Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2000-04-21

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INDEX
News Around Indian Country
News Tidbits
Commentary/EditorialsA/oices
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events
Classifieds
COMMENTARY
Does every member
of potentially
offended groups need
to be consulted?
pg4
Death of homeless
Lakota woman
sparks calls for
Native housing
program
pgi
Native American tax
policy makes no sense
pg4
Sen. Pressler: Not
much has
improved on
Indian reservations
pg8
Official results of
Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe primary elections
pgi
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
primary election results
By Julie Shortridge
The following are die official results ofthe Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
(MCT) primary election held April 18. The top two candidates in each category will proceed to the general election June 13.
FOND DU LAC BAND
Chairman
Resident Vote
Absentee Vote
Total
Robert "Sonnv" Peacock
267
168
445
Kevin Dupuis, Sr.
179
17
196
Don E. Wiesen
124
37
161
Jim Northrup
42
18
60
Les- Northrup
44
6
50
Robert Martineau
37
6
43
District 1. (Cloquett Rep.
Clifton A. Rabideaux
145
92
237
Carl "Jr." Abramowski
141
19
160
Julia "Bunny" Jankola
61
15
76
Patty Petite
37
26
63
Keith Diver Sr.
25
18
43
Albert Joe Martineau
19
6
25
Bernard Roy
19
2
21
Ernest W. Diver
14
1
15
Cynthia (Cindy) McCloskey
8
4
12
District HI (Brookstohl Rep.
George Dupuis
62
30
92
Bryan Jon Mackwaki
51
12
63
Dawn LaPrairie Sutten
16
5
21
Roger A. Higbee
0
0
0
GRAND PORTAGE BAND
Chairman
Resident Votes
Absentee Votes
Total
Norman W. Deschampe
June K. Evans
(Because there were only two candidates, no primary was held. Both will
proceed to the general election).
Committee member
Kenneth A. Sherer
1
38
79
Wallace M. Deschampe
29
8
37
Darlene LeGarde
16
9
25
Lawrence T.P. Bushman
18
5
23
Donna J. Anderson
6
13
19
Dana R. Logan
9
10
19
Allan Deschampe
12
3
15
LEECH LAKE BAND
Chairman                       Resident Votes
Absentee Votes
Total
Eli Hunt
269
94
363
Lenee D. Ross
248
55
303
Alfred W. Fairbanks, Jr.
237
.    61
298
Walter "Frank" Reese
183
54
237
George Goggleye, Jr.
186
41
227
Jerry- ■'Otto' Roves
48
24
"2
Martin Robinson
58
5
63
David Chief Morgan
55
6
61
Tony "Skin" Hare
26
8
34
Bonnie J. Rock
17
1
18
Bibsy Kingbird
7
2
9
Guy G. Cloud
5
2
7
District HI Representative
Richard Robinson, Jr.
291
61
352
Arthur "Archie" LaRose
181
64
245
Fred K. Jackson. Jr.
133
50
183
Emmanuel Headbird
96
20
116
Sally M. Morrison
79
21
100
Robert J. Budreau, Sr.
70
12
82
Delmer Jones (Junior)
30
21
51
MILLE LACS BAND
Chief Executive              Resident Vote
Absentee Vote
Total
Melanie A. Benjamin
232
28
260
Marge Anderson
126
75
201
Herb Weyaus
130
44
174
Mushkooub
37
22
59
Larry Nickaboine
28
7
35
Joseph L. Nayquonabe
19
2
21
Clifford K. Churchill
16
4
20
Timothy A. Jackson
15
3
18
Voids/Blanks
3
8
11
District I Representative
Sandra L. Blake
153
65
218
Suzanne Merrill
102
30
132
Arlene R. Weous
39
10
49
Reginald Garbow
34
13
47
Kenneth G. Weyaus Sr.
18
10
28
Eloise B. Wind
14
6
20
Voids/Blanks
3
10
13
NETT LAKE (BOIS FORTE) BAND
Chairman
Resident Vote
Absentee vp(e
Total
Doris Isham
70
107
177
Garv W.Donald
58
75
133
Mark E. Drift. Sr.
40
72
112
Kevin Leecy
40
53
93
Donald Chosa, Jr.
2
3
5
District I Representative
Ray E. Villebrun, Sr.
61
78
139
Rosemary King
19
55
74
E. Curt Goodsky
28
42
70
Shane G. Drift
22
45
67
Wendy Morrison
27
25
52
WHITE EARTH BAND
Chairman
Resident Vote
Absentee Vote
Total
Doyle Turner
762
103
865
John B. Buckanaga
389
325
714
Darrel "Boone" Wadena
236
18
254
Dean "Per Cap" Van Wert
49
14
63
Albert A. Bellecourt
33
5
38
District III Representative
Ralph "Bucky" Goodman
182
134
316
Kenneth "Gus" Bevins
229
20
249
Elmer "Gene" Tibbetts
175
50
225
Edward J. Miller, Sr.
77
13
90
Albert L. Brunner
73
5
78
Harold 0. Annette, Sr.
40
17
57
Ivy J. Ailport
27
8
35
Marilyn E. Smith        (Withdrew before the election)
The Red Lake Band of Chippewa, which is not part ofthe MCT, is holding elections for four district representative seats on Wed., May 17. If no
candidate in a given category gets over 50% ofthe vote, the two top vote-
getters will compete in a run-off election, to be scheduled in mid-July or
early August.
Wadena still wants
in on White Earth's
general election
Exceipted from Pat Doyle
Star Tribune
Darell (Chip) Wadena     vrf\o is
barred from running again for tribal
chairman, the office he held for two
decades before he was convicted of
rigging casino construction bids and
sent to prison — said April 14 that
some tribal members told him they
will write his name on the ballot.
But the White Earth band doesn't
recognize write-in votes.
Wadena said he will try to persuade the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe, the umbrella organization for
White Earth and five other bands, to
put him on the ballot for the general
election regardless of what happens
in the primary.
"1 would have won this election," he
said.
Even if Wadena had survived the
primary he would have faced a
single opponent in the June general
election, a tougher challenge than
his other elections, in which numerous candidates split up the opposition vote.
Wadena, 61, of Naytahwaush, was
WADENA to pg. 6
White Earth
officials vow clean
tribal election
By Cole Short
The Forum
WHITE EARTH, Minn. -Talk
about civic duty. Neil Ellis voted in
the While Earth Band of Chippewa
election six years ago - despite the
fact he was dead.
The tribal member died Dec. 4,
1992. However. Ellis still managed to
Md an ■bowitW ballot in tho June
1994 election, according to tribal
records. By some accounts, more
than 50 dead people cast ballots that
summer, comipting what was supposed to be a democratic election.
Ballot stuffing, ballot stealing and
dead people voting are only a few of
the twists and turns in the unbelievable election history ofthe White
Earth Indian Reservation.
Now the tribe's top election official
promises the scandals ofthe past will
stay there. Tighter regulations and supervision of voting practices will give
this year's elections the legitimacy the
people of White Earth deserve, says
Earl I loagland, election board chairman. "We need to be as open and fair
as wc can," he says. "Wc have to convince people that their vote counts."
To do so, Hoagland and tribal leaders
must reverse a pattern of tainted elections, which has plagued the band for
decades. For example:
•  In 1982. four unsuccessful candidates vying for district representative
on the tribal council protested the
WHITE EARTH to pg. '6
Death of homeless
Lakota woman
sparks calls for
Native housing
programs
By Jeff Armstrong
The death ofa 39-year-old Standing Rock woman in Fargo last
month has sparked demands for a
transitional housing program for Natives in North Dakota's largest city.
Clovia White Lightning's body
was found March 11 by a friend under a railroad bridge on the Red
River, focusing public attention on
the previously invisible issue of Native homelessness.
D. Joyce Kitson, an advocate and
fellow member of White Lightning's
Hunkpapa Lakota reservation, said
Fargo's existing social service agencies routinely treat Natives with contempt rather than compassion.
"There's an insensitivity to the Native American community here and
Native Americans are the most discriminated against of any group in
the countiy. They need their own facilities," said Kitson. "What the
Fargo community is saying to me is
we're not welcome here."
As an example, Kitson points to a
flyer produced by a coalition of police, business owners and social service providers known as Street
HOMELESS to pg. 6
Voice     o i      t he     People
web page: www.press-on.net
fi
■V&&
Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2000
Founded in 1988
Volume 12 Issue 27
April 21, 2000
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Artist, sculptor George
Morrison dies near lake
that he loved
Excerpted from Associated Press
and Bill Gardner. Pioneer Press
GRAND MARAIS, Minn,
(feorgc Morrison' s career a* an
iftslract painter, sculptoi and professor took him from Minneapolis
to New York and Paris and back to
the Grand Portage Indian Reservation.
He died April 17 at the North
Shore Hospital, which is down the
road from his birthplace. He was
80. and had been in failing health
for the past month.
Morrison was an artist first. He
just happened to be American Indian. It's a point he often made.
Yet he was perhaps the most famous of American Indian artists.
When the Eiteljorg Museum of
American Indian and Western Art
in Indianapolis began its fellowship celebrating American Indian
fine art last fall, Morrison, an
Ojibwe, was the first artist honored.
Perhaps the most visible ofhis
art in the Twin Cities is the 30-by-
26-foot granite sidewalk mosaic
outside the IDS Center on Nicollet
Mail in downtown Minneapolis.
He also sculpted the totem in La
Salle Plaza in Minneapolis and the
lame wooden mural at the Minneapolis American Indian Center
In 1997, Morrison's "Red Totem" was one of 12 works chosen
for a special exhibition in the
Jacqueline Kennedy Sculpture
Garden at the White House.
Morrison is best known for a
group of almost abstract paintings
called the "Horizon." The series
depict the water and skyline of
Lake Superior as he saw it from
his lakeside studio near Grand Portage where he worked for much of
the past 20 years.
In a 1986 newspaper interview,
he described the horizon as being
"like the edge ofthe world... It's
the dividing line between water
and sky, color and texture.... I like
the range of color that's constantly
changing, that's never the same. 1
like to look at it."
Morrison, the third of 12 children, was born and raised in
Chippewa City, an impoverished
Pictured: (above) Cumulated Wood Landscape,
1976, Minnesota Museum
of American Art, (bottom)
George Morrison
Ojibwe village near Grand Marais.
The first person in his family to
complete high school, Morrison
won a scholarship to the Minneapolis School of Art, now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. When he graduated in 1943,
he won the school's most prestigious prize, the Vanderlip Traveling Scholarship, with which he
"bought a one-way ticket to New
York and stayed for 20 years," he
once joked.
He studied at the Art Students
League, spent a year in Paris on a
Fulbright grant, taught painting at
the prestigious Rhode Island
School of Design from 1963 to
1970, and later at the University of
Minnesota until retiring in 1983 as
a full professor.
Morrison's pieces are in major
museum collections. His work will
MORRISON to pg. 8
New report calls on
schools to
improve
Excerpted from Anne O'Connor
Star Tribune
Continuing the scrutiny of urban
schools, the Urban Coalition released
reports April 16 calling for Minneapolis and St. Paul to do more to help
the growing number of non-English-
speaking students and students of
color.
The reports, one each for Minneapolis and St. Paul, call for an end to
piecemeal fixes in the schools and for
a complete change in the way social
services, community agencies and
schools interact to serve children.
Yusef Mgeni, president ofthe Urban Coalition, said that schools need
to be held more accountable.
The coalition is a research and advocacy group for the minority and
low-income communities.
Its reports are chock-full of data, giving school-by-school results for state
tests in third, fifth, eighth and 10th
grades. They also give dropout rates,
mobility rates and racial/ethnic breakdowns.
For Minneapolis, the report gives
infonnation by neighborhood (including races), income (school lunch-
subsidy information), grade level,
languages spoken and household
type.
Similar infonnation is given for the
REPORT to pg. 6
Counties cancel police pact with Oneida
Indians
Associated Press
UTICA, N.Y. - The Oneida Indian
Nation tribal police force will no
longer have the power to act as deputies of Oneida and Madison counties,
the sheriffs announced April 17.
Oneida County Sheriff Dan
Middaugh and Madison County
Sheriff Ron Cary denied that the decision was in response to the collapse
of land claim negotiations with the
Oneidas or any specific incidents.
Instead, Middaugh said, the sheriffs
were responding to area residents and
local lawmakers, who have become
increasingly critical in recent months
ofthe arrangement that has been in
effect for nearly six years.
"From public policy, it is obvious
the area people want it this way,"
Middaugh said.
Despite cancellation ofthe agreement, the 40-member tribal police
force remains empowered to enforce
tribal law and will continue to function, said Mark Emery, a nation
spokesman.
"It's no big deal from our standpoint," Emery said. "It doesn't really
affect us. They will be doing everything they were doing before except
the part that was saving the counties
money."
"What has happened here is primarily politics over land claims," Emery
said.
The two counties' sheriffs first
deputized Oneida Nation police in
1994 in what began as an experimental arrangement.
The nation's police force's primary
responsibility is patrolling the
Oneida's Turning Stone casino complex, which attracts 4 million visitors
a year. However, some residents have
accused the Oneida Nation police of
harassing people who do not agree
with the Oneidas' leadership, although those allegations have gone
unproven.
The Nation police force, consisting
mainly of retired state troopers and
sheriff's deputies, will still be allowed
to respond to calls although they can
no longer investigate state crimes.
They no longer have arrest powers,
and will detain suspects until the
other authorities arrive.
Both sheriffs acknowledged that
canceling the accord will place a
greater burden on their forces. For
now, deputy patrols will be reassigned or put on overtime, they said
State police also promised to fill
some ofthe coverage gaps.
Emery said nation police handled
approximately 300 calls a year in
Madison County and more than
1,200 yearly in Oneida County.
Last week, the legislatures of both
counties passed resolutions urging
termination ofthe police pact. On
April 14, the sheriffs said they met
with a lawyer for the Oneida Nation,
distinct attorneys from both counties
and U.S. Justice Department officials.