From the NYTs:
In the Catskills, Wondering if Casinos’ Time Has Passed
The slot-machine casino in Monticello was nearly empty on Wednesday afternoon.
New York Times
NYTs Article on Little Shell Band & Federal Recognition
From the NYTs:
Landless Tribe Waits Federal Recognition
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Long after the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa was stripped of its land and scores of its people had been moved to Canada, the 4,300 surviving members are fighting to reclaim the shards of their past.
NYTs Article on Don Barden, once partner to Michigan gaming tribes
From the NYT:
For Casino Owner, Winning a License Was Not a Matter of Luck
PITTSBURGH — Don H. Barden could have scheduled the groundbreaking for his $450 million casino on his 64th birthday, Dec. 20, if he wanted. After all, he owns what is projected to be the most lucrative of Pennsylvania’s 14 slots casino licenses.
NYTs Article on Deer and Car Accidents
From the NYTs:
Where the White-Tail Roam
The woods are alive these days with the sounds of deer hunters.
No wild prey is more coveted in the United States than deer. In 2001, 1 in 20 Americans over the age of 16 shouldered a gun or bow in pursuit of venison and spent nearly $11 billion doing so, according to one federal study.
There certainly are plenty of deer. Wildlife experts estimate 32 million white-tails — by far the country’s dominant species of deer — roam America’s woods, fields and backyards. Last year, hunters killed 6.6 million of them.
A Legacy of Employment Division v. Smith?
From the NYTs:
“It all began with an Indian who wanted to eat peyote.
“His name was Alfred Smith. He belonged to the Klamath tribe in Oregon and was a member of the North American Church, whose sacramental rites included ingesting peyote buds.
“On March 2, 1984, when he told his boss at the alcohol and drug treatment center where he worked that he would be attending a church meeting the following day, he was told that if he used peyote there he would be fired. He did, and he was.
“It’s a circuitous road from there to a federal appeals court ruling last week that the village of Mamaroneck had improperly denied an application by the Westchester Day School, an Orthodox Jewish school, for a new $12 million classroom building.
“Peyote or no peyote, land-use planning and zoning board decisions aren’t made for thrilling public debate — unless it’s your backyard that’s involved. But the path from the North American Church to the Orthodox day school does have an Alice in Wonderland quality. It has brought the federal government someplace it has almost never been — the realm of local land use, planning and zoning decisions.”
The Second Circuit’s opinion is here. Employment Division v. Smith is here.
Turtle Talk 