potawatomi

Huron Nottawaseppi Gaming News — Profile of Laura Spurr

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Western Michigan Business Review:

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi is planning to open its FireKeepers Casino east of Battle Creek next summer.

The process of getting the land into federal trust took years, and Laura Spurr was the calm public voice of the tribe throughout. She represented the tribe with a killer sense of humor and an encyclopedic command of data.

And she can’t be bullied.

What does a tribal chairman do?

“It’s kind of similar to city or township government. We have a five-member council, all elected by the tribe, then the council selects the chairman.

“Not all tribes do it that way. Some elect the chairman directly.”

Continue reading →

Romulus Casino Talk

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

Officials in Romulus, Michigan, are still interested in hosting off-reservation casinos even after Congress killed a bill to authorize two tribal facilities.

Officials plan to meet with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians to discuss reviving the casino. A deal with the Hannahville Indian Community could be in the works too. With Congress looking at ways to bail out the auto industry in Michigan and considering economic packages, officials say now is a good time to think about the casinos again.

Get the Story:
Romulus casinos are still a possibility (The Journal Newspapers 11/20)

Pokagon Band Amended Compact Materials

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Available here and here.

Here are the amendment “highlights“:

Pokagon Band Settles Revenue Sharing Dispute & Amends Gaming Compact

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Business Review Western Michigan:

Amendments to the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians’s gaming compact will give the state an immediate $15 million and give the tribe the right to open limited satellite casinos in Hartford and Dowagiac, Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s office announced today.

The amended compact resolves issues between the state of Michigan and the tribe that led to the Pokagon Band’s withholding revenue-sharing payments to the state for most of the 14 months its Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo Township has been open.

The band contended the state’s Club Keno game eliminated the tribe’s exclusive rights to operate electronic games of chance. The exclusivity provision was deleted from the amended compact. As a result of this change, the band immediately will make an initial annual payment of more than $15 million to the state.

Similar disputes between the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians were resolved earlier this year. Amendments to compacts do not require approval of the state legislature.

The amendments to the 1998 compact extend the life of the compact from 2018 to 2028, to ensure a full 20 years, as the original compact intended, according to the joint announcement. A series of lawsuits delayed the casino’s opening to August 2008.

Continue reading →

Pigeon Family in Documentary about Basket Weaving

Kate Fort

From the Grand Rapids press via mLive, by Rick Wilson:

Students help weave film featuring Potawatomi family, basket-making

by Rick Wilson | The Grand Rapids Press

Monday September 29, 2008, 8:26 AM
Press photo / Dave Raczkowski
Connor Zautke, 11, weaves a black ash basket as Kitt Pigeon, left, offers instruction and a cameraman documents the moment.

ADA TOWNSHIP — Rachel Swem conceded it’s pretty cool to be in a movie. But she also understands she’s part of a larger picture.

The 11-year-old sixth-grader and schoolmates at Forest Hills Goodwillie Environmental School spent much of last week as a backdrop for a documentary video conceived to provide a window into the struggles of West Michigan American Indian families trying to find their place in a society dominated by people of European descent.

Press photo / Dave Raczkowski
Steve Pigeon demonstrates basket-weaving techniques at the Goodwillie Environmental School in Ada Township.

The documentary centers on the Potawatomi family of Steve and Kitt Pigeon and the ancient tradition of basket-weaving that has been kept alive in their family for generations. Continue reading →

Michigan COA Case on ICWA

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The details of the case are recounted here.

The case is here, and captioned Empson-LaViolette v. Crago, and involves Pokagon Band Potawatomi tribal members.

Christopher Wetzel on the Potawatomi Nation

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

MSU AISP is hosting a talk by Dr. Christopher Wetzel on the rebirth of the Potawatomi Nation. Here is the flyer.

The talk is on September 18.

News Coverage re: Pokagon Revenue Sharing Dispute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the South Bend Tribune:

NEW BUFFALO — For the state of Michigan and local municipalities, the tribal Four Winds Casino Resort that opened a year ago in New Buffalo Township has a lot in common with the 1996 Tom Cruise movie “Jerry Maguire.”

Like the movie’s tag line, they’d like the casino to “show me the money.”

Certainly, the casino has been successful, earning an average of $24.4 million a month over its first eight months just on slot-machine revenue. But the state’s 8 percent share of those revenues and the local communities’ 2 percent share that were specified in the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians’ 1998 gaming compact have yet to be paid.And the payments, placed in interest-bearing escrow accounts, are sizable, amounting to $15.6 million for the state and $3.9 million for Berrien County, New Buffalo Township and the city of New Buffalo.

Essentially, the Dowagiac-based tribe’s stance, like that of other Michigan tribes with casinos, is that the Michigan Lottery’s Club Keno game introduced in 2003 violated their compacts’ exclusivity agreements. Two of the tribes sued the state, and although the Pokagons weren’t involved, they chose to withhold payment until the issue was resolved.

Continue reading →

Pokagon Revenue Sharing Dispute News Coverage

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Michigan City News-Dispatch:

NEW BUFFALO, Mich. – The slowing economy is not keeping people away from the Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo Township, which collected about $146.6 million in slot machine revenue over the six-month period that ended March 30.

Figures released by the Michigan Gaming Control Board show that the casino, owned by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, is taking in $24.4 million a month in slot machine revenue.

The monthly total has not changed from the amount estimated using figures covering August and September 2007, the casino’s first two months of operation.

Because it is privately held, the casino does not release figures on its total revenue from its hotel, restaurants, bars, poker and other games.

Continue reading →

In re Gaus — Michigan COA Downplays Import of Potawatomi Heritage in Best Interests of Child Analysis

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the unpublished opinion.