Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-03-19

              A new twist on
reservation law
enforcement
legislation
Enrollment
records of
Shakopee tribe
subpoenaed in
Casino inquiry
Wisconsin woman   Press/ON to
at center of U of M publish series on
basketball scandal Indian education
speaks in Minnesota, pg.
4
Applications taken   Congratulations tc
for DNR's summer  Red Lake Warriors
jobs program for     pg. 8
high school youth,
P9- 6
A new twist on reservation law
enforcement legislation
Voice ofthe People
By Gary Blair
Legislation that would give reservation government's entity (recognition)
status from the state and would allow
the Minnesota Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Board to
license tribal police officers has taken
a new twist.
On Tuesday, Senator Roger Moe
(DFL) pulled senate file No. 1674 from
consideration by the senate crime prevention committee. Moe's bill was a
companion to house bill No. 1607 being sponsored by Representative
Steve Smith (R) of the House of
Representative's crime prevention
committee. Moe's move is said to be
part ofa strategy by lobbyists for the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
Critics ofthe proposed statute say
it's just another attempt by the TEC
(tribal executive comm ittee) ofthe Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to use state
officials when it serve their needs.
Calls to Moe's office for comment
were not returned by press time.
State sources say Moe has only
pulled the bill temporarily and he will
re-introduce it if Smith's revised bill
that was drafted by MCT's lobbyists
passes the sub-comm ittee ofthe house
of representatives. Additional reports
say former Ramsey County attorney
Tom Foley, who became a lobbyist for
the MCT, and his group, (who appear
to like the impoverished Indian's
money) have been busy spending tribal
members' money on this latest lobbying effort by the TEC. Foley, who was
reported to be in Hawaii last week, did
not return your writer's phone calls.
"He (Foley) calls to check his messages from time to time. Letmeconnect
you to his voice messaging," Foley's
e-mail, presson@paulbunyan.net
Hative
American
^
Law/to pg. 3
Ojibwe
mews
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Enrollment records of Shakopee tribe
subpoenaed in Casino inquiry
Founded 111988
Volume 11 Issue 23
March 18,1988
A weekly publication.
Copyright Native American Press, ffiSS
j
By Greg Gordon
Minneapolis Star Tribune
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal
grand jury subpoenaed enrollment
records of a wealthy Minnesota tribe
last week as part of an independent
counsel's inquiry into the 1995 rejection of an Indian casino in Hudson,
Wis., aperson familiar with the matter
said Tuesday.
The grand jury has taken testimony
since late last summer as part of
independent counsel Carol Elder
Bruce's 10-month-old inquiry into
the Interior Department's controversial decision. She is examining
allegations that department officials
killed the Hudson proposal because
Minnesota and Wisconsin tribes opposed to it contributed about $400,000
in state and federal campaign donations to Democrats in 1995 and '96.
Bruce was appointed last year to try
to resolve whether Interior Secretary
Bruce Babbitt lied to Congress when
he denied that former Deputy White
House Chief of Staff Harold Ickes ordered the casino decision to be issued
on July 14,1995. A special three-judge
appeals court panel also gave Bruce
authority to fully investigate the events
surrounding the department's decision.
It was disclosed in December that
Bruce had sought to expand her
inquiry so she could explore whether
Ickes mingled fund-raising activities
with policymaking in other areas. But
Shakopee/to pg. 3
Wisconsin woman at center of U of M
basketball scandal speaks
ST. PAUL (AP)-- The woman at the
center ofa scandal in the University of
Minnesota basketball program says
she hopes the program will change as
a result.
But Jan Gangelhoff, from Danbury,
Wis., has so far refused to cooperate
with university officials who want to
check out herclaims. "Why would I ally
myself with them? What benefit would
there be?" said Jan Gangelhoff, who
admitted she was angered when the
university sent a letter to her last fall
disassociating her from the basketball
program.
Gangelhoff, a former office manager
in the university's academic
counseling office, told the Saint Paul
Pioneer Press in a story Wednesday
that she did course work for at least 20
men's basketbalI players from 1993 to
1998. A day later, the university made
four current Gophers ineligible
pending an investigation, and the team
lost its first-round NCAA game.
Gangelhoff did not return a call Friday
from The Associated Press to her
employer in Danbury, Wis., and has
no number listed in the area. But in an
interview with the Pioneer Press
published Friday, Gangelhoff
condemned an athletic culture that
values physical talent over education.
"They just use these kids up and then
they throw them away," said Jan
Gangelhoff.
She said she began tutoring players
because she hoped her own love of
learning "might rub ofTon them. ""This
all started because I thought maybe 1
could teach these kids something,"
said Gangelhoff, 50.
Gangelhoff stood by her decision
not to share with the university the
transcripts of 225 papers and other
course work she offered the Pioneer
Press as evidence of the fraud.
University officials said her non-
Basketball/to Pg. 5
Maria Fairbanks from Red Lake High School was among several Project! 20 studentsw ho visiledwith Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyeron
Mtmdnv. March 8. luuo Project 120 is a program ofthe Institute forLearning and Teaching, bringing high school studentsfrom Minnesota
ions at the Capitol during the legislative session. Secretary of State Kiffmeyer spoke with the students about her duties
us a Constitutional Officer, and her rule us chief elections official of Minnesota. Project 120 Is an educational experience in the bipartisan
political process for young people, cultivating the values of responsible citizenship in students.
Tribes suing tobacco companies
Whale hunt opponents ready to protest
again
VICTORIA, BC(AP)- Anti-whaling
protesters ral lied here and prom ised to
prevent a Washington state Indian
tribe from killing a whale this spring.
Members of the West Coast Anti-
Whaling Society said they are more
determined than everto stop the Makah
whaling crew. "We are prepared to do
virtually anything," society president
Anna Hall said Sunday. "We'll do
whatever we can do to save these
whales."
Gray whales migrating north have
been spotted just south of Cape
Flattery in Washington state, said Hall,
a marine biologist. "They should be
very close in the next couple of days
which means that the hunt starts any
day," she added.
The hunt by the Makah tribe from
Neah Bay, Wash., was deterred by bad
weather last fall. Over the winter the
Canadian society has joined forces
with Paul Watson's Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society, the Port
Angeles, Wash.-based Peninsula
Citizens for the Protection of the
Whales and the Sea Defense Alliance,
amore militant American animal-rights
group.
"We know each other now so we're
far more organized and far more
effective," Hall said. "We've been
talking to the other groups all winter
and figuring out the plans."
Hall said some protesters are willing
to violate a 500-yard buffer zone
around the Makah whaling canoe
imposed by the U.S. Coast Guard.
"They have what they call disposable
boats," she said.
In October, members ofthe alliance
said they were prepared to put
themselves between the whaling crew
and a whale to prevent a strike by
harpoon or a shot by the .50-caliber
rifle the whaling crew plan to use to
inflict the fatal blow.
"Our message today is the whales
are in real danger right now," Hall said.
"We've got to bring the issue back out
and let the world know."
Hall said Paul Watson is in Seattle
getting ready to return to Neah Bay.
About two dozen protesters floated
around the calm sunlit water of the
Inner Harbour at Sunday's rally.
The good weather means the Makah
whaling crew has resumed training.
"The weather is clearing up now," said
John McCarty, a former executive
director of the Makah Whaling
Commission. "I can see the whaling
crew right out of my window in the
afternoons and evenings walking
down to the canoe to train."
McCarty said although the tensions
ofthe fall had subsided, people were
wondering when the protesters were
coming back. "I think they'll be back
next month," he said. "I heard they
were coming soon."
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Two North
Dakota tribes are suing cigarette makers for money to cover tobacco-related
health care costs.
Bismarck attorney Ron Hodge said
he has filed lawsuits on behalf of the
Standing Rock and Sisseton-
Wahpeton Sioux tribes. Other tribes
are considering similar action, he said.
"The tribe should have the right to
collect damages just like the state has,"
Hodge said Tuesday.
A Standing Rock tribal judge earlier
this month rejected a motion to dismiss
the lawsuit and ruled that it will remain
in tribal court, Hodge said. No specific
dollar amount is claimed in the suit.
Seattle attorney John Phillips, who
represents Philip Morris, said he expects an appeal, to get the case moved
to state or federal court.
"There will be a vigorous fight against
this kind of lawsuit," Phillips said.
Phillips said Standing Rock, unlike
North Dakota and other states, could
not show the court that it has spent
money forsmoking-related health care.
"All or the vast majority of medical
expenses are paid by Indian Health
Services, which is a branch of the
federal government, riot the tribe,"
Phillips said.
"Standing Rock doesn't spend any
of its own money." The tribes seek a
financial settlement that helps reservations deal with the effect of the
highest nicotine addiction rate in the
country, Hodge said.
"It's significant that Native Americans have a forum to collect from just
like any state person would do," he
said. "I've seen them pass out
Marlboros at powwows and rodeos."
Phillips said Standing Rock will have
a hard time proving a financial claim
against tobacco makers. "It's fun to
jump on the bandwagon on the way to
the courthouse," he said. "But ifthey
haven'tbeen spending money, they're
not entitled to any money."
Hodge said the defendants in the
tribal case are American Tobacco Co.,
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.,
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Philip
Morris, Lorillard Tobacco Co., and the
Liggett Group.
Interior officials chastised for snubbing
Indian leaders
Slot supplier received 35 percent of
take
WASHINGTON (AP) - Interior
Department officials upset with
criticism at a congressional hearing
broke off negotiations with Indian
leaders aimed at settling claims on
billions in Indian trust funds.
The chairman ofthe Senate Indian
Affairs Committee, Ben Nighthorse
Campbell, said Thursday that the
department's action "sends a
dangerous message to witnesses that
exercising their right to free speech
could result in reprisals from the federal
government."
Two Cabinet secretaries, including
Interior's Bruce Babbitt, were found in
contempt of court last month in
connection with a lawsuit over the
government's handling ofthe funds.
Then on March 3, Interior officials
canceled a meeting with tribal leaders
a few hours after the hearing held by
two Senate committees, including
Campbell's.
Interior's assistant secretary for
Indian affairs, Kevin Gover, said he
didn't like the tone of the tribal
representatives' testimony.
"You can'tcallmealiar in the morning
and that afternoon ask me to trust
you," said Gover, himself an Indian.
"We're not sure there is enough trust
between the two parties to continue to
negotiate without some kind of
congressional involvement."
Tribal leaders say his response was
lnterior/topg.5
MESCALERO, N.M. (AP) - The man
who for years supplied the Mescalero
Apache tribe with slot machines for its
casino says he and his wife were banned
from the reservation after the tribe
severed its ties with his company.
A three-year contract between the
tribe and Raymond A. Gallegos'
company, Gaim-Ko, expired Dec. 29.
Gallegos said the tribe seized the keys
to the slot machines in November.
The relationship ended shortly after
theNov. 4 death ofMescalero President
Wendell Chino, who signed the
contracts with Gallegos and was a
friend of his.
The new president, A. Paul Ortega,
said Gaim-Ko received 35 percent of
what gamblers lost on slot machines.
Gallegos said the Tribal Council cited
that percentage ofthe take in banning
him and his wife from Mescalero.
But he said he believes the tribe
banned them and ended its ties with
Gaim-Ko because of his close
relationship with Chino. "I feel
betrayed," he said. "All of that is
animosity and revenge."
Gallegos' attorney, Joe Diaz, said
Gallegos made an offer to continue to
supply slot machines to the Mescalero
casino but the tribe rejected it. The
Ruidoso News reported Mescaleros
plan to purchase slot machines.
"We were the only tribe in the state
that doesn'towntheirown machines,"
tribal Vice President Oliver Enjady
told the News. Gallegos said the tribe
hasn't returned his machines.
Gaim-Ko received $40.8 million in
payments from 1994 through 1998,
according to a document obtained by
the Albuquerque Journal. The
payments grew from $2.4 million in
1994 to $9.1 million in 1996 to $11.6
million in 1998.
The company supplied and
maintained slot machines at Casino
Apache near Ruidoso for nine years,
Gallegos said.
The document obtained by the
Journal doesn't include payments to
Gaim-Ko for the earliest years. Ortega
and Enjady wouldn't confirm or deny
Late Apache president, wife, often won
at tribe casino
Slot/to pg. 3
MESCALERO, N.M. (AP) -- The late
Mescalero APache President Wendell
Chino and his wife cashed in slot
machine jackpots and credits of more
than $270,000 at the Mescalero's casino
over two years. Documents obtained
by the Albuquerque Journal show the
payments, but don't show how much
money Chino and his wife Rita bet on
the machines in 1997 and 1998. The
newspaper said that makes it
impossible to determine if the Chinos
won or lost during the period. "You
win, you win. You lose, you lose,"
Mrs. Chino said Monday when
shown the documents at her upscale
Albuquerque home. She said she
wouldn't be able to say whether the
documents were accurate without
checking her records. She would not
comment further.
Chino, who died Nov. 4, cashed in
slot machine jackpots and credits of
$28,656 in 1997 and $95,648 in 1998,
including $ 13,620 the month before he
died, according to the documents.
They show Mrs. Chino cashed in
jackpots and credits of $7,500 in 1997
and $ 138,547 in 1998, including $49,525
in September and $45,000 in October.
The Mescalero Apaches have no
policy against tribal officials gambling
at the casino. The documents on the
Chinos' slot machine jackpots and
credits were created after Chino died.
Workers at Casino Apache
described the couple as heavy rollers
who often played $25-a-spin slot
machines. Compacts between the state
and gambling tribes such as the
Mescalero Apaches require slot
machines to pay out winnings of at
least 80 percent of the amount wagered
on the machine. Casinos are able to
track, by computer, the amount
Apache/to pg.3