reach out to both
sides ofthe aisle, to different interests and to different viewpoints,"
said Kempthorne, who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate
on Friday. "As Secretary, I want to
help foster that same collaborative
approach on Interior issues."
Kempthorne spent his first
INTERIOR to page 3
Upper Sioux tribe to banish drug
offenders
Associated Press
GRANIT FALLS, Minn. - A
small American Indian reservation in southwest Minnesota plans
to banish drug offenders.
The plan targets anyone who
commits a drug crime on the
Upper Sioux's reservation land
in southwest Minnesota. The
individual is automatically prohibited from setting foot on the
reservation.
Tribal courts will decide how
long the banishment lasts. The
banned individual will retain
tribal membership.
The pohcy also includes anyone who commits gang-related
or violent crimes. The new law
was passed earlier this month as
part ofthe tribe's "zero-tolerance"
policy.
"Our goal is to insure the safety
of our members, their children,
our tribal lands, our guests to our
tribal lands," said Kevin Jensvold,
chairman of the Upper Sioux's
governing Board of Trustees.
"Our survival depends upon our
ability to face this enemy."
Too often government refrains
from taking strong stands against
serious problems, he said. And
drugs are a serious problem.
Jensvold said no one can say the
DRUG to page 6