Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-09-10

              Drug Arrests
Increasing on
White Earth
Reservation
pg-1
ShelbySteele
speaks to
Minneapolis
audience on race
pg-5
Commentary
White Earth
Executive Director
critical of Blair's
reporting
pg-4
Commentary
Blair responds to
White Earth
Executive Director's
criticism
Pg.4
Commentary
A newspaper
conjures up hate,
anti-Indian
rhetoric
pg-4
Commentary
Indians will never
breakdependency
by seeking special
treatment
Pg-4
Dancer protests expulsion from Leech
Lake pow-wow
By JEFF ARMSTRONG
Staff Writer
A non-Native traditional dancer
charged Leech Lake security with
forcibly expelling him from the
reservation's Labor Day pow-wow
Sept. 3 based on what he claims are
false accusations.
Bemidji man Mark Hardin, a dancer
at pow-wows throughout the
country for the past eight years,
says he was approached by a man
identifying himself as head of
security and brusquely escorted
from the grounds without
explanation under threat of arrest.
"I was given no opportunity to say
one word on my behalf to anybody.
He just grabbed me and basically
pushed me out of there. He took my
arm and threatened me if I tried to
walk in there and talk to anybody,
they would call the Sheriff on me,"
said Hardin. "They didn't say
anything to me. They just asked for
my license and told me to leave."
Hardin said his protests were met
with what seems to have become the
standard refrain of reservation
security forces: "I was told that, no, I
don't have any rights because I was
on Leech Lake property," said
Hardin.
According to Hardin, he learned
upon inquiries from his friends that
the pow-wow committee ordered his
expulsion due to allegations that he
is a registered sex offender—charges
Hardin says are patently false.
"I've been convicted of nothing in
my life," Hardin said. "I am under no
legal restrictions of any kind."
Hardin acknowledged being
charged in Beltrami County Court
with lewd and lascivious behavior
involving a young boy. Although he
vehemently maintains his innocence,
Hardin says he accepted a plea
agreement in which he would
continue to assert his innocence and
the court would dismiss charges
after two years probation.
The primary caretaker of an 11 -
year-old boy from Red Lake, Hardin
says he accepted the plea due to
what he termed threats from the state
and to spare the alleged victim
further embarrassment.
"The original charge was a gross
misdemeanoruntil they realized I was
not going to accept a guilty plea,"
EXPULSION to pg. 8
Red Lake, Leech Lake tribal council
meet, discuss common challenges
By DEVLYN BROOKS
Bemidji Pioneer, Sept. 9
RED LAKE - Unemployment.
Alcohol abuse. Lack of a trained
workforce. Housing shortages.
The Red Lake and Leech Lake tribal
councils discovered Wednesday
[Sept. 8] they have many common
challenges, and yet good things are
happening on both reservations.
The two bodies met at the Red
Lake headquarters for the first time in
more than 20 years to solidify a
relationship that leaders from both
tribes said is long over due.
The two tribes talked about social
issues concerning both, such as
alcohol use, the welfare program and
unemployment.
But they also talked about positive
things as well - Red Lake's
expansion of its River Road Casino
in Thief river Falls, the recent
passing of a Leech Lake referendum
to build a new Northern Lights
Casino in Walker and Red Lake's
successful ventures into tribally
owned businesses.
"Our common bond is that we are
all Anishinabe," Red Lake Tribal
Chairman Bobby Whitefeather said
at a morning ceremony on the
southern shores ofthe powerful
Lower Red Lake. "Even though we
are separated by distance, we have
many common bonds. Our language
will bind us together always."
After the morning pipe ceremony
both councils adjourned to the Red
Lake Tribal headquarters where for
nearly four hours they talked issues,
joked and agreed they should meet
again and often.
The bigger concern mentioned by
both tribes was economic
development with all its facets -
unemployment, gaming issues and
lack of economic diversity.
Leech Lake council members asked
about Red Lake's expansion in Thief
River and Red Lake councilors asked
about Leech Lake's recent narrow
approval of their casino project.
But the talk also turned to the need
to diversify the tribe's economies -
to create jobs outside gaming. Leech
Lake Chairman Eli Huntsaid he
hopes to use his tribe's gaming
proceeds to create jobs in each of
the three Leech Lake Reservation
districts.
"It's frustrating as chairmen to look
around and see unmet needs on the
reservation," he said. "As elected
leaders we are discovering that
federal and state appropriations are
not meeting our needs."
He said the two greatest road
blocks to employing more people are
RED LAKE to pg. 8
Tribe moving forward with proposed
state-of-the-art jail in northern Minnesota
ByCOLESHORT
The Forum - Sept. 2
The White Earth Band of Chippewa
is forging ahead with plans for a
state-of-the-art regional jail in northwestern Minnesota.
"We're going full steam ahead on
this," said Capt. Rusty Pavey ofthe
Tribal Pol ice Department.
Still in the planning stages, the
multipurpose, medium-securityjail
would house up to 400 inmates and
cost$35to$38 million.
The facility most likely would be
built on 160 acres the tribe owns
seven miles east of Mahnomen on
County Road 200.
The tribe recently received two
state grants totaling $ 135,000 for
planning and designing of the jail.
The group is also boasting a recent
architectural drawing ofthe facility,
which would house drug, alcohol
and other rehabilitative programming
for adult and juvenile offenders.
"This is like nothing that has been
built before," said project organizer
MonteHammittofBemidji, Minn.-
based Cloud Hammitt & Associates.
"This is not another slammer. This
will be a benchmark... in the corrections industry."
Thejail campus would have separate areas for male, female, adult and
juvenile offenders.
Upon entering, inmates would receive a psychological and employment evaluation. "Prisoners won't be
just lying on a bunk, they'll be hitting treatment programs right away,"
Pavey said.
Inmates would have to attend eight
hours of in-house programs a day.
including health, recreation and
counseling services from anger and
behavior management to courses in
self-esteem and life skills.
Addiction treatment for pregnant
women and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
care would be provided, too.
A courtroom may be added to
eliminate the need for the costly
transport of inmates to court hearings. On-site videoconferencing
could cut costs further.
Jail supervisors will stress rehabilitation in an attempt to return responsible, productive citizens to their
communities, Pavey said.
"We'll promote both the culture
and the spirit," he said.
JAIL to pg. 6
New proposal considered in Indian
casino negotiation
By BRENDAN RDLEY
Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Tribal leaders
are considering a new Indian gambling proposal from Gov. Gray Davis
- but even he agrees there are
hurdles blocking a compromise.
"Whether we can get done between now and the end of Friday
remains to be seen," a cautious
Davis said a few hours before his
negotiators delivered a 35-page
document to the tribes on Tuesday.
One problem is that the latest
plan, while a revision from an earlier
proposal that some tribes wouldn't
support, apparently has limits on
slots and union protections. Similar
provisions caused problems for
Davis'earlierplan.
There's also disagreement among
the tribes. And critics who oppose
expanded Indian gambling are sniping over the entire process.
The Legislature adjourns for the
year Friday. If there's no compact
with the tribes by then, some Indian
casinos could be shut down by Oct.
13 under a federal court order.
That would be fine with critics,
including a group called Stand Up
for California that wants a federal
grand jury probe into tribal campaign
contributions to state lawmakers.
Indian leaders called the critics
tools of powerful Nevada casino interests who would love to see tribal
casinos close.
Representatives of more than 30
tribes returned here for a second
week of deal-making with Davis and
lawmakers. But some also moved
ahead with their own ballot proposal
to counter last month's state Supreme Court decision striking down
Proposition 5, a 1998 voter-approved
measure that allowed a major expansion of Indian-run gambling.
The justices said the initiative
was unconstitutional because it
sought to permit the type of Nevada-
style gambling prohibited by a 1984
amendment to the state constitution.
The Indians' new ballot proposal
would change the constitution to
allow such games at tribal casinos.
It's being pushed by Richard
Milanovich, chairman ofthe Agua
Caliente Band, which has a big casino in Palm Springs.
Boxes of signatures were turned
in Tuesday to the voter registrar in
Los Angeles to start qualifying the
plan for the March 2000 ballot _ despite Davis' efforts to scrap that proposal and go with one of two ballot
questions moving through the Legislature.
Mark Macarro, tribal chairman of
the Pechanga Band in Temecula, said
a deal with the governor would be
best. That would include a compact
with Davis plus another ballot proposal by Senate leader John Burton,
D-San Francisco.
Burton's proposed constitutional
amendment would give tribes a monopoly on casinos and roughly
double the number of slot machines
to more than 30,000.
Macarro said there's a need for
"some semblance of certainty" that
the Indian casinos can stay open
pending the outcome of March balloting.
"I know that a compact with the
governor together with Burton's
(plan) provides us that semblance,"
said Macarro, adding that another
proposal presented Tuesday to the
tribes by Sen. Richard Polanco "does
not provide the certainty we need."
Polanco's proposal, like the
tribes' ballot initiative, would rewrite
Proposition 5 to get around the constitutional challenges.
Milanovich said Burton's proposal is tied to an objectionable compact proposed by Burton and Davis
that would limit slot machines, let
casino workers unionize and require
tribes to share gambling revenue
NEGOTIATION to pg. 8
Voice ofthe People
1
web page: www.press-on.net
Native
American
Pressk
hwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988 Volume 11 Issue 48
September 10, 1999
A weekly publication.      Copyright, Native American Press, 1999
1
Press/ON publisher Bill Lawrence and award-winning author on race issues Shelby
Steele, after a dinner Sept. 7, sponsored by the Center for the American Experiment at
the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Minneapolis, where Steele gave a thought-provoking speech.
Drug arrests increasing on White Earth
reservation
Head of tribal security arrested September 8
By GARY BLAIR
Stall Wntvr
For more than a week now, Becker
and Mahnomen County law-
enforcement officers have been
making drug-busts on the drug
infested White Earth reservation.
In Becker County's portion of the
reservation, the raids are being
conducted in the community of
White Earth by the Sheriffs
department. In Mahnomen County
the town of Naytawaush is seeing
action from deputies and the newly
formed reservation police force
which claims to have authority under
a law-enforcement agreement with
that county.
However, sources say, the raids
are expected to have little impact on
White Earth's drug problems.
"It's easier to tell you who
doesn't sell drugs around here, than
it is to tell you who does," a source
in the town of White Earth said this
week, suggesting that the list of drug
sellers on the reservation is long.
The drug problem at White Earth
has become so noticeable, that store
owners know when a new shipment
of marijuana has hit the reservation;
their sales of Zig Zag rolling paper
increases.
So far. the arrests have involved
marijuana dealers and the more open
and visible drug dealers. In the town
of White Earth, some residents say,
"We're waiting for them to arrest the
drug dealers who work for the tribal
council."
Another source reported the
arrest by Mahnomen County
deputies of Orval "Casper" Bower,
the White Earth tribal council's head
of security who was hired to protect
the reservation's headquarters after
takeover attempts were made in July
ofl998.
Bower was picked up by
Mahnomen County authorities and
placed in the Becker County jail on
the evening of Sept. 8 for a 3rd degree
controlled substance charge, and
remains in custody because his most
recent criminal activity violates his
probation. Prior to this most recent
incarceration. Bower had recently
been released from the Duluth
workhouse after serving six months
for an assault in Mahnomen County
that involved punching his 18-
month-old baby and his then
girlfriend, now wife.
Dakota, Minnesota senators seek
increased funds for tribal colleges
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Cal 1 ing tribal
colleges "grossly and chronically
underfunded," Sen. Tim Johnson of
South Dakota is trying to get them
an additional $6.4 million when the
Senate takes up the Interior Department bill this week.
Johnson, a Democrat, has signed
up Democrats and Republicans from
the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana,
Nebraska, Colorado,New Mexico
and Arizona as cosponsors ofhis
amendment. It would restore most of
the $7.1 million increase requested
by the Clinton administration, raising
the annual federal contribution to
about$38 million. The additional
funds were eliminated by the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
"As I go through the state, it
strikes me that improving the quality
of education is one ofthe most im-,
portant strategies we can take to address the levels of poverty and de
spair that exist in South Dakota,"
Johnson said. "We've got to empower individual Native Americans
to take control of their own lives."
The full Senate was due to take up
the Department of Interior Budget
today and is likely to vote on
Johnson's amendment in the next
couple of weeks.
Most ofthe nation's 31 tribal colleges, which serve about 25,000 students, are funded by the Interior Department. Five ofthe schools are in
North Dakota, four in South Dakota,
and two in Minnesota.
The Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978
authorized Congress to spend $5,820
per student, but that figure has
dwindled in the last few years as enrollment has increased. If level-
funded, the per-student rate would
decrease to $2,700 next year from
$2,900 this year, said Ron McNeil,
president of Sitting Bull College in
Fort Yates, N.D.
"We're a victim of our own suc
cess," said McNeil, who is the great-
great-great-grandson of Chief Sitting
Bull. "As more and more students
graduate college, they become role
models. They're usually the first
generation to go to college."
McNeil said his college has already cut an academic crisis counselor position in next year's budget, in
anticipation of receiving no increase
from Congress. Students pay about
$ 1,900 a year in tuition, with the federal aid paying for things like faculty
salaries, infrastructure and counselor
positions, McNeil said.
Tribal colleges, mostly two-year
schools, rely exclusively on federal
funding, tuition revenue and private
grants. The average community college, by contrast, gets $4,600 in state
and local aid per student annually.
"Without increased appropriations, we're losing money each
year," said VeronicaGonzalez, executive director of the American Indian
Higher Education Consortium.
TRIBAL COLLEGES to pg. 8