The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-04-25

              Brother of suspect in WhiteOwl murder dies
after assault Family, Natives accuse police
By Gary Blair
Three male Minneapolis Native
American Police office have been
accused by members of the
Minneapolis Indian community in the
beating and subsequent death of Gene
Parker, a 21-year-old enrollee of the
Red Lake Reservation. Community
sources say there were two witnesses
to the assault, but neither has come
forward publicly for fear of
retribution.
Nonetheless, the Minneapolis
Police Department has been blaming
Parker's death on gang retaliation,
while insisting that they are
considering the possibility that their
officers were involved. The victim's
16-year-old brother is accused in the
death of 13-year-old Anthony
WhiteOwl, who was shot and killed
on April 5. Sources say the police
officers were trying to obtain
information from Parker in regard to
the death of WhiteOwl, and that was
what led to the beating.
One of the witnesses to the assault
is reported to be an employee of a
restaurant at 36th Av. and E. Lake St.,
where Parker was found in a trash
dumpster on April 16. The other
witness is reported to be a male. It's
not known at this time if he is an
American Indian; however, initial
reports did say that he is an Indian.
Attorney Frederick J. Goetz of
Minneapolis, who represents Parker's
family members, told the PRESS on
Tuesday that his firm now has an
investigator probing the case. Goetz
says so far they have been hearing a
lot of rumors, but what they really
need are eye witnesses who saw what
happened.
Assault cont'd on 8
Seneca Nation refuses state sales tax pact
despite fuel embargo, police siege
By Jeff Armstrong
In what Seneca Nation officials
described as "tantamount to an act of
war," New York State police moved
en-masse into Seneca territory April
20 to suppress a protest against state
attempts to impose taxes on
reservation sales to non-Natives.
State troopers clashed with
demonstrators who blocked off a state
thruway running through the
Cattaraugus reservation, leading to at
least two dozen arrests and injuries on
both sides.
"[The troopers] came into the group,
and the group was saying 'this is
reservation, stay off the reservation.'
Then they continued to go forcefully
through the group," said tribal
councilor Rose Patterson. "Somehow
it just broke out. I heard it was the
macing of the children; that's why it
broke out."
Patterson, spokesperson for
president Michael Schindler, said
reports of police violence have been
confirmed by television coverage.
"There was a lot of footage, and it
showed the cops hitting people in the
head with clubs."
"The next day," said Patterson, "we
got a whole swarm of troopers who
shut down the entrances to the
reservation on both ends and wouldn't
allow any kind of traffic in or out."
The presidential spokesperson said
dialysis patients were kept from
leaving to Buffalo for treatment,
doctors were blocked from the tribal
clinic, and children prevented from
attending school. Patterson said the
embargo has virtually shut down the
tribal economy, forcing a $ 1.4 million
reduction in the Seneca payroll.
Siege cont'd on 5
Defoe refuses to recognize victors of WE,
LL elections TEC to meet May 2 In WE
By Gary Blair
A meeting of the Tribal Executive
Committee (TEC) of the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe (MCT) was held on
Monday at the Mystic Lake Casino in
Dakota Country, 100 miles away from
the nearest Minnesota Chippewa
reservation.
At the top of the agenda was the
historic debate over the need for
constitution reform for the MCT and
its six member reservations. However,
according to reports heard after the
meeting, the most informative
proportion of the meeting occurred
during their closed executive session,
where heated arguments over the last
MCT elections brokeout.
TEC secretary Pete Defoe, from the
Fond du Lac reservation, is insisting
that he did not sign the latest addition
to the tribe's election ordinance that
allowed for primary elections.
Defoe, they say, insisted that he was
not going to swear-in any of the newly
elected reservation officials who won
in the last election. The WERTC's
inaugural ceremonies arc scheduled to
take place at the Shooting Star Casino
on the White Earth reservation on May
3, and forty dignitaries have been
invited to attend. The TEC's next
meeting is set for 9 a.m. May 2 at the
Shooting Star. Defoe's decision not to
swear-in the newly elected candidates
also sparked discussion from the
White Earth representatives, who are
threatening to pull out of the MCT if
constitutional reform is not
forthcoming.
Youth allegedly assaulted in FDL motel by
Son Of RBC member   Casino security county
deputies reportedly blocked from intervening
By Dale Greene
On Thursday, April 17 of this year,
Indian Legal Aid director Wes Martin appeared before Carlton County
judge Robert Macaulay as attorney
representing Clint Rabideaux, the son
of Fond du Lac RBC Dist. I Rep.
Clifton Rabideaux.
Clint Rabideaux was appearing as
the subject of a civil harassment order which judge Dale Wolf had previously issued against him ex parte.
During the harassment hearing,
Macaulay had the victim and his parents go into the judge's chambers for
a conference with Clint and Clifton
Rabideaux. They remained in chambers for more than an hour, afterwhich
the judge granted the order for one
year.
The alleged events that prompted the
harassment petition are as follows: On
or about Wednesday, April 2, Clint
Rabideaux reportedly assaulted a juvenile Caucasian male at a grocery
store parking lot within the city limits
of Cloquet. A police report of the incident was allegedly prepared and a
criminal investigation initiated.
The second assault on the youth allegedly occurred on Saturday, April 5
at the Blackbear Motel, in a motel
room not rented to Clint Rabideaux.
On that night, Rabideaux allegedly
forced his way into a hotel room
rented for a high school prom party.
According to witnesses, Clint
Rabideaux then broke into the bathroom and physically beat the youth.
The victim minor was attending a
Proctor High School prom party with
adult chaperones. His mother stated
that because there were chaperones
present, she allowed him to attend the
celebration.
Several witnesses stated that when
Rabideaux broke into the bathroom,
Youth cont'd on 3
Red Lake Fisheries Association eliminates
1997 commercial season
RED LAKE, Minn. (AP)_The Red
Lake Band of Chippewa fisheries
association voted to cancel the 1997
commercial fishing season because of
declining walleye, perch and crappie
populations, a band official said.
"This just shows the concern that
folks up here have for protecting the
resource," association General
ManagerDan King said Monday. "It's
one of the most unselfish acts I've
ever seen, (having) courage and
integrity to basically fire yourself for
a higher cause like this."
The fishing season usually runs June
1-Nov. 15 on the Upper and Lower
Red lakes. This is the first time the
band has canceled the season since
1929 when it began exercising treaty
rights.
King said the decision was made
Saturday by about 125 association
members, 66 percent of whom voted
for cancellation.
"They voted with their hearts and
not their pocketbooks," King said.
The band, which faces unemployment
rates of more than 60 percent, may need
some help from the government,
includingjob retraining programs to get
through the year, King said.
And some restrictions could be
extended for up to five years if the fish
populations are still in trouble, he said.
Also to be determined is whether
the state Department of Natural
Resources will limit non-Indian
angling on the Upper Red Lake. A
spokeswoman for the agency did not
immediately return a telephone call.
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 has never regulated tribal
fishing on Upper and Lower Red lakes,
which are north of Bemidji in northern
Minnesota.
The band has a limit of 650,000
pounds of walleye each year from
both lakes, but has not approached
that for several years.
King said the tribe would be working
with the state Department of Natural
Resources to ensure the life of the
lake.
Michigan tribe to test federal gaming act
DETROIT (AP) _ An Upper
Peninsula Indian tribe plans to test an
exemption in the federal gaming act
that could allow it to operate an off-
reservation casino in Oakland County
that even Gov. John Engler can't stop.
The tale started in 1857 when the
federal government made a gift of
Upper Peninsula land to the state.
The state sold the land in 1884. The
Bay Mills Community now says the
federal gift was to be held in trust for
Indians, The Detroit News reported
Monday.
The tribe wants to convert that land
trust into a bid to compete with planned
casinos in Detroit by building one in
Oakland County.
The plan to bring gambling to
Detroit's affluent northern suburbs _
340 miles from the tribe's homeland_
will likely be challenged in court.
Sharon Kennedy, recorder of deeds
in Chippewa County, said title
searchers, real estate agents and
surveyors have known about that Bay
Mills claim for years.
But Ohio real estate lawyer James F.
Brother of suspect in WhiteOwl murder dies
Seneca Nation refuses state sales tax pact
Defoe refuses to recognize victors of elections
Youth allegedly assaulted by son of RBC member
RL Fisheries Assoc, eliminates 97 commercial season
Voice of the People
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Hadley, bought 97 acres for $200,000
last October. The Bay Mills claim
includes about half of his tract.
"I bought it for its residential
development potential," Hadley said.
Two weeks later, the Bay Mills
Indians sued Hadley and 170 other
landowners in U.S. District Court.
Tribal leaders declined comment.
Hadley said lawyers for the tribe made
it clear that a land swap was the only
settlement they would consider.
Test cont'd on 6
The Itasca Community College hosted the 5th Annual Anishinabe High School Academic Competition in math/
science, composition, speech and team categories with over 150 students participating in this year's event.
Federal response activities in the aftermath
of severe flooding in tri-state
The President's Long Term
Recovery Task Force, headed by
FEMA Director James Lee Witt, is
moving forward on an action plan for
the flood-devastated area. Long term
priorities include addressing housing,
agricultural, educational and
economic problems. Short-term needs
to be addressed include human and
information needs and preparing for
massive debris removal.
More than 5,000 flood victims in
North Dakota, Minnesota and South
Dakota registered for disaster
assistance Tuesday by calling FEMA's
toll-free registration line at 1-800-462-
9029. This brings to almost 25,000 the
number of flood victims in the three
states who have registered for
assistance so far. The total for North
Dakota is 14,997, while in Minnesota,
6,876 have registered for assistance.
In South Dakota 2,873 flood victims
have registered for disaster assistance.
In North Dakota, some 1,600
people have been evacuated from the
area
towns of Drayton and Pembina, while
the number of persons evacuated from
Grand Forks totals about 35,000.
Twenty-five schools in the Grand
Forks area are closed.
Also in North Dakota, the National
Guard is beginning to remove the
carcasses of tens of thousands of
cattle.
In Minnesota, approximately
10,000 people have been evacuated
Flood cont'd on 6
BIA will enforce Cherokee law for two months
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) _ The
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs said
Friday it will enforce law on the
Cherokee Nation for about two months
while the tribe sorts out a power
struggle.
"BIA's law enforcement mission will
be to ensure the safety of the
community and its property," said Ada
Deer, the agency's assistant secretary.
The controversy within the nation's
second-largest Indian tribe began Feb.
25 when Pat Ragsdale led his Cherokee
marshals on a raid of Chief Joe Byrd's
office as part of an investigation into
alleged misappropriation of funds.
Byrd fired the marshals and rejected
a tribal court's orderto reinstate them.
Instead, he hired his own armed
security force.
The marshals and the chiefs security
force claim authority to enforce tribal
law. Now, the government will have
that power.
The government will assist "until
the situation has stabilized and the
Nation is able to reassume its own law
enforcement program," she said from
Washington.
The chief believes the tribal court
has overstepped its bounds and said
he will ignore any court order he
considers in violation of the tribe's
constitution.
He has been charged in tribal court
with conspiring to obstruct justice for
firing the marshals. Last week, the
tribe's prosecutor filed another
criminal complaint accusing Byrd and
his chief financial officer of diverting
nearly $65,000 in tribal funds to pay a
Washington law firm.
The chief went to Washington
Thursday to meet with Ms. Deer to
discuss the conflict disrupting the
182,000-member tribe, which is
scattered around the country but has a
14-county jurisdictional area in eastern
Oklahoma.
"I am doing everything within my
power to provide neutral law
enforcement in our communities and
eliminate the potential for a conflict,"
Byrd said. "I believe that a neutral
force will de-escalate the situation and
allow the government to resolve its
problems."
Ragsdale said he and his marshals
will continue to respond to tribal law
enforcement matters despite the
government's involvement.
"But we're not a threat to them,
certainly," he said.
Audit orders recovery of $661,000 in housing money
SEATTLE (AP) _ The Southern
Puget Sound Inter-Tribal Housing
Authority must recover $ 661,000 used
to make down payments on private
mortgages for tribal members who
didn't qualify for assistance, a federal
audit says.
The audit, conducted by the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development's inspectorgeneral, was
critical of an authority practice of
mixing low-income housing aid with
private financing to benefit more
middle-class American Indians.
Interestingly, the practice was
supported by staff at HUD's regional
office here, which saw it as a way to
overcome some of the difficulties
middle-class Indians had getting
standard mortgages for reservation
property.
But the audit, released Tuesday, said
the program diverted money from the
more than 5,000 needy families on
waiting lists for HUD homes in the
Northwest. The program also violates
federal regulations, the audit noted.
The audit is one in a series of
investigations supporting the findings
of a Pulitzer Prize-winning series by
The Seattle Times on mismanagement
and corruption in HUD's tribal-
housing programs across the country.
The Southern Puget Sound housing
authority, representing six small tribes,
is based in Shelton in Mason County.
Authority director David Bell says
all but $ 15,000 of the money has been
recovered, but he disputes the
contention it had been misused.
"Everybody liked the concept,
including HUD,"Bell said.'"Butwhat
the inspector general said is, the
concept may be great but it doesn't fit
the rule. So there's a disagreement
between them and us."
Bell said the authority no longer
uses HUD money for anything but
traditional low-income housing. Its
mortgage program is now paid for
with private funds and public funds
from other government programs, he
said.
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