News

News Article on LTBB’s Economy

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians of Michigan recently formed a corporation to pursue economic development opportunities.

Waganakising Odawa Development, Inc. is looking at two sectors: government contracting and renewable energy. Frank Ettawageshik, the president of the corporation, believes the tribe can benefit from growth in both areas.

“It’s better, I believe, to not have all your eggs in one basket with revenue sources,” Ettawageshik said at a tribal council meeting, The Petoskey News-Review reported.

So far, Waganakising has landed one government subcontract and is looking for ways to get into alternative energy.

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Jaime Barrientoz on a Part-Time GTB Council

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

A member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians says the tribal council should only serve part time.

Jaime Barrientoz thinks the chairman position should remain a full-time job. But the other six members of the council are wasting time and money, he says.

“I think that they have too much time on their hands,” Barrientoz told The Traverse City Record-Eagle. “Put them back to part time and you’d save about $1 million a year.”

Barrientoz served on the council when it was a part-time job. Full-time status started in 1998.

Get the Story:

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Sixth Circuit Oral Argument on Michigan Affirmative Action Ban

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the LSJ:

LANSING — A federal appeals court is about to consider a lawsuit challenging Michigan’s ban against racial preferences in public university admissions and government hiring.

Civil rights groups and University of Michigan students, faculty and applicants say the 2006 ballot measure approved by voters is unconstitutional.

Critics say the constitutional amendment has created an unfair process where universities give weight to geographical diversity and legacy status but not racial identity.

Supporters say the law reflects the will of the people.

Arguments will be held Tuesday morning at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. A district judge dismissed a challenge to the law last year.

NYTS on the NMAI’s Horse Culture Exhibit

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

When Christopher Columbus first came to America, there were no natives on horseback to greet him. That is not only because he landed on an island in the Bahamas. It’s also because there were no horses in the New World. They originated here 40 million years ago and spread to other parts of the globe, but by 1492 horses had been extinct in the Western Hemisphere for 10,000 years. On his second trans-Atlantic voyage, in 1493, Columbus brought along 25 horses and reintroduced the species to America. Many more were brought later by French, English and Dutch colonizers.

This is just one remarkable piece of information to be gleaned from “A Song for the Horse Nation,” an exhibition of 98 artifacts relating to native horse cultures, opening on Saturday at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan. Including saddles, riding blankets, clothing and beaded bags adorned with equine imagery and much more, the exhibition brings to light a fascinating and ultimately sad chapter in American history.

Organized by Emil Her Many Horses, a curator at the museum, the show presents most of the artifacts, all from the Smithsonian’s collection, that were pictured in a small paperback of the same title published in 2006 (by the museum and Fulcrum Publishing). In his introduction the historian Herman J. Viola, a curator emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, tells of the rise and fall of American Indian horse culture, which thrived for only about 100 years.

As Mr. Viola explains, scholars now believe that horses began to proliferate among Indians in the West after Spaniards in Sante Fe fled a Pueblo uprising in 1680, leaving behind hundreds of horses and other animals. At first the Indians were frightened and mystified by the large and unfamiliar creatures. They called it names like Big Dog and Big Elk. But by the time of the French and Indian War (1754-63), Plains Indians were among the world’s best horsemen. A century or so later, their horse culture was dead, a victim, as Mr. Viola put it, of “too many white people and too few buffalo.”

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Fitch Ratings Waiting for Federal Government to Make Indian Gaming Decisions

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From dBusinessNews (via Pechanga):

In a special report released today (Nov 2009 Fitch Report), Fitch Ratings says there are two important issues that will determine the future for the Native American gaming industry’s expansion: whether tribes will have access to the debt capital needed to finance growth, and federal government policy decisions regarding approvals for future Native American gaming developments on off-reservation lands. Investor sentiment on the Native American gaming sector has soured in this economic downturn, as poor trends in regional gaming markets pressure credit profiles, three tribes defaulted on bond payments in 2009, and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation recently announced a forbearance agreement with its senior lenders after the Tribal Chairman made comments highlighting investors’ concerns about the unique legal issues involved in lending to a tribal government.

Fitch believes many investors are likely to take a ‘wait-and-see’ approach with respect to these ongoing debt workout and restructuring efforts before committing significant additional funds to the sector, making it unlikely a tribe would be successful in arranging debt financing for a large-scale greenfield casino development at the present time (for additional information on this topic see Fitch research ‘Managing Through Distress: Considerations for Investors in Distressed Native American Gaming Credits’, dated May 11, 2009). However, over the longer term, the federal government’s policy stance with respect to approvals for off-reservation gaming projects will be the most important factor shaping the future growth path of the Native American gaming industry.

‘Right now the Native American gaming sector is feeling the effects of poor gaming operating trends and unfavorable credit market conditions, but those issues are likely to be less limiting down the road assuming an economic recovery and improved investor sentiment on the sector,’ said Megan Neuburger, Director at Fitch. ‘Actions taken by the federal government under the Bush Administration in 2008 were clearly an effort to curb off-reservation gaming expansion. Department of Interior officials have recently made public comments that they are in the process of reviewing their policy on off-reservation gaming approvals, and we’re closely following the developments to assess their impact on the industry.’

According to the report, since the promulgation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) set the framework for the Native American gaming industry in 1988, there has been significant political controversy. Proponents of expansion tout the benefits of economic development, while opponents decry ‘reservation shopping’ and the ills associated with the expansion of casino gaming. While it has never been easy for a tribe to obtain the regulatory approvals necessary for gaming on off-reservation land, recent developments have made the likelihood of a successful outcome even more remote. These developments include guidance and a rule published by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2008, as well as the 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Carcieri v. Salazar.

In the special report, Fitch explains these developments, the associated impact on the approval process, and the actions the federal government may take under the Obama Administration with respect to these issues, as well as providing a summary of the implications for the credit outlook for the sector. ‘Native American Gaming Insights: Off-Reservation Gaming Approvals: How Will the Feds Play Their Hand?’ is now available on Fitch’s web site at ‘www.fitchratings.com’.

Additional information is available at ‘www.fitchratings.com’.

Michigan DNR Makes Arrests for Illegal Gillnetting

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Escanaba Daily Press:

GARDEN – Three men were arrested Monday in an alleged illegal gill netting operation on Big Bay de Noc, Department of Natural Resources conservation officers said.

The 1,100 pounds of fish seized consisted mainly of whitefish, with smaller quantities of burbot and walleye.

The wholesale value of the whitefish was placed at $860. In addition a 14-foot boat, motor and trailer were also confiscated, along with 1,200 feet of gill net and other gear used in the operation.

According to Debbie Munson Badini of the DNR Regional Office in Marquette, a misdemeanor charge is being sought through the Delta County prosecutor’s office for fishing with an illegal device. Additional charges being sought include felony resisting, obstructing a police officer for one of the men who fled the scene on foot.

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Off-Reservation Gaming Review Close to Completion

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

NEW YORK – Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the Obama administration will make a critical decision on off-reservation gaming policy in the coming weeks.

Schumer told the Times Herald Online that he recently spoke with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who is reviewing a “guidance memorandum” issued by former Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in January 2008. The controversial guidance placed a new hurdle on land into trust applications for gaming – a “commutability” standard under which the applied-for land is to be considered in light of its distance from a nation’s reservation, regardless of whether it is within a nation’s historical territories.

The memo caused an uproar across Indian country, not only because distance isn’t mentioned in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, but also because the guidance effectively amounted to a new regulation that had been promulgated without consultation with the nations, raising memories of the days of federal paternalism and policies to keep Indians on reservations.
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Hawai’i Court Awards Damages in Hawai’i Home Land Lease Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Kalima v. State of Hawai’i.

From the Honolulu Advertiser:

State First Circuit Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo ruled the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is required to place Native Hawaiians on lands set aside for them by the federal government in a prompt and efficient manner. Hifo’s decision means the state could owe unspecified millions in damages to more than 2,700 Hawaiians who have been waiting for land.

“I’m very happy that it’s come to this point after waiting and waiting and waiting and being broken-hearted so many times,” said Wehilani Ching, who first applied for a Hawaiian Home Lands lease 47 years ago.

About 19,000 people with 50 percent or more Hawaiian blood are waiting to be placed on homesteads, which were promised to them as part of the Hawaiian Homes Act of 1920 passed by the U.S. Congress. When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it took over the obligation of distributing the land.

“The court concluded people should have been placed on the land quicker than they were,” said Thomas Grande, one of the attorneys who brought the class-action lawsuit 10 years ago.

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Rep. Kennedy Predicts Carcieri Fix Could Pass Congress This Year

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From How Appealing:

“Kennedy predicts ‘Carcieri fix’ bill might pass”: Today’s edition of The Providence (R.I.) Journal contains an article that begins, “Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy said Thursday that a bill to reverse a U.S. Supreme Court decision blocking special land status for the Narragansett Indian tribe could become law during this Congress.”

From ProJo:

WASHINGTON — Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy said Thursday that a bill to reverse a U.S. Supreme Court decision blocking special land status for the Narragansett Indian tribe could become law during this Congress.

Democrat Kennedy also declared his support for such legislation — the only member of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation to do so.

Enactment of the legislation — which may have implications for tribes across the country — is “likely to happen” if supporters of the measure are able to attach it to a major piece of legislation that is certain to pass both houses of Congress, Kennedy said.

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NYTs on the White House Meeting with Indian Country

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

White House receptions of American Indian leaders have too often been patronizing historical footnotes. President Obama opened what we hope will be a more promising chapter on Thursday when he met with the leaders from all 564 federally recognized tribes. He vowed that there would be no more “going through the motions” and that his administration would finally face the severe economic and social problems that are the result of centuries of federal abuse and neglect.

This is no easy vow, but Mr. Obama has taken important first steps: naming American Indians to senior policy and health positions and earmarking $3 billion of the stimulus package to tribal programs. The president told the leaders that he was ordering his cabinet members to come up with plans on how to improve relations with the sovereign tribes.

Already this week, Interior Department officials told Congress that they would work to overhaul the often intractable, decades-consuming process by which tribes apply for federal recognition. Recognition is required for tribes interested in seeking revenue by opening a casino. But, more importantly, recognition is the key for tribes ravaged by poverty and joblessness — and there are far more of those — to qualify for federal aid programs.

The tribes gathered at an interesting point in history. The last four censuses show tribal populations booming, where extinction had been the experts’ prediction a century ago. Stirred by the Red Power movement of the civil rights era, more and more people have self-identified as American Indians, raising the census count to more than four million.

Not all are in recognized tribes, and there is no agreement, even among tribal leaders, on what factors define American Indian-ness. But the vitality is stirring and must be met by greater sensitivity, creativity and sustained attention from Washington.