Michigan Indian – Page 111

1500-Slot Casino Planned for Port Huron if BMIC Vanderbilt Casino Succeeds

November 28, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here is the article.

An excerpt:

With little to lose and much to gain, the Bay Mills Indian Community has opened a mini-casino in Vanderbilt, a village on Interstate 75 north of Gaylord, without federal or state approval.

If the play in Vanderbilt succeeds, the tribe will convert the old Port Huron post office on Military Street into a temporary casino with 1,500 slot machines.

Eventually, Bay Mills intends to build a permanent casino and luxury hotel at Desmond Landing, where the tribe owns 16.5 acres. This parcel would become the first Indian reservation in Port Huron since the 1830s when federal troops forcibly removed the Blackwater band of the Chippewa to Kansas.

ICT Article on Bay Mills Vanderbilt Casino Controversy

November 27, 2010November 24, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

By Gale Courey Toensing, Today staff

VANDERBILT, Mich. – In a move that astonished the gaming world in Michigan and outraged some of the state’s tribal nations, the Bay Mills Indian Community announced it has opened a new casino on off-reservation land without the usual state and federal approvals.

Bay Mills tribal leaders said Nov. 3 that the tribe’s newest gaming facility on 47 acres of land in Vanderbilt purchased in fee simple in August complies with all applicable gaming laws. The new casino has 38 slot machines.

The tribe operates two casinos in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on reservation land. The Vanderbilt casino is in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, about 170 miles north of Lansing.

“The new business venture was seen as positive by the residents of Vanderbilt, where the unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation,” the tribe announced on its website – http://www.baymillsnews.com.

The new business venture was not viewed as positively by other tribes in the state.

The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Gun Lake Tribe of Pottawatomi Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, and Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe immediately issued a statement condemning the action.

“This attempt to conduct Indian gaming in the absence of trust land is a serious violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and long-held federal Indian gaming policy. Bay Mills has also violated the state gaming compacts, most notably Section 9 which clearly requires the consent of all Michigan tribes to pursue gaming on non-reservation lands,” the tribal leaders wrote.

The five-tribe coalition called on the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Justice and Interior departments to work quickly with state officials to close the new casino, “which threatens to undermine the significant public support for Indian gaming here within the State of Michigan and around the country.”

On Nov. 8 the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians Chairman Ken Harrington announced that the Bay Mills casino violates the exclusivity zone provision of its gaming compact. The tribe will stop the six percent of net slot revenues to the state – a loss of millions of dollars to state’s coffers.

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Judge Ludington Rules on Saginaw Chippewa Boundary Settlement

November 26, 2010November 25, 2010Kate Fort

According to the Morning Sun, Judge Ludington approved the agreements between the tribe and the state, county and city. The judge ruled from the bench, so the order isn’t available yet.

Federal and Tribal Responses to AG Cox Objections to Saginaw Chippewa Settlement

November 23, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

USA Response to Cox Objections

SCIT Response to Cox Objections

According to this news article (via Pechanga), Judge Ludington could issue an order today.

News Analysis on Saginaw Chippewa Reservation Boundaries Settlement

November 17, 2010November 17, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun:

Expert: settlement could bring clarity

By MARK RANZENBERGER

An expert in the law of Indian country says the agreements that could end the Indian country lawsuit could bring some sense and clarity to where, and to whom, Tribal jurisdiction applies.

“Indian country in Michigan is a mess,” said Michigan State University Law School professor [Matthew] Fletcher, who teaches in the indigenous law program. “Most lands that could be considered Indian lands are checkerboarded, with multiple jurisdictions asserting authority over lands dependent on who owns them, Indian or non-Indian individuals or entitles.”

The settlement agreements hammered out in 20 months of closed-door negotiations define Indian country in Isabella County as all of Deerfield, Denver, Isabella, Nottawa and Wise townships, the north halves of Chippewa and Union townships, and a small portion of federal trust land south of Remus Road in Chippewa Township.

“This settlement starts from scratch, and reinstates settled boundaries that everyone can recognize and understand from Day One,” Fletcher said.

Those boundaries are among the items in the settlements being challenged by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. He argues that not all the land within the boundary area is part of the historic Isabella Reservation, because it had already been sold off to private owners or given to the state of Michigan before the treaties of 1858 and 1864, which allocated land to members of the predecessor bands of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

“Attorney General Cox objects to the settlements involving the state, but the city and county are nonetheless affected by the state’s agreement,” said Joy Yearout, Cox’s spokeswoman. “The proposed settlement necessarily subsumes the city and the county because they are both affected by any resolution of the establishment of a reservation and the determination of what is or is not included on the reservation.”

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Bay Mills Indian Community Gaming Ordinance Amendment (Sept. 15, 2010)

November 16, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here, and here: BMIC Gaming Ordinance Amendment 9-15-10

MSU NAISO Talk — Prof. Fletcher on Michigan Indian Treaty Rights — TONIGHT 7:00 PM

November 16, 2010November 16, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

MSU NAISO will host a talk on Michigan Anishinaabek treaty rights tonight at 7 PM. The talk will be held at the MSU College of Law in Room 325.

Interlochen Public Radio Spot on BMIC’s Vanderbilt Casino

November 15, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From IPR:

Listen

VanderbiltCasino.mp3

By Linda Stephan

There’s a new Indian-run casino in Vanderbilt north of Gaylord along I-75. It’s a small facility with just a few dozen slot machines.

Its opening came as a shock to the state, and to several Indian nations in northern Michigan who contend it’s illegal.

Quiet Open
The new casino opened so quietly early this month that its nearest competitor knew nothing of it.

“I heard 9&10 News was traveling over there to view the opening. So that’s how we found out,” says Ken Harrinton, chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. His tribe owns a much larger casino, about 30 miles away in Petoskey, The Odawa Casino Resort.

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