Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-11-26

              '
.
Tribal Court/State
Court initiative
re-invigorated
Pgl
Misty Blue:
Girl succeeding
against the odds
Pgl
Red Lake
restocking
program -
"walleye factory"
Pg2
Defining, limiting
tribal jurisdiction,
a major topic
Pg 1,2,5
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Tribal Court/State Court initiative re-invigorated
Forum meetings to be held on reservations will now be open to the public
By Julie Shortridge
Voice of the People
After a nearly a two-year hiatus,
during which time its existence and
purpose was re-evaluated, the State
Court/Tribal Court committee met
Nov. 19 at the Minnesota Judicial
Center in St. Paul.
Unfortunately, Press/ON received
a state Supreme Court memorandum
announcing the meeting the day
after we went to press Aast week, so
we were unable to provide notice in
the newspaper.
The state and tribal portions ofthe
previous State Court/Tribal Court
Joint Committee had been meeting
separately after their split the Winter
of 1998. The split occurred after its
founder and Chair, former Minnesota
Supreme Court Justice Sandra
Gardebring, left her judgeship to take
a job as a vice president ofthe
University ofMinnesota.
Gardening's Joint Committee had
held its first meeting in July 1997.
Minnesota Supreme Court Justice
Stringer explained in a phone
interview that this split ofthe rw.a
committees is because of "different
cultural ways of organizing a
committee and holding meetings.
The state process is very traditional
in that a chair is appointed, a
committee is appointed, and
meetings are held with an agenda,
etc.," said Stringer. "The tribal
process is different. They are less
structured, and don't like to pick
committee chairs or be as structured
about who's on the committee.
That's what I was told."
"There was some concern about
whether the state court had the
authority to proceed with the
committee, or if it should instead be a
Legislative effort, and there was
concern that the state court may one
day hear a case related to the issues
the committee was discussing," said
a state court spokesperson, when
asked by this reporter in September
web page: www.press-on.net
_j
Five members of the State Court/Tribal Court Forum at a Nov. 19 meeting at
the Minnesota Judicial Center, (left to right) Judge James Clifford, Kathleen
Kamowski, Judge Robert Walker, Judge Robert Blaeser, Lenore Scheffler.
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what led to the split.
Group restructured, but changed
little
Renamed the State Court/Tribal
Court Forum, 29 judges and
advocates in state and tribal courts
— which is half of the total
membership in the Forum — met to
rekindle their previous efforts of
working together.
This was the new Forum's first
meeting. Stringer gave an
introduction in which he summarized
the Forum's re-focus. "It is now
restructured. It started out as
something on a much broader scale,"
said Stringer. Stringer is a "liaison"
to the committee and Forum, but
does not serve on either, and did not
stay for the meeting.
Because of a potential conflict of
interest, no state Supreme Court
justices will serve on the committee
or Forum anymore. Stringer said the
potential conflict comes in that, "full
faith and credit and other procedural
matters related to how each court
treats the court orders of the other"
may come before the state Supreme
Court for a ruling.
The State Court/Tribal Court
initiative appears to have changed
in structure and name, but not
purpose and content. The state
court committee and tribal court
committee exist individually, and
meet jointly in what's called a forum.
The state court committee
consists of state court judges and
administrators. The tribal court
committee used to consist of tribal
court judges and administrators, but
now also has a representative from
two large international law firms   "
based in Minneapolis that have
tribes as clients.
Attorney Vanya Hogen-Kind of
Faegre and Benson law firm used to
be the court administrator for
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux court
system. "I was asked to stay on the
tribal committee by Judge
Schumacher and the tribal court
association," said Hogen-Kind.
Facgrc and Benson represents
Grand Portage and the Shakopee
Mdewakaton Sioux Community.
Lenore Scheffler of Dorsey and
Whitney law firm used to be general
council for Prairie Island Sioux
TRIBAL COURT to pg. 6
Founded in 1988
Volume 12 Issue 7
November 26,1999
A weekly publication.      Copyright, Native American Press, 1999
1
Spending bill includes 10 percent hike for Indian programs
By Matt Kelley
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -American
Indian programs in the Interior
Department will get a 10 percent
increase in funding under a spending
bill approved Friday by the Senate,
Bureau oflndian Affairs head Kevin
Gover said.
The increase includes a $20 million
hike in funding for reservation police
and a $46 million increase in the
budget for construction of schools
and other buildings.
"It's a budget that hopefully marks
a real turning point," Gover said
Friday. "The needs in Indian
Country are so great that a 10
percent increase is not going to turn
things around, but it's a start."
The funding for the BIA and the
separate office that handles Indian
trust accounts is part of a $390
billion spending package the Senate
approved 74-24 Friday. The measure
now goes to President Clinton, who
has said he would sign it.
The large increase is a departure
from recent years, when Congress
cut the agency's budget or provided
only modest increases.
"We pretty much got what we
wanted, and I can't remember that
happening," BIA spokesman Rex
Hackler said.
Gover said the agency's efforts to
improve its image in Congress are
working. The BIA has long been
regarded by both Congress and
Indians as poorly managed and
inefficient.
"We're beginning to reestablish
the credibility ofthe agency in terms
of management style, management
structure," Gover said. "The
Congress is getting more
comfortable about giving the BIA
money."
The spending measure includes
funding to build three new schools:
Seba Dalkai and Shiprock on the
Navajo reservation and on the Fond
du Lac Chippewa reservation in
Minnesota, Gover said. A years-long
backlog in maintenance and
construction funding means that 60
BIA schools need to be replaced,
Gover said.
"We're working to get six or seven
schools replaced next year," Gover
said.
This year's increase for
reservation police, coupled with past
increases, have dramatically
expanded law enforcement in Indian
Country, Gover said. Many
reservations have been plagued by
rising crime rates, particularly
offenses related to gangs and
juvenilecriminals.
"Including what the Justice
Department is doing, we've really
more than doubled the law
enforcement presence on
reservations in two years," Gover
said.
Tribes, unions clash
over wage
provisions in
reservation housing
By Matt Kelley
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -American
Indian housing advocates wrangled
with union leaders over a bill that
would exempt some tribal home-
building projects from paying union-
level wages.
The wage provision adds 10 percent
to the cost of reservation housing
developments and funnel jobs to non-
Indian union members, said
Christopher Boesen ofthe National
Indian Housing Council. Labor leaders
argue the wage laws would help boost
reservation economies and ensure
workers are paid fairly.
As Congress moved closer
Thursday to wrapping up business for
the year, Boesen and union officials
met to try to salvage the Indian
housing bill, which was on hold in the
Senate.
The measure, sponsored by
Chairman Ben N ighthorse Campbell of
the Senate Indian Affairs Committee,
makes several technical changes to a
CLASH to pg. 8
Court rejects $25 million verdict,
says Indian court lacked
jurisdiction
By Bob Egelko
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal
appellate court has found a tribal
court in Montana lacked authority to
hear a lawsuit against a railroad for a
fatal crash on an Indian reservation
and to award $25 million in damages.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruling was the latest in a
series of decisions narrowing Indian
courts' jurisdiction over non-Indians.
It follows a 1997 decision by the
U.S. Supreme Court denying a tribal
court jurisdiction»over non-members
on a highway right-of-way within the
reservation.
The rulings do not prohibit Indians
from suing in other courts for the
same injuries. But they diminish tribal
sovereignty, said attorney Keith
Harper ofthe Native American Rights
Fund. '
"It's important that you have
jurisdiction in tribal courts because
the judges are coming from a similar
cultural framework as the people who
are litigating," he said. "There should
be an expectation for all those who go
1 on tribal land that the judges are
going to enforce laws based on how
they see the world."
John C. Hoyt, a lawyer for families
ofthe crash victims, was indignant.
"The 9th Circuit doesn't like
Indians," he said. "The courts are
permitting the rape ofthe Indians by
the railroad."
Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Corp., the railroad's parent company,
believed the original trial before a
tribal jury was unfair and the verdict
was unjustified, spokesman Richard
Russack said.
A Burlington Northern Railroad
train hit a car at a rural crossing south
of Lodge Grass in November 1993.
Regina Bull Tail, 17, the driver ofthe
car, and her mother, Beverly Red
Wolf, 54, were killed.
Hoyt said the train did not brake or
sound its horn before hitting the
stalled car. The railroad said the
crossing was marked and guarded by
crossing arms and had been accident-
free for 50 years. The company also
said the train's speed of 41 mph was
well below the limit and that Ms. Bull
Tail was drunk.
$25M VERDICT to pg. 6
Misty Blue succeeding against the odds
Bj Gary Blair
With many of Minnesota's
Native American students
failing in school, and Indian
alternative schools not fairing any
better, there is at least one Indian
student who has obtained academic
excellence in spite ofthe dismal
statistics.
For 12-ycar-old Misty Blue, a
seventh grader at Edgewood Middle
School in Mounds View. Minnesota's
gloomy test scores for Indian
students don't pertain to her. Blue has
been on that school district's
academic honor-roll since she's been
in the fourth grade, and received a
"Student ofthe Month" award in
October. She was also at the head of
her class for the first three years when
she attended the Four Winds Indian
Magnet School in south Minneapolis.
In the past, because of her modesty
and non-bragging nature, Blue hasn't
wanted to be interviewed about her
achievements. At first when
approached for an interview, Blue
would say that she didn't want people
knowing about her. But, when told
that being a straight-A student was
bound to bring her attention, sooner
or later, she decided to talk.
"When we first moved to Mounds
View and I attended Pine Wood
elementary school I was just an
average student—so I had to try
harder. Then I learned that I was on
the school's honor-roll. 1 liked being
there" Blue said this week.
When asked what motivates her,
she had this to say. "Well my mother
expects me to get good grades. She got good grades when she was going to school. All of my friends get good
grades. And, my teachers want me to get good grades, so I have to get them. When I take a class and the subject
isn't something that challenges me, I drop it and take something that is challenging—so I won't be bored," Blue
explained
Blue says she plans to try to win an academic scholarship to one ofthe better law schools in the country. "I plan
to be a lawyer. And I'm taking Spanish right now. I took Ojibwe at the Four Winds School," she added.
Blue is the eldest of daughter of Kim Ellis ofthe White Earth reservation and Mark Blue ofthe Lower Sioux
MISTY BLUE to pg. 8
Sisters Crystal and Misty Blue with their first cousing Ashley Bellanger
at the White Earth Pow-wow in June.
Indians' lawyers to seek second
contempt finding against Babbitt
By Matt Kelley
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP)- After
finding records piled in a "garbage
heap" on a North Dakota
reservation, lawyers for a group of
American Indians returned to federal
court vowing to ask a judge to once
again hold Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt in contempt.
"Bring it on," a lawyer
representing the Interior Department
responded Friday.
U.S. District Judge Royce
Lamberth had held Babbitt and two
other federal officials in contempt
earlier this year for failing to turn
over documents in the Indian trust
fund case. He ordered the federal
government to pay more than
$600,000 in fees to the Indians'
lawyers.
The Indians are suing over
mismanagement of more than
300,000 trust accounts for individual
Indians worth more than $500
million. Both sides agree the
accounts have been mismanaged for
decades- suffering from
inconsistent or nonexistent record
keeping, poor investment choices
and lax oversight. The Indians argue
that mismanagement has cost them
billions of dollars in lost revenue.
A court-appointed watchdog in
the case discovered piles of
documents stashed in a shed during a
Nov. 1 visit to the Bureau oflndian
Affairs office at the Sprit Lake Sioux
reservation in North Dakota. The
supervisor of that office had insisted
that all records were stored in the
main office, but a secretary told the
investigator about the shed.
"These documents were maintained
in deplorable condition amidst
gasoline canisters, tires, machinery
and other debris," Alan Balaran, the
watchdog, wrote in a report to
Lamberth last week.
Balaran said he was disturbed by
the BIA's "callous disregard for these
records" and its "duplicitous denial"
that they were in the shed.
Lawyers for the Indians told
Lamberth Friday that the Interior
Department and its lawyers cannot be
trusted to keep and turn over
documents, even after the contempt
citations against Babbitt, BIA head
Kevin Gover and then-Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin.
"We seem to be in the same
situation as before, where the orders
of this court are not being complied
with," said Dennis Gingold, a lawyer
for the Indians. "They have a new
team of lawyers, but nothing's
changed."
Justice Department lawyers
representing the Interior Department
BABBITT to pg. 6
House passes bill
to let tribes run
health programs
By Matt Kelley
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP)-American
Indian tribes could permanently take
over management of some federal
health care programs under a House
bill. -
Tribes could run hospitals, clinics,
prevention efforts and other programs
now overseen by the Indian Health
Service under the measure, approved
by voice vote Wednesday. Currently,
some tribes manage health care
programs under a "demonstration
project" that includes 46 compacts
involving 267 ofthe 558 tribes in the
United States.
The bill would make that project
permanent and let up to 50 tribes a
year take over management of health
care programs from the IHS. Those
tribes would have to show they have
the financial and management skills to
run the programs effectively, and the
IHS could take a program back if a
tribe seriously mismanaged it or
endangered public health.
The demonstration project has been
a success, said Michael Mahsetky,
the IHS' director of legislative and
congressional affairs.
Tribes "are in fact providing a
higher level and a higher quality of
HEALTH BILL to pg. 6