"SAVE MINNESOTA"

Resource Groups Meet With Bud Grant, Resolve to Raise $1.5 Million.

Minneapolis, MN... At a recent meeting of the combined boards of directors of the Hunting and Angling Club and PERM (Proper Economic Resource Management), the groups jointly launched an ambitious fundraising effort to "Save Minnesota" property rights and natural resources from Indian lawsuits.

The Mille Lacs treaty case is a lawsuit filed by the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa attempting to re-establish their privileges to hunt, fish and gather without state regulation on land outside their 3,800 acre reservation in a twelve county area of East Central Minnesota. If the privilege is established, it will give the tribe enormous regulatory authority and policy control over everything from fish and game to timber harvest, water quality and local zoning ordinances. This raises serious issues of title, personal liberties, property taxes, sales taxes, local business economies, and fish and game regulations.

Now, the Fond du Lac and White Earth bands are also suing for their "hunting, fishing and gathering" rights in most of Northern Minnesota. "Draw a line from Stillwater to St, Cloud to Moorhead, then look at everything north of that line and you get an idea of how much of the state is at issue." says Bud Grant, a long-time spokesman for the groups.

"The theme 'Save Minnesota' is not overstated" continues Coach Grant. "We're in danger of losing our rights in the whole northern two thirds of our state. We have to save our natural resources, save the sports of hunting and fishing, save the tourism industry, save taxes and save property rights and values. It's not unreasonable to presume that if you own property in this area your title could be 'clouded', reducing its value and making it difficult to sell."

Both groups point to the Mille Lacs bands' proposed hunting and fishing code to illustrate some of the risks to resources. The band has asked for a deer hunting season that would start the day after Labor Day and run to December 31st, allowing two deer a day per band member. They've also proposed nearly double the limits currently in effect for non-Indians of most species of fish, which could be taken by nets as long as 300 feet on Mille Lacs and 100 feet on other lakes over 1,000 acres. Now, with the Fond du Lac and White Earth band suits, these kinds of regulations could be in effect, for Indians only, nearly statewide. To continue to defend citizen's interests in these cases may cost as much as $1.5 million, the clubs estimate.

"I just don't believe it's right for one group of Americans to have rights others don't have any more than it would be right for one team to play football by different rules from the other. I can't believe that's what our founding fathers had in mind," said Coach Grant.

Recently some legislators have expressed concern at the amount of money the Attorney General's office has already spent on the Mille Lacs case. However, in a 1992 letter from that office to Steve Froehle, attorney for the landowners, they admitted that "In this litigation, the public and private interests are not necessarily the same. To the extent they differ, the State cannot represent the interest of the private landowners." Obviously, that is also true for the rest of the ceded territory in northern Minnesota now under suit.

Fundraising events will begin this month all across the state soliciting tax deductible donations through PERM (Proper Economic Resource Management), a tax-exempt, non-profit organization. "Unless lake shore property owners and others join the sportsmen to support this cause, I'm afraid there are tough times ahead for the resources of our state," said Grant.