The final report of this important forum is here (in pieces). Obviously parts of it are very dated, but this is important material regardless as legislative history of MCR 2.615.
Appendix II — Directory of Tribal Courts
Michigan Indian
Saginaw Chippewa Union Vote
From Indianz:
Union vote set for Saginaw Chippewa casino
The National Labor Relations Board will oversee a union election at the casino owned by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan. The election takes place December 20. Teamsters Local 486 wants to organize about 300 housekeeping employees. This the second NLRB-overseen election at a tribal casino since the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the board’s ability to assert jurisdiction at tribal enterprises. Dealers at the casino owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut agreed to a union this past weekend.
Get the Story:
Union election date set for casino workers (The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun 11/29)
Underwater evidence that Michigan Indians may have hunted mastadons
From NPR:
Humans May Have Hunted Mastadons
Listen Now [4 min 30 sec]
Day to Day, November 27, 2007 · An underwater archaeologist has found what may be an etching of a mastodon at the bottom of Grand Traverse Bay in Lake Michigan. Members of a local tribe believe that there is a spear in the mastodon, which would be hard evidence that humans hunted the prehistoric elephant-like animals. Tom Kramer of Interlochen Public Radio reports.
The full text of the interview is here:
New Short Story: “Thinking About What I’ve Done”
The new issue of Red Ink just arrived in the mail. I have a short story in this edition, Thinking about What I’ve Done. It’s about Indian lawyers, sorta.
Saginaw Chippewa’s Second Casino to Open Dec. 31
From the Bay City Times:
Experience in Manistee suggests Standish casino will grow fast, add jobs and a few problems
Sunday, November 18, 2007By Helen Lounsbury
STANDISH – Rumored for decades, Northeast Lower Michigan’s first casino stands just six weeks from its scheduled Dec. 31 opening.
Yet even as construction crews put finishing touches on what has finally become a certainty for rural Arenac County, little else here is certain. Questions and few answers, loom about how the casino will change this industry-poor, farmland-rich community. Here, in open pasture, the casino marks Arenac’s biggest development project in years.
”People hope it creates good jobs. People hope it makes us a destination. People hope it means more revenue for the area,” muses Curt Hillman, a Standish businessman who has spent a lifetime serving on local economic development boards.
Pine Creek Reservation, Huron Nottawaseppi Band News Article
From the South Bend Tribune:
Reservation revival moving forward
JUSTIN A. HINKLEY
Battle Creek Enquirer
FULTON, Mich. — The Pine Creek Indian Reservation, home to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, is a different place than it was when Cheryl Morseau-Williams grew up there.
When Morseau-Williams, 63, left the reservation at age 17, the roads were dirt. The 10 Potawatomi families living there had no running water. Electricity had been installed just several years prior.
The reservation had little besides tradition and a church to keep tribe members there. Morseau-Williams, like many of her peers, moved to Battle Creek, Mich., for work and a home.
Today, new community and health centers invite tribe members to seek essential services, and an outbreak of new construction promises an infusion of new residents to the 120-acre reservation.
Simon Otto Column: Indian Humor
From the Cheboygan Daily Tribune:
Opinion
There’s a certain method to the art of Indian humor
|
|
||
|
|
Many people read magazines and articles in the paper and the comment on them tells of the native American being stoic or not listening to the topic of conversation. They don’t know or realize that it is one of the cultural things among Indian people.
Some people say that Indians don’t say much, but underneath they are a happy people, and most people think that they are quiet. True, they are quiet, but not when they get together. They can jokingly talk and make fun amongst themselves. No outsider had better do that, because if you do, then you will be left on the outside or not included in their conversations.
Four Winds Casino Review in Chicago Tribune
From the Chicago Tribune:
New Buffalo casino brings a crowd to Harbor Country
Four Winds Casino and Resort has a half-dozen restaurants and a 165-room hotel. (Four Winds Casino and Resort photo / November 22, 2007)
|Tribune staff reporter
- November 25, 2007
-
NEW BUFFALO, Mich. – First thing’s first: Gambling can be dangerous.Casinos, on the other hand, are fascinating.Think about it: Top-notch restaurants, well-appointed hotel suites, luxurious spa services, live entertainment, boutique retail outlets, free-flowing alcohol and, of course, gaming galore — in most cases, at all hours. Minus the whole “experience nature” thing, casinos essentially provide all the major amenities of a luxury vacation under one neon-clad roof.They’re also not without their annoyances: that steady hum of ringing slot machines tuned to the pleasant key of C major, which can get stuck in your head for days; and, despite advanced air filtration systems, the lingering stench of smoke.But it’s all part of the experience. Staying at a casino — even just for a weekend (I wouldn’t recommend any longer) — means immersing yourself in a culture that may be foreign from your own. Which, when you think about it, is the whole point.So, where to go? The obvious destination for experiencing casino culture is Las Vegas.
And then there’s New Buffalo.
About 2 miles from downtown New Buffalo (population 2,200) lies the brand-new $180 million Four Winds Casino Resort, which opened its doors Aug. 2. The place is huge. It boasts 130,000 square feet of “gaming positions” (actual seats at slot machines or gaming tables) which, were it located in Las Vegas, would make it the second-largest casino on the Strip; plus a half-dozen restaurants and a modest 165-room hotel.
And, when I visited two weeks ago, all of its grandeur seemed absolutely necessary, due to the sheer volume of visitors. As I approached the long, winding drive leading to the casino nestled in the woods, I encountered something I’ve never before experienced in New Buffalo: traffic. People were lined up in their cars, waiting to park in one of the 2,120 spots in the heated, four-level parking garage and commence spending money. And after hanging out for a few days, it’s easy to see why: The place is beautiful — and, perhaps more importantly, resembles nothing of the gaudy glam of Vegas.
Designed by Urban Design Group (which counts Disney among its clients) and owned by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Four Winds has the look and feel of a regal North Woods lodge, situated far enough back from Interstate Highway 94 that the “woodland retreat” facade is believable.
Just inside the entrance, a grand rotunda (on which a local Pokagon artist will soon begin a mural project) is flanked by two ridiculously huge fireplaces; the beams lining the arcades (leading to shops and a bus terminal at one end, the hotel at the other) were carved from dead standing cedar and birch trees, which are often used in tribal ceremonies for the Pokagon band.
At the heart of it all is the gaming floor itself, which, despite the refreshing lack of neon, looks like a casino (darkly lit, maze-like carpet, banks and bars at every turn), but the restaurants tucked within could stand alone — even in Chicago.
Ypsi High to Retire American Indian Name & Mascot “Braves”
From the Ann Arbor News:
Board expected to choose Ypsilanti mascot name
The school board is expected to choose a mascot name and logo for Ypsilanti High School at Monday’s meeting.
A committee charged with considering mascot name and logo recommendations will first make its recommendation to school board members. The four suggested names are Generals, Olympians, Phoenix and Titans. The board will then vote on the selected name to replace Braves as the school’s mascot.
The board retired the longtime Ypsilanti Braves name and the logo of a Native American male with a Mohawk haircut and feathers in his hair after some people complained that the use of Braves demeaned Native American culture.
More “Nimrod Nation” — LA Times
From the L.A. Times:
Aaron Peterson / AP
“Nimrod Nation,” which airs Nov. 26, tracks a season in the life of the Watersmeet Nimrods, a small-town basketball team in far-northern Michigan
TELEVISION REVIEW
The Nimrod Chronicles
“Nimrod Nation,” which airs Nov. 26, tracks a season in the life of the Watersmeet Nimrods, a small-town basketball team in far-northern Michigan
Community — and small-town basketball — are the focus of a new reality series on the Sundance Channel.
Since the current writers strike was first bruited, the prospect of more reality TV has been held out to the public like a threat — coal in the stocking at Christmas, the boogeyman waiting in the closet. People watch a lot of reality TV as it is, but I suspect that even among its most ardent fans there are many who sense there is something not quite right about it, something not . . . real. It’s good for sensation and sentiment but not for anything resembling the dispassionately considered truth. Continue reading
Turtle Talk 
You must be logged in to post a comment.