Michigan Indian

GTB Revenue Sharing News Coverage

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:

TRAVERSE CITY — For at least four years, Toni Ferris’ special education students built self-esteem and coordination through regular swimming lessons.

But this year’s lessons nearly didn’t happen: The grant-supported program, designed for students with mild cognitive impairments in Traverse City Area Public Schools, didn’t receive funding by the start of the school year.

So Ferris, their teacher at the former Glenn Loomis Elementary, applied again, and received about $9,500 from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians shortly before Valentine’s Day.

The funds will help about 50 students with disabilities swim at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center pool from late April through mid-June.

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Michigan Legislators Debate Smoke Ban at Work

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Detroit News:

Lawmakers reopened the debate over smoke-free workplaces Wednesday, launching hearings on an issue that has gridlocked the Legislature for years.

Owners of smaller bars and restaurants say a proposed statewide ban on workplace smoking could cost 7,500 hospitality jobs and drive them out of business.

Proponents say the ban is necessary to protect workers and customers from second-hand smoke, which they say claims 3,000 Michigan lives every year.

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Op-Ed Supporting Michigan DNR

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Traverse City Record-Eagle:

The State Department of Natural Resources is used to taking its lumps. It gets its share and more in the media, in deer hunting and fishing publications, from bloggers and even on this page in the form of editorials and letters to the editor.

It comes with the territory. The DNR, after all, is a taxpayer-supported agency and deals with some pretty volatile issues and individuals.

The agency oversees fishing, hunting, trapping and outdoor activities of all sorts, all of which have passionate adherents not shy about their opinions.

Too often, however, the agency and individual DNR officers don’t get the credit they deserve. Many spend untold hours in the heat and cold watching for poachers or monitoring fishermen. They’ve been shot at, punched and worse in the line of duty. They don’t often hear someone say “thanks.”

But without their efforts there’d be a lot fewer deer and fish for those who pay for the privilege of hunting and fishing.

Recently the DNR, with help from officers from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, said they would charge six men with running an illegal commercial fishing operation on Lake Michigan’s Little Bay de Noc. The poachers may have claimed more than 20,000 pounds of walleye in just the last two months and thousands more over several previous winters.

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Connecticut Law Review Note Profiles GTB and Criminal Jurisdiction

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Benjamin J. Cordiano published “Unspoken Assumptions: Examing Tribal Jurisdiction over Nonmembers Nearly Two Decades after Duro v. Reina” in the Connecticut Law Review. Here is an excerpt from the abstract:

This Note examines the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Duro and uses nearly twenty years of anecdotal evidence, case law, and congressional findings to show that the Court relied on flawed assumptions about the nature of nonmember criminal jurisdiction in the modern tribal context. By examining the modern realities of two tribes, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, this Note concludes that the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Duro is flawed and that criminal jurisdiction over nonmember Indians is crucial to tribal self-governance and maintenance of reservation life.

Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver Presentation for Michigan Indian Education Conference

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

It’s here, in powerpoint: michigan-indian-tuition-waiver-2009

And here is a link to our materials relating to the Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver.

Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Sues National Labor Relations Board

Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

VERY interesting case.The Little River Band created its own labor relations code. At least one union agreed to forego the National Labor Relations Act in favor of the tribal law, but the Teamsters — perhaps the definition of a dying union that won’t go away without bringing down everyone around it — filed a charge with the NLRB.

Even more interesting, the Interior Solicitor opined that the NLRA does not apply to this tribe, and requested that the NLRB back down. Of course the Board refused. And so we have this case in the Western District of Michigan.

Here are the relevant materials:

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Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver News

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Detroit News:

***

Lawmakers also heard testimony from Ferris State University student Emily Leask, 20, who asked them to properly fund the Native American Tuition Waiver, which covers the cost of tuition for Michigan residents who are one-quarter Native American.

Without the assistance, “I would be greatly in debt and questioning whether I could even continue school,” said Leask, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

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Building Project on St. Mary’s River Rejected

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Schmidt v. Army Corps, from the Western District of Michigan, in which the court upheld a decision by the Army Corps not to allow a building project on the St. Mary’s River, near what the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority says is a fish spawning ground.

schmidt-memo-opinion

Huron Nottawaseppi Property Tax Dispute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Battle Creek Inquirer:

ATHENS — Athens Township’s attorney said the township has no means to collect back taxes from the local Potawatomi.

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi’s Pine Creek Reservation in Athens Township was federally entrusted in summer 2008, making it untaxable land. But that came after it was assessed for 2008, so the tribe was billed for those taxes.

The tribe didn’t pay, saying it didn’t owe as a federally recognized tribe. The unpaid 2008 taxes are part of a pending Michigan Tax Tribunal case: The Potawatomi also has asked that taxes it paid from 2004 to 2007 be returned.

At the township board meeting Tuesday, Assessor Marcia Bails read a letter from Jim Norlander, township counsel. It said even though the property was assessable for 2008, Pine Creek now is federal property and can’t be foreclosed upon.

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GTB Chairman’s Conference

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Leelanau News (via Indianz):

The scene was almost reminiscent of a gathering last month in Washington, D.C. when four living U.S. presidents met with then-President Elect Barack Obama at the White House.

TRIBAL CHAIRMAN: Derek Bailey (top, center) presents four former Grand Traverse Band leaders with a personalized arrow at a summit last week. Also pictured are Ardith “Dodie” Chambers and George Bennett in the front row, and Bob Kewaygoshkum (left) and Joseph “Buddy” Raphael in the top row.TRIBAL CHAIRMAN Derek Bailey (top, center) presents four former Grand Traverse Band leaders with a personalized arrow at a summit last week. Also pictured are Ardith “Dodie” Chambers and George Bennett in the front row, and Bob Kewaygoshkum (left) and Joseph “Buddy” Raphael in the top row.
On Friday, the five living leaders of Leelanau County’s only sovereign nation gathered for a first-ever summit of tribal chairmen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

The meeting was held at the tribe’s Turtle Creek Casino in Grand Traverse County and hosted by newly-elected Tribal Chairman Derek Bailey. The former leaders talked about personal feelings of pride and satisfaction, overcoming tough times, and an ever-present focus on future generations.

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