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Desperate barrage of ads from Ho-Chunk
(The following comments were delivered recently at a Beloit City Council meeting, by President Marty Densch. - Editor)
If you watch television at all, you have noticed a veritable barrage of advertisements regarding the Beloit Casino application over the past several weeks. And if you suspect that this is a desperate, last-minute attempt by the Ho-Chunk tribe to block this application, you are absolutely correct.
It is, I suppose, gratifying to know that they consider this application so close to approval and that they consider a casino in Beloit such a threat to their operations that they find it necessary to engage in such an intensive and expensive media campaign. There is, however, little if any truth to any of the allegations and assertions that they are putting forward regarding this project.
On a Web site devoted to blocking the Beloit casino project the Ho-Chunk maintain that the Bad River and St. Croix bands of Chippewa Indians have no aboriginal ties to this area, that they have violated the rights of local native people and that their application contains misinformation and was the subject of improper governmental review. I would point out that they offer absolutely no evidence to support any of these allegations and I would further point out that they are wrong on each of those counts.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has repeatedly asked the Ho-Chunk to offer evidence that the application has been mishandled or that it is out of compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. To date, the Ho-Chunk have failed to provide the BIA with any such evidence.
It is true that the Ho-Chunk had settlements in this area. However, the area east of the Rock River and extending all the way to the shores of Lake Michigan, including the land upon which the casino will be located, was recognized as territory of the “United Tribes”, namely the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians and these three tribes were co-signers of the 1833 treaty which ceded these five million acres of land to the United States Government. Interestingly, the Ho-Chunk, who were then known as the Winnebago, were not a party to this treaty.
How important is this information? This is what Michelle Greendeer, an attorney for the Ho-Chunk tribe, had to say in an address before LaCrosse social studies teachers in 2002:
“The fact that Indian Tribes entered into treaties is very important. Thus, the treaties are proof of a Nation's sovereignty. Just the fact that they entered into treaties, exhibits their sovereign status. The American government not only considered them to be sovereign nations, but also powerful enough to be dealt with as equals.”
On their Web site and in their television ads the Ho-Chunk urge citizens to contact Representative Tammy Baldwin and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to express their concerns regarding the casino application. I would urge citizens to do so, as well. This casino proposal is right for Beloit and our citizens know it. You can counter the Ho-Chunk tribe in their efforts to derail the casino application by contacting Representative Baldwin and Secretary Kempthorne to express, in no uncertain terms, your continued and unwavering support for this project.
(The following comments were delivered recently at a Beloit City Council meeting, by President Marty Densch. - Editor)
If you watch television at all, you have noticed a veritable barrage of advertisements regarding the Beloit Casino application over the past several weeks. And if you suspect that this is a desperate, last-minute attempt by the Ho-Chunk tribe to block this application, you are absolutely correct.
It is, I suppose, gratifying to know that they consider this application so close to approval and that they consider a casino in Beloit such a threat to their operations that they find it necessary to engage in such an intensive and expensive media campaign. There is, however, little if any truth to any of the allegations and assertions that they are putting forward regarding this project.
On a Web site devoted to blocking the Beloit casino project the Ho-Chunk maintain that the Bad River and St. Croix bands of Chippewa Indians have no aboriginal ties to this area, that they have violated the rights of local native people and that their application contains misinformation and was the subject of improper governmental review. I would point out that they offer absolutely no evidence to support any of these allegations and I would further point out that they are wrong on each of those counts.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has repeatedly asked the Ho-Chunk to offer evidence that the application has been mishandled or that it is out of compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. To date, the Ho-Chunk have failed to provide the BIA with any such evidence.
It is true that the Ho-Chunk had settlements in this area. However, the area east of the Rock River and extending all the way to the shores of Lake Michigan, including the land upon which the casino will be located, was recognized as territory of the “United Tribes”, namely the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians and these three tribes were co-signers of the 1833 treaty which ceded these five million acres of land to the United States Government. Interestingly, the Ho-Chunk, who were then known as the Winnebago, were not a party to this treaty.
How important is this information? This is what Michelle Greendeer, an attorney for the Ho-Chunk tribe, had to say in an address before LaCrosse social studies teachers in 2002:
“The fact that Indian Tribes entered into treaties is very important. Thus, the treaties are proof of a Nation's sovereignty. Just the fact that they entered into treaties, exhibits their sovereign status. The American government not only considered them to be sovereign nations, but also powerful enough to be dealt with as equals.”
On their Web site and in their television ads the Ho-Chunk urge citizens to contact Representative Tammy Baldwin and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to express their concerns regarding the casino application. I would urge citizens to do so, as well. This casino proposal is right for Beloit and our citizens know it. You can counter the Ho-Chunk tribe in their efforts to derail the casino application by contacting Representative Baldwin and Secretary Kempthorne to express, in no uncertain terms, your continued and unwavering support for this project.
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| ‘Doing what he thinks is best' |
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Bill Lowe, Reedsburg wrote on Mar 13, 2007 9:11 AM: