Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2007-12-15

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INDEX
L.L Legal Director Chief
Annie Mae Letter from Jail
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
2
"Run-a-muk" Mikey G.
page 5
NEWS BRIEFS
3
Laughs At RTC
Chairman Wildebeest
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4-5
George Seduces New Victim
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 5
page 5
Fly on the Wall at Leech
Lake Constitutional
Convention
page 5
Leech Lake Band
Member appreciates
NAP newspaper
page 4
2007
Retrospect
page 4
The Fighting Sioux logo argument should
include other considerations
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
By Bill Lawrence
The only thing that can
be said, with certainty, about
the on-going argument over
the Sioux logo is this: It is a
multifaceted issue composed
of a multitude of unattractive
human characteristics, to name
just a few-avarice, self-interest,
intolerance, insensitivity and
over-sensitivity.
To bring it to a satisfactory
end will take the wisdom of
Solomon.
Here are some of the most
obvious elements of the
problem.
The University of North Dakota
essentially sold its soul. In
accepting the money to build and
maintain the Englestad Arena,
UND declared money was more
important than principal.
The issue of the logo had
already been on the table many
times before the deal went down.
I can only suppose the University
felt that the beauty and utility of
the facility, the obvious monetary
contribution to both the school
and to the community would be
so beneficial that the question of
its being a racial slur could be
disregarded.
A small war party of North
Dakota Sioux raised a stink. Most
of the Sioux have not expressed
opposition to the logo.
A vocal group of fans has
supported it. Most of the people
do not have time or energy to
think about the logo issue, much
less to get involved on either side
of the controversy.
University officials thought
perhaps the NCAA (National
Collegiate Athletic Association)
would find some satisfactory
avenue to follow. After all the
administration cannot be seen
as stuffing something down
anyone's throat; they seemed to
be saying, lets look for outside
help.'
The NCAA, perhaps having
a slight understanding of how
discrimination works, said no
school that clung to logos that
were commonly understood to
be derogatory would be allowed
to play in tournaments. This
was bad news for UND. A lawsuit
followed that really has not
resolved anything.
I do not have a solution. I do
not advocate unequivocally for
one side or the other. I do however
want to offer another dimension
that should be considered.
This issue is much bigger than
just the Sioux and the University
of North Dakota.
I believe the discussion should
be widened to include all Indians
and particularly the Indians of
Minnesota.
Here's why.
The Chippewa bands possessed
vast land holdings in what is now
Minnesota and North Dakota.
My great grandfather Baptiste
Lawrence is listed in the 1850
census of the Minnesota Territory
as living in Pembina. Evidently,
this branch of my family had lived
in that area for many years.
For decades, the Chippewa had
resided peacefully as gardeners,
hunters and gatherers. The Sioux,
after having been pushed by the
Chippewa far to the south and the
west-beyond what is now known
as the Red River Valley-dared to
reentered the territory only for a
quick raid or hunt.
LOGO to page 6
Rare and Study: More than 1,200 homeless,
once-baffling      nearly homeless on reservations
disease forces
Navajo parents
to cope
By Felicia Fonseca
Associated Press
TUBA CITY, Ariz. - Lorria
Trujillo never felt she knew
enough to question doctors about
her 6-month-old daughter's
health. She didn't second
guess them when they insisted
Charlotte merely had a viral
infection after months of being
sick, nor question them when
the girl's lungs collapsed.
Trujillo watched as her baby
was unhooked from life support
and held her until she died.'
That was 1995.
Written on the child's death
certificate is "severe infection,"
but Trujillo now knows the
condition that claimed her
daughter's life is the same one
her 9-year-old daughter, Grace
Marie Yazzie, suffers from.
"With most families, it's the
mother that's really responsible
for taking care of their babies,"
the Navajo woman said. "I really
felt like I didn't do my part as a
mother, and I kept looking for
something I would have missed.
Would I have known?"
Without treatment, children
have no chance of surviving
severe combined immune
deficiency _ a disorder that's
more commonly referred to
as "bubble boy disease" after a
Houston boy who was forced to
spend his 12-year life in a plastic
bubble free of germs.
In the Navajo population,
one in every 2,500 children
inherit SCID, a condition that
endows them virtually no
immune system. In the general
population, SCID is much more
rare, affecting one in 100,000
children.
Before Grace was born,
Trujillo had researched SCID,
and knowing that she and her
now ex-husband had a one in
four chance of having another
baby with the condition, she
insisted on a blood test. Although
doctors didn't think the test was
necessary, Trujillo knew not to
keep quiet this time around.
"The longer it took, the more
DISEASE to page 6
Associated Press
DULUTH,Minn-Homelessness
is prevalent on American Indian
reservations in northern
Minnesota, but that doesn't
mean you'll find people living
under bridges or in shelters,
according to researchers with
the Wilder Foundation.
Using a broader definition
of homelessness, researchers
found that more than 1,200
people on northern Minnesota's
reservations are homeless or
doubled up in the homes of
friends or family members.
The study, released last week,
showed that many people didn't
meet the federal definition
of homeless but were living
in overcrowded homes with
multiple families.
"Even though people might
be staying for a long period
of time in that status, it isn't
necessarily a stable way to live
because they are bouncing
back and forth among so many
different settings," said Ellen
Shelton, a researcher who
analyzed data for the study.
Researchers conducted
674 interviews in fall 2006,
focusing on the Red Lake, Leech
Lake, White Earth, Mille Lacs,
Bois Forte and Fond du Lac
reservations. Only Red Lake has
a homeless shelter.
Lester Drift, a mental health
supervisor for the Bois Forte
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa,
said it's not hard to find homeless
people in Nett Lake when using
Wilder researchers' definition of
homelessness.
"You could see it if you ride
around the village here; see
how many cars are parked in
one driveway," said Drift, who
grew up on the reservation and
remembers seeing multiple
families living in one home. "I
just thought of it as relatives
taking care of relatives."
The study also showed that
98 percent of people doubled or
tripled up with extended family
would prefer to have their own
housing.
Almost half of those
considered homeless or near
homeless by the researchers are
children, and less than a third of
the adults in those categories
were employed, according to
STUDY to page 3
Quick trial expected for Canadian
accused of Pictou-Aquash slaying
U.S. prosecutors in the trial
of Canadian John Graham, who
is accused in the decades-old
murder of aboriginal activist
Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash, say
they are aiming for a fair and
speedy trial.
A former Yukoner, Graham
was living in Vancouver until
Thursday, when he was extradited
to South Dakota to stand trial
in the 1975 slaying of Pictou-
Aquash, a Mi'kmaq activist
from Nova Scotia. Graham was
whisked out of the country
hours after the Supreme Court of
Canada refused to hear his appeal
of a lower court ruling granting
the extradition.
Graham pleaded not guilty
Friday in a court in Rapid City,
S.D. A trial date has not been
set.
"I don't have an exact time
frame of which the trial will
occur," South Dakota district
attorney Marty Jackley, who is
prosecuting the case, told CBC
News on Tuesday.
"I mean, it could occur as
quickly as within 70 days.
However, it would be
anticipated that certain motions
will be filed in matters that
need to be addressed during the
process that may toll or delay
that time frame."
Jackley said prosecutors will
seeking a maximum punishment
of life in prison, but they won't be
calling for the death penalty.
Pictou-Aquash was shot dead
on Dec. 12,1975, during a time
of protests in South Dakota by
the American Indian Movement
(AIM).
U.S. prosecutors allege
Graham killed the 30-year-old
woman on orders from AIM
because they believed she was
an FBI informant.
In protests by the group, two
FBI agents had been killed by
the demonstrators who had
seized control of the village of
Wounded Knee.
Government to pay millions for
neglecting Native health care
Y-K DELTA: For more than 10
years, Indian Health Service
underpaid the agency that
serves the region.
By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com
For 13 years, villages in the
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta didn't
get the money they were due
from the federal government to
cover health care costs.
Now the U.S. Indian Health
Service is paying the bill: $25
million, plus interest, which
could amount to a total of more
than $48 million.
It's believed to be the largest
judgment ever against the Indian
Health Service, according to
Lloyd Miller, an Anchorage
attorney who has filed claims
on behalf of tribal organizations
against IHS.
Efforts to speak to IHS
officials about the settlement
were unsuccessful Monday.
The Alaska area office referred
questions to headquarters in
Rockville, Md., where officials
weren't able to respond late in
the day.
The huge funding shortfall
for health care has hurt the
Y-K Delta region, where people
suffer high rates of cancer,
heart disease, diabetes, suicide
and unintentional injury, often
related to drinking, said Dan
Winkelman, Yukon-Kuskokwim
Health Corp. vice president and
general counsel.
YKHC runs a hospital in
Bethel, 45 village-based clinics
and four bigger clinics. It serves
an area stretching across 75,000
square miles of tundra that
is home to 30,000 people.
Providing health care in the
region is very expensive, Miller
said.
Lawyers for YKHC said they
couldn't discuss the specifics of
the mediation. The corporation
had filed claims for millions
more, but the decision clearly
went their way.
"That's why we are so happy,"
Winkelman said.
YKHC hasn't yet decided
how to spend the money. Its
board meets Wednesday and
will consider the corporation's
finances and pressing health
needs as it develops a plan, he
said.
The Indian Health Service for
decades has paid Indian tribes
and Alaska Native groups to
provide health services on behalf
of the federal government.
According to Miller, IHS has
shortchanged the contracts
since the 1990s. Congress didn't
appropriate enough money, but
NEGLECT to page 3
web page: www.press-on.net
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2007
Founded in 1988
Volume 19 Issue 43
December 15, 2007
American Indian Elderly Treated like Prisoners
of War in Saint Paul
Elders Lodge residents in St. Paul.
By Vincent Hill
At the invite of American
Indian elders in Saint Paul to
eat with them on Thanksgiving
Day, and to document abuses
spanning a decade, I sat quietly
and listened to them at the
Elder's Lodge, located at 1500
Magnolia Avenue East, Saint
Paul, Minnesota. I was provided
with copies of letters, memos,
board meeting minutes,
fundraiser accounting reports,
a petition, and police reports of
criminal trespass in 2006 and
2007 at the Elder's Lodge.
Residents reported routine
drunken parties and prostitution
going on in the hallways at
all hours of the night. Gun
shots at night can be heard
on Elder Lodge grounds. A
feared sex offender, with a long
criminal history, and who has
ties to the powers that be at
the Lodge refuses to stay away
from the Lodge premises; police
occasionally are called to haul
him away. Because the sex
offender can be seen lurking
in the hallways late at night,
resident female elders report
being fearful when walking
the Lodge hallways at night to
exercise
Due to a faulty security system
at the Lodge, a blind elderly
resident, who was on dialysis,
had been locked out of the
Lodge for, up to four hours, in
the early a. m., on October 17,
2007 He had been without shirt
and shoes, and was subsequently
hospitalized for three days.
The intercom at the Lodge has
not been operational for years
claimed one resident elder.
And some residents have been
without telephone service for
years. It was not known why
the Lodge had no operational
intercom service, other than
a speculation, that it was a
means of keeping resident elders
isolated.
Many apartments are in gross
disrepair, such as toilets leaking
human waste into apartments
directly below them: one
resident had lived in this filth
for four years. Other apartment
dwellings are infested with
cockroaches, making them
unsanitary and unfit for living.
Elder Lodge notes documented
an incident this last summer,
whereby paramedics called out
to provide medical assistance,
refused to enter this particular
sick elder's apartment due to
severe cockroach infestation.
Documented neglect and
abuse of American elders
residing at the Elder's Lodge
in Saint Paul, range from
psychosocial threats in the
form of verbal attacks on person,
such as a demeaning and racist
remark from a Wilder Housing
management official, to eviction
threats; from physical isolation,
starvation, and withholding
of medical care, to failure
in providing resident elders
with decent, safe, and sanitary
housing. Constitutional civil
liberty protections of free speech
and assembly have clearly not
been afforded residents for years,
or since the Elder's Lodge was
opened.
According to notes in the
Lodge complaint file, it appears
Sue Bowstring took it upon
herself to skirt around HUD
policy surrounding the right
of residents to exclude housing
management officials from
their community meetings. A
HUD informational sheet in
the Resident Lodge complaint
enumerates housing rights
of residents, within a HUD
multifamily housing project.
By example, "residents have
the right to organize as
residents without obstruction,
harassment, or retaliation from
property owners or management;
and the right to meet without
the owner/manager present." It
was claimed Sue never allowed
housing community meetings
ELDERLY to page 2
Spirit Lake Tribe settles Kevlar case Work Continues
on Tribal
Refinery
A tribal business has agreed to
pay $1.9 million to settle claims
that it did not follow instructions
in making protective material
for military helmets used by
U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The Justice Department
announced thesettlement Tuesday
with Sioux Manufacturing Corp.,
of Fort Totten, a business owned
by the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe.
Company officials said they did
nothing wrong and blamed
disgruntled employees for filing
the complaint.
"It is unfortunate that such
allegations can be made and don't
require the burden of proof,"
said Carl McKay, the company's
president and chief executive
officer. The government said
the company failed to follow
specifications in making Kevlar
cloth material, a protective
synthetic fiber used in helmets
and body armor. However, the
cloth underwent ballistics safety
tests and passed all of them, U.S.
Attorney Drew Wrigley said.
"The military is satisfied there
were no injuries sustained because
of this," Wrigley said. "No matter
how you look at it, you have to
recognize that the entire effort in
this case was to secure the safety
of the troops and anyone who
would be using this material in a
combat situation."
The settlement should not
be viewed as an admission
of wrongdoing by Sioux
Manufacturing, McKay
said. "We deny any and all of the
allegations originally brought
to the attention of the (Justice
Department) by disgruntled
former employees."
Wrigley said the settlement was
fair and said company officials
cooperated in the investigation.
"Ourknowledgeofthiscamefrom
witness statements, people who
worked at Sioux Manufacturing,
inspection reports."
McKay said there were problems
with language in a quality control
form, which he said was corrected
early in the investigation.
The lawsuit was filed by two
former company employees under
a federal law that allows private
citizens to act as "relators" and
sue on behalf of the government.
They will get $406,350 as their
share of the settlement.
Sioux Manufacturing, which
opened in 1974, operates a
250,000-square foot facility and
employs about 200 people. The
company reported earnings of
more than $20 million in 2005.
Federal agents raided the plant
in June 2006.
McKay said it was a business
decision to settle rather than fight
the matter in court and spend
millions of dollars.
After six years of trying...an
oil refinery may soon be built in
central North Dakota.
A milestone is nearly here in
the effort to build an oil refinery
on the Fort Berthold Reservation
in central North Dakota.
As Jim Olson reports, the
refinery project continues to be
a serious proposal for the Three
Affiliated Tribes.
(Jim Olson, KX News) A new
oil refinery is an unusual thing
in the United States.
(Fred Fox, Three Affiliated
Tribes) "There hasn't been a
refinery that has been permitted
in the last 40 years."
(Jim Olson, KX News) But
officials at the Three Affiliated
Tribes, who held a special oil
workshop Monday, say they are
on track to changing that. They
expect a major hurdle to be
cleared in the next several days,
when a draft of an environmental
impact statement is released.
(Horace Pipe, Tribal Consultant)
"All the government agencies will
be down in February to release a
final report to the public."
(Jim Olson, KX News) It's a
milestone because the tribes
have been working on getting the
WORK to page 3