The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-08-15

              Nepotism, infighting, mismanagement
plague MCT human services
By Gary Blair
According to documents received
by the PRESS, relatives and friends
of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe's
executive director, Gary Frazer, have
been allowed to abuse their authority
and the staff of the MCT's Human
Services Division.
The documents outline numerous
problems which came to a head in
June of 1997, forcing many ofthe staff
to consider resigning and some to go
public about their mistreatment. The
mistreated staff members allege that:
♦Fraudulent travel expenses were
being submitted, supervisory personnel and their favored employees went
on Christmas shopping trips together.
* Supervisory staff went to the
beauty shop and were tanning during
the time that they were supposed to
be working.
They say Frazer watched, as supervisory staff and their friends made
unauthorized trips out of state, some
to as far away as California and Utah
and those same staff were likewise
coming to work late.
Letters written by staff members
who openly complained indicated that
Frazer did meet with them; however,
the problems subsequently became
worse. Frazer sent memos to those
staff in an attempt to address the problems, but, nonetheless, some of the
staff see his response as an attempt to
cover up for his relatives and friends.
These memos and letters are also contained in the documents.
Sources who asked not to be identified for fear of losing their jobs wrote
that program funds had been used to
make car repairs for two boyfriends
of Frazer's first cousin, compliance
coordinator Terri Bendix. They
wrote: "Terri has misappropriated
JOBS/STRIDE Funds for two of her
boyfriends. One boyfriend she used
funds to help him put a motor in his
vehicle, using a client who was not
even active in the program. The check
was sent to West End auto or someplace in Cass Lake, to help pay for
her boyfriend's motor. Another time
she brought a tire for her other boyfriend using a client who was not even
enrolled into the program, this was for
R&D Tire in Bemidji.   Jay Bendix
ended up having to write a check to
cover this discrepancy."
Another account ofthe same incident reads, "Terri was dating someone who had just had his tires slashed
while staying at her home. Terri set it
up so that he could purchase a tire on
the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe account set up for clients of the JOBS/
STRIDE Program. After the bill came
through, quite a few questions arose
from this incident, as to why this client was receiving services. Jay
(Adrienne "Jay" Adkins) ended up
calling this old boyfriend (of her
daughter) to pay for the tire after they
had broken up. When the boyfriend
told her"No" Jay proceeded hollering
at him calling him a "Big Black
F ", I am going to slap your face
the next time I see you. All staff was
able to hear this escapade. Jay ended
up writing a check from her personal
account to cover Terri's butt."
Frazer said Friday that he has been
working to improve the conditions
within the Human Services Division.
"Some ofthe staff think I am not do-
Infight cont'd on 5
RBC blames activists for closed meeting
By Jeff Armstrong
White Earth officials at an Aug. 11
meeting in Cass Lake refused to
comment on requests by tribal
members for a federal civil rights
investigation and denied holding secret
meetings with the state on law
enforcement issues.
Judy Harper briefly blocked White
Earth members and this reporter from
entering the Pike Bay Town Hall
meeting, warning against
"disruptions." However, in the absence
ofthe armed law enforcement which
has become a fixture at tribal meetings,
RBC members had to field questions
from their less compliant constituents.
When John Buckanaga asserted that
open meetings are a hallmark of the
new administration, Renee Judkins
condemned the RBC for removing
tribal members from a meeting last
week with the U.S. attorney, the county
attorneys and sheriffs from Becker,
Clearwater and Mahnomen, and the
state public safety director.
"We were almost arrested for
showing up there. How can you call
that an openmeeting?" asked Judkins.
Attorney Miles Lord claimed the
65 to 70 per cent of people arrested in Bemidji are
Turtle Islanders, yet less than nine per cent make
up total population in the Bemidji area
By Larry Adams
Over the past two weeks, the PRESS/
ON received two reports, one from the
Beltrami County Sheriffs Department
and the other from the Bemidji Police
Department.
Both reports show the age, sex, race
and ethnic origin of persons arrested
by both departments from October 1 st,
1996, to July 30th, 1997, including
those released without having been
formally charged. The race categories
include "White, Black, American
Indian/Alaskan, Hispanic" and "Not
Hispanic."
With over 40 categories of crimes
on both reports ranging from
manslaughter to suspicion and the ages
ranging from 18 years and over, the
PRESS/ON obtained both reports in
an effort to find out why there is such
a disproportionate amount of Turtle
Island people in the Beltrami County
Jail (BCJ). There may be many
different reasons and unknown
variables for why there is such a high-
arrest record of Turtle Islanders in the
Bemidji area. The PRESS/ON will
present all sides and let the public
decide. (See "The PRESS/ON
INTERVIEWS" story on page one.)
First,    the    Bemidji    Police
Some tribes reject W-2, opt for federal program
By Jodie Dejonge
MILWAUKEE (AP) _ Four of the
state's 11 American Indian tribes are
rejecting Wisconsin's plan to reform
welfare on their reservations, even as
the rest of the state gears up for the
Sept. 1 changes.
Two more tribes also may snub
Wisconsin Works, the state's program
requiring welfare recipients to work,
in favor ofa federal program that will
give most tribes less money, but more
control over how to spend it.
"If we can pull it off, it'll be worth it,
the gray hairs and all," said Allen
Hams, director of general assistance
for the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian
tribe, which has a reservation near
Hayward.
Submitting plans to operate their
own plans under a federal program
dubbed TANF _ Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families _ are
the Red Cliff, Mole Lake Sokaogon,
Stockbridge-Munsee and Forest
County Potawatomi.
"The Red Cliff was the first one to
bite on this opportunity and we do see
this as an opportunity, with
responsibility," said Beth Meyers,
chief of the Chippewa tribe's Family
Services Division.
"This law has opened up a lot of
options for the tribe," she said. "We
know who our population is and we
know what their needs are."
Sheila Defoe, a single mother of two
who had three foster children in her
care, is among those the Red Cliff
tribe would serve under TANF.
On and off welfare since she was 18,
Defoe, now 26, said she would
welcome the help in finding a
permanent, full-time job with benefits,
especially health insurance.
But that could be tough in far
northern Wisconsin, where summer
tourism is the main industry, and
tougher on the reservation 10 miles
from Bayfield, which has only a
handful of businesses, Defoe said.
In a current state-ordered job search,
to stay eligible for $200 a month in
food stamps, Defoe said she must visit
24 potential employers a month.
"You could spend days doing it,"
she said. "They really made me feel
like a user, even though those benefits
are there for me to feed my children."
Wisconsin Works, better known as
W-2, requires all welfare recipients to
work, even if their skills yield only
subsidized or community servicejobs.
The TANF program provides more
flexibility in work requirements, but
Tribes cont'd on 5
Community council wants Washoe tribal
officers off reservation
DRESSLERVILLE, Nev. (AP) _
The Dresslerville Community Council
is trying to keep Washoe tribal police
officers off the reservation because of
concerns about the potential for
violence.
The five-member council passed a
resolution Sunday asking the federal
Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide
police services after being excluded
from a Washoe Tribal Council meeting
on Friday.
One meeting topic was a report the
BIA recently completed on a crash
involving police Capt. Lionel
Ahdunko's official car and a pickup.
Tribe members say Tribal Chairman
Brian Wallace called for a closed
session to talk about the report and
that they waited nearly five hours
before the meeting broke up.
Wallace wasn't available for
comment. A woman who answered
the phone at the tribe's nearby
Gardnerville office said he's on
vacation until Sept. 2.
The resolution passed by the
community council said some
Dresslerville residents "are arming
themselves for protection against the
Washoe Tribal Police."
The resolution also mentions
"numerous complaints regarding
serious incidents of civil rights
violations, conspiracy, perjury and
continued failure to properly
administer the Washoe Tribal law
enforcement contract."
In related action, Gary Peck,
executive director of the Nevada
chapter ofthe American Civil Liberties
Union said the ACLU has received
multiple reports of alleged brutality
involving tribal police.
One complaints came from
Dresslerville resident David James
who accused Ahdunko of beating him
during an arrest in July. James suffered
a broken arm and ribs.
Peck also said the ACLU got a report
ofa November 1995 incident in which
tribal police allegedly restrained a man
involved in a domestic dispute and let
others hit him with a shovel and a
baseball bat.
Ahdunko has refused to comment
on the allegations, first aired by tribal
members who picked in front of tribal
offices July 31.
Nepotism, infighting, mismnt. plague MCT HS
RBC blames activists for closed meeting
65 to 70 % of people arrested in Bemidji are native
Recollections with some Beltr. Cty. Jail inmates
1997 NAI Games - Overall Medal Summary/ pg 8
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August 15, 1997
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confidentiality of the meeting on
August 7 was due to its discussion of
specific criminal cases and alleged
assailants.
"If you got a community full of dope
peddlers, crooks, car burners,
oppressors ofthe old people, are you
going to write a sign up there and say
you're coming tonight?" asked the
White Earth attorney rhetorically.
"Sometimes the best way you can tell
criminals about law enforcement is to
put handcuffs on them," he said.
Lord apologized for closing the law
Meeting cont'd on 5
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews, 1997
Department's report shows three
categories with the highest numbers
include "Larceny -Theft (Except M.V.
Theft)," Driving Under the Influence"
and "Liquor Laws."
The total amount of the larceny
category equals 51 cases. 35 of these
cases involved "Native American"
males and females. Second, there were
24 DWI's cases, with 15 of these cases
involving "Native Americans."
Finally, the liquor law cases amount
to a total of 19, with 16 cases involving
"Native Americans."
Of the 166 cases in the Bemidji
Arrests cont'd on 6
Photo by L. A.
Bradley "Windy" Downwind, ofthe Red Lake Nation, plays his "Mi-Gi-Zi" or eagle flute to a crowd of 30 dancers
and a crowd of 100 at the Rotary Pavilion at the downtown Bemidji waterfront for the North Country Health
Services Foundation's Fry Bread Taco Meal Drumming and Dancing Benefit on a gorgeous Tuesday afternoon.
The PRESS/ON INTERVIEWS: Recollections
with some Beltrami County Jail inmates
By Larry Adams
Ever since more Turtle Islanders or
"Native Americans" moved off of the
three reservations in northern
Minnesota and into the Bemidji area
in search of jobs, it appears that there
is a disproportionate number of
"Native Americans" currently serving
time as inmates in the Beltrami County
Jail (BCJ.) There are many angles to
this story and the PRESS/ON will show
all sides to the best of our ability.
As a result, the PRESS/ON will be
broach this incendiary subject in the
coming weeks in search of answers in
to find out why this problem exists.
Many of the inmates, most of them
Turtle Island or "Native American"
males, were concerned about their
identities being revealed. That concern
stemmed from some ofthe men's cases
which are still in court. Identities being
revealed could further j eopardize their
situations in court. Another appeared
fear retaliation from law enforcement
officials in the Bemidji area, although
no one actually came out and said that
in the interviews.
With White Earth, Red Lake and
Leech Lake surrounding the Bemidji
area, on Wednesday, August 6th,
1997, the PRESS/ON went to the
Beltrami County Jail two weeks ago.
There are many reasons why the
PRESS/ON  is examining    this
Inmates cont'd on 8
Tribe's decision to fish upsets officials, fishermen
PESHAWBESTOWN, Mich. (AP)
_ A plan by the Grand Traverse Band
of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians to
allow fishermen to catch 90,000
pounds of salmon in Grand Traverse
Bay has drawn fire from state game
officials and sport fishermen.
The tribe passed regulations Friday
allowing two crews to catch a total of
90,000 pounds of salmon_more than
twice the 40,000 pounds one crew was
allowed to catch last year under a
federal court agreement.
The tribe, state and representatives
of sport fishing groups have been
meeting in conference calls over the
past month trying to reach an out-of-
court agreement on salmon fishing in
the bay.
No agreement has yet been reached.
As a result, tribal fishermen started
fishing on tribal permits Aug. 1, and
the regulations passed Friday restrict
the fishing to just those two crews,
said Bill Rastetter, the tribe's attorney.
"My response is it's damnable
greed," said Bill Hicks, legal liaison
for the Grand Traverse Area Sport
Fishing Association. "We are going to
try and stop them. It is anti-community.
It doesn't give any respect to the
position ofthe sport fishermen, none
whatsoever."
The state will go to U.S. District
Court in Kalamazoo, possibly as early
as Monday, to ask for an injunction
that would force the Grand Traverse
Band to halt the additional fishing, Lt.
Tim Burke, a Department of Natural
Resources law enforcement
supervisor, told the Traverse City
Record-Eagle for a story in Saturday's
editions.
Rastetter called the 90,000 pounds
"modest" compared to the 1 million
pounds of salmon harvested
throughout the tribe's six-county
service area.
The tribe, however, is limited to
gill-net fishing in a much smaller area.
That limit is the result ofa 1985 court
agreement that set up fishing zones for
tribal and non-tribal fishing in the
upper Great Lakes. The state and
fishing groups contend that all three
tribes that signed the agreement are
limited to a 2-mile area aroundNunn's
Fish cont'd on 3
Amendment could net big refunds for Oklahoma businesses
No state in the U.S. has more
TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Accountants
and boosters of the Oklahoma
economy say businesses could reap
millions of dollars in tax refunds thanks
to a new law that clarifies "former
Indian lands" in the state.
The Tulsa World reported Thursday
that the legislation, signed Tuesday by
President Clinton, includes Oklahoma
in a 1993 law that expanded the use of
federal enterprise zones on American
Indian lands. The amendment was
sponsored by U.S. Rep. Wes Watkins,
R-Okla.
The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation
Act of 1993 provides two big tax
breaks _ accelerated depreciation
rates, and employee tax credits _ for
businesses that locate on Indian land.
"That obviously is not something
Wes could let go by," Watkins
spokeswoman Leslie Belcher told the
newspaper. "It effectively treated
Oklahoma like it had no Native
Americans and no Native American
lands."
Watkins previously estimated that
Oklahoma businesses could have seen
an additional $145 million in their
returns if the tax breaks were in place
last year.
American Indians than Oklahoma,
where that population made up 6
percent of the state's work force in
1990.
The 1993 tax changes had gone
virtually undetected here until
November, when Oklahoma City
attorney Timothy Larason wrote in
the Oklahoma Bar Journal that virtually
the entire state was considered an "Indian
reservation" under federal law.
But could an entire state take
advantage of benefits designed
specifically for job creation on remote
reservations?