Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2000-07-14

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INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
News Briefs 3
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 6,7
Land, jurisdictional
disputes heat up
nationwide
pgi,6
Washington State
Republicans seek to
end tribal reservation
system
pgi
Former AIM activist
provides details on Anna
Mae Aquash murder
pg5
Lawrence
launches State
Senate
campaign
pgi
Full text of FBI report on
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
deaths
pgU
FBI issues report on S.D.
reservation deaths
Excerpted from Jon Tevlin
Star Tribune
Still, the booklet is unlikely to win over all skeptics on
the reservation, where animosity toward the FBI is as
fresh as it was during the occupation of Wounded Knee
in 1973.
Further, the 30-page booklet does not address the cases
of eight men — six Indians and two whites — who were
found drowned in Rapid Creek in Rapid City over a 14-
month period that ended last July. Those deaths are under
the jurisdiction of local police, and until last year were
thought to be accidents.
The FBI is now assisting police investigating the
deaths, and there is speculation that at least some may
have been homicides.
The killing of two Indians, Wilson Black Elk and
Ronald Hard Heart, in June 1999 near the reservation's
border with Nebraska ignited protests last year. Indians
charged that there are different justice systems for whitesI
and Indians.
No one has been arrested for the killings; FBI spokesman Paul McCabe said tlie investigation is still active.
Shortly after the deaths, rumors of other "unsolved" homicides began to circulate. At the time, some Indian activists said there were more than 300 such instances.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held
hearings in December on South Dakota's justice system,
concluding that "a lack of confidence in the justice system has reached crisis proportions," and a task force was
RESERVATION to pg. 6
Full text of FBI report
on Pine Ridge deaths
ACCOUNTING FOR NATIVEAMERICAN DEATHS
PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION, SJ).
Report ofthe Federal Bureau of Investigation
Minneapolis Division
May 2000
Forward
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and its Agents in
South Dakota can only operate effectively where we
have the trust and help ofthe American people. For
South Dakota, much of our work revolves around
crimes occurring in Indian Country. The trust and help
of reservation residents are vital to the accomplishment
of our sworn duty.
For many years, rumors of unresolved murders of Native Americans have come to our attention. At times,
these allegations represented that there were hundreds
of murdered Native Americans that had not been investigated by the FBI. The names of murder victims were
not attached to the rumors and addressing the allegations could not be accomplished.
In December of 1999, the South Dakota Advisory
Committee ofthe United States Commission on Civil
Rights (Commission) held a community forum in Rapid
City, South Dakota to discuss the criminal justice system and how it impacts Native Americans. These allegations were proffered during the hearings and the
Commission was sufficiently impressed by them to incorporate the allegation in its findings. (See Native Americans in South Dakota: An Erosion of Confidence in the
FBI to pg. 7
Voice     of     t he     People
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Volume 12 Issue 38
July 14, 2000
Lawrence launches state Senate campaign
By Molly Miron
Bemidji Pioneer
Bill Lawrence, the Republican candidate challenging Sen. Tony Kinkel,
DFL-Park Rapids, launched his campaign in Bemidji July 7.
"I intend to run a vigorous campaign, I intend to go door to door, and I
intend to win," Lawrence said. "I want
to have fun, so I want to let Kinkel
know he's going to have a good battle
for the seat in the next four months."
Senate Republican Leader Dick Day
joined Lawrence at the Bonanza restaurant (in Bemidji, MN) in announcing the start ofthe campaign.
Day said the Republicans were glad
to have a candidate of Lawrence's caliber to take on the DFL. Lawrence lost
bids for State Representative, District
4A in 1996 running as a Republican
and in 1998 running as a Reform Party
candidate.
"We felt we needed a candidate who
is not afraid to tell it like it is - and that
describes Bill Lawrence," Day said in a
news release. "I know folks in Bill's
part ofthe state are ready for someone
who's looking out for their best interests in St. Paul."
Lawrence, 60, is Native American
Press/Ojibwe
News publisher
and a Beltrami
County native and
Bemidji High
School graduate.
He graduated
from Bemidji
State University
and has a law degree from the
University of
North Dakota. 1 le
also is an enrolled
member ofthe
Red Lake Band of
Chippewa.
He spends
much of this time
in St. Paul where
his newspaper is
located, but maintains a residence
in Bemidji and
votes here.
"I don't see a
conflict in it," he said ofhis two residences. "I spent the last 15 years back
and forth on a weekly basis."
Lawrence lists a number of platform
issues from property taxes to public
education, the environment and crime.
"I'm concerned about the size ol"
photo credit. Monte Draper. Bemid/i Pioneer
Bill Lawrence, right, Bemidji resident and publisher
of Native American/Ojibwe News, launches his
campaign for State Senate District 4 on Jury 7 in
Bemidji. Senate Republican Leader Dick Day endorsed Lawrence's candidacy on the Republican
ticket against Sen. Tony Kinkel, DFL-Park Rapids.
government I think we have too much
government," he said 1 awrence said
he would work for term limits, a one-
house legislature, and the introduction
of ballot initiatives and referendums to
LAWRENCE topg. 6
Red Lake seeing improved achievement with Success
for All reading program
Melanie Benjamin, new Mille Lacs Chief Executive takes the podium at the July 11 ceremony.
Benjamin sworn
in as Mille Lacs
Band's new
chief executive
B) Kill Lawrence
Mel.line Benjamin was sworn in tor
a four-year term as the Mille I acs
Band of Chippewa's new chief executive Jul) 11 al a ceremony and least
attended by over 400 people at the
Band's government center on the
Mille Lacs Reservation Also sworn in
by Mille lacs Band chief justice Dor
othy Sam was newly elected District I
representative Sandra L. Blake.
Benjamin. 44. took over the tribe's
top post from Marge Anderson. 68.
who was lirst appointed to the job in
1991. Benjamin, a former tribal administrator and assistant librarian, de-
>n in the June 13 eK
Hon.
"Your voice and your involvement
will determine the future." Benjamin
told the crowd "We must come together on a new common ground and
embark on a new journey. When band
members work together we can meet
any challenge."
Benjamin said she would put children lirst and hold students and teachers to the highest standards. She also
said she would establish scholarships
for students entering professions that
are deemed critical by tribal officials.
There are about 3, 000 band members. About one-third live on the reservation in central Minnesota.
Benjamin stressed accountability,
open government and vowed to bring
control ofthe tribal government back
to the people.
Also among the issues in the campaign was the distribution of casino
profits. Benjamin said she would
abide by a tribal referendum on
whether payments to members should
be increased. Anderson opposed increasing distribution of casino profits
to Band members.
[Includes infonnation from tlie Associated Press]
Excerpted from Duchesne Paul Drew
Star Tribune
Red Lake Indian Reservation,
Minn. — For 90 minutes a day, everything takes a back seat to reading at
Ponemah Elementary School on the
Red Lake Indian Reservation.
At Ponemah, 9 to 10:30 a.m. is time
for Success for All, a reading program
that is making dramatic improvements in some ofthe country's toughest classrooms.
Success for All is an elementary
reading program created by Johns
Hopkins University researchers in
photo credit: Star Tribune
Audrey White and Success
for All participant
1987. Students work their way up
through reading levels step by step.
Teachers trade their own methods lor
a regimented program of practice and
test, practice and test.
Fifteen Minnesota schools have
signed on: three on the Red Lake reservation in the north-central part of
the state, six in Minneapolis, five in
St. Paul and one in Brooklyn Park.
Program selling itself
Red Lake is about 250 miles northwest of Minneapolis. But it's easy to
find the school district in the state-
SUCCESS to pg. 6
Plan to store nuclear waste on reservation stirs passions
Resolution would end
tribal sovereignty
If Indians don't like it, send in troops,
GOP delegate says
Excerpted from Julie Titone
Seattle Times
The Washington state Republican Party has passed a
resolution calling for the abolition of tribal governments.
"We do not recognize them as sovereign nations, as
governments," said John Fleming, the Skagit County delegate who was a main author ofthe resolution. It calls on
the federal government to "immediately take whatever
steps necessary to terminate all such non-republican
forms of government on Indian reservations."
"We think it can be done peacefully," Fleming said.
But if tribes were to fight the effort, "then the U.S. Army
and the Air Force and the Marines and the National
Guard are going to have to battle back."
The action comes at a time of growing discontent over
reservation rules that affect non-Indians, ranging from
hunting privileges to liquor sales. The backlash against
tribal governments has become so strong that human-
rights activists have labeled it "racist."
Tribal leaders call the GOP resolution outrageous and
an affront to their rights under treaties signed by Congress.
"It's absolutely the reverse of what Republican principles stand for - to protect all rights and to uphold the
integrity and honor of this nation and all ofthe commitments it makes," said Ron Allen, chairman ofthe
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe.
Allen is vice president ofthe National Congress of
American Indians. A Republican, he was surprised to
GOP to pg. 6
Some support, some
abhor GOP anti-tribal
government resolution
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. - Politicians and human rights activists debated the state Republican Party's call to terminate Indian tribal governments.
The state GOP convention last month quietly passed a
resolution calling for an end to sovereign tribal governments on reservations.
Some have reacted to the resolution with cries of racism, while others call the measure misguided, but not a
sign Republicans are anti-Indian.
Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity is spending
more tipie discussing the resolution tlie Republican delegates approved June 17.
Vince Lemus, a city human rights specialist, is angry at
a suggestion by resolution sponsor John Fleming that the
U.S. government use military force if necessary to disband tribal governments.
"It's reprehensible that a member ofa political party
would even allude to that kind of action," Lemus said.
Republican U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington called I
the "send-in-the-Army" comment nonsense.
But Gorton said he understands frustrations of some
non-Indians who live on or near reservations. He clashes  I
regularly with Native Americans on the issue of tribal
sovereignty, but said terminating tribal governments is
not a solution.
"I think that it is perfectly appropriate for Indians to de-1
termine their own future and their own fonn of government," Gorton said, adding, "I don't support their attempts to interfere with the lives of non-Indians" on the
reservations.
REPUBLICAN to pg. 10
Excerpted from Tom Mcersman
Star Tribune
Skull Valley, Utah — Leon Bear
picked up sonic ofthe chalky soil of
the western Utah desert and crushed it
gently into his palm. A light pull" from
his lips and it vanished into the air.
leav ing a ghostly powder covering his
hand.
"That's why they call us the
Goshutes," he said with a smile. "Our
name means 'dusty people." because
my people always had this dust on
them when they roamed the desert
country."
Bear is not content to allow his economically disadvantaged 124-member
band to languish in the dust any longer.
As chief, he wants them to have computers, better education, a health clinic,
a decent water system, new homes and
jobs.
So he signed a lease in 1997 to accept as much as half ofthe nation's
highly radioactive spent fuel from
nuclear power plants in dozens of
states, including Minnesota. They plan
to store it for the next 20 years, or
twice that long if necessary, on part of
the tribe's 18,600-acre reservation
about 70 miles southwest of Salt Lake
City, until a permanent site is built.
"We're doing it as an economic venture," said Bear. "The benefits that'll
come out of it for our people will be
substantial."
But as the project moves closer to
reality, opposition is building like a
prairie dusi storm.
The deal, which was signed by Min-
nesola-bascd Northern States Power
Co. and a coalition of utility companies, has torn the small Goshute band
apart and prompted charges of environmental racism.
Critics say NSP and its utility partners arc taking advantage of an economically desperate community to
dump unwanted and dangerous wastes.
"Northern States Power is just fortunate enough to have found a weak tribe
that's going to put up with them and
their partner utilities and their wastes,"
said Margene Bullcreek, a Goshute
tribal member opposed to the project.
The utilities say they desperately
need a temporary site to store nuclear
waste, and that the Utah project will
not pose a danger.
Space crunch
The rationale for the Utah project is
that the nation's 103 nuclear power
plants are running out of space to store
nuclear waste. Tlie spent fuel will remain dangerously radioactive for tens
of thousands of years, and a pemianent
federal repository will not be open until
at least 2010, or even 2015, possibly at
a site that scientists are studying at
Yucca Mountain. Nev. Ifthey don't
resolve the waste problem, some utilities may be forced to shut down their
nuclear plants prematurely.
Tlie S3.1 billion Utah project would
establish tlie first centralized storage
area of its kind in the nation, and it
would set off the largest mass movement of spent nuclear fuel in history:
4,000 casks from utilities in as many
as 31 states, filled with spent nuclear
fuel that has been stored underwater in
pools in many cases since the Nixon
administration.
For many critics, the biggest issue is
safety.
"I have a hard time understanding
why it is necessary to move this waste
from one temporary site to another
temporary site," said Jeri Roos, a resident of Provo, just south of Salt Lake
City. "Every time the casks are moved,
there's potential for danger and damage to them, and I would think we
would want to move them as little as
possible."
But others say it doesn't make sense
to leave the wastes scattered across the
countiy.
Tribal hopes
Tlie Goshute tribe has been interested in storing nuclear wastes since
NUCLEAR WASTE to pg. 6
Washington cities change policy with Indian tribes
Excerpted from Doug Pace
The Review and Independent
TOPPENISH, Wash.- A delegation
from the city of Toppcnish convinced
the Association of Washington Cities
(AWC) to adopt new language in a .
policy that says the cities' rights shall
not be diminished by tribal law.
In April, the city approached the
AWC, hoping to revise an association
policy that addresses tribal governments.
During the June 23 membership
meeting held in Spokane, Wash. AWC
enacted a policy change reflecting the
minor change requested by the city.
The prior policy stated that "AWC
recognizes that tribal governments, cities, and towns share common goals of
resource protection, economic vitality,
infrastructure financing, and economic
development. AWC encourages cooperation between cities and towns, and
tribal governments on issues of mutual
concern."
Led by Toppenish Council-woman
Judy Boekholder, a past president of
AWC, Mayor Al Hubert, and City
Manager Jim Southworth, the AWC
has added a third paragraph to tlie
policy that now lies between the original two.
The added paragraph is as follows:
"AWC recognizes that cities and their
citizens located within Indian reservations should be guaranteed all U.S. and
state constitutional rights, and such
rights shall not be diminished, taken
away, or affected by any tribal law,
role, or order."
"We were trying to get all the cities
to recognize that no matter where you
live, this new policy applies,"
Boekholder said.
"Several Western Washington delegates voiced opposition to the new.
policy out of respect for past deeds
against Native Americans ofthe region," Boekholder said.
"In tlie end, Boekholder and the
Toppenish delegation were able to
present a thorough explanation ofthe
value ofthe new policy and gained an
unexpected ally that seemed to sway
the vote," said John Puccinelli, former
Mayor ofthe City of Yakima.
The AWC policy may not hav e
much teeth, but Boekholder sees it as a
unified front.