12/14/2006
Charlotte Beach land dispute remains unsettled
Tribe’s agreement still in need of ratification from U.S. Congress
By Shannon Jones
Staff Reporter
BAY MILLS - Once again the settlement concerning the Bay Mills Indian Community's Charlotte Beach Land Claim will go on for another year, but not due to any disagreement of the parties involved. The issue at hand remains that the tribe is not allowed to dispose or relinquish claim on tribal lands without an act of Congress, something Chairman Jeff Parker and his predecessors have been working on for quite some time.
BMIC and the State of Michigan currently have a settlement agreement in place, but it cannot be acted upon until ratified by Congress. The agreement will give the Charlotte Beach property owners a clear title and give BMIC the ability to purchase property of equivalent value in Port Huron in exchange.
Bay Mills has faced a number of hurdles on the Charlotte Beach issue over the years, including misconceptions about how the problem arose. According to Parker, the problem with Charlotte Beach goes back more than 100 years to the 1855 Treaty of Hay Lake (aka Charlotte Beach). When the tribe acquired that parcel of land, purchased with annuities money, it was deeded to the governor of the State of Michigan.
"We were told at that time this was a way to protect the property so you wouldn't lose it," said Parker.
Ironically, a state-owned reservation exists today in Athens, Mich., as a tribe there did the same thing around that time. But for BMIC the property was "lost" to back taxes in the 1880s when Chippewa County decided to assess taxes on it. Despite appeals from the tribe to the federal government and the state, BMIC ancestors were removed from the property and the land was foreclosed on. Today, a number of non-Natives reside there and have built homes on that property, but hold cloudy titles as the land settlement issue remains up in the air.
To clear the dispute in Charlotte Beach, then Gov. John Engler, recognizing the legitimacy of the claim, entered into a settlement with BMIC to resolve the claim.
However, because of the Trade and Intercourse Act, tribes are not allowed to dispose of property without an act of Congress. That law remains on the books today.
"So in order for Bay Mills to relinquish any interest it has in the Charlotte Beach land, we need an Act of Congress," said Parker.
One of the problems with going to Congress to get this settlement ratified is that the tribe has met considerable opposition in the matter. From the City of Detroit, to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in Mount Pleasant, as well as other tribes, a battle has been waged against BMIC over the settlement since the outset. The Saginaw-Chippewas even paid recently convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff a reported $14 million to work against Bay Mills and make sure the land claim was not ratified by Congress.
"That tribe also testified against us, as did other tribes in Michigan, even though we have a legitimate land claim that was recognized and entered into by the governor of the State of Michigan," said Parker.
During the recent lame duck session of Congress the tribe had been working to get the land claim ratified, without notifying the opposition that something was going on. "Anyone that is willing to spend $14 million to fight us in my book is an enemy," said Parker. "We didn't want to forewarn them and get them to get their forces to rally and defeat us."
Parker went on to refute the speculation that the tribe is hiding issues from the membership by not publishing information on specific issues.
"Our paper is nationally read, it goes all over the country; our paper is well respected. And there are people who read our paper to get information to use against us," he said. "And we are all for having a free press, but you have to remember that a free press has legitimate things that they cannot publish. For example, the Free Press does not publish articles on how to build a nuclear bomb, or things that are going on within the State Department. If anyone wants to know anything, they can come talk to the Executive Council during their meetings, they can come to an informational meeting that we host the third Wednesday of every month, or a GTC. Really, any of the information we have is free and open to any tribal member with some exceptions, such as medical records and employee personnel files."
If Bay Mills drops the issue now, the tribe will lose any claim on the Charlotte Beach property. The settlement that is in place also cannot be renegotiated at this time. If and when the settlement is ratified, BMIC will discuss the next step.
"Our ancestors pooled their annuity money and went without for a length of time to get this property," said Parker. "We have an obligation to our ancestors to see this through."
http://www.baymillsnews.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=121&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=&S=1
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