From West Michigan Business:
GRAND RAPIDS — Odds are even the Gun Lake casino will be a winning bet today.
This morning, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon was to hear motions that could once more delay a casino plan, now entering its 10th year of legal maneuvering.
At stake: whether the federal government can turn 147 acres in Wayland Township into tribal land, by placing it in trust.
The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Gun Lake Band of Pottawatomi said last week they would wait until 5 p.m. today before inking the transfer. That is expected to happen if the judge denies motions to delay.
If the stay is rejected, former Wayland Township trustee David Patchak would lose his bid to derail the casino. And as soon as tonight, the casino could cross its legal finish line.
Or it could be on hold from five days to five months.
Patchak and his attorney, Bruce Courtade, members of the anti-casino group 23 is Enough, sued in August. Their case pins its hopes on a Rhode Island case now before the Supreme Court.
One motion before Judge Leon this morning seeks a delay until the Supreme Court rules on Rhode Island’s case, which is expected by June. That state is appealing lower court rulings allowing a Narragansetts tribal casino to proceed.
But the Rhode Island case is a new wrinkle on the tribal landscape. Known as the Carcieri case for the state’s governor, it targets wording in the 1934 Indian Reform Act. One issue is the intention of the word “now.”
The act defines Indian tribes “now under the jurisdiction of the federal government.” The Carcieri appeal, based on that phrase, would disqualify tribes not recognized in 1934.
The Gun Lake Band won recognition by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1999; the Narragansetts in 1983.
“The tendency of this court is to apply those statutes kind of rigorously,” said Curt Benson, Cooley Law School associate professor in Grand Rapids.
Another expert, Robert Odawi Porter of Syracuse University Law School, said the Rhode Island case’s tactic is unprecedented.
“This statute’s been on the books for 75 years and no one’s ever made this argument before,” Porter said.
The law was not focused simply on tribes as of 1934. The act “wasn’t a moment in time. It established a process that any Indian tribe could follow.”
In today’s hearing, Benson said, the casino opposition has a lot more at stake than the tribe does.
If the judge refuses to issue the stay, “it damages their position absolutely,” Benson said of Patchak’s case. On the other hand, a stay is less drastic for the tribe after so many years of effort.
“Really, all it means is a little more delay for the Gun Lake Band,” Benson said. Ultimately, he expects the tribe to win its quest for a casino. He believes it will happen just before Rhode Island wins its Supreme Court case and complicates tribal and states’ rights going forward.
Gun Lake tribal spokesman James Nye said the Carcieri case is not similar to his tribe’s.
“It involves a differently situated tribe and factual circumstances, and will not control the outcome of the Patchak lawsuit,” Nye said.
Late Friday, Courtade filed a second motion seeking a five-day stay if all else fails to slow the tribe’s bid.
“We are attempting to prevent the federal government and Gun Lake Band from trying to rush the land into trust if there is a momentary window of opportunity,” Courtade said.
The proposed $200 million casino is planned for the former Ampro Industries factory at 129th Avenue, east of U.S. 131.
Once the Interior Department creates the land trust, it is legally “unreviewable,” Benson said. So further lawsuits or appeals would be moot.
In a rough economy, public opinion appears to be backing the tribe’s casino. In an online poll by The Press last week, 65 percent of those polled said they backed the Wayland casino, while 15 percent opposed it. Twenty percent were neutral.
At the same time, a Battle Creek casino about to open, FireKeepers, was overwhelmed with job seekers when it opened its online application site. On the first day it sought 1,500 employees, 4,500 applications came in. The casino anticipates more than 10,000 applications for jobs paying from $7.40 to $18 an hour in three shifts a day.
Press Photo/Rex LarsenBruce Patrick, a Wayland business owner and city councilman, said he is surprised that the fight against the casino continues.Although Patchak is a Wayland area resident, others who would live near the casino are growing weary of the legal wrangling and delays.
Bruce Patrick, 51, rolled his eyes at news of the latest lawsuit.
“It’s just getting a little ridiculous. They can’t keep doing these frivolous lawsuits forever.
“People need jobs and our economy needs the revenue from this. They are stalling this. They know they can’t stop it.
Patrick, a Wayland city councilman, owns the coffee shop Daily Brews in downtown Wayland.
“I’m surprised anybody is still fighting this,” he said.
Turtle Talk 