Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1998-02-06

              Latest MCT indictments delayed
By Gary Blair
Federal indictments that were
anticipated to be served before
Christmas on the Leech Lake
reservation have now been set back to
this March, according to an NAP/ON
source who recently spoke with
investigators.
"We were asked to be just a little
more patient. Some of these people
know they're going to be indicted.
They took money out of our casino to
pay their attorneys," the source said.
About 7 to 10 people are expected to
be charged in what is now being
referred to as the "government's
second round of arrests" that are
scheduled for the north central
Minnesota reservation. Three years
ago, former Leech Lake attorney
Harold "Skip" Finn, who later became
a Minnesota State Senator, and three
of the reservation's officials were
indicted and  later convicted of
numerous fraud charges. The swindle
involved the bilking of over a million
dollars from the people through the
use of a phony self-insurance scam.
On Friday of this week, your writer
was informed that federal authorities
plan to charge even more people at
Leech Lake, in yet a third round of
indictments. This time the theft
involves the reservation's pension
funds. Stay tuned for that laundry list
of suspects.
The latest allegations are said to
involve thefts from the reservation's
general funds by three members of
the Reservation Business Committee
and its employees. One of the latter is
alleged to have authorized herself two
personal loans totalling $87,000, for
which she was supposed to be making
$50 per month repayments. Last
summer, investigators from the U.S.
Dept. of Interior, Inspector General's
Office subpoenaed federal income tax
records from some of the people
expected to be charged.
Sources at White Earth say the theft
from HUD and federally funded
reservation program funds there
should net an even larger number of
people than is expected to be charged
at Leech Lake. Apparently, the veil of
sovereign immunity will not be
enough to protect these former and
present White Earth officials and their
cohorts from prosecution. NAP/ON
sources claim millions of dollars were
stolen from the reservation's people.
Three of the people who are expected
to be charged are former White Earth
chair Darrell "Chip" Wadena,
secretary/treasurer Jerry Rawley, and
Dist. I Rep. Rickie Clark. Rawley and
Clark are presently serving sentences
at the Duluth, MN federal prison camp.
Wadena was recently transferred from
the Sandstone, MN federal prison to
the federal prison at Yankton, South
Dakota.
GAO says Cheyenne River Sioux
compensation up to $291 million
WASHINGTON (AP) -The
Cheyenne River Sioux could be owed
as much as $291 million in additional
compensation for tribal lands that
were inundated by Lake Oahe,
according to a congressional study.
The tribe is the fifth along the
Missouri River to seek additional
compensation from the government
for flooded land. Historians say the
compensation the tribes received
when the river was dammed was
inadequate. The tribe was paid $10.6
million in 1955, after asking for$23.5
million.
The General Accounting Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, was
asked by Sen. Tom Daschle to
determine how much the unpaid
amount would be worth today. At the
rate of inflation, the unpaid amount
would have grown to $78.2 million;
had it been invested at corporate bond
rates, it would be worth$290.7 million,
GAO said in a study released this
week. If the tribe receives something
in the middle of those two numbers,
about $180 million, it would be far
more than any of the other tribes have
received.
The GAO did not try to determine
whether the extra compensation was
justified, only what the amount should
be based on what the tribe fai led to get
of its original request. A consultant
for the tribe has estimated it is owed
GAO/to pg. 5
Tribal planner suspended from job
after indictment
MILWAUKEE (AP) - A Sokaogon
Chippewa tribal planner has been suspended from his job after being indicted for stealing more than $370,000
from the impoverished tribe, a federal
prosecutor said.
Richard Du Wayne Derickson, who
is not a member of the Sokaogon tribe,
had been employed by it for six years.
Tribal council member Roger
McGeshick called Assistant U.S. Attorney Mario Gonzales Friday and
"expressed a concern or wish that Mr.
Derickson not come back to the res-
istrate William Callahan.
Derickson, 51, was arrested at his
Marion home Wednesday, one day before the tribe's casinos and bingo hall
were closed by the National Indian
Gaming Commission. The tribe,
which has a reservation in northern
Wisconsin's Forest County, was cited
for violating numerous rules, including failure to provide regulators with
annual financial audits.
Derickson and his wife, Lynn Curda
Derickson, 33, were charged in a five-
count indictment with using real and
ervation," Gonzales told federal Mag-   fictitious companies to defraud the   Ackley.
Casinos on Mole Lake Chippewa
Reservation close
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - A northern
Wisconsin Indian reservation has
suspended business at its casinos under
orders from the National Indian
Gaming Commission because of
noncompliance with managerial rules.
The closings Thursday of two casinos
and a bingo parlor at the Mole Lake
Reservation near Crandon involve
administrative matters and do not
mean customers were being cheated,
a state official said. A woman who
answered the telephone at the tribe's
Regency Resort Casino said the
closings were announced about 3 p.m.
The woman, who declined to give her
name, said it was unclear how long
the businesses would remain idle.
Linda Minash, Indian gambling
director for the state Division of
Gaming in Madison, said the tribe
indefinitely closed the businesses. The
closures could last "for quite some
time," she said. "There are a number
of violations that have to be corrected."
The operations by the reservation's
Sokaogon Chippewa are "not in very
good financial shape," Minash said.
In ordering the casinos closed, the
federal commission accused the
reservation of: *Failing to submit
annual audits of the operations since
1993. Tailing to forward reports on
Mole Lake/to pg. 5
Reservation's    teens    killing
themselves: 'So much pain here'
16-year-old cousin and best friend,   poverty and boredom. "There's so
Mclaughlin, s.d. (ap) - Robert Jaycob Jensen was the first to die.
The lanky 17-year-old Sioux Indian,
who was drinking heavily and in and
out of trouble with the police all summer, slipped into the dank basement
of his family's dilapidated house Aug.
30.
Over toward the corner, past the
rusted-out furnace and the broken
sewer line, he hanged himself with a
braided leather belt.
On Nov. 16, in the same basement
with the same type of belt, Richard's
Charles Gerry, hanged himself, too.
Two other Indian youths  in
McLaughlin have taken their lives
since then, the latest was buried Jan.
24.
Nearly 40 more have attempted suicide in the past five months on the
Standing Rock reservation. Altogether, social workers and counselors
are keeping tabs on 150 teen-agers
considered at risk for suicide.
It's a hellish epidemic brought on by
a lethal combination of wholesale
family breakdowns, alcohol, drugs,
Indictments may not come before next month / pg. 1
Leech Lake may set up police within 30 days/ pg. 1
Tribal police should protect, not oppress/ pg. 3
White Earth tribal members object to banning/ pg. 4
'98 elections to lead to unprecedented change/ pg. 4
Bug School awards/ pg. 8
Voice of the People
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tribe. Both entered innocent pleas and
were released on signature bonds. A
trial is scheduled April 6.
Callahan banned them from initiating any contact with members of the
tribal council or board members of
Sokaogon Gaming Enterprise Corp.,
the subsidiary that oversees gambling
operations for the tribe.
After the casinos were closed Thursday, the tribal council voted 4-0 to remove Arlyn Ackley as chairman and
laid off about 200 casino workers.
Derickson is a longtime friend of
Photo courtesy of Shirley Cain
The Red Drum Women Singers were at the New Year's Celebration Pow wow that was held at the Minneapolis
American Indian Center earlier this year. The drum group was among many of the singers there.
Leech Lake members fear RBC-run police
By Jeff Armstrong
In the first of a series of public
hearings on tribal sovereignty, Leech
Lake residents displayed a distinct
lack of confidence in the ability of the
RBC to deliver an impartial legal
system capable of enforcing traffic
regulations.
"Who's going to select the judge,
who's going to set the rules?" asked
Kenn Mitchell. "Is this going to be
another arm of the RBC to control
people more?"
Attorney Andrew Small said the
current proposal would merely extend
the jurisidiction of the existing
conservation court to include traffic
regulation, with judge John Herrera
continuing to preside.
Mitchell and others voiced
concerns over road safety on Leech
Lake since a December state supreme
court ruling reaffirmed exclusive tribal
jurisdiction over the matter.
RBC chairman Eli Hunt
acknowledged that under the present
plan, "the tribal court system would
be under the thumb of the tribal
council." However, Hunt said he
preferred an eventual separation of
powers and is working toward that
end by forming a constitutional reform
committee.
Gerald White said the reforms should
come first. "If we're looking to set this
up in 30 days, we better have some
protection for our rights."
Public Safety Director Rocky
Papsadora said he would conduct
rigorous background checks, as well
as psychological tests, on the four
officers he will employ. Papsadora
said the tribal police would be certified
officers with the power to arrest,
question and detain anyone on the
reservation.
Hunt said the RBC apparently has no
intention of issuing reservation driver's
licenses, but will instead continue to
operate under a state reciprocity
agreement requiring state license and
RBC/to pg. 3
drops title sponsorship of
much pain here," says Faith Taken
Alive, whose 14-year-old daughter attempted suicide with a friend in October. "You wonder where it came
from and why it hit at once."
McLaughlin, population 799, looks
from a distance like any of hundreds
of Midwestern farming communities
with its big gray grain elevator jutting from the rolling prairie. It's the
biggest town on the 2.3 million-acre
reservation and home to at least half
Teens/to pg. 3
Beargrease
GRAND PORTAGE, Minn. (AP)-
The Grand Portage Band of Chippewa
on Thursday dropped its title sponsorship of the John Beargrease Sled
Dog Marathon, which is named after
one of the band's members.
The band has sponsored the Duluth-
based race for the past six years on a
year-to-year basis and at a guaranteed
minimum cost of $88,500.
Band members said they are explor
ing the possibility of staging their
own event, although they may retain
their sponsorship of the Beargrease
at a lower level.
This year's race began and ended
in Grand Portage because of
Duluth's lack of snow. Jamie Nelson
of Togo won the race, becoming the
only four-time winner in the race's
15-year history.
The start and finish were moved
from Duluth up the North Shore of
Lake Superior because of a lack of
snow. The route also was shortened
from the usual 500 miles along the
lake to about 262 miles along an inland course.
Beargrease officials will explore all
options in finding a new sponsor, but
executive director Vicki Trauba said
she expects it to be a challenge. Before the Grand Portage Band,
Seagrams sponsored the race.
FBI maps profile of killer in unsolved Yankton at odds with governor on
Indian reservation homicide
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Whoever killed an 11-year-old on the
Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation
four months ago was no stranger to
the girl or to the area, an FBI agent
says. Although no one has been arrested in connection with the slaying
of Richynda Roubideaux, authorities
are piecing together information they
hope will soon lead them to the killer,
said FBI supervisory special agent
Adrian Mohr.
South Dakota agents have been
working with the FBI's Child Abduction  and  Serial  Killer Unit  in
Quantico, Va., he said, adding that
officials haven't linked the crime to
others. "We're looking for their expert help," said Mohr, who oversees
the state's FBI operations in Sioux
Falls, Pierre, Rapid City and Aberdeen.
The girl, nicknamed Richy, was last
seen alive after Todd County High
School's homecoming festivities
Sept. 26. Her partially clothed, decomposing body was found Oct. 7
beside sewer lagoons near Mission.
Authorities have finished the autopsy and are still conducting foren-
sics tests on evidence, Mohr said. The
FBI won't release certain details, such
as how Richy died and whether she
was sexually assaulted. But authorities are now saying that whoever is
responsible knew the sixth-grader and
the wooded area where her body was
discovered.
Based on similar homicides, FBI investigators in Quantico have mapped
out a profile of people who kill young
girls. Authorities say such offenders
may exhibit certain traits before and
after the crime. Before the homicide
the person could have experienced a
reservation boundaries
FBI/to pg. 3
MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) - The legal
fight over boundaries of the Yankton
Sioux Reservation is not over and the
state should not rush in to claim jurisdiction and start arresting criminals, a lawyer for the tribe said. "I
really think that the state would be
making a big mistake to start arresting Indians in that area because they
may have to turn them all loose later
on. They should let the federal authorities and tribes arrest them now,"
James Abourezk said Monday. The
U.S. Supreme Court ruled last Mon
day that 168,000 acres of surplus or
ceded land "did not retain reservation
status" when it was purchased from
the tribe by the federal government
in 1894. The court said the state has
primary jurisdiction over those areas,
including a regional landfill that was
the impetus for the court action. However, the court declined to rule on
whether the entire reservation was
ever "disestablished" by Congress,
and did not address the other 260,000
or 270,000 acres that were within the
original reservation. The state and the
tribe have both claimed jurisdiction
over that area. Last week, Gov. Bill
Janklow told reporters that he thinks
the reservation boundaries are
disestablished in Charles Mix County
and he considers the case resolved.
However, the matter could end up
back in court, the governor said.
Abourezk said he thinks the Court of
Appeals will write a new opinion, that
will address the question of the acreage that was not covered in the Supreme Court ruling. "If the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals re-writes its
Yankton/to pg. 5