Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-01-29

              Fosston husband
and wife plead
guilty in Leech
Lake fraud
scheme
Justice
Department COPS
grant likely to
increase Native
incarceration rate
in state
State approval for
law enforcement
pact seen as
unlikely
Aniishinabe
Center supporters
overcome
attempts to force
closure by city
Tribal activists
block state
licensing of
would-be White
Earth police
MIAC blows it
again; MIAC
agenda for an
unannounced
meeting, pg. 4
Justice Department COPS grant likely to
increase Native incarceration rate in state
Voice ofthe People
By Gary Blair
Not since the U.S. Congress passed
Public law280 in 1953 giving the State
law-enforcement powers on certain
reservations, has there been such a
concerted effort by the U.S. Justice
Department to reduce crime on
Minnesota's reservations.
At White Earth there were more than
200 Indians sent to State prisons
shortly after the law was enacted. Many
were WWII and Korean War veterans,
sentenced for non-support after they
returned home and could not find ajob.
Some were sent to prison for petty
crimes, such as stealing a fishing rod
from a white man.
Today, through the use of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
grants administered by theU.S. Justice
Department to State law enforcement
agencies, it appears history will be
repeated on Minnesota's troubled
Chippewa reservations.
At White Earth, after years of financial mismanagementandtheftbyRBC
members and employees, the U. S. Gov
ernment has decided to throw another
chunk of "Salt Pork" like they did in the
old days.
This time those rations are coming in
the forum of COPS grants that will be
used to lock-up another generation of
Indian people.
Mahnomen County attorney Eric Boe
told your writer last summer that most
ofthe crime being committed by Indians in that county is property theft.
Young people needing money to
JuStice/to pg. 3
e-mail, presson@paulbunyan.net
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State approval for law enforcement pact
seen as unlikely
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988
Volume 11 Issue 16
January 28,
By Gary Blair
Problems at White Earth continue to
grow unabated. More poverty; HIV
and no COP'S grant money to bolster
a lagging financial position is just part
of the uncertainty now facing the
Reservation's Business Committee
(RBC).
Phone callers say White Earth residents who request financial assistance
from the present RBC are being turned
down and called "bums" behind their
backs.
During the reservation's last administration, the RBC used those funds to
buy election votes from needy families.
This was part of the testimony heard
during the Wadena gang's trial.
Medical information about who has
AIDS at White Earth and their sexual
activity is being spread around. Reports say the reservation has a high-
rate of young people who have tested
positive for HIV. Promiscuous lifestyles, drugs and dirty needles are
apparently promoting the disease.
The law-enforcement agreement between White Earth and Mahnomen
County officials is yet to receive final
approval from the State ofMinnesota.
Lack of that consent is blocking a one
million dollarCommunity Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant from the
U.S. Justice Department, earmarked for
the reservation's law-enforcement program. A policing program that has not
been approved by referendum from the
White Earth people, according to articles of the (MCT) Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe's Constitution.
White Earth's law-enforcement
agreement with Mahnomen County did
not receive approval on Thursday of
this week from the Minnesota Peace
Officers Standards and Training (POST)
Board.
During the meeting, POST board
members listened as activists from
State/to pg. 5
State's only American Legion post for
American Indians is saved
ST. PAUL (AP) - The American
Legion's only American Indian post in
Minnesota was fading into history.
Post 419 in St. Paul was down to three
elderly members last summer when the
post commander, a World War II veteran, asked a district leader to come and
pick up the ceremonial flags and rifles.
"I can't do it anymore," the commander
said.
But Post 419 has been saved, thanks
in part to a Legion official who teamed
up with a man who isn't even a veteran.
State Legion officials were preparing to officially disband the post as of
Feb. 1. That didn't sit well with Marty
Krzywicki, a Korean War veteran and
district vice commander for Ramsey
County. He remembered watching
American Indian vets stir up a gathering with their drums and flags and
Legion caps.
"The post started after World War
II," he said. "They had a great boys'
program, and they had drummers. They
did a lot of work at our state and district
conventions, where they taught us the
meanings of their ceremonial pipes.
"But their members started to get older.'
And the Native Americans who arc I
Vietnam vets, like so many Vietnam
vets, felt they had been hurt too much
by the war, and they didn't want anything to do with anything military."
Krzywicki contacted younger Indian
veterans to tell them about Post 419.
"It's yours," he told them. "It belongs
to the Native Americans. You can either let it die or get it going again."
Legion/to pg. 5
Tribes examine legal slot machine look
alikes
ANACORTES, Wash. (AP) - They
look like slot machines and act like slot
machines, but they're designed to be
different enough from slot machines to
pass muster with the law.
Tribal officials hope the electronic
gambling devices on display Thursday at a trade show in the Swinomish
Casino also will pass muster with gamblers. "Stars & Stripes," "Wild Fire,"
"The X Game" and the other devices
were developed by a dozen manufacturers to meet the terms of a recent
agreement between the state and 12
Washington tribes.
They resemble slots but technically
function like lotteries orpull-tabs, which
are legal in the state. "They draw your
attention and pull you in, just like something you might see in Nevada," said
Harry Cooper, a Nooksack tribal representative. "This could be a salvation
for some tribes," he said.
Washington's ban on slot machines
has been reinforced by two statewide
votes and a welter of courtroom battles.
Slots were pulled from the Shoalwater
Reservation last year, and legal efforts
to shut down 2,000 machines used by
two Eastern Washington tribes are
continuing.
Ofthe tribal casinos operating with
state approval, those close to metropolitan areas are profitable but some in
remote areas have cut staff and barely
cover costs.
Nationally, slot machines account
for about 70 percent ofall casino revenue. Tribal gambling officials expect
to begin using the new compromise
machines later this year. At $7,000 to
$8,000 each, plus $300,000 to $500,000
for the central computer, the machines
are no small gamble, said Jerry Allen,
vice president ofthe Northwest Alii-
Tribes/to pg. 3
Supreme Court agrees to consider
Indian dispute with Amoco
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme
Court agreed Friday to referee a big-
stakes dispute between Amoco and an
Indian tribe in Colorado over ownership of methane gas contained in the
coal located under the tribe's reservation.
The justices said they will decide
whether a pair of 90-year-old federal
laws that gave the government ownership of the coal applied as well to
methane gas found with it. A decision
is expected by late June.
For most of this century, such gas
was viewed only as a dangerous element of coal mining, but relatively recent technological developments has
made coal bed methane commercially
valuable.
The Southern Ute Tribe, which
undisputably owns the coal under its
reservation, contends it also owns the
methane gas.
But Amoco Production Co., asubsid-
iary of Amoco Corp. that has purchased
the right to drill for natural gas on the
reservation, claims the methane is a
natural gas it is entitled to take.
Afederal trialjudge ruled for Amoco.
Butlast July, theentirelOthU.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals reversed that decision in a 6-3 vote and ruled for the tribe.
In the appeal acted on Friday, lawyers
AmOCO/to pg. 5
Rainbow casino remains closed for third
day
NEKOOSA, Wis. (AP) - The fatal
heart attack suffered by a man at the
Rainbow Casino was not linked to any
problem at the now-closed gambling
hall that apparently caused otherpeople
to become ill, the coroner said Thursday. "We are certain he just had a heart
attack and it was unrelated," Wood
County Coroner Gary Kronstedt said.
The casino, operated by the Ho
Chunk Nation, remained closed for a
third day Thursday while work continued on the heating and ventilating
system being investigated as the source
of possibly polluted air, casino spokesman A.J. Hawley said.
No problems have been discovered
and no decision has been made when
to reopen the casino, he said. "Really,
there is nothing more that we know.
They are just up there cleaning, doing
some inspections," Hawley said. "We
are taking it minute by minute."
James A. Geighes, 51, of Almond,
suffered the fatal heart attack Tuesday
while cashing a $100 bill for coins,
Kronstedt said. He had been playing
slot machines before being stricken.
Geighes was one of three people taken
to a hospital early Tuesday afternoon
Rainbow/to Pg. 3
A weekly publication.
Copyright Native American Press, 1888
Naturally Native, the first mainstream feature film funded and produced entirely by Native Americans, and the winner of the "Special
Jury Prize" at the Drcamspeaker's Festival in Canada, will be shown on February 6 in the Beaux Arts Ballroom of the Bemidji State
I niversfty Campus. There will be three showings of the film with all procaeds going towards Indigenous Environmental Network and
the B.S.U. Council of Indian Students.
Aniishinabe Center supporters overcome
attempts to force closure by city
By Jeff Armstrong
The Detroit Lakes Aniishinabe Center
won a new lease on life after an
emotional 90 minute meeting ofthe city
council planning commission
Thursday.
Responding to complaints from some
neighbors, city officials had warned
center staff in December that they
faced closure unless they moved their
office from the residentially zoned area
or obtained a conditional use permit
from the city.
City Planner Larry Rennan and
members ofthe commission initially
opposed the permit request but
accepted a compromise solution in the
face of strong grassroots support for
the center from Natives and gome non-
Natives. The commission's final
recommendation to the city council,
which meets next Tuesday, was that
the center be issued a one-year perm it
which could be extended as needed if
efforts to find a suitable new facility
are continued.
John Hoeglund, a member of the
commission, said he supported the
center's mission but questioned its
location.
"They have a program that's
probably very critical to our
community," Hoeglund said. "It's just
not appropriate for a residential zone."
Noting that it is in its current location
only by default, Aniishinabe Center
director Natalie Greenlaw expressed
exasperation with continually facing
new obstacles.
"We're in that building right now
because we have to be," said Greenlaw.
"It's like no matter what we do, no
Aniishinabe/topg.3
Tribal activists block state licensing of
would-be White Earth police
By Jeff Armstrong
The Minnesota Peace Officers
Standards and Training (POST) board
delayed action Thursday on state
licensing of White Earth police officers
under an agreement with Mahnomen
County, as tribal members continued
to strenuously oppose implementation
ofthe agreement.
If approved by the POST board, tribal
officers would be licensed under the
authority of Mahnomen County
sheriff Richard Rooney.
Linda Bellanger of White Earth said
the agreement would only reinforce
and expand what she described as an
oppressive policing system.
"I've lived under Public Law 280 all
my life. I've seen such brutality with
the existing sheriffs departments: the
beating of our children, the violation
of my sisters, the degradation of my
brothers under the existing law
enforcement," Bellanger said.
According to Roxanne LaRose, the
involvement of tribal officials with
state law enforcement has politicized
the process while failing to alleviate
racial bias.
"Only certain people are arrested,
only certain people are watched, only
certain kids are picked up and jailed,"
LaRose said. "The state agreements
Activists/to pg. 5
Fosston husband and wife plead guilty in
Leech Lake fraud scheme
A couple implicated in the diversion
of $1.1 million from the Leech Lake
Band ofChippewa has pleaded guilty
to conspiracy to defraud programs
receiving federal funds.
Federal prosecutors said David
Murray, 55, and his wife, Donna, 52, of
Fosston, Minn., participated in a
scheme involving the misuse of Leech
Lake tribal checks. Indicted along with
the Murrays was former tribal leader
James D. Michaud, 42, of Bena, who
allegedly agreed to send DonnaMurray
checks labeled "donations," for her to
cash and and kick back money to him.
Michaud later asked David Murray
to send him an invoice for payment of
construction work that hadn't been
done, the indictment said, alleging that
"Murray would cash the tribal check
and give the proceeds back to . .. .
Michaud" and "Michaud promised to
give some of the proceeds to Donna
and David Murray."
The Leech Lake Band receives
millions of dollars in federal money.
Federal funds and profits from the
tribe may havebeen intermingled. The
scheme allegedly included federal
money and possibly other such
sources of tribal revenue as profits
from the band's Palace Bingo and
Casino in Cass Lake and Northern
Lights Casino in Walker.
Prosecutors did not have to prove
that the misspent money came directly
from the federal government. The grand
jury probe continues with an emphasis
on the casinos' financial records.
The Murrays pleaded guilty Tuesday
in Minneapolis before U.S. District
Judge Michael Davis and will be
sentenced later. Michaud is scheduled
for a hearing before Davis next
Tuesday. Also facing charges are
Michaud's brothers Charles, 46, and
Robert, 43, both of Deer River, and
Robert Gotchie, 36, of Deer River.