Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2000-10-27

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INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
News Briefs 3
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 7
Commentary
Re-living a nightmare
at Minneapolis detox
center
pg4
Rallies to support the
family of murder
victim Stevie
Thompson
pg4
Anishinabe Java
Coffee House
open "mic"
pg3
Leech Lake to form
police review panel
pgi
Red Lake Regional
Criminal Justice
Complex becomes a
reality - the inside story
pg5
Low interest loans available for Native
American entrepreneurs
By Judy Archibald
The MN Indian Economic Devel
opment Fund helps make
dreams come true by providing gap financing to enterprising entrepreneurs.
Since 1991, it has played an
important role in keeping
alive such diverse businesses as a pizza parlor in
Cass Lake, a masonry company in Calloway, a trailer
court in Morton, a clothing
design firm in Detroit Lakes
and a wild rice marketing
company in the Twin Cities.
"A person of poverty may
have a good idea for a business but
then lack credit history or collateral
to obtain a loan at a decent rate,"
said David Glass, one ofthe Fund's
board members. "It is at this point
that the Economic Development
Fund steps in."
The Fund is not the primary lender
for any project. Rather, it provides a
loan - with interest as low as 6% -to
fill the "gap" between an
entrepreneur's needs and what they
might be qualified to borrow from a
traditional bank. For example, if a
bank will only loan $50,000 toward
a $70,000 logging truck, the Economic Development Fund would
provide the additional $20,000.
In addition, the Fund
acts as a catalyst
to make projects
happen by connecting entrepreneurs with various advisory
groups such as
The American
Indian Business
Development
Cotporation
which runs free
on-going entrepreneurial workshops in Minneapolis. (Contact Tony Genia at 612-870-
7555). A person who wants to grow
a business can also get free marketing advice or help preparing a business plan through the Native American Business Development Center
located on the Leech Lake Reservation, Cass Lake, MN (218-547-
2676).
The Fund was started nine years
ago through a grant provided by the
McKnight Foundation to assist individual Indians living on or adjacent
to Minnesota Indian Reservations,
Verne Jones
and to assist Indian tribal governments in becoming economically
self-sufficient. However, for the last
18 months there has been a moratorium on lending while the program
restructured itself.
The board of directors David
Glass, Darrell Auginash, Bob Olsen,
David E. Larson, Rose Robinson
and Georgia Lickness have decided
to expand the Fund to Minnesota
metro area Native Americans and
last July they hired Verne Jones, a
former senior vice president of
Fortis, a financial services company
to be the new executive director.
"We have 1.5 million dollars for
gap financing over the next three
years," said Verne. "The board's
three year plan includes earning
enough money from the low interest
loans to cover administration costs
so we can be self supporting. That
way the money from McKnight will
become a living resource that we
keep recycling."
Entrepreneurs are encouraged to
contact The Minnesota Indian Economic Development Fund, 2380
Wycliff St., suite 200, St. Paul, MN
55114. Telephone: 651-917-0819.
Man gets 22 years for his part in
death of Evelyn Malin, other crimes
Excerpted from Aitkin Independent
Age
Keith Misquadance, 20, of
McGregor, will serve about 22 years
in prison in the death of Evelyn Malin
and other crimes.
Misquadace was one of five men arrested and eventually charged with
first degree murder in the death of the
elderly McGregor area storekeeper.
She was obbed and killed in her store/
residence at Dollar Lake in Feb.,
1998.
Misquadace had gone to jury trial in
Foley a couple of weeks ago, but
agreed to a plea agreement with
County Attorney Brad Rhodes before
all the jurors were, picked.
At his sentencing hearing on Oct.
16, Misquadace reportedly tried to
withdraw his plea, but was overruled
by Judge John Solien.
Regarding Malin's death, the state
dismissed counts of murder in the first
degree and burglary in the first degree. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree, an amended
charge.
Sentence was 180 months with
credit for time served and prison
wages to be applied to restitution (reduced to judgment). His sentences on
all the charges are to run consecutively.
On a separate case of fleeing a po
lice officer in a motor vehicle, a
felony; theft ofa motor vehicle, a
felony; minor driving, a misdemeanor
and no Minnesota driver's license, a
misdemeanor; he pleaded guilty to
count one, fleeing a police officer and
the state dismissed the other three
counts.
He received a 13-months sentence
and credit for time served, along with
restitution (reduced to judgment).
In another case, he was charged
with introducing contraband into a jail
facility, a felony, to which he pleaded
guilty. For that, he was given a sentence of 13 months, downward departure from a standard 21-month sentence and ordered to pay restitution of
$1,099 to the Aitkin County sheriff's
office through prison wages.
In another case, he was charged
with burglary in the third degree, a
felony, a count of felony theft and
gross misdemeanor damage to property. The state dismissed counts two
and three. He pleaded guilty to third
degree burglary.
For that, he was sentenced to 60
months, an upward departure from
the usual 18-month sentence. He also
will pay restitution of $1,606 to the
victim through prison wages.
All sentences are with the commissioner of corrections which means
they will be served ion the state prison
system.
Tribal campaign
contributions on
the rise
By Lisa Morris
The amount of money poured into
state and federal elections by tribal
governments and their entities has
increased tremendously in the last
decade. During the 1996 election
cycle, according to statements filed
with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), tribal gaming interests
gave a combined $1.6 million in
PAC contribution to political parties
and individual individual candidates
for federal elections. According to
the Center for Responsible Politics
(CRP), Tribes spent an additional
$2.3 million on lobbying. In 1998,
Indian Gaming donated over $1.5
million to various federal candidates, including U.S. Senators
Daniel Inouye, (D-HI), John
McCain, (R-AZ), Ben Nighthorse
Campbell (R-CO) and others on the
Senate Committee of Indian Affairs.
California State candidates were
also big recipients, with Rep. Jim
Battin receiving at least $327,000
from 10 different tribal governments
and Dem. Cruz Bustamante receiving over $400,000. Tribal entities
also spent over $6 million on lobbying in 1996.
CAMPAIGN to pg 7
Endorsement
snub rekindles
nasty dispute
involving Foley
Excerpted from Greg Gordon and
Curt Brown
Star Tribune
Campaigning for Congress in the
Fourth District without an expected
endorsement from abortion rights
advocates, Independence Party candidate Tom Foley blames the snub
on lingering fallout from a nasty
personnel dispute while he served on
the National Indian Gaming Commission.
He contends that the national office of the National Abortion and
Reproductive Rights Action League
(NARAL) bypassed him in favor of
DFL candidate Betty McCollum because Barbara Silby, whom he fired
as commission chief of staff in 1997,
"poisoned the well" from her current
position on NARAL's board of directors. Silby was NARAL's chairwoman from 1990 to 1995.
Timothy Stanley, executive director ofMinnesota NARAL, said that
the state chapter favored a dual endorsement, but that the national
group decided to endorse only
McCollum.
NARAL's political director in
Washington, Gloria Totten, said that
Silby does not serve on the seven-
person committee that decides endorsements and that her feelings toward Foley had no bearing on the
decision. Silby said she could not
comment whether she influenced the
matter, but hard feelings between
Silby and Foley remain close to the
surface.
According to an appeal of Silby's
firing filed with the Merit Systems
Protection Board by her lawyer,
Steven Tabackman, Silby joined the
FOLEY to pg 6
Leech Lake to form police review
panel
By Devlyn Brooks
Bemidji Pioneer
The Leech Lake Tribal Council hopes
to make good on its promise to implement a citizens review panel to investigate police abuse allegations.
Leech Lake tribal attorney Joe Plumer
said Oct. 10 that the Tribal Council plans
to appoint five band members to the review panel on an interim basis by Oct.
13, to demonstrate to members that it
does care about alleged civil rights violations.
The review panel is an effort to appease band members who were unhappy
with Tribal Council's signing ofa cooperative law enforcement agreement with
area law agencies with area law agencies
last week.
Some band members said at the signing ceremony Oct 5 that they felt the
Tribal Council didn't seek enough input
about the agreement from band members and that the agreement potentially
allows for a loss ofthe band's sovereign
powers.
Most ofthe Tribal Council members,
however, thought that public safety interests outweighed the questions about
tribal sovereignty and they agreed to sign
the law enforcement agreement.
"The council wanted to assure everybody that we were going to have (the
review panel)," Plumer said. "We
wanted to name the five individuals so
that people knew we were serious. We
mean it. It's not something we talked
about for the hell of it."
Plumer said that most likely each of
the five members ofthe tribal council
will nominate one person to serve as an
interim review panel member. Then,
within 90 days, the council hopes to have
established the policies and procedures
by which the review panel will operate.
At that time, the review panel most likely
will grow, possibly to 13 members, allowing for one representative of each of
the reservation's Local Indian Councils.
"This is little bridge period before the
policies are in place," Plumer said ofthe
next 90 days.
The council hopes the review panel
can serve two purposes: first, to investigate tribal police abuse allegations, and
second, to provide support for band
members filing police abuse complaints
against other law agencies.
In a complaint against a tribal police
officer, Plumer said, the committee
would field the complaint, talk to the
tribal police officials and decide
whether further investigation was necessary. If a full-fledged investigation is
done, punishments may be suggested
by the panel if it finds mat violations
took place.
In cases of complaints against officers
from other law agencies, Plumer said,
the review panel could be used as an information resource.
"We wouldn't have any kind of control over the other agencies," he said
"But the committee would sure have the
ability to help the individual (filing a
complaint) to articulate tlie incident that
took place."
Plumer said in many cases, police
abuse complaints filed by band members languish because the alleged victims don't how to work through the system.
"A lot times the people aren't able to
document an incident with enough
meaningful details for the sheriff to do
anything about a complaint," he said.
The cooperative law enforcement
agreement was signed Oct 5 by Leech
Lake; the Minnesota State Patrol;
Beltrami, Cass, Hubbard and Itasca
counties; and the city of Cass Lake.
Under the agreement, each entity will
have concurrent criminal prohibitory
and civil regulatory jurisdiction on the
Leech Lake Reservation. Prior to the
agreement, only Leech Lake police
could enforce the civil laws when the
matter involved a band member on the
reservation.
"This review panel is something for
the people," Plumer said. "And the
people with their ears to the pavement
should be the ones participating."
Voice     of     the     People
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Volume 12 issue 53
October 27, 2000
(l-r) John Steinworth of the Preserve Camp Coldwater Coalition, Jim Anderson,
Mdewakanton Dakota Cultural Chair and Historian, Jeanne Hollingsworth, Vergil
Nobel ofthe Regional Archaeology Center, Bob Brown (back to camera), listen to
JoAnn Kryal, National Park Service discuss 3-week dig.
(l-r) Archaeologist Robert Clouse leads investigation at Coldwater Spring with intern Allison Devers.
Coldwater
Spring
Department
of Interior
calls for dig
By Cheryl Lewis Fields
As part ofa traditional cultural
property study required for the
transference of property out of federal control, the Department of Interior (DOI) began an archeological
dig this past week at historic Camp
Coldwater in Minneapolis pending
the sale ofthe former Bureau of
Mines site, sacred to the Dakota, to
The Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC).
Standing in front ofthe abandoned Bureau of Mines compound,
representatives ofthe federal and
state agencies involved in the sale
met with Dakota tribal and Preserve
Camp Coldwater Coalition members to discuss the three-week excavation. While the Mendota
Mdewakanton Dakota community
has spearheaded local efforts to save
Coldwater Spring, representatives
from the Prairie Island Indian Community and the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Sioux Community
were also present.
Jo Ann Kryal, Superintendent for
the National Park Service (NPS)
which oversees the DOI cultural and
historical study, clarified that "the
land has not (yet) been sold" and the
public review process period has
been extended. According to Preserve Camp Coldwater Coalition
spokesperson John Steinworth, the
MAC and DOI had tried to "ramrod
through the sale" last month without
following the proper process which
they now seem to be doing.
Kryal reassured that the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) - a land
covenant that would run with the deed
in transference ofthe property to
MAC - "would incorporate language
that says 'no parking lot' will be constructed at the site." MAC originally
wanted to turn the area into a multistory parking lot. The MOA would
also state that the area would be managed naturally, allowing the option for
some shelter to be built for an interpretive facility.
Coldwater Spring is connected to
Dakota stories of creation and also the
site of tlie first European settlement in
Minnesota in 1837. "We do expect to
find artifacts," stated Robert Clouse,
head archeologist ofthe Minnesota
Historical Society (MHS) and lead investigator ofthe study.
Nonetheless those concerned about
preservation ofthe area remain guardedly skeptical wondering if this isn't
just another "coffee can" dig.
MMDC tribal chair Bob Brown
points out that in the past the MHS
has testified that artifacts previously
unearthed in the area were not significant because it was not "an intact
site", the ground around Coldwater
Spring having been disturbed for previous construction ofthe Bureau of
Mines structures in the 1950's, berm
and road construction and prior usage by the nearby Veterans Hospital
(VA).
According to archeologist Vergil
Nobel from NPS' regional Midwest
Archeology Center in Lincoln, NB,
who is supervising the excavation,
"the whole area has been disturbed"
but essentially the earth was moved
around within the bounds ofthe
property so most artifacts would
have remained, stating they "do
know there is archeological potential for early remains."
Even if they find artifacts of historical significance, that is no guarantee that the sale to MAC will not
go through, cautioned Jim Anderson, Mendota Cultural Chair and
Historian. The community based
Preserve Camp Coldwater Coalition
concurs that stewardship would be
better entrusted to the Dakota
people and not the airport commission or governmental agencies with
conflicting interests.
Of critical concern is nearby airport construction currently in process which according to hydrology
studies could curtail up to one-third
ofthe groundwater flow to
Coldwater Spring resulting in per-
COLDWATERfopsr6
Red Lake to build detention center
Associated Press
BEMIDJI, MN - The U.S. Justice
Department granted the Red Lake
Band of Chippewa $8.8 million to
build a regional detention facility at
Red Lake, Tribal Chairman Bobby
Whitefeather said.
The Red Lake Band originally had a
full-service Law Enforcement Center
and jail, with space for inpatient alcohol abuse treatment. But the center was
burned down in 1979 after dissidents
took over the center in a tribal governance dispute.
The result of two days of rioting was
$2 million in damages and two deaths.
"Destroyed in the riot, we have gone
20 years without adequate detention
services," Whitefeather said.
Whitefeather made the announcement
during the monthly meeting ofthe
Bemidji Area Intergovernmental Relations Committee on Oct. 19 in which he
outlined a host of construction ongoing
work involving tribal enterprises.
Plans for the regional detention facility
call for a 48-bed jail plus facilities to detain up to 24 juveniles, Whitefeather said.
The facility will be more than a jail,
Whitefeather said Plans call for treatment and therapeutic components. Juvenile programs will include community
awareness and education for prevention
measures and a youth employment camp
to teach work skills to at-risk juveniles.
Red Lake may enter into agreements
with area Indian tribes to house their prisoners, and perhaps some federal prisoners.
Ho-Chunk
President Ousted
Associated Press
BLACK RIVER FALLS, WI - Ho-
Chunk Nation President Jacob H.
LoneTree has been removed from
office.
The Ho-Chunk General Council
voted Saturday 599 to 548 to remove LoneTree from office. There
were 88 abstentions, tribal officials
said.
Tribal spokeswoman Libby
Fairchild declined further comment
Monday, saying the Ho-Chunk were
preparing a statement on the matter.
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