Here is the order: 2007-06J Case Assignments LAO 2007.
ICWA Cases To Be Assigned to One Judge in Washtenaw County (Judge Connors!)
Here is the order: 2007-06J Case Assignments LAO 2007.
Michigan Indian
Michigan State Bar American Indian Law Section 2010 Newsletter
Miigwetch to Alicia Ivory!!!!!
Grand Traverse Band Announces Revenue Sharing Payments
Here is the press release: 2% first half 2010 press release 07-30-10
Michigan tuition waiver limited to federally recognized tribes
From Indianz.com
Pokagon Band Announces New Casino
A Michiana Indian tribe is ready to try and launch a ‘satellite.’
A satellite casino, that is.
The tribal owners of the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo today voted to expand gaming operations by pursuing a satellite facility near Hartford.
Hartford is in Van Buren County and has its own exit off I-94. Hartford is about five miles north of Coloma, and 45-miles away from New Buffalo.
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians has had state permission to pursue the satellite project since October of 2008 when it renegotiated a gaming compact with Michigan.
The Hartford area casino would be much smaller than the Four Winds in New Buffalo.
Michigan Indian Legal Services Summer 2010 Newsletter
Here: MILS_Newsletter_Spring-Summer_2010_Issue.
News about Aaron Allen (MSU Law grad), Erin Lane (current MSU law student), and John Petoskey.
News Coverage of GTB Election Delays (and Copies of GTB Election Board Decisions)
Election Board decisions: Election Board Opinion Russell McClellan 7 13 10 and Election Board Supplemental Opinion.
From the Leelanau Enterprise:
A General Election to seat three members of the seven-member Tribal Council of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians has been delayed yet again.
The election was slated to occur today, July 15, but has been postponed for a third time. A new date had not been determined as of press time this week.
The tribe’s appointed Election Board met in special sessions on Monday and Tuesday to hear testimony, review evidence and discuss a complaint that one of the six candidates in the election failed to comply with election regulations by campaigning during working hours and taking other actions that threatened the integrity of the election process.
Former Tribal Councilor and current candidate Thurlow “Sam” McClellan was accused of campaigning during working hours by having phone conversations with incumbent Tribal Councilor Brian Napont, whose term does not expire until 2012. During the conversation, McClellan and Napont were heard in a recorded conversation disparaging other candidates and incumbent tribal leaders.
The phone conversations had been recorded, apparently inadvertently, through a voice mail system in a tribal office. The recordings were subsequently copied and distributed among tribal members by third parties.
“While it is clear that McClellan did not intend for his phone conversation with Napont to be recorded, or for it to be circulated among members of the tribe, the fact remains that the message was recorded, and that the message has been circulating among Tribal voters,” according to an opinion and determination issued by the Election Board on Tuesday evening.
Cranbrook Repatriation
From Indianz:
The Cranbrook Institute of Science in Michigan is preparing to repatriate 59 ancestors to a group of tribes.
The 13 tribes requested the ancestors in 2008. The museum’s board of directors voted to repatriate the remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
“It is the right thing to do,” Michael Stafford, the Institute’s director, told The Detroit Free Press. “We don’t view these remains as data. We see them as people, with spirits and souls.”
The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians is coordinating the process. The band will work with the other tribes on the reburial.
“We see this as a human rights issue,” Eric Hemenway, a repatriation expert for the tribe, told the paper.
Get the Story:
Tribes to finally lay ancestors to rest (The Detroit Free Press 7/21)
Gun Lake Casino Construction Update
From the Grand Rapids Press, via Pechanga:
WAYLAND TOWNSHIP — The Gun Lake Casino is back on track through a $165 million loan arranged by Goldman Sachs and announced Tuesday.
Work on the 83,000-square-foot Allegan County gaming facility off U.S. 131 had slowed as the Gun Lake Band of Pottawatomi and its backers faltered in their ability to secure the loan in time to continue construction in time to meet their original plan to open this fall.
The five-year, 12 percent loan, which can be paid off after the third year, means the casino should be able to open sometime in early 2011, according to a statement released by the tribe. A specific opening date is expected to be announced soon.
“We’re going to shoot for January,” said John Shagonaby, chief executive of the Gun Lake Tribal Gaming Authority. “It’s all an estimate at this point. Once we get a couple of months into construction, we’ll be able to have a better idea.”
The delay was the latest in a string of setbacks for the tribe, which spent more than 10 years dealing with regulatory and court challenges only to emerge into a dicey economy that resulted in plans for the casino being scaled back when they were announced last year.
Martin v. Little River Band State Court Claims Voluntarily Dismissed
Here: Order of Dismissal.
Turtle Talk 
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