Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-11-05

              - :v>;-. ,H!-'. 0*  ■•
'
Melanie Benjamin
Commentary
Leech Lake court
Judge acquits one
Red Lake Band
Russell Means
announces
Writer Gerald
to hear landmark
suspect in McGregor
of Ojibwe to hold
accuses AIM in
candidacyfor
Vizenor opposes
tribal rights case
shopkeeper's
alcohol advisory
Anna Mae
Chief Executive of
racial color codes
this week
murder
vote Nov. 10
Aquash's murder
Mille Lacs Band
Pg-3
Pg.4
pgl
pg.l
pg-6
pg. 1
Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash
Means accuses AIM
in Aquash murder
Russell Means, a
leader ofthe
American Indian
Movement,
accused fellow
AIM members of
ordering the
execution of an
activist 24 years
ago, a death the
group has long
blamed on the FBI. ~
Means said Nov. 3 at a news conference
in Denver that he believes two senior AIM
members ordered three AIM activists to
execute Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash because
they falsely believed that she was an FBI
informant and had provided information on
the killings of two FBI agents during the
1973 AIM takeover of Wounded Knee, S.D.
Her body was found on a S.D. reservation in
Feb. 1976. She had been shot. No one has
ever been charged with her slaying.
Means, who for years has publicly feuded
with AIM leaders Vernon and Clyde
Bellecourt, said he would remain a member
of the group but wants it to be an
organization "that does not murder its own,
and a woman at that."
Means accused federal authorities of
refusing to arrest the killers because it
would reveal the FBI's role in efforts to
destabilize AIM, an accusation the FBI
denies.
A statement issued by Bellecourt's office
in Minneapolis said Means was no longer a
member of AIM. "One can only suspect that
Russell Means is attempting to deflect
attention from himself and what role he may
have played in the death of Anna Mae
Aquash," the Bellecourt's statement read.
[Excerpted from Associated Press]
Judge acquits one suspect in
McGregor shopkeeper's killing
By Larry Oakes
Excerpted from Star Tribune,
10-29-99
Testimony was done Oct. 28, and
a jury in Grand Rapids, Minn, was
about to deliberate whether Neil
King helped kill Evelyn Malin
during a burglary at her McGregor-
area store.
But then District Judge John
Spellacy did something he
acknowledges is pretty unusual:
He acquitted the 19-year-old and
told him he was free to go.
In an interview, Spellacy said it
was "the toughest thing I've ever
had to do in 25 years as a judge,"
but he said he was duty-bound to
do it.
"There was no basis for any
charge against this man," said
Spellacy, a retired Itasca County
judge who still hears cases to ease
the load on other judges. "The
rules say clearly that a judge shall
acquit if there's insufficient
evidence for a conviction."
The move stunned members of
Malin's family, who sat through
the trial.
Her son, Merl Malin, said there
would have been more evidence if
Spellacy hadn't earlier ruled some
witness statements inadmissible....
Spellacy said the only witness to
testify that King was involved was
an alleged accomplice, Raymond
Misquadace. Spellacy said
Minnesota law says convictions
can't be based solely on the
testimony of an accomplice.
Leech Lake court to hear landmark tribal rights case
By Jeff Armstrong
The Leech Lake Tribal Court is
scheduled to hear arguments this
week challenging the court's validity
under the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribal Constitution and its authority
to enforce a reservation conservation
code enacted under an agreement
with the state ofMinnesota.
The cdse, Leech Lake RBC v.
Franklin LaRose, centers on the
Aug. 16 citation of a subsistence
fisherman for using oversized nets,
which were confiscated by
reservation DNR agents.
Seeking dismissal ofall charges
and the return of the nets upon
which he relies for his livelihood,
LaRose contends that the governing
Reservation Business Committee is
unconstitutionally infringing upon
his rights under the 1855 Treaty by
attempting to enforce a 1973
agreement with the state which
restricts tribal exercise of federally-
affirmed treaty rights within
reservation boundaries.
"The Leech Lake Tribal Court is
not a validly established
constitutional court," LaRose alleges
in his motion for dismissal. "A
Reservation Business Committee can
not relinquish or diminish the
people's inherent rights or reserved ■
resources to a separate sovereign
without the authorization or the
consent of the people."
Hearing the case will be Leech
Lake chief judge Margaret Treuer, a
moderate among political insiders
best known for her 1988 ruling in an
election protest brought by Walter
Reese that tribal officials could not
redefine the constitutional term
majority vote to mean largest vote-
getter. Ordering a new election or
runoff ballot, Treuer wrote in her
decision that the MCT Constitution
"delegated certain, limited powers of
self-government to the TEC and to
the Reservation Business
Committees... Powers not so
delegated, under general principles
of constitutional law, are reserved to
the people."
However, Treuer's decision was
fatefully overturned by an MCT
LEECH LAKE to pg. 6
Telling secrets now may save historic burial sites
By David Peterson
Excerpted from Star Tribune, 10-31-99
In an era when urban sprawl threatens the destruction of
Indian burial grounds and other sensitive historic sites,'
archaeologists reluctantly have decided to take a new
approach to saving them.
After decades of trying to protect the sites by keeping
their locations secret, archaeologists have decided instead
to move cautiously to let the rest of us know where they
are.
Remarkably, by the standards ofthe past, Minnesota
State Archaeologist Mark Dudzik and his counterparts
around the nation are constructing Web sites that will
allow citizens to determine whether the house, cabin or
road they're thinking of building would wipe out the
remains of a 1,000-year-old Indian village or historic grave
site.
.. .The trick is to get word out to the right people without
giving treasure-hunters the information they would need
to rob the sites of archaeological riches....
.. .The Web sites are being designed so that as many
people as possible will be able to go in and, by clicking on
maps, find out in seconds whether any sites are located in
a given township or section. That should reassure most
people in most situations that no known sensitive site is
threatened.
If it looks as though one might be threatened, members of
BURIAL MOUNDS to pg. 6
Burial sites and mounds
Here's where human burial sites and mounds or
earthworks — generally of American Indian peoples
— are known or thought to be in Minnesota. Most of
the earthworks probably would contain remains if dug
up, but scientists have stopped disturbing such places.
Burial and
earthwork
sites
MINN E'S 0 T A
Source: Office of State Archaeologist
Miles
0        75
Star Tribune graphic
Native American Press makes headline news
Newspaper broke story
on land deal discussion
between state DNR, Mille
Lacs Band of Ojibwe
*USA
■.'i.»iun;nwimi»i.MHTiTpiT.
PIONEER PRESS
StarTribune
By Julie Shortridge
The Native American Press/
Ojibwe News (Press/ON) made headlines in the national daily newspaper
USA Today, the St. Paul Pioneer
Press, and the Star Tribune this
week, all related to a tiny news story
in the Sept. 24 edition, entitled,
"State DNR and Mille Lacs Band
discuss legal fees: Band seeks half
their expenses, or 4,000 acres of
land."
In that news brief, this newspaper
reported that Minnesota Department
of Natural Resources commissioner
Alan Garber, Mille Lacs Band DNR
commissioner Don Wedll and legislative leaders met Sept. 21 to discuss a
possible settlement in the Band's
request that the state reimburse the
Band approximately $4.2 million for
their cost in suing the state for the
1837 treaty claims.
In that meeting, Wedll offered that
the Band would be willing to accept
half of their expenses or 4,000 acres
of state land to be put into tribal
jurisdiction. Currently the Mille Lacs
"reservation" consists of approximately 3,800 acres of trust lands.
St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Dennis Lien picked up on our Sept. 24
story for the Oct. 30 edition of that
newspaper, and the Star Tribune
and USA Today picked it up after
that.
"The proposal was reported last
month in the Native American
Press/Ojibwe News, a weekly independent newspaper dealing with
Indian issues. Other sources confirmed that discussions have occurred, but neither the band nor the
Minnesota Department of Re-
LAND DEAL to pg. 6
Voice ofthe People
King, of Orr, Minn., was
indicted last spring with four
other men in connection with the
beating and strangling death of
Malin, 84, in February 1998.
Authorities alleged that the five
broke into the Dollar Lake Store,
which doubled as Malin's home,
to get beer and cigarettes, and
that one or more of them killed
her, possibly after she
confronted them.
Because Malin's killers were
committing felony burglary at
the time of her death, the five
were accused either of first-
degree murder or of aiding and
abetting first-degree murder.
Misquadace, 22, of Bagley,
Minn., pleaded guilty in June to
a reduced charge of first-degree
manslaughter in exchange for his
agreement to testify against the
others. King was the first ofthe
other four to stand trial; his trial
was moved from Aitkin County
to Itasca County.
Spellacy said the two days of
testimony revealed that Malin's
death was "the most brutal
slaying I've ever seen — the
photographs were just horrible
to look at."
The judge said that made it all
the tougher to acquit King. But,
he said, it soon became clear
that there wasn't even enough
evidence for the indictment
against King, let alone a
conviction.
"He stayed in the back seat of
MCGREGOR to pg. 6
1
web page:   www.press-on.net
HaOie
American
Press
^
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988     Volume 12   Issue 4        November 5,1999
l
A weekly publication.
Copyright, Native American Press, 1999
Display at the Minnesota
History Center's new
exhibit "Tales of the
Territory" in St. Paul.
Photo: Julie Shortridge
Indian Advocate Sheehan deposed in
Minneapolis firefighter case
By Gary Blair
Twenty-eight years ago the City of
Minneapolis was federally court
ordered to racially integrate its fire
department, and since then there
have been allegations that white
applicants claiming to be American
Indians were taking the fire
department jobs intended for
Natives.
Recently, the City's American
Indian Community Advocate, Valerie
Sheehan, was blamed for improperly
verifying many ofthe fire cadets who
had claimed Native American hiring
status. Sheehan is being accused of
performing shoddy work by those in
charge of monitoring the racial
integration process.
As a result, on Oct. 8 Sheehan was
deposed about the methods she used
to verify the hiring of Native
Americans from 1995 and 1998.
During the over five-hour
videotaped, 128-page typed
deposition, Sheehan described her
verification process. Ten so-called
American Indians fire cadet
candidate's ancestry is now in
question, and Sheehan testified that
she was solely responsible for
making those determinations.
Under the federal court order, the
City of Minneapolis requires fire
department applicants who claim
Native American lineage to show
tribal identity through a
grandparent, parent or by tribal
enrollment.
According to Sheehan's
testimony she didn't follow her own
verification protocol, and she
claimed no one at the City actually
instructed, monitored or evaluated
her performance. Sheehan told of
her difficulty in obtaining tribal
enrollment records, especial from the
Red Lake reservation. She testified
that sometimes it was months before
she received the proper paper work
from that reservation's enrollment
officer.
However, Sheehan had a more
positive assessment for her own
reservation's enrollment verification.
She testified that the Leech Lake
Band's Twin Cities office director
had been very helpful in providing
enrollment records for her. Sheehan
said that she now has a copy ofthe
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe's (MCT)
enrollment book for her own
personal use.
Sheehan's difficulty in obtaining
cooperation from tribal governments
came during a time when both
reservation and urban Indian leaders
claimed that they were trying to
FIREFIGHTER to pg. 5
Advertising agency specializes in American
Indian clients
By Lou Belmont
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE,New Mexico
Michael Gray points to his "wall of
shame" collection to illustrate a
point: products using the
stereotyped images of Indians that
have nothing to do with the product
or with American Indians.
Examples include House Blessing
AirFreshener, Calumet Baking
Powder and Sioux City Iced Tea, all
with images of Indians in feather
headdress.
"I'm sure the intention is not to be
racist, but Indians are portrayed as
historical figures, not live people.
Even Iron Eyes Cody, in the famous
anti-littering ads, really didn't deal
with how Native Americans are,"
Gray said.
"And, we're all familiar with sports
teams named the Washington
Redskins and the Cleveland
Indians."
Gray is owner and president of
G&G Advertising, an Albuquerque
agency he founded as Gray & Gray
Advertising with his family as a
small design shop in 1992. In 1995,
he expanded into full-service
advertising with local and national
clients.
Gray, who is of Blackfeet and
Chippewa-Cree lineage, grew up in
Montana and earned a degree in
advertising from Oregon State
University. After graduating, he went
to work in marketing for the Institute
of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.
It was there he ran into and became
friends with David Kennedy, co-
owner of Wieden & Kennedy
Advertising, the agency that came
up with the "Just Do It" Nike slogan.
Kennedy did pro bono - free - work
for the American Indian College
Fund.
When Kennedy found out Gray
was interested in getting into
advertising, he encouraged him.
"David told me to start an ad
agency that would counter many of
the Indian stereotypes created by
Hollywood. He said there were lots
of minority advertising agencies, but
that he wasn't aware of a Native
American one," Gray said.
Although G&G has focused on
working with Indian businesses,
tribes and organizations, it also
offers other companies culturally
ADVERTISING to pg. 6