Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2001-06-01

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INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 7
Bug O Nay
GeShig
Senior Feast
pg3
U.S. Supreme Court
rules Navajo hotel
occupancy tax is
invalid on fee patent
land
pgi
Armstrong,
Lawrence challenge
jurisdiction of Mille
Lacs Band Court
pgi
Representative
Sondra Erickson
named to Indian
Affairs Council
pg5
Commentary
Supreme Court
draws line in the
sand with
Atkinson decision
pg4
Armstrong,
Lawrence
challenge
jurisdiction
of Mille Lacs
Band Court
By JeffArmstrong
Nearly six months after refiling their civil rights complaint in
the Mille Lacs Court of Central Jurisdiction pursuant to a federal
court order, Press/ON publisher.
Bill Lawrence and reporter JefF
Armstrong made their first appearance in the reservation court May
24.
Armstrong immediately filed a
motion contesting tlie court's jurisdiction based on the Minnesota
ChippewaTribe Constitution, the
federal Indian Civil Rights Act and
applicable international law.
"While it could well be argued
that the Tribe possesses the inherent authority under international
law to create a legal system, that
right is the sole province of tribal
members collectively," Armstrong's pro-se brief argues. 'The
Tribe is not necessarily limited to
the terms ofa U.S.-derived constitution, but those who operate under the MCT governing document
clearly are subject to the limitations and protections hence provided, as evidenced by their oath
of office to do so. As with the U.S.
Constitution, incorporated by reference in that ofthe MCT at Article XIII, those rights not delegated to the governing body are
retained by the people."
The reporter further argues that
the reservation relinquished its jurisdiction to hear the case
by causing criminal charges to be
brought against Armstrong in state,
rather than tribal, court.
While the plaintiffs concur in
disputing the constitutionality of
the Mille Lacs court, Lawrence
will challenge jurisdiction on the
basis ofa different legal theory, including the RBC's explicit waiver
of sovereign immunity required
under its law enforcement agreement with Miile Lacs County.
hi a Dec. 9,1999 federal court
motion, the reservation defendants
argued that they were not asserting
MILLE LACS to pg. 3
Intro to Justice
Department
funding
A Review
By Jean Pagano
The Department of Justice,
through a collection of agencies
including the
Bureau of Justice Assistance
and the Violence Against
Women Office,
distributes a variety of grants and awards to
Tribal Courts. Through a Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) request, details ofa Leech Lake and
a White Earth funding initiative
are now available.
WHITE EARTH
This project was funded through
the Fiscal Year 1999 Tribal Court
Program and administered by the
Bureau of Justice Assistance
(BJA). The award was made to
the White Earth Reservation
Tribal Council for the enhancement ofthe existing tribal court
through discretionary funds. Tlie
purpose of this project was to
implement an automated criminal
and civil case tracking and management system. This system
would be used to track domestic
violence incidents, criminal activities, traffic violations, juvenile infractions, housing violations, and
other justice matters. These matters create an ever-increasing burden on the tribal court load. The
goal ofthe project is to purchase
case management database software that will enable the tribal
court staff to keep an electronic
filing system ofall court files and
court case information. Additionally, the networking of four new
computer workstations was to be
implemented in order to improve
communication between court
staff. Finally, an advanced recording system was to be purchased
and installed to produce accurate
and thorough court records. The
amount ofthe competitive grant
totaled $25,912.
LEECH LAKE •
The Leech Lake project is part
ofthe STOP Violence Against In-
FUNDING to pg. 5
Injustice: Red Lake tribal
court, Beltrami County
legal system
JAWNIE HOUGH UPDATE
Unfortunately for
Jawnie, the Beltrami
County legal system
fell prey to such
abusive exploitation.
by Clara NiiSka
On Monday, May 23, Jawnie
Hough appeared before Judge
Terrance Holter at the Ninth District Court in Beltrami County. She
faced felony charges deriving from
the Minnesota court's ex parte acceptance of an April 2000 Red
Lake tribal court order. Tlie tribal
court order, also made ex parte, reversed a child custody determination which was made by the state
court in June 1999.
Jawnie, a Leech Lake enrollee, was
formally informed ofthe State's
custody reversal on January 10,
2001, when she and her four year
old daughter Meghan Brun were
apprehended while with a family
member undergoing cancer treatment at the Fairview University
Medical Center in Minneapolis.
Meghan was taken from her mother
by police,
and released
to the custody of
Jawnie's ex-
husband,
Donald
Brun, Jr.,
and his parents, Donald
"Dutch" and
Geraldine
Brun.
The last time Jawnie saw her
daughter was as the little girl was
being taken away by police on
January 10. The Red Lake court
order—made pursuant to a hearing
at which Jawnie was not allowed to
be present—directs that "any visitation can only be through petition
and order ofthe court or by direct
consent ofthe legal custodial parent, Donald Brun, Jr." Jawnie requested visitation; her ex-husband
reportedly responded, "get on with
your life, because you will never
see your child again."
An attorney who asked not to be
identified, who spent years prosecuting domestic abuse cases on
another reservation, commented to
Press/ON that abusers' continuing
to batter by manipulating the legal
system is a tragically common pattern. Unfortunately for Jawnie, the
Beltrami County legal system fell
prey to such abusive exploitation.
The May 21 hearing
Jawnie Hough went to court in
Beltrami County on May 21, accompanied by public defender
Kristine Kolar, and by Sonny
Johnson, a lay advocate at the Red
Lake tribal court who was recommended by Ms. Kolar.
The public defender reportedly
had arranged a plea bargain for
Jawnie, and directed her to plead
guilty. Jawnie refused to do it.
When Press/ON contacted her,
Jawnie explained, "I'm not going to
plead guilty to a felony, especially
when I'm not in the wrong ... I am
not guilty."
After further consultation—Ms.
Kolar left the courtroom for fifteen
or twenty minute.'?—Jawnie pled
"not guilty" in exchange for a deferred sentence. If she does not
physically remove her daughter
from Red Lake reservation and the
Bruns' custody, in six months the
criminal charges agaiast Jawnie will
be dismissed and expunged from
her record. Press/ON contacted
both Ms. Kolar and Beltrami
County Attorney Tim Faver for
comment; at press time neither had
responded.
The court file "for May 21,
2001" reads simply, "TF 6 mo deferred no s/s. KK-agree. Ct. 6 mo.
Defer no s/s." Translated from
court reporter Kathleen Cundy's
abbreviations, prosecuting attorney
Tim Faver proposed that the felony
charges be deferred for six months,
contingent on no 'same or similar'
offenses.
Defense attorney
Kristine
Kolar
agreeded.
The court
thereupon
resolved the
case as
agreed upon
by the attorneys. Transcripts were not yet available at
press time.
Custody of Meghan: whose jurisdiction?
With state criminal charges—depriving another of parental or custodial rights—more-or-less resolved,
Jawnie Hough still laces painful legal dilemmas involving custody of
her daughter.
Jawnie was initially awarded primary physical custody of Meghan,
subject to liberal paternal visitation,
as a part ofthe divorce proceedings
in Beltrami County. In the June 19,
1999 divorce decree, the Minnesota
court asserted "continuing, exclusive jurisdiction."
Her ex-husband, Donald Brun, Jr.
responded with a June 25,1999 Order for Protection from the Red
Lake tribal court, in which the Red
Lake court asserted both subject
matter and personal jurisdiction.
Nearly a year later, in May 2000,
the Red Lake tribal court exercised
its assertion of jurisdiction with an
Order of Custody, heard with only
Donald Brun, Jr. and his parents
present. The Red Lake tribal court
order was then entered into the state
ofMinnesota legal system through
ex parte legal action initiated by
Donald Jr. in June 2000.
The four year old Meghan Brun,
enrolled at Red Lake but enrollable
at Leech Lake, is currently in the
physical custody of her paternal
grandparents, Dutch and Geraldine
Brun—at Red Lake.
UPDATE to pg. 3
Appeals court to decide whether
to revive Devils Lake ownership
By Jack Sullivan
Associated Press
FARGO, N.D. - A lawyer for
the state ofNorth Dakota asked a
federal appeals court here to uphold a district judge's decision to
dismiss a lawsuit in which the
Spirit Lake Sioux tribe claims to
own Devils Lake.
But Assistant North Dakota Attorney General Charles Carvell
conceded that wouldn't end the
dispute over who owns the northeastern North Dakota lake.
"I think that ultimately there is
going tohave to be a political solution to this," Carvell told a
three-judge panel ofthe 8th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday.
The tribe is asking the appeals
court to revive its 15-year-old
lawsuit against the federal and
state governments and several private citizens who own land near
the lake.
U.S. District Judge Bruce Van
Sickle of Bismarck dismissed the
case in January 2000, ruling the
tribe had waited too long to sue
for ownership it claims was secured in a treaty signed in 1867.
The tribe appealed to the 8th
Circuit. Judges Myron Bright,
Kermit Bye and Frank Magill,
who are based in Fargo, heard arguments Thursday.
The hearing was the second
lime the 8th Circuit heard arguments in Fargo since 1983. Other
hearings were held in 1998, to
mark the opening ofthe Quentin
N. Burdick Federal Courthouse.
In briefs filed with the appeals
court, the tribe says tlie 1867
treaty defined the borders ofthe
reservation to begin at the eastern
point of Devils Lake and continue
"thence along the waters of said
lake."
The tribe maintains the phrase
refers to the north shore of Devils
Lake and includes the water in its
reservation.
The government says the south
shore ofthe lake is the
reservation's northern border.
Devils Lake has fluctuated
widely since North Dakota joined
tlie Union in 1889, at times receding so land tliat had been submerged in 1867 was exposed and
used for farms and homes.
The lake today stands more
than 8 feet higher than 1867's
level of 1,439 feet. The tribe says
its claim applies to land below
that level.
In court Thursday, Spirit Lake
attorney Andrew Small of Minneapolis said the tribe's ownership
of tlie lake was confirmed in
1976, when a Bureau oflndian
Affairs official wrote a memo
stating the government was holding the lake in trust for the tribe.
Small said it wasn't until federal officials backed away from
that position in 1981 that the tribe
realized it may have to sue, and
its decision to file suit in 1986
came well within the 12-year statute of limitations.
Bright asked Small if the 1976
DEVILS LAKE to pg. 5
Voice     of     the     People
web page: www.press-on.net
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Volume 13 Issue 28
June 1,2001
Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School
attendance award ceremony
School is proud to announce that
they had 14 students who received perfect attendance for tlie
2000/2001 school year. These
students received a new bike for
their effort. These students were
Zachary White, Natasha Jenkins,
Delores Tibbits, River Shady,
John White, Richard Feldt, Savannah Smith, Chris Stauffer,
Cheyenne Lightfeather, Adam
White, Scott White, Joseph
Carmona, and Nick Blackbear.
I here was alsi > <Hie high schm >l
dent who received perfect attendance for the year and that was
Eddie Blackbear and he received a
gift certificate for S100.00 to Target. The Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig
School really strives to give their
students recognition for a job well
done and these students truly deserve that recognition. There were
also 13 students who received near
perfect attendance for the 2000/
2001 school year. These students
missed less than 2.5 days for tlie en
tire year. These students were
Wade Monroe, Luiz Dela Rosa,
Roberto Gomez, Dylan
Lightfeather, Kasi Monroe, Corey
Lewis, Anthony Beaudreau, Kris
Monroe, Jordan Robinson, Sonia
Lightfeather, Jessica Smith,
Chassidy Johnson, Kari Munnel,
and Jason Goggleye. These students received a $50.00 gift certificate to Target. Congratulations
Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig students!
"Expanding the Circle"
by Clara NiiSka
"Expanding the Circle" (ETC)
recently announced its Summer
2001 program, intended to prepare American Indian high
school youths for life after high
school. The program is a cooperative effort between the University ofMinnesota, tribal colleges, and local Indian education
departments, and will be available to Indian high school students residing "on or near" Boise
Fort, Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs,
Red Lake and White Earth reservations. The program's
$150,000 annual budget is
funded by a grant from the U.S.
Department of Education.
A similar program in the Sioux
communities is made possible by
"Future Bound" grants, also
from the Department of Education. According to Principal Investigator and program grant-
writer David R. Johnson at the
University ofMinnesota, the Future Bound program also includes the collaborative efforts
ofthe Minnesota Department of
Children, Families & Learning.
Leech Lake program administrator Frank Bowstring explained
that ETC is designed to help high
school students plan for career
development and to explore the
possibilities of education beyond
high school, as well as developing
self-awareness and cultural
awareness. The intensive two-
week" program includes preparation for job interviews and resume-writing, as well as visits to
job sites. At Leech Lake these
will include the Leech Lake cask
nos, Nortech, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and
ArticCat in Thief River Falls.
Program participants will also
visit the technical college in Thief
River Falls, according to Bowstring. Students who successfully
complete the program will be
paid a $200 stipend.
David Johnson, at the University ofMinnesota, stressed to
Press/ON that the ETC program
is designed to "work with high
school kids who are interested in
post-secondary programs " focusing on technical colleges and
ETC to pg. 7
Historic metis
cemetery wins
recognition,
preservation
Associated Press
■ PEMBINA, N.D.-Tlie old cemetery lies in a field strewn with un-
liarvested sugar beets. The land has
been fanned for 80 years, but Saturday it sprouted white wooden
crosses.
While tlie cemetery is located in
Pembina County, its history and tlie
people buried here are deeply connected to tlie area, Canada and
Minnesota.
Saturday's ceremony honored tlie
cemetery's place in history, but also
resurrected nagging questions about
its future.
"We're on sacred ground here...
where many of our friends are buried," said Father Guy Lavelle, who
blessed those who planted crosses
and sang metis jigs. Several participants said they were descendants of
those buried here and traveled from
CEMETERY to pg. 7
Children, Families & Learning. ETC to pg. I CEMETERY to pg. f
U.S. Supreme Court rules Navajo hotel occupancy
tax is invalid on fee patent land: Atkinson v. Shirley
1 n*ai    . ■    .*->■ _'      _ Cyj.'.l       C il J. tiT  I/1—*-_~ J- .   .- 1   /   •!,... . ■. TUn«,in     jU,!
by Bill Lawrence and Clara
NiiSka
On May 29,2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the
Navajo's imposition ofa hotel occupancy tax upon nonmembers on
non-Indian fee land within its reservation is invalid. The decision in
Atkinson Trading Co. v. Joe
Shirley, Jr.. et al., is the Supreme
Court's second unanimous decision limiting tribal sovereignty
within a month—on April 30 they
ruled in C&L Enterprises v. Citizen Potawatomi Nation to limit
tribal sovereign immunity in a case
arising from an off-reservation
construction project.
This week's case, Atkinson v.
Shirley, arose from the taxation, under tlie 1995 Navajo tribal code §§
101-142, of hotel guests at the
Cameron Trading Post, a white-
owned hotel, restaurant, and tourist
complex on fee-patent land near tlie
intersection of Arizona Highway 64
(which leads west to the Grand
Canyon) and U.S. Highway 89..
Many ofthe hotel's guests are tourists enroute to the Grand Canyon;
the non-Navajo guests paid approximately $84,000 in Navajo hotel taxes annually. The complex is
located within the exterior boundaries ofthe Navajo reservation.
fri an opinion written by Chief
Justice William Rehnquist, and supported by a brief concurrence by
Justices David Souter, Anthony M.
Kennedy and Clarence Thomas, the
Supreme Court addressed the
Navajo's taxation of non-members
on fee-patent land largely in terms
ofthe legal structure created by that
court's 1981 decision in Montana
v. United States. h\Montana,the
court found that Indian tribes'
"power over nonmembers on non-
Indian fee land is sharply circumscribed." Tribal jurisdiction over
nonmembers on fee-patent land
was constrained to the two exceptions delineated in Montana: (1)
"cousensual relationships" with tlie
tribe or its members stemming from
commercial dealing, contracts or
leases; and (2) civil authority over
NAVAJO to pg. 7