News – Page 205 – Turtle Talk

Shinnecock Tribal Member Receives First AIGC Fellowship

December 8, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

The American Indian Graduate Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving cultural and economic well-being for individuals and tribes through undergraduate and graduate education, recently announced that it has awarded its first fellowship scholarship to a Shinnecock Indian Nation member.

Members of the Shinnecock Nation, which became the 565th Native American tribe recognized by the United States government earlier this year, were formerly ineligible for the fellowship program because the tribe lacked federal recognition.

Kelly Dennis, a law student at the University of New Mexico School of Law in Albuquerque, N.M., received the $3,000 fellowship award. A member of the Shinnecock Nation, graduate of the Pre-Law Summer Institute at the American Indian Law Center, and participant in the American Indian Law Certificate Program, Dennis hopes to represent her tribe and other underrepresented American Indian tribes upon her graduation.

“Kelly would like to use her expertise to assist tribes striving to find creative paths that will strengthen and rebuild their nations,” said Sam Deloria, AIGC director. “AIGC recognizes the potential of these dreams and considers it a privilege to lessen the financial burden of paying for a law degree in order to achieve such aspirations. And we like to hope that her award marks the first federal assistance to the Shinnecock Nation.”

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Bay Mills to Expand Vanderbilt Casino

December 8, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

The Bay Mills Indian Community of Michigan is already expanding its controversial off-reservation casino.

The tribe opened the 1,200 square-foot facility on November 3. A 1,400 square-foot addition will more than double the size of the casino.

“It’s going as well as we had expected. On opening day we were tickled pink with the number of people who showed up,” spokesperson Shannon Jones told The Petoskey News-Review

Other tribes say the facility is illegal. But Bay Mills says it’s entitled to open a casino in connection with a land claim settlement.

Get the Story:
Casino expands in Vanderbilt (The Petoskey News-Review 12/8)

Waiting Begins for Cobell Plaintiffs

December 6, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From WaPo:

Native Americans who sued the federal government over lost royalties have been waiting nearly 15 years for the $3.4 billion settlement Congress passed last month. Now they’ll have to wait some more.

The plaintiffs expect it will be at least next August before Indian trust landowners see a dime, and six months after that before the last claims are settled with trust account holders.

That’s because when the political wrangling ends, the red tape begins.

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Sad, Sad News about Tim Vollman

December 3, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Bicyclist killed in crash with dump truck in Albuquerque (9:37 a.m.)

By The Associated Press

Posted: 12/03/2010 09:32:29 AM MST

ALBUQUERQUE – Albuquerque police have identified a bicyclist killed in a collision with a city dump truck.He was 64-year-old Timothy Vollmann.

Police say he may have lost control of his bike and swerved in front of the dump truck Thursday evening.

He was wearing a helmet, but was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police say the driver of the truck had finished his shift and was returning the vehicle to the yard when the accident occurred. Police say he won’t not face any charges.

Seneca Materials on FERC Notice for Kinzua Hydro License

December 1, 2010December 1, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Seneca Nation of Indians Kinzua Press Release

Background Materials

Timeline

Update: President Porter Speech on Hydroelectric License [thanks to A.E.]

An excerpt from the press release:

The Seneca Nation ofIndians applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the Seneca Pumped Storage Project at the Kinzua Dam site, President Robert Odawi Porter announced today.

The pumped storage hydropower project generates 450 megawatts of electricity, which corporate interests have sold and profited from for 40 years without compensating the Nation.The hydropower project relies on and every day uses Seneca Nation land and water.

“Filing for the license to operate the Seneca Pumped Storage Project is an especially profound opportunity and a significant moment in time for the Seneca Nation, given the historic injustice that was imposed on our people with the building of the Kinzua Dam,” said PresidentPorter. “The flooding of our lands more than 45 years ago resulted in large-scale, forcible removal of families, destruction of homes and loss of significant lands to which we were spiritually tied. For these reasons, we are entitled to obtain the license because of the historic injustice committed against us,” he said.

Little Traverse Bay Bands Completes Financing Restructure

December 1, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the press release: LTBBOI Press Release Financial Restructure

An excerpt:

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (“LTBBOI”) is pleased to announce the completion of a financial restructuring with its bondholders. An exchange offer to holders of its $122 million 10.25% Senior Notes due 2014, which was launched October 26, 2010, has closed and is effective today.The transaction will result in the exchange of $143 million of existing Senior Notes and related unpaid accrued interest, for $23 million of cash and $40 million of new 9.0% Senior Secured Notes due 2020.

1500-Slot Casino Planned for Port Huron if BMIC Vanderbilt Casino Succeeds

November 28, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here is the article.

An excerpt:

With little to lose and much to gain, the Bay Mills Indian Community has opened a mini-casino in Vanderbilt, a village on Interstate 75 north of Gaylord, without federal or state approval.

If the play in Vanderbilt succeeds, the tribe will convert the old Port Huron post office on Military Street into a temporary casino with 1,500 slot machines.

Eventually, Bay Mills intends to build a permanent casino and luxury hotel at Desmond Landing, where the tribe owns 16.5 acres. This parcel would become the first Indian reservation in Port Huron since the 1830s when federal troops forcibly removed the Blackwater band of the Chippewa to Kansas.

New Governor Selects New Mexico Indian Affairs Review Team

November 28, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the article. Congrats to the team.

One of those selected, Brian Lewis, has just published an article on off-reservation gaming in the Thomas Cooley Journal of Practical and Clinical Law. The article is titled, “A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT: SECTION 2719 OF THE INDIAN GAMING REGULATORY ACT, THE INTERPRETATION OF ITS EXCEPTIONS AND THE PART 292 REGULATIONS.”

Here it is: Lewis Gaming Article.

ICT Article on Bay Mills Vanderbilt Casino Controversy

November 27, 2010November 24, 2010Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

By Gale Courey Toensing, Today staff

VANDERBILT, Mich. – In a move that astonished the gaming world in Michigan and outraged some of the state’s tribal nations, the Bay Mills Indian Community announced it has opened a new casino on off-reservation land without the usual state and federal approvals.

Bay Mills tribal leaders said Nov. 3 that the tribe’s newest gaming facility on 47 acres of land in Vanderbilt purchased in fee simple in August complies with all applicable gaming laws. The new casino has 38 slot machines.

The tribe operates two casinos in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on reservation land. The Vanderbilt casino is in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula, about 170 miles north of Lansing.

“The new business venture was seen as positive by the residents of Vanderbilt, where the unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation,” the tribe announced on its website – http://www.baymillsnews.com.

The new business venture was not viewed as positively by other tribes in the state.

The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Gun Lake Tribe of Pottawatomi Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, and Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe immediately issued a statement condemning the action.

“This attempt to conduct Indian gaming in the absence of trust land is a serious violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and long-held federal Indian gaming policy. Bay Mills has also violated the state gaming compacts, most notably Section 9 which clearly requires the consent of all Michigan tribes to pursue gaming on non-reservation lands,” the tribal leaders wrote.

The five-tribe coalition called on the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Justice and Interior departments to work quickly with state officials to close the new casino, “which threatens to undermine the significant public support for Indian gaming here within the State of Michigan and around the country.”

On Nov. 8 the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians Chairman Ken Harrington announced that the Bay Mills casino violates the exclusivity zone provision of its gaming compact. The tribe will stop the six percent of net slot revenues to the state – a loss of millions of dollars to state’s coffers.

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