Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2001-04-20

              . ■ 7 i; -'■
INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events    5
Classifieds 6-7
First American
Indian
candidate for
St. Paul School
Board
pgi
Book notes:
The Last
Report on the
Miracle at Little
No Horse
pg3
BIA fiscal year 2001 for
Minnesota tribes
pg8
HUD's Potemkin
Villages on Minnesota
reservations update
pgi
Commentary
State test scores
are a symptom of a
sick buffalo in the
Indian community
pg4
Shortridge
resigns as
Press/ON
managing editor
Julie Shortridge, who has served
as managing editor at Press/ON
since April 1999, resigned to take a
position with Anoka County as
Public Information Manager. Ms.
Shortridge was instrumental in improving the design and layout of
the paper, and instituting the News
Briefs section. She brought a sensitivity to artistic matters and a
high standard of professionalism to
Press/ON.
We wish her the best of luck i n
her new endeavors.
U.S. Civil Rights Commission lends
moral weight to UND name change
crusade
By Jeff Armstrong
A 30-year campaign led by University ofNorth Dakota students and faculty to scrap the school's "Fighting
Sioux" sports nickname was bolstered
last week by a U.S. Civil Rights Commission opinion recommending that
non-Native educational institutions
abandon "stereotypical imagery."
"These references, whether mascots
and their performances, logos, or
names, are disrespectful and offensive
to American Indians and others who
are offended by such stereotyping.
They are particularly inappropriate and
insensitive in light of the long history
of forced assimilation that American
UND
Indian people have
endured in tiiis
country," the federal advisory body
stated in an April
13 opinion.
UND spokesman Peter Johnson
said the university
had no immediate
response to the
recommendation, suggesting tlie decision remains in the hands ofthe state
Board of Higher Education.
"It's not unlike the school board
making a decision," said Johnson. 'The
UND to pg. 7
CI
CHANGE
THE NAME
Thompson aide would share $46.5
million if casino happens
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE - Regulators in four
states are looking into a contract struck
by a fonner aide to Tommy Thompson
and his partner, who would share
$46.5 million if a casino is built in
Kenosha, a newspaper reported.
Police also are probing whether Thompson knew about the agreement,
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnists Cary Spivak and Dan Bice reported in April 15 's edition.
William McCoshen, 36, and his lobbying partner, Eric Petersen, 34, would
split the money with the estate of
Petersen's mentor, Jim Wimmer, the
report said.
The three own Madison Consulting
LLC, according to records in
Wimmer's probate file.
Regulators in Wisconsin, Missouri,
Indiana and Illinois are looking into a
secret agreement between Madison
Consulting and the managers ofthe
proposed casino, the newspaper said.
Sources told tlie columnists that the
regulators recently talked to FBI
agents about the contract.
"Part of good police work is looking
for flags," said Indiana Slate Police
Maj. Mark Mason. "This raised a red
flag."
Regulators in the four states started
looking at Nii-Jii Entertainment - tlie
non-Indian company that is financing
and hopes to manage tlie casino - in
January, sources told tlie newspaper
columnists.
The three states other than Wisconsin are interested because they oversee
the operations of Argosy Gaming Co.,
which signed a deal with Nii-Jii last
year to help finance and am the proposed Kenosha casino. Argosy oper-.
ates casinos in those states and two
others.
Gaming regulators can take away an
operator's license for associating with
firms or people they consider undesirable.
Investigators wonder whether Thompson knew about the deal while he
was quietly helping to move the casino
project along.
Menominee tribal leaders said they
were shocked when they found out last
fall how wealthy their casino would
make the Madison lobbyists.
"I was absolutely floored that a contract of that size... was not made available to the tribal legislature," said
Sylvia'Wilber, a member ofthe
Menominee legislature.
But Robert Boyle, a key partner in
tlie company that brought Madison
Consulting into the casino deal, said
the amount is not out of line and would
be paid only if the casino wins approval.
The project now is considered a
longshot, largely because Thompson's
successor, Gov. Scott McCallum, has
vowed to oppose an expansion of
gambling in the slate.
Under the contract with Madison
Consulting, the company would receive S4.5 million if the state and federal government allow the Menominee
tribe to buy Dairyland Greyhound
Park. Once the casino opens, Madison
Consulting would collect $6 million
THOMPSON to pg. 6
The Indian-
giving loophole
By Michelle Malkin
The Washington Times
A deep-pocketed special interest
group remains curiously silent amid
tlie furor over campaign finance "reform": Indian tribes. Why? You
might think tribal leaders would be
swarming Capitol Hill, joining other
business groups and trade associations
that are rightly worried about the
McCain-Feingold bill's deleterious effect on their ability to participate in
the political process.
Under McCain-Feingold, so-called
"soft money" donations (which are
currently unregulated and unlimited)
would be banned. Tliat would presumably be a big blow to Indian
tribes, particularly those who run casinos, whose soft-money giving has exploded in the last few years.
In the 1996 election cycle, a Center
for Responsive Politics report notes,
Indian gaming interests gave more
than $ 1.5 million in soft money to national party committees. According to
the National Journal, six ofthe lop 10
soft money donors among interest
groups nationwide in 1999-2000 were
Native American tribes. The No. 3-
ranked Seminole Tribe of Florida donated $325,000, 85 pereert ol which
went to the Democrats. After making
the donations, the Seminoles gained
approval for electronic gambling machines. The No. 5-ranked
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, operators
ofthe gargantuan Foxwoods Casino in
Connecticut, donated S319,000, 83
DNR to pg. 6
HUD's Potemkin Villages, Update:
Red Lake, Shakopee, Prairie Island and Lower
Sioux information
By Clara NiiSka
Information about Red Lake,
Shakopee, Prairie Island and Lower
Sioux reservations was not included in
the original housing infonnation provided to Press/ON by HUD. Press/
ON requested the infonnation, and the
next day HUD's Chicago regional office faxed the following:
Red Lake Reservation received a total of $10,331,937 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development during fiscal years 1998-2000.
Most of these funds were Indian
Housing block grants: $2,978,900 in
FY 1998, $3,058,052 in FY 1999, and
$3,056,485 in FY 2000. Red Lake
was also granted $238,500 from
HUD's Drug Elimination program in
FY 1998.
According to HUD, the Shakopee
Sioux Tribe "does not participate in
the program and has not received
funding from HUD in over 15 years."
"The Prairie Island Sioux detached
itself from the Minnesota Dakota umbrella housing authority in FY 1999."
Prairie Island was awarded Indian
Housing Block Grants of $145,402 in
FY 1999 and $140,157 in FY 2000.
"The Lower Sioux Tribe remained
HUD to pg. 7
Student claims racial slur forced
her from Detroit Lakes High School
By Jeff Armstrong
In a complaint to the state human
rights commission, Anishinabe high
school sophomoreTabitha Chilton says
she was forced to transfer schools after
being subjected to harassment from fellow students repeating what she perceived as a racial epithet by a teacher.
Chilton maintains Detroit Lakes High
School instructor Ric Otto refused to allow her to add her name to the list of students before class started. When he
asked for a show of hands of students not
on the roll call roster, she says Otto
called on a white student who raised her
hand just as the teacher was about to call
on Chilton. When Chilton's turn came,
Otto repeated her first name back as
"Savage-oh." According to Chilton, the
class broke into laughter, yet Otto failed
to ask if he had made an error.
"I thought he referred to me as a savage and publicly humiliated me at the
same time," Chilton writes in her complaint, "but I kind of just laughed with
while they laughed at me so I wouldn't
cry or anything."
By now Chilton was careful to state
her name clearly. But, she says, Otto restated her name as "Savage-oh Wilson,"
again prompting widespread laughter
among the students, including two who
taunted her long afterwards. Chilton reported the incident the same day to Indian education director Terri Boyer,
STUDENT to pg. 6
Norton
postpones
decision on
Indian trust
rule
AssociatedPress
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Interior Secretary Gale Norton postponed a decision
Friday on whether to adopt new rules
that could speed the process for American Indian tribes to add land to their reservations.
The changes were approved in the final days of tlie Clinton administration,
but are now among hundreds of decisions being reviewed by Bush officials.
The proposal, supported by tlie National Congress of American Indians,
would set deadlines for tlie Bureau of
Indian Affairs to rule on a tribe's reservation land petition - a process that can
now take years.
Norton decided to take public comment for another 60 days and spend another 60 days reviewing the proposed
rule, said BIA spokeswoman Nedra
Darling.
"She wants to make sure that at tlie
end ofthe 120 days that we have a full
understanding ofthe impact ofthe rule,"
Darling said.
In the late 19th and early 20th century,
the government's allotment policy cost
tribes about two-thirds of their land.
Now tribes are working to regain some
of tlie land.
Some local communities have complained tliat the tribe's tax-exempt status
could hurt municipalities' tax base. Conflicts have also arisen when tribes want
to build casinos.
Supreme Court allows Indians to set tougher air standards
ByAnneGearan
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Supreme
Court let a lower court decision stand
Monday that allowed air pollution standards for Indian land tliat are tougher
than the rules for adjacent state land.
The state of Michigan and a long list
of business groups and utilities claimed
that applying tlie strictest standards on
Indian lands threatens all manner of environmental, development and energy
policies on land outside Indian jurisdic
tion.
They claimed last year's decision by
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit "has fundamentally rearranged the balance of state
and tribal jurisdiction."
The coalition asked tlie Supreme
Court to roll back 1998 Environmental
Protection Agency rules giving tribes air
quality jurisdiction over lands held in
trust for Indiaas but not actually part ofa
reservation.
Trust lands "can include territory
within a state that has always previously
been within tlie state's sovereign jurisdiction," lawyer for tlie coalition wrote.
The Michigan coalition also challenged the EPA's decision to define a
reservation by its exterior borders. That
ignores tlie fact that many reservations
are checkerboards of control, with non-
Indians owning land surrounded by a
reservation, the lawyers said.
"The (appeals court) decision... has
thereby exacerbated the tensions that
have long existed between states protec-
COURT to pg. 6
Voice     of     the     People
web page: www.press-on.net
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A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2001
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Volume 13 Issue 22
April 20, 2001
First American Indian candidate for
St. Paul School Board
By Judy Archibald
"I prefer to make decisions that
will benefit seven generations, not
just the present one," said Elona
Street-Stewart, Delaware-Nanticoke
who has a goal of being the first
American Indian elected to the St.
Paul School Board.
The St. Paul School District hosts
a wide range of ethnic populations
including Hispanic, White, Hmong,
African Americans and nearly one-
thousand Indian students - with Ho-
Chunk, Dakota and Ojibwe the
dominate tribes. "1 decided to run for
the school board because there is an
urgent need for a Native person to sit
at the board table to incorporate the
issues and concerns or our community," she said. "While Minnesota
high school graduation rates are better than the national average, the   ,
dropout rates for Native American,
African American and Hispanic-
Latino students are still way too
high."
Elona is quick to explain that if
elected she will serve the entire eth-
uix. "As a parent, not an Indian
parent." Two of Fiona's tour children are out ofthe nest, however, she
still has a son in tenth grade who attends Central High and another son
in seventh grade at Ramsey Junior
High.
Elona has spent thousands of hours
working with the school district
board, superintendent, staff and students in such volunteer positions as
classroom reading monitor; literacy
instructor; co-chair ofthe Citizen's
Advisory Committee on Superintendent Search; Blue Ribbon Task
Force on Desegregation and 11 years
as chair ofthe Indian Education Program parent committee. In 1999, she
received the Minnesota Indian Education Association Parent ofthe Year
Award. She has volunteered time to
recruit and hire Native American
principals, teachers and consultants
as well as helping to increase the
number 6f new teachers and administrators from communities of colors.
Alongside her friend, the late Loretta
Gagnon, Elona also advocated to
make the dream of an American Indian Magnet School a reality. A
member ofthe Delaware Nanticoke
tribe from the Delaware, Maryland
and Virginia area, Elona grew up in
Philadelphia, then moved to Los Angeles, California to attend Occidental College, receiving a BA in Soci-
Elona Street-Stewart, Delaware-Nanticoke has a goal of being
the first American Indian elected to the St. Paul School Board
ology and Anthropology in 1973.
She and her husband, David who she
met in college moved to San Francisco so he could attend a theological seminary. His first call as a minister took them to Pendleton, Oregon
where they lived for ten years near
the Umatilla Reservation.
In 1978, Elona was confirmed as
an elder in the Presbyterian Church.
"White ranchers from the church in
town and the Indian community from
the reservation held hands and
joined together during my confirmation," she said. An elected member
ofthe General Assembly Advocacy
Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns, Elona has been an active advocate on several national public
policy committees that affect communities of color.
Tlie family moved to St. Paul in
1985 where her husband is pastor of
the Dayton Avenue Presbyterian
Church. Since 1992, Elona has been
on the staff for Racial Ethnic Ministries and Community Empowerment,
Synod of Lakes and Prairies, Presbyterian Church where she is involved
in racial justice work nation-wide.
As past director of development for
the St. Paul/Ramsey County
Children's Initiative, she was responsible for developing 9 family centers.
For more than two decades,
Elona's employment and volunteer
responsibilities have focused on racial justice, protection of civil rights
within urban, rural and reservation
communities which she feels has
provided a strong base to be a new
voice as the first American Indian on
the St. Paul School Board.
To find out more about Elona, visit
her web page at
www.elona4stpaul.org or to volunteer help, call Bob Pepper, treasurer
ofthe election campaign at 651-271
1309.
Federal officials tried to block critical audit
By Matt Kelley
Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Federal
auditors contend that Clinton administration housing officials bowed to
political pressure and approved a
$9.5 million college dormitory for
Alaska Natives that wasn't necessary.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development officials tried to block
release ofthe report from the HUD
inspector general last winter, but it
was resubmitted to the Bush administration and made public March 30.
"It's the first time I've ever run
across where they've requested us
not to release a report," Frank Baca,
head ofthe Seattle audit office that
investigated the case, said Wednesday.
The audit said HUD officials approved the dorm at Alaska Pacific
University "without any evidence
that there was a need for the
project." Local HUD officials calculated that the 40-student dorm should
cost no more than $2.3 million _ less
than a quarter ofthe amount approved.
Construction on the dorm has not
started, and Baca said the project is
on hold.
Investigators said political pres
sure, not evidence of need, helped
the project win approval. Those who
weighed in to support the dormitory
included Sen. Ted Stevens, R-
Alaska, chainnan of die Senate Appropriations Committee.
Neither Stevens nor fonner Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo responded to repeated requests for
comment.
Last December, Deputy Housing
Secretary Saul Ramirez wrote auditors asking that the report not be issued.
"We conclude that all findings are
wrong," Ramirez wrote. He said auditors misinterpreted federal regulations. His letter did not mention political pressure.
The dormitory is the latest in a series of problems that HUD's inspector general has found in the agency's
housing programs for American Indians. Auditors have criticized HUD
for building luxury homes for well-
connected tribal members while
thousands of other Indians live
crammed into reservation shacks.
Last fall, auditors found that Washington state's Lummi tribe had misspent up to $1.3 million of $12.4
million in HUD money it got from
1993 to 1999. A 1998 audit oflndian
housing programs found that $14
million had been wasted or misspent.
In the March 30 audit criticizing
the dormitory, auditors said HUD officials gave no reason for approving
tlie $9.5 million project, even though
agency memos "appear to argue
against" it.
"We believe these improper actions occurred because HUD officials made decisions based primarily
on political considerations," auditors
wrote.
In addition to Stevens, auditors
said Carl Marrs, head of Cook Inlet
Regional Inc., the Alaska Native corporation backing the dormitory, also
met with Cuomo to lobby for the
project, seeking it under programs
for housing low income Indians.
Cook Inlet is one of 13 regional
corporations created to manage
Alaska Natives' land and resources
under a 1971 law Stevens wrote. The
government money for the project is
iunneled through a nonprofit subsidiary, the Cook Inlet Housing Authority.
A CIRI official defended the
project.
"The way to reduce the need for
low-income housing is to educate
Alaska Natives effectively so they
don't need it," said Keith Sanders,
CIRI's general counsel. "I think
that's the message that was conveyed
to the secretary and the senator."