Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2006-06-16

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
I have faith there's
a better tomorrow
for Obashingl
page 5
To all those pressing
issue of Red Lake
Treaty Rights
page 4
Give Peace
a Chance
page 4
LaRose thanks Leech
Lake People
page 4
Jourdain's
attempt to steal
Strength & Honor
reveals his own
lack of it
page 4
Iron-Horn's family protests Jourdain's desecration
of their ancestor's image
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
Published in today's issue
of the Native American Press!
Ojibwe News is a statement
prepared by the Graves family
of Ponemah and delivered to
Chairman Floyd "Buck" Jourdain
at the regular monthly Red Lake
Tribal Council meeting June 13,
2006.
The letter denounces the Chairman's unauthorized use of a
Graves family portrait, a Tribal
Chief named Iron-Horn, on his
campaign signs. These signs
were placed all over the Red
Lake Reservation —in yards,
driveways and on road rights
of way.
Carol Ann (Graves) Cloud,
speaking for the family, read the
statement aloud to the Council
and the attendees.
She began the statement by
saying, if Chairman Jourdain
had returned their phone calls or
received them when they went
to his office, her public actions
would have been unnecessary.
She described his use of their
family member, Chief Iron-Horn,
on his signs as "a travesty,"
"Tasteless," and "childish." She
said, "Our family has not been
contacted to request permission
for usage, and [they] deny all ties
to supporting your campaign."
The written statement implied
that using the photo was a desperate attempt on Jourdain's part
to give himself importance and
give tribal members a reason
to vote for him. She said the
words "Strength & Honor," that
he used on the sign, did apply to
her ancestor, but added, "I see no
connection as to why you should
benefit from using these [potent
words] in your race."
Ms. Cloud, commenting on
the differences between today's
leaders and those ofthe past said,
"Our leaders before us thought
of our futures. . . . They knew
the results that alcohol would
have if we were to allow it on
our reservation. They knew back
then that poverty was the result of
mood altering chemicals, which
is why they opposed alcohol and
drugs." [My emphasis.]
She told Jourdain he had made
her see the importance of choosing a candidate that "actually has
qualities and characteristics of
grandeur." She added that she
would be supporting "a candidate who will promote a lifestyle
that will oppose the destruction
of a heritage built by leaders of
integrity, commitment, strength,
honor, dedication, high standards
and morals."
Chairman Jourdain addressed
Ms. Cloud after her presentation
saying, if he had offended the
family he apologized. He said
he would give food and a gift to
the family and he would take the
signs down.
Offering a defense for his actions, he said he'd put the name
Iron-Horn into the Internet to see
if there would be any response
from relatives. He said someone
from the cities answered saying
they would be proud if he used
Iron-Horn in his campaign. He
also stated he'd researched tribal
archives on leaders and didn't
think anyone had a claim to Iron-
Horn.
Ms. Cloud said in a telephone
interview that she didn't find
Buck's apology sincere. She
said the offending campaign sign
PROTEST to page 3
:*************
LETTER TO CHAIRMAN JOURDAIN FROM CHIEF IRON HORN'S FAMILY
June 13,2006 Open Letter, presented at Red Lake Tribal Council
Mr. Chairman:
I am submitting this letter as
a means of direct contact. I have
made several attempts at personal contact during this past three
months to no avail. Visiting your
office as well as placing telephone
calls. My son Robert told you in person that I needed to speak with you
during the fourth week of May when
you approached him as he visited
the post office, again to no avail.
Finally, I am subjected to no other
recourse than to make public contact, which I had never intended.
I am representative on behalf of
my family. We are the Graves family from Ponemah, who are direct
descendants of Iron-Horn, the Chief
for whom you chose to use as part of
your campaign bid for re-election.
The reason being this. I personally find your tactics for politics to be
offensive to my family and myself. In
using my Great-Great Grandfather's
photograph as a strategic means to
gain support from the voting population is, as I see it, a travesty.
Not only are we offended by the
complete disregard that you have
displayed, by grasping the accomplishments of another and using this
to your advantage is, as a relative
plainly put it, Tasteless.
I personally find this disturbing,
intrusive, vulgar, demeaning, disrespectful, inconsiderate and childish.
LETTER to page 3
MN Chippewa
Tribe election
results favor
incumbents
By Diane White
CASS LAKE, MN-On June
13, 2006, the race for Secretary-Treasurer and either one or
two committeeman seats were
held throughout the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe (MCT) with the
RESULTS to page 6
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
Secretary-Treasurer
Suzanne Merillo
Herb Weyaus
Total
District I Committeeperson
David Niib Aubid
Marvin Bruneau
Total
District II Committeeperson
Harry Davis
Diane Gibbs
Total
Resident
Vote
318
505
%
39%
61%
823
65
85
100%
43%
57%
150
100%
131
65%
72
35%
203
100%
Leech Lake Re-elects LaRose in Landslide
By Diane White
CASS LAKE, MN-Inger,
LaRose; Ball Club, LaRose;
S-Lake, LaRose; Sugar Point;
LaRose, and so on. The precincts
reported in their ballot counts and
in every community on Leech
Lake, the absentees, and the Minneapolis precinct; the answer was
the same; LaRose. Archie LaRose
is a well-known and very popular
Tribal Council member as much
for his political acumen, as for
the tumultuous first term he has
held.
Secretary-Treasurer Arthur
"Archie" LaRose is a grassroots
candidate who people listen to
whenever he is speaking. LaRose
made the rounds house to house,
and spoke at local forums to
crowds. Many people knew there
was turmoil at the reservation
headquarters and LaRose filled
them in on just exactly what was
happening.
Throughout the campaign,
LaRose supported Deborah Tibbetts who served as his secretary
for the past four years. Tibbetts ran
for District II against incumbent
Lyman Losh and lost. The vote
count was Losh 185 votes (56%)
to 147 (44%). Tibbetts managed
to take Smokey Point and Minneapolis from the incumbent who
has a stronghold in Sugarpoint and
Bena. Losh also won the Absentee
ballot contest.
LaRose also supported James
Howard in District 1 for the committeeman seat. Howard lost to
Robbie Howe in a very close race.
Howe won 51% of the vote (299
votes) to Howard's 49% of the
vote (286 votes), just a 13 vote
difference. During the absentee
ballot count, Howard lost one
precious vote in a decision by
the Election Judges. A recount is
expected in District 1.
Many voters in the Twin Cities
area have expressed their concern
for LaRose as he begins his second term stating that he is going
to have a very difficult time once
again standing alone against the
tight-lipped, secretive regime lead
by Chairman George Goggleye,
Jr. and district representatives.
At the luncheon for Wilson,
Howe was seen passing out cards
with the toll-free numbers of the
Leech Lake Reservation Business
Interior wins ruling to strike reports from court record
By John Heilprin
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) _ The
Interior Department won a victory Friday, persuading a federal
appeals court to suppress three
reports that had presented evidence of Interior officials failing
to report problems and destroying records used in managing
American Indian money.
The documents pertain to a
massive class-action lawsuit Native Americans filed against the
department a decade ago, saying
the government owed them an
accounting because it mismanaged a trust in their names for
120 years. The Indian plaintiffs
say they are owed tens of billions
of dollars.
The author of the reports, Alan
Balaran, was appointed by U.S.
District Judge Royce Lamberth
as a "special master" in 1999.
Balaran supervised the exchange
of information between parties
in the lawsuit and investigated
document destruction.
Balaran's reports to the judge,
including observations from
personal visits, found the department had destroyed Indian
records, sometimes purposefully,
at federal depositories and Indian
reservations in the West.
Keith Harper, a lawyer for the
Indian plaintiffs suing the department, said Friday, "Most of the
facts in those reports have been
conceded as true" by the Interior
Department.
Interior officials nonetheless
asked a federal appeals court to
strike Balaran's reports from the
record, saying he had improperly hired as an expert witness
a former Interior contractor who
had accused the department of
fraud.
The former contractor was allowed to draft or edit portions of
Balaran's findings about whether
Interior was adequately securing Indians' trust fund data, the
department said.
Justices rebuked Balaran's
use of the contractor, though
it only extended to one of the
reports to the court, because it
made Balaran seem potentially
biased.
"It is difficult to imagine a
more biased way of conducting
and reporting upon an investigation," wrote Chief Judge Donald
Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
An Interior spokesman declined comment Friday, saying
the ruling spoke for itself.
Balaran resigned two years
ago, saying the government
wanted him off the case after
he found evidence that private
landowners near the Navajo Nation got as much as 20 times more
money than Indian landowners
from gas pipeline companies for
rights to cross their land.
Those findings have not been
disputed by the government in
the lawsuit.
web page: www.press-on.net
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We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2006
Founded in 1988
Volume 19 Issue 1
June 16,2006
Native American dancers welcome people during the opening ceremonies of the Nez Perce
Tribes National Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Signature Event with a welcome dance at the Nez
Perce National Historical Park, Wednesday June 14, 2006, in Spalding, Idaho. The gathering will
run through Saturday at various locations in and near this northern Idaho community, and could
draw some 50,000 visitors. Most of the area's 1,000 hotel rooms are booked. (AP Photo/Lewiston
Tribune, Kyle Mills)*
Little Earth director leads like careful warrior
Committee (RBC) headquarters,
ostensibly to gain an advantage
in the race.
On election day, Tuesday June
13, the crowd at the Alvin John
Wind, Jr. household was quite
noticeable with enough cars to
fill a parking lot. During the race,
former District 1 Representative
Burton "Luke" Wilson supported
John Wind remaining employed
as the Assistant Pohce Chief of
the Leech Lake Police Department, despite felony sexual assault
charges against Wind. In a pubhc
meeting, Wilson said, "Wind is behind the desk." This support came
in the face of Wilson's campaign
promises of equal protection to all
Leech Lake tribal members.
Throughout the day at the
LaRose home, hundreds of people
enjoyed a delicious picnic under
a large tent. One guest was impressed by the numbers present
and the fact that LaRose even had
two satellite "biffies" on hand.
During the absentee vote count,
when the final counts were announced and LaRose came out the
LAROSE to page 2
By Amy Forliti
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS - When he
was a young boy on the Lower
Brule Sioux reservation, Bill
Ziegler learned some valuable
lessons from his grandmother.
First, she told him, a leader
must make sacrifices for the
community. And even the strongest warrior must know when to
stop fighting and lay down his
bow.
Ziegler says his grandmother's
wisdom was in his thoughts last
week, as he came under pressure
to release a security videotape
showing possible police misconduct at the American Indian
housing complex he runs. He
withheld the tape at first, then
released it when he worried
that speculation about what it
showed might incite violence.
"Every decision I make here,
I have to look in the eyes of the
community. I have to look into
the eyes of the children," Ziegler
said. "My goal... I want tomorrow to be better than yesterday
for the people here."
Ziegler is executive director
of Little Earth of United Tribes,
an American Indian housing
community here with some 850
residents from 38 different tribes.
It's a place that's important to the
greater Minneapolis American
Indian community because what
happens there "happens to us
all," said Shirley Stone, with the
American Indian Neighborhood
Development Corp.
Ziegler, the kid from the South
Dakota rez, has some big dreams
_ like someday building a school
for the community's children, or
creating a group to instill wisdom
and honor in young boys being
wooed by gangs. He's helped start
mentoring and youth cultural
programs.
In just 18 months at Little
Earth, the 35-year-old has shown
his mettle by personally kicking
out drug dealers and thugs.
"In every Indian community I've ever been in, there's an
overwhelming sense of hopelessness," he said. "A lot of the programs and things we're bringing
into the community are really
based on trying to bring hope."
He added, "There is a time and
a season for everything ... and
this is the right time for change
to happen."
Last week, Little Earth and
Ziegler were thrust into the
spotlight after allegations that
two police officers mistreated a
man while making an arrest last
month.
The video that Ziegler ultimately released shows the
handcuffed suspect _ who is not
a Little Earth resident _ doubling
over after an officer walks into
him. The man's father also said
WARRIOR to page 7
UND wins right
to sue NCAA on
nickname issue
Stung by NCAA allegation that
its 'Fighting Sioux' nickname
is disrespectful, University of
North Dakota wants to sue
By Chuck Haga
Star Tribune
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - In
their showdown over the use of
an American Indian nickname
and logo, the NCAA leads its series with the University of North
Dakota 3-0.
But the Fighting Sioux are still
fighting.
Trounced last year by an NCAA
mandate to change its 80-year-old
Fighting Sioux nickname or lose
some post-season rights, then
rebuffed twice on appeals, the
university now wants to take the
battle of wills into federal court.
A defiant UND President Charles
Kupcella will confer today in
Williston, N.D., with the state
attorney general and the State
Board of Higher Education about
suing the NCAA.
"I'm angry," Kupcella said
NCAA to page 2
Meth takes a toll on Indian
reservation housing
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Leah Fyten
believes 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, the director of the
Flandreau Santee Sioux Housing
Authority says, it's affecting the
reservation's already desperate
housing simation.
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
countless dollars fixing up holes
in the walls, broken windows,
ruined appliances and other damage wrought by the violent habits
of drug users, Fyten said.
"We have a small budget that
decreases every year and families
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's reservation
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 Indian housing
officials what the drug does and
how to spot it. Fyten and others
say the council's seminars are
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, its
origins, its market and its chemistry. He shows them pictures of
users with their teeth rotting out
and tells them about the drug's
poisonous effect on children who
come anywhere near it.
METH to page 7