Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-07-30

              -     ' ■■"".
,-.■■;
Different
approaches for
treating
compulsive
gamblers,
volunteers
sought, pg. 4
Employment
problems,
financial
discrepancies
continue at
women's shelter,
P9 1
Commentary:
Mille Lacs Band's
plans for out-of-
state casino is
risky business,
P9-4
Red Lake
seizes property
of deceased
man and
family, pg. 1
Commentary:
President
missed all the
real issues,
pg- 4
Remember
to
vote,
Fri., July 30^:
Mille Lacs
Dist. 1 Rep. seat
Employment problems, financial
discrepancies continue at
women's shelter
r
Voice ofthe People
web page:   www.press-on.net
i
By Gary Blair
ST. PAUL, MN - Staff at the
Women of Nations (WON)
battered women's shelter in St.
Paul, Minnesota say the
management problems at the
center were so unbearable that the
staff voted in an employee's union
to represent them.
Jeff Dains of the American
Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Council No. 14 located in St. Paul
confirmed this week that WON' s
employees voted in the union
effective July 13. "I believe they
are the first (battered women's
shelter) in the country to unionize,"
said Dains.
Present and former staff of the
nine-year-old Native American
program say they hope the union
will help to get things straightened
out at the troubled organization.
Press/On sources who work at
the shelter say thousandsofdollars
have been missing there and no
police investigation has been
requested.
WON is funded by the
Minnesota Department of
Corrections' Crime Victims
Services division.
The most recent funds reported
missing are $8,700 raised last year
through ticket sales for a Bonnie
Raitt benefit concert.
WON has a $1.6 million annual
budget and 42 employees. More
thanfiveemploymentlawsuitshave
been filed against the organization
alleging wrongful dismissal.
Additional lawsuits are expected.
One of those pending lawsuits is
said to have been brought by Joan
Merrick, the shelter's former
director, whose employment
contract was not renewed last year
by WON's board of directors.
"The problems that the staff are
having at the shelter are effecting
our clients, and we know it," a
source, who asked that her name
not be used, said last week.
Problems/to Pg. 3
New Cherokee chief seeks unity
By Kelly Kurt
TAHLEQUAH,Okla.(AP) -
Cherokee Chief Joe Byrd says his
successor will find the tribe's
finances in order when he takes
over Aug. 14. But Chad Smith,
who defeated Byrd on Saturday
withacampaignthatleviedcharges
of misspending, estimates it will
take up to a year to restore tribal
government after more than two
years of internal fighting.
"We're almost starting from
scratch," Smith said Saturday after
"winning 56 percent ofthe vote.
Smith planned to take a few
days off to spend time with his
family before getting to work. He
is expected to name a transition
team by the end ofthe week.
He said Saturday that the first
thing he planned to do was ask
Byrd to help him in fostering an
atmosphere of unity.
Smith assured employees that
there would be no repercussions
for supporting Byrd. He also urged
the fighting factions in tribal
government to work to "mutually
heal" the tribe' s wounds.
Smith spoke from near the spot
where he was arrested two
summers ago after charging
through a police barricade as
Byrd's forces were shutting down
the tribe's historic courthouse, a
focal point ofthe fighting. Hestill
faces county charges of assault on
apolice officer and inciting a riot.
The turmoil escalated the next
month into a scuffle between
Cherokees on the courthouse
steps.
Smith, a 48-year-old lawyer, is
optimistic that those involved in
the fighting can put their emotions
aside. "Cherokees are very
forgiving people," he said.
Even as he conceded defeat,
Byrd also spoke ofharmony in the
200,000-member tribe, second in
size only to the Navajo. He said
peace would likely comebecause
he would not be on the attack,
Cherokee/to pg. 5
Tribes hope to change work mentality
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -
Creating jobs and economic
prosperity on Indian reservations
will require a change in attitude
and in how tribes view
development, Native American
leaders say.
Federal welfare reform and
President Clinton's recent visit to
the P ine Ridge Indian Reservation
to promote economic
developmentwillputnew emphasis
on creating jobs.
"Instead of programs, we have
to think profit and loss," said Sam
Allen, director of economic
development for the Flandreau
Santee Sioux Tribe.
"The Bureau oflndian Affairs
has instilled aprogram mentality,
the idea that funding runs from
year to year," Allen said. "It isn't a
program any longer. It's a
business."
Mille Lacs band to build
New Mexico casino
ONAMIA, MN (AP) - The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe plans to
build and manage a casino for the Pueblo of Laguna, a tribe in New
Mexico, Mille Lacs officials announced.
The seven-year contract announced Friday is the first agreement
signed by the band's gaming and resort management group.
In addition to building and operating the casino, theMille Lacs band
will help with strategic planning, government relations, advertising,
public relations and other services.
The new casino will be built 22 miles west of Albuquerque, said Ken
Mimmack, aband official.
The band' s two Minnesota casinos were bui It and operated for seven
years by Grand Casinos, Inc. The band took over management late last
year.
New chairman takes office
ONEIDA, Wis. (AP) — Gerald Danforth has been sworn in as
chairman ofthe OneidaTribe of Indians.
Danforth on Monday succeeded Debbie Doxtator, who has led the
tribesince 1993 but did not seek a third term. The new tribal chair said
he wants to diversify the tribe's finances and assess services the Oneida
governmentprovides.
The tribe, which has a reservation in northeastern Wisconsin, opened
the OneidaBingo & Casino in 1993. The casino generated $74 million
in net gaming income in 1998, and it is one ofthe largest employers in
Brown County, the tribe said.
Clarence Skye of Pierre also
talks ofthe need for a change in
attitude.
"We haven't made- inroads in
stimulating the economy because
reservations weren't created for
economic development," says
Skye, executive director of the
United SiouxTribes Development
Corporation.
"Reservations were basically
concentration camps, run on a
ration system," he said. "It takes a
total change in thinking. You don't
try to find an outside industry to
create jobs for you; You find
something that makes aprofit, and
jobs will appear."
South Dakota's reservations
report some of the highest
unemployment in the nation, but
theFlandreau Santee Sioux Tribe
can' t find enough workers for its
casino in Flandreau.
"Gambling, strictly speaking,
isn't economic development,"
Skye said.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe has
learned that lesson from its Fort
Randall Casino, said tribal
chairman Steve Coumoyer.
The casino has cut its work force
in halfbecause of competition in
legal gaming, both in the state and
in the region, Coumoyer said.
"It brings in revenue, but a lot of
people thought it was the whole
answer," he said. "We let it spoil
us. It opened the door to a lot of
opportunities. We haven't taken
Tribes/to pg. 3
NativB
American
Press
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Ojibwe Hews
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988      Volume 11  Issue 42
July 30, 1999
A weekly publication.        Copyright, Native American Press, 1999
"Niimii" (Pow-wow dancer)
by Wanda Reise Odegard of
Bemidji, MN is #2 in a series
of a dozen pieces of art
sponsored by local businesses
for temporary display
throughout downtown
Bemidji. Two pieces will be
purchased for permanent
display. "Niimii," which is
sponsored by Morell' s Trading
Post, can be seen near the
Rotary shelter on the Bemidji
waterfront.
Photo by Julie Shortridge
Red Lake seizes property of
deceased man and family
By Jeff Armstrong
RED LAKE, MN - A Red
Lake reservation woman charged
tribal officials with seizing family
land and personal property after
the death of her father two years
ago.
Donna Graves said she was
forcibly removed by Red Lake
Band of Chippewa tribal police
from her deceased father's home
before the late Clyde Graves, Sr.
was laid to final rest.
"They were digging through his
housebefore he was even buried,"
said Graves. "They threatened to
throwus injail ifwe tried to defend
ourselves." »
A constant companion to her
father in his last days, Graves said
she was not al lowed to retrieve her
many personal belongings from
the house by order of Red Lake
Tribal Court judge WandaLyons.
The court probated the estate
on behalf of two other daughters,
who were appointed by the court
to administer the home and insure
that noth ing was removed from the
premises. Graves was also forced
to turn over the only key to the
residence before tribal officers
changed the locks.
"We haven't heard anything from
them since," said Graves. "We've
been waiting for two years."
Graves, who has lived for 43
years on part of a large tract of
land between Red Lake and
Redby, MN assigned to her
grandfather around the turn ofthe
century, said the court order has
denied family members access to
her father's papers, including
records ofthe land assignment.
Since then, tribal officials have
torn down a fence around the
property and made preparations
to build houses on the land.
"They say they took the land
back. They don't say how or when
they did. They just took it," said
Graves. "The council here's so
greedy, they're takingthings from
people's graves."
Amy Oliver, a sister to Clyde
Graves, Sr., said her brother
intended to leave his home to
Donna, who currently lives in a
small trailer house with her
daughter. Oliver said she believed
her brother had also kept a will to
that effect among his personal
Red Lake/to pg.6
Troubled waters: Mille Lacs
Lake after the treaty ruling
Susan Hogan Albach
Star Tribune, July 27
GARRISON, MN — The sun
was still steamy at 8 p.m. as a
group of anglers waited at a boat
launch for a guide to lead them into
the waters of Lake Mille Lacs.
One ofthe passengers was Phil
Knutson, a retired high school
principal who lives in Andover. A
frequent visitor to the lake, he
sized up the summer' s fishing this
way:
"Outstanding!" he said,
punctuating each syllable. "The
wal ley e don' t j ump out ofthe lake
and into theboat, butthey'rereally
biting."
It's the best year for walleye
fishing on Mille Lacs since 1992,
according to the Minnesota
Department ofNatural Resources.
On opening weekend in May,
anglers caught an estimated five
fish per boat, about twice the usual
haul.
"And it seemed to get better and
better and better," said Larry
Adams, a guide on Mille Lacs
whose tongue-in-cheek business
cards say he's a "doctor of
fishology."
Even so, these are troubled
waters. In the towns along the
lake's picturesque shores, few non-
Indians are happy aboutthe U.S.
Supreme Court's decision in
March affirmingChippewahunting
and fishing privileges guaranteed
in an 1837 treaty.
The ruling brought an end to a
rancorous legalbattlethathadbeen
begun nine years earlier by the
Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa and
was joined later by seven other
bands. But it hasn't brought an end
to the hard feelings.
"We've got to live with it, but we
Troubled/to pg. 5
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