Michigan Indian

Greektown Less Likely to Sell, Given Low Bids

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Detroit News (via Pechanga):

Greektown Casino-Hotel will spend more time looking at ways to reorganize its debts rather than selling the property to exit bankruptcy, after multiple bids came in lower than expected, a financial adviser for the gambling hall said Thursday.

Chuck Moore, an adviser from Birmingham-based Conway MacKenzie Inc., which is working on Greektown’s bankruptcy, told the Michigan Gaming Control Board at its Thursday meeting that his team would shift focus toward looking at ways the casino can reorganize some $777 million in debt.

“There was disappointment at the values of the bids we’ve seen so far,” Moore said. “Our creditors don’t believe they adequately compensate for the performance of the property.”

Continue reading →

Saginaw Chippewa Reservation Boundaries Dispute Update

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Judge Ludington has granted the motions of the United States and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe to strike the so-called “Rosebud Sioux” defenses and associated witnesses. Here are the relevant materials.

scit-motion-to-strike-rosebud-defenses

us-motion-to-exclude-rosebud-witnesses

michigan-response-to-motions-to-strike

isabella-county-response-to-motions-to-strike

mount-pleasant-response-to-motions-to-strike

scit-reply-re-motions-to-strike

us-reply-brief-re-motions-to-strike

dct-order-granting-motions-to-strike

Greektown Decision on Tax Rollback Due May 14

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Detroit News:

Lawyers for Greektown Casino-Hotel and the city of Detroit will have to wait two more weeks to hear if a bankruptcy judge thinks the casino can assume a development agreement that would grant a tax rollback saving roughly $17 million annually.

At an unusually short Friday hearing, federal Judge Walter Shapero said he’ll issue his opinion on the matter at 3 p.m. on May 14.

The tax rollback issue is particularly contentious for Greektown, which entered Chapter 11 proceedings 11 months ago. By filing, Greektown was able to secure the financing it needed to complete construction on its 400-room hotel and resort complex.

Continue reading →

Penn National Bids on Greektown Casino

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Freep (H/T Pechanga):

Penn National Gaming, Inc., a well-capitalized casino owner, has submitted a bid to purchase Greektown Casino in downtown Detroit.

Timothy J. Wilmott, president and chief operating officer of the Pennslyvania-based company, said Penn National likes the Detroit market. The company also has looked at buying assets from MGM Mirage, including the company’s MGM Grand Detroit property.

Penn National is the second bidder to confirm its interest in buying the casino that filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy about a year ago. Bloomfield Hills businessman Tom Celani also has bid on Greektown.

Greektown is actively marketing the property through the bankruptcy process. By June 1, the casino’s estate must choose one of two paths — reorganization under its current owner, the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, or a sale to a new owner.

Continue reading →

Michigan Tribal Elders Meeting

ilpc

From UpNorthLive.com:

Tuesday was the first day of the 13th annual Michigan Indian Elders Association, or MIEA.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 4:50 p.m.

BARAGA — Native American elders from across Michigan are in Baraga this week tackling tribal issues.

Tuesday was the first day of the 13th annual Michigan Indian Elders Association, or MIEA.

A drum and flag ceremony welcomed all 12 recognized tribes in the State of Michigan.

While the association is about how elders can make a difference culturally, socially and politically, they’re also working on bridging the gap between elders and youth.

“One of the cultural aspects of the Native American community is that the elders train and teach our youth,” says Robert Menard, MIEA Chairperson. “So they look up to our elders for guidance and that’s a service we’re providing them.”

The MIEA has given out more than $40,000 in scholarships and incentives to help children in school.

Saginaw Chippewa Citizen on Disenrollments

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

from Rob J. Peters blog:

The following editorial regarding the tribe’s recent disenrollment motion has been censored and will not appear in our tribal newspaper due to its controversial subject matter. This editorial has been scheduled for publication nationally later this week by a Native news organization. It is also preface to a more in-depth report regarding the membership history of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

The Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Council had the unfortunate task of deciding the fate of an undetermined number of people when faced with a disenrollment motion March 17, 2009.

It was and always has been an issue of legality that has been dangerously ignored too long. Ignoring and allowing those not entitled to membership under specific constitutional guidelines by diluting (Enrollment) Ordinance 14 (now almost thirty pages long), has in-fact led to intentional or otherwise fraud and mistake.

Dangerous in that those who have been allowed membership, although not constitutionally entitled, are now faced with the harsh and scary reality of not only losing benefits, but an identity they believed was based in historical record. But historical records are not the rule of law when absolute criteria is outlined and inclusion is very specific.

The membership criteria of the Saginaw Chippewas was determined over 70 years ago, and redefined almost 23 years ago; in the founding documents of our tribe, the Constitutions of 1937 and 1986.

***

To read the rest, go here.

Pokagon Band Revenue Sharing Update

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From tv (via Pechanga):

It’s an apparent case of ‘better late than never.’ The tribal owners of the Four Winds Casino are about to make good on a promise to share revenue with the communities that are closest to the facility.

The break through came today in New Buffalo.

During the first 20-months of operation, the promised payments were placed in an escrow account by the tribe that owns the casino. The account is said to contain at least $6.2 million.

Today the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians started the process of releasing the cash.

Continue reading →

Book Review of “American Indian Education”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Greg Gagnon, a fine prof. at the University of North Dakota and a generous reviewer, has reviewed my book, “American Indian Education” and Loren L. Basson’s “White Enough To Be American?Race Mixing, Indigenous People, and the Boundaries of State and Nation” for the North Dakota Quarterly. Here is the review — ndq-review-of-race-and-fletcher-dec08

Public Radio Segment on NAGPRA and Michigan Tribes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

INTERLOCHEN PUBLIC RADIO (2009-04-22) For the more than a decade now Indian tribes in Michigan and elsewhere have been reclaiming objects lost over the centuries. In many cases they are also able to return to the earth the remains of long-dead ancestors. We’ll meet the researcher who does this work for one of the tribes in northern lower Michigan.

Listen here.

Interlochen Public Radio Segment on Indian Country Crime

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

INTERLOCHEN PUBLIC RADIO (2009-04-21) In the US, we’ve come to expect that if someone does something wrong – and they’ve been found out – the crime won’t go unpunished. But that’s not always true in Indian Country, where there are complicated laws about which governments are allowed to deliver what punishments, against whom. Some even say, on some reservations, a white person might do just about anything and get away with it. But not in West and Northern Michigan. IPR’s Linda Stephan reports.

Listen here.