The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-04-18

              Judge finds WELSA rules violate rights
By Jeff Armstrong
After more than 15 years of fighting
attempts by the state and federal
governments to clear title to occupied
lands on the White Earth
Reservation, Fenton (Lummy) Van
Wert claimed a rare victory on the
issue in a suit against the Interior
Department. Passed in 1985, the
White Earth Land Settlement Act was
intended to settle the issue of
individual land claims, but to many
tribal members the act's passage is
shrouded in as much fraud as the land
swindle which precipitated it.
Federal district judge John Tunheim
ruled March 31 that Van Wert and
Bellecourt's
Phillips crime
By Gary Blair
The Minneapolis Indian
community's most notorious crook is
at it again, and this time Clyde
Bellecourt is trying to generate funding to fight the drug and gang problems that he helped create in the Phillips Neighborhood.
Nearly three years ago, Bellecourt
was banished from AIM (American
Indian Movement), an organization he
cl.aims to have helped establish.
Bellecourt was found guilty by a panel
of AIM members for selling drugs to
minors, spreading violence and helping to destroy the cultural values of
the Minneapolis Indian community.
Recently, the PRESS has been requested to provide information to the
Inspector General's Office of the U.S.
Department of Education about
Bellecourt's involvement at the Heart
other heirs to an illegally conveyed
individual allotment can file suit
contesting the amount of
compensation awarded by the Bureau
of Indian Affairs under WELSA--
regardless of whether they signed a
waiver against further claims as a
condition of receiving compensatory
funds. The judge found that the
waivers had no legal standing, since
they were, in effect, coerced through
the Bureau's arbitrary and
unachievable deadline.
"Defendants contend," Tunheim
wrote, "that the nine plaintiffs who
signed waivers are barred from
bringing this action because they
accepted compensation offered by
defendants. These plaintiffs may have
done so because they were told by the
generic notice that they had only 30
days to present credible documentary
evidence that the allotment had a fair
market value materially different from
that determined by the BIA. Since this
impermissible construction of the
statute may have wrongly pressured
the nine plaintiffs to waive their rights,
the waivers are invalid," wrote
Tunheim.
Like many tribal members, Van Wert
charges that WELSA is itself a
violation of Anishinabe rights under
numerous treaties, as well as the tribal
and U.S. constitutions. A descendant
of chief White Cloud, Van Wert said
he has attempted to carry on his
ancestor's legacy of resistance to the
WELSA cont'd on
Judge finds WELSA rules violate rights
Bellecourt seeks Phillips crime prevent, funds
Fisheries Assoc, will consider eliminating season
Mille Lacs allowed to net and spear 2,000 lbs. of fish
WE council pursuing tribal court system/ pg 3
Voice of the People
hypocritical wailing about
seeks funds, not solution
of the Earth Survival School
(HOTESS). According to the investigator your writer spoke with, the Chicago office of the IG for that department will be handling the initial probe
of the school, where large amounts of
federal dollars have been reported
missing.
Bellecourt is the chairman of
HOTESS' board directors and has
been linked to the missing money by
the alternative school's former interim
director who says the funds were taken
through a loosely-controlled petty
cash fund. Bellecourt is reported to
be a frequent gambler, often seen at
the local casinos playing the high-
stakes Black Jack tables.
On Friday of last week, Bellecourt
led a group of supporters from the
Phillips Neighborhood who complained to the Minneapolis City Council about the growing crime in their
community. Bellecourt cited the death
of 13 year-old Anthony WhiteOwl to
launch his request for "resource"
(money) from the city council, so the
Indian community can fight the crime
that's taken over their neighborhood.
Bellecourt's latest antics come at a
time when the white residents of the
Phillips Neighborhood are looking for
someone to relieve their fears about
growing violence in the community.
Minneapolis City Council members listened on Friday as each person aired their concerns about the
crime in the Phillips community.
Bellecourt's charge on city hall,
however, was clearly staged for the
benefit of the white media—the same
media he often complains about when
Indian people dare speak publicly
without his permission.
Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles
Belton's response to the Bellecourt
Crime cont'd on 5
Fifty Cents
OjibWi
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded   in 1988
Volume 9    Issue B7
April IB, 1997
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe News, 1 937
Ramsey County Family Homeless Prevention/
Assistance Program seeks proposals
St. Paul, Minn. - The State of
Minnesota created a Family Homeless
Prevention and Assistance Program in
1993. Ramsey and Hennepin Counties
were given state grants from the
Minnesota Housing Finance Agency
and were directed to seek requests for
proposals to accomplish the statutory
goals:
a) stabilize families in their existing
homes to prevent homelessness,
b) shorten the length of time that
families stay in emergency shelters,
c) decrease repeat shelter use by
assisting families in securing
transitional or permanent housing, or
d) stabilize street life and housing for
homeless youth. Each County is given
the option to allocate its funds in a way
that can best carry out these goals and
achieve these outcomes. Grants may
not be used to pay more than 24
months of rental assistance, or for
acquiring, rehabilitating, or
constructing any emergency shelters or
transitional or permanent housing.
The second phase of funding is
ending June 30,1997, and a new two-
year grant period has been authorized
by the State Legislature. Ramsey
County wants to encourage creative
thinking around solutions to
homelessness in a new round of
projects, pending award from the
MHFA.
Ramsey County will conduct an RFP
Information Meeting on April 23 from
9:00 until 11:00 a.m. at the Martin
Luther King Center, 270 North Kent,
Saint Paul. Proposals are due by May
26. Funding, if awarded, will be
available July 1st, following county
contracting procedures with approved
vendors.
The Ramsey County Family
Homeless Prevention and Assistance
Advisory Committee encourages new
and creative programming which wi!l >
successfully address the issue of
homelessness for Ramsey County
families as a top priority, and singles
as a secondary priority, Researched
best practices and documented
successful outcomes will be important
in presenting compelling new
concepts. Collaboration between
agencies is encouraged.
Anyone interested in working to
solve homelessness in our community
is invited to attend the RFP meeting.
If interested but unable to attend, call
Karen Christensen at 266-4110 to have
the RFP mailed to you.
Photo by L. A.
Technology meets cultural traditions at last weekend's 28th An. Time-Out and Wacipi' contest pow wow
as three dancers view the boy's fancy dance competition at the Hyslop Sports Center on the UND campus.
Mille Lacs Chippewa allowed to net and
spear 2,000 lbs. of fish for ceremonies
Fisheries Association will consider
eliminating 1997 season
RED LAKE, Minn. (AP) _ An
Indian-run fisheries association might
eliminate the commercial fishing
season on the Upper and Lower Red
lakes because walleye and perch
populations are on the decline.
Red Lake Fisheries Association
General Manager Dan King said
Monday the decision will be made
Saturday by about 100 association
members, who also are members of
the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. The
fishing season is June 1-Nov. 15, but
the association will consider starting
it Aug. 24.
"My feeling is we'll have at least the
late,start," King said.
King said a vote to eliminate the
fishing season altogether would be
difficult for some members who fish
for a living and would be an indication
of their concern for the lakes.
"It's really unique and pretty
amazing that they would virtually shut
off their livelihoods," he said.
The tribe says the Upper and Lower
Red lakes have the only commercial
walleye fishery in the United States
and the largest tribal fishery on the
continent. The lakes, which cover
275,000 acres, supply a large portion
of the walleye served in Minnesota
restaurants.
The state of Minnesota has never
regulated tribal fishing on Upper and
Lower Red lakes, which are north of
Bemidji in northern Minnesota.
If association members vote to limit
themselves, it would be their second
such effort in two years. Last year, the
association approved strict
enforcement ofa rule allowing eights
nets per angler, a rule which had been
widely abused. The members also
agreed to a fishing moratorium June
29-July 14.
The band has a limit of 650,000
pounds of walleye each year from
both lakes, but has not approached
that for several years because the fish
population has been low, King said.
If the band agrees to eliminate the
season, it would be the first time since
it began fishing the lake in 1929, King
said.
King said the tribe would be working
with the state Department of Natural
Resources to ensure the life of the
lake. He also said the DNR would
have to decide whether to limit the
fishing of non-Indian anglers who are
allowed on part of the Upper Red
Lake.
A DNR spokeswoman did not
immediately comment.
By Larry Oakes
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Northern Minnesota Correspondent
A federal appeals court granted
permission Wednesday for the Mille
Lacs Band of Chippewa to net or
spear 2,000 pounds offish from Lake
Mille Lacs for ceremonial and
religious purposes while appeals ofa
treaty-rights lawsuit are pending.
Several conditions besides the
2,000-pound limit apply to the order
by a three-judge panel of the Eighth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:
* The ceremonial harvests may be
conducted only by members of the
Mille Lacs Band and only on Lake
Mille Lacs adjacent to tribal lands.
* Band permits must be sought for
the harvests, which must be observed
or monitored by officials from the
state, tribe or Great Lakes Indian Fish
and Wildlife Commission.
* All species caught count toward
the 2,000 pounds.
It was a temporary decision that
gave something to opponents as well
as to supporters of treaty harvesting,
and representatives of both sides said
they could live with it.
"It gives the band enough to
rightfully preserve their heritage and
traditions, and it should have no
impact on the lake whatsoever," said
Eddy Lyback of the Mille Lacs Lake
Advisory Association, a group of
business people in the sport-fishing
industry.
"I don't think there's a person in the
area who disagrees with the idea ofa
smaller harvest to preserve their
Fish cont'd on 8
Lawyer for counties in Mille Lacs suit
criticizes state's strategy
Military to allow American Indians in armed
service to use peyote
MILACA, Minn. (AP) _ A lawyer
for several counties has questioned
whether the state has been aggressive
enough in fighting a lawsuit by Indians
who seek to reassert their fishing and
hunting rights under an 1837 treaty.
James Johnson of Olympia, Wash.,
represents a coalition of nine counties
called the 1837 Treaty Joint Powers
Board, which is allied with the state
and landowners in the Mille Lacs treaty
case. Together, they are fighting
federal court rulings that have held the
Indians' treaty rights are still in force.
He made his comments via speaker
phone in a regular meeting with
commissioners from the counties,
which cover an area of east-central
Minnesota that the Mille Lacs and
other Chippewa Indian bands ceded
to the U.S. government in 1837 in
return for the right to continue fishing
and hunting there.
Johnson questioned several state
strategies, including its decision not
to join what proved a successful last-
ditch effort by the landowners and
counties to win a temporary stay from
the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
of tribal spearfishing and gillnetting
this spring.
Johnson also said the state should
not negotiate with the bands over
whether fishing for ceremonial
purposes should be allowed while the
overall appeal is pending, calling such
harvests "incentives to cheat."
The Mille Lacs Band has asked the
Appeals Court to clarify whether
ceremonial harvests are exempted
from the stay. The state says it is
waiting to see what the 8th Circuit
decides.
Gail Lewellan, assistant
commissioner for the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources,
disagreed with Johnson's assertions
and questioned whether it was
productive for allies in the suit to trade
accusations.
Meanwhile, a group of resort owners
voted unanimously Monday to ask the
DNR to keep a 15-inch minimum
walleye limit on Lake Mille Lacs. The
Mille Lacs Lake Advisory Association
told DNR officials that easing
restrictions nowmight confuse anglers
or require more severe restrictions if
the bands are allowed to exercise treaty
rights later this season.
By Martha Mendoza
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) _
Marine Staff Sgt. Shawn Arnold has
spent the past 18 years protecting the
freedom of others but has been banned
from a practice that is central to his
religion.
That changed Tuesday when the
military said it will allow American
Indian soldiers to use peyote _ a plant
with psychedelic properties _ in their
religious services.
"If they're using peyote in their
religious practice, it's a sacrament,
not a drug, just as sacramental wine is
not considered a drug," said Air Force
Maj. Monica Aloisio, a Pentagon
spokeswoman.
"This opens some doors for our
church, and it marks the first
sanctioned use of a hallucinogen by
members of the armed forces," said
Frank Dayish, president of the Native
American Church of North America.
For Arnold, 38, the decision ends
years of pain.
"My record book says I can't go to
church. I've been threatened, two
times, with courts-martial. I wake up
every morning, and I don't have that
full feeling of freedom because I have
to consider that... it could be this day
that they decide to prosecute me," said
the platoon commander stationed at
the Marine base in Quantico, Va.
The new policy applies to any of the
9,262 American Indians in the military
_ 0.6 of its population _ who use the
drug to follow their faith.
Peyote is a small cactus that grows
naturally in the Southwest. While it's
illegal for most people to use, federal
law permits peyote use by the 250,000
members in 20 states of the Native
American Church.
The theology centers on the belief
that peyote brings peace of mind and
Peyote cont'd on 8
Supreme Court eroding Indian sovereignty
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP)_The U.S.
Supreme Court is rejecting precedent
and eroding the sovereignty of Indian
nations, a prominent law professor
told an intertribal conference.
"We've seen an increasing tendency
to depart from principles and to make
ad hoc decisions about what the fabric
of Indian Country ought to look like,"
said professor David Getches of the
University of Colorado School of Law.
Getches spoke to about 100 lawyers,
bankers, government regulators and
Indian leaders Monday at an intertribal
conference on economic development.
He said several Supreme Court
decisions in recent years have alarmed
those familiar with longstanding
precedents supporting Indian claims
of self-governance and sovereignty
based on fundamental treaty rights.
The principles hold that when tribes
came under the umbrella of the U.S.
government, the tribes received
virtually all the sovereign powers ofa
state in the U.S. federal system.
But the recent assertion of these
rights by Indian tribes in practical
terms _ in gambling, water rights,
environmental regulation, fishing,
hunting and child custody _ is causing
a retreat that has left the principle
confused and diluted, Getches said.
In one of the most prominent cases,
the Supreme Court prohibited the
Crow Tribe in Montana from
regulating hunting and fishing by non-
Indians on the reservation.
The court said such sovereignty will
be upheld only when the non-Indian
Court cont'd on 5