Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 2001-09-21

              ^,;f||«i
..
"_'■;[   ^        i '     ■: ■       .    ■■::_,
'-.    --•'
INDEX
News Around Indian Country
Commentary/Editorials/Voices
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events
Classifieds
2
4
5
7
LaRose on proposed MCT
Constitutional
Amendments - "We can
no longer live under a
dictatorship"
pg4
Leech Lake RBC
spending freeze
pg4
MAIC announces
meeting at Grand
Portage in October
pgi
Attorney General's
office rules casino
audits are public
information
pgi
Commentary
Hatch decision in
best interests for
state and Indian
people
pg4
Arrest may force courts to consider legality
of state tribal law enforcement statutes
Voice
o  F
THE
People
web page: www.press-on.net
By Jeff Armstrong
A minor personal dispute on
the White Earth Reservation
which escalated into a confrontation with a tribal police officer
may pose the strongest challenge
yet to state-enacted tribal police
legislation.
According to a White Earth
police report by arresting officer
Chris Benson, he responded to
an April 29 call from Linda
Bevins that Kristin Manypenny
was "revving the engine and
causing a disturbance" outside
of Bevins' home. Benson observes in his report that
Manypenny was driving away
from the home when he arrived,
but that she stopped to ask if the
officer "had a problem here."
Benson states that when he attempted to question Manypenny,
she began yelling at the residents
ofthe house from her car. The
officer then ordered Manypenny
to leave, threatening her with arrest for disorderly conduct if she
refused to do so. The 21-year-
old Anishinaabe woman responded by challenging the
officer's constitutional authority
and jurisdiction to transport her
offthe reservation, ultimately refusing to submit to arrest.
Benson proceeded to physically
subdue and arrest Manypenny,
leaving her with two broken
bones in her foot and facing serious criminal charges in Becker
County, including assaulting a
peace officer.
In June, Manypenny filed a
motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, asserting that the state
criminal charges constituted an
infringement upon internal tribal
relations. "The intrusion into tlie
the tribal members' affairs by the
attempted criminalization ofthe
incident by a police officer legally unauthorized to act under
tribal constitutional and preemption doctrine principles warrants
dismissal in the interest of justice," the motion states.
But the key dispute over state
jurisdiction to unilaterally impose law enforcement systems
on tribal members without their
consent is one which has yet to
be answered by any court.
"The series of State ofMinnesota laws attempting to make
tribal police officers licensed
State ofMinnesota POST peace
officers without federal consent
or tribal membership consent
threatens the tribe's political security, intrudes upon domestic
relations among tribal members,
and is conduct that threatens or
ARREST to page 5
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 43
September 21,2001
Better
health
available
By Jean Pagano
Diabetes is a disease that crosses
all population boundaries. No one
group ofpeople is immune from
the incidence of diabetes. However,
certain population groups have a
significantly higher diabetes rate
than others. Moreover, while not all
diabetes is curable, a high percentage of diabetes can be reduced by
some very simple techniques.
Among people in the United
States, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have a
higher incidence of diabetes. In
some Native tribes, 25% to 50% of
adults over the age of forty have
diabetes. This is an alarming statistic. Diabetes is a disease, yet it is a
disease that can be controlled.
There are two types of diabetes:
type 1 diabetes and type 2. In type
1, the pancreas does not make any
insulin. In order to get glucose
(from sugars) into the body's cells,
one must take insulin shots. Without the insulin shots, the cells are
starved for glucose and the body
HEALTH to page 5
ATTORNEY GENERAL RULES
INDIAN GAMBLING AUDITS ARE PUBLIC INFORMATION
by Clara NiiSka
In amling dated Friday, September 14*, Alan Gilbert, Solicitor General and Chief Deputy ofMinnesota
Attorney General Mike Hatch ruled
that State-held audits of Indian tribal
gambling enterprises are public information. The Attorney General's
Office overturned Commissioner of
Administration David Fisher's August 29th approval of Commissioner
of Public Safety Charlie Weaver's
request to reclassify the audits as
nonpublic, disapproving both the
fonn and the legal basis of Fisher's
data reclassification request. The
Solicitor General's September 14"'
letter to Commissioner Fisher is
published in tiiis issue oi'Press/ON,
beginning on page 1.
The September 14th ruling—made
despite obvious pressure by Indian
gambling interests—rejects the Department of Public Safety's (DPS)
arguments that the gambling enterprise audits should be reclassified as
nonpublic because "public access to
tlie data would render unworkable a
program authorized by law." In upholding DPS Commissioner
Weaver's request to bar public ac
cess to the audits, Administration
Commissioner Fisher had argued
that "if tlie tribal governments refused to provide the audit data,"
State enforcement ofthe State-Tribal
gambling compacts and compact-
mandated State monitoring oflndian
casinos would be "practically impossible."
Tlie Attorney General's Office rejected tliat argument, writing to
Fisher at the beginning ofthe analysis, "You apparently believed that
the Department had no legal recourse ..." hi tlie last paragraph of
his Analysis, tlie Attorney General's
Solicitor details full legal recourse:
"Under the compacts and tlie IGRA,
and consistent with the case law
cited above, the Indian bands and
communities must provide tlie audit
data upon written request of tlie
State as a part of tlieir ability to engage in legal gaming in the State of
Minnesota" [emphasis added].
Tlie Attorney General's Office also
pointedly draws attention to the fact
that tlie problems cited by Weaver
and Fisher would not result from tlie
RULING to page 5
ATTORNEYGENERAL'SOFFICE RUI^ONTHvlPORArWCLASSIFICATlON
OF INDIAN GAMBUNG AUDITS AS NON-PUBLIC DATA:
"Disapproved as to
form and legality"
Mike Hatch
Attorney General
September 14,2001
David F. Fisher, Commissioner
Minnesota. Department of Administration
Re: Temporary Classification
Dear Commissioner Fisher:
On August 29,2001, this Office received a copy of your approval,' as
Commissioner of Administration,
ofthe application by the Minnesota
Department of Public Safety (the
"Department") for temporary classification of certain data contained
in audits oftribal gaming enterprises submitted to the Department
by eleven tribal governments in accordance with their respective
tribal-state compacts.2 The approval
was submitted to the Attorney
General's Office pursuant to the
provisions of Minn. Stat. § 13.06,
subd. 5 (2000) which requires the
Office to review the approval as to
form and legality.
Based upon a review ofthe
record and applicable law, the following sets forth the analysis and
conclusion of this Office.
Background
For a temporary nonpublic classification of data not on individuals
to be approved, the applicant must
meet two statutory requirements.
The applicant must clearly establish
that no statute currently exists that
either allows or forbids classification as nonpublic and that one of
the three criteria set forth in Minn.
Stat. § 13.06, subd. 3 (2000) is met.
In this instance, the Department of
Public Safety in its application
sought to establish the criterion in
Minn. Stat. § 13.06, subd. 3(b)
(2000) that public access to the data
would render unworkable a program authorized by law.
You determined tliat the Department established that no statute currently exists which either allows or
forbids classification ofthe data as
nonpublic or protected nonpublic.3
This Office agrees with that conclusion since the record reflects no
state law that specifically addresses
the issue and the Indian Gaining
Regulatory Act only classifies data
submitted to the National Indian
Gaming Commission under federal
law.4 25 U.S.C. §§2716.
You also found that tlie Department
met the requirement of Minn. Stat.
HATCH to page 6
Five children
stabbed in
Ponemah,
assailant
commits suicide
by Bill Lawrence
On Tuesday, September 18,
Press/ON learned from several
sources that five children were
stabbed near tlie village of
Ponemah on tlie Red Lake reservation sometime overthe past weekend. Aware that the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) has major
crimes jurisdiction over Indians on
the Red Lake Resen'ation, Press/
ON contacted tlie Minneapolis,
Minnesota district office of that
agency.
In a telephone interview with .lay
Brunn, an FBI special agent and
media coordinator, Press/ON was
given the following information:
On Friday, September 14th, at approximately 11:30 p.m., the Red
Lake Fire and Police units responded to a fire call at a house
near Ponemah on the Red Lake
Reservation. When officers arrived, they found Karen Jones and
five children between tlie ages of
three and seven years outside the
burning residence. Ms. Jones, age
unknown, and all five children had
STABBING to page 3
29th Annual Traditional Wacipi in Mankato
Indian Princess "Miss Mankato
2001 "Daniele Lufkins helped "pass
the blanket"at the 29th Annual Traditional Wacipi in Mankato on September 14,15 and 16,collecting donations for victims ofthe New York
and Washington D.C. tragedies.
More than $550 was raised and will
be donated directly to relief efforts,
with particular concern for orphaned children.
The Mankato Wacipi began in
1972,through the efforts of Dakota
Spiritual Leader Amos Owen, and
Mankato leaders Bud Lawrenceand
Jim Buckley. The Wacipi honors the
38 Dakota who were executed in
Mankato in 1863, and as Owen envisioned, is held in the spirit of reconciliation and unity. A long-time
participant told Press/ON that the
thirty-eight eagles flew above the
bluffs near the park again this year,
honoring the spirits of the Dakota
38 and affirming Owen's dream of
reconciliation.
The Wacipi is held each year on
the 3,d full weekend in September
at the Land of Memories Park, Dakota Wokiksuye Makoce, at the
confluence of the Minnesota and
Blue Earth Rivers. In recent years, the
Mankato Mdewakanton Association, which sponsors the Wacipi,has
also been active in Education Day,a
, December 26lh Memorial Run com-
lorating the 38 Dakota,and in
contributing to the Memorial Park.
Photo credit: Clara NiiSka
Pequots agree to $40,000
ethics fine
Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. - The
Mashantucket Pequots were fined
$40,000 Friday for violating state
ethics laws at two parties held during last year's political conventions.
The parties violated state law by
exceeding tlie $50 gift limit for
public officials, the State Ethics
Commission said.
The tribe reported the events -
meeting
Minnesota Indian
Affairs Council
quarterly meeting
scheduled
The quarterly meeting of
the Minnesota Indian
Affairs Council is
scheduled for Thursday,
October 18, 2001 at 9:00
a.m. The meeting will be
at the Grand Portgage
Lodge in Grand Portage,
MN. The agenda will
follow at a later date.
Report adds to criticism of government
handling oflndian money
By Robert Gehrke
AssociatedPress
WASHINGTON - Government
efforts to compile and double-
check untold numbers of records
documenting billions of dollars in
royalties from Indian lands are in
disarray, according to a court-appointed investigator.
The chaos and delays in putting
the infomiation together could significantly delay the push by the Interior Department and Bureau of
Indian Affairs to reorganize the
management ofthe Indian trust
funds.
"Without a major reorganization
ofthe BIA Data Cleanup sub-
project ... data cleanup and trust reform have no hope of near-term
completion," wrote court monitor
Josephs. Kieffer III.
In some regions, it could take at
least a decade - and possibly as
much as 40 years - to gel the necessary data in order, Kiefter said in
his report filed with U.S. District
Judge Royce Lamberth late Friday.
Lamberth is presiding in a lawsuit tiled on behalf of more than
300,000 Indian trust fund account
holders who claim the government
squandered at least $10 billion and
possibly many times that amount,
Tlie trust funds were established
in 1887 to manage royalties from
grazing, mining, logging and oil
drilling on Indian lands.
The government has acknowledged mismanaging the funds and
Lamberth has ordered the Interior
and Treasury departments and BIA
to piece together how much money
was lost.
Tlie Interior Department and BIA
are also in the process of trying to
restructure trust management to ensure the money is accounted for in
the future.
It is the third time that Kieffer has
issued a scathing condemnation of
BIA and Interior for inaction and
misrepresentations to the court.
In his first report, Kieffer said the
government had not made any
progress in 18 months toward meeting Lamberth's demand for a historical accounting. In the second, he
said a $40 million computer system
designed for future trust manage-
REPORT to page 6
held at the Republican National
Convention in Philadelphia and (lie
Democratic convention in Los Angeles, respectively - but was unable
to show tliat the cost was less than
$50 per person, ethics officials said.
Tlie ethics panel placed the cost
ofthe Philadelphia event, attended
by 15 state officials or their families, at about $116 per person. Tlie
Los Angeles event was attended by
nine state officials or family members and cost nearly $ 112 per person, the ethics panel said.
Arthur Henick, a spokesman for
tlie tribe, said the ethics violations
were unintentional.
"Both events were voluntarily reported to tlie Ethics Commission.
Both events were attended by Connecticut delegates, their families
and other Connecticut citizens and
were intended for all to socialize
with each other," Henick said.
Tlie tribe is tlie fifth Connecticut
entity to be lined in connection with
events held at the 2000 conventions.
In March, Bristol-based ESPN
agreed to pay $30,000 for hosting a
party at the GOP convention that
also exceeded the $50 gift limit.
United Technologies Corp.,
Northeast Utilities and UDV North
America paid fines in June after ad-
milting they exceeded the $50 limit
at a luncheon for Democrats.
Court vacates
$6.4 million
judgment
against
Omaha Tribe
Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. - A federal appeals court on Wednesday vacated
a $6.4 million judgment in favor of
a company that operated a casino
for the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska.
Tlie ruling stemmed from a
failed attempt by Dallas-based
Missouri River Services Inc., know
as MRS, to build and operate a $3
million casino on the Omaha reservation in northeast Nebraska in
1987.
Federal legislation passed in
1988 sharply limited types of
games that could be operated at
such facilities, and since Nebraska
baned casino gambling, the tribe's
casino could only offer high-stakes
bingo.
Tlie struggling casino closed in
less than a year.
But when Iowa legalized casino
gambling, the tribe opened a casino
across the Missouri River in
Onawa Iowa in 1992.
In 1997, MRS objected to tlie
tribe's new casino, claiming it still
JUDGMENT to page 2