I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
July 15, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
The state attorney general's office will review how the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe's Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance applies to various aspects of reservation property, according to Cass County Administrator Bob Yochum.
In a June 23 letter, Attorney General Mike Hatch states his office has had substantial communication with Cass County Attorney Earl Maus and attorneys representing the Leech Lake Band.
"We have assigned attorneys to review TERO and its application to various aspects of reservation property," Hatch's letter states.
Leech Lake's TERO ordinance which was enacted last year, sparked a controversy in May when the tribe announced it would enforce rules assessing fees to construction projects within the reservation's boundaries and rules governing the employment of American Indians on such projects.
About a month later, the band announced it was putting its TERO ordinance on hold for 30 days to address concerns about it.
Yochum said the attorney general's review is scheduled to be completed in mid-July, and that Hatch wants to meet with officials of the band and the county late this month to review the office's findings.
Leech Lake Public Relations Director Judy Hanks said Wednesday she was not aware of Hatch's letter or any meetings with him and Cass County officials regarding TERO.
However, she said Leech Lake Chairman Eli Hunt is scheduled to meet with Hatch on July 30 in St. Paul to discuss TERO among other tribal issues -- such as trust lands. And that was scheduled as the result of Hunt requesting a meeting with Hatch, Hanks said, not because of anything Cass County did.
"TERO probably prompted the meeting," Hanks said. "But there are several issues involving trust lands ... and relations with the State of Minnesota, government to government."
Hanks added that the meeting will be timely for the band to receive Hatch's input regarding TERO. For about three weeks, the tribe has been discussing revising the ordinance, without destroying its goal -- which is to reduce the 45 percent unemployment on the reservation.
"We want to get the state's response," she said.
Hunt's scheduled meeting with Hatch will probably mean the tribe will extend its evaluation period past the original 30 days, Hanks said, so that the meeting can be incorporated into any revision discussion.
The short history of the Leech Lake Band's TERO ordinance has been a divisive one. Although adopted by the tribe last winter, it went unnoticed until the tribe tried to use it in May.
Most became aware of TERO when Cass Lake-based businessman Fred Teal and his contractor, Mike Christiansen of Bemidji, were informed by the tribe that the $550,000 addition underway on Teal's grocery store was subject to a $17,500 TERO fee.
Information -- true or not -- about the ordinance then trickled to Cass County administrators and spread like wildfire across the region.
Tempers flared so much that the reservation decided about a month later it was best to put the ordinance on hold until it could be revised.
There are plans to hold a news conference when the revised ordinance is completed.
Two projects that will operate under the auspices of TERO regulations have begun since the first tempers flared over the issue. First, the Kern and Tabery Construction Company, which was awarded a contract for Itasca County Road 35 near Inger, employed five Leech Lake Band members. And the second project is the Cass Lake Indian Hospital expansion, which will follow TERO guidelines.
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