The Ojibwe News / Native American Press (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1998-09-25

              Wadena gang's sentence reductions may
be nothing more than temporary furloughs
By Gary Blair
With their terms reduced by an
Appeals Court, because of improper
sentencing, imprisoned former White
Earth chairman Darrell "Chip" Wadena
amd co-conspirators, former council
members Jerry Rawley and RickieClark
could be home before Christmas.
The three were convicted in June of
1996.inamulti-milliondollarbid-rigging
and fraud scheme that involved the
construction of the reservation's
Shooting Star Casino at Mahnomen,
MN, Rawley and Clark were also
convicted of vote fraud in their attempt
to stay in power. Chip will be released
on December 22, Rawley and Clark
soon after.
In spite of recent events, there is a
second federal probe underway at
W,hite Earth that could turn the
Wadena gang's sentence reductions
into nothing more than prison
furloughs, instead of lasting freedom.
According to Press/ON sources, the
"HUD investigation" initiated shortly
after the trio was convicted, could be
completed within six months or less.
"This  (HUD investigation could be
done tomorrow, or within 3 months, six
months at the longest." a source close
to the investigation said this week.
Three months ago your writer spoke
with the fraud auditor who did the
audit forthe HUD Investigation and he
reported that from 5 to 8 million dollars
is missing at White Earth. "Peter
Cannon the reservation's former
attorney refuses to account for about
3 million of that amount," the auditor
said.
Lowell Bellangeralongtimecritic of
Wadena had this to say about the
HUD investigation, "When these new
charges come down, these thieves will
be to busy trying to avoid becoming a
cell-mateofChips, they'll all start telling
on one another," he says.
Press/ON sources at Naytahwaush,
MN who asked not to be named say
Chip's family members realize that his
freedom could be short lived.
Naytahwaush is the family's
hometown.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge
Michael J. Davis reduced Wadena's
sentence from 51 to 33 months, the
lowest end of the new federal
sentencing guidelines that could have
been 41 months. Assistant U.S.
Attorney Jeanne Graham, one of the
two prosecutors who prosecuted the
three, says Rawley's sentence was
reduced from 37 to 30 months. Clark's
re-sentencing was postponed for 2 to
3 weeks.
"The judge told Clark to get his
documentation together during that
time. Clark isalso asking foradownward
departure in sentencing." Graham said
after the hearings. Graham argued
during the re-sentencing that
Wadena's crimes were "no less
egregious today than they were before.
They cheated the White Earth people
out of their money and their votes. The
new sentences should reflect the
concern the court originally had."
According to a Sept. 23,1998 article
by Pat Doyle (story below) , staff
writerfortheMinneapolis Star Tribune
newspaper, Chip's son Tony Wadena,
says his farther has not ruled out try ing
to regain office once released. Doyle
wrote, "Wadena's son Tony, attended
the hearing and said his father hasn't
ruled out trying to regain office at
sentence/to pg. 3
Sentence reduced, Wadena may be home
for Christmas
Pat Doyle/Star Tribune
Saying that the longer he's on the
bench, the better his sense of fairness,
a federal judge Tuesday reduced the
sentence of former White Earth Tribal
Chairman Darrell (Chip) Wadena.
"Certainly, I've sentenced other
individuals ... who have stolen more
money and do less time," U.S. District
Judge Michael Davis told Wadena,
who was found guilty in 1996 of rigging
bids to build the Shooting StarCasino
in Mahnomen.
Davis reduced Wadena's sentence
from 51 to 33 months. His lawyers,
John Brink and Daniel Gerdts, said that
means he is eligible for release in a
couple of weeks to a halfway house or
home detention, and could be freed
from either restriction by the end ofthe
> car.
However, theU.S. Bureau of Prisons
said later Tuesday that there's
probably not enough time remaining
on Wadena's sentence to arrange and
justify sending him to a halfway house.
Instead, he is likely to remain at the
Yankton Prison Camp in South Dakota
until Dec. 22, when he would be freed,
said prison spokesman Lynn Calcote.
Under the original sentence Wadena
was expected to serve fewer than 51
months because he participated in a
chemical-dependency treatment
program in prison. The Bureau of
Prisons had scheduled his release for
June 1999.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals last month said that sentence
was too harsh and'sent the case back
to Davis fora reduction. On Tuesday,
Wadena asked Davis for leniency as a
dozen family members and friends
listened in U.S. District Court in
Minneapolis.
"I stand before you today a humbled
man," said Wadena, who was chairman
ofthe White Earth Band of Chippewa
for two decades and a national figure
among Indian leaders. He asked the
judge to free him immediately to "allow
me to go home and keepon with my life.
"Not a day goes by that I haven't
thought about my indictment, my trial,
my conviction and incarceration," he
said. "It's a terrible thing to be
separated from family,knowing they're
out there trying to make ends meet and
I'm unable to help."
Thejudge also reduced the sentence
of former White Earth Secretary-
Treasurer Jerry Rawley from 37 to 30
months, and he will cqnsider a similar
reduction next month for former Tribal
Council MemberRick Clark, who was
Wadena/to pg. 3
Government seeks to lure mortgage
lenders to reservations
WASHINGTON (AP - Melvin Lee
wants a house so badly he would help
build it himself, but no bank will lend
the money. The problem is not his
income, but where he lives: an Indian
reservation. Banks won't make
mortgages on Indian land.
The government paperwork can take
months, appraisals are hard to get, and
the land's special legal status makes it
difficult to foreclose on delinquent
loans. So thousands of American
Indian families can't buy a house even
if they can afford to pay for one.
That could change under a Clinton
administration plan to lure lenders to
reservations by offering to guarantee
and buy home loans. The idea will be
tested first on two South Dakota
reservations, Pine Ridge and Lower
Brule, that are among the poorest areas
in the country. "Hike what I see. I think
this will work," said Lee, a resident of
the Pine Ridge reservation where an
estimated4,000 families need homes.
Lee, who makes $ 19,000 working for
the Oglala Sioux tribal government,
lives in a mobile home he's buying.
Mobile homes depreciate quickly, and
Lee's is so drafty that it costs $200 a
month to heat in the winter.
But for reservation residents who
are lucky enough to even have a home,
Clinton's race panel sees discriminatory
'white privilege' in U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Clinton is receiving a report from his
commission on race Friday urging him
to help educate Americans on "white
privilege" and how it disenfranchises
every group that came here without it.
To lead the nation toward racial
harmony, the commission's report tells
Clinton, he must confront the
"continuing existence of prejudice and
privilege" that has created a system
that relegates to people of color an
inferior status to that of whites. The
commission said it decided an apology
for slavery was "much too narrow" to
address black Americans' experience
with discrimination.
With its report, the president's
advisory board on race wraps up its
yearlong investigation of race in
America. "It is, we believe, essential to
recall the facts of racial domination....
We as a nation need to understand
that whites tend to benefit, either
unknowingly orconsciously, from this
country's history of white privilege,"
the report said.
That said, they noted that racial
attitudes among whites have improved
steadily over the past 40 years. "It is
fair to say that there is a deep-rooted
national consensus to the ideals of
racial equality and integration, even if
that consensus falters on the best
means to achieve those ideals," the
report's final draft said. Clinton was to
receive the report Friday in a meeting
with the board, which will then be
disbanded.
The president has said he might
continue the board's work through a
permanent council, a step the board
recommended. He will use the report as
a basis for his own report on race in
America. Among proposals, the board:
Recommended that Clinton's "mend
it, don't end it" policy on affirmative
action, which it supported, be studied
further. "This is anareaclearly in flux,"
the board said. "Leadership is needed
to forge public consensus."Flagged
Clinton/to Pg.
Tribal lawyers say Clara nomee retains top
job, for now
CROW AGENCY (AP) -ClaraNomee
will remain thechairwomanoftheCrow
Tribe for at least several months
despite her conviction by a federal
jury this week, tribal attorneys said
Thursday.
The tribe's administrative duties will
continue to be carried out by Vice
Chai rman Joe Pickett, they said. Pickett
has been the administrator since mid-
July, when Mrs. Nomee's legal battle
with the federal government impeded
her ability to run the tribe.
A federal court jury convicted her
Wednesday on one count of theft on
grounds that she used her position to
buy an 80-acre tribal parcel ata fraction
of its value.
The finding on herchairmanship was
based on an interpretation ofthe Crow
Tribe's constitution. It was written by
Crow attorneys and endorsed by
Bureau oflndian Affairs officials. Not
all tribal members accepted the lawyers'
decision.
Impromptu caucuses were held in
tribal district buildings across the
reservation Wednesflay night after the
guilty verdict was returned. Some
called for Mrs. Nomee to resign or be
removed from office.
"With Nomee's conviction, she
should have forfeited her position."
said Alex LaForge Jr.. who attended
the Blacklodge Council north of Crow
Agency. "I feel that the tribal attorneys
are nothing more than Nomee's
personal lawyers. They should be loyal
to the tribe, not one person."
According to the tribal attorneys, a
two-thirds majority vote of tribal
members at a council meeting could
Tribal/to pg. 3
Fond du Lac RBC attempts to launch crackdown on tribal housing residents
Wadena gang's sentence reductions may be nothing more than temporary furloughs
Few understand how tribal government could and should function, pg. 3
Return to Red Lake, pg. 3
19-year-old Red Lake man   sentenced to 51 months in prison, pg. 3
Mille Lacs Band contributes to Skare campaign, pg. 4
Leech Lake Primary set for September 29, pg. 6
Voice ofthe People
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a mobile home often is the only option.
The problem is this: Most Indian
land is held in trust by the federal
government and can't be pledged as
collateral. A mobile home is easy to
finance. The lender can haul it away if
the buyer defaults. A house is another
matter. Underthe administration's plan,
the government, not the banks, will
assume the risk forbad loans.
The Department of Housing and
Urban Development will both
guarantee the loans and, through its
Ginnie Mae subsidiary, buy the
mortgages from private lenders. HUD
Government/to pg. 3
Pictured above are participants ofthe 26th Annual Mankato Pow Wow which took place at Land of Memories
Park in Mankato, Minnesota, September 18 through 20. There are typically half a dozen drum groups,
approximately 175 dancers, and 3,500-4,000 people in attendance, according to some estimates.
Fond du Lac RBC attempts to launch
crackdown on tribal housing residents
By Jeff Armstrong
Backed by St. Louis County deputies,
the Fond du Lac RBC made its first
attempt to use stringent new housing
regulations to force a reservation family
from theirtribal home.
Todd and Joni Dishion, neither of
whom has any criminal record, were
served last week with an unsigned FDL
Housing Division directive ordering
them to "vacate the premises at 8241
Mahnomen Road due to drug-related
activities." The tribal order follows a
SWAT team raid on their home last
month which found none of the
substances named in the warrant and
resulted in no criminal charges to date
against the Dishions.
Todd Dishion said St. Louis and
Carlton County law enforcement
officials stormed into their house on
Aug. 22 on the word of a police informant
who claimed Dishion was operating a
methamphetamine lab. Dishion, a
construction contractor who was at
work when the raid took place,
attributed the "ridiculous" accusations
to aformeremployeecurrently serving
jail time.
"They came in here 1 ike a ton of bricks.
They just raVaged the place," Dishion
said. "They threw [my wife] on the
ground, covered up her head and hit
her in the head with the butt of their
shotgun when she tried to get up to
take care of the baby," he said.
According to Dishion, the officers
seized numerous items, including
several indigenous pipes, legally
registered guns, and a few tiny
suspected marijuana plants.
Nevertheless, the couple, along with
their 18-month infant, were given three
days to comply with the Sept. 18
eviction order or "be treated as a
trespasser in accordance with
applicable law."
The Fond du Lac ordinance allows
reservation officials to forcibly evict a
tenant or leaseholder with a minimum
72 hours notice if there is deemed
"substantial evidence" that anyone in
the house has engaged in threatening,
asaultive or other criminal behavior.
Enacted Sept. 3, 1998, Resolution
#1297/98 does not specify who could
make such a determination and
provides for no hearing or other due
process prior to enforcement.
Two St. Louis County deputies and
Fond du Lac's sole "police officer,"
Roger (Buddha) Smith, who has no
acknowledged jurisdiction outside
Carlton County, arrived at the Dishion
residence Sept. 23 in an effort to enforce
the eviction order. According to
Dishion, who immediately challenged
the legality of the county's
intervention, the state attorney
general's office confirmed that the
state's authority in this situation is
dubious at best. Dishion said the
officers, flanked by housing officials
with drills in hand to change the locks,
waited outside the house formore than
four hours before turning back.
"They're out there waiting for the
Fond du Lac/to pg. 3
Federal trial opens in Blackfeet housing
case
GREAT FALLS, MT (AP)-Federal
money fora$5.5 million Indian housing
program was obtained unlawfully and
then misused in a scheme of fraud and
political favors, a prosecutor said at
the opening ofa trial in U.S. District
Court. But a lawyer for a building
contractor named in the case said there
was "nothing that was below board" in
the handling of U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development
grants for housing on the Blackfeet
Indian Reservation. The trial that
opened Wednesday in Great Falls is
expected to last about two weeks.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Rostad
said applications for grants were
doctored and scored unfairly. HUD
officials greased the gears, families in
the Blackfeet power structure got
preference when housing was
:
allocated, money was distributed
through conspiracies and construction
work went unfinished, Rostad said.
The case primarily involves money
handled by the Blackfeet Tribal
Business Council and the tribe's Public
and Indian Housing Grant Assistance
Program, called HOME, in the early
1990s. Plans cal led for construction of
72 homes on the Blackfeet reservation.
butonly51 werebuiltdespiteall funds
being released to the contractor,
according to an indictment. It charges
most of the homes completed were
substandard. Rostad said the grant
money should not have been awarded,
and once it was, it should have been
returned to the government. He
described defendant William Harvey
Aubrey as the kingpin of the alleged
housing scam. Formerly with Blaze
Construction Inc., Aubrey is charged
with illegal conversion of federal funds,
wire fraud, money laundering and
bribery. Other defendants include
Gloria Lewis, formerdirectorofaHUD
Indian housing program in Denver;
Brenda Todd, an Aubrey associate;
Scott Sherburne, a formergrant writer;
Cynthia Kipp, a former tribal council
member and HOME director: Marlene
June Bear Walter, formerly ofthe tribal
council: and Lee Roy Wilson, his son.
Donald Wilson, and the son's wife,
Colleen Wilson. The Wilsons are
accused of joining Aubrey in a scheme
to defraud a mortgage lender. Two
defendants will be tried separately.
They are Joseph McKay, a Browning
lawyer and former tribal official, and
Aloysius Paul Potts, a former HOME
director and  tribal council vice-
Blackfeet/to pg. 5