Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2000-03-17

              INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
News Tidbits 3
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 6-7
SHF
Commentary
Writers sound off about Mille Lacs
County attorney's position on
reservation boundary
pg4
Commentary
Readers react
to denial of
candidates'
certification
pg4
83 candidates certified for
Minnesota ChippewaTribe
elections
pgi
f
New G.I. Joe doll
honors WWII
Navajo code
talkers
pg3
83 candidates
certified for
Minnesota
ChippewaTribe
elections
By Julie Shortridge
All Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
(MCT) bands - Bois Forte (Nett
Lake), Fond du Lac, Grand Portage,
Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and White
Earth — have now granted certification to the candidates listed below for the chairman and district
representative seats, up for election
this spring and summer in the MCT.
Filing deadline was March 6.
All positions are 4-year terms,
with elections staggered every two
years. The two winners ofthe
MCT's April 18th Primary Election
for each category will go on to June
13 General Election.
Former Leech Lake District III
representative Alfred "Tig"
Pemberton was denied certification
to run for Leech Lake Tribal Chair,
as was former White Earth chairman Darrell "Chip" Wadena. Tribal
council members identified past
felony theft and corruption conviction, while holding tribal office, as
their reasons for denying certification to Pemberton and Wadena.
The MCT has upheld the bands'
certification rulings. Both
Pemberton and Wadena are appealing their denials.
Red Lake, which is not part ofthe
MCT, will have elections this spring
and summer as well, with their candidate certification process in May.
Fond du Lac Band
Chairman: Kevin Dupuis, Sr.; Robert Martineau; Les Northrup; Jim
Northrup; Robert "Sonny" Peacock; Don E. Wissen.
District I. (Cloquet) Representative:
Carl "Jr." Abramowski; Ernest W.
Diver; Keith Diver Sr.; Julia
"Bunny" Jankola; Albert Joe
Martineau; Cynthia (Cindy)
McCloskey; Patty Petite; Clifton A.
Rabideaux: Bernard Roy.
District 111 (Brookstoni Representative: George Dupuis; Roger A.
Higbee; Bryan Jon Mackwaki:
Dawn LaPrairie Sutten.
Grand Portage Band
Chairman: Norman W. Deschampe;
June K. Evans.
Committee member: Darlene
LeGarde; Wallace M. Deschampe;
Lawrence T.P. Bushman; Kenneth
A. Sherer; Donna J. Anderson;
Dana R. Logan; Allan Deschampe.
Leech Lake Band
Chairman: Guy G. Cloud; Alfred
W. Fairbanks, Jr.; George
Goggleye, Jr.; Tony "Skin" Hare;
Eli Hunt; Bibsy Kingbird; David
Chief Morgan; Walter "Frank"
Reese; Jerry "Otto' Reyes; Martin
Robinson; Bonnie J. Rock Lenee D.
Ross.
District HI Representative: Robert
J. Budreau, Sr.; Emmanuel
Headbird; Fred K. Jackson. Jr.;
Delmer Jones (Junior); Arthur
"Archie" LaRose; Sally M.
Morrison; Richard Robinson, Jr.
Mille Lacs Band
ChiefExecutive: Maijorie (Marge)
Anderson; Melanie A. Banjamin;
Clifford K. Churchill; Timothy A.
Jackson; Mushkooub; Joseph L.
Nayquonabe; Larry Nickaboine;
Herb Weyaus.
District 1 Representative: Sandra L.
Blake; Reginald Garbow; Suzanne
Merrill; Arlene R. Weous; Kenneth
G. Weyaus Sr.; Eloise B. Wind.
Nett Lake (Bois Forte) Band
Chairman: Donald Chosa, Jr.; Gary
W. Donald; Mark E. Drift, Sr.;
Doris Isham; Kevin Leecy.
District I Representative: Shane G.
Drift; E. Curt Goodsky; Rosemary
King; Wendy Morrison; Ray E.
Villebrun, Sr.
White Earth Band
Chairman: Albert A. Bellecourt;
John B. Buckanaga; Doyle Turner;
Darrel "Boone" Wadena; Dean "Per
Cap" VanWert.
District 111 Representative: Ivy J.
Ailport; Harold O. Annette, Sr.;
Kenneth "Gus" Bevins; Albert L.
Brunner; Ralph "Bucky"
Goodman; Edward J. Miller, Sr.;
Marilyn E. Smith; Elmer "Gene"
Tibbetts.
White Earth leaders try to block
Wadena's return
WHITE EARTH, Minn. (AP) -
Tribal leaders are
trying to block
former White
Earth Chairman
Darrell "Chip"
Wadena from returning to politics
by refusing to certify his candidacy
for chairman in the
April 18 primary.
Council members Terrance
Burnette, Irene
Auginaush-Tumey
and Ralph
Goodman unanimously agreed
March 8 to bar Wadena from die race.
"The constituents 1 represent repeatedly said they did not want the
Tribal Council to let Wadena run for
chairman," Burnette said. "1 voted as
the voice ofthe people in my district."
"We have to do what is right and
just for all the people of White Earth,
our banking partners and business
vendors," explained District I Representative Irene Auginaush-Tumey. "I
thought ofthe scolding that would
come from elders or what message 1
would be sending to our children,"
Chip Wadena
she said.
Erma Vizenor, secretary-treasurer for
the tribe, supported
the council's decision.
"Our people are
asking us, 'How can
this man, who committed such gross
atrocities against his
people, be allowed to
run?'" she said.
Wadena served as
chairman for two decades until 1996
when a federal jury
convicted him of rigging construction
bids for the Shooting Star Casino in
Mahnomen. He served 21/2 years in
prison before returning to White
Earth a year ago.
Wadena said Thursday he was not
surprised by the decision.
"They're trying to bar me from
running because they're afraid I'll
win," he said.
Wadena is one of six men, including incumbent John Buckanaga, who
filed for tribal chairman by Monday's
deadline.
Wadena said he meets all the elec-
WADENA to pg. 5
MCT may sanction officials for violating
constitution, resolution
By Gary Blair
The Tribal Executive Committee
(TEC) ofthe Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe (MCT) is expected to "censure"
Leech Lake and White Earth officials
for refusing to certify convicted felon
candidates, Alfred "Tig" Pemberton
and Darrell "Chip" Wadena for this
year's tribal elections.
The TEC is the 12-member governing body ofthe MCT, which is made
up of the chair person and Secretary/
Treasurer of the six member
Chippewa reservations: Bois Forte,
Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech
Lake, Mille Lacs and White Earth.
The Red Lake Chippewa Band is not
part ofthe MCT organization.
Pemberton was the former chairman
at Leech Lake and Wadena had served
as White Earth's chairman during the
time that they were convicted separately in 1996, of federal corruption
charges. Pemberton had been implicated in a reservation self-insurance
fraud plan mastermind by then Leech
Lake attorney and former State Senator, Harold "Skip" Finn, which bilked
tribal members out of over
$1,000,000.
Wadena was convicted, along with
two other White Earth tribal council
members, of bid-rigging over and siphoning off over $1,000,000 during
the construction ofthe reservation's
Shooting Star Casino.
Sources say a secret TEC meeting
took place on Monday, Mar. 13, at the
Black Bear Casino located near
Cloquet, Minnesota where reports say
members discussed the election certification issue of Pemberton and
Wadena. The TEC will reportedly censure Leech Lake and White Earth officials for violating the MCT's constitution that allows convicted felons to run
for office. The censure is expected to
be announced during the TEC's April
18 quarterly meeting, to be held at the
Palace Casino near Cass Lake, Minnesota.
If censured, Leech Lake and White
Earth officials could lose their TEC
voting rights for not complying with
MCT resolutions and the MCT constitution, which does not prohibit convicted felons from being certified to
run for office.
SANCTIONS to pg. 6
MCT Tribal Executive Committee will
not reverse Wadena certification
White Earth, Minn. - The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (MCT) Tribal
Executive Committee (TEC) does not have the authority to reverse the certification decision ofthe White Earth Reservation Tribal Council, according to a March 10 letter sent to Darrell "Chip" Wadena.
On March 7, the White Earth Reservation Tribal Council (RTC) declined
to certify Wadena, a convicted felon, for the upcoming tribal elections.
Wadena has asked the TEC to order that his name be placed on the ballot for the election.
"I have consulted widi MCT Tribal Attorney Jim Hamilton on this matter and believe that your request must be denied because the TEC is without authority to reverse the certification decision ofthe White Earth RTC,"
said TEC President Peter Defoe in the letter.
The letter went on to inform Wadena that Section IV (C) of the MCT
Election Ordinance #7 provides that "certification decisions ofthe reservation tribal council shall be final and unappealable."
"The language ofthe Constitution and election ordinance is clear and
unambiguous. There is no jurisdiction or legal basis under which the TEC
could consider your requested relief. Accordingly, even if a special TEC
meeting were called, the question of reversing and RTC certification decision would be out of order," said Defoe.
Voice     of     t he     People
web page: www.press-on.net
f,
IsCO
Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2000
Founded in 1988
Volume 12 Issue 22
March 17, 2000
|pp»iC!|Q||
r^mu
Native American
community
announces
formation of
"Native American
Football League"
By Julie Shortridge
Members ofthe Native American
community in Minnesota announce
the formation ofthe Native American Football League (NAFL).
League founders say they want to
honor the Whiteman by using their
imagery as League icons and mascots.
With such team names as the
"Washington Whiteskins," the
"Rapid City Rednecks," and the
"Kentucky Klansmen," the NAFL's
current product line of shirts, hats
and key chains are proving popular
among Indian and non-Indian customers alike in test marketing at
pow-wows and community events.
League founders have developed
24 team names and logos. No actual
teams will be established.
f^jfc' IXjIC'C*' I/O
"Tim Giago helped inspire us
when he attempted a similar idea a
few years ago," said NAFL founder
Todd Bordeaux (Lakota/European),
who describes himself as a rabid
football fan. "I rearrange my life so
that I never miss a Vikings game,"
said Bordeaux of St. Paul.
Bordeaux developed the concept
for the politically-incorrect product-line, along with Robert Peaslee
(Seminole/Inca), owner of Creative
Native Productions, the largest Indian music distributor in the Midwest.
"We're practicing 'in-your-face-
ism,' using humor to make a satirical cultural statement," said Bor-
NAFL topg.6
Congress launches broad oversight investigation
of Shakopee Tribe's membership practices
The U.S. House Resources Committee announced on March 10 a broad
and comprehensive oversight review
ofthe membership and enrollment
policies and practices ofthe
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux (Dakota) Community.
The congressional inquiry comes
in response to the more than six-
year crusade of tribal elder Louise
Bluestone Smith (deceased) and her
two daughters, Winifred Feezor and
Cecelia S. Pierre.
House Resources Committee
Chairman Don Young sent a 13-page
letter to Secretary of Interior Bruce
Babbitt calling for the Interior Department and the Bureau oflndian
Affairs to produce a wide range of
documents aimed at determining
whether the federal agency has complied with its responsibilities under
federal law regarding enrollment in
the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux
Community.
The letter requests the production
of 39 categories of documents dealing with Shakopee's enrollment practices and policies.
To qualify for membership under
the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux
(Dakoa) Constitution, potential en-
rollees must have at least on-quarter
(1.4) Mdewakanton heritage and be
able to trace their lineage to tribal
members residing in the state on May
20, 1886.
According to Feezor and St. Pierre,
since 1969 and particularly over the
last decade, the tribe has used a variety of blatantly illegal constitutional
amendments, adoption ordinances,
and enrollment ordinances to remove
the one-quarter blood quantum requirement and turn membership decisions into politically charged "popularity contest."
In the last decade, as the tribe's
SHAKOPEE to pg. 6
Eighth Circuit: Federal law
doesn't apply to tribal colleges
White Earth tribal leaders, Detroit Lakes city
council meet, discuss shared issues
Excerpted from Nathan Bowe
Detmit Lakes Tribune
In what was described as a first-ever
meeting, members ofthe Detroit
Lakes City Council and the White
Earth Tribal Council met March 9 at
the Holiday Inn in DetroitLakes,
Minn.
"We've been neighbors for a long
time, but we don't know each other
very well," said Mayor Larry Buboltz,
who picked up the tab.
"This is a historic event for us, that
we come to meet with the city council
of Detroit Lakes," agreed Tribal Chairman John Buckanaga. "We have to
look beyond the borders ofthe reservation, because we share many
things."
It's important for the tribe to build
rapport with the cities and counties on
its borders, said Secretary-Treasurer
Erma Vizenor.
She expects the next few years to be
challenging ones as welfare reform
brings families back to the reservation.
City Administrator Rich Grabow, left, talks to Tribal Council member
Ralph Goodman and Vice-Mayor Dixie Johnson at a meeting
between the tribal council and city council.
With a shortage of housing and other
infrastructure problems, "we'll see
some very different times in about
two years," she predicted.
Buckanaga said the tribal government has pushed hard in the last few
years to professionalize tribal gov-
OFFICIALS to pg. 6
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Tribal
colleges are immune from race-discrimination lawsuits, according to a
ruling from the 8th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals,
The decision, which was handed
down this past week, reverses a ruling involving Sisseton-Wahpeton
Community College near Sisseton.
Five years ago, Vicky Hagen and
Colin Harris, former officials at the
college, sued the school. They said
their contracts were not renewed because they are white.
A lower court sided with them and
ordered the college to pay more than
$300,000 in damages. But a three-
judge panel from the 8th Circuit
overturned the lower court, saying
federal law gives tribes sovereign
immunity that extends to agencies
such as tribal colleges.
Lee Schoenbeck of Webster, a
lawyer for Hagen and Harris, said
the ruling would discourage non-Indians from working for or doing
business with tribal colleges. No decision has been made on a possible
appeal.
"You can't attract investment, create jobs and raise the standard of living of your people unless people
know that when they invest, they
protect their rights," he said.
But Greg Paulson, a Bloomington,
Minn., lawyer for the college, said
the ruling will not scare away job
applicants.
Colleges everywhere are going to
try to work things out with good
employees," he said.
David Gipp, president of United
Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, N.D., said the decision
brings scrutiny.
"It's an important victory for
tribal sovereignty. But also with
that comes our responsibility in
how we treat people," Gipp said.
The ruling applies to the seven
states in the 8th Circuit: South Dakota, North Dakota, Arkansas,
Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and Nebraska.
A federal judge ruled in 1997
that the college had defaulted in the
case and awarded Hagen $100,000
and Harris more than $220,000 in
damages. The college appealed and
asked that the case be dismissed,
but the judge denied the request
last year. That's when the school
filed its appeal to the 8th Circuit.
Schoenbeck said an official of the
college had stated publicly that race
was the reason Harris and Hagen
weren't retained. But Paulson denied that, saying the school found
more qualified American Indians
forthe jobs.