Chippewa Won't Seek to Claim Central Michigan University as Indian Country
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Fred Cantu, 38, chief of the 3,000 member Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, describes himself as "a man of prayer"
Central Michigan University apparently is off the hook in the Chippewa suit since the tribe has stipulated it won't seek return of state property and the campus is just south of the claim.
The Chippewa, even though they're in the chips, won't mess with the Chips, as Central Michigan University's athletic teams are nicknamed.
That's one of the recent developments in the historic lawsuit by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe against the State of Michigan.
The tribe has stipulated that it won't seek to reclaim state property. The Chippewa claim borders Central Michigan University's campus but contains a huge State of Michigan Service Center.
The U.S. Department of Justice is a co-plaintiff with the tribe against the state in the suit before Federal Judge Thomas Ludington in U.S. District Court in Bay City.
The tribe claims it still owns the north half of Chippewa and Union townships, the whole of Deerfield, Denver, Isabella, Nottawa and Wise townships, including Rosebush and Beal City, the portion of the City of Mt. Pleasant north of High Street and the part of Wiedman east of Woodruff Road. The court is asked to declare that land "Indian Country" placing it under tribal sovereignty.
If the tribe is successful in getting some of their land back, they already have obtained federal permission to sell or lease it without further authorization or approval. Unnoticed by the news media, a bill was passed in Congress last July, sponsored by U.S. Representatives Dave Camp and Dale Kildee, allowing the tribe to dispose of any property not held in trust by the U.S. for the benefit of the tribe. Both Congressmen in the past have received donations to their political campaigns from the tribe.
That raises the possibility that the City of Mt. Pleasant and Isabella County could end up paying what in essence would be taxes to the tribe.
That potential is no doubt why Larry J. Burdick, Isabella County prosecuting attorney, and Mary Ann J. O'Neill, attorney representing Mt. Pleasant, recently filed a belated motion to intervene in the case.
The background to this case provides a movie script-like scenario encompassing much of this area's history in one way or another going back to territorial days nearly 200 years ago. You might call it Lumber Barons to Lobbyists.
Land disputes between the Indians and the Government used to be settled with bows, arrows and tomahawks against pistols and rifles.
But that was a century and a half ago out West.
Today the weapons here in mid-Michigan are lawyers, legal briefs and . . . money. Lots of money!
While the Western tribes were at war with the U.S. Cavalry, here in Michigan the peaceful Saginaw Chippewa Tribe was granted about 98,000 acres comprising about a third of Isabella County.
The deal was that the Chippewa had to move out of their traditional homeland of Saginaw, Bay and area counties and settle peacefully on reservations in Isabella and Arenac counties.
Lumber barons like Henry Sage of Bay City had already moved in and cut most of the valuable timber and abandoned the land by failing to pay back taxes.
Actually, the Chippewa were supposed to be forced to move west, to Oklahoma, designated as "Indian Country," like all the other tribes. "However, the removal efforts did not succeed," their court complaint notes wryly.
What really happened, the rest of the story, as the saying goes, is that the Chippewa out-numbered the small contingent of federal troops under Gen. Lewis Cass at the Treaty of Saginaw in 1819. Cass and trader Louis Campau broke out 15 barrels of whiskey and the celebration got out of hand, whereupon Gen. Cass and the soldiers escaped to Detroit aboard their ship.
The government apparently was too busy with hostile tribes out West to return to Michigan and roust the Chippewa. So they stayed, were given the reservations, and are still here. Federal policy about 20 years ago allowed the tribe to open a bingo hall, then a casino, and we all know what happened. Cash registers started to jingle as mid-Michigan folks trooped in to "give their money to the Indians." Surely you've heard that said?
The opening of the Mt. Pleasant casino just happened to coincide with the waning of the Industrial Revolution in mid-Michigan. Millions of retirees of automotive and related industries had disposable income to gamble away. The casino draws spenders from the tri-cities, Flint, Lansing, Grand Rapids and the area, plus transients from other states. The bonanza days of the past two decades are limited by the resources of retirees, now pinched by Michigan's economic retraction and the shrinking job base.
Besides six townships in Isabella County, the tribe was granted two townships in Arenac County in treaties with the U.S. Government in 1836 and 1855. Another Saginaw Chippewa casino is set to open in February at Saganing in Arenac County.
The U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs at that time was ironically named, in light of recent developments, George Manypenny.
Now, with revenues for its Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant estimated at $400 to $600 million a year, the Chippewa have the weapons to fight to get their land back.
A stipulation by the tribe asserts it "specifically does not seek remedies" related to state property and the collection of state sales taxes on six townships of Isabella County it claims are "Indian Country."
What they seek in the lawsuit filed in 2005 is removal of all state jurisdiction over tribal members living or working on their original lands -- no income or property taxes, no law enforcement, no zoning regulations, no traffic laws, no child welfare laws, etc.
The tribe will show in court that the original intent of the federal policy toward Indians was to concentrate them on reservations "in order to protect them from the onslaught of non-Indian settlement."
The tribe will present expert witnesses including historians and social scientists who will testify that much of the reservation land was fraudulently obtained from the Indians by white settlers.
The parties to the litigation have until 30 May 2008 to present their legal briefs, after which the court will hear testimony and decide the case. The legal wrangling could go on for years and may end up in the U.S. Supreme Court where an earlier case involving the same parties, the Chippewa and Michigan, still awaits action.
Meanwhile, Federal Judge Thomas Ludington has allowed the City of Mt. Pleasant and Isabella County to intervene as defendants in the case in Federal District Court in Bay City.
However, because their motion to intervene was not timely, the judge ruled the city and county cannot submit expert testimony but must rely on the defense by the state so the case isn't delayed.
Whether the depredations of the infamous Jack Abramoff, imprisoned for various crimes against the Saginaw Chippewa and other tribes, will surface in the trial is only a matter of speculation. The transcript of the hearing regarding Abramoff's activities is posted on the website of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and provides fascinating, if repugnant, reading. http://indian.senate.gov/public/ ###
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