Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2007-06-01

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
After 31 years, it is time
for justice: The murder of
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash
page 4
MCT Right to Know
page 5,6
Vizenor calls for
resignation of U.S.
Attorney General Alberto
Gonzalez
page 4
End of the Hollywood Trail
page 4
Federal Indian
policy is the
problem not
solution
page 4
Clinton says no to 'Prez on Rez'
Candidate's staff cites 'labor issue' as one factor in refusal to attend forum
VOICE       OF       THE       PEOPLE
Debra Gruszecki
The Desert Sun
Democratic presidential
candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton
has declined an invitation to
speak at the first-ever presidential
candidate forum in Indian
Country, according to organizers
of "Prez on the Rez" at Morongo
Casino Resort & Spa.
And it appears as if a labor
union dispute with California's
gaming tribes is one reason
why.
The forum is slated for Aug.
23 on the reservation of the
Morongo Band of Mission
Indians.
Kalyn Free, president of
the Tulsa-based INDN's List
Education Fund, said Clinton
was invited more than six months
ago.
This "willingness to ignore
Indian voters on the campaign
trail has made it clear that she
lacks the courage to change lives
in Indian Country," Free said.
Phil Singer, a spokesman for
Clinton, said in a telephone
interview that several factors
played into Clinton's decision.
One is, "She will not be in
California that day." The other
is, "the labor issue."
Singer also stressed that
Clinton's decision need not
reflect an unwillingness to work
on behalf of Native Americans.
She has an "extensive record"
in that regard, Singer said, noting
Clinton's efforts to train Native
American teachers, set up the
first-ever Native American forum
in the Senate and co-sponsor
Indian health care legislation.
Clinton's advocacy on behalf of
Native Americans stretches back
to her days in the White House
as first lady and has carried on in
the Senate, he said.
So far, only two presidential
candidates - New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson and former
Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel - have
agreed to take part in the Prez
on the Rez event, expected to
draw 2,500 to 3,500 members of
tribal governments across the
nation.
Labor, specifically the service
worker union Unite HERE, is
opposing legislative approval of
new Indian gaming deals that
expand slots and the number
of casinos for California tribes
that include the Morongo Band
of Mission Indians and the
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians.
Jack Gribbon, political director
for Unite HERE in California,
could not be immediately
reached for comment.
Mille Lacs
County - A
question of
jurisdiction
by Rob Passons
Messenger Staff Writer
Jan Kolb, Mille Lacs County
attorney Mille Lacs County
Attorney Jan Kolb laid out
three possible courses of action
for the county commissioners
on May 22 regarding the
law enforcement mutual aid
agreement between the Mille
Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the
county.
The discussion was in response
to a directive from the Office of
Solicitor General which stated,
"Effective immediately all
cases forwarded to the county
attorney's office will be reviewed
by the OSG prior to submission
to the county attorney."
Kolb said this violates
Minnesota statute, and data
privacy practices. She said
the county could either sue
the Band to bring them into
compliance, revoke the mutual
aid agreement between the
Band and the county, or send
them a letter requesting they
comply with' the statute and
rescind the OSG directive.
The heart of the matter, from
the county's perspective, is
Minnesota Public Law 280, which
states the Band has jurisdiction
in civil or regulatory offenses,
but the county has jurisdiction
and the responsibility for
prosecuting all offenses that
are criminally prohibitory.
The OSG is not a prosecuting
authority over criminal offenses
and should not be reviewing any
reports for charging decisions
or prosecution, according to
Kolb.
Kolb's concerns included
the potential for expansion
of tribal authority over cases.
"There is a concern that we may
never see reports on these cases
anymore," Kolb said.
Kolb referred to the case of
Archie Cash, a Band member
arrested by tribal police for
illegal transportation of
firearms in 2004 and convicted
in 2006. "The OSG asked why
we received these reports. We
received these reports because
this was a criminal matter.
This was the first time they had
questioned our seeing those
reports, and I'm afraid they
won't be forwarded to us in the
MILLE LACS to page 6
Mille Lacs Band remains
concerned
OnthehealsofMilleLacs County
Board discussions regarding the
possible termination of the
mutual aid agreement between
tribal police and county law
enforcement, Mille Lacs Band
tribal government addressed the
community regarding the recent
treatment of a young boy.
Rjay Brunkow was sworn into
office as the solicitor general
for the Band on May 1, and
immediately handled issues
that have reached across the
world, according to director of
communications for the Band
Emily Johnson.
The story of the Mille Lacs
County court and jail practices
concerning the 11-year-old boy
who was arrested, cuffed and
shackled has been published in
over 500 newspapers nationwide
and internationally in Europe,
according to Johnson.
The Band has gained support
from Indian tribes across the
nation and from the Minnesota
Human Rights Commission.
Johnson read a letter to
Band members at a community
meeting held on Thursday,
May 24, written to Mille Lacs
Band Chief Executive Melanie
Benjamin from Gov. Tim
Pawlenty.
In a nutshell, the letter states
the governor feels the treatment
of the 11-year-old boy raises
significant concerns that warrant
further review.
Investigations of the policies
and procedures in place at Mille
Lacs County for witnesses and
juveniles in custody have been
initiated by the county board
of commissioners as well as the
state attorney general's office.
The governor stated the best
course of action at this time
is to await the results of those
investigations.
"If investigations confirm
problems in relation to the
treatment of juvenile witnesses
and detainees, the county
should correct those problems
immediately," wrote Pawlenty.
Brunkow said, "In light of
the incident regarding the boy"
he has issued a directive to
the tribal police department to
review all warrants and police
reports through the office of
. the solicitor general before any
action is taken.
"We are going to continue
to do so until we are satisfied
Band members are being treated
fairly," Brunkow said. He said
his office does not review such
paperwork from any county
other than Mille Lacs.
Currently, Tribal Police
Chief Dwight Reed is under the
directive to review all warrants,
reports and citations that come
CONCERN to page 5
Klobuchar seeks answers about
new revelations in targeting of
Heffelfinger
By Eric Black
Star Tribune
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D.-Minn.,
on Thursday demanded answers
to new questions about why the
Justice Department considered
firing former U.S. Attorney Tom
Heffelfinger.
Klobuchar sent a letter, to
Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-
Vt., asking him to pursue the
matter at a hearing Tuesday when
the committee will question
a former Justice Department
official. That official, Bradley
Schlozman, a political appointee
in the Justice Department, may
know whether Heffelfinger had
alienated Republican insiders by
his position on an Indian voting
issue on the eve of the 2004
election.
The Justice Department knew
that Heffelfinger and Minnesota
Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer
were on opposite sides of the
question.
According to an article in
the Los Angeles Times on
Thursday, Schlozman prevented
an investigation into whether
Indian voting rights were in
jeopardy because of the "special
sensitivity of this matter."
Kiffmeyer had issued a directive
that would have prevented
Indians, other than those living
on reservations, from using
tribal identification cards for
voting purposes. Heffelfinger
was concerned that such a policy
would damage Indian voting
rights.
The matter was ultimately
decided by a federal court in
favor of allowing the use of tribal
ANSWERS to page 6
Cobell prepares for court battle on accounting
Indianz.com
The plaintiffs in the billion-
dollar Cobell trust fund lawsuit
filed their first brief on Tuesday
in preparation for a landmark
historical accounting trial.
The brief seeks to address
some of the issues surrounding
the Bush administration's
accounting of the Individual
Indian Money (IIM) trust.
According to the plaintiffs, the
Interior Department's project will
leave out hundreds of thousands
of Indian beneficiaries.
"To be adequate, 'Interior
must perform an accounting of
all funds deposited or invested
in the IIM trust fund since the
passage of the General Allotment
Act in 1887,'" the brief states,
citing the December 1999 ruling
that ordered the accounting.
Among those who won't
receive an accounting: "direct
pay" beneficiaries whose lease
payments are deposited into
their bank accounts; deceased
beneficiaries and their hers;
beneficiaries whose IIM accounts
were closed before October 25,
1994, the date of the passage of
the American Indian Trust Fund
Management Reform Act.
Additionally, the project will
only go as far back as June
24, 1938, the date of another
Indian trust law. Some accounts,
according to Interior officials, go
back to the late 1800s.
Despite the exclusions,
Interior has defended its right
to define the scope and nature
of the accounting. According to
a recent brief, the court's role in
overseeing the plan is limited
to determining whether it is
arbitrary or capricious under the
Administrative Procedures Act
(APA), or whether it will "delay
rather than accelerate" the final
accounting.
"Although this case has had
many detours between 2001 and
the present time, Interior has
been and is continuing to perform
the accounting referenced by the
D.C. Circuit," the May 11 brief
stated. In February 2001, the
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
affirmed the duty to accounting
for the IIM trust.
Judge James Robertson in
Washington, D.C, will have
to sort out these conflicting
views as he prepares for the
October 10 trial. He held the
first status hearing May 14 and
said both sides will have to make
concessions.
"The plaintiffs are going to
have to get used to much more
modest goals for this October
trial, and the defense is going
to have to get used to much
more ambitious goals for this
October trial than either side has
thought about," Robertson told
the parties.
Robertson acknowledged the
accounting won't be anywhere
near complete by the time of the
trial. "It's a subset because you're
not finished, and you won't be
finished by October," he said.
But he appeared to reject
the idea that the trial won't
go into the nuts and bolts of
the accounting plan, as the
administration suggested in its
brief. "Much too much water has
flowed under the dam or over the
bridge... to make this a straight
up, old-fashioned APA document
COBELL to page 3
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Founded in 1988
Volume 19 Issue 30
June 1, 2007
In this 1911 or 1912 photo released by Cumberland County Historical Society in Carlisle, Pa., Jim Thorpe,
right, is seen with other members of the Carlisle Indians football team at The Carlisle Indian Industrial School,
inCarlisle. In her new book, "The Real All-Americans: The Team that Changed a Game, a People, a Nation,"
Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins recounts in rich detail the triumphant _ and often overlooked _ history
of the Carlisle Indians, a series of ragtag teams of American Indians from a tiny school in central Pennsylvania
that regularly bested the well-moneyed powerhouses of football's formative years. (AP Photo/Cumberland
County Historical Society, Carlisle, Pa.)
Gridiron heroes: Carlisle Indians found victory
on football field
By Randy Pennell
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Chippewa
and Iroquois, Cherokee and
Cheyenne, they were pulled
from the reservations to take
part in a brutal experiment in
education at the hands of an
Army captain who strove to blot
out their cultural identity.
But on the football field they
were fleet and innovative, able
to compete with and defeat the
white man at his own game.
In her new book, "The Real
All Americans: The Team that
Changed a Game, a People,
a Nation," Washington Post
columnist Sally Jenkins
recounts in rich detail the
triumphant _ and often
overlooked _ history of the
Carlisle Indians, a series of
ragtag teams of American
Indians from a tiny school
in central Pennsylvania that
regularly bested the moneyed
powerhouses of football's
formative years.
The book opens as the
Carlisle Indian Industrial
School prepares for a showdown
with Army in 1912 _ 22 years
after Wounded Knee. Jenkins
recounts a speech given by
Glenn S. "Pop" Warner,
Carlisle's coach for 13 seasons,
in which he tells his players to
"just go to your rooms and read
your history books."
And what follows is a history,
not just of Carlisle's great
teams but also of the latter
years of the country's great
western expansion. Jenkins
uses the Carlisle teams to open
a window onto the conflicts
that eventually subdued the
American Indians following
the Civil War and the attempts
to integrate them into white
society toward the start of the
First World War.
"There's a big gap in
the literature on Carlisle,"
Jenkins said. "There's basically
children's literature and then
academic literature. But there
wasn't a good, straightforward
nonfiction narrative on the
Carlisle Indians and what
they contributed to American
football."
But Jenkins hopes readers
come away with more than
that.
"I wanted to use the story
as a way into Native American
assimilation," Jenkins said. "I
thought that the narrative story
of that was really fascinating."
John Glover, director of The
Center for Indian Studies at
Black Hills State University in
Spearfish, S.D., said Jenkins
might have struck upon a
good way to reach a sometimes
forgotten era of American
Indian history.
"It may be a nice platform for
the sports enthusiast to learn
a little about American history
that they hadn't thought about
before," said Glover, who had
just received a copy of the book
and looked forward to reading
it.
Jenkins begins her account
of Carlisle's history with the
story of Richard Henry Pratt,
a young cavalry officer who
would go on to found Carlisle
and serve as its superintendent
for more than 20 years. Pratt is
the dominant figure of the first
half of the book, simultaneously
paternalistic and despicable for
his attempts to "civilize" his
young charges.
To modem sensibilities, Pratt
is difficult to understand. He
CARLISLE to page 7
Minnesota aims
to protect wild
rice from genetic
modifications
Associated Press
ST. PAUL - The DNA of
Minnesota wild rice gets special
protection under a new state
law adopted this year with the
backing of Indian tribes.
Genetic modifications to
wild rice will be watched more
closely, with environmental
impact statements required
and permits controlled by the
Minnesota Environmental
Quality Board.
The board is also required
to keep tabs on genetic
modifications to wild rice
throughout the country and
notify wild rice farmers, tribes
and lawmakers if permits for
genetically altered wild rice are
issued in any state.
Meanwhile, the state
Department of Natural
Resources will study the
current status of natural wild
rice and potential threats.
Rep. Frank Moe said it's the
first time a state has voted to
protect a native crop or species
from genetic changes.
"Wild rice is not only
historically and economically
important for all Minnesotans,
it's sacred to the Ojibwe people,"
said Moe, DFL-Bemidji. "It's
both important food for us and
prime fish and duck habitat.
We need to study the declining
wild rice population and protect
against any genetic damage to
native wild rice."
American Indians opposed to
Stewart's trademark attempt
By Jim Fitzgerald
Associated Press
KATONAH, N.Y. - Martha
Stewart's attempt to trademark
"Katonah" _ a move that has
already riled some of her village
neighbors _ has now upset some
American Indians because the
name originally belonged to a
17th-century chief.
Two members of the
Ramapough Lenape Indian
Nation, which claims Chief
Katonah as its own, have joined
the anti-trademark battle being
waged by the Katonah Village
Improvement Society.
And other American Indian
leaders on Tuesday said that
Stewart's trademark application
was offensive.
"If I wanted to trademark
'Martha Stewart' and put out a
line of tea towels, she would have
me in court very quickly," said
Suzan Harjo, president of the
Morning Star Institute, a national
advocacy group. "She'd be saying,
You can't use my name, mat's
valuable, that belongs to me.'"
Clint Halftown, the federally
recognized representative for the
Cayuga Nation, said, "If it's being
done for profit, then of course it's
offensive. Of all the names in the
world and all the words, why can't
she pick something out that's not
offensive?"
Stewart bought a 153-acre
estate in Katonah, 40 miles north
of New York City, for $16 million
in 2000 and returned there in
2005 after five months in prison.
Her company, Martha Stewart
Living Omnimedia, wants to
trademark "Katonah" for home
furnishings, paints and other
products, some of which are
already on sale. A spokeswoman
for the domestic doyenne, Diana
Pearson, has said Stewart "seeks
to honor the town and the hamlet
by using the word Katonah."
Pearson declined Tuesday
to comment on the Indian
opposition.
The village says Chief Katonah
led the Ramapough Indians in
the New York-New Jersey area
and in 1680 sold land to white
settlers.
The Village Improvement
Society has launched a campaign
called "Nobody Owns Katonah"
to fight the trademarking of the
name. Last week it announced
the support of Autumn Scott and
Steven Burton of the Mahwah,
N.J.-based Ramapough Lenape
group.
Scott, who co-chairs the New
Jersey State Commission on
Indian Affairs, said, "We trust
that Martha Stewart intended
no malice in seeking to have her
corporation trademark the name
of one of our great ancestral
leaders, but for her to say she is
doing so to honor him and our
tribe is absurd especially when it
is being done solely for profit."
"The fact that Ms. Stewart now
stubbornly resists the opposition
of our community, and the
Village of Katonah, only reveals a
heightened level of insensitivity,"
added Burton.
Many American Indian names,
TRADEMARK to page 6