Interesting reading: Bert Johnson from Paula Hart — Compact Letter 6.16.10.
Michigan Indian
Does the Michigan Gaming Control Board Have Immunity from Race Discrimination Claims?
Seems like a worthy research item, after reading this and the general shoddy treatment the Board has given the Sault Tribe all these years.
From Indianz:
The Michigan Gaming Control Board approved the transfer of the Greektown Casino Hotel in Detroit to a new group of owners over protests from members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
Tribal members were upset because the tribe had to undergo an extensive investigation before obtaining the state license. The board waived the requirement for the new owners.
“A rubber glove in a doctor’s office is thorough. This was beyond that,” D.J. Hoffman, a member of the tribe’s board, said of his background check, The Detroit Free Press reported.
“It’s not fair to us,” added tribal member Denise Chase, The Detroit News reported. “You investigated us for two years.”
The tribe could have found new investors for the casino had it known about an exemption, tribal members said. “I’m just hoping that you apply the same standards that you expected of our tribe and our people,” Lana Causeley said, The Detroit News reported.
The casino went through bankruptcy proceedings.
Huron Potawatomi Election Results
From the Battle Creek Enquirer:
Huron Potawatomi announces tribal election results
Michelle Rahl • Reader Submitted • June 28, 2010
-The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP) announced today the results of its election for Tribal Council. Three seats on the five-member Tribal Council were up for election on Saturday, April 24, 2010.
Tribal members voted to re-elect RoAnn Beebe-Mohr of West Olive to the Tribal Council along with newcomers Dorie Rios of Battle Creek and Nathaniel W. Spurr of Grosse Pointe. The positions are three-year terms. The Tribal election board certified the votes last month.
Beebe-Mohr, Rios and Spurr will join Homer A. Mandoka of Bronson, Michigan, and Jamie Stuck of Scotts, Michigan, who were re-elected to the Tribal Council last year.
Following the ‘swearing in of the new Council Members’, the Tribal Council voted to appoint Council members to the follow officers positions:
Homer A. Mandoka – Chairperson
Jamie P. Stuck – Vice-Chairperson
RoAnn Beebe-Mohr – Secretary
Dorie Rios – Treasurer
Nat W. Spurr Sergeant-at-Arms
“With the next election two years away, the Tribal Council will be able to roll up our sleeves and strive to accomplish our long-term goals and objectives” said Homer A. Mandoka, Chairperson of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi. “One of the Tribal Council’s main goals is the implementation of our Land Use Master Plan, which identifies land use for program and service expansion, including educational and recreational use, along with safe and affordable housing while preserving open spaces.”
The Tribal Council recently completed a tribal governance-training conference called “Building Strong Sovereign Nations.” The training was administered by the Michigan State University Extension and funded with a start up grant provided by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Additionally, the Tribal Council brought to the reservation for a two day intensive training session on parliamentary meeting rules with renowned trainer – James Mills of Creating Stronger Nations.
There are more than 1,100 Tribal members. The Tribe’s administrative offices are at the Pine Creek Reservation in Athens Township with a satellite office in Grand Rapids to better serve members.
Little River Withdraws Petition for Land into Trust, Will Likely Resubmit
From 6/25/10 MIRS (subscription only):
Feds Nix Indian Casino Expansion, For Now
At least for the time being, the U.S. Department of the Interior delayed a Michigan Native American tribe’s plan to move forward with a casino project near the site of the now-defunct Great Lakes Downs Racetrack near Muskegon.
The Little River Band of Chippewa Indians wants to open a casino on the Great Lakes Downs location. The tribe was one of the four tribes that compacted with the state in 1998 for the right to operate class III (Las Vegas style) casinos. It currently operates a casino in Manistee.
Because the location is not within current tribal boundaries, there are several hurdles the tribe would need to clear in order to operate a casino at the Muskegon site. One hurdle has already been cleared. On March 19, Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM signed two amendments to the state’s compact with the Little River band that would let it build the new casino.
The Governor attached her signature after a deal was negotiated between her administration and the tribe.
“It would mean considerable revenues,” John WERNET, deputy legal counsel told MIRS today. “The good news would be that this would mean more dollars for the School Aid Fund (SAF). The bad news is that this would take years before it happened.”
The next step would be to have the Legislature approve one of the amendments. This is HCR 0054, sponsored by Rep. Doug BENNETT (D-Muskegon), which is currently before the House Regulatory Reform Committee.
Meanwhile, the other amendment to the compact was sent to the U.S. Department of Interior for approval. That’s where the project hit a roadblock.
Continue reading
Asian Carp Caught Beyond Chicago’s Barriers
From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:
CHICAGO — An Asian carp was found for the first time beyond electric barriers meant to keep the voracious invasive species out of the Great Lakes, state and federal officials said Wednesday, prompting renewed calls for swift action to block their advance.
Commercial fishermen landed the 3-foot-long, 20-pound bighead carp in Lake Calumet on Chicago’s South Side, about six miles from Lake Michigan, according to the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee.
Officials said they need more information to determine the significance of the find.
“The threat to the Great Lakes depends on how many have access to the lakes, which depends on how many are in the Chicago waterway right now,” said John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
But environmental groups said the discovery leaves no doubt that other Asian carp have breached barriers designed to prevent them from migrating from the Mississippi River system to the Great Lakes and proves the government needs to act faster.
“If the capture of this live fish doesn’t confirm the urgency of this problem, nothing will,” said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office.
GTB Primary Election Certified
From the Leelanau Enterprise:
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians on June 10 completed a successful Primary Election process after experiencing delays earlier this spring.
“No challenges were filed and we certified the Primary Election,” reported Desmond Berry, chairman of the tribal Election Board. “We are moving forward with our schedule of events and look forward to a July 15, 2010 General Election,” he said.
The primary was originally scheduled for April with the General Election slated for last month. Election challenges delayed the process, however. The names of three candidates were removed from the original Primary Election ballot after the Election Board determined the three had violated campaign rules.
One of the candidates, incumbent tribal councilor Rebecca Woods, appealed the Election Board’s determination to the Tribal Judiciary. But the Election Board’s determination was upheld by the panel of Tribal Court judges.
Woods has since resigned from the Tribal Council and accepted a position as the tribe’s chief financial officer. The names of candidates Gail Diaz and Angela Shinos were also removed from the Primary Election ballot.
Reorganized Greektown Casino Investors Respond to Stupak
WASHINGTON – A week after U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak asked the federal Interior and Justice departments to put the brakes on the bankruptcy reorganization of Greektown Casino, a lawyer for the investors set to take control from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, said Stupak’s claims on behalf of the tribe should not be allowed to slow the process.
Allan Brilliant, a New York lawyer representing a group of private equity and hedge funds which will take ownership of the Detroit casino, said in his letter Tuesday that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar should “disregard” Stupak’s request to look into the reorganization, saying the tribe’s “last-minute, baseless attempt to delay such exit (from bankruptcy) is detrimental to all parties that benefit from the revenues generated by the facility.”
Last week, Stupak – a Democrat from Menominee on the Upper Peninsula, where the Sault tribe is based – said Holder and Salazar should look into whether land held in trust by the federal government on behalf of a tribe can be handed over to investors without an act of Congress.
He said some of the land on Beaubien Street in Detroit where Greektown Casino is located was given to the federal government on the tribe’s behalf by private investors.
Michigan COA Affirms Termination of Parental Rights under ICWA
Here is the unpublished opinion: In the Matter of MPT.
Hearing on Little River Band Off-Rez Gaming Compact Delayed
From Indianz:
A hearing on the off-reservation casino sought by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has been delayed.
The Michigan House Regulatory Reform Committee held an initial hearing on the project on May 26. Additional hearings were scheduled but they were canceled.
“I don’t get why they’re holding this up,” Rep. Doug Bennett (D), who supports the casino, told The Muskegon Chronicle.
The new hearing probably won’t be held until the end of this month or in early July, an aide to Rep. Bert Johnson, the chairman of the committee, told the paper. The location hasn’t been determined either although it will be held somewhere in the Muskegon area.
The tribe wants to build the casino at a former racetrack in Fruitport Township, near Muskegon. The site is about 80 miles from the tribe’s headquarters but it’s within the tribe’s nine-county service area.
The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians oppose the project. They say the Little River Band violated the terms of the original Class III compact by not seeking approval from other tribes for an off-reservation casino.
Get the Story:
State House group to have casino proposal hearing here (The Muskegon Chronicle 6/15)
Sault Tribe Enlisted Stupak to Pressure Justice and Interior on Greektown Parcel
From the Soo Evening News:
The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians has gained a powerful ally in its bid to retain Greektown Casino as Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) has requested the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Michigan Gaming Control Board to postpone Chapter 11 reorganization.
In a three-page letter [20100609_GreektownCasino], Stupak urges the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate if it is legally possible for the Sault Tribe to lose its real estate interest in Greektown Casino. Essentially, Stupak argued, that the 0.76 acre parcel located at 1010 Beaubien Street in the City of Detroit has been placed in federal trust and cannot be conveyed to another party without Congressional authorization.
“I seriously question the propriety and legality of a process in which the property conveyed to the United States in trust on behalf of the Tribe can be conveyed without authority from Congress and without full Tribal consent,” wrote Stupak, indicating it was his opinion that the parcel is owned by the federal government for the benefit and use of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
Stupak went on to write “that any further proceedings related to the reorganization of the Greektown Casino by the Michigan Gaming Control Board or other agencies be postponed” until a determination is made by federal authorities.
Stupak expressed his concerns regarding this matter following a meeting with Director D.J. Hoffman of the Sault Tribe Board of Directors last week.
“On June 4, 2010 myself, Director (Keith) Massaway and Chairman (Darwin “Joe”) McCoy met with Congressman Stupak to discuss Tribal issues, including Greektown,” said Hoffman. “I am extremely grateful that Congressman Stupak recognized the serious nature of this situation and immediately took action to call this issue into question.”
Chairman McCoy expressed similar sentiments.
Turtle Talk 
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