Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2001-04-06

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INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 6-7
Burning questions
about arson fire
pg4
Newspaper is right to
publish anonymous
letters to the editor
pg4
U.S. Census: Counting
Indians then, now
pgi
Finn, Pemberton still owe
Leech Lake nearly
$453,000 in restitution,
penalties
pgi
Red Lake Budget and
Expense Chart
pg5
White Earth gambles
on $30 million casino
expansion
By Jeft" Armstrong
In an attempt to infuse capital into its gaming industry, White
Earth's Reservation Business Committee (RBC) has issued more
than S30 million in investment bonds to finance construction ofa
$10.5 million convention center near its Shooting Star Casino and
pay off millions in existing debts. The latter move appears intended in part to allow the RBC to place the casino land in trust
and thus exempt it from nearly $1 million in annual Mahnomen
County property taxes.
According to a confidential offering memorandum obtained by
Press/ON, the unregistered bonds are available only to institutional investors at a minimum $25,000 purchase price, to be redeemed at full value Dec. 1,2011. In a complex arrangement involving Bremer Bank, National City Bank of Minneapolis, and
AC A Financial Guaranty Corporation of New York, two types of
Revenue Bonds worth more than $15 million each have been
made available to investors.
Revenue from Series 2000A bonds is believed to be tax-deductible, while 2000B bonds are subject to taxation. Rather than,
being issued directly to investors as certificates, the bonds are to
be held for the beneficiaries by Cede & Co., a subordinate holding company for the Depository Trust Company, whose reported
assets are nearly $20 trillion. Both series have been rated by tlie
major national firm Standard and Poor's as "A" bonds, the third
EXPANSION to pg. 6
Finn, Pemberton still
owe Leech Lake
nearly $453,000 in
restitution, penalties
By Julie Shortridge
According to federal court records dated April 3,
2001, fonner state Senator Harold "Skip" Finn still
owes $410,624, having paid approximately $37,000,
in restitution, fines and penalties related to his 1996
conviction of multiple felonies for stealing over
$1,000,000 from the people of Leech Lake in an insurance scam. Finn was general counsel to the Band
at the time. Alfred "Tig" Pemberton, an accomplice in
the crimes, also owes over $54,000, having paid
$2,451.
Another accomplice in the Finn case, Dan Brown,
has paid all ofhis nearly $39,000 in restitutions, fines
and penalties.
Ofthe amount still outstanding, nearly $453,000 is
owed to the Leech Lake Band of Chippewa, from
whom tlie threesome stole.
Finn and Pemberton both served time in prison for
the crimes. Brown served house detention.
The court keeps track of how much has been paid,
but it is up to the Band itself to take action in recovering what's owed them.
Voice     of     the     People
web page: www.press-on.net
American Indian numbers rose, but how
much is hard to peg
By David Peterson and Peg Meier
Star Tribune
The 2000 census was possibly the
most accurate ever for American Indians, but that group's numbers were perhaps fuzzier than any other's.
Did the Indian population in Minnesota rise modestly—from about
50,000 to about 55,000 — in the
1990s? Or did it leap to more than
81,000?
The answer lies somewhere in between, depending on whether you use
the most conservative count (only
those classifying themselves as Indian)
or the most comprehensive (anyone
claiming any Indian blood).
Counting
Indians
then, now
i Pressl'ON report
Census 2000 statistics on
I "race," residence, and age
! have been released for Min-
| nesota.   According to cen-
I sus data, there were about
\ 55,000 people who identi-
| tied themselves as Indians
\ residing in Minnesota in the
CENSUS topg. 6
Tribal officer
charged with
hitting teen
By David Unze
Mille Lacs County Times
MIL AC A -A sergeant with the
Mille Lac Band of Ojibwe Tribal Police Department has been charged with
assault and disorderly conduct, accused of punching a 17-year-old he
had arrested.
Marc Robert Gabiger, 35, who lives
in Brainerd, was charged this week
with fifth-degree assault and disorderly
conduct from an incident Feb. 11 in
the Mille Lacs County Jail. Gabiger is
accused of punching the 17-year-old
boy several times in the face after the
boy fought with deputies who were
trying to book him into thejail.
Calls to tlie tribal police department
about Gabiger's employment status
were referred to the police chief, who
didn't immediately return the calls.
Gabiger is on administrative leave,
said his attorney Joe Marshall, but
Marshall wasn't sure if Gabiger is getting paid.
Although convictions for fifth-degree assault against someone other
than a family member and for disorderly wouldn't prohibit Gabiger from
carrying a firearm, he could face restrictions on his state peace officer's license from any potential convictions.
The decision to charge Gabiger was
made by Sherburne County Attorney
Walter Kaminsky, who reviewed the
case to avoid potential conflicts of interest for the Mille Lacs County
attorney's office.
The 17-year-old was resisting arrest
and threw at least two punches at
Gabiger when Gabiger and three other
law enforcement officers tried lo book
him into thejail. One punch glanced
off Gabiger's forehead, the complaint
said, and the 17-year-old also ripped
Gabiger's shirt and threatened
Gabiger's family after being arrested.
OFFICER to pg. 6
The situation is similar for every census
category this year—the first in which
people could check as many boxes as
they thought applied—but for no other
did it cause as much uncertainty.
Experts say the gap results partly
from the centuries of interaction — and
intermarriage—between whites and
Indians. But they fear that some people
may be making romanticized or dubious claims on a heritage they don't possess.
That uncertainty makes it tough to assess whether the casino boom has led to
a return to reservations from urban areas, said Will Craig ofthe University of
Minnesota.
But it also may tempt researchers to
simply toss figures for mixed-race Indians, said Norm De Weave ofthe Indian
and Native American Employment and
Training Coalition, based in Washington, D.C. That would mean the elimination of data for tlie 40 percent or more
ofMinnesota Indians who don't live on
reservations and at least some of those
who do, and it would affect the distribution of funding.
Gary Frazer, executive director ofthe
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, said, "The
reservations did a real good job of getting everybody counted." lt helped that
the census recruited local people to do
the counting, he said. After the last census, Frazer had asserted that Minnesota
Chippewa were undercounted.
Racist letter mars school's
Indian Awareness Week
By Jeff Armstrong
A March 12 appeal for financial support from area businesses for the Detroit
Lakes Public Schools Indian Awareness
Week was returned with an anonymous
anti-Indian message: "The american
indians lost the war. They can damn
well get off their butts and start pulling
their own weight. No more hand outs,
no more free land or food or houses. I
have to pay for what I have;—so can
they. They lost. We won."
While school officials sought to
downplay the significance ofthe statement, others said it indelibly marred tlie
15* year ofthe annual event, which includes a pow-wow, a writing contest and
a knowledge bowl for Native students.
"We didn't really show anybody
around the school," said Title IX Indian
Education director Joe Carrier. "The reaction is you just kind of ignore it because there's no logic to it."
But Laura Roy, a member ofthe Detroit Lakes-based Anishinaabe Center's
Human Rights Task Force, said the incident and the school district's muted response have sparked fear and anger
among Native students and parents. Roy
said the letter is a frightening reminder
that "there are people out there like that"
and called for additional security at the
March 31 pow-wow.
Carrier said tlie letter- writer wa;. expressing the views ofa small but vocal
minority, which he characterized as
"dumb talk." The Turtle Mountain Native speculated that tlie recent upsurge
of racist rhetoric may be related to a
controversy over the University of
North Dakota's "fighting Sioux" nickname.
"That was the only letter we got in response with any racial slamming," said
Carrier. "As far as the awareness week,
I haven't seen anything from the students to where it would be considered
negative."
The Title IX coordinator said the
opening prayer took place without incident, despite the presence of many non-
Native students in the racially polarized
environment
"Some teachers brought all the students in their classes" to the prayer ceremony, Carrier said. "There's both sides
ofthe coin; there's people working to
undo racism and they're not just Indians."
Roy said schools could help to undo
the mythology of racism by teaching a
factual history ofthe United States' origin and relations with indigenous nations.
"We never lost the war because there
LETTER to pg. 6
Discrimination complaint lodged
against Bemidji Middle School
By Jeff Armstrong
The custodial grandmother ofa
Bemidji Middle School student has
filed a civil rights complaint against
school officials, alleging discrimination on the basis of race and disability.
Elaine Clark charges school staff
with using excessive force against her
12-year-old granddaughter, Raquel
Guenthner, in direct violation ofthe
girl's IEP (Individualized Education
Program) for the second time in less
than a year.
According to Clark, EBD teacher
Nancy Benson and several other
Middle School employees physically
subdued the seventh grader, then had
her arrested and jailed for three days
over what began as a trivial infraction.
Clark says she was never notified of
the incident until her daughter was already in custody at Northwest Juvenile Training Center, though
Guenthner's IEP specifically states
that Clark is to be "notified immediately" before her daughter is removed
from the classroom and tliat four different school staff are assigned to
handle the removal.
"There were three people sitting on
this little girl who weighs 98 pounds,"
said Clark, a native of Red Lake.
"Nancy is not supposed to have anything to do with Raquel. She's not
supposed to touch her. It's in her IEP."
The March 14 incident began when
Benson accused Guenthner of failing
to report to the Excel classroom before school started, according to
school staff reports. When the girl arrived in her first period class, Benson
told Guenthner she would have to
spend her lunch hour in detention and
ordered her to turn over her lunch
ticket, which the instructor had reason
to know was in the possession ofthe
lunchroom supervisor. After being
pressed by Benson and another EBD
teacher for nearly two hours to comply with the order, Guenthner angrily
told them where to find the ticket.
When the staff continued to keep her
out of class against her will, the girl
reportedly had an emotional outburst
leading to a physical confrontation.
Clark said the incident would never
have occurred if school staff had complied with tlie steps outlined in the
girl's IEP. She also questioned why
supposedly emotionally disturbed
children are held to a higher standard
of behavior than others.
"It's like being in a military school.
They can't eat, they can't talk. I
couldn't even do that, yet they expect
this from people that have a behavior
problem?" said Clark.
According to Clark, Benson was not
to have contact with Guenthner due to
a similar incident on April 27 of last
year, in which the girl was injured af-
SCHOOL to pg. 6
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Native
American
I I Hub /Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2001
Founded in 1988
Volume 13 Issue 20
April 6, 2001
Tribal
offices
Volunteer firefighter Todd Felix inspects the remains of a professional building that housed the
Minnesota Chippewa tribal headquarters just north of Walker, Minn., on April 2. Cass County authorities
id arson caused the fire shortly before 3 a.m. April 2 at the Log Homes Minnesota building.
Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota file lawsuit to halt
gravel mine
By Patrick Minelli and Caroline Burau
Shakopee Valley News
The Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota
Community has filed a civil suit against
the City of Prior Lake seeking to halt a
proposed gravel mining operation.
In the suit, filed March 21 in Scott
County District Court, the tribe claims
that the planned mining operation would
cause harm to adjacent Indian reservation property. The suit claims that there
are 35 families on 40 acres, north of Cty.
Rd. 42 and east of Cty. Rd. 83 on the
reservation, that would be affected by
the mining.
The city approved a conditional use
permit (CUP) on Feb. 27 for a gravel pit
operation proposed by Ryan Contracting of Shakopee. Tlie site, known as the
"McKenna property," is owned by Richard McKenna and Joseph and Carolyn
Kinney and is being leased by Ryan.
Ryan plans to strip-mine gravel in a
12.0-acre pit within a 29.6-acre parcel.
Plans call for mining tlie property for 10
years, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 pjn.
weekdays and 8 am. to noon on Saturdays from March through December.
The tribal community claims that the
mining will generate as many as 100
truck trips per day on the two-lane road,
which it says is the primary access to the
residential area. The mining operation
would also cause noise, dust, traffic congestion and safety hazards to nearby
residents, including threatening the water supply ofthe tribal community, and
would harm a nearby wetland, the suit
says.
In addition to issuing the CUP, the
Prior Lake City Council found that an
environmental assessment worksheet
(EAW) done for the project was sufficient and that a more extensive environmental impact statement was not required.
The suit claims the city granted the
CUP and declined to do further environmental studies despite requests by the
Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District, Scott County, the Minnesota Department of Health and tlie tribal community that more studies be done or that
more conditions be imposed to prevent
possible adverse effects of mining.
Nearby tribal residents were also not afforded an adequate hearing on the permit conditions, says the suit.
Wilda Wahpepah, an attorney representing the community, voiced those
same objections at a Feb. 20 city council meeting. Wahpepah had also raised
concerns about conflicting reports regarding tlie mining operation's impact
on nearby wells.
Currently, city ordinances allow such
operations within city limits. However,
at the March 19 meeting, the City Council approved a 12-month moratorium on
any new mining operations, to allow the
city time to review the ordinance and
possibly make changes. Any changes
might affect the future of Ryan's mining
operation after the company's one-year
permit expires.
The suit seeks to halt the mining and
revoke the conditional use pennit, and
asks the court to order an EIS and to
award the plaintiffs costs and attorney
fees associated with the lawsuit.
Red Lake pursues tribal college
By Devlyn Brooks
Bemidji Pioneer
The Red Lake Band of Chippewa
hopes to remove one
sH,   more barrier to tribal
jV members receiving post-
secondary education by
creating a tribal college,
officials said.
The goal ofa recently created Red
Lake Tribal College Taskforce is to
complete the effort within three years
with a fully accredited institution from
which students could receive training in
business, natural resources and even
medicine, according to Tribal Secretary
Judy Roy.
"We're not rushing into anything because we want to take a look and see
what suits us best," Roy said. "But
we're looking at where our kids want to
be in the future and taking a look at critical professions...."
Although a goal of some tribal leaders
for some time, the effort to establish the
tribal college took on importance this
winter when the Red Lake Tribal Council made the college its No. 1 priority at
a planning retreat. In January, the council appointed the 19-member taskforce
and hired a consulting firm to guide the
taskforce in its work. Roy, Tribal Council Representative Harlan Beaulieu and
Tribal Planning Director Linda Bedeau
were appointed to co-chair the higher-ed
taskforce.
Roy said since forming, the taskforce
has begun advertising for a school director, analyzing other tribal school characters discussing their own charter, and
visiting other tribal colleges.
This wouldn't be the first high-education training opportunity the tribe has
tried. Early in the 1990s, Red Lake
partnered with Bemidji State University
to offer classes in Red Lake, according
to Roy and Tribal Chairman Bobby
Whitefeather. But the relationship never
worked out and BSU officials suggested
shelving the project, Whitefeather said.
But he said the effort wasn't for
naught, as tribal officials saw the benefit,
and hope the earlier process will help
taskforce members work through the
newer, bolder plans.
"We know it's going to be a lengthy
process," he said. "But being we had a
process that had a tribal college atmosphere to it, (we hope) that will help to
establish the new college."
Taskforce co-chairs Beaulieu and Roy
said the college's initial focus will be on
the critical professions the Red Lake
Tribal Council would like to see young
band members enter to help their own
tribe. Those include business management, forestry, natural resources, fisheries, engineering, computer training and
medicine.
".. .We have created a new cash flow,
but we have not created employment for
our membership, at least not in upper
management and high tech vocational
positions," Beaulieu recently wrote in
the Red Lake Band's newspaper. "The
tribes who have the foresight to establish tribal colleges are already reaping
the benefits of this investment."
But the biggest benefit by far to the
tribe - even more so than building a
workforce -would be exposing young
band members to a higher education setting, an atmosphere most American Indians are not familiar with.
Red Lake officials said they hope by
engaging students in a two-year college
situation at home, the students may be
encouraged enough to move to four-year
colleges elsewhere to complete tlieir education.
"There is documented proof that tribal
members given an opportunity of a junior
college education on their resen'ation
have a far greater success rate of achieving a four-year university," Beaulieu said.
"A junior college at home gives more
people the opportunity to attend college
on either a part-time or full-time basis."
Roy said the task force members
haven't ruled any options out, including
using existing Red Lake School District
facilities to get started or even eventually
building a dedicated campus to expand
the tribal college into a four-year school
to serve all of northern Beltrami County,
non-band members alike.
"I (recently) had a conversation with a
young high school student who said she
wanted to become a licensed practical
nurse," Roy said. "And my question to
her was why not a registered nurse or
why not a doctor? We've got to dream
big and teach our kids to dream big."