Reprinted in the spirit of Thanksgiving..............

Investment News
October 31, 2005
By Charles Paikert - New York, NY


Native American Advisors Helps Tribes Manage Money

Some are flush with cash from gaming operations – Dean Parisian is on a mission to help Native American tribes do a better job of managing money. Thanks to lucrative casino and gaming operations, some Native American tribes are flush with cash. But the tribal councils overseeing those operations are short on financial know-how, said Mr. Parisian, chairman and founder of Alpharetta, Ga.-based Native American Advisors Inc.

“There’s a lack of financial sophistication and a lack of knowledge about the availability of investment services,” said Mr. Parisian, a member of the White Earth Chippewa nation. For the past 20 years, Mr. Parisian, whose firm does business as Chippewa Partners, has been working as an investment advisor for Indian tribes.

Relationship Problems - Many tribes, he said, are swayed too easily by their relationships with local bankers and high-pressure lobbying from Wall Street firms. Local banks, Mr. Parisian said, should be doing a better job of managing short-term money for the tribes. And large Wall Street firms, he maintains, burden tribes with excessive fees. One of the biggest investment challenges that many tribes face is “the need to understand the roles and responsibilities of the money managers that they hire and be able to evaluate their effectiveness and their overall performance,” said Mike Roberts, president of First Nations Development Institute, a Denver-and Fredericksburg, Va.-based policy, research and philanthropic organization for Native Americans. For years, Mr. Parisian has provided pro-bono advice and management to a variety of Native American Tribes, foundations, retirement plans and scholarship funds.

He has advised the Chippewa on their retirement and 401-k plans and managed fixed-income securities for First Nations. He also sits on its advisory board and is preparing an educational curriculum for understanding investments. Mr. Parisian also is featured in an investment guide for Native Americans that is being put out by Washington-based NASD. “I’m trying to effect positive change,” said Mr. Parisian, who often donates 10% of his fee back to a tribe he is working with, so it can set up a scholarship fund.

Some Frustration – But as a businessman, he admits to sometimes getting frustrated. “You’re dealing with sovereign nations, and some tribal councils are not that well-versed in financial matters,” Mr. Parisian said. Many tribes also insist on a number of face-to-face meetings, which can be difficult for an advisory firm with less than $25 million under management. “You can’t fax a handshake,” he said.

But Mr. Parisian is heartened by the younger generation, which is starting to assume tribal leadership. “They’re better educated and more sophisticated,” he said. “And there are more people willing to do business on the phone.”

Thanksgiving Week -- 2007

Gun Control is making sure you hit your target.....

About a year ago.........Butte, Montana November 5, 2006

Two criminal aliens, Ralphel Resindez, 23, and Enrico Garza, 26, probably believed they would easily overpower home-alone 11 year old Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two-story home.

It seems the two crooks never learned two things: they were in Montana and Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine.

Patricia was in her upstairs room when the two men broke through the front door of the house. She quickly ran to her father's room and grabbed his 12 gauge Mossberg 500shotgun.

Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor only to be the first to catch a near point blank blast of buckshot from the 11-year-old's knee crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his abdomen and genitals.

When Garza ran to the foot of the stairs, he took a blast to the left shoulder and staggered out into the street where he bled to death before medical help could arrive.

It was found out later that Resindez was armed with a stolen 45 caliber handgun he took from another home invasion robbery. That victim, 50-year-old David Burien, was not so lucky. He died from stab wounds to the chest.

Ever wonder why this stuff never makes NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, or ABC News?

Tonight as I type.............

The sound of water coming down the spout is welcome. The pitter-patter of rain drops I thought to be extinct in Georgia!!

It's so far overdue........may it continue for weeks.

Weekend musings..........

San Antonio, Texas was humid and warm. The Hyatt Regency Hill Country is not so much a grand design of world class architecture as it is a world class resort for Texas hospitality. I was impressed. And the food wasn't bad either.

Lyle Lovett and his band can kick ass on stage. A fun bunch.

Red Eagles were defeated 7 to 6.........it's over

It's over. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. As my late Mother always told me before a high school football game, "Son, in 10 years no one will remember the score, just do your best". It seems like only last week we were at Wills Park in the blistering heat getting started. Trying to meld and mold a dozen and a half young men into a crisp, hard-hitting, fun Red Eagle football team.

First, a huge thank-you to Head Coach Chapman for giving me the opportunity to join him in such a privileged endeavor. I am sure that some day, Jordan will look back on this year with priceless memories of having his Dad around at practice. Second, a big thank-you to such a great bunch of Dad's who helped coach this team and to those who helped in any capacity to make this football team what it was and to bring a better experience to our sons. Your efforts and commitment meant so much. Third, thank you parents and siblings for the sacrifices you made in your business and family life to get your son chauffeured around a traffic-congested little town in North Atlanta, home to what is arguably one of the best youth league football programs in America.

For me, it was a learning experience. It was good. I hope the love and intensity I had for the team rubbed off on these young men. I'm not an intricate X's and O's type of football coach for better or worse. I do hope that down the road, at the mall, in church, at a movie, at a high school football game, that when your sons see me they will wear a smile and show the same respect to me then as they have this year. I hope they had fun and will remember me fondly with respect. For all of them, it was a learning experience. They were all so different and all such great kids. I'm sad to see it end.

Sometimes playing football isn't all fun. It represents life in so many ways. Once in a while we get beat. Often enough we don't get along. Once in a while we all suck it up on 4th and long in our jobs and our marriages. We make plenty of mistakes. I made plenty this year. They were easy to see and easy to hear. They will make me a better coach and a better Dad.

I hope I will be able to attend our Red Eagle party. My oldest son and I will be hunting elk and deer in Montana from 11/17 to 11/25 and hope the party is held outside of those dates.

Your sons are America's best. Thank you for the privilege to be their coach.

Georgia born n bred..........

As many of you know, I have been hunting with my great friend Ron Branch since 1991.

We have covered some great country, taken a few great animals, shared some great meals, shared some aged liquor and uncovered some of life's largest questions over that time. The answers we're still working on. Over the years, I married, he married, saw my 2 sons come into the world, buried his Dad, buried my Mother, shot some elk, both start businesses, turned him on to big muley bucks and in turn, had my eldest son, Hunter, take his first two whitetail deer on his farm. A farm I have grown to love to hunt. Why? Just because it fits. It isn't easy. It's thick cover. Good cover for big bucks.

A few short years ago we decided to stop shooting bucks on his farm that were 2.5 years or younger and let some of the little guys turn into decent breeding stock. The local neighbors who hunt love us. On the farm, his brother Stan has a feeder that feeds deer and turkey all year round. We had this buck stare the camera down the other day on the farm.



Last weekend Ron and I again passed on several small bucks. The potential for bigger bucks is there.

Like making money in the stock market, all it takes is time. Like Dad always said, you can't eat horns but this buck would taste mighty good.