Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2009-06-01

              INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY
'NEWS BRIEFS
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS
CLASSIFIEDS
2
3
4-5
7
First slots arrive
at Michigan's
newest casino
page 2
Arizona tribe hit by
flooding to reopen to
visitors
page 3
Crow tribal members
arrested on securities
fraud
page 3
Baby eagles put
on a show at
Glendalough State
Park
page 5
| What if President
| Obama took our
1 letters seriously?
Mdewakanton Sioux plan clinic, new headquarters
The tribe will ask to remove
land from tax rolls for the facilities.
One commissioner objected to
losing the property taxes; others
pointed to the contributions the
tribe makes.
By DAVID PETERSON
Star Tribune
The Shakopee Indian tribe
has notified local officials that it
plans to seek permission to take
another piece of its land off the
tax rolls, planning to use it to
build a new headquarters and
health care clinic.
The tribe, known formally
as the Shakopee Mdewakanton
Sioux Community, is also taking
steps to build a new subdivision
of homes on one-acre lots for its
growing.ranks of members.
The chunk of land it will ask to
add to reservation trust lands is
relatively small by past standards,
only 80 acres. About a third is
wetlands where nothing can be
built. And it's located squarely
within the existing reservation; in
fact, part of it is staff parking.
Nonetheless, Scott County
commissioner Barbara Marschall
of Prior Lake said she will oppose
a new application, as she has
more far-reaching requests in
the past.
"There are over $30,00.0 in
taxes on this property," she said.
The tribe voluntarily contributes
to road projects and other causes,
Red Lake
man pleads
guilty to
assault
A 34-year-old Red Lake
man pleaded guilty yesterday
in federal court to one count
of assault resulting in serious
bodily injury.
Paul Robert Jones entered
his plea May 18 in Minneapolis
before United States District
Court Judge Joan Ericksen.
According to his plea
agreement, Jones admitted
that on Nov. 26, 2008, he
slashed and stabbed a victim
with a serrated kitchen knife.
Jones was indicted on Jan.
13.
According to a FBI affidavit,
at approximately 1:10 a.m. on
Nov. 26, the Red Lake Police
Department responded to
an assault reportata residence.
The victim told officers that
she was lying down with her
young child while another
child was playing video games
in the bedroom when she saw
Jones's face in the window.
Jones entered the bedroom
and started stabbing her until
the victim was able to Crawl to
another room for help.
The victim sustained several
severe lacerations to her left
arm and forearm, mouth,
chest area and right fingers.
Jones faces a potential
maximum penalty of 10 years
in prison. Judge Ericksen will
determine Jones's sentence
at a future date. This case is
the result of an investigation
by the FBI and the Red Lake
Police Department, and is
being prosecuted by Assistant
U.S. Attorney Clifford B.
Wardlaw.
"which is commendable, and I
anticipate that will continue,"
she said. "But when people talk
to me about trust applications,
the bottom line is that it's all
about the money. That's where
my continued opposition stems
from."
She and her Shakopee
colleague Jerry Hennen have
been outvoted in the past by
the three commissioners whose
districts are more distant from
the reservation itself. Last fall's
election of a new commissioner to
one of those districts could alter
the outcome - but it's the federal
government, not Scott County,
that in the end decides.
The tribe's original 250-acre
reservation in Prior Lake has
grown tenfold, with nearly 2,000
acres stockpiled since the early
1990s. City and county officials,
in addition to objecting to the
lost tax proceeds when more
land is placed in trust, worry
that taking territory out of their
jurisdiction will create problems
as they plan for future growth and
development.
Onfuesday, tribal administrator
Bill Rudnicki and land manager
Stan Ellison told board members
that on top of all the other ways
the tribe helps its neighbors, it
now hopes to apply $1.5 million
in federal stimulus funding to
make fixes on County Road 42,
including the intersection with
VOICE      OF      THE       PEOPLE
County Road 17.
That intersection, Ellison said,
is "kind of scary sometimes."
The tribe is also working with
officials in Prior Lake on a concept
plan for a new subdivision of 31 to
34 homes. The homes would be
located near the future Spring
Lake Regional Park and would
have trail connections to that
park, in addition to trails leading
to its own small park with tennis
courts.
One issue for the county as it
places increasing emphasis on
trail creation is the willingness
of the tribe to allow a broader
regional system to cut through
its land and homes, given privacy
concerns. But tribal officials
indicated that they want to tie
in to those trails and understand
that outsiders are liable to swing
through and even use their
neighborhood parks at times.
Red Lake woman indicted for
murder, assault
A 18-year-old Red Lake woman
was indicted yesterday in federal
court on one count of murder and
two assault counts in connection
with a stabbing on April 12.
Patricia Ann Brown was
charged with one count of
murder, one count of assault
resulting in serious bodily injury
and one count of assault with
a dangerous weapon. Brown's
indictment alleges that on April
12 she murdered a 14-year-old
GAO: Indian health agency still
losing equipment
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Indian
Health Service is continuing to
lose equipment at an alarming
rate despite efforts to better
account for the agency's property,
according to congressional
investigators.
In a report issued Wednesday,
the Government Accountability
Office said the government
agency lost about 1,400 items
worth $3.5 million between
October 2007 and January
2009 _ including $37,000 in lab
equipment at a Navajo health
care facility and a $7,300 trailer
in Nashville, Tenn.
Those losses came after an
estimated $15.8 million in
equipment was unaccounted
for between the 2004 and 2007
budget years. Those losses were
reported by the GAO in June
2008, when investigators also
charged that the Indian Health
Service had falsified documents
to cover up some ofthe missing
property.
The GAO said the agency has
failed to implement most of its
recommendations from last
year or hold staff accountable for
losses. The report says that one
senior executive in charge ofthe
agency's property was even given
a $13,000 bonus after the report
exposing mismanagement was
released last year.
"Weak tone at the top persists
at IHS, with senior leadership
failing to fully implement
and enforce eight of the 10
recommendations we made
in June 2008," the report
says. "These failures strongly
contribute to the continued loss
and theft of property."
Losses that still cannot
be accounted for include a
2002 ultrasound unit valued
at $170,000, a 2003 X-ray
mammography machine valued
at $100,795, dental chairs, cardiac
monitors and a pharmacy tablet
counter machine, the report
said.
Indian Health Service
spokesman Thomas Sweeney
said the agency is implementing a
AGENCY to page 3
State, tribe sign gaming compact
By WAYNE ORTMAN
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The
state and the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe have signed a new
10-year gaming agreement for
the tribe's Grand River Casino
near Mobridge.
Tribal Chairman Ron His
Horse Is Thunder and Gov. Mike
Rounds signed the agreement
Tuesday afternoon at the
casino.
vvThe new compact is for a
term of 10 years, six years longer
than the previous four-year
compact," Rounds said.
The agreement spells out
the terms and conditions for
the tribe to operate the casino,
such as the number of gaming
machines or blackjack tables,
and bet limits.
The compact between the
Standing Rock Tribe and the state
of South Dakota was last amended
in 2001. The Standing Rock
reservation straddles the North
Dakota-South Dakota border.
The tribe can have 250 slot
machines and an unlimited
number of poker and blackjack
tables in the casino, the same
number of devices allowed under
the previous compact, Rounds
said in a release.
The maximum bet limit is
$100, the same limit state law
sets for bets at privately owned
casinos in Deadwood.
The tribe agreed to a new
provision requiring up to $1
million in general liability
insurance to protect customers
who may be injured at the casino,
Rounds said.
The revised agreement is
subject to review by the U.S.
secretary of the Interior, who
must approve or disapprove it
within 45 days.
A 1988 federal law says tribes
can conduct the same kind
of gambling that is allowed
elsewhere in a state after they
negotiate a gaming compact
with the state.
Tribes in South Dakota began
negotiating compacts to run
their own casinos after state
voters approved limited stakes
gambling in Deadwood in 1989.
The Cheyenne River Sioux
Tribe is the only tribe among the
nine in the state that does not
have casino gambling.
Nearly all the other gaming
compacts have been in effect for
a dozen years or more. Generally
they are up for renewal after four
or five years.
~Most of the compacts are
COMPACT to page 5
Navajo woman
appointed head
of national
business office
By Alysa Landry
The Daily Times
A Lupton, Ariz., native last
week was named as national
director of the U.S. Small
Business Administration's Office
of Native American Affairs.
Clara Pratte, who worked as
a policy analyst and legislative
liaison for the Navajo Nation,
will help ensure that American
Indians, Alaska Natives and
Hawaii Natives have access to
entrepreneurial, lending and
procurement tools.
Although her family still
lives on the Navajo Nation
and her expertise stems from
work among the Navajo, Pratte
said all American Indians can
take advantage of business
development tools.
"When you go to a
reservation, you already see
entrepreneurship," she said.
"It's already taking place, but it's
in an internal way. If you go to
Farmington or Gallup, you see
people selling their crafts, but
NAVAJO to page 3
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June 1, 2009
boy and cut two other boys with
a knife.
If convicted, Brown faces a
potential maximum penalty of life
in prison on all three counts.
All sentences are determined
by a federal district court judge.
This case is the result of an
investigation by the FBI and the
Red Lake Police Department. It
is being prosecuted by Assistant
United States Attorneys Steven L.
Schleicher and Tricia A. Tingle.
From left to right, Sen. Jon Tester, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Shaun Donovan and HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary Roger Boyd receive war bonnets from the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Lame Deer, Mont, on Wednesday, May 27 2009. Donovan and Education Secretary Arne Duncan
visited Montana Wednesday May 27, 2009 to discuss conditions with local officials. Donovan said Wednesday
that the government will offer more than $250 million in housing grants to American Indians and native Alaskans
as part of the federal stimulus package. (AP Photo/The Billings Gazette, Bob Zellar)
%.	
Tribes, police
band together
to fight drugs,
gangs
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press Writer
LAC DU FLAMBEAU, Wis.
— The two law officers meeting
over breakfast at the Lake of
the Torches Casino had not
gone there looking for trouble.
But they found it when they
walked out into the sunshine
and saw two teenagers flashing
bills in the parking lot.
Quickly, they patted down
the teens,, then searched their
casino hotel room. They netted
a pocketful of marijuana,
four bottles of vodka and a
17-year-old girl who had told
her parents she was visiting a
friend in Minnesota.
A small-time bust by any
standard, but this one in
April represented something
larger. The lawmen were Lac
du Flambeau tribal Police
Capt. Bob Brandenburg and
Wisconsin Justice Department
Special Agent Tom Sturdivant,
and the sight of a state agent
working side-by-side with a
tribal officer to fight reservation
crime symbolized a new kind of
teamwork.
And the effort to open
communication and
cooperation between tribal
and state law enforcement
agencies has gotten attention
far from Wisconsin. While
some have raised questions
about the potential impact on
tribal sovereignty, others point
to the effectiveness of the new
approach.
Over the past decade, gangs
and drugs have run rampant
in Indian Country as bad guys
realized the lightly policed
reservations made ideal
playgrounds.
In Wisconsin, the state
Justice Department quietly
coaxed tribes to band together
into a one-of-a-kind task force
that could be a template for
other states dealing with
reservation crime.
The team, branded the
Native American Drug and
Gang Initiative, or NADGI,
has developed a core of Indian
undercover officers, enabling
them to infiltrate tribal drug
rings, given every tribe access
GANGS to page 5
Former Mpls. charter school
executive charged
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS - Hennepin
County prosecutors are accusing
a former Minneapolis charter
school executive of embezzling
nearly $1.4 million from an
American Indian school.
They've charged 39-year-old
Joel Pourier with eight felony
counts of theft by swindle over
five years from the Oh Day
Aki Heart of the Earth Charter
School.
Pourier is being held in the
county jail on $25,000 bail. His
attorney tells the Star Tribune
on Monday that his client is
innocent and plans to plead not
guilty.
The criminal complaint
alleges that the school routinely
lacked enough money for field
trips, supplies, computer and
Joel Pourier
text books while Pourier was
executive director.
The complaint claims
the embezzlement and
mismanagement finally led to
the closing of the school last
summer. There were about 220
students enrolled when the
school closed.
Scottsdale backs tribe in bid
for training site
The Arizona Republic
Scottsdale is backing the Salt
River Pima-Maricopa Indian
Community's bid to build a
spring-training complex for
the Arizona Diamondbacks and
Colorado Rockies on tribal land
just east of Scottsdale.
The city wants to accelerate
Pima Road improvements if the
Salt River tribe and baseball
teams reach an agreement on
a Cactus League stadium and
practice facilities southeast of
Pima Road and Via de Ventura,
said Neal Shearer, Scottsdale
assistant city manager.
"We're still anxiously
awaiting a decision by the
Diamondbacks," said Shearer,
adding that the teams would be
an economic boost for the Salt
River tribe and Scottsdale.
The Salt River Pima-
Maricopa Indian Community,
Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
and an unidentified third
entity are among the finalists
for a baseball complex that
would allow the Diamondbacks
and Rockies to move spring
training from Tucson to the
TRAINING to page 2
Border bridge closed by
Akwesasne protest
AKWESASNE—TheMassena-
Cornwall International Bridge
was closed Monday after 400
St. Regis Mohawks camped out,
protesting Canada's arming of its
border agents.
Canadian Border Service
Agency officials decided near
midnight to close the Cornwall
Island station, which is situated
on Indian land in Canada.
Only emergency vehicles were
allowed on the bridge Monday,
although foot traffic can cross.
OFFICERS LEFT
The eight to 10 officers
working inside walked south
from their customs house to the
American customs station and
were returned to Canada without
incident.
"It was the agency that made
the decision that it was more
prudent, from a health and safety
point of view, to close the office
and continue negotiations,"
said Ron Moran, the national
president of the Customs and
Immigration Union, told the
Cornwall Standard Freeholder.
The U.S. Customs and Border
Service also closed its station, and
all travelers were being rerouted
to either ports of entry in Fort
PROTEST to page 3