The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-06-06

              County accomodates slumlords with
vendored payments from welfare benefits
By Gary Blair
Past and present tenants of
Minneapolis slumlord Bob Anderson
are being invited to come forward to
join a rent discrimination suit.
Mary Foote, an advocate for
tenants in a civil rights complaint
against Anderson, said this week,
"We're looking for tenants who have
rented from him (Anderson) as far
back as ten years ago. The six Native
American families that I am already
working with will submit their formal
complaints of (rental) discrimination
against Anderson to the Minneapolis
Civil Rights Department on Friday of
this week," she said. Foote can be
reached at (612) 774-2288.
"There will be meetings held every
Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the Waite House,
located at 13th Av. and 26th St. So. in
Minneapolis. We want to find as many
former Anderson tenants as possible
who want to sign complaints against
him. Even if they do not have any
paper work, if they were on welfare at
the time, the welfare department will
have the records of where they had
lived," Foote advised.
Anderson, a former Minneapolis
Police Officer who now serves as the
department's chemical dependency
counselor. His tenants allege that
Anderson has the welfare department
vendor their rent payments to him and
then he does not repair their
apartments as promised. When tenants
complain,   Anderson   allegedly
harasses them, often attempting to
evict them.
Tenants say they have had racial
slurs used against them by caretakers
of Anderson. "One of his buddies has
come to our doors dressed up as a
police officer. He has on everything
but a gun and a badge," one source
explained.
Several families who rent from
Anderson say they can not find other
places that are affordable to rent.
They say Anderson resides and has bis
rental office in their same apartment
building. "Anderson's place is all
fixed-up. We have roofs that leak, no
window screens, no heat in the winter
and one of the families has to use
County cont'd on 3
Rabideaux charged in Blackbear assault
By Jeff Armstrong
Charges of fifth degree assault and
disorderly conduct were filed in
Carlton County Court against Clinton
Rabideaux on May 7, one month and
a day after the 20-year-old son of a
Fond du Lac RBC member reportedly
attacked a juvenile guest at the
reservation's Blackbear Hotel.
Rabideaux was attending a family
wedding reception at the Blackbear
before forcing his way into a high
school graduation party in the hotel
and assaulting a celebrant. Witnesses
reported that Rabideaux was "badly
intoxicated."
To many tribal members, the case
raises questions of unequal treatment
under the law, RBC accountability
and the security of patrons at the
multimillion dollar casino. According
to several witnesses, Blackbear
security refused to intervene in the
assault for fear of retaliation from
Rabideaux's father, Dist. I Rep. Clifton
(Crow) Rabideaux.
Instead, the security officers escorted
the victim out of the building. This in
turn prompted the other guests at the
graduation party to leave, "knowing
security wasn't even supposed to do
anything because there was underage
drinking at the wedding dance," as
one witness stated.
Carlton County sheriffs deputies,
whose department has a $54,000
annual contract with the Fond du Lac
RBC to police casino facilities, were
ordered from the April 6 assault scene
by the perpetrator's father, according
to police reports.
Deputy Brian Belich reported that he
had observed "numerous red marks or
bruises" on the neck of the victim, 17-
year-old Jason Willis. Belich also took
statements from witnesses who said
Rabideaux (occasionally misnamed in
Belich's report) "followed WILLIS
into the bathroom and began
threatening him, saying he could snap
WILLIS' neck."
Belich began questioning Clinton
Rabideaux--who denied the
allegations-until his father, "Clifton
Rabideaux spoke up and told us we
had no jurisdiction looking into this
Appeal starts next week over fishing rights
By Larry Oakes
Northern Minnesota Correspondent
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Next week in St. Paul, lawyers for
the state, nine counties and eight
landowners will ask a federal appeals
court to declare that certain Chippewa
harvesting privileges reserved before
the state's birth no longer exist.
They will be opposed by lawyers for
the Mille Lacs and Fond du Lac bands
of Chippewa, six northern Wisconsin
bands and the U.S. government, with
whom the bands made a treaty in 1837
at Fort Snelling, ceding 13 million
acres and reserving the privilege to
hunt, fish and gather.
The central question will be this:
Did those privileges disappear? If so,
how and when?
What the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals decides, in a ruling
expected later this year, will determine
whether the Chippewa can harvest and
regulate a large portion of the fish,
game and other natural resources in
east-central Minnesota, including
Lake Mille Lacs.
In hundreds of pages of briefs filed
with the court, the parties have
debated 160 years of history and
spelled out the arguments they'll make
next week, including:
• A president revoked the
harvesting privileges. On Feb. 6,
1850, President Zachary Taylor
ordered that Chippewa who ceded
territory in 1837 and 1842 be moved
west of the Mississippi and their
harvesting privileges be revoked.
The state and other defendants
argue that Taylor was acting under this
part of the 1837 treaty: "The privilege
of hunting, fishing and gathering... is
[guaranteed] to the Indians, during the
pleasure of the President of the United
States."
The trial court agreed with the
bands' and federal government's
position that Taylor acted outside his
authority - that under U.S. law, Indians
could be removed only with their
consent. The whole order was
arguably nullified because
extinguishing harvesting rights was
part of the removal - and the removal
Appeal cont'd on 3
Casino Spurs a tribal COUrt But some say tribe
should offer greater protections for patrons
By Elizabeth Abbott
National Law Journal
MASHANTUCKET, CONN. _ When
Foxwoods Resort Casino opened five
years ago in this landscape of gently
rolling hills, New Englanders were
introduced to a glitzy world of casino
gambling that before had been
confined to Atlantic City, N.J., and Las
Vegas.
Another new world awaited those
unfortunate enough to injure
themselves at the casino: the
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court, a
one-story building about a mile from
Pequots' 2,100-acre reservation in
Ledyard, Conn.
Here, in a courtroom where the
sheriff calls the courtroom to order by
crying "Kuhkutamook!"—or roughly,
"listen up"—the wealthy
Mashantuckets are developing a legal
system that is rattling New England's
legal community.
Among its features are limits on
liability and damages, no civil jury
trials and a separate bar exam for
lawyers who wish to practice before
the court.
Though there's nothing new about
tribal courts—there are more than 200
nationwide—what makes this   one
England, and perhaps anywhere in the
country, a considerable number of
non-Native Americans who visit the
casino or other Mashantucket
properties outside the reservation are
being exposed to a different system of
justice.
Court of First Resort
Established in January 1992, the
same year the casino opened, the
Tribal Court hears everything from
"Slip and fall" cases generated by
Foxwoods to family matters regarding
the 440 members of the Mashantucket
Pequot Indian tribe. The court also
Foxwoods on the Mashantucket   unique is that for the first time in New   OOUfl COnt'd On 5
Three Affiliated Tribes hoping for oil
development on reservation
By Jeremiah Gardner
NEW TOWN, N.D. (AP)_ Although
oil wells dot the rolling western
landscape near the Fort Berthold
Indian Reservation, few producers
have ventured onto reservation land,
shying away from taxes, political
turmoil and snarls of red tape.
Tribal leaders are hoping a new state
law and a profit-sharing alliance with
a Canadian oil giant will change that.
But the effort still must overcome
criticism from some tribal members,
and Bureau of Indian Affairs rules that
can make oil exploration difficult.
"We probably have the greatest
opportunity of any tribe in this area
because of our resources," said Russell
"Bud" Mason, chairman of the Three
Affiliated Tribes.
"We want to be able to develop our
economy so that we can be self-
sufficient," Mason said last week.
"That's our goal."
Together with Powers Energy, a
Williston oil and gas exploration
company, Alberta Energy Co. Ltd.
and the tribe have agreed to search for
oil on the reservation, which lies
largely untapped in the middle of
western North Dakota's oil and coal
country.
The agreement, which has
encountered some opposition from
reservation landowners, was signed
shortly after the state Legislature
fashioned a tax break for new oil
drilling on reservations.
Jim Powers, owner of Powers
Energy, said the incentive was
important in securing Alberta's
commitment to the deal. Alberta, which
is based in Calgary, operates in North
Dakota as Alenco Oil and Gas Inc.
"I think it was extremely critical,"
Powers said of the tax break. "It's one
of two or three real key things."
The new law exempts new wells on
Indian reservations from the state's 4
percent extraction tax for five years.
Before, the exemption lasted two years
for horizontally drilled oil wells, and
15 months for traditional vertical wells.
Kathy Strombeck, a state Tax
Department analyst, estimates the
extended tax break will cost the state
treasury about $144,000 over two
years. But revenue from other related
taxes is likely to increase, she said.
Oil companies that get the exemption
still will have to pay the state's 5
percent oil production tax, along with
Three cont'd on 3
County accomodates slumlords with payments
Rabideaux charged in Blackbear assault
Appeal starts next week over fishing rights
State of Minnesota vs. Leonard Dutcher, (text)/ pg 4
TEC seeks six month stay on land offer
Voice of the People
J
matter and requested we leave the
premises," Belich's report states.
"Evidently CLIFF is an RBC Officer.
He then stood up as though to escort us
from the building. We then explained
we would gladly leave on our own,
which we did," the deputy concluded.
Anishinabe Advocates organizer
Dale Greene, who reported the incident
in the April 25 NAP/ON, said the
RBC should raise its jurisdictional
challenges in court, not at the scene of
an assault. "I want to see [Rabideaux]
get due process and a proper legal
defense, because there is a big
jurisdictional issue here," said Greene.
"But why can't they do that to protect
other FondduLac members thatCarlton
County is running through the mill?"
Were it not for his seat on the business
committee, charged Greene, Clifton
Rabideaux would have been charged
with a minimum of obstructing legal
process or lying to a peace officer. "I
just think it's unfortunate that this kid
has to pay for his father's violation of
the people's trust," said Greene. "It's
his dad that's running amok."
Fifty Cents
OjibWi
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded!   in 1 988
Volume 9    Issue 34
June 6, 1997
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A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews, 1997
Photo by L. A.
Enjoying Wednesday afternoon are 1 to r: Kristina Thompson, Erin Benais, Jason Powers, "J.R." Benais,
TroyBenais and Andrew Powers at the Gordon Falls Memorial Park on 11th and Beltrami Avenue in Bemidji.
TEC seeks six month stay on land offer
Anishinaabeg Today
Minnesota Chippewa Tribal members
will be able to vote on whether to
accept a major land-claims monetary
settlement from the federal
government, the TEC decided May 13
in a teleconference meeting.
The conference call, which involved
10 TEC members, concluded the
meeting that was interrupted May 2 at
the Shooting Star Casino. The group
also voted on the balance of agenda
items, including going forward with
constitutional reform
The MCT is plaintiff in two land
claims cases that have been pending
since 1946. The cases challenge
whether the compensation for land and
timber ceded following the Nelson
Act of 1889 was adequate, and also
whether the federal government
properly spent the money. MCT
claims attorneys Jacobson, Schoessler
and Magnuson Ltd. negotiated a
proposed monetary settlement of all
claims in the two cases. However,
some tribal members have expressed
strong reservations about the proposal,
arguing that the issue isn't one of
money but one of abandoning any
possibility of reclaiming the land.
The TEC directed attorneys to ask
the Court of Federal Claims for a six-
month continuance so that the TEC
can do three things: negotiate and draft
a stipulation of settlement; have a
tribal public information program: and
hold a tribal referendum on the issue.
This article is reprinted from
Anishinaabeg Today, White Earth. MN.
HUD keeps eye on tribe as it recovers from
housing problems
By Jim Chilsen
MILWAUKEE (AP) _ An
inspection this year found the St. Croix
Chippewa tribe, which gets millions
in federal housing funds, has failed to
collect more than $400,000 in back
rent and allowed high-income renters
in low-income housing, an Associated
Press review found.
An earlier federal audit found the
tribe had put almost $500,000 in an
account that didn't earn interest and
spent thousands on holiday bonuses,
gift certificates and restaurant tabs,
according to documents obtained by
theAP.
About 60 tribal families are currently
waiting for public housing and some
are doubling up with others just to
have a place to stay. Meanwhile, more
than $ 1 million in federal construction
funds remain frozen since the 1995
audit by the Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
"It got to the point where the funds
were so badly mismanaged the tribe
had to loan the housing program a
substantial amount of money to keep
the program running," said Thomas
W. Boockmeier, a HUD official who
heads all American Indian programs
east of the Mississippi.
The St. Croix Chippewa Housing
Authority, which oversees 223 rental
units and houses, has improved under
new management, HUD and tribal
officials agree.
However, HUD told the agency in
April that it was still facing "serious
deficiencies" in two areas: collecting
rent and putting high-income tenants
in low-income housing without
explaining why. In one case, a family
earning $81,346 was in housing set
aside for people earning less than
$30,150.
HUD found that about $406,434 in
back rent was owed as of February,
and the average delinquency per unit
was $1,983.
Meanwhile, some families have
moved in with friends and relatives
just to have a place to stay, according
to Monica Butler, executive director
of the agency.
"We're in really bad need of
HUD cont'd on 3
Adopted daughter sues Michael Dorris estate
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Michael
Dorris' adopted daughter claimed he
sexually abused her as a child in a
lawsuit filed Thursday, two weeks after
records of a police investigation into
similar allegations against the late
writer were sealed.
Colorado resident Madeline Hannah
Dorris, 21, also accused her adoptive
mother _ poet and novelist Louise
Erdrich_of negligence, saying she knew
or should have known of the abuse.
Madeline Dorris, one of three
children adopted by Dorris and
Erdrich, is seeking an unspecified
amount in excess of $50,000, plus
costs. She is suing Dorris' estate.
Dorris, who committed suicide in a
Concord, N.H., motel on April 11, left a
will providing for his three biological
daughters with Erdrich. But the will
excluded his two living adopted children
and Erdrich, who was divorcing him.
Earlier this month, a judge ordered
that police records in an investigation
of sexual abuse allegations against
Dorris be sealed without revealing
who made the allegations.
The Boston Globe, however,
reported shortly after Dorris' death
that it had seen the police records and
that the allegations involved one of
the couple's three young daughters.
Attorneys for Erdrich and Dorris'
estate did not immediately return phone
messages Thursday.
Dorris also adopted two sons, Jeffrey
and Reynold Abel. Dorris chronicled
Abel's struggle with fetal alcohol
syndrome in his 1989 book "The Broken
Cord," which won a National Book
Critics Circle award. Abel died in a car
accident in 1991.
The lawsuit said Dorris began
sexually abusing Madeline Dorris
when she was 5 and continued until
she was 12 and was sent to live at
various orphanages and boarding
schools. The abuse would resume
when she returned home, the lawsuit
said.
9