Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-04-23

              Impoverished
reservation pays
Mahnomen County
nearly $800,000 in
casino land taxes
Father files human
rights complaint,
son allegedly
barred from golf
tournament
Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome:
Funding cut would
be retreat to
ignorance
pg-4
U.S. Supreme
Court refuses to
revive treaty rights
lawsuit
Readers upset
about proposed
Bemidji casino
pg-4
Blame
multicultural
education for
drop in reading
skills
pg- 4
Impoverished reservation pays Mahnomen
County nearly $800,000 in casino land taxes
By Jeff Armstrong
White Earth Reservation Business
Committee (RBC) officials have denied
in their monthly publication
Anishinaaheg Today that the governing business committee is seeking to
place the reservation's Shooting Star
Casino land into trust, a move which
could save White Earth nearly $ 1 million in annual state property taxes.
"I've been on the council for two and
a half years and we never discussed
putting the casino into federal trust
property," said RBC chairman John
Buckanaga. "These taxes pay for law
enforcement, which we desperately
need, and education. More than 50 percent of the students in the Mahnomen
School District are of Indian ancestry
and this council wholeheartedly supports education and law enforcement."
Although the Shooting Star Casino
is located within reservation boundaries, White Earth did not apply to the
Bureau of Indian Affairs to take the
land off Mahnomen County tax rolls
and into federal trust until 1995, four
years after the casino was built. The
county became increasingly dependent
on casino tax revenues, which
amounted to $800,000 a year in
1995.
However, the same year White
Earth moved to put the casino land
into trust, a U.S. 8th Circuit Court
of Appeals decision left its application in limbo. The ruling declared
unconstitutional a section of the Indian Reorganization Act which allowed the federal Department of Interior to place land in trust without
local government consultation.
BIA agency superintendent Joel
Smith said the federal government
was forced by the 8th Circuit decision to draft new federal regulations
to govern the trust land process, delaying any action oh the White Earth
application. The new regulations allow state and local governments a
30-day period to comment on possible adverse effects of taking the
land off of tax rolls and a "reasonable time" for tribal officials to respond.
But there is an exception to the
regulations outlined in CFR 25 Part
151. No state and local notification
is required if the land acquisition is
"mandated by legislation." The purchase was financed with economic de-
velopment funds appropriated
through the White Earth Land Settlement Act (WELSA) passed by Congress in 1986.
Section 18 of WELSA stipulates
that "Any lands acquired by the White
Earth Band within the exterior boundaries ofthe White Earth Reservation
with funds referred to in section 12,
or by the Secretary pursuant to section 17, shall be held in trust by the
United States. Such lands shall be
deemed to have been reserved from
the date of the establishment of said
reservation and to be part of the trust
land of the White Earth Band for all
purposes."
The wording ofthe act suggests that
the land should have been immediately placed in trust by the U.S., with
no requirement of action on the part
of tribal officials. It could even be reasonably argued that any taxes paid on
that land by White Earth since its establishment in 1868 would be refundable to the reservation, since the trust
status is to be retroactive to that year.
Taxes/ to pg. 8
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Father files human rights complaint
Son allegedly barred from golf tournament
By Gary Blair
A Leech Lake reservation father
has filed a discrimination complaint
with the Minnesota Department of
Human Rights (MDHR) alleging that
the State's largest multi-sport youth
organization discriminated against
his 9 year old son when they
disqualified him from advancing to
the organization's state golf
tournament.
Eugene Rock says he received
double-talk and got the run-around
when he questioned Richard Penick.
program director ofMinnesota Youth
Athletic Services (MYAS) about why
his son was kept from playing in the
association's state golf tournament.
"My son qualified to play in the
(MYAS) state (golf) tournament
under their rules, but was not
allowed to play. He was the only
one, and the rest were white kids."
Rock said on Wednesday.
Rock continued. "Penick
changed and broke his
organization's rules. He also
reported that MYAS state golf
tournament was full and later he
promised that he would call my
son if someone dropped out. There
were 26 players who never
showed-up and we were not
contacted like Penick promised."
MYAS'state golf tournament
qualifier was held on August 13-
14, 1998, at the River Oaks Golf
Course in Cottage Grove, MN.
According to Penick, MYAS' golf
tournament rules call for the top two
players from each age group to
advance to their state golf
tournament finals. Rock says his
son was one of those two finalist.
Penick said in a letter to MDHR
that there were only two players in
Rock's son's age group and there
should have been four players and
that disqualified him from moving
to MYAS state golf tournament.
During the organization's st;iic
golf tournament there were 80
players signed up to play. Only 54
showed-up. "All they would have
had to do is get another tee start-
time and allow my son to play. A 12
year old girl was allowed to play by
herself in that same golf
Golf/ to pg. 8
X oet Georgia Mayotte
read to a crowd of
approximately 25 people
from her book often poems
Friday evening, April 16 at
"Looking for Horses" store
in St. Paul, MN. Mayotte
was a featured guest for the
"St. Paul Art Crawl" events,
during which hundreds of
artists opened their studios
and galleries to the public
over the weekend. A
survivor of abuse, incest
and addiction, Mayotte's
poems reveal her strength
and conviction as she fights
to protect others from
violence.
Photo by Julie Shortridge
Supreme Court turns down Indian gaming lawsuit
By Laurie Asseo
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme
Court today refused to revive a
Wisconsin Indian tribe's lawsuit that
sought hunting and fishing rights
based on an 1831 treaty.
The court, without comment,
turned down the Menominee Indian
Tribe's argument that it did not give
up the hunting and fishing rights in
1848 when it exchanged all its land in
Wisconsin for a reservation.
The Menominees sued the state in
1995. saying the tribe's 1831 treaty
with the federal government granted
the Indians hunting and fishing rights
on public land and water in east-
central Wisconsin - west ofthe Fox
River, from Lake Winnebago through
Green Bay.
The treaty granted such rights until
the president "shall deem it expedient
to extinguish their title."
Menominee Vice Chairman Wendell
Askenette said today the tribe was
-"very disappointed and even
dismayed" by the high court's
decision.
"We just felt that we were given
a very quick shuffle here," he said
in a telephone interview from
Keshena, Wis. "We felt we were
going to be given the opportunity to
present our argument. We are
disappointed we were not given the
opportunity for justice after all these
years."
Wisconsin Attorney General James
Doyle called it "an extremely
important ruling" for the state.
"In fact, it's one ofthe first of its
kind in the country.... Both courts
said they are not going to rewrite
treaties. Judge (Barbara) Crabb and
then the 7th Circuit said they were
not going to rewrite treaties, they
were going to follow the plain
language ofthe treaties as written."
The Menominees gave up land
west ofthe Fox River in 1836, and
in 1848 ceded all their land in
Wisconsin in exchange for a
reservation in Minnesota. The tribe
never moved to Minnesota and later
was given a reservation in
Wisconsin.
A federal judge threw out the
Menominees' lawsuit, and the 7th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld
the dismissal. The tribe's hunting
and fishing rights depended on its
title to the land, which the Indians
gave up in 1836 and 1848, the
appeals court said.
In the appeal acted on today, the
Menominees' lawyers argued tliat
those treaties were not intended to
cancel the Indians' hunting and
fishing rights. They also said the
lower courts should have given the
tribe a chance to develop historical
information on the Indians'
understanding of the treaties when
they were signed.
The state's lawyers urged the
justices to reject the tribe's appeal
contending that the treaties' plain
language show the Indians
surrendered their hunting and
fishing rights.
The case is Menominee Indian
Tribe of Wisconsin vs. Thompson,
98-1306.
U.S. Supreme Court refuses to revive
treaty rights lawsuit
By Robert Imrie
Associated Press Writer
The Menominee Tribe was
disappointed and "even dismayed"
after the U.S. Supreme Court on
Monday refused to revive a lawsuit
that sought off-reservation hunting
and fishing rights in Wisconsin
based on an 1831 treaty, a tribal
leader said.
The state's attorney general
called the decision, which involved
four treaties signed in 1831, 1836,
1848 and 1854, an extremely
important ruling that affirms courts
are not going to rewrite Indian
pacts.
At issue was whether the 7,000-
member Menominee Nation could
hunt and fish on public lands
involving millions of acres near
Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Lake
Winnebago and parts of the
Wisconsin River.
The tribe sued the state in 1995,
maintaining its ancestors had been
misled when they exchanged up to
10 million acres in a treaty for land
in Minnesota. The Minnesota land
eventually was traded for what is
now the Menominee Nation
Reservation in northeastern
Wisconsin.
The tribe contended the 1831
treaty with the federal government
gave the tribe hunting and fishing
rights until the president "shall
deem it expedient to extinguish their
title."
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb
in Madison dismissed the lawsuit,
ruling that even if the United States
misled the Menominees, the court
could not rewrite a treaty.
"Even treaties that are the product
of bribery, fraud or duress are valid
and must be enforced," Crabb said.
Last November, the 7th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago
upheld Crabb's decision.
Without comment Monday, the
Supreme Court turned down the
Menominees' arguments that it did
not give up hunting and fishing
rights in the treaty that exchanged
all its land in Wisconsin for a
reservation.
Menominee Vice Chairman
Wendell Askenette said the tribe
was "very disappointed and even
dismayed" that it cannot get its day
in court.
"We just felt that we were given a
very quick shuffle here," he said in
a telephone interview from
Keshena, Wis. "We felt we were
going to be given the opportunity to
present our argument. We are
disappointed we were not given the
opportunity for justice after all these
years."
Wisconsin Attorney General
James Doyle praised the high
Treaty rights/ to pg. 8
Prosperous Grande Ronde Tribe asked to State agents raid smoke shop
give up federal subsidy
GRANDE RONDE, Ore. (AP) -
Fortified by strong casino profits, the
Confederated Tribes ofthe Grand
Ronde have contributed more than
$1 million to arts, education and
public safety in northwest Oregon
since the beginning ofthe year. But
the Grand Ronde's generosity may be
tested if the Bureau oflndian Affairs
persuades the tribes to give up $1.03
million in federal subsidies next
year. The bureau wants to redistribute the subsidies to less prosperous
tribes around the country. The Grand
Ronde have said "no thanks,"
insisting they have numerous social
needs that still need funding.
Perhaps because ofthe casino's
booming success, the Grand Ronde
were the only tribes in Oregon asked
to give up their federal assistance,
said Mark Phillips, a Washington,
D.C, lobbyist who represents the
Warm Springs, Umatilla, Coquille
and Grand Ronde tribes. The
subsidies, known as tribal priority
allocation funds, help pay for
forest management, child welfare,
vocational training, scholarships
for higher education and other
social services for tribal members.
The Grand Ronde say the subsidies
represent the government's
obligation to help take care ofthe
tribes. "TPA is a result of treaties
with governments," said Tracy
Dugan, a tribe spokeswoman. "It's
not unlike the treaties we have
with different nations and different
countries. They need to be hon
ored." The Bureau oflndian
Affairs' request comes amid
growing scrutiny of the federal
government's role in allocating
funds to tribes. The U.S. government distributed about $757 million
last year to tribes for a range of
services, including welfare, law
enforcement and land management.
The bureau's plan is similar to a
proposal introduced last year by
Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash. It
would have stripped half the federal
funding headed to the richest 10
percent of tribes and redirected the
savings - estimated at $12 million -
to the poorest 20 percent. "The
nation's poorest tribes are being
short-changed by the federal
Subsidy/ to pg. 8
TACOMA (AP) - State agents have
seized more than 1,400 cartons of
cigarettes from a smoke shop within
the Puyallup Indian reservation,
alleging the business was operating
illegally.
The tribal council condemned the
move, saying in a statement that the
business was legal.
About a dozen agents from the
state Liquor Control Board
descended on the Redwolf Smoke
Shop on Tuesday and hauled away
1,431 cartons of cigarettes.
Washington charges cigarette taxes
of $8.25 a carton, meaning the
cigarettes had a tax value of
$11,805.75.
"We're hoping to put this guy out of
business," agency spokeswoman
Tricia Currier said.
The manager, a clerk and the
store's owner, whose name was not
released, spoke with agents but were
not held.
Agents contend the owner operated
without a business or tobacco
retailer's license.
The Liquor Control Board can
issue fines of $10 per pack, Currier
said, and the Pierce County
prosecutor's office also could file
criminal charges.
Cigarettes sold to American
Indians are exempt from state tax, so
most smoke shops are on tribal land
or land held in trust by the federal
government for tribal members. State
and local law enforcement don't
have jurisdiction on those lands.
The Redwolf shop is within the
reservation boundaries but is on
private land, state agents said.
Still, tribal members said the state
had no right to raid the smoke shop,
which they said was licensed by the
tribe.
"The Tribal Council is going to
stand by tribal members and their
ability to be entrepreneurs and start a
business," tribal spokeswoman Kari-
lynn Frank said.
Raids on smoke shops are rare,
since they usually are either licensed
or on tribal land, agents said.
More commonly, non-Indian
customers leaving smoke shops with
their purchases are cited, or loads of
untaxed cigarettes bound for smoke
shops are intercepted.
Washington's cigarette taxes
provide the state with about $254
million in revenue each year. The
state estimates it loses $127 million
each year in revenue caused by sales
of cigarettes.