Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2001-05-11

              ■Mz?:M ■ :'   -   -v I :
INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events    5
Classifieds 6-7
Officials charge
BIA letter to tribes
unfair
pgi
Survivor's feast in
Cass Lake for
Leech Lake Family
Violence Program
pgi
TEC votes down
amendment to ban felons
from seeking office
pgi
Corporate Commission
ofthe Mille Lacs Band
of Ojibwe
pg4
Commentary
Writing test scores
tell only half the
story
pg4
Priest
apologizes for
characterizing
White Earth
activists as
'criminal
element'
By JeffArmstrong
As settlement ofa defamation suit
filed by three tribal activists opposed to
a law enforcement agreement between
White Earth and Becker County, Fr.
Ronald Meyer publicly apologized for a
newspaper letter last year implying opponents ofthe pact were furthering tlie
agenda ofa "criminal element" on the
reservation.
"Marvin Manypenny, Ray Bellcourt
and Melvin Manypenny have a long history of opposition to tribal-county law
enforcement agreements tliat were consummated by respective officials. Because of tlieir firmly held personal beliefs and long-standing public opposition to tlie law enforcement agreements,
my letter to the editor is interpreted as
implicating them as members ofa criminal element of society. My contentions
are errors as to them. After careful review and consideration ofthe complexities involved on this controversial issue,
I fully apologize to them. I meant no
harm to anyone's reputation and certainly believe that in a democratic society everyone has a right to be heard and
their issues to be considered," said
Meyer in a written apology.
A non-Native priest for several White
Earth parishes, Meyer had suggested in
a letter published in the Becker County
Record'and the Native American Press/
Ojibwe News last February that oppo-
APOLOGY to pg. 6
TEC votes down amendment to
ban felons from seeking office
By JeffArmstrong
A divided Tribal Executive Committee rejected a proposed MCT constitutional amendment barring convicted
tribal embezzlers from seeking electoral
office at a May 9 meeting at Leech
Lake's Palace Casino.
Tribal members who discovered the
meeting by chance or word-of-mouth
complained that they were again excluded from the debate on their political
future.
Supported by TEC representatives
from Leech Lake and White Earth—
three of four of whom acted to block
convicted tribal felons from electoral
certification in last year's vote—the motion for a BlA-sponsored secretarial
election on the six Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe reservations fell three votes short
ofthe eight required for a two-thirds
majority under the tribal constitution.
The wording ofthe proposed amendment read as follows:
"No member ofthe Tribe shall be eligible to hold or run for office if he or
she has been convicted ofa felony involving theft, embezzlement or misappropriation of Tribal or Band funds."
Mille Lacs RBC chairman Melanie
Benjamin voted in favor ofthe resolution, but fellow reservation representative Herb Weyaus abstained
While Bois Forte chainnan Gary
Donald and others argued that the
amendment language was too narrow,
Weyaus warned that changing the electoral requirements could lead to the dis-
enfranchisement ofa disproportionate
number of tribal members.
"We've got 18-year-olds tliat are convicted felons now that in 20 years will
be productive citizens," Weyaus said. "I
don't want to eliminate 95% of my
population from running for office."
Resolution sponsor Eli Hunt, chairman ofthe Leech Lake RBC, expressed
exasperation with the TEC's faltering
constitutional revision process.
"Revising or writing a constitution is
something I've heard talked about by
the TEC for 20 years," said Hunt. "1 really don't think we're going to get a consensus or agreement on any tiling."
"We're not asking the TEC to vote
yes or no," tlie Leech Lake chairman
stated. "All we are asking for is TEC
support so Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
members can vote on this issue."
Fond du Lac chairman Robert Peacock charged that the amendment was
targeted at a handful of potential candidates, arguing that voters should have
the right to judge the candidates for
themselves.
TEC president Pete Defoe, who voted
against the resolution, said the committee had abandoned its search for individuals to write proposals to administer
a constitutional convention in favor of
an amendment-by-amendment approach.
"I'd like to think there's a way to do
this. I don't want to think we're not going to get anywhere," Defoe said. "We
came to the conclusion we'd like to
have this brought in one item at a time."
Defoe called for a meeting ofall 30
members ofthe six RBCs with a Bureau
oflndian Affairs solicitor to "decide
what items we can proceed with."
"It's going to be a BIA election.
They're going to run it. We need something that's acceptable to them," said
Defoe.
Former Leech Lake candidate Walter
Reese said tribal officials should seek
the participation of their own constituents, not federal bureaucrats.
"To me, bringing in the BIA and going to a secretarial election is wrong,"
said Reese. "Why is there such a big effort to exclude tribal members from the
constitutional reform process?"
Tribal firm gets $325 million Air Force contract
Associated Press
PABLO - If your F-l 5 jet fighter
needs a new windshield and you're in
Saudi Arabia, your new parts manager
may soon be a company founded by the
Confederated Salish and Kootenai
Tribes on the Flathead Reservation.
S&K Technologies Inc., has landed
an eight-year, $325 million contract to
help owners of F-15 fighter aircraft keep
their planes in good working order.
It's partnering with Tamsco Manufacturing of Poison on tlie Air Force contract.
When tlie Air Force sells F-15 fighter
aircraft, the price includes a service contract. S&K Technologies will be in
charge of that contract
Its job will be developing and maintaining a database of vendors and available parts and determining the quickest
and cheapest way to get them shipped
anywhere in tlie world said Greg
DuMontier, president of S&K Technologies. Tamsco developed the software.
At a ceremony at the KwaTaqNuk
Resort in Poison Monday, Air Force
Gen. Dennis Haines congratulated S&K
Technologies, which spun off from
S&K Electronics less than two years
ago.
He said smaller companies get jobs
done better, faster and cheaper than the
Air Force or large private-sector defense
contractors.
"We get parts faster and cheaper and
our customers are very satisfied" said
Haines, who is based at Robinson Air
Force Base in Georgia.
Customers include the Saudi Arabian
Air Force and others throughout the
world.
As a tribally owned business, S&K
Technologies is eligible for federal con
tracts set aside under federal law for
small, disadvantaged and minority-
owned businesses.
Michelle Johnson ofthe Small Business Administration in Helena said the
$325 million contract is by far the larg-
t-aside contract ever awarded a
Montana firm. And it's one ofthe largest
in recent memory in tlie entire United
States, she said.
S&K Technologies plans to have 100
employees at five locations throughout
the United States under existing contracts and to work on the new Air Force
contract beginning in the next month.
About 20 of those workers will be tribal
members working on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
S&K Technologies currently has employees in Atlanta, Seattle and Houston
handling data for tlie nation's space program.
Judge's decision expected to slow tribe's effort
to build casino
Associated Press
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A federal
judge's ruling against a local American
Indian tribe will likely slow its efforts to
build a proposed casino in Allegan
County.
In a written decision released Thursday, Judge Robert Holmes Bell of U.S.
District Court in Grand Rapids sided
with the state and dismissed a lawsuit
filed last July by the 175-member
Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band, or
Gun Lake Band, of Potawatomi Indians.
Two plead
guilty to
embezzling
AssociatedPress
MADISON, Wis. - Two former employees ofa Chippewa Indian band
pleaded guilty to embezzling more than
$200,000 ofthe tribe's money
The pair, who worked for the Red
Cliff band of Chippewa Indians, face up
to five years in prison. The U.S.
Attorney's office in Madison said they
were part ofa group of employees in the
tribe's accounting office that took nearly
$1 million since 1991.
FBI and Department of Interior agents
are continuing their investigation, which
may lead to charges against the rest of
the group, Assistant U.S. Attorney John
Vaudreuil said May 4.
Allan F. Bulterfield, 63, who was the
band's comptroller and treasurer, and
Lou Ann Gordon, 47, the lead accountant, were charged in October. Both are
from Bayfield.
Butterfield pleaded guilty May 3 in
U.S. District Court in Madison to embezzling tribal money. Gordon pleaded
guilty to the same charge more than a
week ago. Butterfield agreed to pay
back $108,090, and Gordon agreed to
pay back $137,207, Vaudreuil said.
Tribal leaders sought to force compact negotiations with Gov. John Engler
for a 180,000-square-lbot casino and
entertainment complex that they want to
build in Dorr Township, about 20 miles
south of Grand Rapids.        The state,
however, argued that the Dorr-based
tribe didn't have tlie right to ask for an
operating agreement under federal law
until the U.S. government approves a
site for the casino.
By agreeing with the state, Bell told
the tribe that it must place land for the
casino site in a federal trust before it can
seek a compact to run tlie casino.
"In this case, the tribe does not have
jurisdiction over Indian lands upon
which a Class III gaming activity is proposed," Bell wrote in his seven:page
ruling. "Therefore the tribe does not
come under authority ofthe statute" that
forces the state to negotiate a compact.
Bell, however, left open the door for
the tribe to force Engler to negotiate a
deal at a later date.
"If and when that process is completed, the tribe will be able to invoke
the authority ofthe statute and bring the
state to the bargaining table," he wrote".
State officials hailed the judge's decision.
"I think it was tlie correct ruling from
a legal standpoint," Lance Boldrey,
Engler's deputy legal counsel, told Tlie
Grand Rapids Press.
Todd Boorsma, head ofthe citizens
group West Michigan Gaming Opposition, echoed Boldrey's comments.
"That's what we've been saying all
along," Boorsma said. "They are way
premature."
The tribe released a written statement
saying it plans to appeal.
D.K. Sprague, tribal chainnan ofthe
Gun Lake Band, wrote that "fairness has
been denied" He also said other Michigan tribes have negotiated compacts
with the state without holding lands in
trust for their casinos.
The casino proposal has divided
many ofthe township's 6,579 residents.
Supporters say the township needs the
approximately $900,000 in tax revenue
it would get each year if the casino is
built there. Opponents argue morality
andquality-of-life issues.
Voice     ofthe     People
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Volume 13 Issue 25
May 11, 2001
Cass-Lake Bena Anishinabe Knowledge
Bowl team takes 5th place
i Anishinabe College. The team took tilth place out of 21
Knowledge Bowl Team recently was sue- learns who competed from across Minne-
ccssful at the statewide competition held sota. Pictured(fronttoback):AlanBoswell,
at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community Mike Reyes, Tashina Mountin, Roman
Brow -n. Natasha Thompson. Shea Fleming,
Yodi Morn's, Cheyenne Whitefeather,
Roselynn Jones, Shellda Johnson.
Survivors' feast
By Anne M. Dunn
Cass Lake, MN, Leech Lake Reservation —The Leech Lake Family Violence Prevention Intervention Program
gathered a small community of hope at
tlie Veteran's Memorial Powwow
grounds on April 28, to honor the victims of domestic violence.
Ten silent witnesses encircled the
gathering. The witnesses are red female
silhouettes cut from plywood. They represent Native American women killed in
Minnesota as a result of domestic violence. Each one has a name and a history. Together we remembered: Latisha
Brien, 21, killed in Granite Falls, January 15,1999, member of tlie Northern
Cheyenne tribe, Lame Deer, Montana;
Jennifer Bradley, 30, killed in Minneapolis, July 2; 1996, member ofthe
Minnesota ChippewaTribe, Mille Lacs
Indian Reservation; Ernestine Medicine
Elk, 40, killed in St Paul, September 3,
1995, member of Northern Cheyenne
Tribe, Lame Deer, Montana; Brenda
Quagon, 24, killed in Minneapolis,
June, 1993, Wisconsin Ojibwe, Lac
Court Oreilles Reservation; Kimberly
White, 25, killed in Ponemah, May 30,
1994, Red Lake Indian Reservation;
Germaine Chatkana, 20, killed in St
Cloud, Febmary 2,1999, member of tlie
Birdtail First Nation in Manitoba,
Canada; Nancy Johns, 42, killed in
Duluth, March 22,1995, tribal affiliation unknown; Dora Maria Silva, killed
in Duluth, June 22,1996, tribal affiliation unknown; Cassandra Norcross, 16,
killed in Detroit Lakes, November 5,
1992, member ofthe Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Indian
Reservation; Jennifer Lynn Frye, 23,
killed in St Paul, April 19,1995, member Mille Lacs band.
Tlie Silent Witness Project consists of
women artists and writers who speak out
against violence. Since 1990, domestic
violence has killed 26 NativeAmerican
women nationwide. There are 27 freestanding female figures. Tlie additional
figure represents all those unknown or
uninvestigated deaths.
As director of Mending the Sacred
Hoop, Beryl Rock works with 131 tribal
organizations nationwide. "I'm committed to working for Native people," she
said.       According to Beryl the Native
American community had little or no
data concerniim domestic murder until
1990.
In 1997 she went to Washington DC
to participate in a rally against violence.
Marchers carried 1500 silent witness
figures. As she watched the water re-
llect the figures it seemed to double
dieir numbers and she had a vision of
tlie lethality of domestic violence. She
decided to do more. She promised herself that she would make a difference.
liNow I have a goal," she said. "Zero
domestic murder by 2010." She researched femicide reports for Native
, American women dead by domestic
violence and began raising funds for silent witnesses. She raised money for two
figures. Now she has 10 and they have
been displayed at many events. Her goal
is 15.
"Our women are sacred," she said.
"Violence against women was not tolerated in early NativeAmerican communities. But Furopean men brought chaos
and cultural destniction. Domestic violence is fatal. Women are murdered by
FEAST to pg. 6
Tribal, BSU
leaders ask
spirits to bless
Indian center site
By Devlyn Brooks
Bemidji Pioneer
Standing only feet away from where a
new American Indian center will be
constructed, Bemidji State University
student Kathy Headbird asked for the
site to be blessed May 6lh, during a ceremony.
Although she won't be using the lacility - Headbird is graduating from BUS
this spring - she asked in Ojibwe that
the four directions, sun, sky, earth and
moon bless the site where Indian students will once again gather at BSU.
Headbird and about 30 other people
gathered togetiier at a site just west of
BSU's Chet Anderson Stadium, where
construction on the American Indian
Resource Center will begin this fall.
Among those attending were Bemidji
and Beltrami County officials, and University ofMinnesota and Minnesota
State colleges and Universities representatives.
"I want to say thank you to the BSU
administrators for they have listened to
what our needs are," said Headbird, a
Leech Lake Bank of Ojibwe member.
BSU President Jim Bensen and Red
Lake Tribal Chairman Bobby
Whitefeather, co-chainnen ofthe
AfRC's capital campaign, presided over
the blessing ceremony, which was chosen over a groundbreaking.
"This project is not starting today,"
BSU to pg. 6
Officials
charge BIA
letter to
tribe is unfair
Scott County
strongly opposed
to trust proposal
By John Mueller
Shakopee Valley News
Scott County and the cities of
Shakopee and Prior Lake have learned
through their attorney diat the federal
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) offered
the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota
Community the opportunity to
"strengthen" its land-trust application
without informing the county and cities
ofthe action.
The local governments plan to insist
that they be informed ofall future
changes in the trust application process.
Prior Lake, Shakopee and Scott County
are strongly opposed to the trust proposal.
In a letter dated March 26 from BIA
Deputy Commissioner oflndian Affairs
Sharon Blackwell to the tribe's Minneapolis attorneys, the agency lists several
deficiencies delected during "an informal cursory review" ofthe tribe's application to have 776 acres of land in
Shakopee and Prior Lake placed into
permanent trust.     Blackwell offered
the tribe 10 working days to "re-examine your application and strengthen it."
Despite a request to be included in all
correspondence and exchanges of information under the federal Freedom of Infonnation Act, the BIA did not infonn
the county or cities ofthe offer to the
tribe. The'letter was obtained on April
23 by the Perkins Coie law finn of
Washington, D.C, which has expertise
in Native American law, nearly a month
after it was sent to Blue Dog, Olson &
Small in Minneapolis, attorneys forthe
Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community. Scott County received a copy of
the letter by tax on April*23.
"They are very well-connected. They
have contacts," County Administrator
David Unmacht said of Perkins. Coie.
"They just said, 'We have the means to
find out [about the letter].' Certainly the
BIA knows we're interested in this issue. I have no answer as to why they left
us out ofthe process."
The review was performed at the request ofthe tribe, said Larry Scrivner,
deputy director ofthe BIA's Office of
Trust Responsibilities. Scrivner said the
tribe's application lacked the clarity and
greater detail he needed to offer a positive recommendation.
Willie Hardacker, the tribe's staffle-
gal counsel, said the tribe plans to take
advantage ofthe BIA's willingness to
extend until May 30 the deadline for
submitting stronger arguments in favor
of its application. Hardacker said the existing application would be approved on
its merits. Without any changes,
Blackwell wrote, the BIA would proceed with a review and base a decision
on the application as it stands.
The deficiencies ofthe tribe's application the BIA noted include:
• Failure to equate the tribe's land
needs with the granting of trust status.
The agency notes that the tribe did not
clearly explain how its residency requirements equate to the need for the
granting of trust status. The BIA also
wants the tribe to detail how its government facilities are becoming "overburdened" as the application states, and
how the demand for government services justifies the need for trust status.
The BIA also wants to know specifically how much ofthe proposed trust
land will be utilized for governmental
purposes and an explanation of that
amount.
BIA to pg. 6