Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2006-08-04

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Statement of
Floyd Jourdain, Jr.,
Red Lake Tribal
Chairman
page 4
King makes statement
on contesting the
run-off election
page 4
Leech Lake Elder
speaks up 'Where's
Waldo?"
page 4
Red Lake Election Board
orders new Run-off Race
page 4
Jourdain camp
reveals itself
in vile letter
page 4
The latest on the Chairman's race at Red Lake
VOICE      OF      THE       PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
It took a while but the major
news sources in the area—
The Minneapolis Star Tribune, the
Bemidji Pioneer, the Grand Forks
Herald, the Associated Press-
- finally responded to Archie R.
King's protest of the Red Lake
Run-off election. They did so in
conjunction with the announcement by the Red Lake General
Election Board (GEB) that found
several of King's allegations had
merit. The GEB ordered a new
Run-off election.
In regard to...vote
buying, the Board
ruled thaL.this claim
was supported.
The various news articles
recounted the particulars of the
GEB's process and decision as
well as reactions to the Board's
action.
The GEB addressed all six allegations in King's letter. Their
response to Archie King indicates
they took his protest seriously
and investigated accordingly.
They conducted interviews and
examined documents.
Although there was a police
report to substantiate his claim
that the Red Lake Agency building was not properly secured the
night of July 18, the Board "found
no basis to substantiate [the] allegation."
King's complaints surrounding
the Election Ordinance were also
dismissed in the same vernacular.
The language ofthe Ordinance is
somewhat ambiguous and therefore subject to interpretation.
Likewise the Board discounted
King's charges regarding electioneering by a named individual
and his questioning of an Absentee Ballot Committee member's
presence at the reservation polling
sites.
In regard to perhaps the most
serious charge, vote buying, the
Board ruled that, because of
sworn, signed and notarized affidavits, this claim was supported.
The Board also ruled that
misuse of tribal funds "under the
supervision of Floyd Jourdain,"
was probable. They further concluded that casino/hotel comps
[complimentary, i.e. without
charge] were misused and that the
use of Jourdain's tribal vehicle on
July 15 was inappropriate.
On the complaint that Jourdain
had used tribal office equipment
to copy his campaign literature,
CHAIRMAN to page 3
America Indians need for American Indian Centers
By Diane White
Upper Midwest American Indian Center MISSION:
To preserve and perpetuate the
heritage of the American Indian
and promote good citizenship.
To further the educational, social, and cultural activities of
the American Indian People.
To preserve and foster American Indian arts, crafts, and cultural values.
Bemidji, MN—The American
Indian center concept began as
early as the 1950s in Chicago,
Illinois when Indian people from
various reservations were relocated into urban areas. Indian
people met blatant racism in
$3,000,000
$2,500,000
$2,000,000
$1,500,000
$1,000,000
$500,000
housing and jobs in the larger
urban cities. Neighborhoods
were "red-lined" denoting where
Indian people could live.
In Minneapolis, that area was
infamously known as Franklin
Avenue where old landmarks included Heller's Market, Labows-
ki's (candy store to kids), Gray's
Drug, Arthur's Bar, "wino" park,
and Chef's Cafe, and still good
memories exist.
In north Minneapolis on Broadway, the Upper Midwest American Indian Center opened in
1961. The Minneapolis American Indian Center opened in 1975
at the corner of Franklin and
Bloomington Avenues.
The American Indian Centers
REVENUE AND EXPENSES
offered culture and a place to
gather for Indian people as well
as social service programs.
Today at the Minneapolis
American Indian Center, the
main focus on maintaining sober,
health-conscious Indian people
of all ages. The elders program at
the Minneapolis American Indian
Center supports independence
for seniors and offers assistance
to improve independent living.
Youth programs center around
sports activities, educational tutoring, and role-modeling to develop intelligent young adults.
Adult Indians have the programs geared at obtaining and
CENTERS to page 5
2001
2002
2003
2004
Red Lake principal plans to
'step back,' he says
Associated Press
RED LAKE, MINN. - Red
Lake High School Principal
Chris Dunshee is taking a leave
of absence in 2006-07, saying
he needs some distance from the
school where a student went on
a shooting rampage in 2005.
"I just needed to step back a little
bit and take some time," said
Dunshee, who took a medical
leave last year on his doctor's
advice because of heart problems
and post-traumatic stress. "It's
given me a little bit of time to
kind of just step back and recuperate and catch my breath."
On the Red Lake Net News
website, an entry Tuesday titled
"A report to the community
from Stuart Desjarlait, Red Lake
superintendent of schools" said
the new principal will be Everett
Arnold and the new assistant
principal will be Tom Bergner.
On March 21, 2005, 16-year-
old Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend
on the reservation, then went to
the school and killed seven more
people, including a teacher and
a security guard, before killing
himself.
McCain delays bill on royalty claims
By Billy House
Republic Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A congressional effort to forge a settlement
to 10-year-old litigation involving billions of dollars in mineral
royalties and land leases owed by
the federal government to Native
American landowners appeared
to be abruptly sidetracked on
Tuesday.
Details of a bill by Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., to help settle
the class-action lawsuit were to
be completed during a scheduled
hearing this morning before the
Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
But Tuesday afternoon, Democrats on the committee and
lawyers for the Indian plaintiffs
learned that the bill no longer was
on the hearing agenda. They said
they did not know why McCain,
the committee's chairman, had
pulled the bill.
"That is a question for the
senator (McCain)," said Barry
Piatt, a spokesman for Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, the
committee's top Democrat.
"We don't have any comment,"
McCain spokeswoman Eileen
McMenamin said.
She said more information
would be forthcoming from McCain during this morning's hearing. Elouise Cobell, a Blackfoot
who filed the class-action lawsuit
in 1996, said she fears the bill is
dead.
"I think the administration - the
White House - made McCain pull
the bill," Cobell said.
She said she believes the Bush
administration does not want to
settle the case, preferring that it
linger for years longer in the court
system.
Dennis Gingold, lead attorney
for Cobell and other Indian plaintiffs, predicted that with so little
time left in the current congressional session, and with the August
break at the end of the week and
November elections coming up, it
would be difficult for lawmakers
to consider the bill later this year.
"My guess, though, is that
Senator McCain could do it even
if the administration wasn't on
board," Gingold said. "And if
he did, we would be behind him
all of the way. We've had a lot of
respect for Senator McCain over
the years."
The White House deferred
questions about the matter to the
Interior Department. Adepartment
spokesman, Shane Wolfe, had no
comment Tuesday evening.
The lawsuit alleges that royalty
payments the federal government
was supposed to keep account
of and distribute to as many as
500,000 Indians and their heirs
MCCAIN to page 5
Artman, Oneida
named assistant
secretary
Indianz.com
A lawyer and former lobbyist
with experience in tribal matters
and connections to the Republican
party was nominated as the assistant secretary for Indian affairs on
Tuesday.
Carl J. Artman, a member of
the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin,
already works at the Interior
Department. For the past several
months, he's been providing legal
advice on Indian issues within the
Office ofthe Solicitor.
More recently, Artman served
as chief counsel to the Oneida
Nation, where he dealt with land-
into-trust, land claims, gaming,
taxation and other hot issues. In
the mid-1990s, he also represented the tribe as its lobbyist in
Washington, D.C.
And like his predecessor, the
famed entrepreneur Dave Anderson, the new nominee has a
background in business as well.
Since the 1990s, he has served
as a top executive for companies
in the telecommunications and
technology fields.
"We're excited that another
Oneida has been appointed to a
top position in the nation," said
Bobbi Webster, the director of
pubhc relations for the tribe. "It
speaks to the high aspirations and
the greatness ofthe Oneida Nation
of Wisconsin."
With a deep background in
tribal issues on his side, Artman
has ties to the Republican party
and the Bush administration. In
2002, he was appointed by President Bush to serve on the White
House Advisory Board on Tribal
Colleges and Universities.
In 2004, he sat on the Wisconsin
steering committee for the Bush-
Cheney campaign. And in the
1990s, he served as legislative
counsel to Rep. Michael Oxley
(R-Ohio), who is retiring after 25
years in Congress.
Artman now must fill the void
that left the Bureau of Indian Affairs without a leader for nearly
ARTMAN to page 5
web page: www.press-on.net
Native 4B-4
American
Press
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2006
Founded in 1988
Volume 19 Issue 7
August 4, 2006
Michael Spears, of Aberdeen, S.D., sings a celebration song as Aberdeen area residents
dance in a circle Sunday, July 30, 2006, at an All Faiths Service as part of the weekend
long Quasquicentennial event. (AP Photo/Aberdeen American News, John Davis)
Sins of Fathers Shall Visit Third, Fourth Generation
By Vincent Hill, Mille Lacs Band
of Ojibwe Reservation
Social problems with the First
Americans or Native Americans
in Indian Country throughout
the country are uncannily similar
today. The anishinabe male is the
last to be hired at any particular
job and, if fortunate enough, to be
hired once there are hard times he
is the first to be released or fired
for whatever reasons the chimook
( white ) dreams-up. American
blacks, Hispanics, and other
racial-ethnic groups are given
preferential treatment legally in
housing, education, employment,
and economic projects-not so with
Anishinabe males.
The Supreme Court's 2003
decision to uphold affirmative
action at the University of Michigan is being questioned by white
and non-white sociologists as
to actual benefits to both racial
and ethnic minorities; certainly
the anishinabe is not even consulted to determine the efficacy
with Native American students
because he/she is not viewed to
be in the mainstream of society.
And on a political voting level,
the registered American Indian
is a negligible 1.5 percent of the
U.S. population.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act
was recently reinforced to benefit
blacks in particular and Hispanics
in general. Both democratic and
republican political parties want
credit for pushing through this Act
to, hopefully, secure votes from
these two large racial groups in
the upcoming national, state, and
county elections.
The Anishinabeg, in general,
continues to be viewed today
by chimooks as anthropological
entities: a term used by a fuller-
blooded Anishinabe student in the
1960's, who had been attending
the prestigious Ivy League Dartmouth college in the northeastern
U. S. This Anishinabe had felt
isolated, and was walking one day
on campus at Dartmouth-with the
usual stares from north European
chimooks, which prompted him
to comment that he felt like an
"Anthropological Entity!"
The Dartmouth student was
viewed as an anachronistic Amer
ican Indian savage due to the
media having been and continuing
to be controlled by white liberals
in the east and western sections of
our country, e.g., northeast, New
York, Washington, D.C, Califor-
nia-up to Washington state. The
"Indian Savage" image of Golden
days long gone is romanticized
by liberals. And both whites and
cunning anishinabeg exploit this
for personal gain in dollars and
power. Damaging to anishinabeg
in direct contradiction to this
idealization is the fact of racial
discrimination against The First
Americans big time!
"The Sins of the Fathers" in
this article is to reference both
chimooks and anishinbeg themselves. Every fourth generation
the cycle is repeated. This saying
is Judaeo-Christian, but anishinabeg knew the consequences
of a sinful life and, by example,
the dire onsequences of incest,
now common place on Ojibwe
American Indian reservations in
Minnesota, including where an-
SINS to page 3
Reservation Talking circle helps Indian
residents discuss veterans cope with stress disorder
proposed tribal
refinery
Associated Press
TWIN BUTTES, N.D. - Residents of the Fort Berthold Reservation have questions about how a
proposed oil refinery would affect
their air and water. The son of the
project manager says his family
would hve near it.
The Environmental Protection
Agency is holding pubhc hearings
across the reservation this week
on the refinery, which would be
built near Makoti, on the north
side of Lake Sakakawea.
The Three Affiliated Tribes
would spend an estimated $250
million to build the refinery,
which would process Canadian
oil that would be piped in after it
has been stripped of heavy pollutants.
Tribal Chairman Tex Hall, in a
statement, said time and technology is in the tribes' favor to build a
refinery that would have minimal
environmental impact and major
economic impact. It is expected to
bring 65 full-time jobs and $100
million in annual revenue.
Tribal member Kathy Samuels
said people should look past the
money and the jobs and think
about the tribes' roles as caretakers ofthe earth.
"We need jobs, but we should
REFINERY to page 5
By Casey Phillips
The Albuquerque Tribune
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - In
this plain, white room at Albuquerque's Veteran Affairs Medical
Center, many stories have been
told; few of them have happy
endings.
But the five veterans sitting
in a circle facing each other are
tied together by more than their
unhappy tales.
They all served in Vietnam,
they all suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and they're
all Navajo.
On the first and third Friday
of every month, they and other
veterans meet to share things with
each other they say no one else _
not even family members _ can
understand.
And when one of them speaks,
everyone else listens.
This is a talking circle, a form
of group therapy and discussion
used in a number of cultures with
roots stretching back thousands
of years, said James Gillies, a
psychologist in the center's PTSD
clinic.
"There is generally a high level
of respect and an almost sacred
quality to the talking circle," he
said. "With PTSD, people feel
very alone and don't tend to talk
about their inner experience.
"Being in a group with other
people who share similar experiences and being able to talk about
those experiences, even if they're
difficult, brings a lot of hope."
The talking circle is just one
of the ways the VA works with
approximately 5,000 veterans
suffering from PTSD, depression
and anxiety.
And the number is growing.
Since 2003,336 veterans of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have
been treated at the VA for PTSD,
depression and anxiety, according
to hospital records.
"I would say the number of
people we're treating is only the
tip of the iceberg in terms of
need," Gillies said.
Al Benalli, 58, a Navajo who
served as a combat medic in
Vietnam, said he understands how
rough the road to recovery can
be.
"People with PTSD get afraid
of getting better because they
don't know wellness, don't know
peace of mind," he said.
"I can imagine the isolation
they feel, thinking they've been
out there all by themselves and
what just a little time can give
them," he said.
That's what a talking circle
provides: time to talk and people
to listen, Gillies said.
"Coming to the group and
feeling part of the community
goes a long way to help resisting
the urges of drugs or alcohol," he
said.
CIRCLE to page 5