Michigan Indian

Gaming Finances Mismanagement Investigation at LTBB

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the Petoskey News-Review via Pechanga:

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians’ Gaming Board of Directors is under investigation by tribal police for alleged financial mismanagement.

In the April 2010 issue of “Odawa Trails,” the tribe’s monthly newsletter, tribal chairman Ken Harrington informs tribal citizens that, as a result of a recent ethics complaint filed by a tribal citizen, who was not named, the gaming board of directors is currently under investigation.

Harrington’s letter states: “Tribal police investigated, a warrant was issued and the tribal police acted on the warrant and seized the (gaming board’s) phones and computers.”

Harrington also reported in this letter, that after recently issuing an executive order to have the gaming board’s finances moved to the tribal government building, financial issues were discovered.

“It became apparent the (gaming board’s) budget was $20,000 over and overpayment of stipends became evident.”

Matthew Lesky, tribal prosecutor, confirmed to the New-Review Monday, during a phone interview, that the gaming board, in fact, is under investigation by tribal police for what he described as “financial management” issues.

As of press time today, Tuesday, no charges had yet been filed against the gaming board of directors in tribal court.

According to confidential tribal documents recently provided to the News-Review, it is alleged that on Jan. 25, the three remaining members of the gaming board of directors — Carol McFall, chairperson; Judith Pierzynowski, vice chairperson; and Sheran Patton, treasurer/secretary — acted outside its authority by terminating Denise White, director of human resources for the tribe, and approving a $53,000 severance check to her the following day (Jan. 26), which was stopped shortly after its issuance.

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Michigan Daily: Indians and Profs Discuss New NAGPRA Regs

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Michigan Daily:

About 40 people met in East Hall Friday to participate in a roundtable discussion of the new regulations of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act and the effects it will have on the repatriation process of culturally unidentifiable remains currently in the University’s possession.

NAGPRA — a federal law that has been in place since 1990 — requires museums to maintain lists of Native American artifacts in their possession, make those inventories available to the public and work with tribes to repatriate the artifacts.

Last month, a NAGPRA committee approved changes to the act that require museums — including the University’s Museum of Anthropology, which currently holds about 1,400 culturally unidentifiable remains — to consult with tribes from the areas where the culturally unidentifiable remains were exhumed and ultimately to return the remains.

The roundtable was hosted by the Ethnography-As-Activism Workgroup, a group comprised mostly of University graduate students that is part of the Rackham Interdisciplinary Workgroup program and is committed to using ethnography to promote activism.

The discussion, which coincided with the annual Dance For Mother Earth Powwow that was held over the weekend at Saline Middle School, aimed to focus on how the University will implement the new NAGPRA regulations, which go into effect next month.

Representatives from several tribes from across the state received a rousing applause from the group as they spoke passionately about the importance of having the remains currently in the University’s possession repatriated.

“It’s easy. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. Immoral is immoral,” one of the representatives said. “The law is on the side of (our) grandparents who lie in cardboard boxes. That’s where the spirit of that law is. Nobody else. This is why the Indian people of this state are alienated from this University — because of that single issue that the University is unwilling to discuss it with any of us.”

In addition the representatives, Toni Antonucci, chair of the University’s Advisory Committee on Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains under NAGPRA, Wenona Singel, associate director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center at Michigan State University and University of Michigan Anthropology Prof. Stuart Kirsch each gave short presentations and helped facilitate a group discussion afterward.

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38th Ann Arbor Powwow News Coverage

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Ann Arbor.com:

041010_POW_WOW_18-18_LON.JPG

Native American dancers become a swirl of light and colors as they make their way onto the Saline Middle School’s gymnasium floor.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Freep Editorial on the Kennecott Mine and Its Impact on Indian Sacred Sites

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the Freep:

UP mine threatens sacred tribal rights

BY JESSICA L. KOSKI

For far too long, the voices of affected and concerned Ojibwa people have been ignored in the midst of Kennecott’s proposed Eagle Mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

I am a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, and we did not invite Kennecott, a subsidiary of multinational mining giant Rio Tinto, to come into our ceded homelands and reservation territory to explore for minerals, blast into our sacred site, and leave behind a dying legacy of colonialism.

Indigenous peoples throughout the world are on the front lines of similar pressures to develop resources within their homelands, with little regard for their aboriginal rights. There is little mainstream media attention bringing awareness to these issues, despite a global movement for indigenous rights and numerous case studies on the impacts of mining and other extractive industries on indigenous communities.

In addition to the proposed Eagle Mine, Rio Tinto’s intentions to open up six additional mine sites, and increasing mineral exploration throughout the entire Lake Superior basin, are threatening Ojibwa treaty rights. Through treaties with the federal government, Ojibwa leaders ensured permanent reservations and retained rights to hunt, fish and gather on ceded lands. If the water and land are polluted from harmful mining, how will our treaty rights and cultural values be honored and continue into the future?

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GTB Election Postponed; Three Candidates Removed from Ballot

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:

PESHAWBESTOWN — Three candidates for Tribal Council were booted from the ballot, and the election is postponed until next week.

Three council positions are open for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, those held by incumbents Rebecca Woods, Connie TwoCrow and Sandra Anderson. Tribal election officials removed Woods from the ballot, along with candidates Gail Diaz and Angela Shinos, for election rules violations.

Tribal documents show the Election Board removed Woods from the ballot because she didn’t sign the bottom of her absentee ballot application. The board removed Diaz and Shinos for not submitting absentee ballot applications at all, as election rules require.

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NAGPRA Repatriation Roundtable at University of Michigan — April 9

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

REPATRIATION ROUNDTABLE

MOVING TOWARDS THE FUTURE

Friday, April 9

2:30-3:30pm

4448 East Hall

With the new federal regulations of Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) regarding “culturally unidentifiable” human remains becoming law in May, this roundtable, sponsored by the Ethnography-as-Activism Repatriation Subgroup, seeks to explore the University of Michigan’s future in the process of implementing these new regulations.

Please join us for short presentations from our panelists followed by what we hope is an engaging conversation.

Speakers:

  • Dean Toni Antonucci
    • Chair, Advisory Committee on Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains (CUHR) under NAGPRA; Associate Vice President for Research – Social Sciences and Humanities; Professor, Department of Psychology; and Research Professor, Institute for Social Research
  • Professor Wenona Singel
    • Assistant Professor of Law & Associate Director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center at Michigan State University
  • Professor Stuart Kirsch
    • Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UM

For more information about our group and about NAGPRA, please visit our website:


“The institution could not have a future with tribes until it had resolved its past”
Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh, Anthropology News, March 2010

Saginaw Valley St. Univ. Barstow Lecture on Indian Law — April 1

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here (the paper is here):

Barstow Lecturer to Explain History of Indian Land Law

Saginaw Valley State University will host a lecture by American Indian legal expert Matthew Fletcher Thursday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall. In his talk, he will explain how a 2007 decree finally ended a 170-year-old dispute regarding Michigan Indians’ land rights. The lecture is part of SVSU’s Barstow Humanities Seminar series.

Fletcher says the delay owes its origins to miscommunication. In 1836, five Michigan Indian tribes entered into a treaty with the state and federal governments over “inland rights” – a treaty in which the Indians ceded their land in exchange for defined areas where they could fish, hunt and gather. The problem was that two of the treaty’s key words – “occupancy” and “settlement” – had vastly different meanings in the local Indian language. Relying on their understanding, the Indians agreed to the treaty.

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Indian Mascots Video re: Clinton, Michigan

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Michigan Indian Law Day Agenda (UPDATED) — April 2

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

University of Michigan NALSA

2010 Indian Law Day Schedule

Looking Inward: Tribal Governance

Blessing

1:00 – 1:10

Joseph Brave-Heart

Keynote Speaker

1:10 -1:40

Frank Ettawageshik

Former Tribal Chairman, Little Traverse Bay

Bands of Odawa Indians

Tribal Constitutions

1:45 – 2:25

Allie Maldonado, Assistant General Counsel,

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians

Mike Phelan, Office of the General Counsel

Pokagon Band Potawatomi Indians

Tribal Courts

2:30 – 3:10

Prof. Matthew Fletcher, Michigan State University College of Law

Amy Kullenberg, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians

Break/Refreshments

3:10 – 3:25

Tribal Economic Diversification

3:25 – 4:05

Zeke Fletcher, Associate, Rosette & Associates

Prof. Matthew Fletcher, Michigan State University College of Law

Kennecott Mine Claims It Doesn’t Need EPA Permit

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

MARQUETTE COUNTY — According to Kennecott Minerals, construction for the Eagle Mining Project might start within the next few months.

With modifictions to their water infiltration system, company officials now claim they don’t need a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, but not everyone agrees.

One major obstacle stood in the way of constructing the controversial nickel and copper mine in Marquette county: its underground water discharge system. The system required a permit from the epa- but kennecott says moving the system above ground has changed everything.

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