BAY MILLS - If members of the Bay Mills Indian Community were watching their televisions on Aug. 10, they may have witnessed President George W. Bush signing the $286.4 billion SAFETEA LU (H.R. 3), or Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Act: A Legacy for Users, bill in front of a suburban Chicago Caterpillar Inc. plant. What they probably didn't see is that nowhere in the 1,000-page bill is there a mention of BMIC and its hopes of settling its land claim with the state over the Charlotte Beach property.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, won support to strip an amendment out of the House Transportation Bill that would have given congressional approval for the casino in April of last year. Rogers, a staunch opponent of gambling expansion, led a campaign to have the measure stripped, despite the fact that a majority of Port Huron voters supported a Bay Mills-owned casino in their city. This time around, however, there is unsubstantiated talk that U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, successfully blocked attaching the casino measure to the bill. If true, it would mark the fourth time in just over three years the measure has gone down in defeat. Neither DeLay, nor a member of the Bay Mills Executive Council could be reached for comment.
According to a press release from michigan.gov, Michigan will be receiving approximately $239 million more in federal funds per year than in the previous transportation bill, TEA-21, which expired on Sept. 30, 2003. In addition to more funding for roads and bridges, Michigan will also receive a 39 percent increase, or $108 million, per year in public transit funds from 2006 through 2009. Although Michigan politicians successfully lobbied to receive a larger portion of federal funds, they were unable to settle the tribe's claim to the 110 acres of Charlotte Beach lands in Chippewa County. The land was given to the tribe by the federal government and subsequently sold by the state. BMIC offered to give up their claims to the land in exchange for a parcel in Port Huron.
