Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-10-01

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White Earth man
found guilty of
murder
Pg.6
Leech Lake
activist to
challenge state
hunting, fishing
agreement
pg-l
Discussion
continues about
Anna Mae
Aquash's murder
pg.4-5
Feds give six
Minnesota tribes
$1.4 million for
tribal police
Pg.l
New mural
depicts true
legend of 1894
Hinckleyfire
pg- X 8
Buckanaga/
Vizenor
mismanagement
of Pine Point
School increasing
pg-4
Feds give six
MN tribes
$1.4 million
for tribal
police
Six Chippewa bands in MN were
awarded $ 1.4 million in federal grants
for hiring full-time police officers,
training and equipment.
Bois Forte will get $ 117,939, Fond
duLac$95,676,LeechLake$131,844,
MilleLacs$286,512,andRedLake
$260,918, and White Earth $489,663.
White plans to hire two new tribal
officers, Bois Forte one, and Red
Lake three, one each for Red Lake's
elementary, middle and high schools.
Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain
Band of Chippewa in N.D. were also
awarded $760,000 to help them hire
officers - three for Spirit Lake and
two for Turtle Mountain. They also
received additional funds for training
and equipment.
The money is part of $25 million in
grants the federal Justice Department
gave to tribes in 26 states Sept. 23
for Community Oriented Policing
Services. The grants will add 142
officers to 137 tribal law enforcement
agencies.
White Earth Secretary-
Treasurer Vizenor to join
Gov. Ventura at Harvard
By JULIE SHORTRIDGE
Editor
Gov. Ventura is taking a
trip East, including a stop at
Harvard University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
on Wed., Oct. 6. He will meet ^
with college undergraduates,
with faculty to discuss
economic and budget issues,     Gov.
and participate in a Town
Meeting to be aired on MSNBC live
from the Harvard campus.
Accompanying Gov. Ventura
during the Harvard portion ofthe
trip, but traveling at tribal, not state,
expense, will be Dr. Erma J. Vizenor,
Secretary/Treasurer of the White
Earth Tribal Council.
At one time Vizenor's sister Dr.
Helen Klassen, Director of Education
ofthe White Earth Tribal and
Community College, was also going
to attend, but she has since declined
due to conflicts in her schedule.
Both Vizenor and Klassen received
their Ph.D.s from Harvard.
According to the Mpls. Star
Tribune, Ventura met Vizenor and
Klassen at a "Get Acquainted"
meeting with tribal leaders on Aug.
23 at the Governor's Residence, and
Voice ofthe People
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Jesse Ventura
when he found out they were
Harvard graduates, he invited them
on the trip.
But Klassen was not listed as one
ofthe attendees ofthe Aug. 23 rd
meeting, which included only Indian
Affairs Council (IAC) members, plus
Vizenor who is not on the IAC but
has a lot of influence on the White
Earth Reservation.
In any case, the two at some point
was invited, and Vizenor will in fact
be going. The Governor's
spokesperson John Wodele was
quoted in a White Earth press
release as saying "...the governor
thought it would be interesting to
take someone like that from
Minnesota with him."
Red Lake buys Sunset Lodge resort
"Sunset Lodge has been
purchased by the Red Lake tribe,"
Tina Rennemo,Kellihercity clerk-
treasurer, told about 40 officials from
cities around the region at a League
ofMinnesota Cities regional meeting
Sept. 28 in Bemidji. "There has been
no stated purpose yet, but we've
been told it will not be a casino."
The Upper Red Lake economy has
folded in recent years with the
decline of walleye fishing, forcing the
closure of resorts and businesses.
This year, however, the Red Lake
Band, the state Department of
Natural Resources and the U.S.
Bureau oflndian Affairs
collaborated on a restocking
program for Lower and Upper Red
lakes, with a moratorium on walleye
fishing until the fishery recovers.
Meanwhile, Rennemo said the
Upper Red Lake Association has
been revitalized and members arc
actively seeking alternatives. One
may be a Big Bog Interpretive Center
and Recreation Area to draw visitors
to the area.
Ultimately, local officials want to
rebuild a resort economy when the
Native
American
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walleye recovers. Until them, crappie
fishing may be promoted.
"There is a building now for a
combination restaurant and bar,"
Rennemo said, "so we hope the tribe
re-opens the resort."
Red Lake Tribal Chairman Bobby
Whitefeather has said that the band
is looking at promoting a
sportfishing industry on Red Lake,
rather than a return to commercial
fishing once the moratorium is
lifted....
[Excerpted from an article by Brad
Swanson in the Bemidji Pioneer.]
Leech Lake activist to challenge state
hunting, fishing agreement
By JEFF ARMSTRONG
StajfWriter
A subsistence fisherman and
political activist on Leech Lake is
preparing a legal challenge to
reservation and state charges
respectively of fishing with an
oversized net and disorderly
conduct.
Leech Lake DNR officers
confiscated nets and a canoe
belonging to Franklin (Doc) LaRose
on Aug. 16 for violating the
reservation conservation code.
When LaRose and a friend, John
Jones, went to the conservation
office to demand their return, a
confrontation ensued with Jon Finn.
Jones says he was arrested by Cass
County deputies on second degree
assault charges but released on
personal recognizance 36 hours later
with fifth degree assault and
disorderly conduct charges.
Scheduled for a Nov. 2 pretrial
hearing before chief judge Margaret
Treuer, LaRose says he will challenge
the constitutionality ofthe tribal
court itself and a 1972 agreement
between Leech Lake and the state of
Minnesota. Under the agreement, the
Reservation Business Committee
receives nearly $2 million a year from
the state in return for limiting the
exercise of federally upheld on-
reservation treaty rights.
"They're restricting people's rights
because they're getting paid by the
state ofMinnesota to do it," said
LaRose. "They say they're regulating
the resources, but they're not
regulating the dams to protect the
wild rice. They're not regulating the
logging. They don't have any
environmental regulations at all.
They're not regulating a resource,
they're regulating a people," he said,
pointing to wording in the
conservation code limiting its
application to "Indians."
LaRose contends that the RBC had
no constitutional authority to enter
into the agreement without the
approval ofthe people or to establish
laws and a court to enforce it.
"If we held a constitutional
convention to give them that
authority with a system of checks
and balances, that would be one
thing," said LaRose. "But they want
to govern the people without the
ACTIVIST to pg. 8
American Indian conference hopes to
improve Census 2000 count
ByKARENL.SHAW
Associated Press Writer
TAMPA, Fla.
From a revamped Census 2000
logo with allusions to the "circle of
life" to job-recruiting efforts
targeting American Indians on
reservations, the U.S. Census Bureau
is stepping up efforts to help ensure
the group is accurately included in
the next population count.
American Indians on reservations
were the most undercounted people
during 1990's census, depriving
them of representation and resources
that affect almost every aspect of
their lives, census officials said
Monday.
A Tribal Governments Conference,
scheduled today, invited
representatives from 100 state-
recognized tribes nationwide to help
solve that problem, said Sydnee
Chattin-Reynolds, manager of the
Census Bureau's American Indian/
AlaskaNative Program.
The meeting, which follows a
series of 10 conferences nationwide
forfederally recognized tribes, will
inform the representatives why
getting an accurate count is
important and ask for their help in
better reaching tribal members.
Already in place are video tapes
featuring tribal leaders - and greater
cultural sensitivity.
"This will be the census that takes
us into the next millennium," said
James Holmes, the Census Bureau's
Atlanta Regional Director.'' If we
don't get it right this time, there will
be enormous penalties."
Census data are used to help
distribute about $200 billion annually
in federal funds for transportation,
schools, health care, housing,
economic development, job training
and other programs, Holmes said.
Tribes not recognized by state or
federal governments also were
invited, as were urban organizations
like hospitals and homeless shelters
that serve American Indians living
outside reservations, officials said.
American Indians were
undercounted by 12.2 percent, or
174,000 people, on reservations, and
by 4.3 percent on and off
reservations. It cost them millions in
funding, Chattin-Reynolds said.
To ensure that doesn't happen again
the Census Bureau implemented
some firsts.
Two feathers encircle the words
United States Census 2000 - forming
a new look for the never-before-
altered Census logo. The graphic,
reminiscent ofthe "circle of life"
important to many native peoples,
symbolizes the bureau's commitment
to reaching American Indians,
Chattin-Reynolds said.
The bureau also expects to hire
8,000 people to help distribute
census forms for the 2000 count,
scheduled to start in April.
"On an American Indian reservation,
clearly we would want to hire people
from the local community," Holmes
said.
The bureau also has implemented
for the first time a commercial
advertising campaign. New York
City-based Young & Rubicam Inc.
was hired as the lead agency, and it
contracted four minority advertising
firms to develop targeted
advertisements for American
Indians, Asians, African Americans
and Hispanics. The nationwide
campaign costs $ 166 mil lion, Holmes
said.
Robert Pedro Beaulieu wth his daughter and her children. Robert is Grandma McDonald's grandson. They attended the
unveiling of the new outdoor mural in Hinckley, Minn, in commemoration of the 1894 Hinckley fire. Photo: Gary Blair
New mural depicts true legend of the
1894 Hinckley fire
"Grandma McDonald" saved lives, Grossed cultures
By GARY BLAIR
StajfWriter
The Hinckley, Minnesota fire of
1894 could have remained just
another tragedy from long ago if it
hadn'tbeen for45-year-old premier
Native American artist Steve Premo
from the Mille Lacs Lake reservation.
The Hinckley fire was one ofthe
worst in history, and many stories
have been documented telling just
how horribly the tremendous blaze
was. Accounts say there were both
human and animal remains scattered
all over the five county area after the
fire had passed, even though the
blaze had lasted just 4 hours.
On Sept. 29 Premo unveiled his
painted mural in Hinckley depicting
one Indian woman and one white
woman as they shield one of their
own children and one ofthe other's
from the fire that surrounded them
near a lake shore. It's image depicts a
true story.
The story goes that a young
Indian woman in her early 20's by
the name of Black Feather Woman,
or Mah-kah-day-gwon, who was
married to a white lumberman named
Alexander Duncan McDonald, had
assisted a white mother and her two
children to safety across Grindstone
Lake during the fire. Mah-kah-day-
gwon had two of her children with
her in a canoe at the time ofthe
rescue. The white woman, Mary
Ellen Patrick, whose husband was a
lumber inspector had attempted to
cross the lake in a lumber camp boat
with her two children and was
having difficulty finding her way
through the heavy smoke when
Mah-kah-day-gwon showed-up to
help her.
Mah-kah-day-gwon took Mary
Ellen Patrick and her two children in
for the night and offered to feed
them. It's not known what happened
to the two women and the children
immediately after the fire, other than
that they all survived and Mah-kah-
day-gwon later became known as
Katherine or Katie McDonald who
moved to Duane, Minnesota on the
White Earth reservation. Mr.
McDonald later became the town's
HINCKLEY to pg. 8
Restocking effort on Red Lake looks
like it's working
REDLAKE,Minn.(AP)
Upper and Lower Red lakes may
again take their place among the
state's top walleye fishing spots, as
a massive restocking program shows
signs of success.
Fisheries assessments to measure
the strength of last spring's walleye
crop - known in biological terms as
young-of-the-year fish - delivered
that preliminary verdict recently.
.  "There's a lot of cause for
optimism," said Dave Conner, a
fisheries biologist for the Red Lake
Band of Chippewa Indians. "It's
highly likely that a significant
portion of those young-of-the-year
walleyes were a result of stocking."
Red Lake's walleye population
collapsed in the mid-'90s after years
of commercial and sportfishing.
federal, state and tribal officials
signed an agreement this year
halting walleye fishing while
restocking the walleye population.
As part ofthe Red Lake Recovery
Program, a joint effort between the
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
and the Department of Natural
Resources, fisheries crews in May
stocked the big lake's two basins
with more than 40 million mosquito-
sized walleye fry.
The most revealing results came
from a July survey when crews
combed the shoreline with tiny nets
to capture young-of-the-year
walleyes.
On the band's part ofthe lake, the
average catch rate was 56 walleyes
per lift ofthe net. The previous high,
dating back to the first year ofthe
band's walleye-monitoring program
in 1987, was five walleyes per lift in
1989,Connersaid.
Ten walleyes per lift had been the
goal entering the stocking program,
Conner said.
"You have to speak cautiously,
but the numbers of young-of-the-
year walleye we're seeing indicate
the strongest year class in about 15
years," he said.
Conner says biologists won't
know how much ofthe increase
resulted from stocking until they
examine a large sample ofthe young
fish under a microscope. The fry
stocked last spring were immersed in
a solution of oxytetracycline, a
chemical that leaves a visible mark in
the bones when viewed under a
microscope.
That mark will allow biologists to
determine the ratio of stocked
(marked) walleyes to naturally-
produced (unmarked) walleyes.
Now that a large share ofthe
stocked walleyes have survived
stocking, Conner said they face
another challenge with the approach
ofwinter.
Small, undernourished walleye
often won't survive the winter. But
there is reason to be optimistic,
Conner said, because many ofthe
young-of-the-year walleyes now are
6 inches long - and still growing.
"We're getting indications they're
at the size where they're going to be
able to store enough energy to make
it through the winter," Conner said.
"And they still have a good six or
seven weeks of growth."
Officials have estimated it will take
eight to 10 years before walleye may
again be harvested from the lake.