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MINNESOTA - Minnesota's new governor and leaders from the Mille Lacs Chippewa tribe have expressed radically different thinking in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling on hunting and fishing rights. On December 2, 1998, the Supreme Court reviewed the case and debated whether eight Chippewa tribes still have the right to hunt and fish in central Minnesota without state regulation.

Newly elected Governor Jesse Ventura, sounded off at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, D.C., about the complex treaty rights case. Ventura commented, "If those rules apply [hunting and spear-fishing treaty rights], then they ought to be back in birch-bark canoes." Ventura discounted the Chippewa's claim of natural heritage and treaty rights by claiming his own natural-heritage fishing rights. Ventura said that he ought to be able to use the "Dupont fishing" method he learned when he was a Navy Seal, wherein a hand-grenade is thrown into the water and stunned fish are retrieved. "That's my natural heritage," Ventura said. "My heritage as a frogman is DuPont fishing. I would question why I can't DuPont fish."

In strong contrast to the governor's remarks, Marge Anderson, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Chippewa tribe, asked for grace, respect and dignity in response to the decision, however it is decided. In a letter to tribal members Anderson wrote: "Whatever the outcome, do ask that you carry yourselves with the dignity that is your heritage. Respect the very real anguish that many of our non-Indian neighbors may feel in the event that the Court sides with the Band. Reach out to them in peace and in friendship and reassure them that we will always protect this most precious resource."

If the Chippewa tribes win, they could be entitled to up to half the harvest from Lake Mills Lacs, the state's premier walleye lake. Lower courts have sided with the Chippewa.