n
News from Indian Country
P^ge 9 Spily^y Tymoo October 5, 2011
Red Cliff band bets on new casino
BAYFIELD, Wis. (AP) - For
get Las Vegas glitz.
The new Legendary Waters
Resort & Casino three miles
north of Bayfield is designed to
fit into the scenic South Shore,
not to stand out like a neon sign.
Picturesque, the expansive
two- to three-story $23.5 million
complex sits on the shore of
Lake Superior on the Red Cliff
Indian Reservation with a view
of the Aposde Islands. Built with
an earth-friendly approach and
designed to be welcoming, it
opened quietly before its grand
opening.
It replaced the Red C liff
band’s former casino, Isle Vista
Casino, a small, dated, sorry-
looking casino directly across
Wisconsin Highway 13. The old
casino closed Aug. 3, with its fate
yet to be d ecid ed; the new
78,000-square-foot com plex
opened Aug. 9.
“T here’s no com parison,”
said Jim Bard, who manages the
new casino’s gift shop and 47-
slip marina.
“This is state of the art, top
of the fine,” said Bard, a Red
C liff band m em ber who re-
cendy returned to the area. “This
is a growing business. We want
to make things as nice for our
customers as possible.”
With a modern North Woods
motif many tourists hanker for,
Legendary Waters is poised to
be a boon for the Red C liff
Band o f Lake Su perior
Chippewa, which owns and op
erates it.
With the switch to the new
casino-resort, its staff has been
boosted from 95 to 217 em
ployees, with 80 percent of
them band members, said Jeff
Gordon, Legendary Waters' gen
eral manager.
Attendance is up. Revenues
are up. And occupancy of the
hotel's nearly 50 rooms has
been at least 70 percent full
since it opened, thanks to an
in creasin g num ber o f tour
groups, he said. The rooms, all
with lake views, are going for
$79 or $99 per night; premier
suites are $179 a night.
The casino is open from 8
a.m. to 2 a.m., but eventually it
will go to 24 hours. And that
means hiring even more em
ployees.
While there is no per capita
payment to band members out
of the casino profits, its success
means jobs and needed eco
nomic development on the res
ervation, including a new health
clinic, Gordon said.
The economic impact of the
new casino and resort is expected
to extend to the surrounding
communities. T hat’s because
Legendary Waters is a destina
tion resort with amenities that
go beyond gambling to include
dining, lodging, a marina for sea
sonal and transient boaters,
cam pgrounds, nearby trails,
pool and showers and lockers
for
cam pers,
kayakers
snowmobilers and boaters. It
also offers shuttle services to
and from Bayfield and surround
ing communities.
“This is a legitimate destina
tion resort where a family or
group of people can take a one-
or two-hour drive and really
enjoy themselves,” Gordon said.
“It truly is a resort.”
To get there, visitors have to
travel through neighboring com
munities. And they’re going to
be stopping som ew here for
lunch, rest stops and to get gas,
noted Rachael Lamkin, the ca
sino and resort's marketing man
ager.
Cari Obst, executive director
o f the B ayfield Cham ber of
Commerce, agreed. It will bring
more people to the area, give
B ayfield more exposure and
provide another activity for
people, she said.
“It is absolutely beautiful on
a beautiful piece of land,” she
said. “They have built something
so appealing that it will have a
major economic impact.”
M oreover, it w ill be open
year-round, continuing to draw
people after the traditional tour
ist season ends, she said.
Sentence
reduced in
*75 slaying
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -
A D enver man convicted of
first-degree murder for his role
in the 1975 shooting death of
an American Indian Movement
activist has had his federal prison
sentence reduced from life to
20 years.
In February 2004, a federal
jury in Rapid City, S.D., con
victed Arlo Looking Cloud in the
slaying of fellow AIM activist
Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a 30-
year-o ld m em ber o f the
Mi’kmaq tribe of Nova Scotia.
Bill alters criteria for
Navajo N ation justices
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP)
- A Navajo Nation legislator
is pushing to raise the quali
fications for tribal Supreme
Court justices, prom pting
concern that tribal sover
eignty would diminish and
applicants would be less fo
cused on Navajo law if the
proposal is approved.
Russell Begaye has spon
sored legislation to require
justices on the country’s larg
est American Indian reserva
tion to have a law degree and
be licensed by the state bar
association. Tribal law now
calls for a bachelor’s degree
and membership in the Na
vajo Nation Bar Association.
Begaye said the changes
would produce more well-
rounded justices and position
the Navajo Nation to adopt
a federal law that gives tribes
increased sentencing author
ity if it chooses. A Tribal
Council committee he serves
on approved the bill Monday.
“The argument for not in
creasing the qualification is
very weak,” he said. “I think
it’s time that we raise the bar
for these critical positions on
our nation.”
The tribe’s Judicial Branch
has criticized the proposal,
saying it has successfully cre
ated a unique tribal court sys
tem that increasingly relies on
traditions and customs, and
a nonadversarial way of solv
ing disputes. To mandate state
bar licenses would turn the
focus from being well versed
in Navajo language and cul
ture to expertise in external
laws, said Chief Justice Herb
Yazzie.
“We oversee a living tribal
justice system reflecting the
im po rtan ce o f our trib al
community, not a borrowed
state or federal system in
which our culture is merely
anthropological speculation,”
Yazzie said.
Officials in the Judicial
Branch want the proposal
delayed to give the tribal bar
association a chance to sur
vey its members and find out
how many would meet the
qualifications. They’ve also
suggested it be amended to
require that only two justices
on the three-person panel
meet the qualifications and to
allow two years to obtain state
bar membership.
The proposal doesn’t ap- .
ply to the trib e’s D istrict
Court judges.
Begaye used the federal
Tribal Law and Order Act
signed into law last year to
support the proposed quali
fications. Under the federal
law, the sentencing authority
for tribes increased from one
year to three years for a single
crime. But sending people to
jail for longer periods means
that tribes first must provide
public defenders, establish or
update criminal codes and
have law-trained judges.
Yazzie questioned the re
liance on the federal law, say
ing the drafters of that law
abandoned a state-bar licen
sure requirement for tribal
judges in recognition of tribal
bar memberships. The Su
preme Court justices also do
not sentence convicted of
fenders. Rather, they hear ap
peals from the district court
and issue final decisions in
cases.
Wyoming tribe uses tradition to combat suicides
demic many years earlier.
Prayers were said, and offer
ings made to the four directions
and to the Creator, to purify and
restore harmony in a manner
consistent with traditional be
liefs.
Elders Nelson White Sr. and
Crawford White said that's when
the deaths stopped.
Their account is corrobo
rated by a scientific review of
the incident.
In a journal article, Margene
Tower o f the Indian H ealth
Service referred to a “tradi
tional medicine” ceremony that
happened at the height of the
epidemic.
“This ceremony was held fol
lowing the ninth suicide,” she
wrote. “It was an important cul
tural and spiritual event that
aided in the resolution of grief
and increased cohesiveness in
the com m unity. No further
deaths occurred after this cer
emony was held.”
She noted that while suicide
attempts remained abnormally
high for two months after the
ninth deaths, these soon subsided
as well.
It was the power of commu
nity and a people’s prayer that
broke the deadly cycle, Nelson
White Sr. said: “We belong to the
Creator.”
What happened among the
Northern Arapahos in 1985 has
not been forgotten.
Efforts to forestall suicides
today incorporate ceremonies
conducted in the Arapaho lan
guage, talking circles, sweat
lodges,and involvement of el
ders, all woven together in a
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - It be
gan inside a jail cell, where a
young man hanged himself.
What followed was a cascade
of death that threatened to en
gulf the Wind River Indian Res
ervation.
During August and Septem
ber of 1985, nine young people
killed themselves. Most were
Northern Arapahos.
Four of the victims were be
tween the ages of 14 and .19,
and five between 23 and 26.
Three additional victims, be
tween the ages of 18 and 23,
had ties to the reservation and
to some of the other victims.
Eighty-eight verified suicide
attempts or threats also were
recorded, the majority by young
people 13 to 19 years old.
Mental health experts from
around the nation tried to inter
vene.
“But it w asn ’t doing any
good,” Nelson W hite Sr., an
Arapaho elder, recalled.
National media descended on
the scene, an intrusion many
people resented as insensitive
and bent on sensationalism. One
television crew tried to crash a
v ic tim ’s funeral. E ventually,
tribal leaders barred the press
from Indian land.
A lm o st as q u ick ly as it
spread, the contagion ended.
Alcohol was a direct contrib
u tin g facto r in four o f the
deaths. But in the absence of
concrete answers, larger causes
remained matters of conjecture.
At the height of the episode,
an Arapaho elder remembered
that certain cerem onies had
been performed during an epi
L
“The whole tribe’s
a fa m ily . One
way or another,
we ’re related. ”
kind of community safety net.
Trained suicide interveners
watch for early signs of trouble.
Both the Northern Arapahos
and the Eastern Shoshones with
whom they share the Wind River
reservation have suicide preven
tion programs.
T hese efforts have been
largely successful.
In 2009, an 18-year-o ld
woman shot herself to death in
Arapahoe, according to records
of the Fremont County coro
ner. Before that, a young per
son had not died by suicide since
2003, when a 10-year-old Fort
Washakie boy killed himself.
B etw een 2000 and 2010,
116 people in Fremont County
killed themselves. Twenty-seven,
or 23 percent, were American
Indian.
Chaos erupted.
A 15-year-old boy threatened
to harm himself with a knife;
screaming and confusion ensued.
The cops wanted to jolt the
boy with a Taser gun; nobody
wanted him to run.
Into this tum ult stepped
T elano G roesbeck, only a
couple of weeks out of suicide
prevention training.
“I was scared,” he said. “My
heart was pumping.” Would he
say the wrong thing and make
matters worse?
Groesbeck began searching
for some thread that would es
tab lish a con nectio n. And
among the Northern Arapaho,
there’s always a connection.
“The whole tribe’s a family,”
Crawford White said. “One way
or another, we’re related.”
On this occasion, Groesbeck
knew the teenager’s dad, which
estab lish ed som e com m on
ground. Slowly, a potentially le
thal situation was defused.
The Northern Arapaho tribe
provides within its structure a
support network for early inter
vention.
A distraught young person
confides in a friend, who alerts
an aunt, who tells Groesbeck,
who invites the young person to
a talking circle or a youth sweat
lodge.
Groesbeck said depression
and suicidal thoughts often are
intertwined with drugs and al
cohol abuse.
In a sense, such behaviors
are a slow motion form of self-
destruction: “T hey’re killing
themselves doing it,” he said.
The roots of destructive be
havior can be com plex, but
Groesbeck said the pernicious
impact of bullying is sometimes
missed. A child bullied at school
might also be bullied in reser
vation housing by the same tor
mentors, and so abuse can be
unrelenting.
“The answer’s always within
the kid,” he said. “You have to
listen.”
Suicide prevention efforts
often are high-profile. Harmony
Spoonhunter, director of East
ern Shoshone Tribal Health,
noted that a suicide prevention
powwow was held in June.
Powwows are major commu
nity events. They can be used
as an opportunity to share in
formation and galvanize com
munity action.
Suicide prevention programs
in schools also are common,
and both tribes actively seek to
train people in suicide preven
tion.
George Leonard, suicide pre
vention coordinator for the
Northern Arapahos, likened the
stirring of suicidal thoughts to
a wild river. The goal is to res
cue a young person at risk be
fore he or she reaches the falls.
T alking circles and sweat
lodges provide young people
with opportunities to learn more
about their language, their cul
ture and traditional spirituality,
and therefore themselves, he
said.
“These kids have it in here,”
Leonard said, tapping his heart.
At age 14, Daisy Norse was
depressed and suicidal.
That was two years ago. To
day, the Wyoming Indian High
School student is making plans
for her future. She credits the
change to medication and par
ticipation in the Tribal Youth
Program, which offers sweat
lodges for young American In
dians.
At first, D aisy w asn’t im
pressed with the sweat lodges.
“I really didn't want to go in,”
she said. “It felt like boring to
me. It just didn't seem that cool
at the time.”
But after a while, the tradi
tional practice began to resonate.
“I found that way I could pray
to the Creator about my prob
lems,” she said.
And not just prayers about
her problem s, but also more
expansive prayers for her rela
tives, cancer victims, starving
children, blessings for people
facing all manner of difficult
circumstances.
W ith the help o f m odern
medication and traditional prac
tice, D aisy found her w ay
through the darkness.
Suicide prevention efforts on
the Wind River reservation have
not gone unnoticed.
A year ago, N o rth ern
A rapaho elders w ere called
upon to help stop a suicide out
break claim in g the lives o f
young people on the Pine Ridge
reservation in South Dakota.
“The way it was done, it was
low key. There was no press, no
news,” Crawford White said. “It
was kept quiet.”
At a powwow later in Den
ver, a tearfu l L ako ta m an
thanked the Northern Arapahos
for their help.
Even more recently, people
at the Crow Creek reservation
o f South D akota con tacted
Arapaho elders to help them
break another cycle of suicides.
Nelson White Sr. said news
media often pounce on the nega
tive, but there are many young
people who have walked away
from the darkness, hold jobs and
have finished school.
Traditional ceremonies, com
munity,- spiritual wellness—it’s all
tied together. “We’re a family. We
take care o f each o th er,”
Crawford White said.
J
1
b