Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-12-24

              im i mi iriimiii
INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
News Tidbits 3
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 6-7
Reader shocked by
Marge Anderson's
hateful attack rhetoric
pg 1
Press/ON publisher
barred from
Red Lake Court
hearing
pg t
Legislative hearing on
_ Mille Lacs reservation
I boundary issue
draws 200
pg 1
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
from Native American Press/Ojibwe News!
Reader's Notice:  We will not publish an issue on
December 31 in celebration of the Holiday Season.
Native     American     Press/Ojibwe     News     wishes     ro u
Publisher barred from Red Lake Court hearing
Judge doesn't like what newspaper prints
People
(Press/ON) A hearing to review the
custody of Kimberly Carmen
Cordova and Brian Jourdain's three
children was held Dec. 17 in the Red
Lake tribal court with chief judge
Wanda Lyons presiding.
The hearing was a follow-up to one
held on June 11 , in which judge
Lyons awarded joint legal custody to
the parties, but temporary physical
custody to Jourdain for three months.
Press/ON, in the Dec. 10 issue,
earned an extensive article by
publisher Bill Lawrence about the
case, describing how the mother was
banished from the reservation,
thereby denying her access to her
home, possessions and children.
Presumably, after the three month
period had expired, judge Lyons was
to have held a hearing to review how
the custody was working out.
Unfortunately, a Reservation
Removal Order issued by Red Lake
tribal chairman Bobby Whitefeather
on June 13, banished Cardova from
the reservation, and precluding judge
Lyons from hearing the custody
review as scheduled last Sept.
In a phone interview on Dec. 16,
Northwest Legal Services attorney  *
Douglas Johnson told Press/On that
Red Lake chairman Whitefeather had
modified Cardova's Reservation
Removal Order to allow her to attend
the custody hearing and to retrieve"
her personal belongings from her
mobile home. Johnson also told
Press/ON that Cardova planned to
attend the custody hearing on Dec. 17
in Red Lake.
In on-going coverage ofthe story,
Lawrence, who is an enrolled Red
RED LAKE to pg. 7
Leech Lake holds special RBC meeting
By Anne M. Dunn
Cass Lake, MN - The Leech Lake
Reservation Business Committee
(RBC) held a special meeting in the
Oak Point community at Buck's
Lodge Thurs., Dec. 16. The lodge is
located on the shores of Steamboat
Bay.
The meeting was attended by
several RBC employees and three
residents of Oak Point. Since Leech
Lake RBC chairman Eli Hunt was
away on other business, the meeting
was chaired by Pete White. Committee members Lyman Losh, Linda
Johnston, Bruce Baird and Richard
Robinson, Jr. were also present.
White reported that Hunt was in
strong support of holding meetings in
reservation communities and keeping
them accessible to Leech Lake band
members.
Y2K concerns
According to Doug Roberts, who
began work on the Leech Lake Y2K
project in November, the band's Y2K
plans focus on Cass Lake. Therefore,
he is concerned that other communities will not be well-served in the
event of power failures on the
reservation.
Burton "Luke" Wilson said several
meetings had been scheduled with
Local Indian Councils (LICs).
However, those meetings had not
been well attended.
Roberts added that even though a
plan is in place, with Y2K only two
weeks away, the budget to support
the plan has not yet been approved.
Helen Condo expressed concern
that people may not know who to
contact for emergency assistance.
"We are looking at a potential
disaster. People will need food for a
week or three months. They may
need wood and shelter. Is there a plan
in place? If so. information must be
available to the public. This must be
considered a priority."
Robinson said there will be an
adequate emergency response plan.
According to Dee Fairbanks, law
enforcement will be assigned as the
primary response team.
Roberts further advised the
committee that communities must
designate someone to operate
generators which will be purchased
for upcoming emergencies.
Losh wanted to know where
generators which had already been
purchased for such emergencies were
located. No one seemed to know.
The committee approved the
budget, stipulating that someone
would have to be accountable
concerning the location and availability ofthe new generators during
future emergencies.
Other RBC items discussed
Patsy Gordon asked when the
community centers for Oak Point and
Kego Lake will be built. "The Oak
Point site is cleared and we have
plans. Will it be built in the spring or
when the money becomes available'.'"
The committee agreed to build in
LEECH LAKE to pg. 5
web page: www.press-on.net
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Ojibwe News
Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Copyright, Native American Press, 1999
Founded in 1
Volume 12 Issue 11
December 24,1999
Federal court
to hear
arguments in
newspaper's
civil rights
lawsuit
(Press/ON) — U.S. District Court magistrate Raymond Erickson will hear oral
arugments this week on Mille Lacs tribal officials' claim of immunity from
federal civil rights jurisdiction. Scheduled for a Dec. 23 hearing in Duluth, the
lawsuit by the Native American Press/Ojibwe News and reporter Jeff Armstrong
contends that Armstrong was wrongfully arrested and confined by the Mille Lacs
Tribal Police and Mille Lacs County in order to prevent the reporter from covering an Oct. 22, 1997 meeting ofthe Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
Armstrong was ordered from the meeting by then-TEC president Norman
Deschampe when the reporter declined to state his race. He was arrested and
charged with trespassing when he subsequently disobeyed the order, asserting his
LAWSUIT to pg. 7
Study shows tree cut
at Highway 55 site not
as old as protesters
claim
Minneapolis (AP) - One ofthe
largest of four "sacred oaks" felled to
make way for the reroute of Highway
55 dates to the Civil War, but isn't as
old as the protesters had thought,
experts have determined.
An examination conducted for the
Minnesota Department of Transportation indicated the tree was 137
years old, not old enough for it to
have been used for American Indian
burial platforms.
The state agency reported Thursday that a University of Minnesota
forestry teacher had counted 137
rings on a cross-section ofthe tree.
Protesters had claimed that Dakota
Indians had planted the four trees in a
diamond pattern aligned north and
south to support burial platforms.
"We were told this by our elders,
but they may have meant that the
trees were planted later to mark the
area used for burials," said Jim
Anderson, cultural chairman ofthe
Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota
Community.
Crews cut down the four trees on
Saturday, ending a 16-month
standoff with a band of protesters that
included Indian and environmental
activists.
Archaeologists say no burial
remains have ever been found in the
disputed area near Minnehaha Park.
The site was the scene of mass
arrests last Dec. 20. About 600 law
enforcement officers moved in to
evict protesters who had been
occupying seven homes to protest the
planned rerouting. The early-morning
raid ended a four-month occupation.
The Mendota group, which is not a
federally recognized Indian band,
claims to be descended from
"friendlies" who did not participate in
the Dakota Conflict of 1862. Most of
the defeated Sioux Indians were
forced to leave the state.
"Our people never left this area,"
Anderson said. "So to say Indian
people couldn't have planted the
trees because we weren't here is a
lie."
Anderson said earlier this week that
his 11-year-old nephew counted 135
rings on one ofthe tree trunks.
Kent Barnard, a spokesman for the
highway department, said a copper-
jacketed bullet also was removed
from the tree sample and is estimated
to be about 80 years old. Some
protesters claimed the tree was
scarred by a bullet fired before 1860.
ICWA to be further investigated
by TV station
Petition planned for removal of Leech Lake social services director
Legislative hearing on
Mille Lacs reservation
boundary draws over 200
By Gary Blair
As a result ofthe Nov. 4 beating
death of eight-year-old foster child
Brenda Swearingen, the news
director for KMSP Channel 9,
television says they plan to air a
special segment in Feb. about the
Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).
KMSP Channel 9 news director
Dana Benson says that station's
reporter Tom Lyden, who's known
for his aggressive reporting, is
working on the story. Lyden would
not confirm this, stating that he
won't talk about future stories the
station may or may not be working
on.
Swearingen and her three younger
siblings were placed with their
abusive great aunt and uncle Terri
Allen and Kevin Lange by a
Hennepin County judge, on recommendation from the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe's ICWA office in
Minneapolis. Once the court ordered
the children to be permanently
placed with the couple, all monitoring was withdrawn by social
workers, as required by state law.
Lange later kicked and beat
Swearingen to death when she
wouldn't do what she was told. She
reportedly was doing her school
work when Lange wanted her to be
doing household chores instead.
Sources your writer recently
ICWA to pg. 5
Wisconsin's Columbia County
board rejects casino proposal
By Sarah Wyatt
Associated Press Writer
Portage, Wis. (AP) - Add Columbus to the list of communities where
the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa tribe
will not be building a casino.
The Columbia County Board voted
26-3 on Wednesday against the
proposed casino, hotel and convention
center in Columbus, a city of about
4,500 that is 25 miles northeast of
Madison. It is the eighth city that has
turned the tribe down.
Opponents ofthe casino said it
could increase compulsive gambling
among county residents and drive up
crimes such as burglary and drunken
driving.
"Compulsive gambling is a
progressive disease that is every bit as
debilitating as alcohol or drug abuse,"
said Brian Hamilton, a businessman
in Columbia County who testified
against the casino.
Casinos also draw workers and
dollars away from local businesses,
opponents ofthe Columbus proposal
said. Members ofthe county board
said they received many letters from
residents urging them to turn down
the casino proposal.
Columbus Mayor Michael Eisenga
said the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa
had promised $2 million to the city
and county each year in exchange for
public services.
A casino, hotel and convention
center would also add about 1,000
jobs in the area, Eisenga said.
The mayor had called for a
referendum on the casino project,
which would then need to be
approved by the full county board.
In light ofthe board vote, Eisenga
said would no longer seek a referendum on the casino proposal. He said
the board's actions said showed a
"narrow mindedness and a short
sightedness."
Casino opponents said the $2
million annually was not a guarantee
and would be hard to collect in court
because the Indian tribe is a sovereign nation that is not subject to state
laws.
. Columbia County's rejection ofthe
off-reservation casino was the latest
in a long line of failed proposals by
the Lac du Flambeau tribe.
Lac du Flambeau casino proposals
have been shot down in Belgium,
Johnson Creek, New Berlin,
Oshkosh, Sheboygan, St. Francis and
Waukesha.
The tribe will now wait for another
community to request and approve
the casino proposal, said Dick Matty,
director of public relations for the
tribe.
Manitowoc and the tribe have
begun informal talks and a public
opinion survey on a possible casino
development.
"When any area requests our
presence, we have merely said: Show
us the interest ofthe municipality and
the county and ... we will start from
By Julie Shortridge
Over 200 people attended a joint
hearing ofthe Minnesota House of
Representatives' Government and
Metropolitan Affairs Committee and
Environmental and Natural Resources
Committee. The hearing was held
from 3:35-5:55, Mon., Dec. 20 at the
Onamia High School.
The purpose was to receive public
input on a bill (HF 2483) which would
require the Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency (MPCA) to terminate
the Mille Lacs water resources
agreement signed last year by the
MPCA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and Mille
Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
Referred to as the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU), the agreement
allows the Mille Lacs Band jurisdiction in implementing the U.S. EPA's
Underground Injection Control (UIC)
program, which includes all commercial and large septic systems. Under
the MOU, the tribal authority would
include all UIC facilities in the old
61,000 reservation area on tribal trust
lands, tribally-owned fee lands, and
privately-owned fee lands if the owner
is a member ofthe Band.
Authored by Rep. Sondra Erickson
(R-Princeton), the bill that would put
an end to the MOU addresses the
concerns of many people living in the
Mille Lacs community, who say the
agreement recognizes reservation
boundaries that have long since been
terminated.
Five House members were present
at the hearing: Erickson, Chair Dennis
Ozment (R-Rosemount), Vice-chair
Bob Westfall (R-Rothsay), Larry
Howes (R-Hackensack), and Tom
Osthoff (D-St. Paul). Also present at
the head table were committee
administrator Blair Tremere, Committee Legal Assistant Clayton Helmer,
and another assistant who did not
introduce herself. Approximately 40
House members serve on the two
committees in total.
Eleven people testified at the
hearing, including attorney Randy
Thompson on behalf of landowners
in the area. Lake Mille Lacs Association (LMLA) president Joe Mahaney,
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Commissioner of Natural Resources Don
Wedll, LMLA and Proper Economic
Resources (PERM) member Mary
Jevne, retired medical doctor Robert
Courteau, Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency regional manager
Reed Larson, author and Twin Cities
businessman David Price, City of Isle
waste water treatment facility operator
Dave Oslin, Isle City Councilor
Sandra Bushnell, area resident Ken
Danielson, and resort owner and
PERM member Joe Karpen.
Following is a summary of what
each testifier said at the hearing:
Randy Thompson
In the 18"' century, the Dakota
people lived on the shores of Lake
Mille Lacs. When the European
explorers came to the area, the
Chippewa did not yet live in this area.
In 1750, in a famous battle at Kathio
village, the Chippewa forced the
Dakota out ofthe area. Since 1750,
the Mille Lacs Band people have
resided here in the Mille Lacs area.
In the 1830s, Chief Justice John
Marshall wrote his trilogy of Cherokee cases and came up with his term
"domestic dependent sovereigns" to
describe Indian tribes. What this term
means has been debated ever since,
and is generally accepted to mean that
tribes have limited attributes of a
sovereign for internal matters, but no
external aspects of a sovereign.
In the 1855 treaty, the Mille Lacs
Band ceded "all right, title and interest
of any kind or nature whatsoever in
lands in the State ofMinnesota or
elsewhere," in exchange for a 61,000
acre reservation in three townships
along the south shore of Lake Mille
Lacs.
In the 1863 and 1864 treaties, the
Chippewa bands ceded six reservations in Minnesota, including the
Mille Lacs reservation. Because the
Mille Lacs Band sided with the U.S.
government in the Dakota uprising in
1863, that Band was not required to
move from the reservation area, so
Top: Robert Courteau, M.D., testifies.
Ken Danielson (plaid shirt to left), Randy
Thompson (wearing suit and tie) and Joe
Mahaney (to Thompson's right) also
testified. Bottom: Rep. Sandra Erickson.
Credit: Julie Shortridge]
long as they did not interfere with the
white people in the area or their
property.
The Nelson Act of 1889-90 created
a Commission which obtained an
agreement with various Chippewa
Bands, including the Mille Lacs Band,
ceding all of their reservations in
Minnesota except Red Lake and
White Earth. The Nelson Act agreement with the Mille Lacs Band
provided that the Band "hereby
forever relinquish[es] to the United
States the right of occupancy on the
Mille Lacs Reservation, reserved to us
by the twelfth article ofthe Treaty of
May 7, 1864."
The Chippewa could either take an
individual allotment on the former
reservation lands, or remove to the
White Earth Reservation. The lands
not allotted were to be sold by the
U.S. government to other buyers, and
the monies put in trust for all members
ofthe Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
Few if any Mille Lacs Band members
chose to take allotments, but many did
not leave either. They came to be
called the "non-removables."
In 1913 the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in the case ofthe U.S. v. Mille
Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, that
the Nelson Act "should operate as a
complete extinguishment ofthe Indian
title" and found that the agreement
with the Mille Lacs Band
"contained.. .and express relinquishment ofthe lands in the Mille Lacs
Reservation."
In 1926, the U.S. Supreme Court in
the case of U.S. v. Minnesota stated
that "Under the [Nelson] Act of
January 14, 1889...the Chippewas
ceded and relinquished to the United
States all of their reservations, as here
BOUNDARY ISSUE to pg. 5
Job-saving money plan approved by Oneida Indians
Oneida, Wis. (AP) — Oneida
Indians favor a proposal to allot $750
to each tribal member from casino
profits rather than $1, 800 that
spokesmen say might have reduced
services and employment.
Defenders ofthe $1, 800 alternative
say too much money is being spent
on unnecessary jobs.
Chairman Gerald Danforth said he
prefers the $750 version that was
approved by a show of hands during
a tribal meeting Saturday.
The profit-sharing proposal for
giving each of about 14, 000 members $750 at the end ofthe year, with
$250 put into an investment account,
required a two-thirds majority in
Saturday's voting.
There were more than 500 voters.
Advocates ofthe $750 plan, representing about $11 million in gambling profits, say it would be better
for the tribe's future than the $1,800
alternative, representing about $25.9
million.
The $ 1,800 plan was approved in
April by the general tribal council,
comprising members 21 and older.
Nancy Pastorino and Mike Metoxen,
who wrote the $ 1, 800 proposal,
defended it. The original plan was
designed to control administrative
spending, Pastorino said.
"My intent was never for people to
lose jobs, unless they shouldn' t be
there in the first place," Pastorino
said. " I believe it's a scare tactic. I
don't see how 1,300 people could
lose their jobs unless they were sitting
on their butts in the first place."