LCO's Little Newspaper

Odaawaa-Zaaga'iganing Babaamaajimoo-mazina'igaans

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

"The Pride of the Ojibwe"

February 29, 2024

In this Issue!

Fire Claims Life on Rez

Utility Payment Apps Ready

White Earth Cannabis Tour

Delores Denasha 93yo Retires

Winter HS Boys Champs

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Please remember that if you aren't following us on Facebook, you may be missing out. Here's a link to the Tribe's Facebook page, check it out and click Like to get notifications of our news and event updates.

Cyrilla Streubel February 22

Dorothy Quaderer February 24

Howard Dean February 24

Jerry Thomas February 25

Christine Huth February 26

Beverly Corbine February 26

Eleanor Jack February 27

Virginia Morgan-Marino February 27

Jay Howard February 28

David Coon February 28

Tom Corbine February 28

Vera Wolfe Niemi February 28

Deborah Kingfisher March 1

Marjorie Miller March 1

Willard Robertson March 2

Wendy Muto March 2

Cynthia Miller March 3

Jean Gouge’ March 3

Irene Adams March 4

Rick St. Germaine March 4

If an elder would like to be added or removed from our birthday announcements please email Joe Morey at [email protected]

All enrolled members of the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe are encouraged to make sure your address is up to date in the LCO Citizenship Services office! Be sure your address is current since too much mail is being returned due to incorrect addresses. Check that your family members are updated as well. Also, contact the office if you have a death in the family. Please call Tiera at 715-558-7459 or Harmoni at 715-558-7429 to get your addresses updated right of way. Miigwech!

PS. Other member's cannot check on your status for you. You will need to all the office yourself if you are over 18 and not under a guardianship. You also must actually call the office to update and not send in an email as they have to verify it is you.

Boozhoo Gakina Awiya

Dear Readers,

Thankful for our Elders

This week we feature our Elder Articles. On January 24, we printed our 2nd Annual Thankful for our Elders issue where we recognized six well-deserving Elders in the LCO Community. Joe Moreno wrote the articles after some extensive interviews and they are special indeed. This issue was circulated in newsprint throughout the community and now those Elder interviews and the sponsors who brought that issue to you will be featured here in the digital newsletter. Scroll to the bottom of Newsletter and please support the sponsors featured there who made it possible to do these interviews.

Scroll down to see all that's happening in Lac Courte Oreilles.

When you scroll down, you'll find that the newsletter is divided into sections beginning with the news headlines, jobs and other announcements section, followed by Tribal Court notices. Down below in the Flyer section you'll find Community Information, Community Events, Elder News and Events, and the College. In the Employment Opportunities section that has links to employment pages for the tribe, you'll find links to several of the latest job postings to the Tribal Website.

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

Woodland Dance Troupe helps honor Ernie St. Germaine for skiing all 50 races

The LCO Dance Troupe went to the American Birkebeiner Saturday at Telemark to honor Ernie St. Germaine, skiing his 50th Birkie. St. Germaine, a LDF member, is the only skier to have skied all 50 Birkie races. Photo credit Ramona Morrow.

Structure Fire on LCO Reservation Claims One Life

On February 29, 2024, the LCO Police Department was dispatched to 7692N County Hwy E in the Township of Bass Lake (Skunawong Community) for a reported structure fire. Upon arrival it was reported that a person was trapped within the residence and was unable to get out. LCO Police Department arrived on scene where the structure was fully engulfed. Officers attempts to advance on the structure were hindered by the heavy fire and smoke conditions.

The LCO Fire Department arrived on scene to extinguish the fire and one victim was located within the structure. This is an active investigation by the LCO Police Department.

take our

WEEKLY POLL

Should LCO move forward with plans to invest in Cannabis in preparation for WI legalization?

Yes

No Opinion

January 29 Poll Results

Question: Would you like to see LCO get rid of blood quantum?

310 total votes

Yes - 63.4% (195)

No - 23.6% (73)

No Opinion - 13% (42)

LCO Group Takes Tour of White Earth Cannabis Operations

By Joe Morey

News Editor

A Group of LCO tribal representatives, including Tribal Governing Board (TGB) members David Bisonette and Sec.-Treasurer Bill Trepanier, visited the White Earth Nation Cannabis Facilities on Thursday, Feb. 1st.

They were taken on a tour by White Earth Nation Chairman Michael Fairbanks, Councilmembers George Fox and Eugene Sommers, White Earth Government Relations Coordinator Laura Lee Erickson and the CEO of their cannabis operations, Zach Wilson.

The LCO group were able to learn about all aspects of their grow and dispensary operation, touring their facilities and making connections with White Earth leadership on any possible future partnerships or assistance.

Utility Support Payment applications available now

The Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board (TGB) unanimously approved providing a Utility Support Payment in the amount of $1,000 to LCO Tribal Member households located within the Tribe's Service Area (Sawyer County), and surrounding counties on a case-by-case basis.

The applications are now available at the Tribal Office Monday-Thursday from 9 am to 4:00 pm in the Peter Larson Room. When turning in the application, you must have your Tribal ID and what bills you want paid.

This Utility Support Payment is intended to assist with propane, electric, cable, internet and water/sewer. The total benefit will not exceed $1,000 and there is no cash value, any bill not reaching the $1,000 will not rollover into a cash benefit.

The deadline for the application to be turned in is Friday, March 29, 2024. The payment will be made approximately 14 days after application is received.

The Utility Support Payment will be made directly to the vendor(s) of your choice and is limited to one benefit per Tribal Member household, and may be split among multiple vendors. Multiple applications for one household will not be accepted and will delay your utility support payment.

TGB reminds everyone to continue paying your bills to avoid any disconnections while waiting for the utility assistance.

Winter Boys Basketball Breaks Records While Winning Conference Championships

Editor's Note: Since this article was sent, the Winter team won their first round playoff game.

The Winter School District has an enrollment of just 86 students in the high school, making it one of the smallest schools in the state of Wisconsin. However, this small school has been making some big noise locally, regionally, and nationally in the boys basketball program.

The Warriors just 15 months ago entered the 2022-2023 season as a perennial 3-22 team which spanned over a decade. The last time the boys had won a conference championship was in 1996, and the last time a regional title was won came in 1995. Almost a three decade drought came to an end on February 16, 2024.

Joshua “Hootie” Hautamaki and Curtis DeCora took over coaching duties on November 14, 2022 and immediately dove into transforming the culture and commitment of the team, the players, and the parents. The 2022-2023 saw a rapid transformation with a 13-13 overall record, and the 3rd most wins in school history. The Warriors were the 3rd highest scoring team in the state of Wisconsin, while also leading the state in team rebounds. A big summer of team activities which included the Ashland summer league, 6 players participating in Rising Stars Basketball, and multiple athletes participating in over a dozen college exposure and skills camps. The summer was fully loaded with opportunity for the Winter Warriors to do great things on the hardwood in the 2023-2024 season.

The Seven Generations Inter-Tribal Leadership Summit calls for proposals

LCOOU Press Release

The Seven Generations Inter-Tribal Leadership Summit will once again be hosted in collaboration between the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University, the College of the Menominee Nation, and the Universities of Wisconsin, this fall. In order to better promote the Summit, the call for proposal deadline is earlier this year than in previous years.

Save the Date: October 9 - 11, 2024

The summit has been and will continue to be a conduit to create a space for tribal leaders to practice combined visioning for the future of the tribes by presenting progressive research and practices, marketed to tribal leadership throughout Wisconsin and the region.

Participants will hear from and engage with leaders in various fields and enjoy opportunities to form new partners for the future. Four key areas of focus have been identified: Education, Environment, Economic/Workforce Development and Health and Safety.

We would like to invite you to participate in the call for proposals until May 31, 2024 - https://www.lco.edu/7gensummit.

6th Book Excerpt: Treaties and the Coming Lumber Trade

The following is the sixth of several book excerpts the LCO News will feature from local author, John Dettloff. The excerpts will be from his new book.

Detloff has lived on the Chippewa Flowage, near New Post, for over 50 years. His family has had a small resort just east of New Post for 56 seasons and for 40 years he has been writing historical articles about the flowage, tribal history (especially Old Post), old guides, old resorts, and fishing.

His new book called Whispers of the Past, A History of the Chippewa Flowage, released on November 1st, gives a comprehensive history of the flowage going back to the fur trade era.

According to Detloff, the book profiles in great detail the people of the "Chippewa Basin" (the area that became flooded by the flowage) and talks about the 300 plus people who were affected by and displaced by the flowage. There were probably 250 plus tribal members and nearly 100 non-tribal members that were affected.

From the Book:

By the time the Wisconsin Territory was carved out of the Michigan Territory in 1836, the fur trade was past its heyday; however, a new industry was beginning to take root that would change the landscape of the region forever… lumbering. The United States government’s ratification of the Treaties of 1837 and 1842 with the Lake Superior Ojibwe granted them access to the vast virgin timber resources of northern Wisconsin, east central Minnesota, and the western portion of Upper Michigan, once the tribes had ceded the lands to the United States in return for payment and the retention of their right to hunt, fish, and gather on those lands.

Tribal courts can't prosecute non-Native drug suspects. Tribes say it's a problem

As fentanyl addiction and overdose deaths ravage Native American communities, some tribal leaders want Native law enforcement to take drug enforcement more into their own hands.

"We can't wait anymore," Jamie Azure, chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November. "We are very close to losing a generation to an opioid, to a synthetic drug."

Tribal leaders testified about an insufficient response by state and federal law enforcement to the drug traffickers who bring fentanyl onto reservations. Azure said his tribe was moving ahead with its own "tribal drug task force."

LCO Featured in Podcast Series About PFAS Contamination in Wisconsin

Madison, Wis.— Public Trust, a new four-part podcast series produced by Midwest Environmental Advocates and Wisconsin Sea Grant explores Wisconsin’s response to PFAS contamination from the perspective of residents who have been directly impacted by these dangerous “forever chemicals.”

Over the course of the series, we visited Peshtigo, French Island, and the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation, where we interviewed community members on-site about how PFAS has impacted their access to clean water, their subsistence hunting and fishing traditions, and more.

LCOOU collecting nominations for Alumni of the Year

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University (LCOOU) is once again collecting nominations for LCOOU’s Alumni of the Year award.

The award recognizes one LCOOU alumni that has made extraordinary commitments to the mission of LCOOU and the Seven Grandfather Teachings. Award winners are recognized at the annual Migiziwag Dayesaashijig Gala (https://www.lco.edu/gala), which will be held June 7, 2024.

Criteria:

Nominee is an alumnus of Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University [Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College].

Nomination Process:

• Complete the Alumni of the Year Nomination Form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CGNQTBK

• Submit up to three letters of recommendation for this nominee. Only one letter is necessary from someone other than the nominating party.

Nominations and recommendation letter(s) must be received by 5:00pm CST May 31, 2024. Letter(s) or questions can be emailed to [email protected]

LCO Member named Gun Lake Tribe’s HHS Director

Mariah Austin (Bimosekwe), Lac Courte Oreilles Member, has been named the new Health and Human Services Director for the Gun Lake Tribe of Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Science in Health Care Systems Administration from Ferris State University with a minor in Human Resources. She went on to obtain a Master of Science in Administration with a concentration in Health Services from Central Michigan University. For the past two years Mariah has served Gun Lake Tribe as the Assistant HHS Director.

Article & Flyer Submission.

If you have something you wish to share with the Lac Courte Oreilles Community,

please Email Me your information by 5 pm Wednesday for the Friday edition

Chi-Miigwech

Joe Morey, Public Relations Director

Lac Courte Oreilles Band

Phone: 715-699-6014

C-Store Has LCO Apparel!

LCO Apparel is now available at the LCO CStore. Hooded sweatshirts/ T-Shirts in many different colors.

Upcoming Holidays

The Tribe will celebrate President's Day on Monday, February 19th. The Tribal Office and other Tribal Buildings will be closed to observe the holiday.

Current Job Listings

Visit the Tribe's employment page for a full listing of current jobs

Visit Sevenwinds Casino for their employment oppportunities

Visit LCO Ojibwe College for their employment opportunities

Visit lcofinancial.com for LCO Financial Services Job Listings

Enrollment Clerk

Quick Stop Manager

VR Job Developer

Nutrition Manager

Child Support Specialist

LCO School Phy Ed Teacher

Realty Officer II

Prevention Planner

Check out the Tribe's Jobs Page

Currently over 100 job opportunities here at Lac Courte Oreilles listed!

ELDER RECOGNITION: Lois Demarr

Today I had the great pleasure of interviewing our next Elder, Lois Demarr, a jolly ole soul who lives to love people and the rez. Although her travels have been many, she has absolutely no regrets when it comes to returning home to the rez. While this interview might be a bit short, for the savvy reader who takes light to the details, will encounter a wealth of knowledge from this joyful soul….

LCO News: Have you lived at LCO your whole life?

ELDER RECOGNITION: Robert Jack

Robert Jack, a name that may first have been aired in Stone Lake in 1957, where and when this soft-spoken elder was born. Having had a rough start in life, he stayed on the LCO Reservation until the tender age of 9 when his mother unfortunately passed away. After the death of his mother, he found himself being shuffled through different foster homes until the fourth or fifth one when he found himself in a Boys Home in Eau Claire. In the Eau Claire Boys Home, he found himself working for the DNR at a rate of $1.60 an hour, which he did in the summertime for two years through a school program.

ELDER RECOGNITION: Johnny Boy Corbine

It was on a mid-summer day that a boy who would later in life become affectionately known as Johnny Boy Corbine, was born in Duluth Minnesota. Even though everyone calls him “Johnny Boy” to this day, there’s much more than a boy behind this man. This is his story….

Having grown up in Skunawung on the LCO reservation, he has many cherished memories of his childhood. Many took place in the house his brother Marvin Corbine still lives in on Highway E.

ELDER RECOGNITION: Marie Kuykendall

LCO News: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Marie: I’m Marie Baker Kuykendall, born in December 1942 in Chief Lake, Wisconsin to Lois O’ Shogay Baker and Deneshi Baker Sr. I have an older brother, William Jr. and a younger sister, they’ve both passed on. I lived there in Chief Lake for maybe 3 or 4 years, then moved to New Post and that’s where I grew up. We lived with my grandmother. She had a nice log cabin there.

ELDER RECOGNITION: Diane Sullivan

LCO News: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Diane: So, first of all thank you for asking me to be interviewed, it’s an honor. I think the whole Elder Honoring seems weird to me because I don’t feel like I’m an Elder, I mean age wise, I’m clearly in the ballfield, but I just don’t feel that way. It’s kind of different for me.

ELDER RECOGNITION: Lorraine Smith

If you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t guess our next elder to be over 60, but this proud Ojibwe woman has proven to have, thus far, long life span and good well-being. Over 90, to those of you who know Lorraine Smith, an accomplished school teacher who could explain her times and travels in more detail than I possibly could narrate, so without further adieu, the words of Wisdom from this interesting Elder…

DELORES DENASHA RETIREMENT PARTY AT 93

A celebration was held at the Sevenwinds Convention Center to recognize Delores Denasha’s retirement at 93 years young. At one time, Delores was the oldest working member of the Tribe as she remained the LCO Enrollment Director for nearly 4 decades only retiring within the last year. Many friends and family gathered to celebrate her life.

BOYS & GIRLS CLUB BIRKIE VOLUNTEERS

From the Boys & Girls Club of LCO Facebook Page: Another Birkie in the books! As usual our Images ladies did a great job! Things were a little different this year but shout out to the American Birkebeiner for making it all happen! Very impressive! The picture top left are staff members at Birkie.

JOB OPENINGS AT ST. LOUIS FS CALL CENTER

FOR NEWS SUBMISSION AND ADVERTISING

FINALLY!! Your request to have the LCO Newsprint edition mailed out will be fulfilled.

I’ve received many requests over the years to have the newspaper mailed out as we have so many Tribal Members living abroad, spread out all over the United States. We have loved ones who moved away in search of a better life, a promising job opportunity, a great place to raise their children. We’ve had our family members sent away to prison to suffer consequences. They all want to stay connected to their home, to stay informed and now finally, they can. And here’s how…

For only $99 per year, those living abroad or in prison can purchase a subscription, or you can purchase it for them. They will receive each issue mailed to their address.

You’ve had to go through the hassle of picking up an extra paper and mailing it yourself, well, now I’ll save you the trouble and do the mailing for you.

Fill out the information needed below and send in with your payment. And here’s the LCO News guarantee… Should the newsprint edition not measure up to your expectations, you can ask for and receive a refund of your unused portion of the purchased subscription.

The Lac Courte Oreilles News is a unique publication in Indian Country. We are one of the very few remaining printed Tribal newspapers and one of only three that print on a weekly basis. Our digital footprint now has nearly 10,000 subscribers and as we expand our print format from its current 2,000 circulation, we’ll be adding more features that you won’t find in the digital. Currently, only obituaries are in the print, but soon we’ll be adding more news from our neighboring Tribes and more state level governmental news that affects our Tribe.

So don’t wait, send in your subscription now and don’t miss a thing! Simply, click on the form image below, save to your computer, print it off and mail it in!

JOB OF THE WEEK

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