Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2001-07-20

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INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 6-7
Empty
parking lots
at River
Road Casino
pgi
Mille Lacs Band
members vote
overwhelmingly for
increased per-
capita payments
pgi
Fundraiser for
Brian Chee
The compacts
were never
legal
pg4
Commentary
Federal court ruling that
Arizona Indian gambling
illegal could have major
repercussions in Minnesota
pg4
Standing Rock
group sues over
questionable
fund allocation
By Jean Pagano
The Standing Rock Group for Accountability (Group for Accountability) recently sued several Standing
Rock Sioux Tribal Councilpersons
and executives in Tribal Court. The
Standing Rock Group for Accountability is a band oftribal members,
from both on and offthe reservation,
who sue to prevent the misuse of
hinds. The issue was the distribution
of approximately $6 millions dollars
from the Tribes JTAC (Joint Taken
Area Commission) monies to the
other Defendants, die District Officers ofthe Kenel District for District
economic development The Group
for Accountability claimed that die
distribution to die Kenel District violates the Tribes JTAC access plan
because the monies were distributed
before die submission ofa budget by
the Kenel District or by the Tribe's
passage of an annual budget, which
describes how the money was to be
distributed. Additionally, the Group
for Accountability argued that the
dislribution \iolated the Indian Civil
Rights Act because the group from
Kenel is being treated more favorably than other Districts that have
FUND to pg. 6
Ma CONSTITUTION SUBVERSION
Fraudulent origin oftribal courts
"If, as we have concluded, the
tribal members have not decided tD empower the tribal
government to decide who
should have custody of their
children, it is not in the interest of those members for the
Department to acquiesce in
the decision oftribal officials
to assert such power.,.The
Department's decision preserves for the tribal membership the right to decide
whether it wishes to accord
to its government broad
power over their family relations."
-Tim Vollman. Associate
Solicitor, Division of Indian Affairs July 31. IB8B
"Our position does not question the inherent power of the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to
maintain justice and promote
the general welfare of the
Tribe nor does it challenge the
Tribe's constitution or form of
government. Rather, it recognizes that the constitution
confers the power to exercise criminal jurisdiction on
the Tribe but does not speak
to the power of the bands to
exercise those same pow
ers.
-Ada Deer, Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs Nov
22. IB93
By JeffArmstrong
In at least seven opinions dating back
to 1980, the U.S. Department ofthe Interior determined that officials ofthe
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and its six
constituent reservations lacked authority
under the tribal constitution to establish
courts without amending their governing
document. Because the MCT Constitution does not delegate to the Tribal Executive Committee or the Reservation
Business Committees the power to establish^ court system, the Department   ,
reasoned, that authority remains widi the
people ofthe tribe, who can exercise it
through the constitutional amendment
process defined in Article XII.
As Mariana Shulstad put it for the
field solicitor's office in 1980: "Where
governmental action has the potential to
affect people's lives in an intimate and
drastic way, as child custody jurisdiction
does, the (constitutional) authority
should be explicitly stated."
All that changed in August of 1994,
when in the midst ofa wide-ranging federal investigation ofthe MCT which ultimately led to the conviction of six
tribal officials, including four of the 12
Tribal Executive Committee members,
the Department dramatically reserved it-
MCT to pg. 6
Crime, punishment for "Indians"
by Clara NiiSka
Ainresring Indians under Statejurisdiction
Minnesota Crime Information,
1999, released by die Department of
Public Safety last year, detailed
crime statistics for Minnesota compiled by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The statistics included
in diat report were, according to
DPS Commissioner Charlie
Weaver's cover letter, also provided
to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a part ofthe National Uni-
fonn Crime Reporting program.
According to BCA statistician Kathy
[■eatherman, they are die most recently-released crime statistics detailing arrest rates by race.
Except forthe white-collar crimes of
fraud and embezzlement, "organized" crimes like narcotics and
gambling, and a few odier offenses,
Indians are at least four times more
likely to be arrested in die State of
Minnesota than the general population, according to the BCA's 1999
statistics. [See "Offense and Race
of Persons ..."table, page **]
Press/ONhas added an interpretive
column, "percent Indian," to the
BCA's figures, which shows the percentage ofpeople arrested for each
crime who were eidier "observed"
to be Indians or were "self-defined"
as Indians.
With Indians enumerated at about
one percent ofthe total population in
Minnesota, the rate at which Indians
were arrested for vagrancy by State
authorities - 22.32% ofthe state
wide total -raises questions. Other
crimes for which Indians' arrest rates
were disproportionately extremely
high include aggravated assaults,
motor vehicle theft, other assaults,
and vandalism. The statistical rate
of Indians' arrests for murder is also
extremely high - more dian 11 % of
the state's total arrests, out of a total
of 151 arrests for murder under state
jurisdiction in 1999.
Because ofthe crazy-quilt jurisdictional situation on Indian reservations, Indians on Minnesota reservations can be also be arrested by BIA
or tribal police, or by federal law enforcement oflicials like FBI agents.
State arrest statistics do not include
arrests made by the federal and tribal
government.
The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension qualifies its racial breakdown of arrest figures with a cautionary note diat, "racial... data
must be treated with caution because
of die varying circumstances under
which such infonnation is recorded
or reported ..." However, in the
narrative "Crime Infomiation" preceding the statistical tables in the
DPS's report, "composition ofthe
population with reference particularly to age, sex and race" is specified among the "crime factors" defined by State law enforcement.
It should be noted that the State's
high rate of arresting Indians almost
certainly comes from several interrelated causes—and that neither racial
profiling nor"racially"-based "crime
factors" are a complete explanation.
Thirty years ago, this writer did an
extensive study of reported street-
crime in die Siunmit-University
area, examining precinct police
records. At that time, diere was an
extremely high rate of what the police called "unfounded" crime-reports in dial part of St. Paul: numerous white residents of that area were
reporting to police diat they had
been robbed by "bands of Indians,"
especially working-class white men
alleging that diey liad been "robbed"
as diey staggered home from neighborhood bars after drinking up their
paychecks. Times and neighborhoods have changed during die last
diree decades, bul since many arrests
ate based on citizens' crime reports
to police, it is possible that such stereotypes still linger as one factor in
the State's arrests of Indians.
Incarcerating Indians in State
prisons
An Indian is more than four times
as likely to be arrested than a white
person, by die state of Minnesota.
Statistics detailing Minnesota's rates
of criminal conviction by race are
not readily available. Arrest and
conviction often lead to imprisonment, however, and comparison of
Indians' arrest rates and state incarceration rates indicates that once arrested, an Indian is nearly twice as
likely as a while person to be convicted and sentenced to prison in
Minnesota.
The Foundation for National
Progress (FNP), die "umbrella orga-
CRIME to pg. 4
Tribe demands
meeting with
McCallum on
proposed casino
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - Leaders of
the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa
band demanded a
meeting with
Gov. Scott
McCallum to bar
gain on a proposed casino in
Shullsburg.
A McCallum
spokeswoman
Gov. Scott     said Monday the
McCallum     governor would
meet with die tribe, but a meeting
wouldn't help the project move forward because the tribe doesn't have
the required federal approval for
the proposed casino in southwest-
em Wisconsin.
A 1992 gaming compact requires
the state to meet with die tribe
within 30 days ofa written notice
to resolve a dispute. McCallum's
office received the notice Monday.
The tribe needs approval from
local governments and the federal
Bureau of Indian Aflairs before die
governor can consider the proposed casino, said McCallum
spokeswoman Debbie Monterrey-
Millett. The project has not received BIA approval.
"The negotiating can't happen
until they take die next step, which
they haven't done yet," she said.
Tribe spokesman Dick Matty
said McCallum's office is misinterpreting the compact and the tribe
MCCALLUM to pg. 3
Indian casino profits get
states' attention
By Carol Sowers
The Arizona Republic
When the trickle of Las Vegas-
style casinos turned into a torrent
in Indian country during the early
1990s, only one state, Connecticut,
was savvy enough to get a piece of
the action.
Arizona, Minnesota and other
states were wary that the casinos,
authorized under a 1988 federal
act, might flame out, and didn't
ask for a cut.
"It was so new in Arizona and
no one knew if it would be profitable," said Kate Mead, a former
state assistant attorney general
who helped negotiate the first
1993 Indian casino operating
agreements. "And the tribes didn't
wait any incursion into their operations."
But as Arizona tribes' first 10-
year compacts expire, the state
wants to join other states sharing
in the Indian gaming industry's annual $9.6 biUion jackpot.
No wonder.
In the past seven years,
Connecticut's Pequot Tribe, whose
5,000-slot-machine Foxwood Casino is the largest in the world, has
delivered $1 billion into that
state's general fund. The state's
Mohegan Tribe, operating casinos
        PROFITS to pg. 2
Tribal gaming future in limbo
ByTomZoellner
The Arizona Republic
Gov. Jane Hull said she would
ratiier see the Arizona Legislature
tackle the Indian gaming question
dian see die issue go to a ballot initiative in 2002.
"I would always prefer a rational
legislative solution to an initiative,"
she said in an interview Friday.
But Hull said she is not worried
that an initiative from casino-operating tribes would expand gaming to
alarming proportions in Arizona.
"I think the tribes and their attorneys are sophisticated enough that
they wouldn't write an initiative that
would give them every slot machine
in the world" she said.
Meanwhile, Arizona's 15 gaming
tribes also are undecided on whether
to pursue an initiative, a legislative
bill or another course of action, said
David LaSarte, executive director of
die Arizona Indian Ganing Association.
Tribal leaders discussed several
options in a closed-door meeting
Thursday but want to bring the suggestions back to dieir councils before taking action, LaSarte said.
"This is a lot of information to digest in a short amount of time," he
said.
Some members ofthe Senate
have asked Hull to call a special session so the Legislature can grant itself ratification authority over new
gambling compacts with Arizona's
Indian tribes.
But the governor said she has not
yet made up her mind to call a special session or whedier to appeal a
July 3 federal court decision stripping her of her audiority to sign
LIMBO to pg. 3
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American
Press
Ojibwe News
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A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2001
Founded in 1988
Volume 13 Issue 34
July 20, 2001
Empty parking lots
River Road
The southwest perspective of the parking lot at
the River Road Casino
hotel development in
Thief River Falls on about
3:00 on the afternoon of
July 3rd, 2001: virtually
empty. The hotel complex
i is a part of the thirty million dollar casino expansion recently completed
by the Red Lake Band.
Viewing the River Road
casino and the water
slide project from the
east parking lot, also
mid-afternoon on July
3rd.
Mille Lacs Band members
vote overwhelmingly for
increased per-capita payments
By Vince Hill
The new chief for the Mille
Lacs Band, Melanie Benjamin,
has continued to doggedly pursue her last year's campaign
pledge of "restoring the voice
back to the people." Another
first for Melanie was setting up
an unheard-of in-house monitoring ofthe recent Mille Lacs
Band-wide vote count, centered
around three (3) Mille Lacs
Band tribal government funding
options.
The Mille Lacs tribal vote was
conducted by the Mille Lacs
chief election judge and one
election board member. This
writer was invited to observe the
vote-counting for the Mille Lacs
referendum to determine the
Band Members' spending priorities. Three options were provided on the ballot. I arrived
promptly on the morning of July
17th at die new Mille Lacs Government Center. No one showed
from the Legislative Branch.
Since this was an unprecedented monitoring situation, albeit in-house, it was disconcerting not only to the election
judge, but even to Melanie's executive and administrative staff.
The two aforementioned election
officials were professional in
how they examined, sorted, aid
counted the ballots. There were
no sleight-of-hand efforts to, for
example, stack Budget Version
III ballots onto die Budget Version II stack. The one hitch in
the monitoring process was the
election judge's reneging over an
informal request for figures that I
had made while the ballots were
being counted. "1 will give you
the total ballot count, and other
information after we are done.
counting," the Mille Lacs chief
election judge replied. Atthe
conclusion ofthe ballot count,
she announced to me that no voting figures per my request would
be provided. "You have to see
the administration people," she
added.
The following are extrapolated
vote figures, but it should, nevertheless, be noted that the figures
are based on voting facts overheard and seen during the voting
monitoring at Mille Lacs on
Tuesday, July 17,2001.
I. 2,284 ballots sent to voting-age
Mille Lacs Band members.
II. 1,072 ballots counted. 1,212
did not bother to vote or did not
receive the ballots.
III. Election results: A) Version I:
43 votes. B) Version II: 126
votes. C) Version III: 896 votes.
D) 7 voids.
Version I is $1,500 annual distribution per band member, which is
the current B.I.A.-approved operating budget. Version II is $2,500
annual distribution per band
member. Version III increases the
annual distribution amount to
$3,750, in three payments of
$1,250. Melanie was pushing for
Version II, but the band members
voted for III at a 7:1 ratio, to discount her views. The Mille Lacs
voters favored a substantial cut in
the Corporate Commission expenditures for economic development, reduced from 30% to 15%
between Version I and Version 111
- cutting the amount in economic
development by half.
The Version III funding option
category that Mille Lacs tribal
members overwhelmingly voted
for reveals several things: 1)
"Mille Lacs Band members want
more spending money, plain and
simple," stated several District 1
residents. 2) Substantial cut in
MILLE LACS to pg. 2
Tribe tries to
preserve its
voice
Associated Press
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Tlie
small group gathering each day at
the community center looks like a
typical class with flash cards
sprawled about. But to the
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux
Community, this group represents
its future voice.
The six adults, ranging in age
from 19 to 61, are the first class in
a new program to preserve the
Dakota language. With financial
help from the community, the
goal is for the students to eventually move into jobs teaching
youth the tribe's native tongue.
"We're all here because we
have this yearning to revive (Dakota) so it's a living language,"
said Gabrielle Strong, 38, who is
on leave from her job as executive director of Ain Dah Yung, a
shelter for homeless and runaway
Indian youth in St. Paul.
The tribal council ofthe
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux
Community has employed five of
the snidents to learn the language
in two years of coursework and to
help preserve it.
All ofthe students talk ofthe
lessons as a chance to get something back that was taken generations ago. They all know elders
who were sent to mission schools
or public schools and don't know
the language. As those friends
have heard they're taking classes,
they ask the students to speak
some Dakota for them.
"We are survivors," Strong
said.
There also is a sense of urgency. Francis Steindorf, the director ofthe community's education department, heard at a Dakota language conference last
TRIBE to pg. 2