Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2007-07-01

              ..
INDEX
Feds no longer consider
Nez Perce Tribe begins
20th Anniversary of
Chad Smith
1 Everyone must
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
2
Arizona's bald eagles
shaping plans for water
kidnapping, brutal slaying
discusses third
i accept responsibility
NEWS BRIEFS
3
endangered
deal dollars
of Anita Carlson
term as tribe's
principal chief
m *
1 to have meaningful
i law enforcement on
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4
1 reservations
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 2
page 5
page 3
page 5
1 naae4
Red Lake Gaming Enterprises 2006 financials
show mixed results, large debt payment for 2007
By Bill Lawrence
According to financial
information obtained by Press/
ON, the Red Lake Gaming
Enterprises, which includes all
three tribally owned and operated
casinos, showed a net profit of
$5,905,561 on total revenue of
$41,311,265 for calendar year
2006. This compares favorable
with 2005 total revenue of
$39,519,753 and a net profit
of $3,664,679. Perhaps, the
biggest determining factor in the
improved results for 2006 was
Gaming's achievement in holding
down operating expenses. Total
gaming operating expenses
for 2006 were $35,539,240 as
compared to $36,122,582 in
2005. For your information,
Press/ON will reprint Red Lake
Gaming Statement of Operations
for 2006 and 2005 and Note 8
containing long term debt at the
end of this article.
However, despite the improved
operating results for Red Lake
Gaming in 2006 and despite
paying $5,081,513 on long-
term debt during that year, total
long-term debt only declined by
$2,227,381 from $19,144,155
to $16,916,768. The reason
for this is because the long-
term debt has partially been
replaced by shorter-term debt
and unfortunately at a much
higher interest rate. Particularly
noticeable was Gaming's inability
to pay down anything on the
$3,000,000 line of credit during
2006 that was taken out in
2005. In addition, gaming took
out a loan of $2,404,825 to
purchase gaming equipment.
Also, Gaming was unable to pay
even interest on the $4,000,000
loan from tribal stumpage funds
borrowed in 2002. The total
amount of that loan with accrued
interest is now in excess of
$6,000,000.
With net income down
$349,217 for the first five months
of 2007 and a long-term debt
payment of $6,275,998 due
this year, Red Lake Gaming is
currently experiencing a cash
flow crunch.
Brady Martz, the CPAfirm from
Grand Forks who performed the
2006 Red Lake Gaming audit
declined to express an opinion
on the effectiveness of Gaming's
internal financial controls.
In addition they listed the
following 11 findings reflecting
internal control deficiencies
with recommendations for
correction:
1. Based on discussions with
RED LAKE to page 4
Report: Indian
gaming
revenues were
up in 2006, but
growth slows
By Adrian Sainz
AP Business Writer
MIAMI - Indian gaming
revenues increased 11 percent
to about $25.5 billion in 2006, a
sign that money is still flowing
from gamblers' pockets into
tribal operations from California
to Florida, according to a report
released Thursday.
The revenue growth rate
represents a slowdown from
the average rate of about 15
percent over the past 10 years,
but observers say 11 percent still
isn't bad and Indian gaming still
has plenty of room to blossom.
Gambling enterprises on tribal
lands employed about 327,000
people, led to about $80.7 billion
in output to the U.S. economy
and generated $11.7 billion in
taxes, according to the Indian
Gaming Industry Report by Alan
Meister, an economist with the
Analysis Group consulting firm
in Los Angeles.
"Yes, growth is down, but
don't be fooled," Meister said in
a telephone interview. "Indian
gaming has a lot of growth
potential. A lot of that growth is
already happening."
Indian gaming is intended
by law to build and sustain self-
sufficient tribal governments,
and experts say it generally
has met its goal, though some
tribes have benefited more than
others. A total of 228 tribes use
gaming revenues to fund tribal
governments and support social
services such as health care,
housing and education. About 34
percent of tribes distribute direct
payments to tribal members, the
report showed.
As sovereign governments,
tribes do not pay corporate
income taxes on tribal revenue
or property tax on reservation
land. Tribal members who live
and work on reservations do not
pay state income or property
taxes, or sales taxes on purchases
made on Indian lands. However,
tax revenues are generated from
secondary economic activity
after initial spending at gaming
facilities is spent and redistributed
throughout the economy.
Indian gaming generated $23
billion in revenue in 2005. But
GAMING to page 5
Leech Lake's former Assistant
Police Chief faces sentencing
for probation violation
WALKER, Minn. - On May
12, 2007, Cass County law
enforcement officers responded
to a complaint of a stabbing
which took place at a party
which took place in a private
home in the Mission area of the
Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
Beltrami County Law
Enforcement also responded
and took over the investigation
when it was known the stabbing
took place in Beltrami County.
When the officers arrived and
began searching the home for
the perpetrator, they found a
man hiding behind a bed that
matched the description of the
suspect. The officer ordered the
man to come out from the bed
where he was hiding. Instead the
man tried to hide by crawling
further behind the bed and then
covered his head with a pillow.
The officer kicked the bottom of
his feet to get his attention and
when the man looked up, the
officer noticed him to be Alvin
John Wind, the former Assistant
Police Chief of the Leech Lake
Band of Ojibwe.
The officer noticed Wind's
breath had a strong odor of an
intoxicating beverage when he
identified himself as "John"
SENTENCE to page 5
Activist's alleged killer loses
extradition fight
By Jeremy Hainsworth
The Associated Press
The Denver Post
Vancouver, British Columbia
- A court on Tuesday denied
a Canadian man's appeal of
an order that he be extradited
to the United States to stand
trial in the 1975 killing of an
American Indian activist who
was kidnapped from a Denver
home.
John Graham had been
under house arrest since he was
charged in December 2003 with
first-degree murder in the killing
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
in late 1975, three months after
she was abducted.
Her body was found in 1976;
she had been shot in the head.
Greg Del Bigio, one of Graham's
lawyers, said the defense may
appeal the case again to Canada's
Supreme Court. If an appeal is
not filed within two months,
Graham could be extradited to
the U.S.
Aquash's slaying came amid
a series of bloody clashes in
the mid-1970s between federal
FIGHT to page 5
County and Band square off at
round table
Both sides agree the law
enforcement mutual aid
agreement between Mille Lacs
County and the Mille Lacs Band
of Ojibwe is the only agreement
between the two entities that has
worked - and worked well - since
1998.
That agreement may now be
in jeopardy.
Representatives from Mille
Lacs County and the Mille Lacs
Band of Ojibwe came face to face
inanefforttoreachacompromise
to ensure continuation of the
agreement.
A conclusion to the debate
is still possibly six weeks away.
The two sides were unable to
come to any conclusions during
the meeting on Wednesday,
June 20 held at the Mille Lacs
Band Government Center. The
Band requested three weeks to
review the county's offer of a
compromise and come up with
their own proposal. The county
will then need time to review
that offer, but feels the county
decision could be made in less
than three weeks after they
receive the Band's proposal.
The county questioned the
authority of the Band's office of
the solicitor general to review
initial complaint reports before
sending them to the county
attorney's office. The county feels
this process violates certain terms
of the mutual aid agreement.
Concerns about the agreement
were raised by Mille Lacs County
Attorney Jan Kolb regarding
COUNTY to page 6
Tribal health care services a sticky situation
ByEricW.Bolin
Associated Press
DENVER - The director of
the U.S. Indian Health Service
told tribal leaders Tuesday he
wants his agency to eliminate
disparities within the American
Indian health care system as well
as those that exist between tribal
and traditional health care.
Access to tribal - and traditional
- medical facilities, coordinating
insurance payments for both
types of care and ensuring
American Indians are adequately
insured are among the many
challenges facing the agency, Dr.
Charles Grim told a congregation
of the Direct Service Tribes.
The group includes tribes that
allow the federal government to
regulate their health care and
education programs.
Other challenges: Some
Indian people do not have
traditional health insurance;
instead, they rely on their tribes,
through the government, to
provide medical care. And in
some poverty-stricken Indian
communities, limited access to
medical facilities can literally
become a matter of life and
death.
Suicide rates are from one-
and-a-half to three times higher
among American Indians
than for any other race in
the United States, Grim said.
Methamphetamine use is high
among Indian people as well.
Native Americans are more than
four times more likely than other
races to try the drug, according
to a National Institute of Health
Study.
"We know we have health
disparities out there," Grim
said. "We've been focusing
on increasing prevention,
behavioral health and care of
chronic patients."
Grim noted the U.S.
House voted to allocate $15
million toward preventing
methamphetamine use and an
additional $5 million toward
suicide prevention in the $4
billion IHS 2007 budget.
The Indian Health Care
Improvement Act - under
consideration by Congress for
seven years - may finally be
on the cusp of approval and
could help remedy situations
where care is limited, Grim said.
The act would, among other
things, provide more facilities
and more care for those with
tribal affiliations, he said.
That may not be enough
for the 1.9 million American
Indians and Alaskan Natives
who receive IHS health care,
said John Steele, president of
the Oglala Sioux tribe on the
Pine Ridge Reservation in South
Dakota.
The numbers cited by Grim
are conjecture with the hope of
a solution, Steele said.
"Indian Health Service, sir, is
bad. It is pathetic," said Steele.
"We talk these words, sir, but I
have human people, individuals
back home, who are suffering."
Other tribal leaders at the
conference are wary of wording
in the act that they say would
allow individual states to
designate who can and cannot
get IHS medical care and other
CARE to page 3
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
web page: www.press-on.net
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A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2007
Founded in 1988
Volume 19 Issue 32
July 1, 2007
Alex White Plume sits on the back steps of his house near Manderson, S.D., on Tuesday, June 26, 2007, near
some hemp plants that grew from seeds knocked off plants confiscated by federal drug agents. White Plume
sought to grow hemp, a cousin of marijuana with only a trace of marijuana's drug, on his ranch on the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation. (AP Photo/Chet Brokaw)
Pine Ridge farmer struggles to grow hemp
By Chet Brokaw
Associated Press
MANDERSON, S.D. - Alex
White Plume hoped his
extended family could make a
good living growing hemp when
he first planted seeds on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
in southwest South Dakota, but
years of fighting with federal
drug officials have left him in
financial trouble.
The White Plume family
planted hemp for three years
from 2000 through 2002, but
they never harvested a crop.
Federal agents conducted raids
and cut down the plants each
year because U.S. law considers
hemp, a cousin of marijuana,
to be a drug even though it
contains only a trace of the
drug in marijuana.
"We had all these plans of
grandeur and independence,
to lead the way with industrial
hemp," White Plume said.
"None of it worked out."
White Plume plans to sell
much of his ranching operation
this fall. He said he probably
can keep his house and at least
some of his buffalo that graze
among the pine-dotted ridges
that give the reservation its
name. His horses, a truck with
license plates reading "HEMP,"
and other equipment likely will
be sold to pay off some of his
debts.
But even though White
Plume lost a court case last
year, he is ready to resume
the cultivation of hemp if
the federal government ever
allows it. The plant could help
boost the economy of the
Oglala Sioux Tribe's poverty-
stricken reservation, where
unemployment is estimated
HEMP to page 6
California
Legislature
approves huge
expansion
of Indian
gambling
By Don Thompson
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - The
Legislature removed a key
hurdle to passing a state budget
Thursday, agreeing to allow
four Indian tribes to expand
casino gambling in exchange
for hundreds of millions of
dollars in revenue to the state.
The action ended what had
been a lengthy legislative
logjam that pitted two special
interest titans: labor groups vs.
casino-operating Indian tribes.
The tribes won.
Labor leaders said they
opposed the deals because they
did not contain enforceable
provisions to protect casino
employees or give unions the
right to organize.
"This is a very serious
abandonment of 100,000
workers in the state," said Art
Pulaski, executive secretary-
treasurer of the California
Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.
The compacts will allow four
Southern California gambling
tribes to add 17,000 slot
machines to their casinos, a 30
percent increase in the number
of slots currently operating in
the state.
The issue has been divisive
in Sacramento for months.
Schwarzenegger and five
Indian tribes agreed last year
to the gambling expansion:
The tribes would get to add
thousands of slot machines,
and in return state government
would receive millions per year
in badly needed revenue.
Assembly Democrats blocked
the deals because labor groups,
among their most important
allies, objected. They wanted
the right to organize casino
GAMBLING to page 6
Tribal leaders opposing proposed
casino regulation change
Associated Press
OKLAHOMACITY-Aproposal
to change the way American
Indian casinos are regulated has
drawn opposition from tribal
officials, including at least one
in Oklahoma.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, chairman
of the Indian Affairs Committee,
has written draft legislation
that would give the National
Indian Gaming Commission the
authority to establish minimum
internal controls for casinos.
Dorgan, D-N.D., said the draft
was for discussion and input
from the tribes and others would
be sought before introducing a
bill.
Tribal officials told to the
Senate Indian Affairs Committee
on Thursday that their casinos
are regulated enough by their
own tribal gaming commissions
and the states in which they're
operated.
"We are the primary regulators
and we've done an absolutely
fabulous job," W Ron Allen,
chairman of the Washington
Indian Gaming Commission
and of the Jamestown S'Klallam
Tribe, said in a story from The
CHANGE to page 5
Tribal police break up attempted
beer blockade, arrest three
By Carson Walker
Associated Press
PINE RIDGE, S.D. - Tribal
police Thursday shut down a
volunteer blockade aimed at
keeping beer out of the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation,
where alcoholism is rampant,
and arrested three organizers
who refused to leave.
Only a few vehicles had been
checked for alcohol by the time
Oglala Sioux tribal police told
the volunteers to stop because
of safety concerns. After several
minutes of arguing, police
arrested actor and American
Indian activist Russell Means;
Duane Martin Sr.; and Frank
LaMere, a Winnebago activist.
Martin was arrested after it
appeared he fought with officers
over a spear he was carrying. He
spoke in Lakota as more than a
half-dozen officers wrestled him
to the ground.
The three were arrested on
POLICE to page 6
Red Lake Man Charged with
Assaulting Police Officer
Press Release
Minneapolis - A forty-year-old
member of the Red Lake Bank of
Chippewa Indians was arrested
this morning for assaulting
a law enforcement officer.
William Ruftis Graves of Red
Lake, Minnesota, was charged
through a federal indictment
with one count of assault
resulting in serious bodily harm.
The indictment was unsealed
following the arrest.
Court records indicate that
on May 31, 2007, while being
held in the Red Lake Detention
Center, Graves assaulted a law
enforcement officer. Specifically,
he kicked a cell block door closed
on the officer's hand, causing the
officer's finger to be severed at
the knuckles.
If convicted, Graves faces a
maximum potential penalty
often years in federal prison.
Any sentence, however, will be
determined by a judge.
The investigation in this case
was conducted by the Red Lake
Police Department and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorney
Tricia A. Tingle is prosecuting
the case.
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