From the Muskegon Chronicle, via Pechanga:
News
Business Week Coverage of BMIC Vanderbilt Casino Controversy
From B.W.:
The opening of a casino in northern Michigan this week by the Bay Mills Indian Community is raising legal questions over where tribes are allowed to open new gaming locations.
Joy Yearout, a spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, said state officials will meet with Bay Mills officials next week to discuss the new casino in Vanderbilt.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration is “deeply concerned” about the casino opening, spokeswoman Liz Boyd said, in part because it isn’t on the tribe’s reservation.
“There are substantial questions about whether the tribe in fact can legally conduct gaming on this property,” Boyd said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “We are dismayed that the tribe would open an off-reservation gaming facility without first resolving these substantial legal issues.”
Mich. AG’s Office to Meet with BMIC Monday
News article here.
News Update on Bay Mills Vanderbilt Casino — John Wernet Comments
Bay Mills Indian Community on the Move Again: Port Huron Land Deal Completed Yesterday
MIRS: Casino Catches Officials Off Guard
Without any of the standard federal or state approvals, the Bay Mills Tribe opened a new casino today near Vanderbilt off Interstate 75 in the Northern Lower Peninsula.
The 40-slot machine facility is located in a renovated Project Nature Welcome Center. Tribal members are familiar with the Vanderbilt area as they have been hunting elk in the region since 2007, exercising off-reservation treaty rights established with the 2007 Inland Consent Decree.
“This is something we’ve been working on for a long time,” said Bay Mills Chairman Jeff PARKER.
Apparently the tribe is testing a legal theory that, if it were to hold up, could open the floodgates for establishing tribal casinos without having to worry about the red tape that usually delays such projects for years. Some observers claim it could ultimately affect the status of an off-reservation site the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians own at Pinnacle Racetrack in Romulus.
Bay Mills and the Soo tribe were once a single tribe.
The move came as a complete surprise to state and federal officials. The tribe jumped through none of the usual legal hoops involved with the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). In fact, its plan seems to involve specifically avoiding taking the land in trust, which is a key step in the IGRA process.
It usually takes years of working through the IGRA process to obtain the necessary sign-offs from the U.S. Department of Interior and the state to establish even an on-reservation casino.
The tribe’s reservation is located in the Upper Peninsula, centered at Brimley. However the casino Bay Mills opened today was on land far from the reservation. What’s more, the tribe bought the property less than three months ago.
President Ronald REAGAN signed IGRA in 1988. Ever since, IGRA guidelines have been an open target for almost any and every legal theory an attorney could convince a tribe to try out.
The theory Bay Mills seems to be pursuing is that because it purchased the land near Vanderbilt with money it had received in exchange for giving up its aboriginal lands, the land is therefore exempt from the usual impediments IGRA placed on off-reservation gaming.
The entire issue of off-reservation gaming, as it pertains to IGRA is currently being reviewed nationally (See “Minnesota Event <http://mirsnews.com/capsule.php?gid=3437%2325188%20> Could Affect Muskegon Casino,”10/20/10).
The Bay Mills decision to test the legal theory might have been timed to coincide with the national discussion. In addition, it might also have been timed to take place prior to Governor-elect Rick SNYDER taking office.
Snyder is believed to be less amenable to gaming expansion than Gov. Jennifer <http://mirsnews.com/lob_bio.php?cid=532> GRANHOLM has been. However, the Granholm administration quickly voiced opposition to Bay Mills opening the Vanderbilt casino today.
Bay Mills Press Release on Vanderbilt Casino
Bay Mills Indian Community Reportedly Opens Off-Rez Casino in Lower Peninsula
Here is the link:
We have breaking news just in to the 9&10 Newsroom.
There is a new casino in Otsego County and it just opened its doors.
The Bay Mills Indian Community bought land and an empty welcome center in the Vanderbilt area, not far from I-75. The deal took more than 10 years to complete.
The Bay Mills Community is in Chippewa County, but leaders say they have been hunting elk in the area since 2007 as part of off-reservation hunting rights.
Since the purchase, there’s been wide speculation that the tribe would open a casino on the property.
That’s exactly what’s happening today, with little warning.
We have a crew in Vanderbilt and will bring you continuing coverage tonight on 9&10 News at 5:00 & 6:00.
Robert Porter Elected President of Seneca Nation
From the Buffalo News
Robert Odawi Porter Elected Seneca President
By Dan Herbeck
Updated: November 3, 2010, 7:47 AM
The Seneca Nation’s new president-elect is an attorney and law professor who graduated from Harvard Law School.
And Robert Odawi Porter, 47, said he hopes to use his legal skills to help the Senecas deal with a wide range of problems and challenges over the next two years.
Porter defeated Maurice A. John Sr. on Tuesday, getting 1,671 votes to John’s 500, the Indian nation reported.
During the election campaign, John repeatedly criticized Porter for being a lawyer. John claimed that a man who has a license from New York State to practice law could not aggressively lead the tribe in its fight with the state over cigarette taxes and other issues.
Porter disagreed, stating that his law experience should help him to be a better fighter for the Senecas.
“I can assure you that the threats that we now face are real and that they are not going to end any time soon,” Porter said. “If we do not have strong leadership in the coming years, it is possible that many of the hard fought gains that we have achieved for our people could be eroded or even lost.”
Porter said he hopes to spend much of his two-year term helping state officials and others to understand what an important role the Senecas play in the Western New York economy. He said the nation created about 5,000 new jobs in the past several years and is one of the region’s biggest employers.
In a 7,000-member Indian Nation that allows candidates and political parties to pay people for their votes, Porter was endorsed by the Seneca Party, which has dominated Seneca elections since the 1980s.
LTBB Looks to Open Museum
H/T E.P., from upnorthlive.com—
History will be preserved in new Odawa museum
Andrew Keller
Posted: 11.01.2010 at 7:07 PM
HARBOR SPRINGS, MI — The Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians has a plan to preserve its history.
The new museum will not only provide a place to learn about the past, it’s also going to have a state of the art system that will help keep history safe.
There’s an old bible, worn in age, but written in native language. There’s a tomahawk, a spear, and an arrowhead. These are just a few things that have been in storage with a lot of other things, but soon, will be on display.
“I’m close to retirement age, but I’m going back and forth, I don’t know if I want to retire, and like an old hen on an egg, I want to see what happens, when it hatches, so I want to be there,” said Yvonne Walkerkeshick, Director, Archives and Records.
Walkerkeshick is the Director of Archives and Records at the Governmental Center for the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. She says retirement has been put on hold for now, as details of a new museum of history for the tribe were announced.
The tribe is moving forward with plans that started rolling more than 10 years ago. A new museum, equipped with a state-of-the-art safety and fire suppression system, will be built near the Government Center.
“They did a study, and they found there is a need, there’s a need for storage and a museum is a big part of this to look to display our artifacts and our items,” said Tribal Chairman Ken Harrington.
Somebody found a spear near the Straits of Mackinac and donated it to the Archives and Records Department. The estimate is it was made somewhere in the late 1700’s. This will be one thing that’s displayed at the new museum.
Archives and Records and the Repatriation Department are working with other non-Native American Museums to repatriate items to be a part of the new museum on top of the donated artifacts.
“I believe once it really gets rolling, and the Native Population sees we really are going to have a museum, then they will go into their attics and begin digging out more things that we can put in our museum,” said Walkerkeshick.
“It shows the culture of the people,” said Harrington.
The new museum will also be safe storage for members of the tribe personal keepsakes.
Right now, site plans are being finalized to be presented to the Tribal Council.
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