The Saginaw Chippewa Migizi Economic Development Corporation is developing commercial properties and leasing farmland in Isabella County. Saginaw Chippewa Land Case Set for Trial in Bay City Next August
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One of the most important legal cases in Native American relations with a state and the federal government will be tried beginning Aug. 10, 2010 in Bay City.
Nearly a decade after its filing Nov. 21, 2005, the case involving the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, that operates gambling casinos in Mt. Pleasant and Saganing, will finally come to trial.
The tribe claims about a third of Isabella County is still their reservation, as granted by treaties with the United States in 1855 and amended in 1864.
According to a recent order by Federal Judge Thomas Ludington in Bay City, the State of Michigan has been dismissed as a defendant and the case focuses merely on whether the property in question is "Indian Country."
However, the federal government, the City of Mt. Pleasant and Isabella County remain as defendant-intervenors.
The Indian complaint seeks to have the six townships of the original reservation declared Indian Country and prohibiting the enforcement of state laws against tribal members within the area in question.
"The remedy sought by plaintiffs is not predicated on reversing an ancient wrong for the benefit of a modern real estate transaction, it is simply a request for a declaration that the Saginaw Chippewa have retained jurisdiction over historic tribal land," wrote Judge Ludington in a recent ruling.
"The most important evidence is, of course, the language of the treaties themselves, and evidence that tends to demonstrate how the signatories to those treaties understood their language in 1855 and 1864."
If the tribe wins, then Phase II deliberations to determine a remedy will be necessary, according to Judge Ludington.
However, implications of the case are potentially astounding: if the tribal lands include all of the six townships it originally was granted, then does that allow them to, say, place slot machines in every gas station and convenience store?
Will members of the tribe living in the original reservation area be freed of state laws, and taxes?
Will the tribe be able, then, to assess the City of Mt. Pleasant and townships taxes or lease fees?
And what of the homes, businesses and property now allegedly owned by private citizens in the area in question?
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.
The former reservation borders Central Michigan University, so university facilities would not be involved. But a state service center is within the area and a question about the status of government land would remain. Would any publicly owned land become a federal reservation under tribal control?
The Saginaw Chippewa has agreed voluntarily to dismiss the State of Michigan and an environmental quality official, as defendants, to forgo remedies relating to payment of state property taxes and to refrain from advancing claims regarding jurisdiction over non-Indians present in the six townships.
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 in July, 2007, 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.
Larry J. Burdick, Isabella County prosecuting attorney, and John J. Lynch and Mary Ann J. O'Neil, attorneys representing the city of Mt. Pleasant, have been allowed by the judge to intervene in the case. The tribe is represented by Sean Reed, of Mt. Pleasant, William A. Szotkowski, Vanya S. Hogen, Jessica S. Intermill and Sara K. Van Norman, all of St. Paul, Minnesota. Patricia Miller of the U.S. Department of Justice is the attorney representing the federal government.
Back in 1855, while 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.
Actually, several decades earlier 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.
The Chippewa out-numbered the small contingent of federal troops under Gen. Lewis Cass at the Treaty of Saginaw in 1819. After 118 chiefs signed the treaty, 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.
By terms of the treaty, the U.S. obtained about six million acres in a tomahawk-shaped area stretching from near Kalamazoo to Alpena. It was one of the largest areas in the nation to be ceded to the government by an Indian tribe. Payment was $3,000 in silver down and $1,000 a year "forever," but the government ended payments after 18 years, in 1837.
The U.S. Army set up a fort at Saginaw in 1822 to control the sometimes unruly Chippewa, who did not recognize the property transfer effected by the treaty. Sickness forced the troops to withdraw after only a year and the fort was abandoned.
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 Isabella and Arenac reservations, and are still here. Federal policy about 25 years ago allowed the tribe to open a bingo hall, then a casino in Mt. Pleasant.
Over the years white settlers obtained nearly all the 98,000 acres of the original reservation by bargaining with the Indians. The tribe is expected to charge that some of the land transfers were fraudulent or otherwise questionable. Only a small reservation survived until modern times.
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 opened in February 2008 on tribal land at Saganing in Arenac County.
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.
Dozens of witnesses will descend on Bay City, including many academics and experts on the early development of the state and nation.
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 so the case isn't delayed.
Jurisdictional facts are not relevant during Phase I of the trial, the judge held, but may be relevant if a remedial phase is required. A witness list of the City of Mt. Pleasant includes two state experts, including Anthony C. Olkowski, and Greg Benford of Isabella Abstracts.
Parties have until Oct. 14 to amend witness lists and discovery will remain open until Nov. 23, according to the judge's ruling. A final pretrial conference is scheduled July 20 at 2:30 p.m.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
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