Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2008-09-01

              INDEX
White Buffalo Have
Brazilian Reservation
Public apology
September is Alcohol,
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
2
Returned: Are we
"Raposa Terrado Sol"
for fallout
Drug Addiction
NEWS BRIEFS
5
considering the
message?
Needs Help
Recovering Month
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
4-5
CLASSIFIEDS
7
page 5
page 4
page 4
page 4
If s time Leech Lake
(and other tribes)
change the way they
address Health Care
page 4
Cobell v. Kempthorne: Judge Agrees to issue
Indian Trust Order to Speed Appeal
VOICE      OF      THE      PEOPLE
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 - U.S.
District Judge James Robertson
agreed today to enter a written
order next week that will allow
Indian plaintiffs to promptly
appeal his latest rulings in
the long-running class action
lawsuit over the government's
mismanagement of Trust funds
for 500,000 individual Indian
Trust beneficiaries.
Dennis M. Gingold, lead
lawyer for the plaintiffs, notified
the Judge of plaintiffs' intention
to appeal an August 7 ruling
during a status hearing this
afternoon. The appeal will
focus on the judge's two recent
opinions, including the most
recent ruling that $455.6
million is due individual Indian
beneficiaries.
Judge Robertson said at the
Thursday hearing that he will
enter an order next week and
will hold in abeyance a decision
on how the $455.6 million is
to be divided and distributed
to account holders pending a
resolution of appellate issues.
Elousie Cobell, a member of
the Blackfeet Nation from
Browning, Mont., and the lead
plaintiff, said after thehearing
that she was gratified that the
Judge agreed to enter a formal
order so that the appeal can be
expedited and post-judgment
interest will begin to accrue.
Judge Robertson had entered
only a "memorandum opinion"
on August 7, which could not
be appealed.
"The Judge's agreement to
enter a formal, written order
will allow us to promptly resolve
important issues under trust
law that will determine the full
extent of our recovery for the
121 year history of the Trust,"
Ms. Cobell said.
To view the latest information
concerning this case, go to www.
indiantrust.com
Higher cancer
rates among
American
Indians in
Minnesota,
Northern Plains
The first large-scale
national study of cancer
rates among American
Indians and Alaska Natives
shows that American
Indians living in Minnesota
and the surrounding
Northern Plains have a
39 percent higher rate
of colorectal cancer than
non-Hispanic whites.
Related studies indicate
that American Indians in
this region also have a 197
percent higher rate of liver
cancer, 135 percent higher
rate of stomach cancer, and
148 percent higher rate of
gallbladder cancer than
non-Hispanic whites.
David Perdue, M.D.,
physician-researcher with
the Masonic Cancer Center,
University of Minnesota,
is the lead author of
the research study on
the incidence rates of
colorectal cancer and coauthor of the studies on
the rates of stomach, liver,
and gallbladder cancer
among American Indians
and Alaska Natives. The
findings ofthe four studies
are published online today
by the journal Cancer
and will be published as a
special supplement in the
print edition ofthe journal
on Sept. 1,2008. Cancer is
published by the American
Cancer Society.
"All of these cancer
rates are concerning,
but of serious concern
to Minnesota and other
Northern Plains tribes
is the higher rate of
colorectal cancer as it is
the second most common
cause of cancer deaths in
the United States behind
lung cancer," said Perdue,
who specializes in research
on preventing cancers
of the intestinal tract
in American Indian and
Alaska Native populations.
He also is co-chairman of
the Minnesota Colorectal
Cancer Task Force and a
member of the Chickasaw
Nation of Oklahoma.
"The causes for the high
rate of colorectal cancer in
the Northern Plains are less
clear and most likely are
due to a number of factors
including diet, genetic
makeup, non-traditional
tobacco use, diabetes, and
CANCER to page 6
Michigan tribe wins gaming
rights case
Indianz.com
A Michigan tribe whose
casino was threatened by a
bureaucratic blunder won
its case against the federal
government on Friday.
The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe
of Chippewa Indians spent
$41 million on the Kewadin
Shores Casino in order to
replace an aging facility with
health and safety problems. But
the National Indian Gaming
Commission said the site in the
city of St. Ignace did not qualify
for gaming under the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act.
Facing economic uncertainty,
the tribe took the government
to court and won a preliminary
injunction that allowed the
casino to open for the busy
Labor Day weekend in 2007.
A year later, a federal judge
rewarded the tribe with a final
decision that upholds the
legality of the site.
In the 37-page ruling, Judge R.
Allan Edgar said the government
"dropped the ball" by failing to
resolve a bureaucratic blunder
dating to 1986 that would
have prevented the litigation
altogether. He said the casino
site qualifies for gaming
because it is "contiguous" to an
existing reservation, as allowed
by IGRA.
"Defendants appear to ignore
any case law that discusses the
meaning of reservation in any
context and instead rely on
their own inability to make a
decision on a timely request for
a proclamation as evidence of
the lack of merit ofthe request,"
Edgar wrote.
IGRA generally bars gaming
on land taken into trust after
1988 unless certain exceptions
are met. The Kewadin Shores
site was acquired in 2000, well
past the IGRA deadline.
The tribe argued that the site
qualifies because it is contiguous
to land that was placed in trust
1983, long before the passage
of IGRA. The tribe even asked
the Bureau of Indian Affairs
for a proclamation to declare
the 1983 parcel a reservation
in 1986, two years before IGRA
became law.
Despite the history, the NIGC
issued a series of opinions that
said the 1983 site was not a
reservation. Attorneys from the
Interior Department weighed
in and said the only way for the
1983 site to be considered a
reservation was for the BIA to
formally declare it to be one.
GAMING to page 6
Man to stay in jail for South
Dakota AIM slaying
By CARSON WALKER
Associated Press Writer
RAPID CITY, S.D. - The third
man indicted in connection
with the December 1975 slaying
of a fellow American Indian
Movement member in South
Dakota will stay in jail, at least
until his lawyer can review the
evidence.
At a detention hearing Friday,
federal Magistrate Veronica Duffy
ordered that Dick Marshall, 57,
of Rapid City be detained.
He pleaded not guilty Tuesday
to aiding and abetting the first-
degree murder of Annie Mae
Aquash on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob
Mandel argued that Marshall
should be held because of his
background.
Marshall was convicted of
murder for the March 1975
slaying of Martin Montileaux but
later confessed. In 1984, then-
Gov. Bill Janklow commuted
Marshall's life sentence to 99
years and later that year set
him free.
Marshall was first paroled
Dec. 27, 1984, and came back
in on a parole violation Aug.
11,1989. He was granted parole
again Feb. 3, 1993, but was
incarcerated again Nov. 23,
1993, because of another parole
violation. Marshall was last
paroled June 15,2000.
Since then he was arrested
for drunken driving a year
ago, earlier this year his
girlfriend obtained a protection
order against him and he is
unemployed, Mandel said.
Marshall's lawyer, Dana
Hanna, said he had not reviewed
the evidence and wasn't ready to
argue whether Marshall should
be detained so he would revisit
the issue later.
When Duffy asked Marshall
whether he had any questions
he replied, "No I don't."
Prosecution witnesses have
testified Aquash, 30, of Nova
Scotia, was killed because
AIM leaders thought she was
a government spy. AIM leaders
have denied any involvement in
her death.
Arlo Looking Cloud of Denver
was convicted in 2004 and is
serving life in federal prison
for his part. John Graham of
British Columbia is scheduled
to stand trial starting Oct. 6 in
Rapid City.
Some AIM members alleged
that Marshall was framed for
the murder of Montileaux,
who was shot in the neck at
Al M to page 6
Shakopee tribe among giants in corporate gifts
By David Peterson
Star Tribune
The Shakopee Mdewakanton
Sioux Community's charitable
giving has soared to nearly $60
million over the past two years,
ranking it among the biggest
sources of philanthropy in the
state.
The tribe has grown wealthy
from its Mystic Lake casino
and other operations, and its
giving is several times higher
than it was just a few years ago.
Its bump in giving since 2007
could end up ranking it among
the top 10 grant makers in the
state for 2008, alongside the
likes of Cargill and Medtronic,
newly released figures show.
Many of the biggest checks
are going to impoverished tribes
in the Dakotas. But the biggest
of all - $12 million last year -
stayed within the state to help
the University of Minnesota's
new stadium and scholarship
programs.
"They are one of the, if not
the, most generous tribes in
the nation," Ernie Stephens,
chairman of the National
Indian Gaming Association,
said Wednesday from Denver.
"Not just to surrounding
communities but to Indian
people in general."
People close to the tribe say
it's no surprise that out-of-state
tribes are getting much of the
largesse, along with those closer
to home.
"They've been tremendously
generous to Prior Lake when
we've had needs, such as lights
for our parks," said Jack Haugen,
the mayor of the suburb in
which much of the tribe's land
is located. "But with some of
the tribes they are helping,
we're talking about the basics
of life."
Millions have also been
directed to native peoples within
Minnesota, including two major
grants that have helped to
reestablish, for the Red Lake
band of Chippewa, a fisheries
operation that was central to the
local economy until overfishing
wiped out the supply, and the
plant had to close.
"It was dire around here," said
Pat Brown, fisheries biologist.
"We sat around for about two
years scratching our heads,
wondering how we were going
to get the thing going again,
once the fish were back."
The jump in giving has
coincided with a burst in building
activity on the reservation, with
a large number of expansions,
renovations and new projects.
But tribal leaders say it is not
accurate to infer that both
trends stem from any sudden
increase in their capacity to
spend.
GIFTS to page 7
web page: www.press-on.net
Hative
American
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.  Copyright, Native American Press, 2008
Founded in 1988
Volume 20 Issue 8
September 1, 2008
Feds: 75 SD
killing victim
was bound,
raped
By Carson Walker
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Federal
prosecutors want jurors in the
upcoming trial of a Canadian
man to see evidence that he
sexually assaulted Annie Mae
Pictou Aquash, bound her hands.
and kept her in a Ford Pinto's
hatch before shooting her.
John Graham's first-degree
murder trial starts Oct. 6 in
Rapid City federal court for
the December 1975 slaying
of Aquash, a fellow Canadian,
on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation.
Both were American Indian
Movement members, as was
Arlo Looking Cloud, who was
convicted in 2004 and sentenced
to a mandatory life prison term
for his role.
Witnesses at his trial said
he, Graham and another AIM
member, Theda Clark, drove
Aquash from Denver and that
Graham shot Aquash in the
Badlands as she begged for
her life.
Clark has not been charged.
She lives in a nursing home in
western Nebraska.
Graham has denied
killing Aquash, though he
acknowledged being in the car
with her from Denver.
A third AIM member, Dick
Marshall, has been indicted and
pleaded not guilty to aiding and
abetting first-degree murder.
U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley
and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob
Mandel filed notice late Friday
that they plan to introduce
evidence into Graham's trial
supporting the charge that
Graham killed Aquash.
They wrote that Graham and
other people abducted Aquash
from Troy Lynn Yellow Wood's
house in Denver, tied Aquash's
hands with rope and put her in
the hatch of Clark's red Ford
Pinto.
Aquash was kept there against
her will on the drive to Rapid
City and then to the Rosebud
and Pine Ridge reservations, the
prosecutors wrote.
And while guarding Aquash
in an empty apartment in
Rapid City, Graham sexually
assaulted her, according to the
document.
Jackley and Mandel argued in
their notice that federal rules
would allow the introduction
of the evidence because it is
connected to the case, explains
the circumstances ofthe crime
FEDS to page 6
BIA head hopes "community
policing" cuts rez crime
By Carson Walker
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Besides
adding officers to American
Indian reservations plagued
by crime, a concept called
community policing promises
to give people ownership of
those areas, according to Pat
Ragsdale, director ofthe Bureau
of Indian Affairs.
-The approach already is
working on the Standing Rock
Indian Reservation and could
help ease some of the ills on
the Pine Ridge reservation, he
said.
-In June, the BIA brought
in extra officers to Standing
Rock, which straddles the North
Dakota-South Dakota border.
Arrests shot up to 700 in the
first month and dropped to
300 in the second month of
the surge that now is slated to
run at least until October, the
agency said.
The idea is that law
enforcement collaborates with
people in education, health care,
social work, the judicial system
and other agencies about public
safety issues, Ragsdale said.
"Being proactive in the
community, having personal
relationships with the law-
abiding citizens and aggressively
going after the offenders," he
said.
"We're not going to arrest
ourselves out ofthe overwhelming
poverty and unemployment
we have on reservations. But
we should be able to create
a measure of tranquility that
people can build on."
Standing Rock Sioux
Chairman Ron His Horse Is
Thunder and other tribal officials
have said the law enforcement
surge has helped reduce crime.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.,
earlier said the increase in law
enforcement has shut down gang
activity on the reservation.
As Senate Indian Affairs
Committee chairman, he
introduced the Tribal Law and
Order Act, which was supported
by members of both parties.
One of its goals is to improve
coordination between law
enforcement agencies.
U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.,
co-sponsored the bill. He said
many Indians are distrustful
of the federal government but
that trust can be earned if law
enforcement officers get out
into the communities and show
they're there to help.
The crime rate on some
reservations is 10-20 times
higher than it is outside of
Indian Country and on average,
40 percent of the women will
be raped during their lifetime,
he said.
BIA to page 7
Study: 12 percent of Indian
deaths due to alcohol
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Almost 12
percent of the deaths among
American Indians and Alaska
Natives are alcohol-related
_ more than three times the
percentage in the general
population, a new federal report
says.
The report released Thursday
by the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, found
11.7 percent of deaths among
American Indians and Alaska
Natives between 2001 and 2005
were alcohol-related, compared
with 3.3 percent for the U.S. as
a whole.
. Dwayne Jarman, a CDC
epidemiologist who works for
the Indian Health Service and
is one of the study's authors,
said it is the first national
survey that measures American
Indian deaths due to alcohol. It
should be a "call to action" for
federal, state, local and tribal
governments, he said.
The researchers obtained
their statistics by analyzing
death certificates over the four-
year period.
The two leading causes of
alcohol-related deaths among
Indians were traffic accidents
and alcoholic liver disease,
each of which cause more than
a quarter of the 1,514 alcohol-
related deaths over the four-year
period.
Also listed are homicide
(6.6 percent of alcohol-related
deaths), suicide (5.2 percent) and
injuries in falls (2.2 percent).
There may be many more
alcohol-related deaths than the
study shows, in part because
the CDC analysis did not count
deaths related to some diseases
for which alcohol is believed to
be an important risk factor, such
as tuberculosis, pneumonia and
colon cancer.
The greatest number of tribal
alcohol-related deaths - about
a third of the total - occurred
STUDY to page 6