Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2007-02-16

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
President proposes 7
percent increae in FY 2008
budget for Indian Services
page 6
Top environment
prosecutor, oil lobbyist
bought South Carolina
vacation home
page 5
Commentary: Skip Lyons
page 4
LLBO Investment in
Key Lime Cove of
Gurnee, LLC: Myths
and Facts
page 4
Denial, failure to
acknowledge plague
efforts to deal with
Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorder
page 4
President's 2008 Budget Released:
Urban Health Clinics Funding Eliminated
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Jean Pagano
The President's FY 2008 budget
has been released and the Indian
Health Service (IHS) is slated to
get more money. There is one
catch however: Urban Health
Clinics, which serve 100,000
Native Americans, are losing
their funding, again. When the
President presented his FY 2007
budget, the funding for Urban
Health Clinics was also deleted.
It took the pressure of Native
advocates on Congress to restore
the cuts to the program last year.
The President has proposed
$4.1 billion for the Indian
Health Service. This amount
is $101 million more than the
President's FY 2007 budget and
$212 million more than the FY
2007 Continuing Resolution. The
government states that the Native
American and Alaskan Native
populations are growing at a
faster rate than the United States
population as a whole. The IHS
service population is estimated
to increase 1.6 percent in 2007.
IHS health care facilities
consist of 48 hospitals, 283 health
centers, 320 health stations and
Alaskan village clinics. There
are 1.8 million Natives that have
access to the IHS. They are
located in 12 IHS regions. 35
of the 50 states are served by
the IHS in some capacity. The
12 regions and their respective
populations are: Nashville,
120,004; Bemidji 120,724;
Aberdeen 119.907; Oklahoma
366,887; Billings 68,177; Navajo
243,620; Albuquerque 107,410;
Tucson 36,822; Portland 192,427;
Phoenix 202,553; California
180,518; and Alaska 124,839.
Clinical Services gets a $246
million increase over last year.
Preventative Health gets an
web page: www.press-on.net
Native 4»«j
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BUDGET to page 5      Founded  in ! g88
Volume 19 Issue 23
February 16, 2007
Desperation in Pine Ridge
By Melanie McBee
I am a 27 yr. old Oglala Lakota
woman, originally from the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation. I was
fortunate enough to have been
adopted by a stable, Christian
family who had my best interests
at heart. Most children from Pine
Ridge are not so blessed.
Pine Ridge is situated in the
southwest corner of South
Dakota, and is the eighth largest
reservation in the United States.
The unemployment rate is 85%
and 97% of the population are
living below the federal poverty
level. The infant mortality rate
is five times the United States
national average, and has among
the shortest life expectancies
of any group in the western
hemisphere.
Eastern
Cherokee to
banish drug
dealers
Members of the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians
who are convicted of drug
dealing will be banished
from the reservation under
a law signed Thursday by the
tribe's principal chief.The
Tribal Council will be able
to determine the length of
an exclusion, and a member
convicted of dealing drugs
will be able to petition the
panel to return.Banishment
is a harsh penalty previously
reserved for extreme
circumstances — such as
when a member is convicted
of committing a sexual offense
against minors."Exclusion is
rare — up to now," said
Michael McConnell, attorney
general for the tribe. "It's
a very serious thing."Non-
members can also face
banishment under the law.
Those suspected of dealing
drugs could be immediately
removed from the reservation
and may only return for court
hearings, according to the
BANISH to page 5
Alcoholism, addiction, violence,
and suicide predominate in this
once tranquil place. Although
my family educated me on the
statistics, I was hardly prepared
when in 1997-98,1 went to live
there. I was mortified by the
alcoholism. These people...MY
PEOPLE were committing a slow
suicide by the huge amounts of
alcohol they were consuming.
This was no longer just another
statistic to me; it became my
reality, the place I woke up to
every day. Many of these families
are living without necessities like
running water, electricity, sewer,
heat—even food, diapers* and
formula. Despite these things-
-they somehow always seem to
find the money to drink, or to
buy a can of hair spray to huff,
or a can of paint to sniff.
My people are stealing from
each other to drink, committing
burglaries to drink, and begging
for money from others to be able
to buy just one can of beer. I have
a brother who was also under
foster care off of the reservation,
and at 7 yrs. old the tribe came
and took him back, so he was then
forced to live on the reservation
with his Indian family. When
I chose to live there, I became
very close with him. He told
me that he wished that I would
leave, because it would be better
than to subject myself to the
lifestyle on the reservation. He
expressed deep seated regret
that he was carelessly pulled
PINE RIDGE to page 5
Convicted drug dealer, embezzler
elected chairman at Mole Lake, Wl
Milwaukee Sentinel
Arlyn Ackley doesn't sport
the type of resume typical of
most successful politicians: a
few drunken-driving arrests
and two stints in prison - once
for drugs and once for stealing
more than $38,000 from his
tribe, the Sokaogon (Mole Lake)
Chippewa.
Toss in being booted out as
chairman back when the feds
seized control of the tribe's
casino in 1998, and you might
think Ackley's career as a tribal
pol would be kaput.
Guess again.
Ackley is back in charge ofthe
Mole Lake tribe, having been
elected chairman by a one-vote
margin earlier this month. His
razor-thin victory, on a vote of
113-112, over incumbent Sandra
Rachal was affirmed during a
contentious recount last week.
Another candidate finished a
distant third.
"We don't have anything in
our constitution that says felons
cannot run for office," said Debra
VanZile, a veteran tribal judge
who served as one of the three
officials overseeing the election
and the recount. "We've had
previous council members who
were felons."
True enough. In fact, one need
only look at Ackley's political and
criminal histories for proof.
Ackley was chairman of
the tribe for six years in the
1980s, lost the job when we
was sentenced to five years for
dealing cocaine, only to regain
his job as chairman in 1993. He
was convicted of ripping off the
tribe's gaming corporation in
2000 and didn't finish serving
time for that rap until June
2005.
Ackley still owes nearly
$38,000 restitution, a debt he
might have a better chance of
paying thanks to the chairman's
$52,000 annual salary.
"I hope the outside world
doesn't judge the tribe poorly
just because they elected Ackley,"
said one source with ties to the
tribe. "Sure, there is irony, but
the other part is Arlyn Ackley is
a born leader. Go figure."
Getting back into office this
time around was no easy chore
for Ackley.
During the campaign for
the Jan. 6 election, there was
little discussion of his criminal
history on the Crandon-area
ELECT to page 5
Corrupt leader damages our future
Indian Country needs a few good
leaders.
When a tribal government is run
well, you can typically give credit
to the person in charge.
The same can be said when
things go badly. You can trace
disorder to poor leadership and a
lack of accountability.
Such has been the state of affairs
among the Three Affiliated Tribes
of North Dakota, home of the
Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara.
A newly elected tribal chairman
is seeking a federal audit of the
$105 million debt amassed under
the two terms of Tex Hall, the
previous chairman.
Hall and I have a newspaper
history. As a reporter, I wrote
stories leading up to his first
election. After they were published,
some of his relatives called my
editors and threatened to sue. It
never happened.
Since then, I've also written
several columns about Hall and
his administration.
But I'm also a tribal citizen of
the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara
Nation and I - like many others
- am concerned about our tribe's
future.
"For all tribal members,
the corruption and gross
mismanagement reported is the
worst it has ever been in the history
FUTUREtopage7
Appeals court rules Indian tribes
subject to federal labor law
By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Indian
tribes are subject to federal labor
law, an appeals court ruled Friday
in a case that could lead to stricter
labor protections _ and more
unions _ at the nation's booming
Indian casinos.
A three-judge panel of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia Circuit rejected
arguments from a wealthy
Southern California tribe that as
a sovereign government, it should
not be subject to those laws.
"Tribal sovereignty is not
absolute autonomy, permitting a
tribe to operate in a commercial
capacity without legal constraint,"
said the opinion written by Judge
Janice Rogers Brown.
The ruling stemmed from an
organizing dispute at a casino
run by the San Manuel Band of
Mission Indians, 60 miles east of
Los Angeles, where a union filed
a complaint with the National
Labor Relations Board arguing
that another union was getting
preferential access.
San Manuel contested the
complaint by asserting the labor
board didn't have jurisdiction
because federal law recognizes
Indian tribes as sovereign
governments.
The labor board disagreed in
a 2004 opinion that, for the first
time, said tribes are covered by
COURTtopage5
Some 10 miles
of Red Lake
reservation
trails closed
Associated Press
RED LAKE, Minn. - About 10
miles of snowmobile trails in the
Beltrami Island State Forest and
Lake of the Woods County have
been closed by the Red Lake Band
of Chippewa until re-routes are
made, the state Department of
Natural Resources said Tuesday.
The action severs some, but
not all, snowmobile routes in the
Lake of the Woods and Beltrami
area, said Tim Browning, DNR
northwest regional Trails &
Waterways manager. Alternate
routes on other local trails will
still provide connections to the
Warroad, Baudette, and Lake of
the Woods areas.
The DNR is working with local
clubs to re-route the trails before
the 2007-08 snowmobile season.
Due to the sovereign status of
the Red Lake Band, tribal lands
are private. The trails are not
marked in a unique way, but
snowmobile riders who cross
tribal lands without permission
from the tribe could be cited with
trespassing, the state said.
"While we work through the reroutes over the next year, we are
asking riders to stay off Red Lake
tribal lands," Mike Carroll, DNR
northwest regional director, said
in a statement. "Make sure you
know where you are when riding
in the vicinity of the reservation
and tribal lands and treat those
lands just like you would private
property."
In this photo provided by the office of Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Dorgan shakes hands with Dr. Biron
Baker, right, a primary care physician at Medcenter One in Bismarck, N.D., in Washington, Thursday,
Feb. 8, 2007. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., left, and Dr.James Brosseau, director of the Altai Diabetes
Center in Grand Forks, N.D., second from right, watch. Baker and Brousseau testified before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. American Indians and Alaska Natives suffer from diabetes more than any
ethnic group and the disease is increasingly affecting young Indians, government health experts told
Congress on Thursday. (AP Photo/Office of Sen. Byron Dorgan). See article on page 3.
Tragedy spurs cop to create Indian crime database
By Amy Forliti
Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS
- Sgt. Bill Blake gave his anti-gang
presentation in Indian Country so
many times, he says, that his
daughter knew it by heart. Yet it
wasn't enough.
"Dad, you have to do more,"
he recalls her saying as they were
driving home from a talk near the
Fond du Lac reservation in 1999.
He protested; as a father, a cop,
an Indian and a lecturer, he was
doing plenty.
Nearly four years later, 20-year-
old Erica Rae Blake was dead _
shot in the head at a party on
a Wisconsin reservation where
drugs, alcohol and gang members
were all present. Though the
death was ruled accidental, Blake
is haunted by her words.
"What I've learned is doing
nothing will get your family
killed," he said. "So if I were to sit
back and still do nothing and lose
somebody else that was close to
me, I couldn't live with myself."
Blake is now working to create
a database _ believed to be the
first of its kind _ that would
accurately track crimes in Indian
Country and allow tribes to share
information. The network would
give tribes a tool to spot trends, as
well as track people who commit
a crime on one reservation and
seek sanctuary elsewhere.
"We're never going to be able
to address these problems and
make things better in tribal
communities when it comes to
crime and quality of life unless
we get the data," he said.
The project has been dubbed I-
CARE, for Indian Crime Awareness
Research and Evaluation. Blake
and his partners will collect
information from just a few tribes
first, then expand the project to
include all tribes in Minnesota
and Wisconsin. The ultimate goal
is a national database.
The data currently being
gathered in Indian Country are
unreliable, law enforcement
officials say.
""It's one of the real
impediments to improving public
safety in Indian Country," said
Tom Heffelfinger, a former U.S.
attorney in Minnesota.
The FBI collects crime data
each year, but many tribal
communities don't participate.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs
doesn't collect crime statistics.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics
publishes a report on American
Indians and crime, but the data is
collected by a variety of methods
including household survey,
which Blake and others said may
not be precise. Michael Rand, the
bureau's chief of victimization
statistics, said the survey is an
accurate reflection of peoples'
experiences.
The National Institute of Justice
also has published research,
acknowledging that some tribes
have difficulties in collecting
crime data.
Technology and money _ too
little of both _ sometimes play
a part in whether tribes collect
and share crime data. A maze of
overlapping jurisdictions hurts,
too. For example, a crime on a
Minnesota reservation may be
handled by tribal police, a county
sheriff, the BIA, the FBI or any
TRAGEDY to page 5
Despite increases, American Indian programs tight
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Congress
authorized the Johnson-O'Malley
program in 1934 to help Indian
children prosper in public
schools. Today, the program still
provides dollars for tutoring and
other resources, but it is one
of a number of Indian Country
programs struggling to survive.
Budget cuts recommended by
President Bush could eliminate
the program and deprive hundreds
of thousands of children of a good
education, says Harold Dustybull,
director ofthe Blackfeet Johnson-
O'Malley program in Browning,
Mont.
"Every time the government
does things like this, it's just
another slap in the face to the
most impoverished people that
need help," Dustybull says. "We
talk about these other countries
out there that are hurting and
need help but we need to look in
our own back yard."
Rep. Nick Rahall, the West
Virginia Democrat who chairs
the House Natural Resources
Committee, estimated that
President Bush's $2.9 trillion
budget proposal cut about $50
million for Indian programs from
the amount that was appropriated
in the 2006 budget year. He said
funding for the Bureau of Indian
Affairs "has been on a downward
spiral" while at the same time
military spending is increasing
dramatically.
"Instead of escalating funding in
foreign lands, I would much rather
see an escalation of resources for
the health and safety of our first
citizens," Rahall said.
"It's just more of the same,
shortchanging real, critical need,"
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.,
chairman of the Senate Indian
Affairs Committee, said of the
federal budget released by the
White House last week. "There's
not a lot of good news in the
budget"
Jacqueline Johnson, executive
director ofthe National Congress
of American Indians, said Indian
tribes, many of which already are
impoverished, are having a hard
time catching up with budgets
that are cut or flat each year.
The total allocation for the
Bureau of Indian Affairs would be
equal to last year's request, at $2.2
billion, about 1 percent lower than
was enacted in the 2006 budget
year.
"It's a tough environment,"
Johnson said.
The agency, which did not
return a call for comment on the
budget, did tout some increases
when the budget was released.
The White House is
recommending an additional $16
million for the BIA to strengthen
law enforcement and counter
growing methamphetamine
production and use in Indian
communities.
"While certainly a laudable
undertaking, the president's
budget allocates only $16 million
to do the job," Rahall said. "While
it seems to realize there is a
problem that needs attention, it
is clear that this administration
cannot bring itself to do the work
to fully address it."
Thebudgetalso would providean
additional $15 million to improve
Indian student achievement, and
the Indian Health Service would
receive about $4 billion _about a
7 percent increase over the 2006
budget year. Much of the IHS
increase _ about $250 million _ is
for clinical services.
But Indian groups worry about
other cuts within that agency. A
program to provide health care to
low-income Indians in urban areas
was targeted for elimination.
A program that provides
dollars for health care facilities
construction also would
be reduced, as would other
construction accounts for personal
housing and schools.
Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., a
co-chairman ofthe Congressional
Native American Caucus, said
the situation is dire for Indian
Country. "Without adequate
funding of programs and services
to Indian Country, the goal of
economic and social parity will
never be achieved," Kildee said.