Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-11-19

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Minnesota Tribal
casinos
. expanding
Pg5
Reform Party
adopts reservation
civil rights plank
Pgl
Violence in
Indian community
must stop
Pg4
Prairie Island
Tribal election
results challenged
Pgl
N.M. attorney
general says audits
of tribal casinos
are public record
Pg5
Mille Lacs County
removes zoning
from mediation with
Mille Lacs Band
Pgl
Man charged
n shooting
Bagley
BAGLEY, Minn. (AP) — A 19-
'ear-old man is accused of fatally
hooting another man minutes after
lis father told him he was too drunk to
;o hunting.
Anthony Dvorak, 39, was shot in
he head with a rifle as he sat in a
:itchen chair about 9 a.m. Nov. 13.
ames Hvezda of rural La Prairie
Township, about 13 miles southwest
>f Bagley in northwestern Minnesota,
vas charged Nov. 15 with second-
legree manslaughter.
According to the complaint filed by
he Clearwater County Attorney's
Dffice, Hvezda had wanted to go
wnting, but his father, Delmer, told
lim he couldn't take the gun because
te was drunk.
Delmer Hvezda then took a shower,
-le told a Clearwater County sheriff s
ieputy that he was stepping out ofthe
shower when he heard the gun go off.
"Dad, the gun went off! Dad, the
gun went off!" his son was screaming.
A Bagley police officer who drove
Tames Hvezda away from the house
sported that Hvezda smelled strongly
jf alcohol and kept repeating." I
iidn't mean to shoot no one." and " It
just went off."
Wore: Hvezda is rhe son of While Earth
Band of Chippewa District I
•■epresentative Irene Auginansh-Twney]
Court rules in tribal
sovereignty case
(AP) The state cannot prosecute an
American Indian tribal member for
driving offenses committed on another
tribe's reservation, the MN Court of
Appeals ruled Nov. 16.
Judge Robert Schumacher wrote the
opinion for the unanimous three-judge
panel, saying the law doesn't
differentiate by tribe or reservation.
But if the 15-year-old in the case were
charged with criminal offenses, rather
than regulatory offenses, the state
could prosecute him.
The facts ofthe case were not
disputed. The defendant, whose name
was not made public, was ajuvenile at
the time ofthe offense. He was
caught speeding and driving without a
license on the reservation of a different
tribe.
He is enrolled in the Forest County
Potawatomi Community in Crandon,
Wis. He was stopped on the
reservation ofthe White Earth Band of
Chippewa.
Prairie Island tribal election
results challenged
A group is challenging the recent
election for the Prairie Island Tribal
Council, alleging irregularities in the
counting of absentee ballots and
questioning why a candidate was
removed from the ballot.
Among the 12 people challenging
the results is Lylis Wells, who was
removed from the ballot by election
judges after a tribal member
protested her nomination.
A hearing is scheduled Nov. 24 at
the Prairie Island Community Center
before the Prairie Island Tribal
Appellate Court.
Based on preliminary results from
the Nov. 12 balloting, four of five
incumbents were re-elected to a
second two-year term. President
Audrey Kohnen, Vice President
Noah White Jr., Secretary Darrell
Campbell and Assistant Secretary/
Treasurer Lu Taylor will remain on
the council. Doreen Hagen will
replace Ron Johnson, who chose not
to run for a second term
The Tribal Council is the
governing body ofthe more than
500-member Prairie Island community
in Red Wing, in southeastern
Minnesota. The new Tribal Council
is scheduled to be sworn in and
select new officers on Dec. 12.
One man dies, one rescued, in boating
accident on White Earth Reservation
In second accident, couple lucky to be alive
Excerpted in part from
Tim Kjos and Anna Lewicki
Becker County Record
Kenneth Roy Keezer, 51, of
Waubun was checking gill nets with
Lonnie Ray Burrows, 43, when their
boat capsized Nov. 9.
After yelling for help, Burrows was
pulled from the water by a lake
resident.
But rescuers called to the scene
could not locate Keezer even though
they searched for hours. His body
was recovered from the frigid waters
the next morning.
...[In a separate incident], Dennis
St. Clair and Patty Basswood were
checking nets on Round Lake when
their boat swamped sometime after 9
am.
St. Clair and Basswood were
wearing life jackets and began
swimming to shore, approximately
500 yards away.
While swimming, they called for
help. Fortunately, Magnus Vizenor,
who lives on Ice Cracking Lake, was
hunting nearby with his son and
another individual.
.. .Round Lake resident Ken
Berg.. .and Vizenor used Berg's
canoe to paddle to Basswood and
St. Clair.
.. .Becker County Sheriffs deputy
Scott Blaine.. .estimated the water
temperatures at about 40 degrees.
Tribes claim right to 16-ton meteorite
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A group
of American Indian tribes claim that a
16-ton meteorite - the largest ever
found in the United States - is a
sacred object that rightfully belongs
to them, and they want to bring it
back from a museum in New York.
The Willamette Meteorite was sold
by a Portland iron company nearly
100 years ago.
Now the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde claim the celestial
chunk under a federal repatriation
law intended to help tribes reclaim
human remains and important
cultural and religious objects.
Native doctors once used
rainwater that collected in the deeply
eroded, pocked surface ofthe
meteorite to heal people throughout
the Willamette Valley.Grand Ronde
tribal officials say. Hunters purified
their arrowheads in the water, and
young people visited the meteorite
on spiritual quests as part of their
rite of passage into adulthood.
"It's an extremely important sacred
object to us." June Olson, cultural
resource manager for the Western
Oregon tribes, told The Oregonian.
"It is a link from our tribal people
today to our ancestors in traditional
beliefs. It's a connection that we're
all kind of looking for, and there isn't
a lot of them left."
The American Museum of Natural
History, which has displayed the
geologic relic since 1906, is building
a $210 million Center for Earth and
Space, which includes an exhibit hall
featuring the meteorite.
METEORITE to pg. 8
Reform Party of Minnesota adopts new platform
Plank supporting civil rights on Indian reservations passed by wide margin
By Julie Shortridge
The Reform Party ofMinnesota
voted on 87 possible new items for
its party platform on Saturday,
November 13 at a special convention
held at Normandale Community
College in Bloomington. A total of
168 delegates voted on the platform
items.
Among the 63 items winning the
approval of the delegates was an
item related to civil rights on Indian
reservations. It read "Support the
guarantee ofall civil and
constitutional rights and access to
state and federal courts for all
citizens living and/or doing
business on Indian reservations."
Approximately five people spoke
in support ofthe plank. One person
REFORM PARTY
\>r*>
£
Voice ofthe People
1
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Founded in 1988 Volume 12 Issue 6
November 19,1999
Gov. Jesse Ventura speaks at 1999
Minnesota State Reform Party Convention.
spoke against it, stating, "My
grandmother left the reservation
because ofthe lack of civil rights.
I'm opposed to this plank... If
people don't like it, they can leave."
The plank passed with over 78% of
the delegates voting in favor. A 60%
favorable vote is required for an item
to become part ofthe platform.
The platform item was initially
proposed by Native American
Press/Ojibwe News publisher Bill
Lawrence and this writer, who serves
as a Reform Party Executive
Committee member. It was then
amended and supported by the
Reform Party's Platform Committee.
"There are on-going problems in
Minnesota and across the nation
REFORM PARTY to pg. 6
Attorney General: Audits of Indian casinos are public records
By Barry Massey
Associated Press Writer
SANTA FE (AP) - Audits and
financial statements about Indian
gambling casinos are public records
and should be disclosed by a state
regulatory board, Attorney General
Patricia Madrid said Monday.
The audits and financial
statements, which are required under
tribal-state compacts, should shed
more light on the financial scope of
Indian gambling in New Mexico by
revealing how much money 11 tribes
are taking in at their casinos and
how much they spend on those
enterprises.
The state Gaming Control Board,
which requested Madrid's legal
view, has taken the position that the
financial information supplied to it
by tribes was proprietary and could
not be released to the public and
news media.
Madrid disagreed.
"The Gaming Control Board should
permit public inspection ofthe audits
and financial statements provided by
the gaming tribes and pueblos
provided by the gaming tribes and
pueblos," Madrid said in a statement
announcing her decision.
"If the board can establish that
proprietary information is contained
in this material, I suggest that they
simply delete that portion ofthe
audit or financial statement and then
allow public information ofthe
remainining nonproprietary
information."
The financial information on
casinos won't be released
immediately by the board, however.
Janice McCrary, chairwoman ofthe
board, said Madrid's letter would be
considered at a board meeting next
week. She said the board had just
received the letter and was still
reviewing Madrid's legal analysis.
"We will need some time to digest
it," McCrary said.
In addition, she said the board
would need to determine whether all
or only parts ofthe financial
information could be disclosed.
"Now we have to fall back and
determine what is proprietary. We
have to look at each piece of
information they give us. If we have
to redact, that could take months."
Madrid's non-binding legal advice
to the board could spark yet another
dispute with Indian tribes, which
contend the financial information
about their casinos is confidential.
Richard Hughes, a lawyer for
Santa Ana Pueblo, which operates a
casino near Bernalillo, disagreed
with Madrid's legal view and
contended that the financial records
should not be available for public
inspection.
AUDITS to pg. 6
A weekly publication.      Copyright, Native American Press, 1999
I
The BUG-O-NA Y-GE-SHIG 1999-2000 Pow-wow Royalty was selected at the annual school Princess and Brave Contest.
(left) BUG-O-NAY-GE-SHIG Senior Princess is Malerie Larose. {top right) BUG-O-NAY-GE-SHIG Junior Brave Adam White.
(bottom left) BUG-O-NAY-GE-SHIG Senior Brave Derrick Cloud, (bottom right) Junior Princess Larissa Myers.
Mille Lacs County board votes to remove zoning issues
from mediation with Mille Lacs Band
By Julie Shortridge
Saying that they do not want to
mediate a legal issue that has already
been decided, the Mille Lacs County
Board of Commissioners voted 3-2
on Nov. 16 against federal mediation
on zoning issues with the Mille Lacs
Band of Ojibwe.
At issue is the Band's assertion
that the 61,000-acre old reservation
boundaries established in an 1855
treaty should still be recognized
today, allowing the Band to assert
zoning, taxing and other regulatory
authority in the area.
The Band and the County
unofficially agreed to federal
mediation on several issues last
week, including zoning. Other issues
that may still be included in federal
mediation between the Band and the
County are payments-in-lieu-of-taxes
for services the county provides to
the Band, out-of-home placements
for children, and housing in County
jail of prisoners arrested by tribal
police.
However, the Band asserted last
week that unless issues of zoning
and fee lands were included, they
would not enter into any mediation.
In making his argument against
mediation on the zoning issue,
County commissioner Frank
Courteau referenced a letter from
Mike Hatch, in which the Minnesota
Attorney General stated, "the State
and its political subdivisions [i.e.
counties] have the sole jurisdiction
and regulatory authority over all
public water bodies and all land
within the historical reservation
boundaries that is not held in trust
for the Band."
The motion that passed 3-2 on a roll
call vote to remove zoning from the
list of topics to be mediated, read as
follows:
"[T]hat we respectfully decline to
accept the Band's condition that
zoning issues be added to the
mediation agenda, but that in doing
so we also extend an invitation to the
Band to discuss their concerns vis a
vis the county's recognized zoning
authority at a separate county board
meeting, one we would be willing to
schedule to accommodate their
schedules, but also one open to the
public, as per the provisions ofthe
Minnesota Open Meeting Law."
In addition, a citizens' group
presented the county board with
2,433 signatures on an on-going
petition drive, encouraging the
commissioners "to pursue the issue
[of reservation boundaries] through
legal means if necessary to prove
once and for all that the townships
of Isle Harbor, Kathio and South
Harbor and the cities ofOnamia,
Wahkon and Isle are not on
reservation land."
The citizen's group — an ad hoc
committee ofthe Lake Mille Lacs
Association calling themselves the
Mille Lacs Tea Party - argue that a
1913 U.S. SupremeCourt ruling
stated clearly that the 1855
reservation boundary no longer
existed.
The three mayors ofOnamia,
Wahkon, and Isle send a letter to the
county board making a similar plea
that the county commissioners not
negotiate zoning issues in the old
reservation boundary area, stating
that a mediation process could
interfere with any lawsuits they may
want to bring in the matter.
Mille Lacs Band charges trespass against wild rice gatherers
By Jeff Armstrong
Two months after he was cited for
ricing without a permit by the state
DNR at Dean Lake in Crow Wing
County, Franklin (Doc) LaRose of
Leech Lake received a summons to
appear at the Mille Lacs Court of
Central Jurisdiction on trespassing
charges for using a tribal landing on
the lake. LaRose is now facing
charges in four jurisdictions, two
tribal and two state, relating to
what he contends is the exercise of
his treaty rights.
LaRose said state officers ticketed
six people in the Sept. 6 incident,
four of whom were subsequently
charged with trespassing for passing
through a Mille Lacs-owned canoe
landing outside ofthe reservation's
original boundaries. Although no
tribal officers were present at the
time, Mille Lacs conservation officer
Ralph LaPlant based the trespassing
complaint on the statements of state
DNR officer Karl Hadrits in a letter
dated Nov. 4.
"Apparently, the rice belongs to
the state of Minnesota and the land
belongs to Mille Lacs," LaRose said.
LaRose said his ricing group was
invited to use the landing by Mille
Lacs tribal members and that the area
was not marked with no trespassing
signs.
"It should have been a public
landing. All it said was property of
the Mille Lacs Band. There were
Mille Lacs members there that told
us it was a tribal landing," said
LaRose. "Under the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe Constitution, no
tribal members should be denied the
rights and resources ofthe tribe. It's
kind of like someone from Minnesota
going to Wisconsin and being
charged with trespassing for it."
LaRose said they returned to the
landing only after five DNR officers
gathered there. "They should be
ticketed for trespassing, too," he
said.
A court date of Dec. 1 has been set
by Mille Lacs on the trespassing
charges against the four defendants.
LaRose is also scheduled to appear in
Leech Lake tribal court 3:30 p.m. Dec.
7 for oral arguments over the court's
jurisdiction to enforce existing
conservation codes against tribal
members.