From the Muskegon Chronicle. Click through for the slideshow and captions.
Also, live blogging coverage of the event, also from the Chronicle. Not sure why the updates end before the hearing did.
Video excerpt, starting with Rep. Johnson and Ogema Romenelli.
More coverage from the Kalamazoo Gazette and the Muskegon Chronicle. The Chronicle’s coverage denotes significant skepticism:
The standing-room-only crowd at the casino presentation by the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians left Muskegon City Hall on Monday night wondering whether the western Upper Peninsula tribe’s proposal was realistic.
From the Muskegon Chronicle: “Flying under the public radar screen since a successful 2003 non-binding city of Muskegon ballot proposal supporting the concept of a casino for downtown Muskegon, Archimedes Group LLC now has unveiled a $2.4 billion concept plan for a downtown Muskegon waterfront casino resort that is predicated on federal tribal recognition for the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians.”
Later in the article, the Archimedes people made an assertion that doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny:
“Left unanswered is how the Grand River Band gains the ability to open an Indian casino in downtown Muskegon, but Archimedes spokesman Dick Anderson said the tribe is ‘on the cusp’ of federal recognition — a critical step in the process.”
Our post about the federal recognition process and the Grand River Band is here. There is support from Senator Levin, but I would surprised if there is a serious push in Congress to recognize the Band. I would like to be wrong, but announcing plans for casinos long before federal recognition is a certainty creates more difficulty for unrecognized tribes.
Muskegon Chronicle: “It is noteworthy that groups traditionally opposed to the terms of past settlement proposals seem to have resigned themselves to the inevitability of this deal, which gives neither American Indians nor non-tribal sporting interests all they want. Rebecca Humphries, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, in announcing the agreement, said it will ‘provide stability and predictability in an area of former legal uncertainty.'”
Turtle Talk 