Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2007-05-18

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INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Penobscot Chief: Tribe
was unaware of RX
wrongdoing
page 3
MCT Right to Know
page 5
A Native Perspective
on Gaming
page 4
New Women and Children
Shelter Opens on Pine
Ridge
page 3
Buck's Red Lake
Drug Haven
page 4
19 Red Lakers busted, rebusted for drug trafficking
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
Nine enrolled members of Red
Lake Band were arrested May 9
and 10, 2007, on drug related
charges, some for the second
time in less than eight months.
The number included two
Red Lake tribal police officers,
Herbert Melvin May, age 37 and
Robert Jeffrey Vanwert age 33.
Those arrested May 10 are:
Austin Robert Head (age 23) of
Bemidji; Ricky Lee Chaboyea
(23), Dasheena Jo Strong (19)
and Brandon Lee Strong (31)
all from Redby; Alton Ryan
Beaulieu (22) and Tyrone Wayne
Beaulieu (19) of Little Rock; and
Maria Jean Needham (39) of Red
Lake.
Billy Joe Mason, who is
currently a prisoner at the
Minnesota State Penitentiary in
St. Cloud, was also arrested in
connection with this case.
All ten were charged with
conspiracy to distribute and
possess with the intent to
distribute 5 kilograms or more
of a mixture and substance
containing cocaine.
The charges carry a mandatory
minimum sentence of at least ten
years in prison, and a maximum
of life in prison, and/or a fine of $4
million. Mandatory sentencing
requires the presiding judge to
issue sentences according to the
stated guidelines and takes away
any possibility of discretionary
sentencing authority.
Austin Robert Head, Ricky Lee
Chaboyea, Dasheena Jo Strong,
Brandon Lee Strong and Maria
Jean Needham, according to a
Star Tribune article of May 11,
2007, were among 20 individuals
who were charged in sealed
indictments last September in
Minneapolis.
This is the second major
drug-related, group-arrest
resulting from the combined
efforts of the Minnesota Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives and the Bureau
of Criminal Apprehension; the
Beltrami, Mahnomen, Lake of
the Woods, Clearwater County
Sheriffs' offices; The White Earth,
Leech Lake Tribal Police and the
Bemidji Police Departments; the
Project Safe Neighborhood, the
Paul Bunyan Drug Task Forces;
the Mahnomen County Weed
and Seed Task Force; the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and the
United States Marshals' Office.
These groups operate collectively
through the Headwaters Safe
Trails Task Force.
The Red Lake Tribal Police did
assist in the arrest of their two
police officers on May 9, but the
department does not participate
in any of the drug related task
forces. Chairman Floyd "Buck"
Jourdain removed it from any
such involvement.
In addition to those named
above, nine other persons from
the Red Lake Reservation, were
arrested last month. They are:
Fred Alan Desjarlait, Jr. (age 27)
and William Antoine May, Jr. (20)
of Red Lake; Gary Lee Strong
(25), Nicholas Avery Strong
(22), Rochelle Lynn Strong (35),
Dana Alphonse Oliver (47), Gary
Lee Head (49), Joseph Jacob
Thunder, III, (40), Marida Dawn
Seki (39) all of Redby. The arrests
were also made by members of
the Headwaters Safe Trails Task
Force.
OnApril ll,2007afederal grand
jury in Minneapolis returned a
superseding indictment charging
the above named individuals
with conspiracy to distribute and
possess with intent to distribute 5
kilograms or more of a mixture or
substance containing cocaine.
Of the nine persons named
in the April 2007 indictment,
five were arrested the previous
August and charged with
controlled substance/narcotics
and controlled substance first-
degree possession. Those
DRUG to page 6
CDC Releases
Infant Mortality
Data: Native
Rates Still High
By Jean Pagano
The National Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) recently
released data on infant mortality
rates for the year 2004. While
the infant mortality rates in
general have decreased since
1995, the numbers among Native
woman are still behind those
of other ethnic groups. While
pre-term rates were lower than
the national average for Native
women, the overall rate was
second only to African-American
women.
The national average for infant
mortality rates is 6.78 per 1,000
live births. Asian/Pacific Island,
Mexican, and white women had
lower rates than the national
average at 4.67, 5.47, and 5.66
per 1,000 births respectively.
Puerto Rican, Native, and
African-American women came
in higher with rates of 7.82,8.45,
and 13.60, respectively.
Infant mortality rates for
Native women varied by state,
with 15 states reporting statistics
for 2004. California had the
lowest incidence with 6.29,
while South Dakota reported the
highest rate of 13.51. Other states
with rates greater than 10% were
North Carolina (11.10), Oregon
(11.07), New York (11.03), and
Washington (10.5). Minnesota's
rate was higher than the national
average for Native woman at 8.81.
Historically, infant mortality
rates for Native women, in the
last 10 years, peaked in 1996
with a rate of 9.95 per 1,000
births. The rate of 8.45 reported
in 2004 is 6.5% lower than the
1996 figure.
The age of the child at death
is significant. More than two-
thirds of all infant deaths occur
CDC to page 3
Two years after "historic"
agreement, no tribe patrols
By Nate Jenkins
Associated Press
WHITECLAY, Neb. - Once
hailed as a historic step towards
mopping up this alcohol-
drenched village, a deal to allow
tribal police to patrol it has
instead gone the way of empty
beer cans so visible in the area _
ditched.
The agreement, signed nearly
two years ago by Attorney
General Jon Bruning, Gov.
Dave Heineman and the then-
president of the Oglala Sioux
Tribe, allows tribal police in the
Pine Ridge Indian reservation to
be deputized in Nebraska.
But the patrols never started,
and now nearly $200,000
earmarked by Congress to pay
for Pine Ridge officers to patrol
the town is in danger of slipping
away, unused.
"The way it was set up
originally, it hasn't taken place,"
said Lance Moss, owner of
Judge orders tribe to temporarily
restore citizenship of freedmen
By Murray Evans
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - The
attorney general of the Cherokee
Nation agreed to a temporary
injunction in tribal court
Monday that allows descendants
of the tribe's slaves to maintain
their citizenship while they
appeal the constitutionality of
an election that rescinded their
tribal membership.
The order applies only to
appeals made by the descendants,
commonly known as freedmen,
in tribal court, and not to
ongoing appeals being made
in federal court in Washington,
D.C.
"I think we made a major
step toward restoring their full
citizenship rights," said Nathan
Young HI of Tahlequah, the
attorney for the freedmen in the
tribal court case. "I think it's the
first step."
But Jon Velie, the attorney
for the freedmen in the federal
case, called the tribal court's
action "a temporary fix" and
said the tribe was reacting to
recent filings by the freedmen
in the federal case. In that case
on Monday, U.S. District Judge
Henry H. Kennedy Jr. denied a
motion by the tribe to dismiss
the case or move jurisdiction
of it to an Oklahoma federal
court.
Young said the order by
Cherokee District Court Judge
JUDGEtopage6
Authorities Fail To Protect Native
American, Alaska Native Women
Federal Government's
Jurisdictional Maze and
Chronic Under-Funding of
Law Enforcement and Indian
Health Services Mean Justice
Denied for Native Women
(Washington, D.C.) - Native
American and Alaska Native
women in the United States suffer
disproportionately high levels of
rape and sexual violence, yet the
federal government has created
substantial barriers to accessing
justice, Amnesty International
(AI) asserted in a 113-page
report released today. Justice
Department figures indicate
that American Indian and Alaska
Native women are 2.5 times more
likely to be raped or sexually
assaulted than women in the
United States in general; more
than one in three Native women
will be raped in their lifetimes.
The United States government
has created a complex maze
of tribal, state and federal
jurisdictions that often allows
perpetrators to rape with
impunity - and in some cases
effectively creates jurisdictional
vacuums that encourage assaults.
It is necessary to establish the
location of the crime and the
identity of the perpetrator to
determine which authorities
have jurisdiction, during which
critical time is lost. This leads to
inadequate investigations or a
failure to respond.
Further complications are the
lack of trained Sexual Assault
Nurse Examiners (SANEs) at
Indian Health Service (IHS)
facilities to provide forensic
exams, and the potential for
law enforcement to mishandle
evidence when rape kits are used.
The result is that Native women
often:
Do not get timely - or any
- response from police.
May not get forensic medical
examinations.
May never see their cases
prosecuted.
"Native women are brutalized at
an alarming rate, and the United
States government, a purported
champion of women's rights, is
unfortunately contributing to
the problem," said Larry Cox,
executive director of Amnesty
International USA (AIUSA). "It is
disgraceful that such abuse even
exists today. Without immediate
REPORT to page 6
Indigenous
groups criticize
pope's comments
Associated Press
Pope Benedict XVI came under
criticism from Indian rights
groups Monday for insisting
that Latin American Indians
wanted to become Christian
before European conquerors
arrived centuries ago.
The pope said Sunday that
pre-Columbian people of Latin
Amercan and the Caribbean
were seeking Christ without
realizing it "Christ is the savior
for whom they were silently
longing," Benedict told a regional
conference of bishops in Brazil.
The comments reinforce
the view that the pope
is "Eurocentric," and fail to
account for the fact that Indians
were enslaved and killed by the
Portuguese and Spanish settlers
who forced them to become
Catholic, said Paulo Suess,
an adviser to Brazil's Indian
Missionary Council, which is
supported by the Roman Catholic
Church.
Benedict "is a good theologian,
but it seems he missed some
history classes," Suess said.
COMMENTS to page 6
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Founded in 1988
Volume 19 Issue 29
May 18, 2007
Whiteclay Grocery.
Moss' store neighbors four
others that sell millions of cans of
beer annually to residents of the
reservation located just across
the border in South Dakota.
Liquor is banned on the
reservation, which has one of
the highest alcoholism-related
mortality rates in the country
and is within walking distance
of the stores. The 5,000-square
mile reservation is home to about
15,000 Oglala Sioux.
The uneasy tie between the
village and the reservation is
complicated by jurisdictional
issues. Problems in the area _
where people are often passed
out drunk on the sidewalks
or begging for beer money _
have been the subject of finger-
pointing for decades.
Common alcohol offenses
in Whiteclay include public
consumption,  selling to
PATROLS to page 3
David Davis, an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, is appealling a state civil/regulatory
conviction where Davis argued lack of jurisdiction in Mille Lacs District Court. The Mille Lacs County Attorney's
office argued that no Mille Lacs Reservation exists. Davis was ticketed several miles north of this sign near
the main governmental center in Vineland, MN. photo by Frank Bibeau
School Shooters and Violent Juveniles, Are We
Asking the Right Question?
By Jody Crowe
If I were to tell you my dad
passed away from lung cancer,
what is the first question that
comes to your mind? Did he
smoke? Now, if I were to tell you
a 15 year-old boy walked into an
apartment in a small town in a
mid-western state and gunned
down another 15 year-old boy,
what is the first question that
comes to mind? I believe the
question we should be asking
is: Did the mother of this child
drink any alcohol while she was
pregnant with this child?
In 2005, a student killed two
people including his grandfather,
took his grandfather's police
car to his school in Red Lake,
Minnesota and shot and killed 7
students before killing himself.
He had the facial and behavioral
characteristics of Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome (FAS) and his mother
was a heavy drinker.  As this
tragedy played out, I started to
research a another Minnesota
school shooting that happened
in 1966, when a student with a
handgun walked up to another
student at my hometown high
school, shot and critically
wounded this student, then
fired six shots into Mr. Wiley, the
administrator who told him to
give him the gun. Mr. Wiley died
eight days later. This shooter, I
QUESTION to page 7
Pine Ridge
blockade
planned to nab
bootleggers
By Carson Walker
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Two
women are scheduled to
be sentenced Monday for
bootlegging on the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation as another
road blockade is being planned
to stop the influx of alcohol to
the dry reservation.
Louise Jumping Eagle of Pine
Ridge and Juanita Jumping
Eagle of Manderson pleaded
guilty to the charge for selling
vodka to a woman.
Each faces up to five years in
prison at their sentencing in U.S.
District Court in Rapid City.
Marty Jackley, U.S. attorney
for South Dakota, could not
speak about the case but said his
office is increasingly prosecuting
a statute already on the books.
The federal bootlegging law,
dispensing intoxicants in Indian
Country, allows prosecutors to
charge offenders only if there's
a tribal ordinance that bans
alcohol.
"You're only going to see this
on Pine Ridge. If the tribe allows
alcohol, then the federal statute
does not kick in."
Jackley said he has stepped
up enforcement because of
requests from elders and tribal
leaders concerned about chronic
alcoholism.
Atthe same time, DuaneMartin
Sr., leader of a traditional Oglala
Lakota group, said he's planning
another blockade this summer to
curb illegal alcohol sales.
This time Martin, of the
Strong Heart Civil Rights
Movement, said he'll be ready
to be handcuffed and taken to
BLOCKADE to page 6
Many Indian Beneficiaries Would
Lose Rights Under Interior Plan
WASHINGTON, May 15 -
Lawyers in a major class action
lawsuit are opposing an Interior
Department plan which they say
will deprive the "vast majority"
of an estimated 500,000 Native
Americans whose families have
had government-managed trust
accounts from receiving a court-
ordered accounting of what
happened to their funds..
Attorney Keith Harper,
representing Indian plaintiffs
in an 11-year-old class action
lawsuit, said the U.S. Interior
Department's proposed
accounting would strip most
members of the class of the
right to secure a long-promised
accounting.
Harper made his comments
to U.S. District Judge James
Robertson after the judge
expressed concern that both
sides in the lawsuit may have
sharply different views about
what constitutes a proper
accounting.
Judge Robertson, who assumed
control of the case in December,
has ordered an Oct. 10 trial into
whether the Interior Department
can conductaproper accounting.
That issue, the judge declared,
is at the heart of the lawsuit
over the government's admitted
mismanagement of Indian Trust
accounts.
The accounts were created
by Congress in 1887 when
lawmakers believed that Indians
were incapable of managing
their own finances. They were
PLAN to page 7
Bush visits America's birthplace,
celebrates legacy of democracy
Associated Press
JAMESTOWN, Va. - Fond
of promoting the endurance
of freedom, President Bush
on Sunday nailed the nation's
humble beginnings as a
reminder that new democracies
require huge sacrifice.
"From our own history, we
know the path to democracy is
long and it's hard," Bush said in
a ceremony honoring the 400th
anniversary of Jamestown,
America's first permanent
English colony.
"There are many challenges,
and there are setbacks along
the way," Bush said. "Yet we
can have confidence in the
outcome because we've seen
freedom's power to transform
societies."
On his first visit to Jamestown
as president, Bush soaked in
the scene like a tourist _ first
watching a dig for artifacts,
then climbing aboard a replica
of a majestic ship.
He even grabbed a baton
and playfully led the 400-piece
orchestra before heading back
home.
In his speech, Bush said
the United States must stand
with those struggling to gain
their freedom. He spoke from
the place where the country's
roots began centuries ago in a
swampland.
'Today, Democratic
institutions are taking root in
places in places where liberty
was unimaginable not long
ago," the president said.
He specifically cited Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"The advance of freedom is
BUSH to page 2