Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2000-06-16

              INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
News Briefs 3
Commentary/EditorialsA/oices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 6,7
Indian activist
Peltier denied
parole at hearing
Appeals court ruling
stops whaling by
Makah Tribe
pg8
Commentary
Benjamin victory
no surprise to
people of Mille
Lacs
pg8
Turner wants to bring
power to people of
White Earth
pgi
Change is in the air'
election results
pgi
MCT
Red Lake's July election
heating up
pgM
Benjamin, Turner,
Donald oust Anderson,
Buckanaga, Isham in
MCT band elections
Hunt, Peacock, Deschampe
win re-election
By Julie Shortridge
The official results ofthe June 13 MCT general
election are listed below. Three of seven incumbents got beat,including Mille Lacs Chief Executive
Marge Anderson who was beat by Melanie
Benjamin.White Earth Chairman John Buckanaga
who beat by Doyle Turner, and Boise Forte Chair
Doris Isham was ousted by Gary Donald. All three
were bywide margins.
New tribal officials will take office in early July.
Leech Lake Chairman Eli Hunt held on in a close
race against Lenee Ross, as did Fod du Lac's Robert
"Sonn/'Peacock against challenger Kevin Dupuis,
Sr.Grand Portage incumbentChairman Norman
| Deschampe held on strong against challenger June
! Evans.
The Red Lake Band of Chippewa, which is not
part ofthe MCT,held its primary electionsforfour
district representative seats on Wed.,May 17.Only
Lawrence Bedeau ofthe Littlerock district received
more than 50% of the vote in the primary, and
therefore does not have to go on to a run-off
election, which will be held forthe other three
district representative seats - Redlake, Redby and
Ponemah - on Mon., July 24 for the Twin Cities
; voters,andWed.,July 26 for the on-reservation
voters.
FOND DU LAC BAND
Resident Vote
• Chairman
Robert "Sonny" Peacock   364
Kevin Dupuis, Sr.                379
AbsenteeVote Total
155        519
86          465
Clifton A. Rabideaux
Cad "Jr." Abramowski
217
245
124
65
341
310
• District III (Brookston) Rep.
George Dupuis               92
Bryan Jon Maciewski           65
22
12
114
77
GRAND PORTAGE BAND
■ Chairman
Norman W. Deschampe
JuneK.frans
(spoiled ballot)
Resident Vote
115
47
0
AbsenteeVote Total
111        226
24         71
1            1
■ Committee member at-large
Kenneth A. Sherer           95
WallaceM.Deschampe         65
68
66
163
131
LEECH LAKE BAND
•Chairman
Eli Hunt
Lenee D.Ross
Resident Vote
753
720
AbsenteeVote Total
266       1019
249        969
■ distrkt III Representative
Richard Robinson, Jr.        640
Arthur "Archie" Laftose          542
99
104
739
646
MILLE LACS BAND
• Chief Executive
Melanie A. Benjamin
Marge Anderson
Voids/Banks
Resident Vote
514
193
5
AbsenteeVote Total
154        668
202        395
10          15
• Distrkt 1 Representative
Sandra L Blake                 24S
Suzanne Merrill                 178
Voids/Blanks                   7
167
125
14
412
303
21
NETT LAKE (BOIS FORTE) BAND
Resident Vote
■ Chairman
Gary W. Donald               132
Doris bbam                    96
Blanks/Spoiled                 4
AbsenteeVote total
173        305
127        223   '
3           7
• Distrkt 1 Representative
Ray E. Villebrun, Sr.           112
Rosemary King                 61
Blanks/Spoiled                 3
125
115
3
237
176
6
WHITE EARTH BAND-
• Chairman
Doyle Turner
John B. Buckanaga
Resident Vote
1358
591
AbsenteeVote Total
244      1602
411       1002
• Distrkt III Representative
Kenneth "Gus" Bevins        575
Ralph "Bucky" Goodman       382
86
239
661
621
Anderson voted out
Mille Lacs band unseats nine-year incumbent
Voice
O   F
T   H   E
People
Excerpted from Nick Coleman
St. Paul Pioneer Press
ONAMIA, MINN.-— Marge Anderson, who rose from a backwoods,
tarpaper-shack childhood to become
one of die best-known Indian leaders
in America, has lost her bid for re-election as chief executive ofthe Mille
Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Her defeat, after
nine years, ends an era that saw the
Mille Lacs tribe enjoy unprecedented
economic and social development and
wage a successful defense of its ...
hunting and fishing rights that went all
the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a record voter turnout Tuesday
that took tribal ballot counters until the
early hours Wednesday to determine
tlie results, Anderson, 68, lost by a
landslide margin to her one-time protege, Melanie Benjamin, 44....
Benjamin will assume her new duties in early July. Interviewed Wednesday, a tired but ecstatic
Benjamin.. .[said], "We have to give
her (Anderson) credit because she's
put a lot of years and commitment into
our government, and we have to remember that our past leaders contributed to our success."
At the same time, Benjamin said she
intends to honor a campaign promise
to let band members vote on whether a
larger portion ofthe Ojibwe's profits
from Grand Casino Mille Lacs and
Grand Casino Hinckley — an estimated S80 million — should be paid
out to individual band members. "It's
up to the people," Benjamin said.
"They have to decide their own destiny."
During the campaign, Anderson refused to agree to expand the band's per
capita payments (each member now
receives SI,500 a year), stating her belief that the reservation should stay on
course to improve its infrastructure and
social programs. Many of Anderson's
ANDERSON to pg. 8
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Founded in 1988
Volume 12 Issue 35
June 16, 2000
Leech Lake Chairman Hunt
fends off challenger Ross
By Barb Simunovich
Incumbent Leech Lake Chairman
Eli Hunt fended off challenger
Lenee Ross in a close election June
13.
Hunt has served as tribal chainnan
since July 1996. Prior to that position he worked in various capacities
within the Leech Lake tribe since
1983. Hunt has lived on the Leech
Lake Reservation for his entire life,
except for periods of time when he
was attending vocational/technical
school and college at the University
of Minnesota - Crookston. He believes this has given him a unique
ability to understand and know the
needs ofthe people. "I'm in touch
with the people," Hunt states. "This
is a chairman that the people can
Red Lake
increases
medical services
By Devlyn Brooks
Bemidji Pioneer
Red Lake, Minn.—The Red Lake
Hospital will expand its emergency
room and urgent care services by two
fold when a SI .9 million addition
opens in a couple weeks.
Red Lake Band of Chippewa and
federal Indian Health Service officials
said Monday that the addition is a
cause to celebrate and will increase
the ability of delivering health care
services to Red Lake members.
What this means to the Red Lake
People is you won't have to wait as
long (for medical services)," said Dr.
Kathleen Annette, area director ofthe
Indian Health Service. "You'll be able
to have a greater access to health care.
This is another day of celebration."
About 150 people attended a grand
opening June 12 to tour the new facility, which is jointly operated by the
band and HIS [Indian Health Service].
Addressing the crowd. Red Lake
Tribal Chainnan Bobby Whitefeather
said it is widely known American Indians suffer from many chronic medical problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular trouble. But the new ER/
urgent care addition will help Red
Lake members because it means there
will be shorter waits to see medical
personnel.
"It gives us great hope that someday
Red Lake won't have to face these
RED LAKE to pg. 8
trust. That's what counts when it
comes to leadership."
As tribal chairman, Hunt oversees
the general business and overall administration of all programs and services on the reservation. He also
monitors Congress and state legislative actions, and meets with representatives of government offices on
issues related to Indian policy.
Hunt sees a definite shortage of
land base within the reservation
boundaries as one ofthe most pressing issues facing the community.
"We can't provide housing or health
services, build the economy, diversify, or develop individual tribal en-
trepreneurship without more land,"
Hunt says. The tribal government
has been attempting to purchase
HUNT to pg. 8
Benjamin, Turner, Donald oust Anderson,
Buckanaga, Isham in MCT band elections
:
'   .  .   . . .        ::       ; '
Chief Executive Melanie
Benjamin, Mille Lacs
Chairman DoyleTurner,
White Earth
Chairman Gary Donald,
Nett Lake (Bois Forte)
Benjamin defeats Anderson in Mille Lacs
Band election
Turner wants to bring power to
people of White Earth
Excerpted from Cole Short
Bemidji Pioneer
White Earth Doyle Turner wants to
bring the power to the people. The 56-
year-old ordained Episcopal priest says
the citizens of die White Earth Band of
Ojibwe in west-central Minnesota have
been silent for too long.
They need more referendums and
more accountability and accessibility
to their leaders, says Turner, who...
[beat] John Buckanaga in Tuesday's
general election to become tribal chairman. The soft-spoken 56-year-old
Waubun man says his campaign for
tribal chairman revolves around making the White Earth tribal government
more responsive to its citizens.
Turner says the White Earth Tribal
Council needs to share more power
with the tribe's executive director and
advisory staff. Turner wants to bring
more referendums to the people on issues such as blood-quantum requirements for being an enrolled tribal
member and future growth at the
Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen.
He also wants to enlist a local panel of
advisers to create a 20-year plan outlining goals from education to housing
to economic development on the reservation.
"We need a plan for the people.
That's been lacking," he says. Turner
says the tribe must address housing
shortages on the reservation by building more apartments and retirement
and nursing homes.
Turner also would like to see more
economic growth on the reservation,
particularly along the tribe's western
borders. He says railways and Highway 59 on the western edge ofthe reservation provide high-volume traffic
and perfect development areas for the
tribe. He says the tribe needs more
small stores to provide basic goods and
services in places like Ponsford, Rice
Lake and Elbow Lake.
Turner's positions on other issues
include:
TURNER to pg. 6
Excerpted from Pat Doyle
Star Tribune
'*' ivliHe Lacs Indian Reservation —
Appealing to tribal members who
want a bigger share of casino profits
and a greater voice in government.
Melanie Benjamin apparently defeated longtime tribal leader Marge
Anderson Tuesday to become chief
executive ofthe MilleLacs Band of
Chippewa. [Benjamin has been Mille
Lacs band commissioner of administration, or tribal manager, under
Anderson and Gahbow, was elected
treasurer for the Minnesota Indian
Gaming Association, is a former key
administrator at Grand Casino
Hinckley, was a business development
specialist for the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe, and most recently, assistant librarian at the Mille Lacs Band's Nay-
Ah-Shing school]
"It's over," Anderson's spokesman
Ron Maddox said today. "Marge lost.
We just don't know by how much."
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe executive
director Gary Frazer said Benjamin
was leading Anderson by more than a
2-1 margin on the reservation, with
absentee ballots yet to be counted.
Vote totals released today showed
Benjamin was the choice of 668 vot
ers to 395 for Anderson.
As they returned from voting or
headed to the polls Tuesday,
MilleLacs Chippewa talked about
what matters to them. Some wanted
certainty that clinics and schools built
with millions of dollars from casino
profits will remain functioning. Some
wanted housing assistance.
Aid then there was Adrian Garbow.
"I backed Marge before," he said, referring to Anderson, who has built a
reputation for spending casino profits
to develop the central Minnesota reservation. "What she was doing was
good."
But this time, he said, he voted for
Benjamin, who has called for a redistribution of casino profits diat could
mean larger profit-sharing payments
to members. "I've got cars at home
and they're junk and I got no money
to repair them," he explained.
The MilleLacs election was partly a
plebiscite on the economic direction
ofthe reservation and its members.
Anderson advocated continuing a
policy of spending the bulk of casino
profits on goveniment projects, social
programs and economic development
that she says are building a better reservation. Benjamin and her supporters
said it was time to consider giving
Buffalo's return electrifies Red Lake Reservation
photo credit Devlyn Brooks, Bemidji Pioneer
Three of the Red Lake buffalo stand near their watering tank in the
far northwestern corner of the Red Lake Reservation.
Associated Press
Red Lake, Minn. - On a desolate
farm in tlie northwestern coiner ofthe
Red Lake Reservation, the thundering
of buffalo hooves can once again be
heard.
Five Red Lake men brought the buffalo back to the reservation to help re-
• store a once-natural diet and to heal decades of spiritual wounds.
"We're doing our part to ensure the
buffalo will always be here," said Joe
: Johnson, one ofthe men who fbnned
Red Lake Bison Inc. to bring the buffalo
back to Red Lake.
"You know, Indian people have also
almost come to that same state of extinction (as the buffalo). Hopefully, together we can learn to survive,"
Johnson said.
Tlie six buffalo were brought to the
pasture on the Dean Wilkens farm in
Red Lake on May 28, concluding
about a year of preparation by the
group and a lifetime's fascination for
one man.
Harold Donnell, 50, the iaspiration of
Red Lake Bison Inc., graduated from
Red Lake High School in 1968 and took
a job with tlie reservation's natural resources program.
Tlie dream of bringing the buffalo
home to Red Lake began when Donnell
was put to work along the Clearwater
River in tlie western part ofthe reservation.
Donnell discovered bones and skulls
that proved buffalo had once inhabited
tlie mostly wooded reservation and
learned there were historical buffalo sites
all across tlie reservation.
About two years ago, he got his lifetime friend, Johnson, interested in tlie
project. They soon enlisted the help of
Harold's brother, Henry Donnell; Sewn
Baker and Clifford Martell.
Tlie men set out to learn as much as
they could about buffalo, visiting Buffalo
ranches around North Dakota and stopping by the North American Buffalo Association in Rockwood.
At the end of May, the group bought
six buffalo - a bull and live cows - from a
ranch in Wanoad and brought them back
to Red Lake.
"Something that seemed so impossible
in our minds was happening for real,"
Henry Donnell said. "They took off out
of that trailer, ran about 30 feet and they
stopped and they ate. They knew they
were home."
As many as 60 to 75 million buffalo
once roamed most ofNorth America,
from the Rockies to the eastern coast and
from Canada's Hudson Bay to the state
of Georgia, experts estimate.
By 1880, poachers were hunting buffalo even on government protected land
and when poachers killed four buffalo
in 1897 near Lost Park, Colo., they
likely killed the last unprotected free-
ranging herd in tlie country.
Today, the only wild herd of buffalo
left in tlie nation is in Yellowstone National Park.
The owners of Red Lake Bison Inc.
hope to build the herd, adding 200 to
300 head in the next three to five years.
Through grants and programs such
as the InterTribal Bison Cooperative, a
nonprofit Indian organization that helps
tribes build buffalo herds, they envision
hundreds of acres supporting hundreds
of buffalo on the reservation's western
plains.
As tlie herd grows, the owners would
like to add the extra lean buffalo meat
to tlie diet of Red Lake members, helping ease the high rates of diabetes and
cardiovascular problems.
The owners also would like to create
a nonprofit subsidiary corporation
called Mashkode Bishikiwug, meaning
Prairie Fire Bull. Tlie goal would be to
take Indian youths who are in trouble
widi tlie law and house them at tlie buffalo ranch in an effort restore their connection to the Indian culture.
Finally, they say the Red Lake Band
of Chippewa will grow stronger relying
on the spiritual strength of an animal
widi which Indians lived harmoniously
for thousands of years.
"It's more than just raising tlie animals and selling the meat," local grant
writer Kathleen O'Kelley said. "It has
to do with that relationship diat Indian
people have with the buffalo, other animals and the natural world."
more money to the band's 3,200
members, who currently receive
$ 1,500 a year from profits that tribal
officials have estimated at S80 million.
Anderson said her strategy was
working and that many tribal members applauded it. Moreover, she became an icon for non-Indian politicians who said the projects built with
casino money on the MilleLacs reservation are what Congress had in mind
when it passed the Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act in 1988.
But her Indian detractors saw the
policy as solidifying a tribal welfare
state where members must depend on
services to benefit from casino profits.
They said the MilleLacs tribal government, like others, favors supporters and ignores civil rights, a claim
Anderson rejected.
The campaigning took a tough
edge in the final days before
Tuesday's election with ramors circulating on the reservation and off that
may have influenced some votes.
Benjamin and some supporters re-
fened to rumors diey say they heard
of Anderson buying votes. One account mentioned by Benjamin and
BENJAMIN to pg. 6
Bedeau wins Little
Rock District
position in Red
Lake primary
By Brad Swenson
Bemidji Pioneer
The Little Rock District race in Red
Lake Tribal Council elections last
month was decided by less than a vote,
according to tribal officials after a
study of balloting.
Long-time incumbent Little Rock
District Rep. Lawrence Bedeau polled
141 votes in the May 17 election, while
Michael F. Beaulieu had 94 votes and
Mary M. Sumner 46.
Bedeau has long spearheaded environmental efforts for the Red Lake of
Chippewa, and oversees the tribe's
natural resources efforts.
Tlie Red Lake Band of Chippewa, in
a 1996 election, passed an amendment
to the tribal constitution that tribal elections be decided by majority vote
rather than plurality.
While traditional parliamentary rule
specify majority vote as half plus one
vote, the amended Red Lake Constitution apparently settles on a pure simple
majority.
With 281 votes cast in the Little
Rock District balloting, half would be
140.5, meaning Beadeau satisfied the
constitution with a majority margin of
0.5 votes.
BEDEAU to pg. 6