The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-05-02

              Beating death of Red Laker referred to
Minneapolis FBI for further investigation
By Gary Blair
The beating and subsequent death
of 21 year-old Gene Parker an
enrollee of the Red Lake reservation
has been referred to the Minneapolis
Office of the FBI for investigation —
a source reported on Thursday.
Three male Native American
Minneapolis Police Officers have
been accused by that city's Indian
community of beating the victim who
was found on April 16. in a trash
dumpster at 36th Av. and E. Lake St.
.in Minneapolis. Parker was later
taken to the Hennepin County
Medical Center were he died from
those injuries on April 19, after being
removed from life-support machines.
(See this week's letter to the editor
about Parker's death)
The victim's 16 year-old brother is
a suspect in the shooting death of 13
year old Anthony WhiteOwl that
occurred on April 5. The Minneapolis
Police Department has blamed
Parker's death on possible gang
retaliation. According to a police
department media advisory issued on
April 17, 1997, they are also
considering that Parker's death could
be-the result of police action.
Attorney Frederick J. Goetz who
represents the Parker family is asking
that anyone who has any information
about Gene Parker's death should
contact is office at (612) 874-1552.
"All information will be handled with
the strictest confidence," Goetz's said
last week.
Beating death of Red Laker referred to Mpls. FBI
Harper sentenced; Pequette to appear May 6
Tribal Monopoly on Casino Gambling Challenged
Tribes propose using casino profits for stadium
Public forum on welfare reform in Mpls./ pg 3
Voice of the People
1
Fifty Cents
Harper sentenced; Pequette to appear May
6 for role in vote fraud conspiracy
By Jeff Armstrong
U.S. district judge Michael Davis
sentenced Henry Harper to one year
probation and a $360 fine for lying to
federal investigators about misusing
his Minnesota notary public seal to
certify more than 100 fraudulent
absentee ballots cast in White Earth
tribal elections in 1994.
In return for the Cass Lake man's
guilty plea, the government dismissed
four other counts of mail fraud and
civil rights conspiracy brought against
Harper and five other defendants in a
44-count 1995 federal grand jury
indictment.
The bogus votes were illegally cast
in the names of tribal members,
including the deceased, to ensure the
reelection of former White Earth RBC
officials Jerry Rawley and Rick Clark.
Along with ex-chairman Darrell
Wadena, Rawley and Clark were
convicted last June on dozens of
federal felony counts for spearheading
the scheme, which robbed tribal
members of free elections and cheated
them out of millions of dollars.
Harper's accomplice, Peter Pequette,
Jr., is scheduled to appear 2 p.m. May
6 in Hennepin County Court in
Minneapolis, where he is expected to
plead guilty to state charges of false
certification by a notary. Pequette
agreed last year to admit guilt to the
state charge—a misdemeanor offense
carrying a maximum penalty of 90
days jail time and a $700 fine-and to
testify as a government witness, as
conditions of an U:S. agreement to
drop the seven counts on which he is
named in the federal indictment.
Pequette was alleged to have
notarized approximately 72 absentee
envelopes stuffed with fraudulent
ballots brought by Rawley on May 25,
1994.
State charges were not filed against
Pequette until last month, and the
prosecuting attorney of record,
assistant Minneapolis city attorney
Greg Halbert, said he was unaware of
the case and did not know if he was
handling it. >
State Commerce. Department
investigator Lonnie Johnson said the
decision whether to revoke Pequette's
notary commission—which is not due
to expire until the turn of the century
-will depend on whether he accepts
the guilty plea. Pending the hearing,
Johnson said, the department would
withhold administrative action on
Pequette's notary status, which the
investigator said would be
immediately rescinded if he pleads
guilty to the charge.
"We're going to allow him to have
his day in court," said Johnson.
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded   in 1988
Volume 9    Issue 29
May a, 1997
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews. 1997
Tribal Monopoly on Casino Gambling Challenged
State may Expand Gambling to Pay for Twins Stadium
Pitch Made to Help Off-Reservation Indians
By Julie Shortridge
The Joint Senate/House Tax
Committee heard public testimony at
the State Capitol on the afternoon and
evening of Wednesday, April 30
regarding the proposed new baseball
.stadium for the Minnesota Twins. The
Legislature is assessing whether tax
dollars should be used to help pay for
a new outdoor stadium. An underlying
threat or fear is that the Twins would
leave Minnesota if the state won't foot
some of bill in constructing a new
stadium.
One proposal is to expand gambling
in the state, and use part of those
proceeds to fund a new stadium.
Putting slot machines at Caterbury
Park and opening casinos that would
be run by the.state lottery are two ideas
being discussed.
These suggestions have the
Minnesota Indian Gaming Association
and many tribal officials in a frenzy.
Currently, only tribes can run casinos
and have slot machines in Minnesota.
The Governor has expressed a
willingness to expand gambling to help
pay for the stadium. Some legislators
have suggested that if tribal officials
want to keep their monopoly on casino
gambling in tact, they should be will ing
to contribute to a new stadium. Some,
tribal officials say they would help
pay for the stadium, if the state re-
Monopoly cont'd on 3
Neah Goodwin and John Gonzalez after Bemidji State University awards banquet.
Photo by CO
Native Olympian and Gold Medal Winner
Billy Mills says: 'Dream your dream, and pursue it"
From high school dropout to head of the
ClaSS John Gonzalez credits family for success
By Devlyn Brooks
Bemidji Pioneer Staff Writer
Billy Mills, the only American
Olympian to ever win the 10,000
meter race, says the secret to life is to
find the positive desires within
oneself, to know oneself and to
succeed.
"So what I'm saying is dream your
dream, and pursue it," Mills said
Thursday night to a crowd of 400
gathered for the 20th annual Bemidji
State University Indian Awards'
Banquet.
My dad gave me the secret when I
was 12 years old," he said. "If you
follow the secret, one of you in this
room will accomplish something no
one else in the world has done. If every
one of you follow the secret, you all
will have the secret to the happiness
of life."
Mills, born on the Pine Ridge
Reservation in South Dakota, which
is, known to be one of the
economically poorest communities in
America, related his story of success
to the 13 BSU American Indian
graduates and several track athletes at
the awards ceremony.
Speaking about perceptions, Mills
told the crowd that it was important
for every person, and especially for
the Indian graduates, to lead a
spiritual, healthy and successful life
so that the stereotypes of America's
Indians could be broken.
Perceptions of Indians are
crippling," he said.
To illustrate his point Mills told a
story about sitting in a restaurant with
Mills cont'd on 3
By Jeff Armstrong
Kicked out of Waubun High School
in 9th grade, John Gonzalez passed
his GED exams at the age of 16 and is
now well on his way to obtaining a
PhD in Psychology. And the 29-year-
old Bemidji State University junior's
return to formal education has been
nothing short of phenomenal.
Gonzalez has carried a perfect 4.0
grade point average through this school
year, an achievement all the more
impressive when one considers that he
is simultaneously raising a four-year-
old son, working part time in
Mahnomen, and commuting 120 miles
a day to school in Bemidji from his
Nay-Tah-Waush home. Somehow,
Gonzalez also manages to find time to
serve as vice president of BSU's
Council of Indian Students and to
occasionally co-host the area's first
Native music show, FM-90's Voices
of the People.
For his outstanding community
leadership and academic
accomplishments, Gonzalez recently
received the 1997 Outstanding Indian
Student award at BSU, an honor he
shared with Neah Goodwin, a Bemidji
State senior studying math and
education.
ClaSS cont'd on 6
Tribes propose using casino profits for stadium
Indian tribal courts restricted in some
highway accident cases
ST. PAUL (AP) _ Indian leaders in
the state say they're willing to discuss
sharing casino profits to help build an
outdoor stadium for the Minnesota
Twins _ if lawmakers promise they
won't approve any off-reservation
gambling.
Chief Executive Marge Anderson
of the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa
made the proposal Friday in a letter to
Gov. Arne Carlson after the governor
said he was willing to consider slot
machines at Canterbury Park to fund a
$425 million stadium.
Anderson said if new revenue could
be created within Indian casinos, the
tribes "could then agree to donate a
portion" of that money to the state for
"important economic development
projects."
In exchange, she wrote, the tribes
would expect "a promise of exclusivity
for tribal gaming."
Blackjack is now the only table game
permitted at Minnesota's Indian
casinos. Video gambling machines are
authorized by compacts between the
state and 11 tribes.
Craps and roulette are among the
new games that could generate
revenue, said Ann Glumac, state tribal
relations manager. It is not known
how much revenue those games might
produce, she said.
Financing a new ballpark would
require $23 million to $30 million a
year.
Glumac and Brian Dietz, the
governor's spokesman, said
discussions with the tribes are
preliminary but Dietz called
Anderson's letter a positive indication
that the tribes are willing to discuss
sharing casino revenues.
"They would like to continue their
monopoly on gambling," Dietz said:
"They have to ask what is it worth to
them to protect that monopoly."
Representatives and lobbyists from
all 11 tribes that operate casinos met
with members of Carlson's staff on
Thursday, at the governor's request.
John McCarthy, executive director
of the Minnesota Indian Gaming
Association, said leaders of the other
10 tribes were sending letters similar
to Anderson's to the governor.
By Laurie Asseo
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Indian
tribal courts generally lack authority
over lawsuits between non-Indians
involved in traffic accidents on state
highways that run through tribal land,
the Supreme Court said Monday.
The justices' unanimous decision
bars the court of the Three Affiliated
Tribes of Fort Berthold in North
Dakota from handling such a lawsuit.
"Forming part of the state's highway,
the right-of-way is open to the public,
and traffic on it is subject to the state's
control," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
wrote for the court.
Unless a specific treaty or law says
otherwise, "the civil authority of Indian
tribes and their courts with respect to
non-Indian... lands generally does not
extend to the activities of non-members
of the tribe," she said.
Ginsburg said Monday's ruling did
not decide whether tribal courts can
handle lawsuits between non-Indians
over accidents occurring on tribal
roads within reservations.
State Highway 8 runs through the
reservation in west-central North
Dakota and was the scene ofa Nov. 9,
1990 collision between a car driven
by Gisela Fredericks and a gravel truck
driven by Lyle Stockert.
Fredericks is the widow of a tribe
member, but is not a member of the
tribe herself. She sued Stockert and
his company, A-1 Contractors, in tribal
court.
The lawsuit alleged negligence and
sought $2 million in damages.
A-1 Contractors was working on the
reservation under a contract with a
tribe-owned construction company.
A-1 asked tribal courts to dismiss
the lawsuit, but after they refused, the
company went to federal court. A
federal judge and a three-judge panel
of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled that the tribal court had the
authority to handle the lawsuit.
Courts cont'd on 5
Policeman guilty of negligence in shooting
Feds supect false affidavits in water rights cases 0f native protester
MADISON. Wis. (AP) _ A
government lawyer says
Environmental Protection Agency
officials may have filed false affidavits
to back giving two Wisconsin Indian
tribes authority to control water quality
on their reservations.
The Wisconsin State Journal
reported today that U.S. Justice
Department lawyer David Carson gave
that information to federal judges
handling the state's lawsuits
challenging EPA approval of the water
agreements.
The EPA in January 1996 gave the
Oneida tribe and the Lac du Flambeau
Chippewa band the power to set and
enforce water quality rules, as provided
under the Clean Water Act.
The state Justice Department filed
lawsuits challenging the EPA action
in those agreements and similar ones
involving the Menominee tribe and
the Sakoagon, or Mole Lake,
Chippewa band. The State Journal
said the Menominee tribe has
withdrawn its request to regulate
reservation water.
The state claims the agreements
infringe on state rights. Tribal leaders
and the EPA contend the authority to
make the agreements was clearly
granted under the Clean Water Act, as
amended in 1987.
State lawyers now have questioned
whether certain reports involving the
Oneida and Lac du Flambeau
agreements were prepared after the
agreements were approved.
They asked that the reports be
removed from court records because
only documents used by the EPA in
making its decisions can be considered
by the judge.
The State Journal said the detailed
Water cont'd on 6
SARNIA, Ontario (AP) _ A police
officer was convicted of criminal
negligence Monday in the shooting of
an Indian protester killed during a
land dispute with the government.
The slain man's family and
supporters burst into cheers when the
judge issued the guilty verdict,
rejecting the policeman's claims that
protester Dudley George was armed
and firing at police.
The defendant, Sgt. Kenneth Dcane,
was second-in-command of an Ontario
police tactical unit involved in the
September 1995 standoff with Indian
protesters who claimed Ipperwash
Provincial Park contained sacred
Chippewa burial-grounds. They
occupied the park, on Lake Huron, for
several days before violence broke
out Sept. 6.
George, 38, was killed when police
fired at a school bus used by the
protesters.
Deane admitted shooting at the bus
_ and at George three times _ but he
and other police claimed they were
returning fire. The Indians insisted
they had no firearms, and investigators
found no evidence to support the pol ice
contention.
Deane is to be sentenced May 27.
The shooting _ and subsequent
Indian claims of a police cover-up
have badly strained relations between
Ontario's Conservative government
and native leaders.
Last year, George's seven brothers
and sisters filed a wrongful-death
lawsuit against the provincial
government and police. It accuses
Premier Mike Harris of directing
police to use "severe action" against
the Ipperwash protesters.