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Red Lake, Minn. (AP) ― It's been just over a year since the Red Lake Reservation was the scene of a mass school shooting, and only now is the community regaining "a sense of normalcy," said Red Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr.

Jourdain said that's the case despite a new threat made against Red Lake High School on March 18 and the subsequent arrest of a male student who appeared in federal court in Duluth, Minn., on Wednesday.

Jourdain said he didn't have all the details of the case, but he said there would have been a much stronger security response if authorities felt lives were threatened. The FBI has said the alleged threat has been "neutralized."

Outside Red Lake High School on Thursday, the situation appeared normal. A tribal police squad car was parked outside, but tribal officers have been posted at reservation schools since the shootings.

"The community is pretty mellow right now," Jourdain said.

That's a long way from the chaos after March 21, 2005, when 16-year-old Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's companion before driving to the reservation's high school. At the school, he killed a security guard, a teacher and five students before shooting himself.

Although investigators have said that up to 39 students had some degree of knowledge about Weise's thoughts, only the chairman's son, Louis Jourdain, was charged with a crime. He is serving an unspecified sentence away from the reservation after admitting exchanging threatening e-mails with Weise.

"He's doing fine," Jourdain said. "He'll be graduating from school in June and hopefully will attend college next year."

He said which college has yet to be decided. "He misses being home, but he's aware this is the opening of a new chapter in his life," Jourdain.

Jourdain spoke before a luncheon speech given by Quanah Crossland Stamps, commissioner for the Administration for Native Americans, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Stamps, a member of the Cherokee nation, visited the northern Minnesota reservation to check how the tribe had spent a $311,400 grant intended to provide activities and opportunities for young people.

The money has been used for renovations at four community centers and for two school counselors.

Stamps, who visited the reservation shortly after the shooting, said the mood there had considerably brightened. "It's good to see you laugh again, hug, and tell stories without tears in your eyes," she told a crowd of about 100, many of them young people.

During her speech, she told the crowd they were an inspiration, both to her and to other American Indians across the country.

"No community ... has touched me more than the Red Lake people," she said. "In the midst of your tremendous grief at Red Lake, we grieved with all of you and you brought us a spirit of hope for your children, for your community."

Jourdain said he was grateful for the support of the ANA since the shootings. He said many groups and agencies had come to the reservation in the days afterward, bringing sympathy and checks. "ANA stuck around," he said.

He said ANA had brought in AmeriCorps volunteers from California and made it possible to enlist several new AmeriCorps members from among the reservation youth.

Several people attending the luncheon agreed that the situation on the reservation is returning to normal, despite the threat earlier this week, though none were willing to be quoted by name.

However, Francis Brun, who is running against Jourdain for tribal chairman, said he doesn't agree. Brun's son was the security guard killed in the school shootings.

He said drugs and alcohol still plague the community. "There's still a lot of tension about the violence that occurs every weekend on this reservation," he said.

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)