PARR Newsletter ARGU Volume 8 Number 8 Fall-Winter 2005

AMERICAN RIGHTS GUARDIAN UPDATE
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VOLUME 8 NUMBER 8 FALL-WINTER2005 Bald Eagle

The Only Printed Voice of Opposition to Federal Government Indian Policy in Wisconsin.
Published by Protect Americans' Rights Resources to maintain an informed membership.

    While listening to a news broadcast about a neo-Nazi march through a black neighborhood in Toledo Ohio on the radio recently, I started thinking about our demonstrations at the boat landings. The program in question was talk radio, and the first amendment rights were stressed. The Toledo police chief said he couldn’t stop the neo-Nazis from marching through the black neighborhood shouting racist slurs, for fear that Toledo would be sued for violating the Neo Nazis’ 1st amendment rights. My question here is what happened to the boat landing demonstrators’ 1st amendment right when illegal tape recorded evidence was used to convict some of racism?
    Incidentally the people of the black neighborhood rioted and burned down or destroyed some businesses in their neighborhood. I guess I didn’t do the right thing when I had a microphone stuck in my face and this question was asked: “When did you first become a racist”? Maybe I should have burnt down something.
    Well Columbus Day has come and gone without a bunch of half-breeds making fools of themselves by protesting Columbus Day celebrations. Probably too busy shopping for casinos.

State Leaders Laugh-Off State Constitution
by Bob Manzke     We lost our first amendment rights at the boat landings, now the next step is the elimination of our sovereign rights as individual citizens of this state. We overwhelmingly passed a binding referendum, which became an amendment to the state constitution. This amendment states that the level of gambling existing in 1993, the year the referendum was passed, should not be exceeded. The agreement in question below remains unconstitutional because it still allows poker, roulette and craps, which greatly exceeds the ’93 level.
    Early in October, Governor Navajo Jim Doyle signed a new agreement with the Potawatomi 18 months after the court ruled that he had overstepped his authority by reaching an earlier deal with the tribe, whose Milwaukee casino is the most lucrative in the state. The brag here is that $43.6 million is the amount the Potawatomi would pay the state as soon as the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs approves the deal. Big deal! This is nothing new. They owed this to the state from last year.
    Meanwhile, Dairyland attorney Stephen Morgan has asked the Court to throw out the new Potawatomi compact because it would allow the tribe to continue to offer poker, roulette and craps, all of which hadn't been allowed under an earlier compact. In its ruling last year, the Supreme Court said Doyle couldn't sign a deal that allowed those games because of a 1993 amendment to the State Constitution barring the expansion of gambling. Apparently our Governor is above the law, thumbing his nose at the State Constitution like that.
    The Kenosha greyhound track filed a motion as part of its lawsuit contending all Indian casinos in Wisconsin are operating illegally because of the 1993 constitutional amendment. Morgan asked the court to deem the new compact unconstitutional.
    Patrick Marley, writing in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, tells us that the Kenosha greyhound motion says, "For the Governor to ignore a Supreme Court decision that directly invalidated his previous action regarding the scope of games in the (Potawatomi) compact is stunning, it is a direct failure to faithfully adhere to Wisconsin law."
    More Quotes from Marley’s article: Roy Berger, a Dairyland executive vice president, said he was stunned when he learned that the new Potawatomi compact allows the tribe to continue to offer the new games. "We're up against the ropes and we continue to get pummeled by casinos," Berger said. "But at this point we're not ready to go down and take a knee."
    Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo), one of the legislators who sued the governor, also called the new agreement unconstitutional. "The Governor chose to allow a certain group of folks to (offer) illegal games," he said. "I think it's disrespectful to the regular people of Wisconsin to allow that to happen, to have different rules for different people."

Whose Attorney General is Peggy Lautenschlager?
by Bob Manzke    Folks I am not saying in the following letter that I am siding with MMSD. What I am saying is that this administration has no use for the constituencies that elected them. If you haven’t donated millions to their campaign fund forget your individual sovereignty as a citizen of Wisconsin.
    I got so fed up with this very partisan operation that I got off the following letter to our AG:
    Today, representing the State of Wisconsin, you filed a suit against the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD).
    You appeared on Jeff Wagner’s radio talk show to explain the reasons for the suit. As a result of this appearance on the radio, I would like to ask you the following question.
    Why don’t you apply the same zeal that you are employing in dealing with MMSD’s overflows when the State Constitution is violated?
    Governor Doyle repeatedly thumbs his nose at the State Constitution and the will of the people by entering into contracts with the Indian Tribes that ignoreamendments to the State Constitution.
    What PARR would like to know is why you feel that the Governor is above the law? Could he have that immunity because of past, or promised future campaign donations, from the tribes?
    Reply respectively requested.
Surprisingly enough I did get a timely reply from the AG. [looks like the PARR letter head still carries some punch] In essence she said the compact issue has nothing to do with the MMSD lawsuit, which misses the point of the letter completely. I wanted to know why the law is ignored in the dealings with the tribes.
PARR Ed Note: In essence, what the AG has done was to sue her own constituents - the people of the Greater Milwaukee area - her suit demands that MMSD spend more taxpayers’ dollars.

Doyle's Phony Freeze
(Note: This column appears in CNI Newspapers.) By Charles Sykes     Typically, as summer turns to fall, the temperatures begin to drop, but this is the season that Governor Doyle’s tax freeze began to melt. You’ll recall that the governor, wielding a mighty veto pen, declared that he had managed to create his own tax freeze, while shifting hundreds of millions of dollars to his friends at WEAC. The governor said that tax bills wouldn’t go up and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau agreed. "We've got a freeze, it's a good freeze," his top aide, Marc Marotta claimed.
    Well, not exactly.
    Under Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s proposed budget, property taxes on the typical home would rise 7.2%. On top of that, the mayor is proposing dramatic increases in "fees," including a 76% increase in the so-called garbage fee that will boost the overall tax/fee increase to around 10%. Although it’s called a "fee," the garbage fee is indistinguishable from a tax, except that it also hits non-profits and isn’t deductible from your federal income tax.
    And in Madison, city officials will be able to jack up property taxes by more than 7%.
    So taxpayers are left to wonder: in what alternative universe is this a property tax freeze? Under what definition of the word "freeze" do taxes and fees rise at a double-digit rate?
    To his (partial) credit, Mayor Barrett doesn’t pretend his budget is any sort of "freeze." But what about Doyle’s claim?
    What we have here seems to be a case of Madison math combined with the now familiar fiscal shell-game played by politicians who say one thing and do quite another.
    As it turns out, Doyle’s "freeze," was a rhetorical artifact crafted to make headlines, steal an issue from the GOP, pacify the grassroots, while rewarding friendly special interests. The devil was in the details, including enough loopholes – excluding debt payments for instance – to turn the "freeze" into more like a “friendly suggestion” for cities like Milwaukee.
    Maybe the governor was hoping that taxpayers would believe the headlines, not their actual tax bills.
    In contrast, County Executive Scott Walker’s budget includes a property tax levy increase of zip, nada and bupkus. Swept into office in the wake of the Ament pension scandal, Walker promised to freeze property taxes. Unlike Doyle’s "freeze," Walker’s comes without asterisks, loopholes, hedges, fudges, or backdoors. It doesn’t rely on reassessments or sleight of hand. For Walker a zero increase means a zero increase.
    All of which makes Walker a double anomaly in Wisconsin politics (1) a politician who actually does what he says he will do, and (2) an officeholder prepared to actually make cuts in spending.
    The political reality in Wisconsin is that while everyone talks about spending, nobody wants the nasty and messy job of cutting popular programs. Jacking up spending makes friends, cutting spending draws brickbats and controversy.
    So we end up with "freezes" that mean double-digit tax/fee increases and "balanced" budgets that include billion dollar structural deficits. And the politicians hope we won’t notice the gap between what they say and what they do.
PARR Ed Note: Charley Sykes is a conservative radio talk show host in Milwaukee, and has PARR’s most sincere thanks for allowing us to print the above article.

U. S. Congress leads the Political Cloning Industry
By John A. Fleming, Consultant Federal Indian Program Oversight & PARR Director fipoversight@wavecable.com     Using the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, the result is Senator Akaka's “Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005” (NHGRA).
To all the citizens of Hawaii
    The Akaka bill, S-147, is based on and only benefits one single ethnic group, to the exclusion of all other "ethnic" groups comprising the citizenship (Body-politic) found in each of our states. This bill is patterned after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, currently codified in 25 U.S.C.-Indians. Before we go further you should read what one Supreme Court Justice said about 25 U. S. C-Indians, from my article number 25.
     It was Justice J. Blackmun, in 1974, who laid out the requirements needed to end the federal special treatment of Indians as provided for in 25 U.S.C.-Indians. The following paragraph tucked away in a Supreme Court case tells the story.
    "Literally every piece of legislation dealing with Indian tribes and reservations, and certainly all legislation dealing with the B.I.A., single out for special treatment a constituency of tribal Indians living on or near reservations. If these laws, derived from historical relationships and explicitly designed to help only Indians were deemed invidious racial discrimination, an entire Title of the United States code (25 U.S.C.) would be effectively erased and the solemn commitment of the Government towards Indians would be jeopardized." Morton v. Mancari, 417 U.S. 535, 541 (1974). Blackmun, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
    If this wets your appetite about invidious racial discrimination, go to www.parr1.com, under links and read my article # 25. Title 25 U.S.C.-Indians is an outstanding example of invidious racial discrimination and is subject to being so found, null and void, if and when the Supreme Court has a proper case before it regarding this subject.
    Those of us that live and or work within the boundaries of federal Indian reservations find that we are both taxed and governmentally regulated by the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe resident on that reservation due to the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA). These tribes that so govern and tax us are NOT republican in form; rather, they are pretend governments, again, sponsored by and the device of the U.S. Congress. Look over the Akaka bill; ask yourself.... is the Akaka bill setting up another pretend government, a tribal government? It certainly looks like it to many of us who are living that nightmare now.
    These two issues, Title 25 U.S.C.-Indians and pretend governments, are only two of a number of unconstitutional end results of federal Indian programs that have come to light over the pastfew years and pointedly demonstrate a number of real trespasses against the Constitutional rights of the members of the body-politic of the several states (i.e., citizens). And now, in 2005, or soon after, the U. S. Congress is set to do the very same thing in Hawaii through the auspices of S-147, the political cloning of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. These horrible acts - the 1934 IRA and the 2005 NHGRA - are in fact disabling acts for they disable certain U.S. constitutional rights of our citizenry.
    In this short "Paul Revere" type announcement of the trespass of our rights, I am compelled to give the reader several sources of information to back up what I am saying. I urge you to review the sources below and to take the time to try to understand "The American Indian Dilemma." If you do not understand all of this, you will be lost once the Akaka bill is past and Hawaii is subjected to U.S. style apartheid big time.
1. You will find articles, court cases and comments regarding our efforts to counter federal disabling legislation at www.parr1.com, navigating to the links page, and selecting the following names: John A. Fleming, Elaine Willman, Paul R. Jones, James A. Clifton and Victor Bellomy.
2. John Fulton Lewis is the editor and a primary contributor to the Reservation Report, a monthly news alert service sent to editors, columnists and talk show hosts nation wide. This service started in October 2001, and for archival reference on the web: www.thecommunityforum.com.
3. James P. Lynch is another great resource with daily news items on subjects relating to our problem. Try jajpl@aol.com.
    Who and what is coming next if the Congress can whittle away our Constitutional rights as they have with programs for American Indians, and now the same thing is proposed for "native" Hawaiians, with Disabling Legislation? Are we to expect more disabling legislation to provide the same assistance forthe Aztlan group of people with ties to Mexico, seeking a separate land and governmental base within the U.S.A., or a group of Black people seeking "tribal" benefits, or as in Canada and a number of countries in Europe, Islamic groups demanding (and getting) separate rules and laws for their benefit and to the exclusion of the other citizens of the country concerned?
    Lastly, if you think these problems do not affect you in Hawaii, think again. They do. I leave you with one last thought.
    Alexis de Tocqueville, in his book Democracy In America (ISBN 0-06-091522-6), discussed our situation as he viewed it in the 1830's and '40's. Out of the hundreds of pages discussing our characteristics, one simple sentence sums it up on page 611, and I quote: "Habitual inattention must be reckoned the great vice of the democratic spirit." It is still very true today. One needs to read this book by de Tocqueville. It will give you real insight as to our problems then and today.

DNR Arrogance
By Bob Manzke     Off the Summerfest grounds in Lake Michigan, Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee made a 17-acre island. If I remember correctly it was established with the material dug up with the deep tunnel project. It was considered part of the Summerfest grounds.
    The city handed the 17-acre island over to the state this past spring as part of a deal that has been in the works for years to turn it into Lakeshore State Park. Administrative rules bar fireworks in state parks and require that the parks be publicly accessible.
    Several ethnic festivals that utilized the Summerfest grounds have used the island to launch their fireworks. They can't launch from the Summerfest grounds because of the proximity of buildings.
    In an earlier citation, George Meyer, a former Department of Natural Resources secretary, said in hashing out a deal to meet the interests of all park users that Summerfest agreed to keep the island open 365 days a year. "Now Summerfest is coming back and reneging on the deal" by asking the Legislature to allow it to close part of the park on days when fireworks are set off, Meyer said. It’s obvious they don’t want people poking around in the fireworks.
    Jennie Ehrmann of Milwaukee, who attends four or five festivals a year, was quoted in The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel. She said she wants the Legislature to make sure the fireworks continue to be launched from the island, dismissing the idea that the entire park needs to be open all of the time.
    "In Milwaukee, there are other places to fly your kite, fish or walk your dog," she said.
    And of course you can expect the usual psychobabble… State Rep. Jon Richards (D- Milwaukee), who represents the area, said "the state had an obligation to keep Lakeshore State Park open. Think if that were to happen at Devil's Lake or Peninsula State Park - that those parks were basically offline during summer weekends", he said. "There would be an uproar. We should not be limiting access to our state parks."
    [For crying out loud]-- this is a 17acre man-made island with weeds growing on it, how idiotic can you get? This is Navajo Jim Doyle's DNR showing us the true meaning of arrogance.

Issue Item     Last week I purchased a burger and fries at McDonalds for $3.58. The counter girl took my $4.00 and I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies. While looking at the screen on her register, I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried. Why do I tell you this?
    Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:
Teaching Math In 1950
    A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?
Teaching Math In 1960
    A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
Teaching Math In 1970
    A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?
Teaching Math In 1980
    A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
Teaching Math In 1990
    A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers.)
Teaching Math In 2005
    Un ranchero vende una carretera de madera para $100. El cuesto de la produccion era $80. Cuantos tortillas se puede comprar?

Science is exactly what we need in the DNR
This article By: Gregg Walker appeared in the August 26^th issue of The Lakeland Times     For those who have not read the DNR’s proposed new shore land zoning administrative rule, the revised NR115, this would be an important time to do so.
    Better put aside some time, though, for in revision they have dramatically expanded the regulation in length and detail, in the process transforming it from implementation rule to bureaucratically-crafted law.
    All its supporters emphasize the so-called ‘science’ that makes this radical revision necessary. And they point their fingers at anyone who dares to mention how extremist all this is, calling them the extremists instead.
    But their accusations are little more than distractive ploys designed to cover up a dirty little secret: When it comes to science, the DNR is just like the naked emperor who paraded around the kingdom touting his new suit.
    Like the emperor’s clothes, the science just isn’t there. They may say it is – and they do – but just looking at the rule quickly tells you what the real purpose is, and that’s to pursue a political agenda.
    For example, water quality should be the agency’s top priority and the central goal of any NR115 revision. Yet, read page after page and one will notice there’s no focus on the real threats to the quality of our lakes.
    Among other things, I was astounded by the lack of attention paid to invasive species or non-point source pollution or acid rain or phosphorous or even to the overall increasing use of our lake resources.
    Provision after provision is instead devoted to telling people where they can plant trees on their property or where they can put their non-conforming homes. The agency would use this new law to tell people they can’t expand their lawns or put flags or signs within the setback.
    In a word, they want to be able to tell people how they can and cannot live. They want power, pure and simple. And none of this deals with the increasing deterioration of water quality.
Take septic systems, for instance.
    According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, septic system failure rates range from 1 percent to 5 percent a year and septic system failure is now the third most common source of groundwater pollution.
    This is an especially critical problem in the Northwoods because of the vast number of homes – and the vast number of lake homes – that use septic systems. To address this problem, we don’t need to think about what is going on above ground so much as we do about what is going on beneath us, underground. There, the water is flowing to the lakes, and, while in some cases it gets trapped, for the most part it moves downhill toward the lowest point. As it does so, it will carry with it contamination from failing septic systems or from underground gasoline tanks.
    The point is, a faulty septic system will pollute, whether it is 50 feet from the lake or 1,000 feet from the lake. Water, and the leaking sewage in it, will seek the lowest point; it will contaminate wells along the way, and when it reaches the lake it will, among other things, produce those large algae blooms the DNR loves to talk about.
    But what is the agency doing about septic system failure? How will the new NR115 address this critical problem?
    It doesn’t, and the agency isn’t doing anything at all.
    Oh, the DNR staff has a pat answer when failing septic systems are brought up. There’s nothing we can do about that, they say, because we don’t regulate septic systems. The Department of Commerce does.
    That much is true, but any agency truly committed to protecting water quality and that views that mission as its Public Trust responsibility would nonetheless be vocal on the issue rather than begging off on it, and would press either for regulatory authority or for a companion rule within the other agency to deal with the growing crisis.
    But the DNR gives us nothing.
    Then there’s the issue of impervious surfaces and the run-off threat associated with them. The new rule would strictly regulate the amount of impervious surfaces – which include gravel surfaces – on a homeowner’s lot, but that doesn’t stop the agency from routinely and needlessly clearing public shorelines and creating impervious surfaces for boat landings.
    If it truly cared about the environmental effects of run-off, the DNR would not have force-fed our area a landing on Lake Kawaguesaga, when several landings already existed on the chain that provided access to the lake. Instead, the DNR brought in bulldozers and opened up another route for non-point source pollution to flow into the lake and the river system.
    If the DNR really cared about surface runoff, it would provide either wastewater treatment or traps to stop the run-off wherever it imposes impervious surfaced or blacktopped landings. But it does not.
    Then, too, the DNR doesn’t like lawns and doesn’t want existing ones expanded, when in reality a faulty septic system near a lake, or even hundreds of yards away, will dump more phosphorus into the water than several lawns.
    And while the DNR is obsessed with eliminating structures within the shoreline setback, it does not address the miles of concrete and blacktop and buildings built more than 1,000 feet from the shoreline.
    The truth is, though, if a house pollutes the water from 35 feet, then a house 500 feet away will also pollute the water, no matter what is planted on the shoreline. A gully-washer rain will carry everything to the lake, no matter the distance.
    Contouring our properties and using proper soil erosion methods make it difficult for runoff to get to the lake and actually are the best tools we have to protect water quality, but the DNR doesn’t tell anyone that.
    They don’t tell anyone because the science isn’t as important to them as how “natural” a shoreline looks. If it is endowed with natural beauty – that is, untouched by human hands – then it’s OK, even if the natural beauty doesn’t do a thing to stop run-off from getting into the lake and the human-created contoured lawn does.
    So the agency simply falls back on its flawed science, as it did when it tried to argue in the Tom Baer case that a seawall he had wasn’t needed for erosion control and that it adversely affected water quality.
    In that case, a judge rejected both those arguments – and the DNR’s scientific claims supporting them.
    “The Department, in this case, presented extensive evidence of its concerns about the adverse impacts related to seawalls,” the judge concluded. “However, the experts retained by the Baers exhaustively studied Alder Lake, especially in the vicinity of the Baers’ shoreline, and demonstrated both that a seawall was warranted and that it would not be detrimental to the public interest.”
    Not only that, the judge added, Baer’s seawall wasn’t harming the environment at least in part because the department itself – using fluctuating water levels on the lake – had already damaged it by killing off amphibians and reptiles and reducing aquatic vegetation.
    “Both of these conclusions rely heavily on the fact that the water level in Alder Lake is elevated above its natural level during the summer season and drawn down in the winter,” the judge wrote.
    During the case, Baer’s attorney observed, the DNR continued its damaging policies even while pursuing Baer year after year. The agency knows the bad effects its polices are having, he wrote, but has done nothing to change those policies. And so it is over and over again inside the DNR. Homeowners are harassed for doing things that are not only environmentally neutral but beneficial while the agency itself continues to carry out environmentally disastrous policies because of political and aesthetic agendas.
    The rewrite of NR 115 is the culmination and crowning achievement of this deformity.
    Not too long ago, I read with interest an article in the Madison State Journal, in which a Madison resident called upon the DNR to make NR115 even stricter than what the agency is proposing.
    I found that interesting for two reasons: One, that individual lives in a city that is exempt from NR115 and in which the Monona Terrace juts out significantly over the lake. It’s easy to call for stricter regulation when it doesn’t apply to you. Second, this individual was asking the bureaucracy rather than the Legislature to enact that stricter law. This, too, is a deformity, when a bureaucracy can make and enact laws without public or legislative approval. What has happened to our democracy?
    I did agree with that individual on one point – the DNR can certainly do better. But that will take removing those now in charge and replacing them with people who have a basic understanding of water quality and who can make rational, common sense decisions.
    Spending more than a quarter-million dollars to harass a law-abiding citizen such as Tom Baer and then to try and codify the same discredited and judicially rejected science in NR115 certainly is not rational, does not make common sense, and will do nothing to protect our water quality, the biggest environmental issue of our time.
    Just think if that $250,000 was put toward stopping invasive species. Just think!
PARR Ed Note: PARR’s most sincere thanks to The Lakeland Times and Gregg Walker for this article.
Later pier development:
Lawmakers work to sink DNR's new regulations on Piers Rules. Two Republican legislative leaders said they will introduce a bill that would protect piers on Wisconsin lakes from what they view as heavy-handed regulation by the state Department of Natural Resources.
    A general permit, which costs $50, allows the DNR to examine a pier to see if it comports with the law. An individual permit requires a more complete review by the DNR and a public notice so others can comment.
    Request to let old docks remain: the changes are bound to provoke anger among some landowners, said Rep. Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford).
    "There are some piers that people have had in the family for 50 years or more, and now they might lose them," said Gunderson, chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
    "I don't want to see people get caught up in that."
    Gunderson and Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) said the regulations seemed to have gone too far.
Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease
Just goes to show you folks; if you apply enough pressure to the bureaucrats and politicians your voice will be heard.
    The board unanimously voted to rescind rules it approved in September that required one-time permits for piers as well as individual approval for large piers. Department of Natural Resources staff will rework the rules - which had not yet been sent to the Legislature - and bring them back to the board for approval at its next meeting Dec. 7.

Issue Item     This may come as a surprise to those of you not living in Las Vegas, but there are more Catholic churches there than casinos. Not surprisingly, some worshippers at Sunday services will give casino chips rather than cash when the basket is passed.
    Since they get chips from so many different casinos, the churches have devised a method to collect the offerings. The churches send all their collected chips to a nearby Franciscan Monastery for sorting and then the chips are taken to the casinos of origin and cashed in.
    This is done by the chip monks!!!!!

We Are Preceding The State Constitution
By Bob Manzke     You know folks I have several dozen articles, on file, from different newspapers and legal persons telling us that any compacts between the state and Indian tribes (that allow the expansion of gambling in Wisconsin), are illegal. I can’t understand why The Governor, The Attorney General and the Federal Government completely ignore this fact.
    Yes I said the Federal Government! Read on:
Steve Schultze writing in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel tells us that an official from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs notified the state that the gambling deal was approved, said Scott Larrivee, spokesman for state Administration Secretary Steve Bablitch. The pact sets a 25-year term.
    No provisions of the new deal were disqualified by the bureau, Larrivee said. The Menominee tribe had asked the bureau to strike a provision that calls for arbitration in case a Kenosha casino for that tribe is approved and hurts business at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee.
     The new Potawatomi compact calls for arbitration to settle any compensation claims the tribe raises for losses from competition with a Kenosha casino.

Agents Meet With Tribal Leadership, AWC
By: Patti Wenzel     I am sure this is old news for you members that live in the Lakeland area and receive the Lakeland Times. Many members don’t receive The Lakeland Times, so those that do please bear with us while we expose this very interesting situation to the rest of the membership. Me passing on anything to do with the Lac du Flambeau Navy that provided us with so many laughs all summer and fall is out of the question.” (PARR ED. Explanation)
    Is the Lac du Flambeau (LdF) casino boat deal about to come under the scrutiny of federal and state officials?
    Have questions about possible organized crime involvement and irregular finances now gotten the attention of investigators at the state Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Interior's Office of the Inspector General (OIG)?
    That is what seems to be the case as both LdF tribal leaders and members of the Anishinaabeg O'Waaswaaganing Corporation (AWC) met separately with OIG Agent Lynn Gannon and DOJ Financial Crimes Agent Kyra Schallhorn,     LdF Tribal President Vicki Doud said their meeting with the agents was coordinated because of recent correspondence between the tribe and Gannon, while AWC members said they met with the agents to raise questions about the tribe's involvement with Chicago-area investors and how money is being spent on the project.
    Doud told The Lakeland Times that Gannon and Schallhorn were in the area for business at the casino and the two agents spent about 90 minutes with the tribal leaders to discuss a correspondence recently sent to them.
    The tribe had expressed concerns to the DOJ and OIG about a possible takeover of the tribe by dissident forces - an issue that seemed plausible to them following comments by AWC members about Wounded Knee and the use of armed guards.
    Doud said their only concern is the protection of the community and they wanted government officials involved to prevent a takeover.
    AWC specifically wants federal and state investigators to examine the use of gaming revenues from Lake of the Torches Casino to pay back $2 million in loans and a $1.2 million line of credit used to purchase and refurbish the boat, owned by Cancun Cruises, Inc.
    The tribe is listed as an "investor" in Cancun Cruises, Inc. and it provided the initial capital for the venture. The tribe has a 30 percent membership interest in the boat, while the remaining six members share the balance.
    There have also been questions about the backgrounds of the partners, some of whom are alleged to have ties to organized crime.
    As originally reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, one of the partners, Alex Salerno, is a lawyer with a client list that includes some of Chicago's top mobsters. They include Robert Salerno, Alex's father, Harry Aleman, and Gregory Shell.
    The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1998 and the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) outlawed any organized crime involvement in Indian gaming enterprises. However, in an e-mail to an AWC leader earlier this year, an NIGC official said Cancun Cruises, Inc. is beyond their purview because the venture is to be based in Mexico.
    "We're confident they now are taking our concerns seriously," said tribal member Bill Poupart. "I could see it in Lynn's (Gannon) eyes."     "The OIG agent said she was taking the information we provided her back to her superiors for further investigation," AWC member Tom Maulson said. "It was a meaningful meeting and we had credentialed people speak with them, people who want to know."
    AWC members did not provide Gannon or Schallhorn with documents backing up their claims at Thursday's meeting, but Poupart, Maulson and other members have done so in the past via e-mails. Maulson said the agents suggested a John Doe investigation might be warranted in the situation.
    At that point, Maulson and Poupart provided names to the agents of tribal members willing to talk about the issue, but only under the cover of anonymity.
    Poupart provided an e-mail to The Lakeland Times between himself and Schallhorn, dated Aug. 22. In it, Schallhorn says she was to discuss the boat questions with Gannon and meet with her later in the week.
    Maulson said tribal leadership's accusation of a potential armed takeover is bizarre. "Are there disgruntled tribal members? Yes. But I have some major concerns about how our tribal monies, my monies are being spent," he said. "We told the agents we want the tribal government to tell us what they did with the money and what they plan to do."
    The Wounded Knee and armed guard comments were made by AWC member Ed Chosa, following an attack on his granddaughter's home. Chosa's granddaughter has been selling copies of The Lakeland Times since the tribal council banned sale of the newspaper from tribal-owned retail outlets.
    Discussion concerning the boat did occur between the tribe and the agents, but Doud said the leadership is not trying to hide or cover up anything related to the casino boat deal. They said they provided Gannon and Schallhorn with information which has been shared with tribal members. Doud said the two investigators told her that the boat project looks like a normal business dealing.
    AWC members take issue with that characterization, saying Gannon was very interested in their allegation that the boat deal involves kickbacks and possible payments to investors and tribal council members for expensive hotel stays.
    "There are definitely kickbacks going on," Poupart said. "Nobody knows where all the money went and there are mob ties."
    "And now that we're not in Mexico, the NIGC and the federal government need to get involved. "Where did the money come from and how are they (the tribe) paying it back? And what vendors are we using now on the reservation as a result of these mob ties?" Poupart asked.
    David House, assistant special agent in charge at OIG, said the department investigates felonies involving tribal entities or members. He went on record after calls to Gannon by The Lakeland Times went unreturned. He said allegations of business fraud would be within their area of purview.
    It is plausible that Gannon met with AWC members to obtain information concerning fraud related to the boat, he said. House said his department does not intervene in tribal takeovers, unless there is a crime involved, because that would be considered interfering with tribal sovereignty. He could not comment on whether the Lac du Flambeau Tribe or any of its entities were the focus of an ongoing investigation.
    He also was not certain as to why Gannon visited the LdF tribal leadership or members of AWC. No matter why Gannon and Schallhorn were here, Poupart is pleased their concerns are getting attention. "We've now seen two sets of eyes, saying something needs to be done."
PARR Ed Note: Well folks it seems like ARGU is a supplement of the Lakeland Times, with this issue containing two verbatim articles out of the Times. Both Patti Wenzel and Gregg Walker committed a flagrant act of excellent journalism. The articles Agents Meet with Tribal Leadership, AWC and Science is exactly what we need in the DNR are hard hitting stories where the un-spun facts are revealed.
Kudos to both; and to The Lakeland Times for allowing us to reprint these articles.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thanks to all of the PARR members who came to the rescue and responded to our recent plea for financial aid. Your generosity will allow us to operate until March 2006 when the membership renewals are due.
This tremendous response shows that PARR is as strong and viable as it has been in the past.

Issue Item There has been an average of 160,000 US troops in Iraq during the past 22 months. Sadly, the death rate has been 60 per 100,000 troops shamefully, the death rate from shootings in Washington, DC is 806 per 100,000 residents (a 1,343% increase). Therefore, the likelihood of being shot in our nation's capital (which has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation) is much greater than being shot in Iraq.
Conclusion: We should IMMEDIATELY pull out of Washington, DC.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The merriest to all! Nativity

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