The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-06-13

              Attorney says TEC will decide on land
claims, despite plans for referendum
No request made for BIA secretarial election
Th*. ice Department hat yet
pond to the MCT Tribal fcxecu-
Committee's request for a
month extension ofa $20 million government offer to settle tribal land
claim* over nearly one million on-rcv
ervation acres, according to tribal attorney James Schoessler. Schoessler
resigned as MCT general council last
fall, but is continuing to represent the
tribe on the land issue.
ic are tribal assertions that
tribal land were
taken by the government for sale to
-pean settlers without the consent
of members, in violation of several
treaties and of the terms of the 1889
>n Act, which authorized ncgo-
tian
members have expressed concern that
acceptance of the settlement would
foreclose on efforts to recover tribal
land and jurisdiction, possibfy reducing the reach of tribal sovereignty to
the few remaining pockets of MCT-
beid territory within treaty reservation
boundaries.
Responding to grassroots demands
for a voice in the decision, tribal officials passed a resolution at a secret
May 13 telephone conference seeking
the delay in order to place the issue
on a tribal referendum ballot. A May
19 joint status report to the Court of
Federal Claims judge hearing the case,
however, failed to mention the TEC
action pending formal notification
from tribal president Norman
Deschampe.
"The letters and the resolution have
been  sent  to   the  court,"   said
Schoessler. ~We haven't heard anything"
In April. Justice Department anor-
ney Pamela West said the 1/ S would
"leave the settlement offer 'on the
table' for another month." The matter
had apparendy been scheduled for a
vote at a May 2 TEC meeting, which
ended when the host White Earth
tribal officials walked out less than an
hour into the session.
Schoessler said be could not release
the resolution or letter without instructions from Deschampe or MCT executive director Gary Frazer. both of
whom failed to answer repeated requests by the Press for docun;.
from the May 13 meeting. Tribal c
cials from White Earth and Leech
Lake also declined to return phone
Claims cont'd on 3
Attorney says TEC will decide on land claims
Minneapolis tenants have few options in struggles
Supreme Court to decide dispute over Yankton Res.
Archer targets Indian casino revenue again
Dakota received payments to promote lottery
l bice of the People
1
Minneapolis tenants have few options in
struggles with slumlords/welfare dept.
Fifty Cents
lilair
hat requ.
Minneapolis landlords to screen
I y in an attempt to
the inner city crime rate
apparently has allowed slumlon:
operate unchecked.   Additionally.
inty Welfare Department
that were set up to assist
landlords through vendor payments
nisi now appears to be
he problems being those
renters who try to assert their tenant
• lis.
nit to withhold their
rent until the landlord makes the
required repairs seems to an
unavailable option under the welfare
department's rent vendor program.
According to Native American
tenants of slumlord Bob Anderson at
a Tuesday meeting at the Waite House
in Minneapolis, these new
requirements forced them into their
present predicaments. Anderson's past
and present tenants allege that he
required that their rent payments be
vendored (paid directly) to him from
the Hennepin County Welfare
Department if they received public
tance. They say Anderson then
promises them an apartment which
they readily accepted (often times
sight unseen) because he does not
require reference checks as do many
of the other landlords.
Many of the people who arrive in
Minneapolis from the reservation do
not have the necessary rent history
that's required by the City's recent
renter reform and are thus forced to
accept housing from slumlords.
Kirk Hill of the Minnesota Tenants
Union spoke with the group about the
different alternatives that could help
bring Anderson into compliance with
the City's housing codes. Hill told the
Tenants cont'd on 3
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All  People
Founded   in 1 988
Volume 9    Issue 35
June 13, 1997
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe IMewa,  1997
BIA Official: Protect tribal authority
VP)     The top
Indian Affairs official lashed
ust political forces
othcauthi
and autonomy ol tril
the
lithe
dci i by  some uninformed
nounl in attacks against
Indian economic pn
"Increased political sophistication
nomic activity have
.iscs pitted tubal enterprise
against powerful outside interests."
Ms. Deer said.
Her speech came just hours after
House Ways and Means Chairman
Bill Archer proposed a tax package
that includes a new federal income tax
on Indian gaming, which would raise
$ 1.9 billion through 2002. The Texas
Rep id "unfair
partly responsible
for the growth of the Indian gaming
industry.
Ms. Deer resigned in January as
head of the BIA, but agreed to stay on
until her successor is named. In
February, President Clinton appointed
her acting chairman of the National
Indian Gaming Commission.
She encouraged members of her
Tulsa audience to take note ofa recent
letter to Archer signed by Attorney
General Janet Reno and Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The letter
opposed such taxes on tribes.
"Today's political climr"
something like an Oklahoma spring
morning," Ms. Deer said. "There are
some storm clouds on the horizon, but
you can' t be sure whether they 're going
to drift away or spawn a tornado that
Tribal cont'd on 3
U.S. Supreme Court to decide dispute over
Yankton Reservation
bet Brokaw
I'll RKI si) (AP) I he U.S.
Supreme ( ourt's agreement tO hear a
South Dakota dispute should clear up
confusion on whether the Yankton
SioUX Indian Reservation still exists
within its original boundaries
i we're i final
lion  hopefully,  and get  some
clarit) .md finality,*1 South Dakota
:ne\ General Mark Harnett said
.mother, we
need them lo clear il up "
I he nation's highest court on
said it will decide whether
some 430,000 acres in south-central
South Dakota must be considered a
reservation of the Yankton Sioux
Tribe
In a ruling that greatly expanded the
tribe's law enforcement authority in
the area, a federal appeals court ruled
m October that the Yankton Sioux
Reservation still exists within
boundaries set by an 1858 treaty.
The South Dakota Supreme Court
in February reached the opposite
conclusion. It said the state can enforce
its laws within the original reservation
boundaries because the reservation
M .is diminished w hen the tribe agreed
to open up part of the area to white
settlement in the 1890s.
The conflicting court opinions have
caused problems in determining
whetherstate, federal ortribal officials
have legal jurisdiction over some
criminal cases in the area, Barnett
said. Other questions arise on
jurisdiction involving taxation,
environmental regulation, telephone
regulation and other civil issues, he
said.
"It's impossible to know who's on
first, who's on second." the attorney
general said.
For the past 100 years, the state has
Yankton cont'd on 3
Defense: Dakota received payments to
promote national Indian lottery
eta (iuest
Al) rapids. Mich
itrman Fred Dakota received
mallpayrjM
1 machine dealer to promote
the D ll Indian
lotu .use attorni
Dakota, who heads tl naw
Indian Community  in Baraga.
rt    He  1 sing
«m Iswi.vr, and then
the payments.
ire to
engage in a kickh
Th»> ^elman. a  Marquette
attorney representing Jcrrold Polinsky.
Dakota's alleged coconspirator
"The advances were to ensure the
promotional services of the chief."
tselman said in his opening
statement
He argued that Polinsky needed a
high-ranking Indian to market the
tv idea to other tribes and ensure
>>uld be better suited to
promote Mr   Pol ilan? The
virtual creator of Indian gaming in
the><
Dakota." Casscfanan said
He said if tl ailed. Dakota
would have been expected to repay
the moot
But the lottery idea failed, and the
payments stopped.
U.S :it Attorney Judd Spray
told jurors documents will show that
Polinsky made the illegal payments
He said Polinsky controlled
International Gaming Management
Inc . based in a Minneapolis suburb,
which leased slot machines to the
Keweenaw band for its Ojibw a casino
"We're going to show that starting
in l°9l. that Fred Dakota said.'If mv
tribe installs these gaming mach
I'll take the risk ... I want my cut."'
Spray said.
Dakota cont'd on 5
Lonetree elected president of Ho-Chunk Nation
BLACK RIVER
the
tribe annoum i
00 H I onetree defeated a former
il president. J. with
■
election He succeeds Ooris
who u rom
vncral council
meeting of the tribe
Lowe defeated Jones for a four-year
term in an. wo years ago.
f ucsday and the final
counting of absentee ba done
Wr ram ids
Rita   A    Cleveland defe
incumbent Forrest Whucrabbit
•r the post of asstn
n the tribe's Supreme Court
W inning two-year terms on the tribal
11 aturc were Robert M udd. F11 ion
Garvin. Gerald Cleveland. Kevin
Grcengrass. Christine Steeples and
Martys Whitcaglc. AJ1 four incumbents
who  sough: non  to  the
- latum were defeated.
:crs in District 2 voted 78 to -
recall legislator Jamo c  tireerkk
special election for lhat seat rs Jun.
Chuck Murray of Bemidji, originally  from Leech Lake, spent Wednesday morning  fishing on Gi-Chi/ii-
Bii (the Mississippi) on his day off, however, Murray caught a one-pound walleye and threw  it back in.
Next step in treaty rights case Thursday
"Me and many others will be moving   Wisconsin Chippewa hands to siari
By Rochelle Olson
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ The
Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources asked state residents for
their thoughts on the court ruling
allowing eight bands of Chippewa to
spear and net on Lake Mille Lacs
under their 1837 treaty rights.
Given that some of the responses
submitted to the department's web
site were not fit for print, the following
is telling:
from Mille Lac. How could you be so
stupid to think you could win in court!
You have taken the biggest enjoyment
in life away," one unidentified writer
said.
The response typifies the strong
emotions the matter has engendered.
The dispute has been brewing for
decades, but came closer to a resolution
earlier this year when the U.S. District
Court approved allowing the Mille
Lacs and Fond du Lac bands of
Chippewa in Minnesota and six
spearing and nettin (•central
Minnesota lakes
Most of the spearing and netting
was put on hold pending the outcome
of the appeal, which could he decided
by late this summer
On Thursday, a three-judge p.m
the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of App
will hear oral arguments  Each side
will have 40 minutes to plead its.
On one side is the stale, nine counties
Case cont'd on 3
Archer targets Indian casino revenue again
By Phillips Brasher
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Despite
powerful opposition in the Senate, the
chairman of the House Ways and
Means Committee is trying again to
tax Indian gambling revenue.
Rep. Bill Archer. R-Tcxas. wants to
raise SI.9 billion over the next five
years by imposing a 34-perccnt income
tax on all tribal business revenue,
which is primarily gambling income.
A similar proposal died in 1995 amid
a furious lobbying effort bythe nation's
tribes
"The problem is that, as Indian
gambling grow s and grow s and gr>
it begins to compete with dollars in the
outside sector that arc taxed _ other
business entrepreneurs." Archer said
Monday in outlining the $85-billion.
five-year tax cut he is proposing.
The government has never taxed
income from businesses that are
incorporated under tribal laws, which
traditionally have been small concerns
such as grocery stores and art stv
Both Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott of Mississippi and Democratic
leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota
oppose the tax as well as many
committee chairmen and membe
the Senate Finance Commit!
"We don't tax • don't tax
counties, wc don't •
it that wenow wanttotaxrescrvati
That would be a dangerous
precedent." Daschle said at a i
conference.
Indian leaders gay the tax would
take away revenue thai mai
use lo pay tor improvement! I
schools and health facilities and to
subsidize  education   and   social
programs. Some tribal It lieu
ould be put out <>i busin
"T his is ,i real cheap shol
'ii immunity," said '■•'
Ha/en. a tribal council memhet with
the Lac V erl Band
Superior Chippewa
"We need th.
infrastructure, housing and water and
lieutenant governi I
IndianC'ommunityinA-
hkc m mnmm >uld
they lax i.
HUD Officials reassigned before release of
report on Indian housing
\P) _ Two leading
figur andal over waste and
mismanagement in federally funded
Indian housing programs have been
reassigned
After eight years as general deputy
rctary for public and
Indian housing in the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
acl Jams is now senior ad
for policy, dev clopment and research
Under a program in which HI D
lends staff lo other organ i/an
Domini. lant
for ihc Off ;tivc
American Programs for a decade, was
placed on special assignment   with
Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit
group that builds homes for needy
fami:
The rcassignmcnts were reported
:ncsday by The Seattle Times,
which reported on problems with
Indian low-income housing programs
on reservations nationwide last fall.
The report cited numc
in which deregulation resulted in
construct ion of mansions for re la:
well-off tribal leaders while low-
income reservation residents spent
-onhou g lists.
Karen Hinton. a spokeswoman for
the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, said the rcassignmcnts
arc part of an effort by 11
Andrew  ( uomo to restore pul
confidence in the agency   The full
plan will be released ai I
month, she said
"Part   of   that
reorgani/
concern we h
programs." Hinton saic
end md and al I of
our progra
phonccalls Incarli -cssi
said the 29 cases detailed by The!
admitted
there were bigi