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.
June 9, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe's recently enacted Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance -- although new to Leech Lake -- is not a new concept, according to John Navarro of the Council for Tribal Employment Rights -- a national advocacy group for TERO organizations.
TERO, which sparked controversy in May when the tribe announced it will enforce rules assessing fees to construction projects within the reservation's boundaries, was founded in the 1970s by tribes looking to solve their extremely high unemployment rates.
Today, more than 300 American Indian tribes and Alaskan villages have adopted TERO ordinances to control Indian employment within their boundaries. In fact, the Leech Lake Band is the seventh tribe in Minnesota to adopt a TERO ordinance, Navarro said.
TEROs were developed to ensure that Indians and native people gain their rightful share of employment, according to information provided by Navarro, and a tribe's authority to enact a TERO ordinance is grounded in its inherent sovereign power.
Inherent sovereign powers derive from the principle that certain powers do not necessarily come from delegated powers granted by Congress, but are inherent powers of a sovereign entity that have never been taken away.
Therefore, one important inherent power tribes retain is the right to regulate and tax all commerce activity within their boundaries. That, Navarro says, is the basis for TEROs.
Judy Hanks, the tribe's public relations director, said Tuesday that people need to understand that the tribe has the same right to tax its residents as any other local government unit.
"It's just like being taxed by Beltrami County or Cass County," she said.
However, those who will be affected by the ordinance -- including private business owners and local governments -- argue that TERO will have a negative impact on the region's economy.
Business owners have said they are hesitating to make improvements to their business for fear of having to pay the TERO fees, and they say construction contractors are also hesitating to accept projects because of the ordinance's Indian hiring preference rules.
Other concerns mentioned have included:
The fact that people feel the TERO ordinance is a form of taxation without representation.
The fear that too much of the money collected by TERO will be used for administration of the new TERO office, and not enough will be used for implementation.
The fact that many other job skills and training programs exist. So why does the tribe need another one.
The TERO ordinance, ironically enough, might negatively affect the building of the new Cass Lake-Bena middle school, even though the tribe says the goal of the TERO program is education.
The fear that money will be diverted from the TERO office into the pockets of individuals.
The fact that one normally receives services for being taxed, yet non-band members do not seem to be receiving anything in return for paying into TERO.
The fact that it seems the tribe never even informed anyone they might implement such an ordinance.
The concerns are so numerous in fact, they range from the rational to the irrational -- including that TERO could ignite a race war on the reservation.
However, Leech Lake officials argue that most concerns that have been expressed were based on rumors that were started by misinformed people.
Joe Plummer, a tribal attorney, and recently hired TERO Director Mark Rogers have said that if those with concerns would only discuss the issues with the band, they would learn the ordinance wasn't adopted with a malicious intent.
"We are quite simply an employment and training office," Rogers said in a recent newspaper interview. "We set some hiring guidelines that give tribal members preference but also screen (our) applicants, train them and connect them with employers."
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