The Mendota Dakota tribal group has been struggling to keep the community center it has in Mendota, but the group was recently given a 60-day notice to vacate the property. The old house is planned to be demolished to be turned into a parking lot for the restaurant next door. While the group still has until the end of March to vacate, the cultural chairman Jim Anderson is moving his family into the house Saturday as a way of protesting that the Mendota Dakota have to leave the land. In this photo:] Anderson, front, prepares to head out to pick up a new load while his son Jim Anderson Jr. waits for his father.

Photo: David Joles, Star Tribune

The box spring for Jim Anderson’s bed wouldn’t fit coming up the stairs, so he and his friends shimmied it through a second-story window instead.

"That’s a tight fit, but it’s coming!" shouted an onlooker celebrating the small victory.

On Saturday, Anderson, a leader of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community, moved into the rundown house in Mendota that has served as the group’s community center, where he will be staying with his wife and 2-year-old daughter despite a plan to turn the property into a parking lot for a neighboring restaurant. The community consists of about 250 people.

The community was recently given notice that it must vacate the residence by the end of March. But Anderson said he intends to live in the house until the property owner is willing to negotiate and allow the group to stay.

"We’re tired of being run out of Mendota," Anderson said. "For the Dakota people, this is our sacred center, and it always has been. We need to keep our established place in this town."

While the scenario may seem to be pulled straight from the classic Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi," the aging house on Sibley Memorial Highway, which winds through the tiny town of Mendota, is far from a paradise.

The house was built in 1880. For several months, it had no water service, meaning toilets couldn’t be flushed and dishes couldn’t be washed until Anderson recently repaired it.

But still, it was a key gathering place for the group.

The Mendota Dakota community has a tumultuous history. Anderson says he is a descendant of a family that was promised land and money from the government but was never awarded it.

"It’s been a historical pattern to try to eradicate us," he said.

Mendota continues to be a place of spiritual significance for the Mendota Dakota, who traditionally believe that life began nearby where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers meet.

Unlike the nearby Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, the Mendota Dakota aren’t acknowledged by the federal government as a recognized tribe, a designation which would make the group eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In order for the Mendota Dakota to secure the rent to pay for the center over the past few years, the group relied on a grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation. The Mendota Dakota’s tribal council had hoped that it would be able to secure another grant from the foundation, but it was denied additional funds last year.

Need for parking

A short, evening drive down Sibley Memorial shows that parking is an issue in Mendota. Cars often line both sides of the highway.

"I drove up there last night and you had to park almost up near [the Church of St. Peter]," said Mendota Mayor Brian Mielke.

A representative of Axel’s River Grille next door to the Mendota Dakota center has put down a deposit to secure the purchase of the property, which according to Dakota County property records was recently valued at $185,500.

The plan to turn the property into a lot would give Axel’s about 24 additional parking spaces. Right now, the restaurant has to use overflow parking at the nearby VFW to help accommodate diners.

A couple of years ago, Lucky’s 13 Pub, the only other full-service restaurant in town besides Axel’s, purchased the property across the street from its building to turn into a parking lot, Mielke said.

The Axel’s sale isn’t final. The restaurant is working on a plan for a storm water management system for the site. There is going to be more discussion about the property at an upcoming city council meeting.

At this time, the city probably won’t get involved with Anderson’s move except to make sure there is working water in the building, said City Attorney Tom Lehmann.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495

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By Troy Krause, Editor
Redwood Gazette
Posted Jan 27, 2011

A lawsuit filed on behalf of thousands of lineal descendants of an 1886 U.S. census is nearing its end.

While rumors have called the suit dead, the reality is the case is alive and well. Redwood Falls native Erick Kaardal  represents approximately 7,000 of the 22,000 claimants in the case of Wolfchild vs. the United States.

The basic claim of the suit is the United States in the 1880s placed land in a trust for those Mdewakanton Dakota who were loyal to the nation and were allowed to remain in Minnesota at the end of the Dakota Conflict.

That land was placed in a permanent trust at that time for those on the census list as well as for their descendants.
Over time, those lands, which include reservations at Lower Sioux, Prairie Island and Shakopee, have been taken out of the control of the lineal descendants by others who were allowed to return as part of the federal Indian Reorganization Act.

The suit claims the descendants have a right to that land based on the promise of the United States.
At a hearing held this past week in Washington, D.C. those involved in the case talked about the amount of money that could be involved in this claim, as casinos now exist on all three reservations, as well as who would and would not be considered a legitimate claimant.

One of those who can trace his ancestry to a name on the census in Al Eller, who said his grandfather was Henry St. Clair.
Eller, who said since the suit was first filed, several claims have been made that are untrue, including a rumor a couple of years ago of what was called a white-out of casino employees.

The rumor was in regards to what is known as TERO, which gives preference to American Indians when job openings occur, so long as the individuals have the qualifications.
“These are just scare tactics,” said Eller, adding from his perspective when it comes to employees the best person for the job should have it.

A ruling has been handed down recently that allows for the allocation of a trust fund of $1 million given to those loyal Mdewakan-ton who ceded land to the U.S. in exchange for financial compensation. After the initial payments were ended due to the conflict, a new treaty was signed in 1868 that resumed the payments for that land turned over to the government.

A U.S. federal court judge sided with the tribe, and the hearing held this past week was directed by presiding Judge Charles Lettow to create a payment plan.
A series of scheduled dates held from February through May are intended to help create that plan before final judgment is handed down by the court.

“The Wolfchild case goes on,” said Kaardal, adding, however, the final resolution date of the case still remains unknown.
Copyright 2011 Redwood Falls Gazette. Some rights reserved

THIS STORY CAME FROM WWW.NEWSFORNATIVES.COM AND HAS BEEN COPIED TO WWW.MENDOTADAKOTA.COM

Mendota Dakota may lose center

By NICOLE NORFLEET, Star Tribune

September 4, 2010

The water at the two-story home of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community hasn’t been working for weeks. The garage door looks like a wrecking ball could have hit it. The wood foundation of the sweat lodge, which is supposed to serve as a spiritual haven, is left exposed without a tarp.

Tribal council members think they have enough money to pay the rent for the Mendota house that they’ve been using as a community center through October. But if they aren’t awarded a grant in the next couple of months, they don’t know what they’ll do after that.

"Our water’s been out for almost a month, and it’s ridiculous," said Jim Anderson, cultural chairman for the community. "These are the kind of struggles that we have all the time just to keep a place open that has our information, that has the history."

The community center serves in many capacities to the 300-member Mendota Dakota community. It’s where members hold tribal council meetings, teach Dakota language classes and plan preservation efforts.

But even after the landlord reduced the monthly rent from $1,200 to $800 in July, money and time are running out. Funds from a three-year, $60,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation are dwindling. Tribal council members are applying for another grant from the foundation this month.

"If things don’t change, we’ll probably be moving somewhere else at the end of October," said tribal council member Sharon Lennartson.

The location of the community center, which is up for sale by the owner, is important to the group, said some of its tribal council members. The place nearby where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers meet is where the Mendota Dakota traditionally believe life began, Anderson said.

"It’s the place of our origin, the place of our genesis, the place where the Creator put us," he said.

While a location in Chaska has been brought up as an alternative, community members want to stay in Mendota. "This is where we’re from, and to lose that is a huge loss," said tribal vice chairman Jim Albrecht.

A feast in slim times

Even as they are trying to figure out the fate of their center, the Mendota are preparing for their annual powwow.

Unlike the recent powwow of their peers farther south, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, the Mendota group won’t be able to shoot off fireworks or offer thousands of dollars in prize money for the dancers. In Mendota, they couldn’t afford new T-shirts or buttons, so they are going to sell the ones from last year, Lennartson said.

Some people generalize when they think of Native Americans, she said. "They think, ‘Those rich Indians,’ but we’re far from it," she said. "We’re on the other side of the tracks."

The Shakopee own the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and Little Six Casino, along with other enterprises. Plus, they are acknowledged by the federal government as a recognized tribe, giving them access to funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Mendota Dakota applied for federal recognition in the late 1990s, but federal reviewers pointed to deficiencies and omissions in the group’s petition.

Reapplying would take resources and manpower, both of which the group is short of, Lennartson said.

She is paid $25 a week to serve as receptionist, webmaster and bookkeeper for the community, she said. For the past few weeks, she has been working more from home because the water isn’t working at the center.

Despite the uncertainty about the center and the community’s future, the Mendota Dakota are forging ahead.

"Somehow, we always seem able to put the powwow on and feed the people and everything else, so it works out," Anderson said. "The Creator has been watching out for us in good ways, but it gets hard trying to struggle just to pay the bills and to keep one place here."

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495