[Senate Hearing 107-268]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 107-268
EQUITABLE COMPENSATION ACT
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
FEDERAL OBLIGATION TO EQUITABLE COMPENSATION TO THE FORT BERTHOLD AND
STANDING ROCK RESERVATIONS
----------
AUGUST 30, 2001
NEW TOWN, ND
EQUITABLE COMPENSATION ACT
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S. Hrg. 107-268
EQUITABLE COMPENSATION ACT
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
FEDERAL OBLIGATION TO EQUITABLE COMPENSATION TO THE FORT BERTHOLD AND
STANDING ROCK RESERVATIONS
__________
AUGUST 30, 2001
NEW TOWN, ND
_______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
77-528 WASHINGTON : 2001
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Chairman
BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado, Vice Chairman
FRANK MURKOWSKI, Alaska KENT CONRAD, North Dakota
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona, HARRY REID, Nevada
PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming PAUL WELLSTONE, Minnesota
ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota
JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
Patricia M. Zell, Majority Staff Director/Chief Counsel
Paul Moorehead, Minority Staff Director/Chief Counsel
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Statements:
Baker, Biron................................................. 30
Baker, Frederick, enrolled member, Three Affiliated Tribes... 26
Burr, Joyce, educational consultant, Three Affiliated Tribes. 32
Conrad, Hon. Kent, U.S. Senator from North Dakota............ 2
Danks, John H. member, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Elder
Organization............................................... 24
Fredericks, John, member, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Tribe..... 21
Hall, Tex, chairman, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation
(with attachments)......................................... 2, 5
Hudson, Marilyn, member, Three Affiliated Tribes............. 31
Jones, Cora, director, Great Plains Region, BIA.............. 15
Mandan, Tony, member, Three Affiliated Tribes................ 1, 35
Appendix
Prepared statements:
Baker, Frederick............................................. 39
Burr, Joyce.................................................. 159
Danks, John H. (with attachments)............................ 118
Fredericks, John ``Buzz'' elder (with attachment)............ 114
Hall, Tex (with attachments)................................. 47
Hudson, Marilyn.............................................. 159
Jones, Cora.................................................. 39
Mandan, Tony................................................. 41
Old Dog Cross, Phyllis....................................... 44
Packineau, Elise............................................. 42
Walker, Tillie, enrolled member, Mandan Tribe (with
attachments)............................................... 165
Young Bird, Bernadine, administrator of the Three Affiliated
Tribes Education Department................................ 43
Additional material submitted for the record:
Letters...................................................... 169
Final Report of the Garrison Unit, May 23, 1986.............. 184
Public Voucher For Purchases and Services other than
Personal, (with attachments)............................... 283
Tribal Resolutions Approving Expenditures from Economic
Recovery Fund, Accompanied by Approval of Fund Transfer
Forms and Letters of Approval from BIA, 1995-2001 For the
Three Affiliated Tribes.................................... 405
EQUITABLE COMPENSATION ACT
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2001
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Indian Affairs,
New Town, ND.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. at the
Four Bears Casino Events Center, New Town, ND, Hon. Kent Conrad
(acting chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senator Conrad.
Mr. Red Fox. We'd like to open the ceremony by having VFW
Post 9061, American Legion Posts 253 and 271 posting the
colors.
[Posting of colors.]
Mr. Red Fox. Thank you. Now I'd like to ask one of our
respected tribal elders to say a prayer. Tony Mandan.
STATEMENT OF TONY MANDAN, TRIBAL ELDER
Mr. Mandan. Thank you. I'd like to welcome Senator Conrad
today. We're going to be talking about our sacred land that we
had lost along the Missouri River, and so that our people--they
want to sell that land--they were forced to sell it. So our
Senator here represents all of us. He has taken an oath to
represent all of us, and it's very important. What you say you
must carry out because you might--that's--we understand that we
have to through the bible.
So at this time I would like to mention that a lot of our
warriors that were protecting our lands are there underneath
the water. Some of them were never reclaimed, and others, like
my grandfather, lost his life up there on the Canadian border
protecting our territory, and he never was reclaimed.
So I'd like to say these before I say my prayer, and I
thank you for the attention, and I want to say that in my
native tongue so that--I don't know how many of you speak my
native tongue anymore, but I'm going to say it in my native
tongue.
[Prayer was said.]
Mr. Red Fox. Thank you, Mr. Mandan. Moving along very
quickly here, we realize we're pressed for time, and we can
never--we must always take time I think to appreciate our
country and our God.
At this time we'd like to introduce the councilmen and the
segments they represent, not only the new segments, but we'll
talk about Little Shell, Lucky Mound, Independence, Elbowoods,
and any other ones that I may have forgotten. I'll start up
front here with Mark Fox from the Parshall area right now.
Mark, say hello.
Mr. Fox. Hello, hello.
Mr. Red Fox. Thank you. Marcus Wells, Jr., from the Four
Bears area. Randy Phelan from the Mandaree area. On the way up
front here is Austin Gillette from the White Shield area and
Malcolm Wolf from the New Town area, and we'll save for last
Mr. Hall because Mr. Hall will have a few comments and then
will introduce the Senator to us. Ladies and gentlemen,
Chairman Hall.
STATEMENT OF TEX HALL, CHAIRMAN, MANDAN, HIDATSA AND ARIKARA
NATION
Mr. Hall. I hope everybody can hear me all right. Good
morning, Senator Conrad, and the staff, Lisa Linnell, good
morning. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the hearing
for the Equitable Compensation Act, and I just want to thank
all the staff for putting together our entertainment center,
our facility today.
The Elders Organization has put together some of their
pictures, and they have a table set up over there by Phyllis
Cross, and we also--next to it we have the Nishu--the original
community before the flood. So you'll see that, and then going
over there you'll see a power-point that's been prepared by the
businesses that are here, and, of course, you'll see the 1948
picture that's been shown throughout history about the signing
by the council in 1948 of our bottom lands and the traumatic
and emotional picture that we still honor and respect today,
and thank all the veterans and the drum group and thank Tony
Mandan for that very solemn prayer for opening today.
With that I'd like to introduce and turn it over to our
Senator, Senator Kent Conrad.
STATEMENT OF HON. KENT CONRAD, U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA
Senator Conrad. Thank you very much, Chairman Hall, and
thank all of you for being here. This is an honor for me to be
here chairing this hearing. This is an official hearing before
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs authorized specifically
by the chairman, Senator Inouye, of Hawaii.
I am now the second ranking member of the Senate Committee
on Indian Affairs, and so this is a special privilege for me to
have the chance to be here today to talk about legislation that
is critically important to this tribe and critically important
to me. I am especially pleased to be here to talk about the
Three Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Equitable
Compensation Act, known more familiarly as the JTAC
Legislation.
As the principal sponsor of that legislation, I have a
special interest in monitoring its progress. The Equitable
Compensation Act attempts to right the wrong that was
perpetrated upon the people of the Fort Berthold and Standing
Rock Reservations when the Federal Government flooded these
reservations during construction of the two mainstem dams on
the upper Missouri River.
When the Garrison Dam was constructed, thousands of acres
of tribal land were lost as were bridges, homes, hospitals and
roads. When Fort Berthold's land was taken in 1949, the Three
Affiliated Tribes lost one-quarter of the reservation's land
base, and much of that land was the very best land that the
tribe had. There were 325 families--80 percent of the tribal
membership--that were forcibly relocated; 94 percent of the
agricultural lands of these farmers and ranchers were lost. The
tribal headquarters at Elbowoods was completely flooded.
The 1992 Equitable Compensation Act was the result of
recommendations made by two reports. The first was entitled
``The Final Report of the Garrison Unit Joint Tribal Advisory
Committee.'' That's where JTAC comes from, Joint Tribal
Advisory Committee, a special committee created by the former
Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Hodell.
The 1986 JTAC report acknowledged the Federal Government's
obligation to compensate the tribes, a legal obligation to
compensate the tribes. It came up with a range of money owed to
the tribe of $178 million to $412 million.
The second report, which was conducted by the general
accounting office, analyzed the JTAC report and concluded that
the methodology was flawed. They concluded that the tribe was
owed anywhere from $52 million to $149 million.
We were able to secure in the legislation that I introduced
the high end of the general accounting office report that
analyzed what was owed the Tribe. What we were able to
successfully get was the $149 million. I am especially proud of
the work we did in passing the JTAC bill. It took me 4 years
and literally hundreds of hours of negotiating and the
persuasion of my colleagues in the Senate and the House of
Representatives to secure this victory.
When I started the effort, I was told there was no way that
we could possibly succeed. Many of you who are here in this
room remember that. We were at meetings in which we were told
over and over there is no way we will ever get this kind of
money, and that's because those were the days of massive
Federal budget deficits, and all new spending was routinely
rejected by the appropriations committee.
It was only when I hit upon the idea of funding the
legislation outside of the 5-year Federal budget window and in
a way that avoided the appropriations committee that we had any
hope for success.
As you know, the bill creating the $149-million trust fund
provided that the interest on the principal would accrue for 5
years before being available for expenditure. It was that
device that allowed us to pass the legislation and secure the
funds, and it has served as the model for all succeeding
settlement funds that occurred since, but I might say to you
all of the new settlement funds now take 10 years before any of
the money is available because the Federal budget window is no
longer 5 years, it's 10 years.
When we achieved that success, we all knew what was
intended. The compensation legislation was designed to allow
the Three Affiliated Tribes the opportunity to rebuild and
regain financial independence. It provides the resources for
the general health and welfare of the tribe and its members.
While it is not everything that we wanted, it has the
potential to make a big difference in the future of this tribe
and its people. The interest on the money in the Fort Berthold
Equitable Compensation Fund became available for use on October
1, 1997, nearly 4 years ago.
I believe now is a good time to look and to assess how
those funds are being used. Also at today's hearings we'll hear
from a panel about the infrastructure needs of the tribe.
The legislative history of this bill also acknowledges that
the Three Affiliated Tribes are entitled to replacement of
infrastructure lost by the creation of the Garrison Dam and
Lake Sakakawea, including health care facilities, a bridge, and
school facilities.
You will remember that just last year we were successful in
getting the bridge funded at a level of $35 million. It was one
of only two bridges that was approved outside of the Federal
Highway Program last year. Only two bridges in the entire
country were funded, and I'm especially proud that our bridge
here was one of the two.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. That, too, was a remarkable accomplishment,
a testimony to the teamwork of Senator Dorgan, Congressman
Pomeroy, and my office working with your tribal leadership. I
think your tribal leadership can tell you it was the Perils of
Pauline getting that $35 million approved outside of the normal
highway bill. Typically no bridges, none, are approved outside
of the normal legislation of the Federal Highway bill.
And last year we were also able to get funded the Dakota
Water Resources Act, this after nearly 2 decades of work. It is
perhaps my proudest accomplishment as a U.S. Senator
representing North Dakota. That legislation provides $600
millions to North Dakota, including $200 million of Indian MRI
water projects.
Those examples of the bridge funding and the funding for
water projects are examples of how we can keep the promise that
was made to this reservation and this State by normal
appropriations bills in addition to the funding that we secured
through the JTAC Legislation.
I want to say today that I thank Chairman Tex Hall, the
tribal business council, and the staff of the tribe for helping
to organize this hearing. I would also like to thank Cora
Jones, the Great Plains director of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, for testifying here today.
The U.S. Department of the Interior is charged with
approving the plans for the use of these funds. So I believe
the presence of Ms. Jones and her testimony today will be
helpful in giving a complete picture of this process.
Finally, I would like to remind everyone here that this is
an official hearing of the U.S. Senate, and the rules of the
U.S. Senate will apply. Although we only have a limited number
of witnesses, additional testimony can be submitted for the
hearing record up to 14 days following this hearing. Those who
would like to submit testimony for the record can do so by
sending it to my office no later than September 13, 2001. So
let me just repeat that. The record will remain open, the
official record, until September 13, 2001.
I again want to thank the tribal leadership, Chairman Tex
Hall, the council, all of its members. I've worked closely with
them, not only on the bridge project but Dakota Water Resources
Act over many years and certainly the previous tribal
leadership on the JTAC Legislation.
I think back at how people told us it would never happen. I
remember going to the first meeting of the Senate Energy
Committee that had to approve this legislation and being told
by the chairman this can never pass because of the budget
deficits, and yet we found a way, a novel way, a way no one had
ever figured out before and has allowed us to succeed, and
again last year when we got the bridge funded, one of only two
in the country, and again we were told we had little chance,
and Dakota Water Resources Act, when again we were told after
20 years of effort you can't possibly hope to succeed.
I think we've proven the skeptics wrong, and it's happened
because we worked together. There is a lesson in this for all
of us because working together our efforts are always going to
be more successful than if we work separately and apart. That
should be one of the lessons we learn from this hearing today.
Again, I want to thank Chairman Hall, the members of the
council and the elders who have given us such good advice and
in many cases given me such good advice that have helped us to
be successful, and I suspect some of those prayers that we said
over the many meetings that we held also may have been a secret
to our success.
With that, I want to call on Chairman Hall for his
testimony and to again thank all of you who are in the audience
for being here and for listening patiently. Chairman Hall.
STATEMENT OF TEX HALL, CHAIRMAN, MANDAN, HIDATSA AND ARIKARA
NATION
Mr. Hall. Thank you, Senator Conrad. Dosha. Hello and good
morning to Senator Conrad and also to Senator Inouye. We thank
the chairman of the committee and yourself for allowing us this
very important--as I mentioned earlier, a sacred day for the
members of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, and on
behalf of the tribal business council that we have here I'm
very happy to present testimony on the 1992 Equitable
Compensation Act.
Today marks an historic occasion as the U.S. Senate holds
an official hearing on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation
just 3 weeks in advance of the 150th anniversary of the signing
of the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty and almost 200 years after the
commencement of the Lewis and Clark expedition, whose
bicentennial will be celebrated starting in 2003.
This hearing also marks another milestone not nearly so
historic but certainly one of the most devastating events that
happened to our people, the completion of the Garrison Dam
across the Missouri River and the flooding of what was left of
our ancestral homelands along the river, the flooding of
156,000 acres that represented the largest part, and as you
mentioned, Senator, 80 percent of our members lived there on
the bottom lands.
This damage, as many of our elders will testify, can never
be fully compensated by money and will never be fully healed,
but thanks to your efforts, Senator, we are beginning to repair
some of those social and economic damages caused by that flood.
To name a few: The 1992 Equitable Compensation Act and the
establishment of a $149.2-million fund. This was unprecedented.
Through your budget strategies and through your skills you were
able to achieve something that all of your comrades and your
fellow senators said that could not be done. It was through
this creative legislation that many other of your colleagues
and senators have used in similar bills to accomplish the
establishment of the $149.2-million fund, and so we owe singly
to you perhaps the greatest attributes to successfully passing
of this very historic legislation that is now beginning to
repair and heal the members of our nation.
We also want to recognize you, Senator, for as you
mentioned, the 2000--November 2000, the $35 million for the
Four Bears Bridge, and again your persistent and creative
budgeting effort to achieve something that again your comrades
and your fellow senators said could not happen, and it did.
And then, finally, also the November 2000 passage of the
$70-million Dakota Water Resources Act authorizing this for our
water distribution, and again your fellow Senators and comrades
said that this could not be done, and again through your
efforts and your budget strategies you were able to accomplish
this, and maybe that's why you're a U.S. Budget Committee
chairman today, and the United States has entrusted that to
you, and we're fortunate to have you in North Dakota as our
Senator to help accomplish these three very historic and very
large multi-million-dollar pieces of legislation, and, again,
thank you for those efforts.
[Applause.]
Mr. Hall. It would also be appropriate to also thank the
late Senator Quentin Burdick. As you recognized, our elders
today were also sitting on this council and worked with the
late Senator for his tireless efforts in this regard. Without
the efforts of yourself, Senator Burdick, Senator Dorgan, and
Congressman Pomeroy, we would not have the Equitable
Compensation Act, and there would have been no followup to the
efforts of the JTAC or the Joint Tribal Advisory Committee to
the Garrison Diversion Unit.
We also to thank you for your efforts regarding return--
beginning to return to us some of the lands along the lake
shore, the so-called excess lands, and your willingness to want
to work with us on this very important issue.
And, finally, we want to thank you for your efforts
regarding the MRI. It's through the million dollars of
appropriations through our MRI that we're beginning to see
quality treated water in the communities of White Shield, Twin
Buttes, Mandaree, and Four Bears for these new water treatment
plants, and we know that getting enough funds for our water
project needs is a tough job, given how the budget surpluses
seem to slip away, but we also know that Senator Conrad will do
his utmost to secure the funds needed to really begin to
fulfill the promise of a good water system made to us more than
two generations ago.
And we know that these efforts are continuing, and we know
that our Congressional delegation will not stop working for us
as we make the efforts needed to supply our remaining needs.
This hearing is really about all those things that Congress
has done and the things that have not yet quite been
accomplished. It is about, number one, how the compensation
provided to the people of our nation for the flooding of our
lands has been used by the MHA nation; and, number two, whether
or not this compensation is really quite adequate to meet, as
you mentioned, the need to complete the infrastructure
development because of the flooding of Lake Sakakawea.
What I want to talk about--I want to emphasize several
matters today, Senator Conrad. These matters are partly covered
by the written statement and accompanying resolutions that we
have submitted for the record that have been approved by our
Tribal Business Council that authorize expenditures from the
permanent Economic Recovery Fund created by the tribe--the
Three Affiliated Tribes, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Equitable Compensation Act.
We will be submitting a corrected written statement for the
record. Further, we will be submitting for the record a final
corrected statement that incorporates my oral statements here
today.
Funds used for purposes allowed in the act. First of all, I
want to emphasize that every dollar of income that we've
received from the Economic Recovery Fund has been used for the
purposes and for programs authorized by the 1992 Three
Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Equitable
Compensation Act.
Not only have we spent the funds for purposes allowed by
the act, we have also gone much, much further. Senator, as you
will hear over and over again today, a lot of what we have done
with the income from the Economic Recovery Fund is to
supplement the Federal Government's fundamental trust and
treaty obligations to our people. This is not right, but we are
forced to use some of the funds, and our efforts to achieve
economic self-sufficiency, which is really the purpose of the
Economic Recovery Fund, are substantially delayed.
The report accompanied by the Equitable Compensation Act
issued in 1992 states on page 191:
Section 3505 of the act makes clear that the payments made
pursuant to this Act shall not result in the denial or
reduction of any such services to the tribes. For example, the
Three Affiliated Tribes have budget authority available for
water systems development, and given the health-threatening
quality of domestic water on the reservation, the committee is
hopeful that additional appropriations for upgrading these
water systems will be made available in future years.
But, Senator, as I will describe in greater detail shortly,
we have ended up using some of our Economic Recovery Fund
income for exactly these purposes over and over and over again.
The funds we have received to date do not replace lost
infrastructure. We still need additional dollars to replace the
lost infrastructure.
Second, it is important to recognize that the Equitable
Compensation Act only provided a part what was promised to us
by the United States when the Garrison Dam was built.
What we were promised when the dam was built. When the dam
was built, the Army Corps of Engineers promised an awful lot.
Some of our elders will testify shortly as to those promises.
The Army Corps promised infrastructure replacement, including a
new hospital, new schools, adequate secondary and access roads,
new community centers, a new bridge, a new rural water delivery
system for all of our members on the Reservation, and access to
the electricity generated by the new dam, among other things.
Well, Senator, of all these things the only things that are
only partly completed are the new community buildings in some
of our communities, but New Town, our largest community, does
not have one yet, which is why in part we are meeting in our
new multi-purpose facility at the Casino here today. Most of
these community centers were built within the past five years,
nearly 45 years after the promises were made.
We have some water treatment plants, as I mentioned
previously, that serve the people living within our reservation
communities but which do not yet serve our rural outlying
citizens. Most of these were upgraded or fully constructed in
the past 10 years, 40 to 45 years after the promises were made.
We do not yet have adequate healthcare facilities, and we
do not begin to have adequate educational resources for our
children and for our adults.
Our secondary and access roads are still woefully
inadequate, and our rural water system is still only on the
drawing board.
Of all the things on the list as recommended by the JTAC
original committee--and we have some of our--we have members of
our 1986--I don't know if we have any of the membership here
today. Do we have any members--I know like Phyllis Cross was on
the 1986 original JTAC Committee. Is she in audience? Are there
any other members of the 1986 original JTAC Committee? I want
to acknowledge them, and I also want to acknowledge--oh, and
John Charger? Is John Charger here? There is one of the
members, as well. John, if you would please stand up and be
recognized from the 1986 original JTAC Committee.
[Applause.]
Mr. Hall. I'd also like to take the time, Senator Conrad,
to recognize the 1996 JTAC Committee. Would you please rise?
Tony Walker I see here, Phyllis Cross. All of you, please stand
up. I want to recognize the 1996 JTAC Committee. They did a
very important--a good 2\1/2\ years of research and
documentation of the needs, but of all the things that the JTAC
Committee completed, the one thing we do not have right now
is--we hope that we have is adequate funds for the new bridge,
and we thank the efforts of you, Senator Conrad, and the entire
congressional delegation, but the number one priority that they
have identified is healthcare, and I will cover that a little
bit later on.
First of all, let's look at how the funds we have received
to date have been spent since the act was passed in 1997. Under
the act, the funds can be used for education, social welfare,
economic development, and other government programs.
This Equitable Compensation Act initially began in 1949 as
appropriated and authorized by Congress in the approximate
amount of $12.5 million dollars. Almost 50 years later the
tribe received the first installment of interest on October 1,
1997, from the permanent fund of $149.2 million.
As we have used these funds, over 100 new jobs have been
created. Many of our young people have gone on to college and
graduate school, and we have supplemented many of the Federal
programs. I'd like to take just a few seconds to recognize some
of the JTAC educational dollars, Senator Conrad. I'd like to
recognize the following individuals who will receive their
Master's degree from use of the JTAC funds: Spencer Wilkinson,
Jr., cogeneral manager of the Four Bears Casino; Rusty Mason,
cogeneral manager of Four Bears Casino; Richard Beard, if you'd
please stand, Richard; Patti Jo Thomas; and Todd Hall, if you'd
also stand. These are recent Master's degree graduates.
We'd also like to recognize these following individuals for
currently taking their Master's degree: Viola Wells; Marcus
Wells, Jr., if you'd please rise; Rose Crow Flies High; Roger
Baker; Orian Baker; Iris and Alfred Obiss; and Mike Young Bird.
The following individuals, if you'd please rise, are
currently participating in the Bachelor's degree program at the
University of Mary: Clover Little Soldier, Judy Elseth, Terry
Young Bird, Lori Alberts, Stacey Driver, Carmen Fox, Margaret
Pretends Eagle, Claudia Mason, and Kay Wilkinson.
As you can see, Senator, these are the product of the
educational scholarship programs, and the Bachelor's degree
programs--the Bureau of Indian Affairs currently allocates
about $1,900, and the average tuition costs are close to
$5,000. So there's a huge unmet need, and the JTAC dollars are
used to supplement that unmet need.
[Applause.]
Mr. Hall. And, Senator Conrad, we have also set up the uses
of the Economic Recovery Fund to--on economic development and
tried to match dollar for dollar the expenditures made for
economic development and social welfare. These two purposes go
hand in hand. Social welfare dollars helps heal the wounds of
the flood, and economic development dollars helps secure our
future.
We've also established a general plan for the expenditure
of the funds, and each year as we begin our budget cycle, we
place funds into the categories listed in our overall general
spending plan so that we can fulfill the purposes of the
Equitable Compensation Act.
Let's look at some of those actual uses. Elder housing.
Uses of the funds have included construction costs for 12 homes
for the most needy elders, and these elders are still living in
their homes that were the original 1948 before the flood that
were moved from the original home sites, and this is
approximately 550,000.
The use of the funds have also created an elder
organization. For the past 2 years they've been diligently
working on organizing themselves and creating a budget of $2
million appropriated from the JTAC funds for the past 2 years
to look at an overall strategy and plan for their well-being,
and health care again is their number one priority, and they
will testify to that a short time later.
Mandaree Enterprises, $800,000 to expand its capabilities,
and I might add they are a two-time SBA minority business of
the year and are trying to secure a number of contracts.
Twin Buttes Custom Homes. The income from the Economic
Recovery Fund secured the bonds that built this plant and now
employs more than 50 people, and these funds are also used to
pay off those bonds while the company reaches maximum
profitability.
Road Equipment. Over $700,000 in road equipment was also
purchased because there was never adequate access roads
constructed after the flood. These are funds that pay for the
costs that the Government should have paid for after the flood.
These are funds that should be going for real economic
development that will provide the kind of self-sufficiency we
enjoyed before the flood.
We've also created a management and information services
department--as I mentioned, Richard Beard, over on the slides
over there is showing some of our businesses--with the
potential for a reservation-wide Internet access system that
will help us close the gap that is known as the digital divide
between those who have high-speed access and those who don't,
but our system is hardly complete. We need literally more than
$4 million to completely provide for high-speed access to all
of our members.
This will help our members with health care, as well as the
Internet has many sites, including the sites--and I know you're
very much aware of this, Senator Conrad, in your support for
rural telemedicine and health--of the National Institute of
Health that provide critical information on diabetes
prevention. This information can greatly help our people avoid
the scourge of this disease which Carl Whitman, a former
chairman, testified about in 1992.
This is the least we can provide for our members, who,
after all, before the flood were a closely-knit community who
had easy access to each other and the resources the tribe and
the BIA could provide.
Under health care we created a tribal health department
that, among other things, provides approximately 500,000
annually to supplement the meager IHS budget for our Minne Tohe
Clinic, that provides for an administrator whose responsibility
is, among other things, the development of a comprehensive
health care plan for all of our members.
We've also created a central planning office of $500,000.
We've created this office that has greatly facilitated our
ability to obtain grants and other sources of funding and plans
for economic development and for the rebuilding of our nation,
including grants for our community centers, fire suppression
and prevention equipment, cultural sensitivity design for the
new Four Bears Bridge, a master plan for the Four Bears
Peninsula, westward expansion as far as 5 miles westward of the
new bridge. This will allow comprehensive public input for the
citizens most affected as the central planning office holds
public meetings throughout all the communities throughout the
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
A film department was established. 200,000 has been
allocated for a feature film and other documentaries
illustrating the history and culture of our people. Already we
have a facility in Parshall which will be able to mentor our
young people for work in the film industry and in our film
department.
We also allocated 400,000 for the tourism department, which
has been allocated to prepare for the Lewis and Clark
bicentennial, secure a signature event, which Fort Berthold is
the only reservation in the United States to have one of the
signature events in 2006, and to develop a strategic tourism
plan.
We've also utilized 400,000 for our tribal education
department, which has been allocated to allow the tribe to take
control of its educational development and develop a new
educational code designed to increase our achievement levels
and preserve our language and our culture.
We also allocated $750,000 for the tribal administration
expansion to improve our tribal headquarters. This will allow
better access by our members to the activities of our tribal
government and will allow our tribal employees to enjoy the
comforts of a modern tribal facility that will allow us to
greatly improve all of our services to our members, including
such services as economic development for all of our 11,000
members.
Under additional housing we have allocated 750,000 for the
construction of 36 apartment units at the Four Bears community,
supplementing the inadequate funds provided by HUD for much
needed new housing on the reservation, which is in effect at
least 1,000 units that we are in need of, and once again, we
are providing additional funds to satisfy what we feel are
government trust obligations to our people, not just because of
the flood, but treaty and trust obligations that have been owed
to us since the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty.
Under indirect costs for Federal programs we have spent
more than 400,000 per year supplementing our indirect cost
needs, and these are administrative costs that should be
provided under various self-determination contracts held by the
tribe but which are not paid to us, even though our self-
determination contracts call for these amounts to be paid
annually. And once again, Senator Conrad, we are using the
funds to satisfy trust obligations.
In regards to leveraging of our JTAC funds the interest
from the Economic Recovery Fund has also been leveraged in a
number of ways, and I might add it's because of the Economic
Recovery Fund that we are at AAA bond rating, which helps you,
as you know, Senator Conrad, get the lowest possible interest
rate.
The first project that we leveraged our funds is this
expansion of this multi-purpose facility you are sitting in now
that is open to the public and a new hotel and a swimming pool
at the Four Bears Casino and Lodge.
The second thing we were able to do is leverage our funds
for the building of Twin Buttes Custom Homes, which we are now
looking--we built a new alcoholic treatment center, we built 12
elderly units, we've secured contracts with the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe, also with the IHS and the BIA with contracts down
at the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and are now currently working
on a multi-million-dollar enterprise--a bond to build 300 homes
for our reservation, and hopefully we can help tribes, such as
the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe, who are having their own
problems as you are very much aware of. That's the capability
of our Twin Buttes Custom Homes plan that we do have.
And, last, we're looking at an additional casino expansion
by leveraging our funds that we are set to approve by our
tribal council to complete our expansion efforts, including a
new marina and getting the peninsula ready for the signature
event and the Lewis and Clark bicentennial.
But, again, it's because of the JTAC funding that we're
able to get the AAA bonding and get the lowest possible
interest rates, thereby saving literally $1 million over the
entire usage of the loan.
We also created an investment fund. We will be creating an
investment fund of up to $30 million. This fund described in my
written testimony is also subject to an investment cap of 25
percent so that all of the fund will not be used at once to
secure other economic development duties of the tribe. We
intend for this fund to be a permanent feature, the income from
which will be available to many future generations of our
members.
Experience will guide us to use the income from the
Economic Recovery Fund more efficiently and more wisely as the
years go by, Senator.
For us economic development is a way of achieving self-
sufficiency, to get where we were before the Garrison Dam
flood. But economic self-sufficiency is not completed
overnight, as you know, even with the income from the Economic
Recovery Fund. And so while we have begun to make progress in
creating economic recovery and economic self-sufficiency, we
have a long way to go.
And I could go on and on, Senator Conrad, but I think you
can see from what I have talked about and what is listed in our
resolutions that have been submitted for the record that the
funds are being spent for the purposes intended by the act.
So what do we still need? As I stated earlier, there are a
large number of unfulfilled JTAC commitments. A health care
facility. We are currently putting together, as you can see on
the conceptual drawing, a 24 ambulatory care facility. This
facility could take care of the many urgent health care needs
that will be testified by Fred Baker a little bit later on, and
this facility is extremely important because of the flood,
because of the separation of the communities that was mentioned
earlier, and the distance around is very critical to the well-
being of our members.
The facility's extremely important because also the number
of enrolled members who reside on the Reservation has nearly
doubled as shown by the 2000 Census.
We know that a full-scale hospital is not possible, but
describing such problems as the 24-hour on-call situations
where a physician can only refer patients to another clinic
that is not open 24 hours is simply not acceptable to our
people in the 21st Century, 50 years after a new hospital was
promised us.
And each year, Senator Conrad, we could spend every dollar
of income from the Economic Recovery Fund and still not satisfy
the health care needs of our people. This fact alone is a major
inhibitor of effective long-term economic growth and self-
sufficiency that causes tremendous loss and productive years of
life for our members.
Under education, as we will testify, our achievement levels
in education are still behind the national average and the
statewide averages. Dr. Joyce Burr has done significant
research in this regard, and also Holly Echo Hawk's study of
one of our communities shows that we are suffering from some of
the symptoms of a post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the
dislocations of our people, not just once but many times over
the past 150 years, including perhaps the unkindest relocation
of all, and that is the Garrison Dam. And at least a third of
our people--of our students, I should say, are affected by
this.
A central dormitory high school, which will employ a
therapeutic model has been identified by research as one of the
best ways to change the statistics, but we cannot do this under
the present economic development income.
We need a facility that will allow those that have been
most affected by the dislocation to have a chance to improve
their lives.
And finally, Senator, on the irrigation, we need
authorization and appropriation of funds for irrigation. Over
15,000 acres were authorized by the 1986 Reformulation Act, but
there are no funds for these irrigation acres. The 60 million
originally authorized was folded into the authorization by the
Equitable Compensation Act, yet no funds of that authorization
were ever actually appropriated or included in the final
funding of the Permanent Economic Recovery Fund.
And food sources were critical for our culture and
survival, and after all, we provided food for Lewis and Clark
the entire time they were with us from our lush gardens that
produced corn, squash, beans, and many other vegetables in the
rich soils of the riverbottom lands.
We literally had tens of thousands of acres under
cultivation in 1949 when the floods started.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Hall appears in appendix.]
Senator Conrad. Let me just stop you right there, and one
of the things that I really think is important, a point that we
make here today, is that we are--according to the legislation
we're owed $60 million that we've never gotten. We had $149
million, and we got that. We had $149 million in the basic
fund, but in addition to that we were specifically promised in
this legislation $6 million a year for 10 years, and that was
to be the fund for the irrigation on the reservation. Now
separately we have the Dakota Water Resources Act and we
understand that, but it's very clear in the legislation. We're
owed $60 million. That's due and owing today. Is that your
reading?
Mr. Hall. Yes; it is, Senator Conrad.
Mr. Gillette. Plus interest.
Senator Conrad. And Austin points out we're owed the
interest on that now, too. I think that would be a fair--that
would be a fair conclusion. We really--we're owed $60 million
plus the interest on that money that has never been paid over.
That's a lot of money, and it's clearly owed to this tribe by
the Federal Government, I believe.
Mr. Hall. Thank you very much for pointing that out in the
legislation for us, Senator Conrad, and I hope my attorney
knows where to look for that--or our attorney and the legal
department.
Senator Conrad. Page 192.
Mr. Hall. Thank you very much for that help. We'll address
that to Tom Disselhorst.
Those acreages have not been deauthorized, but no money has
been authorized for their cultivation. We have a number of
projects that could use those irrigated acres to produce
barley, oats, corn, alfalfa, and hay for a feedlot and many
other purposes, and currently we are looking at a slaughter
plant on the east side of the reservation to take advantage of
the--acres in the Lucky Mound area by Parshall and White
Shield.
And in conclusion, Senator Conrad, the Economic Recovery
Fund again is a good start for us, and it's done great things
for us, and again we want to thank you for all your efforts in
this regard, but I want to emphasize that still many promises
made to us are not quite fulfilled yet.
We need to work hard to get adequate appropriations each
year to fulfill the promises of the Dakota Water Resources Act,
and we need to work toward obtaining the funds needed to
replace the infrastructure lost to us 50 years ago and also the
irrigation funding that you've pointed out, over $60 million,
and these are still unfulfilled promises to our people, and we
should not rest until these promises are finally kept.
And, again, we want to thank you for all your efforts,
Senator. We look forward to spending some time with you today
to show you all of the projects that we have done, and I would
like to say that we'd like to submit additional comments, and I
will be happy later on to answer the questions that you have.
Masehgedatz. Thank you.
Senator Conrad. Thank you very much, and as we indicated,
your full written testimony will be made part of the official
record of the Committee on Indian Affairs.
Before we miss this point, I think it's very important to
know that this is not money that is a gift. This is not money
that's a handout. This is money that is owed by the Federal
Government. When the land was taken from this tribe, promises
were made, and during the Reagan administration the then
Secretary of the Interior appointed a special committee to look
into the legal obligation--legal obligation of the Federal
Government to the affected tribes.
They concluded that the Federal Government owed this money
to the tribes, and if the tribes were to bring suit in the
Federal courts, these were the amounts of money that they would
recover. So I think it's very important to understand this was
money that was owed legally by the Federal Government to this
tribe for things that were given up by this tribe at the time
land was taken. In other words, the tribe was not compensated
fully and completely for the things that it was promised. That
is clear.
That is why we were successful in getting the $149-million
settlement fund, but in addition to that, upon examination of
the record it was also clear that we were owed this additional
$60 million for irrigation projects that were promised as part
of the Garrison Diversion Project.
That was a legal obligation entered into by the Federal
Government that has to this day not been kept. It is part of
the legislation. It is very clearly set out there. We were
supposed to receive $6 million a year every year for the next
10 years. That money, not one dime of it, has been paid over,
and it is clearly due and owing the tribe. So that is important
to understand.
No. 2, to me it is also very clear that we were promised,
this tribe more specifically, was promised a bridge. That
promise is now being kept. This tribe was also promised health
facilities, specifically a hospital. That promise has not been
kept. This tribe was promised in addition new school
facilities. We might say that's been partially kept but in
large measure not.
If we look at the other trust responsibilities of the
Federal Government, I think that any objective analysis would
say that is another promise that was made at the time of the
flooding of these lands that has simply not been kept and that
we should insist as a matter of fairness and, more than that,
as a matter of law--as a matter of law that should be kept by
the Federal Government.
The Federal Government has an obligation when it makes
promises to keep them, and so I say to you today I believe part
of the unfinished agenda is certainly the completion of the
bridge, certainly the medical facilities that have been
promised, the educational facilities, and the 60 million
dollars, plus interest, that is owed to the tribe at this time.
That is my own reading of what is legally obligated by the
Federal Government. It is still outstanding.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. Let me now go to Cora Jones, who is the
Aberdeen Regional Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and
ask her for her testimony.
STATEMENT OF CORA JONES, DIRECTOR, GREAT PLAINS REGION, BUREAU
OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
Ms. Jones. Thank you, and good morning to everyone, and,
Senator, before I get started I would like very much to thank
you for the opportunity to be here because it's always a
pleasure for me to witness your willingness to assist our
people, and I thank you for that, and beside me, I'd like to
introduce to you Dr. Baker, and he's the superintendent here at
the Fort Berthold Agency, and he's new, but he's doing a great
job for the tribe.
Senator Conrad. Welcome. Good to have you both here. Thank
you very much. Please proceed with your testimony, Cora.
Ms. Jones. Senator Conrad, Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be
here to discuss the Three Affiliated Tribes Economic Recovery
provisions of Title XXXV of Public Law 102-575, the Three
Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Equitable
Compensation Act, an act to ensure that the Three Affiliated
Tribes of Fort Berthold and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe were
adequately compensated for the taking of Indian lands for the
site of Garrison Dam and reservoir and the Oahe Dam and
reservoir, and for other purposes.
The act established the Three Affiliated Tribes Economic
Recovery Act in the U.S. Treasury. Sources for this fund are
derived from the revenues generated in the Eastern Division of
the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Project and the
congressional appropriations with a maximum limit of
$149,200,000.
Since only the interest of this fund is available for
payments to the tribes by the secretary, the act requires
interest to be deposited into a separate account. The act also
limits the use of these payments by the Three Affiliated Tribes
for education, social welfare, economic development, and other
programs, subject to the approval of the secretary. The
approval authority was delegated to the Bureau of Indian
Affairs Regional Director for the Great Plains Region.
Until January 2001, the Three Affiliated Tribes submitted
their individual requests for funds to me as the regional
director through the Fort Berthold Agency superintendent. These
requests were reviewed for compliance with the act, approved as
appropriate, and coordinated with the Office of Trust Funds
Management for fund distribution.
On January 12, 2001, a general plan was approved by myself
as regional director entitled ``Three Affiliated Tribes
Economic Recovery Fund Proposal.'' The plan outlines the
tribes' proposed use for the interest fund, and the plan has
been shared with OTFM. Upon the BIA's authorization of each
funding request that is in compliance with the plan, the
request has been promptly forwarded to OTFM for processing.
Funding requests outside of the plan will require--which
require modifications and/or amendments to the plan will then
need to be submitted--or must be submitted by the tribe to the
superintendent--to the regional director for approval prior to
the BIA forwarding the funding request and the modified and/or
amended plan to OTFM for processing.
The approved plan was established in consultation with the
tribes.
Senator, I have with me copies of all the resolutions, the
plan, and all the forms which are the forms which initiate the
drawdown of the funds for the tribe of the--for the JTAC funds,
and, Senator, if you'd like these documents, I would be happy
to give them to you, and this concludes my prepared statement.
If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
Senator Conrad. Yes; I would like those documents, and they
will be important for the committee record. I'd like now before
we go to the second panel to have a chance to ask questions of
the chairman and Cora Jones, the regional director, about the
sources and uses of funds so far.
We know that we had the $149 million. That's the base
amount of the fund. That's kept in the U.S. Treasury. The
interest is paid over to the tribe. Can you tell me how much
the interest earnings have been so far? Just by my cursory
review it would appear to be something over $70 million. Is
that--is that approximately correct?
Mr. Hall. From 1998 to 2001?
Senator Conrad. No; from the whole period, the amount of
interest that has been paid over to the tribe or made available
to the Tribe. What was the total amount?
Mr. Hall. I believe that's about correct.
Senator Conrad. It would be about $70 million?
Mr. Hall. I believe you're very close, Senator Conrad.
Senator Conrad. If you'd like to pull up a chair there,
Dan, you're certainly welcome to.
Mr. Hall. Yes.
Senator Conrad. For the committee record, it's important
that we establish what the full amount of the interest earnings
has been and then how that money has been used. I know the
first interest allocation after the 5 years was $37 million. I
know that number.
Mr. Hall. Let me state this.
Senator Conrad. Yes.
Mr. Hall. I think, Senator, Dan, Marcus, and Austin have
pointed out under our financial report that's been submitted by
Steve Salveson, who is our CPA, we have spent $37,590,097, but
we still have the $30 million in the investment fund. So that's
$67.5 million.
Senator Conrad. Yeah. That would be very close. I kind of
did a back-of-the-envelope calculation at breakfast this
morning and came up with about $70 million. What you're telling
me is the accurate number would be $67.5 million?
Mr. Hall. That is correct.
Senator Conrad. I accept that. That makes sense to me;
$67.5 million. And so $30 million, as I understand your
testimony here this morning, has actually been reserved for
further investment. Instead of spending all of the interest
income, the tribal leadership has made the decision to actually
save and invest some of that money in the amount of $30
million.
Mr. Hall. That's correct, Senator. We've developed an
investment fund out of that $30 million, and we're going to--on
our resolution by October 1, 2001 we will be putting that into
private placement, and we've also got a referendum to that
effect by the people that supports the $30 million to be used
for a permanent investment fund for the future.
Senator Conrad. And how will that fund be managed?
Mr. Hall. The tribe by resolution and by also doing an RFP
with various financial investment firms has identified two
financial firms that will invest $15 million, each of it, and
then thereafter whoever gives us the best service--we may
choose just one investment firm after that.
Senator Conrad. And can you tell us who the two firms are
that will be----
Mr. Hall. Yes; the first firm is the Community First Bank
of Dickinson, North Dakota, and the second firm is Gang-Rosher
Investment Firm I believe out of Phoenix, Arizona.
Senator Conrad. So those two firms would each have $15
million of the investment, that they would in effect manage
that investment?
Mr. Hall. That's correct. And they've identified through
their RFPs that we'll amount to at a minimum 8 percent to 10
percent interest on that $30 million--or the $15 million, and
we're currently getting around 4.5 percent to 5 percent at the
Office of Trust Funds Management in Albuquerque.
Senator Conrad. So you're getting a far higher rate of
return as a result of this strategy of taking some of the money
and further investing?
Mr. Hall. Yes Senator; it's actually almost doubling the
interest from 4 percent to 5 percent to between 8 percent and
10 percent by putting the $30 million investment fund into
private placement.
Senator Conrad. Okay. I appreciate that. Now if we could
turn our attention to the other--Dan, do you want to talk?
Mr. Press. Tex and I were talking last night that the
tribe's decision to reinvest the fund guarantees money for
future generations. We thought you'd enjoy this. This is a
sharp contrast to what occurs in Washington, making it much
more difficult for future generations.
Senator Conrad. In fact, maybe we could ask all of you to
come to Washington and instruct our leader there, because you
guys are saving the surplus, and unfortunately in Washington
it's just the opposite of that. Let me just say this: We should
now turn our attention to the $37 million that has been
expended of the interest, and if you could just review for the
committee and for the record the use of the $37 million.
As I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, there
would have been $14 million for fiscal year 2001, $12.5 million
for fiscal year 2000, $14 million for fiscal year 1999, and
then is there a $5.5-million that had been expended before that
plan?
Mr. Hall. Yes; that was in 1998, Senator.
Senator Conrad. So that would give us a total of $37.5
million. Do we have for the record--or could you provide, if
you don't have it here today, how that $37.5 million has been
expended? Do we have a--a record of that that we could submit
for the record?
Mr. Hall. Yes; we do, Senator, and, again, on a page--what
I haven't submitted which has just been prepared for me by
Steve Salveson, our CPA, there is a breakdown of the $37.5
million, and overall from fiscal years 1998 to 2001 the highest
amount has been--$16.5 million has been allocated for economic
development, $10 million for social welfare, 7.6 for other
programs, and $3.3 million for education, for a total of $37.5
million.
Senator Conrad. Okay. If we could just go over those one
more time. $16.5 million for economic development.
Mr. Hall. That's correct.
Senator Conrad. And could you give us some examples of what
the economic development expenditures have been? You've already
in your testimony referred to a number of items, including the
home-building operation and, of course, the Mandaree operation.
Are there other examples of how that money has been used? I
assume that some of the financing for the casino expansion--I
take it from your testimony money has been used there.
Mr. Hall. Yes, Senator; the casino expansion is by far the
largest amount of leveraging our moneys for economic
development. There's the Mandaree Enterprise of 800,000. We've
also utilized moneys for the Twin Buttes Custom Homes, our
plant that employs 50 people. We pay approximately 350,000 a
year for the interest payments for their bond until they can
become self-sufficient, and we hope after 3 or 4 years they can
do that.
Senator Conrad. And in terms of the casino and the--you
mentioned the hotel expansion, what's been the expenditure
there? Do we have an estimate for that?
Mr. Hall. I think from what Tom has just indicated and
Marcus was telling me, it's about--which we didn't use the JTAC
for but we leveraged the moneys for it, and it was
approximately $14 million, but we had a financing company--we
did a comparison with--with JTAC leveraging our interest rate
and without JTAC, and it was substantial. It was probably two
interest points difference by utilizing the leveraging of the
JTAC funds, and two interest points as you know, Senator
Conrad, is literally millions off a $15-year note for a $14-
million expansion project.
Senator Conrad. So actually you didn't use the JTAC money
to fund it. You went out and borrowed the money, but you used
the JTAC money as an assurance that it would get repaid, and
because they saw you had that money available they gave you a
lower interest rate?
Mr. Hall. Absolutely, Senator.
Senator Conrad. And two full points reduction?
Mr. Hall. I believe it was about two full points, but
Marcus and Austin, both treasurers, are indicating yes.
Senator Conrad. So that would be probably 20 percent less
interest cost than you would otherwise have spent.
Mr. Hall. That's correct.
Senator Conrad. Okay. I can tell you I'm very impressed
you're using Miller and Schroeder because they, of course, have
one of the best reputations in our area as being a firm. If you
could get the committee--and perhaps you have it in the
testimony that you're about to submit--the breakdown on that
$16.5 million, that would certainly be useful to the committee
and how those funds are being used for economic development.
Then in the next category you indicated there were social
betterment programs of some $10 million; is that correct?
Mr. Hall. Yes, $10,030,191, to be exact.
Senator Conrad. Okay. $10,030,000. And can you give us
examples of how that money has been used, Chairman Hall?
Mr. Hall. Yes, Senator; we allocated as far back as 1997
$507,882 for our daycare center. We supplemented in 1997 also
$218,000 for senior citizens, $167,000 for a Wake Fund--to
supplement our Wake Fund for our tribal members.
In 1998 we again supplemented our daycare of $173,129 for
the elderly. In 1999 we supplemented our TERO department
$100,000. We supplemented the elderly program of $224,000. We
supplemented the Wake Fund $124,000 and Tribal Court $104,000.
In the year 2000 we supplemented the cops--you see a lot of
the law enforcement officers seated in the audience today--
$186,000. As you know, those are 3-year grants and they run out
and the tribe picks it up. We supplemented the elderly program
$397,000, the daycare $193,000, our Wake Fund $107,000, senior
citizens again $65,000, and our aging meals $87,000. And in the
year 2000, $750,000 for the 36-unit apartment complex at Four
Bears, $50,000 to the alcohol and drug program, and $15,000 to
our elderly program, all under the social welfare category.
Senator Conrad. Now that's--the 36-unit facility, that's
going to cost, I assume, more than the $750,000. Is that just
the----
Mr. Hall. It's approximately $3 million for the total cost,
and that was our match, and I believe the housing utilized
NAHASDA and they utilized a USDA loan, and that was the
maximum.
Senator Conrad. So the total funding was made up of some
money from JTAC, some money from the NAHASDA, some money from
USDA----
Mr. Hall. That's correct.
Senator Conrad [continuing]. For the rural development
funds?
Mr. Hall. That's correct.
Senator Conrad. So you are really--you are really
strengthening the use or you are multiplying the use of your
JTAC funds. You are leveraging those funds to get additional
Federal funds to be able to build that facility.
Mr. Hall. Absolutely. And if we did not have the JTAC
funds, we would not be able to supplement to get the full 36
units. We might have been lucky to get maybe one-half or one-
third of the necessary units and had to find some money from
other sources. So, again, the use of the JTAC funds clearly
helped us get the complete 36 units but also again the low
interest loan on the USDA rural development.
Senator Conrad. I can tell you one thing I think the
committee is going to be very interested in and very pleased
about is that this JTAC funding is being used to leverage
additional funding, either private sector funding, because as
you've described with the casino financing you're actually--
because you had that stream of income coming, you're able to
get a much lower interest rate. So that's substantial savings
on that operation just because the JTAC money is available. I
think the Committee will be very pleased to hear that and on
the leveraging for the purposes of providing additional
housing, as well. Let's go--if we could go then to the--maybe I
need to go back to the first category because you've indicated
$16.5 million in economic development. What's the biggest
expenditure in the economic development category?
Mr. Hall. We have a number of large categories, Senator
Conrad, if I can just give you a few. Back in 1997--let me
correct that--1996 approximately $500,000 was for MRI for our
water distribution plants back then. That's a large figure
$800,000 for Mandaree Enterprise Corporation is one of our
larger figures. We supplemented the Four Bears Community Center
of $582,000 for their new community center.
We also allocated $443,000 to the segment employee program.
That was Councilman Fox's resolution about the segmented
employees, basically providing more outreach for each of the
districts. So that's money well spent. Again, we supplemented
that program. That was in 1998 and in 1999 under the segmented
employee program, $614,000, and, again, that's to provide
better services.
Buffalo program, $600,000. We now have over 1,000 head. Of
our buffalo--we supply the buffalo plate at the casino. Maybe
we can try some of that later, Senator Conrad.
Again, the MRI in 1999 was $864,000. Two other line items
for the White Shield Data Entry Plant, in 1999, $335,000, and
the Parshall Data Entry Plant $361,000.
And then as I move to the 2000 year, segment employee
program, $644,000; solid waste program we supplemented
$142,000--almost $143,000. Land purchases, $307,779. Of course,
you may or may not be aware, Fort Berthold has a lot of
fractionated parcels that tribal members are selling to the
tribe now. Again the White Shield Data Entry Plant, $175,000.
White Shield Development Corporation in the year 2000,
$223,000. Purchase of gravel--crushed gravel, $51,000, and
we're currently doing home access roads with this $51,000 of
crushed gravel.
If you drive just to the west of us, you'll see a lot of
the newly built roads--of course, we have the $750,000 for the
roads equipment. So we have tribal roads, tribal members
driving tribal equipment. Marcus Wells, Jr., just indicated we
supplement the BIA roads program $300,000 annually, and my
understanding is they don't own the equipment, and so we
purchased equipment--we purchased the equipment and we provide
additional staff so that all of the segments are covered now,
and, of course, with the tribal JTAC money now we can build
home access, and you can't with Bureau funds. So that's another
feature that Marcus has reminded me.
Senator Conrad. Well, I'm going through this for a reason,
and I think you probably know the reason. What we see here is
you are having to use some of the JTAC settlement money to do
things the Federal Government should be doing.
That's one of the things that is--I applaud you for doing
it. I thank you for doing it. You're doing the right thing, but
really the Federal Government should be doing these things.
They, frankly, owe you the MRI money. You shouldn't have to be
using your JTAC money for that purpose. You shouldn't have to
be using your JTAC money for the roads, but because there's
inadequate funding of those things, you really had no choice in
terms of the health and safety of the people in your community.
So you acted. I applaud you for it. Some people would just
wait. I'm glad you didn't wait. I'm glad you dealt with those
problems.
But I think it builds the case for some of these other
things. I think this is very important for the committee record
that we establish there are things here that you have done that
really were the Federal Government's responsibility to do, and
you've taken money that was owed to you for other promises that
were made, and you have in effect helped the Federal Government
do its job. So just as I'm adding here, there's a substantial
amount of money in those areas.
Let me ask you this: In the detailed tables that you will
provide the committee, under the $16.5 million, does that add
to--do those tables add to the $16.5 million?
Mr. Hall. That's correct.
Senator Conrad. Okay. And then we have the $10 million.
We've talked about that. The third category, the $7.6 million,
what was that category?
Mr. Hall. Most of the others in summary is building the
tribal programs like the MIS department, as I indicated.
Senator Conrad. And you'll provide the detail of that in
your written submission?
Mr. Hall. Yes; I will, Senator Conrad.
Senator Conrad. All right. We don't need to take more time
on that. I think the important thing is we have it all laid out
for the committee, and I don't want to take more time on this
segment of the hearing because we have an additional panel that
we want to hear from.
So I thank you for what you've laid out here because I
think it's very important information. It's going to be very
useful to the committee and really builds the case for what is
still owed. Thank you, Chairman Hall. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Cora.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. I'd like now to turn to our second panel
and start with Buzz Fredericks to give us a historical
perspective. If I could ask each of the witnesses, Buzz
Fredericks, Fred Baker, Marilyn Hudson, and Chairman Hall again
who will be testifying as part of this panel, if I could ask
you to summarize your testimony in about 5 minutes each, that
would be helpful. Thank you and please proceed.
------
STATEMENT OF JOHN ``BUZZ'' FREDERICKS, MEMBER, MANDAN, HIDATSA,
AND ARIKARA TRIBE
Mr. Fredericks. Greetings to all honorable dignitaries that
are here today. My name is John Fredericks, Jr., better known
as Buzz. I am a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara
Tribe. I am a member of the Prairie Chicken Clan and a child of
the Low Cap. I was given the name, E-Zoo-Ba, shin of the
buffalo, by my clan father, Pete Coffey, Sr., which was my
Uncle Wilfred Medicine Stone's Indian name. He was killed in
action in Germany during World War II, so I am proud to have my
uncle's Indian name.
I have known our good Senator here for a lot of years, and
it's good to have you out here again. I especially want to
thank you and the committee for coming here to hear our
testimony today on what the Garrison Dam took away from us, and
so on.
It seems very ironic that we will be celebrating the 150th
anniversary of the Fort Laramie September 17, 2001, the treaty
that our tribe participated in signing that historical day so
long ago. The treaty guaranteed our tribe a certain land base
and also provided our Tribe that we would have the opportunity
to live in peace and tranquility.
Also, we are in the process of celebrating the Lewis and
Clark expedition and centennial that will take place in a
couple years. Of our tribal members, Sacajawea was instrumental
in guiding this group across the mountains to the West Coast
and return safely.
Chief Four Bears, Mandan, stated in his last talk to our
people that he has always loved the white man and gave them
food and water and provided them with a buffalo pad to sleep
on. What he got in return was a rotten face that would even
scare the wolves, according to his last statement.
What I am saying to you is that our tribes have always been
good to the white man, providing the white man with the various
things he needed to survive the treacherous weather and
maintain his health and continue on with their discovery voyage
as I mentioned above.
On the contrary, the white man does not have a good track
record.
Out of 13 million acres or so initially negotiated for in
the Fort Laramie Treaty, we have less than 1 million acres
left, the last big land grab when FHA took large tracts of land
and used the land as security for large economic disaster loans
back in the seventies and eighties, even though the regs didn't
call for it. This situation is being litigated in the Federal
Court at the present time. We ask you to support our efforts
however you can.
I attended the elementary school in Elbowoods that was
provided for elementary education. I graduated from high school
in 1951 from the Elbowoods High. At that time our nations had
adapted to farming and ranching as a way of life and were doing
pretty good at it, I might add. We did not have welfare
payments to our people. As a matter of fact, it was not a
concern of our tribal people.
The cattlemen formed a Federal corporation and operated it
under the guidance of their chairman and a Federal agent hired
for assisting with the operation of the ranchers and farmers,
and I might add that all of our families at that time were
involved in agriculture. They had a productive bull program to
breed up their breeding herds and bought feed by the bulk in
large quantities so it was cheaper, also salt and mineral the
same way, and they had their own flour and feed mill to provide
members with flour and bran feed.
The ranchers even used to haul water with a team of horses
and barrels from the Little Missouri River to irrigate their
corn crops during dry years. In fact, the tribe had a sizable
irrigation field in Lower Elbowoods that provided feed for both
livestock and our people.
We also had additional irritation projects out in the
various districts. We had two sloughs that ran through our
reservation along with springs and wells that provided adequate
freshwater for our tribal members. I'm just going to mention
the fact that when I was a small boy, I used to hook up the
horses with my dad and we'd put in two barrels across the river
and go to a spring that came out of the rocks about a quarter
of a mile west of the crossing, and we would back up our team,
and he had it fixed so the water would run right into the
barrels, and then we'd cap it with a canvas so we wouldn't lose
it between there and home. So that was our water, and that was
some of the best water you could drink. We pay $1 a bottle for
it now.
We also had a good hospital well staffed that provided us
with good health care services. It wasn't like now when you are
referred to other health care units in and around the
reservation area. Then when the bill comes and you refer it to
the Indian Public Health Service in New Town, ND, you get a
letter telling you you are turned down for payment but you can
appeal. Very few people appeal. See attached letter dated
August 14, 2001, signed by Karrol Parker, Service Unit
Director, Indian Public Health Service located at New Town, ND.
We had a good road maintenance crew that was able to
provide and maintain our road systems to adequately serve our
people at that time. We had a powerplant that provided the
electrical needs of our reservation administrative offices,
health care facilities, our school systems, as well as a number
of the housing units.
In 1951 when I graduated from Elbowoods High, we had all
the above facilities in place and were working well for our
people. The people on Fort Berthold were living in an
agricultural economy that provided our people with life,
liberty and peace in a prosperous community that our people are
satisfied with.
During my years in the ranching business I had to move my
cattle to Nebraska during a drought situation here on the
reservation. During that time it seemed that Nebraska ranchers
always had feed from their large, natural lakes and underground
aquifers provided by nature. I was tossing this around in my
mind wondering why we weren't provided this kind of feed base.
Then it occurred to me that we were provided a good feed and
water base with good shelter, that of the lowlands and river
and trees that the Great Spirit provided us with, but it was
again the white man that came in and disrupted all of this with
the construction of major features of the Pick-Sloan Dam.
And I might just add there that there were five of those
dams built and all built on reservations up and down the
Missouri River. It did not only take the bottom lands and
thousands of acres of prime land, but it split our members into
five distinct segments. So we were unable to see each other
grow up and utilize the resources that the Great Spirit
provided us with. Therefore, in the last 50 years we turned
from a welfare-free people living in harmony to a drug and
alcohol-infested state bringing us into--bringing into this
world many babies that are--that are alcoholics, is what I'm
saying. I don't want to get into statistics in that area but
leave it to someone that is more involved in the area.
It is my understanding that anytime the Government takes
something from you, they are supposed to replace it in as close
a fashion as what they took at the same time that they took it.
So with that in mind, hear what I have to say today, members of
the committee and members of the Tribal Business Council and
other members of our tribe.
The Government should have moved all of our facilities I
mentioned earlier west, somewhere in the old district of
Independence, for example; put in two bridges to tie Mandaree,
the west segment, and Twin Buttes, the south segment. This
would put us back in the central location with all the services
we originally had to assure our people of life, liberty and
peace. This did not happen, but we have a second chance to get
this done.
Therefore, as an elder that has lived during the above
timeframe, I want you to know that we don't want money. We
simply want our property returned to us so we can begin to
initiate the above plan and begin to mend the many wounds
inflicted upon us over the last 50 years that our Government by
and for the people created for us by failing to act in a
timely, responsible way at the time negotiations took place for
all the losses our people suffered so that our non-Indian
friends will benefit from the resources that the major features
of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program provided for them.
Public Law 102-575 was amended by S. 6233, Dakota Resources
Act of 2000. I would like to add that individual landowners
have not been given their due by the Federal Government for the
land loss by the Garrison Dam Diversion Project. They have not
received compensation for water rights and now see that the
taken area and water is being allocated out to various areas in
the state. See Bismarck Tribune article dated August 24, 2001,
entitled ``Land transfer from Corps to South Dakota planned.''
I'd like to turn the microphone over to John Danks who has
a few more comments to make about the loss, and so forth.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. Thank you very much, Buzz, for that very
powerful testimony. Thank you very much. Welcome. Could you
identify yourself for the record?
STATEMENT OF JOHN H. DANKS, MEMBER, MANDAN, HIDATSA, ARIKARA
ELDERS ORGANIZATION
Mr. Danks. Good morning. Thank you, Senator Conrad. My name
is John Danks. I'm a tribal member, a resident of the Four
Bears Community and an active member of the Mandan, Hidatsa,
Arikara Elders Organization. I thank fellow tribal member, John
Fredericks, for yielding some time to me, and I thank you,
Senator Conrad, for your assistance to the Three Affiliated
Tribes in the many projects, including our new bridge and for
holding this hearing in this most important issue today.
I've been authorized by the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Elders
to make brief comments on three important topics: Return of
surplus lands; respond to Senator Inouye's letter dated August
22 concerning the tribe's use of JTAC funds, including the
planning process and compliance with requirements of the
legislation; third, Social Security.
For the sake of time, my comments are very brief. The
elders' foremost concern is the return of surplus lands within
the taking area. Public Law 102-575 dated October 30, 1992,
section 3508, authorized the return of certain surplus lands in
the taking area to the Three Affiliated Tribes. Later section
407 of Public Law 103-211, dated February 12, 1994, rescinded a
good portion of that except Subsection B of Sections 3508 and
3509 of the Three Affiliated Tribes and the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe Equitable Compensation Act were repealed.
However, Congress provided that the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers should proceed with the Secretary of the Interior to
designates excess lands and to transfer them pursuant to Public
Law 93-599. The Elders know that these lands are critical to
our long-term tourism and recreational development. We request
the Corps of Engineers and the Secretary of the Interior to
expedite the transfer of these lands to the tribes.
[Applause.]
Mr. Danks. Senator Inouye's letter of August 2001 solicits
comments concerning the use of JTAC funds, including the
planning process and compliance with the legislation. The MHA
Elders Organization is not satisfied with how the tribal
council has used JTAC funds, including the planning process and
the reporting requirements. We do not hold our tribal council
totally responsible for their inability to manage JTAC funds in
accordance with the legislative requirements.
The Three Affiliated Tribes Constitution and the bylaws are
inadequate and outdated and do not meet the needs of the
membership. The burden the tribal council--they burden the
tribal council with the responsibility of legislating,
administering and adjudicating all activities of the tribe.
This concentration of responsibility and authority lessens the
effectiveness of our Government. There is a quote, absolute
authority, absolute corrupt.
Our tribal constitution needs major revisions to ensure
that the welfare of our membership is protected. The
constitution must address the separation of powers,
accountability and reporting of tribal funds, recall of elected
officials, and a sundry of other revisions.
Traditionally the tribal elders have provided leadership on
the important issues relating to the welfare of the people. In
keeping with our tradition the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Elders
Organization intends to provide the leadership in the design
and development of a new constitution for the Mandan and
Arikara Tribes.
[Applause.]
Mr. Danks. This will be done by petition as provided for in
our current constitution.
Our tribe's financial accountability and reporting are not
available to the general membership, and by coming to this
meeting and hearing my chairman's report, I am pleased with his
report. It was good, but I didn't hear it before.
We remind the Senator--no. Our tribes' financial
accountability and reporting are not available to the general
membership. It is the position of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara
elders that our financial system should mirror that of our
Federal and State corporations. We remind the Senator that the
Three Affiliated Tribes are not only a sovereign entity; we are
also a federally chartered corporation.
The elders wish to point out that the referendum for the
use of JTAC funds was conducted by the tribal council. However,
turnout of eligible voters on the referendum was minimum. The
low turnout of eligible voters is an indication of lack of
understanding as the wording of the referendum was ambiguous. A
referendum vote of this importance should have garnered a
larger turnout.
A third topic is Social Security. Social Security benefits
of the elders of the Three Affiliated Tribes is far below the
national average. The construction of the Garrison Dam
disrupted the social-economic livelihood of the tribal members,
creating communities of poverty on Fort Berthold Reservation.
This disruption deprived our membership of the opportunity to
earn an adequate livelihood and full participation in the
Federal Social Security program. The elders organization
requests your assistance again to remedy this situation,
similar to the process used to be extend Social Security
benefits to the farmers and religious organizations.
We regret that we are not prepared to provide you total
documentation on these issues today. The time for preparing for
this public hearing was short. MHA Elders Organizations will
submit further written comments on these topics within the
deadline set for this hearing process.
Again, I thank you, Senator, for coming to our community.
Senator Conrad. Thank you, and we appreciate that
testimony, and we look forward to your additional submissions
for the record, and as I indicated, you'll have until September
13 for any additional testimony you want to provide.
Now we'll go to Fred Baker who will testify on health care.
Welcome. Good to have you
STATEMENT OF FREDERICK BAKER, ENROLLED MEMBER, THREE AFFILIATED
TRIBES
Mr. Frederick Baker. Thank you. Welcome to you, Senator.
Welcome to my home. My name is Frederick Baker. I'm an enrolled
member of the Three Affiliated Tribes, and thanks to my
grandparents and my parents, I am knowledgeable in the history
and culture of the Three Affiliated Tribes. We will provide
written testimony, so I'll try to summarize as much as I can.
We're trying to really emphasize two points in this
hearing. One is the need--the level of need of the health or
the status of the health on the reservation, and second is our
vision or our dream of what we feel is necessary in order to
improve the situation. I just want to point out that in the
three tribes, the Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, we've demonstrated
over the years the tremendous resilience and adaptability over
the years, you know, considering the effects of the smallpox
epidemic of 1781, the smallpox epidemic of 1837, us being put
on reservations and losing our lifestyle and adapting very well
to the--to the new situation that we were put into.
We all adapted into those communities such as Independence,
Lucky Mound, Shell Creek, places like that where we think we've
adapted. We started to go from using the buffalo to using
cattle and became cattle ranchers and farmers where we learned
how to deal with the problems that we had and we became very
strong communities, including our ability to take care of our
health care needs. We knew how to deal with certain kinds of
illnesses, we knew what resources we had in our communities,
and we did very well in keeping ourselves alive and at the
hospitals.
Unfortunately, during the 1940's, early 1950's the whole
Garrison Dam process came into existence, and with that was a
tremendous and drastic change in our lifestyles. A change in
our diet, change in our cooking mechanisms, and as a result,
the last 50 years has seen a great increase in things like
depression, diabetes, hopeless poverty, obesity, alcoholism,
loss of self-esteem, and those kinds of things, and that
resulted in an increase in things like diabetes, hypertension,
heart disease, cancer and all this, use of alcohol, increased
trauma, and so forth.
Kind of moving quickly to the present situation, one of the
things just looking at in our report, in our improvement act,
fund distribution, there's a couple of things I want to point
out. One is that the Aberdeen area that we are part of seems to
have a large part of the health problems of the Indian health
community, and yet we're one of the lower funded areas when it
comes to the distribution of money, and a lot of this has to do
with the whole idea of looking at the population and user
funds.
Our population may not be as great as Oklahoma, for
instance, but yet our--the things like isolation, the various
kinds of problems that we've encountered over the years such as
the Garrison Dam, has caused us to have a large and very
difficult health care situation, you know, and this
distribution in 2000--I want to point out that, you know, the
Oklahoma area, for instance, received over 30 percent of the--
of the money that was given to the tribes are given to the
areas in the Indian Health Care Improvement Fund distribution.
So we think it's grossly unfair.
We have a 50--in fact, at this point we have about a 50-
percent level of needs funded. According to the--this was a
document that was produced by the Indian Health Service. We
have a user population of about 5,683, and last year we had--in
1999 we had a total of 86,830 visits to our health care
facilities here. In 2000 we saw 90,020 visits, and these are--
the main clinic is here, and we also have satellites clinics at
White Shield, Twin Buttes and Mandaree.
Moving along quickly, some of the things that we
desperately need are 24-hour care. We don't have 24-hour care.
All of us have access to--to the ambulance services around--in
our communities, and most of these ambulance services, as you
know in other parts of rural North Dakota, are based on the
volunteers, you know, and so it's a tremendous problem. Many of
our people have died en route to their facility because there's
no 24-hour service available anywhere in this area. The other
thing I want to point out is quickly, you know, that there----
Senator Conrad. Can I just interrupt you and ask you--I
assume the closest 24-hour care would be in Minot?
Mr. Frederick Baker. Yes; by and large. There is a hospital
in Stanley, but they're limited.
Senator Conrad. Is that emergency--I don't even know if
they have an emergency room there.
Mr. Frederick Baker. They do have an emergency room at
Stanley.
Senator Conrad. Is that staffed 24 hours?
Mr. Frederick Baker. Yeah. But for all practical purposes
it is Minot, and that's 70-some miles away. Yeah. I failed to
introduce my consultant here, Dr. Biron Baker. Dr. Biron Baker
is one of the up-and-coming physicians. He's the chief of
medical staff. He's a family practice board-certified physician
and a member of our Tribe.
[Applause.]
Mr. Frederick Baker. Somebody alluded a few minutes ago to
contract health care denials, and, you know, in 1998 there were
2,221 cases of denial of the Indian Health Service, and the
estimated cost of these denials were $1,084,623. In 1999 this
went up to 3,401 cases--3,401 denials, and the cost of that was
1,365,282, and in 2000 that's gone up to 3,824 cases. The
monetary amount is a little bit less, 1,216,000, but in this
year alarmingly as of May 18, 2001, which is not quite one-half
of a fiscal year, we had 2,783 cases denied. That estimated
cost is 1,130,755.
Senator Conrad. That's through what month?
Mr. Frederick Baker. It's through May, May 18. It's not
quite--well, it's----
Senator Conrad. About halfway through the fiscal year.
Mr. Frederick Baker. Yeah. So I just wanted to point out
again--I might have done it already, but in the interim fiscal
year 2000 the Indian Health Care Improvement Act shows us at 50
percent of our level of need. In order for us to come to--and
these are IHS statistics. In order for us to come to the--at
this point the target, 60 percent level of need funded, even if
we were to get to that point, we'd need $1,556,882 in order to
get to 60 percent of our need. We'd still need a 40-percent
level of need funded. To get to 100 percent we'd need an
additional $7,532,643. This is according to Indian health care
statistics.
But I'm retired as the service director for the Indian
Health Service, and when I was working, the average cost for
health care in America was at about $3,450 roughly, give or
take, and at that point we were funded about $1400 per capita.
So we were more than 50 percent under the average cost.
So with that, I'd like to move quickly to--well, we do
have--and I'll submit this as testimony. We've been working on
this. We have a comprehensive health plan that was completed in
1997, you know, that has--including the impressions and the
opinions of people in our community. We also have a--with that
is a vision of a center, a new health care center that would
allow us to do several things.
Senator Conrad. Can you tell me what the estimated cost of
that health center would be?
Mr. Frederick Baker. I believe at that time--we haven't
updated it, but at that time it was--depending on the model
that we were able to do, we're talking somewhere between 14 and
18 million dollars, and we were talking about at that point,
you know, a possibility of a joint venture, and although a
joint venture is authorized, there has never been any
appropriations. So we were very interested at that point in
trying to participate in the joint venture.
As far as the way the Indian Health Service and Congress
calculates the construction needs, you know, again because of
our numbers, we're not eligible--we're so far down the line in
priority as far as construction that we're not able to get on
the list, and at this point in time the list is apparently
frozen so that no new facilities can be added to the
construction list.
With the new--the new hospital some of those things--or
some of those plans--we're talking about a comprehensive health
care clinic that would have the capability of doing procedures
like ambulatory care, 24-hour-a-day service, and those types of
things, and with that that would increase our capability. I
think over the last few years, you know, our level of health
care has--as far as our ability to provide care has improved in
that we brought in, you know, physicians that are very able--
and I think one of the shortcomings with Indian health care is,
unfortunately, with the government system. It's very difficult.
I was in the business for 17 years as the service director,
and I tried to recruit physicians and to keep physicians once
they came to the service area, and since then prescriptions are
gone, there's a reduction in the repayment, and so forth. So I
think one of the things that was very difficult was to find
physicians that would be willing to come to work at Fort
Berthold and work at the level of salary that we were able to
provide them, especially when we were concerned with the level
of care or meeting the standards of care.
I think we've resolved that. We entered into a contract
with the tribe to provide physician care. They provided us with
additional funding and then give it back to the Indian Health
Service to manage it. It's a very good arrangement, and I just
want to say quickly that as a result of those improved
physicians, you know, our lab costs have gone up radically, our
x ray costs have gone up radically, the kinds of pharmacy
items, the kinds of drugs that we're giving out have gone up
radically.
Those costs are--they're to improve your health care, but
the costs are--we've got, I think, five exam rooms, and the
industry calls for one--or three exam rooms and one nurse for
every physician, and we have--we have five exam rooms totally
for three doctors and one nurse practitioner. We have two--we
have three full-time nurses, but with vacation time and all
that we're down. So the biggest complaint we get constantly,
and there's nothing we can do to improve that, is the space
problem. No matter what we do, when I was working as the
director, I spent endless nights trying to figure out how to
improve patient flow and how to increase our patient numbers
because the demand is tremendous, and, you know, no matter what
you do, you've always got those space problems.
So with that we'll submit stuff in writing, but I'll stop
at that point, but we do have a plan, and our plan is to build
an ambulatory care center capable of providing needed
additional services like 24-hour care, a mental health program
that will be accomplished--exercise facilities, education
facilities, those types of things.
Senator Conrad. All right. Thank you very much. We
appreciate your time, and, Dr. Baker, it's good to have you
here, as well.
STATEMENT OF BIRON BAKER
Mr. Biron Baker. Good morning, Senator, and thank you for
your time. I just have a few things to add to what Mr. Baker
already alluded to. I'll be brief in the interest of time.
We talk about a lot of our health care needs, and
everything that we talk about has been well-documented in terms
of the diseases that ravage our population, and we try to think
about some of the things that would provide immediate benefit,
immediate relief, and a new facility would do this in a number
of different ways.
As Mr. Baker alluded to earlier, the space at the clinic is
a problem. We've done patient satisfaction surveys and found
our patients are satisfied with their physicians, they're
satisfied with their pharmacy experience, they're satisfied
with lab personnel. Everyone is doing a good job until you get
to how much time did they spend in the clinic, and,
unfortunately, one of the most frustrating things is to study
something and then not be able to do anything about it.
With a larger, new facility we would have the space
necessary. We would have three exams rooms per physician to--
the necessary space for patient turnover, for patient flow.
Continuity would also be improved with a new facility. We could
enclose within this new facility the mental health, as well as
health education. All of these things being provided under one
roof would enhance the continuity of care, and continuity has
also been an issue with Indian Health Service, but historically
in terms of health care professional turnover.
If we had a newer facility, this would allow us to enhance
services available to our patients in terms of mammography, in
terms of enhanced laboratory testing, also physical therapy,
occupational therapy for those patients who have had strokes,
those patients who have had myocardial infarctions and are in
need of cardiac rehab. We would be able to provide these things
onsite and enhance the services that we deliver. 24-hour care
would also be something that we would strive for because it's
unacceptable for us not to have it.
Some of the intangibles that would improve with a new
facility, some of the things that we don't often think about,
would be the quality of worklife for those people employed by
Indian Health Service and the tribe to provide health care. The
quality of worklife has been an issue in terms of recruitment
and retention of health care professionals. If we find well-
trained professionals, they must have a facility that allows
them to practice medicine to the standard of care to which they
were taught, and this is true for physicians, it's true for
dentists. Currently we have no dentist, and this is something
that causes us no end of grief. We will continue to look.
However, with the Federal salaries being what they are, I don't
anticipate that we're going to find anyone any time soon.
Also, the patient perceptions of the health care that
they're receiving would improve in a new facility. If my
patient could come to me in a new facility, is greeted in a
warm and courteous manner by the people present, and the
waiting room is aesthetically pleasing, they feel that they're
in a real clinic, and one of the complaints with Indian Health
Service is that I'm not going to a real clinic, I'm not going
to a real doctor, and so forth, and this would help address
that.
With the addition of a new, aesthetically pleasing 24-hour
health care center we would also be able to address trust
issues. A lot of our patients have trust issues, and
understandably so. Everyone I know has a horror story about the
Indian Health Service, and we've been able to address some of
that, but it's slow progress, and with people waiting in our
waiting room for hours on end, we're heading into a gun. So the
trust issues could be assessed and dealt with.
I had an 80-some-year-old lady come to my house and see me
there complaining of chest pain. All I could tell her was
you've got to go to the hospital where they can do the testing
necessary to determine whether or not it's your heart. She
said, No, I don't trust those guys, and I tried to convince
her, but I wasn't successful, and this isn't an uncommon
occurrence. We have the trust of our patients, but we're
frustrated in that we can't carry through for our patients to a
greater degree.
So I think we'd be able to recruit and retain health care
professionals, well-trained, to address all of our health care
needs with a new facility. That always helps. It always helps
to offer something like that.
The last thing I'd just have to say before passing this on
is that any health care endeavor on a reservation must be free
of any political involvement. There can be no political
involvement in health care. When health care becomes number
two----
[Applause.]
Mr. Biron Baker. When health care becomes secondary, when
healthcare becomes number two to someone's personal or
political agenda, my patients have to pay for it.
Thank you for your time.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. All right. Thank you. And next we'll hear
from Marilyn Hudson, discussing the education.
STATEMENT OF MARILYN HUDSON
Ms. Hudson. Thank you. Senator Conrad and members of the
Committee, my name is Marilyn Hudson, and I am pleased to be
here today to present a brief perspective on the history of
education. The proof of a strong, highly-valued educational
system is well documented in tribal archives. I will recount
for you several of these memorable records from the past 100
years.
School reopened in December 1875 in a small room with 77
students. ``They are bright and quick to learn,'' said the
teacher, Hannah Briggs.
``Several years after the cessation of hostilities, Chief
Son of Star again conferred with officials in Washington and
agreed to cooperate in an educational program for Indian
children beginning in the abandoned barracks of Fort Stevenson
in 1883. The educational program has steadily advanced and is
now an invaluable asset to the tribes,'' said Peter Beauchamp
in his history of the Arikara people.
In 1925, 356 Fort Berthold students were attending school,
many of them in Bismarck, Wahpeton, Pierre, and Flandreau, and
by 1933 efforts were being made to educate children at home.
Classrooms were makeshift because the wooden buildings kept
burning down, and in 1936 a high school was built in Elbowoods.
A dedication ceremony was scheduled for January 24, 1936, a
day that began with a blizzard and 40 miles of snowdrifts.
Through the snow came 230 Indian people to attend the
dedication ceremonies. Bears Arms, representing the Hidatsa, in
full ceremonial dress spoke in praise of the fine new building.
Little Crow and Little Owl, representing the Arikara and Mandan
people, were unable to attend because of the snowstorm.
And by 1944, 551 students were attending school on the Fort
Berthold Reservation. Nishu had 3 teachers and 90 children,
Shell Creek and Independence had 2 teachers and 50 to 60
students. Red Butte, Charging Eagle, Beaver Creek, and Lucky
Mound were 1-teacher schools with 15 to 35 students. Elbowoods
had an enrollment of 200 students with 10 teachers.
The average cost per pupil in education in 1943 was
$124.50, with a range from $83 at Lucky Mound to 155 at
Independence. This variance was due to such factors as
transportation.
In 1953 the educational system on the Fort Berthold
Reservation was totally wiped out by the Garrison Dam. Since
then we have struggled to retain the high value our people have
always placed on education, the sense of community we had with
the school at the center and the pride of the ownership of a
fine school system.
A former student wrote, ``I had great friends and
relatives. I did not realize it then, but I certainly do now,
that we had a great school in Elbowoods and great qualified
teachers.''
I appreciate being able to tell you what school was like 50
years ago. Now I'd like to yield the floor to Joyce Burr,
educational consultant for the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Senator Conrad. Welcome.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. Thank you. That was a beautiful
description. Very well done. Welcome, Joyce. Good to see you.
STATEMENT OF DR. JOYCE BURR, EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT, THREE
AFFILIATED TRIBES
Ms. Burr. Hi. It's good to be here. I'm honored to discuss
the request for the high school and the adjoining dormitory
that they'd like to put here at Fort Berthold. I have been
working as a consultant for the tribe. However, my husband and
five children are enrolled members of the Mandan, Hidatsa and
Arikara Nation. So, again, I'm honored, and I'd like to thank
you for your willingness to examine the needs of the children
on the Fort Berthold Reservation.
Like Marilyn said, there were eight communities with
schools originally, and three schools were built--rebuilt or
placed after the flood, and also the school that was in New
Town, ND, just at one time was not considered on the
reservation, but as they redistricted, they did replace three
of the original eight, and they did not replace the Fort
Berthold school, the Elbowoods school and the dormitories, so
those are no longer here and they've never been replaced, and
we understand that the compensation was for the land, and so
they are seeking to have the school and the dormitories
replaced.
I am here to testify for high school and dormitories for
children who are experiencing extreme problems resulting in the
low test scores and other things that are found to be prevalent
here at some of our schools.
Both you and I and many of the community members understand
that there have been really two major reports on education, the
Meriam report in 1928 and the Kennedy report in 1969 that
Congress mandated, and the findings from those reports was that
Indian education was in deplorable condition.
The facilities were old, the staff was inadequately
prepared, the curriculum was not appropriate, and so on and so
on, and 40 years passed between those reports and nothing
changed. Since that time in 19--or 1994 a man called Michael
Charleston made a report, little known report actually that was
made in the Journal of Indian Education about the condition of
Indian education, and again he says the same thing that the
Meriam and Kennedy report says, that Indian education is in
terrible condition.
There's not much change that has happened. Curriculum--
there's a cultural mismatch in our curriculum that continues to
be the same system out there. Nothing has changed. The BIA that
enrolls the largest portion of students--Indian students--well,
not the largest portion but a large number of Indian students,
their system has stayed the same. So we're concerned about
that.
Although in recent years there's been much legislation
passed with self-determination, Elementary and Secondary
Education Act, those types of things that are friendly to
Indians. They put us in the driver's seat with education. So
why are we still in the condition that we're in?
Recent research that I did here at Fort Berthold shows
again that we still have low test scores, high absenteeism
rates, high dropout rates, all those things that contribute to
poor performance. So we're concerned about those. The Tribe is
concerned about what they can do.
The system is the same. We have not changed much with the
presentation of education to the children, and we feel by
establishing a school and dormitories here on the reservation
to serve those children, only the children that are
experiencing extreme problems, personal problems, problems in
the school--the schools that are here on the reservation now
are trying their best. They're struggling with education. They
need new facilities, they need new schools. They have proposed
new schools. They have not received those yet.
However, we're here to talk about those children and such a
high dropout rate. The National Center for Educational Progress
made a report in 1993 that said the dropout rate was 26 percent
for non-Indian children. It was 53 percent for Indian children.
That's outrageous. We need to do something about it. We need to
improve our education.
The school that we're proposing is going to do a lot of
things. It can lower the student/teacher ratio. It can provide
a better curriculum that's both culturally relevant but valued
so that our children can make the transition into the modern
world. We could provide therapeutic services there for the
children and their families. We could do lots of extended day
programs in the evening, things like tutorial programs,
laboratories, libraries, things like that in those dormitory
settings. We could provide a safe and secure environment. We
need that for our children. We need drug prevention,
intervention, things like that.
This enrollment would be by choice. It is not going to be
forced upon anyone. It's not the old boarding school concept
where people were forced to go there. This school will be here
in the community. We can promote the language. Let's keep our
language going, our culture going. Let's keep programs for
that. Let's not let this language die.
I have one quote here that I'd like to make, and it was
done by Senator Burdick, and it was made--recorded from the 137
Congressional Record, and I quote,
Mr. President, today I join Mr. Conrad in cosponsoring a
bill that would provide compensation to the Three Affiliated
Tribes and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for land taken during the
flooding of the Garrison and Oahe Reservoirs. The bill we are
introducing today attempts to redress the disregard for treaty
rights and human rights. I believe that the passage of this
bill will start the healing process for the Indian men, women
and children who feel that the Government unfairly destroyed
their ancestral lands.
Again, we thank you for all that you've done to help the
tribe in so many ways, and we encourage you to support the
proposal for a school and dormitories on this reservation.
The Three Affiliated Tribes has struggled to provide the
best education possible for its children, and they continue to
grow and they continue to be creative as you have been. Thank
you for your time.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. Thank you. Thank you very much. Chairman
Hall, in my list of witnesses, we still have you to hear from
on the question of irrigation, and maybe we could do that.
We're running over our schedule. We have another event here,
but if you can summarize any additional comments, they would be
made part of the record.
Mr. Hall. I'll be very brief. Senator, I'll be very brief,
and let me just take off on one statement--one statement, and
I'll defer the remaining minute of my time to Tony Mandan, who
started the prayer and will close for us, if I could, Senator
Conrad.
In talking with Austin Gillette, our treasurer, on the $60
million--and I very appreciate your efforts and again for
holding the hearing on the Equitable Compensation Act because
it is the single best thing that ever happened to our Tribe in
the past 100 years. There is clearly no question about it, your
bold leadership to sponsor that legislation. That's why we have
young people standing up.
On the education if I could have the young people from the
school, if they could stand up, as well, and I think our
superintendent--if you could have all your students please
stand up and be recognized because I think education is an
important component.
[Applause.]
Mr. Hall. I appreciate Dr. Joyce Burr in saying that the
compensation was for men, women, and children of the Mandan,
Hidatsa, Arikara Nation, but from 1986 to 1996 the $60
million--8 percent average was equated for $139 million; 1997
to 2000 it would be at $204 million. So just using some rough
averages, that's what that would equate to with interest. So my
sharp treasurer was able to pencil that out in the last 5
minutes.
Senator Conrad. That Austin is good with a pencil.
Mr. Hall. So, again, I want to defer the remaining minute
of my time to Tony Mandan.
STATEMENT OF TONY MANDAN, MEMBER, THREE AFFILIATED TRIBES
Mr. Mandan. Thank you, Tex. Senator Conrad, we've really
appreciated the things that you have done for our tribe. Most
of the things that we're talking about is that we're always
short of money. The Public Health, the BIA, and you name it.
We're always short of money so that all of our people cannot be
satisfied. You know that as well as I do, that there's going to
be a squabble, and, now, you know, I'm a senior citizen and
there's money set for--for us, but I've asked how much is the
overhead, you know, and I can't seem to get an answer how much
the overhead is costing us on that alone, but here we're all
fighting for the same thing.
We're fighting for money so that our people can all come in
on an eye, so to speak, and that's one of the things that this
JTAC is going to represent. To me we're giving up our sacred
land on which we've held ceremonials all along the river.
That's where our people live.
So today when we're talking about things that we've lost,
it's true that we lost our schools. I went to school in
Elbowoods. I was very proud of my school, but that's gone, and
our kids, you know, have to go to Parshall and New Town, and
there were two secondhand citizens until just a few years ago
when we finally got some elected to the board, and so we're
coming along, but now that we're talking about JTAC, it's going
to really help because we're looking out for the future of the
unborn.
That's what my grandfather done when he signed the 1851
treaty. He was looking out for us that wasn't born, and my dad
came along and he talked about old claims. In the fifties our
senators at that time, I think Burdick and Young, helped us get
these old claims. These are all the things that our council and
the people that are working together are trying to get so that
we will move ahead to--we're up to 10,000 right now. Back in
1837 I think there was only maybe 50 families of the Mandan,
maybe a little more than that of the Hidatsa, but our
enrollment is up to 10,000.
We're moving along, but we need more money here, and like
Dr. Baker here is talking about, that we need a 24-hour
emergency room bad because, you know, there's a lot of
accidents that could be worked on right here if we had the
equipment, because we have three doctors here, and our--over
here she's short of funds because she's serving so many
reservations.
So all this really becomes a problem to us that are on the
bottom of the totem pole, you know, because it goes to the
people that are working, earning. So when you're down on the
totem pole, you're not going to get any, you know, so to speak,
but we've lived through this.
So that's--I'm saying we want to work together so that we
can get some more because every four years we have a chance to
change our council, and I really appreciate what you have done
for us and Burdick and all the Democratic people that really
stuck their necks out for our people, our Indian people, and I
thank you very much for this, Senator. Thank you.
Senator Conrad. Thank you.
Mr. Hall. So, Senator, that concludes our testimony today
for this panel, for the first panel, and we'll offer additional
comments in the next 14 days for the record. So thank you
again, and whenever you close the hearing, we have a special
honor on your behalf for your presence and Senator Inouye and
the rest of the committee. Masehgedatz.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you for
really excellent presentations here today. I've had a chance to
review some of the additional written material, and I look
forward to the additional submissions. As we indicated before,
we'll have until September 13 for any additional written
comments to be made part of the official record.
Before we conclude, I want to again thank Chairman Inouye
for allowing me to hold this hearing today. That was a grant of
authority that he did not have to make, but he is interested--
vitally interested in how the JTAC process was working, and I
think we've learned a lot here today that will help us make a
good record.
I am--there are five areas that I have concluded based on
this hearing need to be further addressed.
No. 1, clearly the $60 million that is owed under the JTAC
Legislation that has not been paid with interest, that is owed
to this tribe clearly.
No. 2, the promise that was made for a health facility here
has not been kept. That remains an additional obligation of the
Federal Government, and I believe the clear record of this
hearing will demonstrate that is owed to this tribe.
No. 3, I also believe it's very clear a school was
promised, and that remains an unkept promise, and I believe the
clear record of this hearing will demonstrate a replacement for
the Elbowoods school and the dormitories is owed to this tribe.
No. 4, Social Security disparity. The difference between
what our seniors who are on the reservation and who are
enrolled members off the reservation receive in Social Security
payments versus what others receive in Social Security payments
is unfair and cannot be justified and must be fixed.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. No. 5, as you know as part of the JTAC
Legislation there was the return of certain lands that were
taken in excess of the needs of the Corps of Engineers. Those
lands--those that were taken by the Corps of Engineers and held
by the Corps of Engineers that are in excess of their needs
were supposed to have been returned. That remains part of the
unfinished agenda. Those excess lands should be returned.
[Applause.]
Senator Conrad. So today I say to you I believe the record
has been made on each of those issues in this hearing, and we
will take that--the result of this hearing to the U.S. Congress
and seek our very best to get results in all of that unfinished
agenda. Thank you very much.
[Applause.]
Mr. Hall. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 12:04 p.m., the committee was adjourned, to
reconvene at the call of the Chair.]
=======================================================================
A P P E N D I X
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Additional Material Submitted for the Record
=======================================================================
Prepared Statement of Cora Jones, Director, Great Plains Region, BIA,
Department of the Interior
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here to discuss the Three
Affiliated Tribes Economic Recovery Fund provisions of Title XXXV of
Public Law 102-575, the ``Three Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe Equitable Compensation Act'', an act to ensure that the
Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold and the Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe, were adequately compensated for the taking of Indian lands for
the site, of the Garrison Dam and reservoir, and the Oahe Dam and
Reservoir, and for other purposes.
The act established the Three Affiliated Tribes Economic Recovery
Fund in the United States Treasury. Sources for this fund are derived
from the revenues generated in the Eastern Division of the Pick-Sloan
Missouri River Basin Project and Congressional appropriations with a
maximum limit of $149,200,000. Since only the interest from this fund
is available for payments to the Tribes by the Secretary, the Act
requires interest to be deposited into a separate account. The act also
limits the use of these payments by the Three Affiliated Tribes for
educational, social welfare, economic development, and other programs,
subject to the approval of the Secretary. The approval authority was
delegated to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Regional Director for the
Great Plains Region.
Until January of this year, the Three Affiliated Tribes submitted
their individual requests for funds to the Regional Director, through
the Fort Berthold Agency Superintendent. These requests were reviewed
for compliance with the act, approved as appropriate, and coordinated
with the Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM) for funds
distribution.
On January 12, 2001, a general plan was approved by the Regional
Director entitled the ``Three Affiliated Tribes Economic Recovery Fund
Proposal'' (Plan). The Plan outlines the tribes' proposed uses for the
interest fund. The Plan has been shared with the OTFM. Upon BIA's
authorization of each funding request that is in compliance with the
Plan, the request will be promptly forwarded to OTFM for processing.
Funding requests outside of the Plan will require modification(s) and/
or amendment (s) to the Plan and will need to be submitted by the tribe
to the Regional Director for approval prior to the BIA forwarding the
funding request and modified and/or amended Plan to OTFM for
processing.
The approved Plan was established in consultation with the tribes.
This concludes my prepared statement. I will be happy to answer any
questions the committee may have.
______
Prepared Statement of Frederick Baker
Thank you for the opportunity to present some thoughts regarding
the present state of health care and some recommendations for needed
changes in our present system of health care delivery.
I am retired after 27 years of Federal service, including 23 years
with the Indian Health Service, 17 years of which I served as a service
unit director. The last 9 years of my Federal career where spent here
at Fort Berthold where I served as Service Unit Director of The Fort
Berthold Service Unit of the Indian Health Service.
Prior to our contacts with the White Man, we were able to take care
of our health needs. In terms of the rest of the world, we had remedies
for injuries and illnesses that were in many cases superior to those
available to our European counterparts. We learned to use what nature/
Mother Earth provided for us, to treat illnesses and injuries of all
types. Our life style allowed us to be healthy because we had to be in
great physical condition, and the foods that we ate were healthy. Our
culture was such that we lived in harmony with our surroundings so that
mental health problems were virtually non-existent.
In 1781, we contracted the European disease of smallpox. This
disease was totally unknown to us therefore we had no defense and no
cure. We literally lost thousands of people. It is reported that the
Mandans, for example, were reduced from 13 villages composed of a few
thousand in each village to only 2 villages. They eventually joined the
Hidatsa in the area commonly known as the Knife River Villages near the
present town of Stanton, ND. The two tribes composed of 2 Mandan and 3
Hidatsa villages and numbering about 20,000 (larger than St. Louis, MO
at the time) were at Knife River when the Lewis and Clark expedition
visited them.
In 1837, the second major epidemic of smallpox hit the ``five''
villages. The estimates are that only 20 percent of the Mandans, and 30
percent of the Hidatsas survived the epidemic. Among the casualties was
the famous Mandan Chief, Four Bears. We also lost many of our
``medicine people, our medicine bundles, and our way of life. The
orderly transition and preservation of culture, history, healing,
leadership, et cetera from one generation to another was lost.
Besides the effects of diseases such as, smallpox, we lost our
strength as tribes, and hence became more vulnerable to our enemies.
Further, the encroachment of the White People's western migration, the
increase in the numbers of other tribes that were ``pushed'' into our
traditional hunting territories, and the slaughter of the buffalo by
the buffalo hunters changed our lifestyle. However, through our
resilience and adaptability, we survived and changed, and kept our
culture alive.
We were forced into the confines of the Fort Berthold Reservation
beginning in 1865. Despite the many problems that this created, we
continued to raise gardens, and became livestock owners and farmers,
settling in homogeneous communities known as Independence, Nishu, Red
Butte, Lucky Mound, Shell Creek, et cetera.
In the agency town of Elbowoods, we had a hospital, which met the
health needs of our people at the time. Many of us were born there,
including myself. Many of us went there to get cured from things like
ear infections, pneumonia, injuries, and had surgery for things like
appendixes, tonsils, and other basic surgeries. Our biggest disease
problem in those days was tuberculosis. Many families took care of
children of relatives who were sent to the various sanitariums for TB.
This was the days before antibiotics.
The Garrison Dam came along in the 40's and changed our lifestyle
again. The ``River'' that was such a part of our lifes and provided us
with shelter, fertile ground for our gardens, and pastures for our
livestock, not to mention a lifestyle and culture that stood for a
fierce independence, and self reliance was over. The communities that
we so successfully built since we were forced on the reservation, and
the strategies that we developed to solve our own problems, and rely on
each other was ended. Our neighborhoods were literally uprooted and
dissolved, The result was chaos, despair, and the introduction of
hopeless poverty. Alcohol became rampant as an attempt at curing the
hoplessness, and despair that many people felt. Lifestyles for many
changed from activity to sedentary, and diets became a diet of
``grease'' and ``starch''.
As a result of these things, and their impact on us as a People, we
now are among the world leaders in diabetes and its complications;
alcoholism and its effects on people and families; heart disease;
injuries; cancer; and mental health problems.
We don't have a hospital anymore, it was lost as a result of the
Garrison Dam. It was replaced by an outpatient clinic in Four Bears and
satellite clinics at White Shield, Mandaree, and Twin Buttes. The
clinic space is inadequate to meet the many needs of our reservation.
We have no full-time dentist.
We have a vision for a new clinic that can provide needed services
of not only our people but our neighbors on and near the reservation.
We see a building that can be adequately built to accommodate such
needed services as 24-hour emergency care; ambulatory care surgery;
preventive services such as health education and exercise facilities;
overnight patient observation capability; specialty clinic space,
adequate clinic space.
Although JTAC was funded, it was not sufficient to meet the needs
that resulted from the terrible losses of infrastructure of the
Garrison Dam. We need additional funding for a new adequate sized
clinic. We are making progress toward being self-sufficient, however,
there are some vitally needed things that we need help with and that
will ultimately help us to become self-sufficient. We need help in
getting and maintaining good health, and a new clinic is a large step
in realizing this goal.
______
Prepared Statement of Tony Mandan, Tribal Elder and Member, Mandan,
Hidatsa, and Arikara Tribes
Good Morning. My name is Tony Mandan; I'm a member of the Three
Affiliated Tribes. I want to talk today about the unkept promises of
the Government and why we are asking for this JTAC II money. On
September 17, 1851, 150 years ago, my great grandfather Red Buffalo Cow
signed the Fort Laramie Treaty for the Mandans. We were promised things
in that Treaty, just as we were promised things when the Government
flooded our homelands for this Garrison Diversion Project. The Garrison
Diversion Project is not just a project to me; it's my homelands. It's
where my ancestors lived and are buried. I'll talk about a few of the
things we were promised when our homelands were flooded.
The tribal business council was forced to sell our land. They
didn't want to sell but the Government came in and condemned the land
and forced us to sell. Our land was prime bottom land. We could farm
the land. We had coal and wood to heat and cook with. We had wild
berries, fruit and wild turnips to pick and use for food. We also had
alfalfa and sweet clover for our animals to feed on in the wintertime.
It was so rich we needed only one-half ton to feed our animals compared
to 2 tons of feed today. The river would flood and cover the lands and
that was a way to enrich the land and a form of irrigation.
We never wanted to sell our lands and move. The Army Corps of
Engineers forced us to move. What value do you put on your mother? How
can you sell your mother? They could never pay us enough for the land.
Our forefathers are buried there; their bones are still there. They
were never recovered.
We lost more than our homes. We lost schools. We had schools and a
dorm for students to stay while they went to school. We lost
everything. How can you repay us for that?
We had schools and dorms for the high school kids to live in while
they went to school. High school students stayed there. They came from
the districts. We had eight districts then: Elbowoods, Nishu, Red
Butte, Independence, Lucky Mound, Beaver Creek, Charging Eagle, and
Shell Creek.
We got along well with each other in the day schools and high
school. All the different districts got along with each other. We were
one tribe so to speak, even though we were three tribes. We all got
along as one. We lost that. Today, we're not so competitive together as
we were then. Even in our basketball and football games we never lost a
game. The schools represented our people well. Today, we play against
each other. We need to all come together again and we can be champions.
We had a hospital and we lost that when we were flooded. Now we
have a Health Center and a doctor, but they still send us to Minot and
other towns for our health care. That's a long ways away when you're
sick. We need an Emergency Health Care Center (critical care center),
even if its one bed. Now we have nothing. We have no emergency
equipment or ambulance or anything. We're not considered an emergency
health center. Doctors could save lives, they could stabilize those
that need emergency care and then send them on to other facilities. We
need a first class health center. My wife is diabetic and I have to
drive her to Minot twice a week. We shouldn't have to do that. It's to
late for us senior citizens but we need this for our children so they
can get a good start in life. We need additional dollars to improve on
our health. We need a health care facility to replace the hospital we
lost because of the flooding. If we had a helicopter to bring injured
people here it would help. The way it is now, they have to drive miles
to a health center and many times IHS won't pay the medical bills
because they never went to the IHS clinic first. Your credit is ruined.
So a lot of people don't go to a doctor till their real bad sick.
We're supposed to get free electricity from the dam. I haven't
gotten it yet. I'm not aware of anyone getting free electricity yet.
The electric companies get free electricity. I don't know how much they
get. I'm still paying the get amount I have for years. Nothing has
changed now.
Pesticides were put on the land and drained into the lake. They
contaminated the fish and made the water unfit for drinking. It has
minerals in it. The water west of here has sulfer in it that causes
diarrhea--it's dirty and brown. The oil wells cause problems in the
water. We need the MR&I project. We have to haul water from New Town,
ND. We need water for the outlying district, Before this lake was
created the water was moving and it cleansed itself. That's changed
now.
There is no way, we could be paid for the land because of value we
put on our homelands. We didn't want to sell. A lot of the elders died
from loneliness and homesickness. Families and friends were torn apart.
We couldn't see each other anymore and visit like we used to. It's to
late for us senior citizens. Many of us have diabetes, but we need to
think of our children. We were all sent to different towns and that was
really a hardship. We had no social security or even welfare was hard
to get. So we really need this money.
Through the years, you made many treaties and promises to us. You
took our land away. You were the people who put a value on the land. We
didn't. We were forced to sell and to move because you said civilized
people needed land for roads and such. You never considered that we are
all one family. Like the fish, you contaminated them with pesticides.
You killed them. Our people are like that. A lot of them can't make it
on top. We get maybe one good crop and then nothing. Everything was
natural and you forced us to move. The first JTAC didn't address
everything, so that's why we need this JTAC II to compensate us for our
schools, hospital and all the other problems that flooding us out has
caused.
Those are my comments. That's all I have to say.
______
Prepared Statement of Elise Packineau
Senator Conrad:
As an enrolled member I am very concerned as the spending of the
JTAC funds. Please accept this statement for the record and testimony
relating to the Three Affiliated Tribes Recovery Fund. I understand
that the recovery funds were to enhance and supplement the various
programs and needs that address health, education, social, and economic
development.
I thought it was wonderful that the Tribal Business Council in 1998
or thereof, were involving the general population and their input with
the JTAC budget. However, shortly after the people of the Fort Berthold
were informed that the budget that had been so carefully thought out
and planned by the people would be dissolved. Early in 2000 the Tribal
Business Council stated they would then implement their own plan and
budget.
Since this time I have been disheartened regarding numerous
decisions that the council has made. One of which to invest 25 percent
or 50 percent of $30 million via a referendum vote. Sufficient time and
notification was not given to the general public. No explanation or
assistance offered to the elderly. We were not even given the
opportunity to decide ``yes'' or ``no'' if the JTAC funds should be
invested or not. To this day we have no idea what investment venture
was taken.
The purchase of a ranch that has no return investment since the
purchase, no report of any returns has been made public.
Each year a budget is approved for various buildings on the Fort
Berthold Reservation, one of which a commitment was made for a new
Commodity Warehouse. Funds were set aside in the budget. It is now
going on 2 years and there still is not a warehouse. Where was the
money spent that was budgeted for this warehouse?
Numerous travel expenses by the Tribal Business Council, no trip
reports or documentation made available to the enrolled members or
results of trips. Often times when inquiring about the whereabouts of
the council, very limited information is given.
Due to the closure of the Kidney Dialysis Unit, patients' request
for travel, mileage and per them were constantly scrutinized. On
several occasions the patients were only given $5.00 per meal for lunch
and dinner, and told that the hotel would provide continental
breakfast. Continental breakfast consists of sugar pastries, not a
recommended diet for a diabetic, especially on dialysis. Many of the
patients are elderly and only the elderly who were 60 and over were
allowed assistance who requested overnight lodging.
My last concern is in regards to the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Elders
Organization. This organization was allocated $1 million, of that only
$650 actually goes to the elderly in a 1-year span, this is totally
inadequate given the nature of their health situation. Other services
include, dentures, glasses, safety equipment. The remainder is spent on
overhead cost. $300,000 was taken from the Elders Organization budget
without the approval or proper documentation from the MHA Board of
Directors, the money was to go toward the purchase of two modular homes
for each district, 6 districts, 12 homes total. To date the modular
homes are still sitting on the site where they were made.
Thank you for the opportunity to voice my concerns regarding the
expenditures of the JTAC funds. I have many other issues, however, for
the sake of time I will conclude here. Please contact me if you need
documentation, proof and verification of the statements that I have
made regarding JTAC funds.
______
Prepared Statement of Bernadine Young Bird, Administrator, Three
Affiliated Tribes Education Department
Dosha. Good Day, Senator Conrad. My name is Bernadine Young Bird.
My Hidatsa name is Sacred Tree (Cedar) Woman. I am the Administrator of
the Three Affiliated Tribes Education Department. I am also the
Director of the Special Education Office, I am an enrolled member of
the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Atikara Nation. I have been a teacher, special
education teacher, and education administrator for 23 years. I am a
parent of three sons. Two of my sons Robert and Duane have served
honorably in the Marines and are now working and going to the Fort
Berthold Community College. My youngest son, Justin, has just turned 13
and is attending New Town Middle School. I am also a doting grandparent
of three wonderful grandsons. I am, also, an active and supportive
community member.
I am providing written testimony today to share with you and your
committee about the educational needs that I have observed and
experienced through my work and my personal life in the educational
system of the Fort Berthold Reservation.
First, the life we live today on the Fort Berthold Indian
Reservation is a much different than in the early fifties. The
geography of the area of the Elbowoods; era helped define much of what
the social and economic life would be in the Pre-Garrison Dam period.
The community was more cohesive and insulated. Today, there are six
distinct communities in six different geographical areas of the
reservation. The Garrison Dam destroyed the independent and thriving
tribal way of life by the, flooding of the heart of the reservation
that was Elbowoods. It left a terrible open wound and left in its wake
a separated land base and a traumatized people. This dramatic impact
can never be measured in full but it clearly traumatized our people so
deeply that recovery and Adjustment is still going on today.
The Garrison Dam project greatly impacted and has changed our
reservation and our people forever. The needs today, as a result, are
very different from the Elbowoods days. In education, for instance,
Elbowoods functioned well with the one community school and dormitory.
Today, education includes early childhood (Head Start, Early Start,
Healthy Start and Child/Day Care Needs) to adult (GED, Community
Education, Voctech Training, College) to better meet the changing
modern and complex society and culture of today. Fort Berthold has 6
Head Starts to serve 163 children. However, there are an additional 500
plus children birth to 5 that have early childhood and childcare needs.
The early childhood needs include the need to build quality state-of-
the-art facilities to better meet the needs for positive and quality
early childhood experiences. We have five K-12 schools serving the six
communities, The school facilities on Fort Berthold are in critical
need of replacement and expansion for the growing needs and increasing
population. One common need of Early Childhood and our schools is the
need for replacement facilities.
The Fort Berthold Community College has the first two phases
completed for its facility needs. The classrooms, library, and other
space needs have recently been built. However, additional space needs
for offices, gym, day care, single, married, housing, and more are
already being identified.
Early Childhood
Head Start-six ``state-of-the-art'' Early Childhood Centers-Day
Care/Early Childhood Centers-eight centers 3 for New Town, 1 for each
of the other 5 communities. These centers will be open to workers,
students and the public.
K-12 Schools
Mandaree, White Shield and Twin Buttes are in dire need of
replacements for their facilities. They have outlived their lifespan
from the 1950's. These Public Law 100-297 Tribal Grant Schools are
Bureau of Indian Affairs funded and have submitted requests through the
BIA process but without success. The Fort Berthold Indian School Boards
Association is submitting more detailed testimony regarding their
status. I support their request and testimony to replace and strengthen
the current schools with new facilities and added resources for
supplementing needed services for students.
Fort Berthold Community College
The Fort Berthold Community College is continuing in the effort to
enhance and expand their facilities and student services to better meet
the needs of the adult population. The college continues to need
resources for the day-to-day services and management, The staff and
board have an ongoing effort to access the needed resources for
improvement and expansion. Increased funding to tribal colleges is
still a critical need.
The priorities for Education on Fort Berthold, therefore, are for
facilities that will be adequate to serve the many needs, such as
counseling, social, and cultural, of all students.
If the Three Affiliated Tribes, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara,
are to survive it will be through a viable, effective, and appropriate
education system. Besides the critical need for adequate and safe
facilities, the tribal education system will need to continue its work
to ensure that every citizen has an opportunity for a world-class
education. Equally important will be our efforts to integrate the
native languages and culture into all levels of education. Finally the
education system will carry on the importance of civic responsibilities
to our Nation for the perpetuation of the ideals and values we hold
dearly.
Mahsahgidahds. Thank you for this opportunity to submit my
testimony.
Prepared Statement of Phyllis Old Dog Cross
Senator Conrad: This is my written testimony as part of the field
hearing held by the Committee on Indian Affairs by Senator Conrad on
funding authorized by the Three Affiliated Tribes and Standing Rock
Sioux Equitable Compensation Act( Title 35 of Public Law 102-575) often
called JTAC.
I am glad you held this hearing because I am concerned about the
expenditures of the money without involving the people in the
decisionmaking. Large amounts of money have been obligated to the
Figure Four Ranch, the Twin Buttes Manufacturing Company and to
expansion of the Casino. I am concerned that funds are not allocated
for health care, children and education. When community hearings were
held regarding the JTAC funds the top priority for all was health.
We have found that the people have no voice and no power with our
current Constitution. Until that is faced and corrected, we will
continue to have problems. At present, planning and sound fiscal
management are absent. There have been no audits conducted, there is no
personnel system, and certainly over all management has no
accountability which results in chaos.
Tribal Business Council
My testimony is that I am concerned about the Tribal Business
Council spending large sums of JTAC funds on projects such as the
Figure 4 Ranch and the Twin Buttes Housing. This was one of the first
actions when Chairman Hall took office. There was no appraisal
available. Neither were a plan or audit presented. When this amount of
funds are committed with peoples' funds, a referendum should be used.
Our Regional Director acting for the Secretary was responsible to
question the action before signing off on the transaction. She is our
Trustee.
JTAC funds are described as moneys that belong to the people, yet
the draw down of these funds and expenditures are handled entirely by
the Tribal Council and some Consultants behind closed doors. Under
Chairman Mason's administration, a people's committee was authorized by
Resolution to develop a People's Plan to set priorities, schedules, and
services to meet the needs of the people. The plan was completed and
submitted to Tex Hall and the Tribal Council. It was rejected. The
Committee was dissolved. An outside Consultant was employed by the
Council. He wrote the plan which was submitted to the Department of the
Interior. The people have never seen it.
We strongly recommend that the people be involved in the total
planning process, as well as approving expenditures and seeing audits.
Lack of Management
My Testimony is that I am concerned by the lack of management that
is observed in Tribal Government organization and practice. There is a
need for plain old fashioned rules for accomplishing goals. The Council
itself is not organized enough to accomplish much of anything. There is
no delegation of authority or delegation of work in order to have a
well functioning organization. The council uses committees but there
are no committee reports or recommendations. The minutes are usually
very slow in being approved, sometimes months late. Records and
Archives are not safe, and minutes and resolutions are misplaced.
The agenda and council meeting are filled and choked with minutiae.
Each item is discussed, even it is paying someone's motel bill to
whether a sun dance is a religious ceremony. All, that is ALL, of the
personnel issues are handled by the Council. Some issues are discussed
as long as 4 hours, then tabled. Very important issues and decisions
can be made in a few minutes. The methods of voting are chaotic with
abstentions, not voting or leaving the room during a vote. It has been
recommended many times to have roll call voting so that constituents
can know how their representative votes. Council meetings can last ALL
night. This practice is hard on Elders, sick persons, and people who
drive 200 miles to attend.
The employees are delegated little authority, can be fired by only
the council and are not accountable. The money wasted and equipment
wasted counts up. It is the Tribes most desirable welfare system
available. Change in our Constitution is needed.
Ethics
It is my testimony that our tribal government, elected leaders and
tribal employees could benefit from the injection of some ethics into
the entire management system of tribal government. It seems a shame
that one must reach a point where ethics must be observed in a written
directive. But we seem to have lost the way to respect ourselves and
others. The elders have always been charged with showing the good way
but even that task is ignored. As a result we have become a miserable
bitter and unhappy group. Our lack of ethical practice has contributed
to poor management, disrespect, and an illness of the soul.
In order to accomplish a return of ethics, it will have to be part
of the revision of the Constitution. Our Constitution is silent about
ethics and leaves the responsibility to the elected officials
themselves to be a part of ethics. The Constitution must be revised. It
no longer is powerful enough to handle the officials and others. In
1935, we had strong leaders and clans, but now they are weak.
Some of our elected officials and members have seen that ethics
must be adapted and made to be an inherent part of governing. We need
to face the whole issue of corruption. We need to make sure the strong
ones do not exploit the weak. We need a court system that is fair. We
need a press that is free and can report the truth.To get that we must
distribute the power of the Tribal Government, to set limits and define
limits. The Constitution is the vehicle of the people to deal with
elected officials.
Health Care
This is my testimony regarding the need for health care by the
Three Tribes. We had a hospital in Elbowoods, it wasn't fancy but it
fit the times. We had a doctor and nurses and other needed services. It
was built in 1936 and closed in 1948 pending the flood. It was at that
time, that responsibility for health care for Indian people was
transferred from BIA to the United States Public Health Service, under
DHEW. It is ironic that health service was still the responsibility of
a quasi-military organization with the staff in uniforms and with rank.
We cannot get away from the military. By then Dr. Herbert Wilson
reported in to Fort Berthold at Elbowoods and began a BIA clinic. The
BIG Move was made about 1952 and the Agency was located in New Town.
The DHEW--IHS began to provide health service through contract care. No
hospital was built to replace the old one. A day clinic was built in
1962. It provided only minimal services. Small clinics were located in
out lying areas.
From the beginning there never seemed to be enough staff to meet
the demand. The population increased, health problems grew. As with the
general population, cost of health care spiraled up and up. The
statistics of morbidity and other health issues showed that the
population of the Three Tribes had some problems that are the worst in
the Nation. The problems of LIFESTYLE are overwhelming. Depression
since the move is epidemic, diabetes is affecting all, cancer is
increasing. The addiction to alcohol and other drugs as well as tobacco
is growing. Gross malignant obesity is the norm. Suicide is a major
problem.
The people have let the council know that health care is the No. 1
need. An extensive study was completed about 4 years ago. But the plans
for health care are pushed back in favor of Casinos and Ranches. We
need health care that is free of politics. We need a Health Authority
that can determine needs that cannot be sabotaged by the Council. We
need emergency health care of high quality including ambulance service,
we need after hours clinic care. We need a detox center. Elders need
medical cards or insurance and we need a larger facility to provide
health services in eluding mental health care. But this is not possible
until we can develop a Constitution that gives power to the people.
Constitution
It is my testimony, that before anything can be accomplished as far
as JTAC is concerned the Three Tribes NEED a new Constitution. The one
in 1935, was adequate for the times, but it is missing a lot. It gave
the people the power to have a democratic say in dealing with their
government but it didn't provide the people with weapons. It gave
absolute power to the Council with no recourse. In essence the Council
can do just as it pleases with sanction from the Secretary. The Council
has the power to interpret the Constitution, and can change their minds
to meet their needs. It controls the judge, it controls law and order
and can affect the out come of lawsuits. The Regional Director
(Secretary) is influenced by the Council and is easily swayed by their
demands. A good example is the fiasco of leases last year. The person
who suffered is the land owner who received no check from their lease.
The Council controls every job on the reservation. Even the most lowly
of jobs doesn't escape their scrutiny. The people have joined in with
their council to gather as much of the spoils that they can.
Just as with management issues, Councilmen rarely have any
experience or knowledge in management of workers, systems or budgets.
Their ability to insure accountability is weak. They have had no
experience with Constitutional Government, managing a board or
business, Personnel systems are non existent.
If we do not do something about our Constitution as well as
management, our system will crumble. Now we are dealing with millions.
These millions belong to the people not the council.
______
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