Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2001-08-17

              INDEX
News Around Indian Country
Commentary/Editorials/Voices
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events
Classifieds
2
4
5
MCT Constitutional
revision soon to be
under scrutiny
Indigenous Rights: an
argument for
independence as a
necessity for development
Lawrence seeks to lift
federal court stay - under
Nevada v. Hicks,
"exhaustion is not
6-7
pg4
pg4
necessary"
pg8
50 years past the
deadline...why are Indian
tribes still suing over ancient treaties?
pg4
Commentary
Commissioner
Fisher to rule on
tribal gambling
audits
pg4
Mille Lacs
Tribal Police
Department
ignores state
law
by Clara NiiSka
Nearly six months ago, on
February 20, 2001, Press/ON requested arrest statistics from
Dan Kneale, Chief of Police,
Mille Lacs Tribal Police Department under the Minnesota Data
Practices Act. This newspaper
sought to examine the ways in
which Minnesota Statute
§626.90 has affected law enforcement activities involving
both tribal members and non-
tribal members at Mille Lacs.
How often are whites being
stopped by tribal police, we
wondered. Are the Mille Lacs
tribal police stopping people for
good reasons - or have there
been a large number of arrests
without sufficient grounds for
later pressing charges?
The Mille tribal police chief
ignored Press/ON's request for
information, despite the state
law which requires a prompt response to such requests.
On April 13, 2001, Press/ON
wrote to Mille Lacs police chief
Kneale again, citing the Minnesota Data Practices Act, "§13.04
Subd. 3, 'The responsible authority shall comply immediately, if possible, with any request ... or within ten days of
the dale ofthe request, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, if immediate com-
MILLE LACS topg. 3
Armstrong, Lawrence ask
federal court to lift stay based on
recent Supreme Court decision
Voice
o  F
T   H   E
P   E   O   P   L   E
web page: www.press-on.net
by Clara NiiSka
Plaintiffs Jeff Armstrong and
William J. Lawrence filed a letter on August 17 in U.S. District
Court, requesting that the federal court lift its stay and reassert federal jurisdiction, since
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in
Nevada v. Hicks that tribal
courts do not have jurisdiction
over civil rights lawsuits. The
August 17 letter is the latest step
in the plaintiff's long legal journey.
The legal travails of Press/ON
reporter JeffArmstrong and his
publisher William Lawrence began at an October 22, 1997
meeting ofthe Minnesota
Chippewa Tribe's Tribal Executive Committee (TEC) meeting,
held at the Grand Casino Mille
Lacs Hotel, located on the Mille
Lacs Indian reservation. During
the fall of 1997, the TEC was
considering a controversial
Mille Lacs treaty-rights settlement, and Lawrence had assigned Armstrong to cover the
meeting for Press/ON.
Before the October 1997
meeting began, however, TEC
president Norm Deschampe ordered Armstrong removed from
the meeting. Armstrong was arrested by Mille Lacs tribal police officer Marc Garbinger, escorted out ofthe meeting room,
taken to the hotel lobby where
he was publicly handcuffed, and
then, still in handcuffs, driven
by Garbinger "in a tribal police
vehicle off of trust land and
taken to the detention facility in
Milaca which is thirty-four (34)
miles away from the casino."
Garbinger reportedly told state
law enforcement personnel to
detain Armstrong for several
hours—until the TEC meeting
was scheduled to adjourn.
Armstrong was charged with
criminal trespass under state law,
held in the Milaca jail for almost
four hours, without even being
allowed to make a telephone
call. When Armstrong was released at about 2:00 in the afternoon, he had to hitchhike the
thirty-four miles back to where
he was arrested in Onamia.
Armstrong was subsequently acquitted ofthe state trespassing
charges.
On December 16, 1998,
Ami strong and Lawrence sued
in federal court for violations of
Armstrong's civil rights "secured to him under the First,
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution," and for the public
hum i 1 iation—"defamation"—
suffered by A mi strong as he was
escorted from the meeting by
police and handcuffed in the hotel lobby.
Magistrate Judge Raymond
Frickson, presiding over the federal district court's Civil Case
No. 98-2658 in Duluth, granted
the Mille Lacs Band's motion to
stay the federal court proceedings—and ordered that the
"Mille Lacs Band Tribal Court
[be allowed] to determine
DECISION topg. 3
U.S. appeals court to determine scope of
Religious Freedom Restoration Act
By JeffArmstrong
The IO"1 U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals will consider whether the
Religious Freedom Restoration
Act (RFRA) applies in cases
where appellants did not cite the
law and if exemptions on federal
laws against possession of eagle
feathers can exclude non-enrolled
Native Americans and non-Native
practitioners of indigenous religions. In a consolidation of three
cases decided last week by three-
judge panels, the full court will
also weigh the necessity of such
restrictions in light ofthe removal
of eagles from the federal endangered species list.
Saenz v. Department ofthe Interior was an appeal brought by the
government after a federal district
court ruled that New Mexico state
officials were compelled to return
eagle feathers to a.member ofthe
unrecognized Chiricaliua Apache
tribe who was ineligible for a federal pennit. The U.S. contended that it had a trust responsibility to recognized tribes to enforce the rule without regard to
race or culture and to guard
against an illegal trade in eagle
parts.
However, die 10"' Circuit mled
that the case involved individual
religious rights and that the U.S.
failed to demonstrate that the law
was the least resuiclive means of
enforcing a compelling governmental interest, in accordance
with RFRA. The court suggested
diat the U.S. could not rely upon
its 1886 termination ofthe
Chiricahua reservation to abridge
the religious freedoms of traditional spiritual adherents.
"On the one hand, historical
government policy toward the
Chiricahua tribe may have made it
impossible for that tribe to obtain
federal recognition today, while
on the other hand, the government
now wants to use that same lack
of recognition to infringe on Mr.
Saenz's religious freedom. We
refuse to base Mr. Saenz's free exercise rights on such tenuous
ground," the court found.
Furthermore, the appeals court
concluded, the federal government failed to provide evidence
for its assertion that a ruling in favor ofthe Apache dancer would
open the floodgates for applications from purported Indians and
create a black market eagle trade.
"In fact, one could just as easily
argue diat opening up die pennit
process to all Native Americans,
instead ofjust those who are
members of fcderaily-reeoiijli/.ed
tribes, would decrease die number
of illegal eagle kills and black
market transactions. Currently, a
Native American who is not a
member ofa federally-recogni/ed
tribe has no method within his or
her control of obtaining eagles for
religious ceremonies other than
through the black market. By
changing the permit system, these
same Native Americans would be
eligible to obtain eagle parts in a
legal way," the three-judge panel
ruled.
A second case, U.S. v.
Hardman, was brought by a non-
Native resident ofa Ute reservation who practiced an indigenous
religion and was given eagle
feathers by a Hopi spiritual leader.
Hardman's ex-wife and children
were enrolled members ofthe
tribe, but when his spouse left, she
turned him in to a tribal game warden for possessing the feathers
without a federal permit. The BIA
COURT to pg. 3
Metis Graveyard: Movement
towards reckoning
By Jean Pagano
April 14,2001 is a day of
great promise for the Spirits of
Pembina Graveyard. On that
day, Governor John Hoeven of
North Dakota signed into law
Senate Bill 2420, which authorizes the North Dakota State
Historical Society to reimburse
Pembina County for certain
land, namely the Metis Graveyard, in Pembina County and to
also provide an appropriation
for the care ofthe site.
The North Dakota Historical
Society was instrumental in
bringing attention to die plight
ofthe many Metis people buried
under a field of soybeans in
Pembina County. The early 20th
century fanner who owned the
property originally respected the
cemetery as a graveyard. A
change of owners brought a
change in attitude and what was
once revered and respected as a
resting place became just another field to be plowed over.
Early attempts to examine the
site were met with delay, frustration, and failure.
Senators Trenbeath, Bercier,
Holmberg, and Traynor had the
dignity to bring into being that
which was agreed upon years
before: in the late 1800's, the
North Dakota Legislature allocated $500 to purchase and
maintain the Metis Graveyard.
Yet, the money was never appropriated. The work of preserving
the graveyard was never completed. Senate Bill 2420 proves
that the passage of time does not
dull the need for correct action.
The Senate allocated a total of
$15,000 to acquire the property
and pay for its upkeep. The actual size ofthe graveyard has
been estimated at 10 acres although prior assessments by a
former North Dakota state archaeologist set the size at 3.7
acres.
The text ofthe Bill states in
part that:
The State ofNorth Dakota
shall reimburse Pembina
County for ifs cost, not to exceed
the sum of $15,000, in acquiring
the property described
as...Selkirk cemetery, the Metis
cemetery, or the Dumoulin Mission cemetery, upon condition
that Pembina Count}' either
keeps and preserves the property in accordance with North
Dakota County Code...or in the
alternative transfers the property to a suitable organization
by deed adequately protecting
the county by providing that the
suitable organization, its successors and assigns, will preserve
and maintain the property solely
as a cemetery, for no other purpose, in perpetuity
Today, the field dreams of
calmer days, when the tilling of
the soil will give way to the
quiet passage of time, under the
sky
Judge bars
Arizona
governor from
negotiating
gambling
compacts
By Jacques Billeaud
Associated Press
PHOENIX - A federal judge on
Tuesday barred Gov. Jane Hull
from negotiating any future gambling compacts with the state's Indian tribes.
U.S. District Judge Robert C.
Broomfield also set a June 1
deadline for the state to notify
tribes with compacts that the
agreements pennitting gambling
on their reservations won't be re-
COMPACTS to pg. 3
Native  *~
American
Press
Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication.   Copyright, Native American Press, 2001
Founded in 1988
Volume 13 Issue 38
August 17, 2001
Submitted photo
The Minnesota Veterans Home in Hastings, Minnesota, will be hosting the 3rd Annual Pow Wow to Honor
Korean Veterans and their families on September 8,2001 at Veterans Home in Hastings. The Pow Wow will
begin with a flag raising at 10:00 a.m., and a feast is planned at 4:00 p.m.
Report says tribal trust fund benefits
former BIA official
Associated Press
BOSTON - Five months after
ruling that the Chinook Indians
of Washington state should
have federal status as a tribe,
the former head ofthe Bureau
oflndian Affairs became the
co-beneficiary ofa S50,000
trust along with one ofthe
Chinook's earliest casino advocates, The Boston Globe reported Monday.
The trust was established by a
different tribe, the Fallon Paiute
Shoshone of Nevada. Kevin
Gover said he was unaware of
it, but his legal associates say it
was a reserve fund intended as
a legal retainer for future work.
An unnamed tribal council
member also said the money
was for a legal retainer, the
newspaper said.
Gover is now a subject of
congressional inquiries into decisions in the last weeks of the
Clinton administration that gave
more tribes the power to open
casinos.
Now a lawyer-lobbyist for
tribes, Gover maintains he received nothing that benefitted
him from tribes for his official
decisions. And he has received
no legal fees or other payments
from the Chinooks.
But he and Dennis G.
Chappabitty, a longtime friend
and law school classmate, are
listed in Nevada as co-beneficiaries of the $50,000 Paiute trust,
the newspaper said.
Chappabitty's wife, Linda C.
Amelia, is a Chinook who was a
leader in the tribe's fight for federal recognition.
Chappabitty says the fund is
tied to work he and Gover are
doing on behalf of the Fallon
Paiute Shoshone.
Gover, in an interview with
the Globe, said he knew nothing
about it.
"I have not asked for a
$5 0,000 fee and would not accept one," he said. "My bill is
not close to that."
Chappabitty said he had assumed the trust account was for
their future fees.
The tribe's lawyer, Todd
Plimpton, told the Globe the
Fallon tribe's council voted to
put the money in a trust for
Gover and Chappabitty, and
also said his own fees could be
paid from the fund.
"This $50,000 is nothing more
than a retainer, and it will be
drawn down only upon work
performed," Plimpton said.
The Chinooks have long
BIA to pg. 3
New Mexico will receive $91 million in
tribal gambling settlement
By Barry Massey
Associated Press
SANTA FE - Indian tribes are
optimistic that new gambling compacts will win approval from the
federal government, but it likely
will take a month or more before
die new accords can be implemented.
A major hurdle to die new tribal-
state compacts was removed
Thursday with the settlement ofa
lawsuit over gambling payments to
die state.
New Mexico will receive $91
million from 10 tribes with casinos.
The settlement is the first step toward tribes securing new compacts
from die state to govern casino op
erations for the next 14 years.
Most importantly for tribes, the
new compacts will dramatically
lower the share of casino proceeds
that must go to die state.
San Juan Pueblo Gov. Wilfred
Garcia said he was pleased widi die
setdement ofthe gambling dispute.
"The pueblo is anxious to put this
matter behind it and get on widi die
business of providing revenue for
the critical needs of our people,"
Garcia said at a news conference
along with Attorney General
Patricia Madrid and other tribal
representatives.
Madrid's oilice filed the lawsuit
in federal court last year over tribal
refusal to make payments required
under a 1997 law that legalized Indian casinos.
Under die settlement, tribes
agreed to pay the state about 90
percent of what they owed under
terms of 1997 compacts.
Two tribes - the Mescalero
Apache Tribe and Pojoaque
Pueblo - were not part ofthe agreement and Madrid plans to continue
the court case against them.
Settlement ofthe lawsuit and the
back payment dispute is required
before tribes can sign a new 14-
year compact approved by the
Legislature earlier this year. Tribes
sought the new gambling compacts
SETTLEMENT topg. 3
Norton pledges to work more closely with states
By John K. Wiley
Associated Prvss
COEUR D'ALENE,
Idaho- Interior Secretary Gale Norton has
pledged to work more
closely with states before making decisions
affecting federal lands.
"I want history to
record that under our
watch, we combined
Interior Secretary
Gale Norton
thought with action, so
that Americans are inspired to be self-motivated stewards, that we
work in partnership to
manage our lands and
that we are environmentally responsible in developing energy resources,"
she said on Sunday.
The Bush administration
cabinet official made her
remarks in the opening
session of die Western Governors'
Association, which is discussing
wildfire management and energy
transmission issues at its annual
summer conference.
Norton, a former Colorado attorney general, said her lirst call
after taking the oath of office was
to the governors' association, and
she noted that her boss, a former
Texas governor, is a fonner member ofthe group.
"We have a lot of ties that bind
us together," she told die governors.
On Monday, Norton and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman
were signing an agreement with the
governors' association on a long-
tenn plan for preventing and managing wildfires on federal lands.
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthome, a
Republican and association chairman, told reporters that a single fire
NORTON to pg. 3
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