Michigan facing another casino compact dilemma

But the Dorr Township supervisor still isn't sure how he feels about a casino in his community 20 miles south of Grand Rapids.

"I'm struggling with it," he said. "I see the good things it can do for the area and I also see the (gambling) addiction part."

Western Michigan residents and state lawmakers have taken strong positions over whether the Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band, also called the Gun Lake Band, of Potawatomi Indians should be allowed to build a casino.

Two years after Gov. John Engler promised legislators that his approval of four casino compacts would be his last without lawmakers' go-ahead, state Rep. Larry DeVuyst introduced a resolution urging Engler to work out a casino compact with the Gun Lake Band.

If no state compact is reached, the tribe could go to federal court to gain approval to open a casino. That would leave the Michigan Gaming Control Board with no oversight over the casino, as it has over Indian casinos that have signed compacts.

DeVuyst, R-Alma, introduced the measure in the final days of the Legislature's lame-duck session because he thinks Michigan residents should decide the fate of a casino rather than the federal government.

"We should also be thinking about the possible $200 million in revenue that could be collected by this state in the next 10 years," DeVuyst said. Other Indian casinos in Michigan usually pay a portion of their revenue to local governments.

GOP Rep. Patricia Birkholtz of Allegan County's Saugatuck Township led the opposition in the state House to taking up the resolution at the end of the 1999-2000 legislative session.

While Birkholtz says she understands that a casino may bring increased revenue to a community, she says profits don't outweigh the negatives of gambling addiction.

"We lost three library millages, but selling our souls for library money is not the answer," she said.

While both sides of the casino debate say they have significant support for their positions, Kaczanowski says Dorr Township's 6,130 residents are split over whether the area should have a casino.

Tribal members said they canceled two informational meetings about their proposal because of "racist" and "insulting" remarks made by crowds of people opposed to a casino at two November town hall meetings.

Kaczanowski has visited Indian casinos in Mount Pleasant and Manistee and talked to people who live in those areas about how they like living near a casino.

"Of what I've seen so far, they haven't devastated areas," he said. "Casinos run by Indians are very well regulated and well run. Some people are talking about the prostitutes that come with casinos. I don't see that."

Engler says it's in the state's interest to negotiate a deal with the Gun Lake Band similar to what the state has negotiated with other tribes, although he won't step in to negotiate one without legislative approval.

"I felt we had some protections that were very, very important and I want to preserve those," Engler said. Without a state compact, "the risk that we take is the federal court will step in."

If the state doesn't act, gaining approval for a casino from the federal courts is a possibility, said Noel LaPort, a spokesman and lobbyist for the Gun Lake Band in Lansing.

The band filed a federal lawsuit in July against the state, citing a federal law that requires states to negotiate with federally recognized Indian tribes for casinos. The tribe was recognized a year ago by the federal government as a sovereign Indian nation.

Tribe members say Engler's refusal to work out a gaming compact violates the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulation Act. The first hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled next month in Grand Rapids, LaPort said.

The tribe is considering establishing a reservation and casino in an area between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo along U.S. 131 in Dorr Township. But members are also looking at land in Kent, Barry, Ottawa and Kalamazoo counties, LaPort said.

"Kent County and the west side of the state are flush with gamblers," LaPort said. He estimated a casino could bring $160 million in revenue to a community. The 175-member Gun Lake Band owns 80 acres in Bradley, but development is prohibited there because the land is considered sacred.

Kaczanowski says his decision on whether a casino belongs in Dorr Township will come down to how great the risk is that having a casino could lead to gambling addictions, and whether the casino could hurt his neighbors.

"With a casino being so close to Dorr, people that aren't addicted to gambling could get addicted," he said.

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