Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2009-04-01

              INDEX
Archway event
Millions Available In
Carroll: Lies, liars
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
2
marks Pawnee
Recovery Funds For
and lying liars
NEWS BRIEFS
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
CUSSIFIEDS
3
4-5
7
Tribe's return to
Nebraska
page 3
Indian Tribal Assistance
page 5
page 4
Leech Lake former
chairman, continued
page 4
F.A.S. Spells
trouble on our
reservations
page 4
County, Davis get day in court
The Minnesota Supreme
Court grants review of roughly
12 percent of the 600 to 700
petitions of appeals it receives
each year. This year, David Davis
of Aitkin was one of them.
The highest court in
Minnesota, consisting of
seven justices, listened to oral
arguments last week presented
by attorneys Frank Bibeau,
representing Davis, and Tara
Ferguson Lopez, an assistant
Mille Lacs County attorney,
representing the state.
The case: a speeding ticket.
The chambers were silent
on the morning of March 4 as
the parties awaited a chance to
state their case before the court
of last resort. The marshall
Minnesota's
STD rate
increases for
13th year
Chlamydia is the most
common sexually
transmitted disease in
Minnesota, particularly
among minority groups,
which tend to have less
access to health care.
By Josephine Marcotty
Star Tribune
Minnesota's epidemic
of sexually transmitted
diseases reached a new high
in 2008 - the thirteenth
year in a row.
The Minnesota
Department of Health on
Wednesday reported there
were 17,650 new cases
of chlamydia, gonorrhea
and syphilis last year, a
3.5 percent increase over
2007. The rate increased
despite a significant drop
in the number of gonorrhea
cases.
Rates for all three of
the sexually transmitted
infections have been rising
since 1996. They are
particularly high among
minority groups, which tend
to be poorer and have less
access to health care, state
health officials said. Rates
are expected to continue
rising, especially with state
and local government
budget cuts. Legislation
introduced this year to
address the problem is not
expected to pass.
"The reality is we are not
likely to have many more
resources than we do now,"
said Peter Carr, head of the
health department's STD
division. "And the problem
keeps getting bigger."
The majority of new cases
in 2008 were chlamydia,
14,350 in all, up 7 percent
from 2007, according to the
department's annual STD
report. Some ofthe increase
probably is due to better
tests and more frequent
screening, officials said.
New chlamydia cases
have more than doubled
since 1996. Early in the
epidemic, the highest rates
were in Minneapolis and
STD to page 6
of the court tapped the gavel,
one, two, three times. "All rise.
The honorable justices of the
Supreme Court of the state of
Minnesota..."
Seven justices appeared from
doorways flanking the great
desk. They took their seats
on the leather-padded, high-
backed chairs.
The purpose of the hearing
before the Supreme Court was
to determine not the guilt or
innocence of Davis, but whether
or not the state should have
jurisdiction.
David Davis, now 25 years
old, was driving a car in Mille
Lacs Countv on U.S. Hwy. 169
on Dec. 3,2005. At about 9 a.m.
he was stopped by a Mille Lacs
VOICE       OF       THE       PEOPLE
Band tribal police officer for
speeding. He was clocked at 60
mph in a 45 mph zone.
Davis' second violation on the
same citation was that he did
not have proof of insurance.
The officer scheduled a court
date and time for Davis to appear
in Mille Lacs County District
Court. From there, the case
went to the Court of Appeals,
which sided with Mille Lacs
County. Davis appealed, and
the Minnesota Supreme Court
agreed to review the case.
Bibeau is a veteran arguing
before the Supreme Court. He
argued that the citation should
have been routed through the
COURT to page 6
Joba Chamberlain pleads guilty
to DUI, gets probation
Lincoln Journal Star
New York Yankees
pitcher Joba
Chamberlain pleaded
guilty in Lancaster
County Court on
Wednesday to first-
offense dui:
Chamberlain, 23,
stood before Judge
Laurie Yardley with
his hands in the
pockets of his pin-    Joba Chamberlain (left) leaves the courtroom
with attorney Randy Paragas, April 1, 2009.
ni II t      ano R    Chamberlain pled guilty and was sentenced to
uu i xo page o    probation to DUL (/Linc0|n journal Star)
Attorney seeks information on
witnesses Improper relationship'
in AIM shooting case
By Heidi Bell Gease
Journal
The attorney for a man
charged in the 1975 slaying
of Annie Mae Aquash wants
to know whether the federal
government investigated what
he says was an improper and
unethical relationship between
the supervising investigator and
a government informant in the
case.
Richard "Dickie" Marshall,
57, and John Graham, 52, are to
stand trial beginning May 12 in
U.S. District Court on charges
they killed Aquash, a fellow
American Indian Movement
activist. Her body was found on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
in February 1976.
In a motion filed Tuesday,
Marshall's attorney, Dana Hanna,
asked prosecutors to provide
him with information about
any investigation or sanctions
against investigator Robert
Ecoffey related to an alleged
"improper relationship" with an
unidentified female informant
code-named "Maverick." Hanna
claimed the woman had a felony
record and "deep involvement in
the events leading to the murder
of Anna Mae Aquash."
Hanna's motion said such
a relationship is "universally
considered unprofessional and
unethical conduct by federal law
enforcement officials and... liki
to undermine the objectivity <
the investigator and the integrity
of the investigation."
Hanna also is requesting
federal Bureau of Prisons
information about Arlo Looking
Cloud's criminal history, mental
disorders, chronic drug abuse
and alcohol addiction that might
make him a less credible witness.
Looking Cloud was convicted of
Aquash's murder and sentenced
to life in prison.
In the motion, Hanna
speculates that "Looking Cloud
enjoys a reasonable hope or
expectation of having his
conviction set aside as a result
of his cooperation and testimony
with the government."
Judge throws out Jicarilla gas
royalty suit
Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A
federal judge has thrown out
a lawsuit filed by the Jicarilla
Apache Nation over how natural
gas royalties paid to the tribe
are calculated.
The northwest New Mexico
tribe filed suit in 2007 in federal
court in Washington, D.C, after
the U.S. Interior Department
changed how the royalties paid
to the tribe by gas lessees are
figured. Court records show
the Jicarilla Apaches argued the
change was arbitrary, it departed
from Interior Department
precedents and it violated the
department's fiduciary duties
toward the tribe. •
Churchill jury returns today
By Felisa Cardona
The Denver Post
A Denver jury
will continue
deliberating the fate
of Ward Churchill's
civil case against
the University of
Colorado today
after meeting for a
half-day Wednesday
without reaching a
verdict.
The four women
and two men listened to the
case for four weeks and heard
45 witnesses testify in the
courtroom of Denver Chief
District Judge Larry J. Naves.
Two male alternates were sent
home after closing arguments
Tuesday.
A day after the Sept. 11,2001,
attacks, Churchill wrote his
essay "Some People Push Back:
On the Justice of Roosting
Chickens" to criticize America's
economic and foreign policies.
In the essay, he compared some
of the victims in the World
Trade Center attack to "little
Eichmanns" after Nazi Adolf
Eichmann, who engineered
the destruction of the Jews in
World War II.
CU launched an investigation
to determine whether that
Ward Churchill, left, confers Wednesday with
attorney David Lane. (Daily Camera)
essay was protected speech.
Eventually allegations
surfaced that Churchill had
committed plagiarism or
academic misconduct in other
writing, and another series of
investigations was launched. A
review of his work led to a vote
by CU regents in 2007 that the
tenured professor be fired.
CU counsel Patrick O'Rourke
argued that the university fired
Churchill solely because three
committees investigated the
professor over a two-year period
and found he had engaged
in fabrication, falsification
and plagiarism in some of his
writings on American Indians.
O'Rourke told the jury that
Churchill's termination had
nothing to do with the Sept.
CHURCHILL to page 6
Tulalip tribe
developing
own ID to cross
border
Associated Press
EVERETT, Wash. - The
Tulalip Tribes are working to
create their own identification
cards Indians could use to cross
the Canadian border when the
passport requirement takes
effect June 1.
A tribal policy analyst,
Theresa Sheldon, told The
Everett Herald the Tulalips
likely won't make the deadline
and may need an extension. She
says the tribe needs to create a
database that can been accessed
24 hours a day by federal border
guards.
Jewell James of the Lummi
Nation says tribes may create
their own passports for
members to cross the Canadian
border for ceremonies and to
visit relatives.
After June 1, anyone reentering the United States
from Mexico or Canada will
have to show a passport, not
just a driver's license and birth'
certificate.
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Volume 20 Issue 20
April 1, 2009
In this March 19, 2009, photo, Donna Uptigrove, assistant curator of collections at the Historic Arkansas Museum, prepares a display of an Osage ceremonial dance suit at the museum in Little Rock, Ark. The museum
opened a permanent exhibit March 28, called "We Walk in Two Worlds" to pass along the history and culture
of the three Native American nations that were once settled in Arkansas. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Tribes tell their stories in new Ark. exhibit
Associated Press
By DANIEL SHEA
Associated Press Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -Their
names mark rivers, valleys,
schools and communities
across the state, recalling the
people who were settled in
Arkansas when Europeans first
arrived in the 1500s.
But while the names may be
familiar to many, the history of
the Quapaw, Osage and Caddo
American Indian tribes might
not.
To help change that, the
Historic Arkansas Museum
will open a permanent exhibit
Saturday called "We Walk in
Two Worlds" to pass along the
history and culture ofthe three
Native American nations that
were once settled in Arkansas.
To mark the event, Gov. Mike
Beebe sent each tribal council
the state's first formal invitation
to come back to Arkansas since
the tribes were forced from
the land in the early 1800s,
said Swannee Bennett, the
museum's chief curator and
deputy director.
At tine public opening, from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday,
there will be representatives
from each ofthe three nations,
along with a drum circle,
singing dancing and other
demonstrations by tribal
members.
The exhibit - which was
three years in the making - is
divided into six chapters that
form a cycle, each one flowing
into the next until the circle is
completed. By the end, a display
shows visitors where the tribes
started and where they find
themselves now.
The exhibit was set up to
describe the history of the
tribes through Native American
voices, beginning just before
European contact, moving
through their forced relocations
to Oklahoma around 1830 and
into the cultural revival that
has defined recent decades.
It includes more than 160
artifacts from the tribes.
"We try to make sure that the
words you read are from Native
Americans," Bennett said.
"We wanted to have a Native
American interpretation."
To do that, the museum
sought tribal advisers from each
nation who helped mold the
exhibit into a reflection of their
historical and contemporary
experiences, as passed down in
the tribes.
Ardina Moore is a Quapaw
tribal historian and a teacher
of the Quapaw language, but
is also part Osage. She said the
name Arkansas comes from
early French explorers who
EXHIBIT to page 6
Tribes Link
Transportation
Plan To Profits,
Cleaner Air,
Less Gridlock
Project takes shape as a few
ofthe larger casinos prepare
for gaming expansion
By Manny Cruz
San Diego Metropolitan
Magazine
While the recession has
taken a toll on the profits of the
county's Indian gaming casinos,
the tribes are moving forward
with a proposed transportation
management plan that would
produce long-term economic
and environmental benefits to
the casinos, their nearly 14,000
employees and customers and
the communities where they
are located.
"This is an innovative effort
on the part ofthe tribal gaming
enterprises to provide an
employee benefit, cut greenhouse
gases and reduce traffic in the
backcountry," says Diane Eidam,
chief deputy executive director
of the-San Diego Association of
Governments, which is involved
in the initiative.
Founded in 1998, the
Reservation Transportation
Authority, or RTA, a nonprofit
intertribal agency based
in Temecula, has developed
a plan to launch a tribal
transportation management
association for the gaming
facilities. The association would
operate similarly to RideLink,
the regional transportation
PROJECT to page 7
Nation's first Native American
female judge dies
Associated Press
TESUQUE PUEBLO, N.M.
- The first Native American
woman to be elected as a state
district judge in the United
States, who was also widely
beloved for her compassion
toward people dealing with
domestic abuse cases, has
died.
Carol Jean Vigil died Friday
night in her sleep at her home
in Tesuque Pueblo at the age
of 61." Her family said she had
suffered from a number of
health problems, including
diabetes, in recent years.
~We made history. It's a
dream come true," Vigil had
said after she was elected to
New Mexico's 1st Judicial
District in June 1998.
"She was very extraordinary,"
said Vigil's daughter, 41-year-
Carol Jean Vigil
old Sparo Arika Vigil of Santa
Fe. "She was a role model for
many people. Really, I guess, a
pioneer in some ways, especially
for Native Americans looking
into becoming attorneys."
At her swearing in ceremony,
Vigil wore a black robe with
beaded Pueblo Indian symbols
of mountains, lightning,
clouds and rain embroidered
on the shoulders. She also was
affiliated with Isleta Pueblo.
JUDGE to page 7
Artist's statues honor Indians in
all 50 states
By Kelly Cuculiansky
Daytona Beach News-Journal
EDGEWATER, Fla. (AP)
_ Follow the Trail of the
Whispering Giants in all 50
states to discover Peter Wolf
Toth's life story.
Number 27: A 43-foot, hand-
carved Native American piece is
a museum landmark in Desert
Hot Springs, Calif.
Number 57: An 18-foot
monument makes its home off
a road in Astoria, Ore.
Prefer something closer to
home? Wolfs 10th statue is in
Punta Gorda, where an Indian
brave and maiden emerge from
a dead tree stump measuring
more than 20 feet high.
There are 73 statues that
honor indigenous people. Even
at age 61, he continues to plan
for more.
Considering himself a tool,
just like his hammer and chisel,
Toth doesn't like to talk about
himself. He lets the statues
speak for themselves.
"I am just a person trying to
honor maligned people," said
Toth, who talks slowly, almost
laboriously as he describes
his purpose, with eyes closed
STATUES to page 6