Read what happened to Manistique with the Sault Tribe Casino from http://www.manistique.org/sault_tribe_two_percent_video_slot_revenues.html:\n\nTwo Percent Fraud, or What?\n\nCAVEAT: \n\nThis article is one of a series of editorial articles that express personal \nopinions and views. They are written with no pretensions to be error free. I \nwill gladly correct substantial errors of fact. My opinions can change, \ndepending upon my awareness of changes in factual information. It is my intent \nto remain focused on specific public issues, regarding the personalities \ninvolved. For all I know, all the characters are saints, concerning their \nprivate lives and other public business... \n\nChanges may be requested by e-mailing the details to \n\npmarkham@manistique.org\n\n\n02/12/07\n\nThe following letter, concerning the apparent corruption of Sault Tribe of\nChippewa Indians gaming 2% revenue distribution, was written with the intent of\npursuing the subject as an agenda item at a future Manistique City Council\nmeeting. Manistique City Manager Sheila Aldrich\'s reports and communications,\nat the Manistique City Council meeting of 02/12/07, changed my intentions,\nimmediately. I will not waste my breath, or the Manistique City Council\'s\ntime; rather, I will say what needs to be said, here. \n\n\n\"12/12/06\n\n Beware of Sault Tribe Indian Givers Bearing Gifts\n\nIn 1996, as a Manistique City Councilman, I took exception to a great deal of \nmisleading publicity that labelled, as a \"gift\", the $500,000 provided the City \nof Manistique, by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The money was \nused to complete the basic construction of Manistique\'s multi-purpose\nrecreational building, and provide a usable ice rink.\n\nAs city councilman, I voted for the terms of a written contract that purchased \nthe use of the facility, over a ten year period, for specific periods of time, \nand sold, to the Sault Tribe, the right to name the facility, and provided certain \nother specified consideration. I do not know if that \"gift\" was carried on the \nSault Tribe\'s books as payments from the 2% of its net video slot machine \nrevenue that it owed local governments, i.a.w. tribal gaming compacts with the \nState of Michigan. At the time I voted to accept the contract, beyond \"gambling \nrevenue\", I knew nothing about where the 2% money came from, what it was \nsupposed to be used for, what strings were attached beyond the contract, or if \nany State controls applied.\n\nRegarding those involved, putting the \"deal\" together, I assumed, at the time, \nthat the project was, primarily, the consequence of the close business \nrelationship between Sault Tribal Board Chairman Bernard \"Bernie\" Bouschor and\nFirst Northern Bank President, Ronald \"Ronnie\" Ford, with the encouragement of\nother community movers and shakers that stood to gain, in some fashion.\n\nAt the time, I couldn\'t imagine that the Sault Tribe had nothing better to do \nwith $500,000 of tribal money than to give it to the City of Manistique, for the \nrecreational benefit of a few tribal members that might use the facility. In the \napparent context of a confidence game, it seemed, to me, that the obvious \nManistique publicity value of the \"gift\" spin was a \"no brainer\", regardless of \nthe truth of the matter, and City Manager Housler was anyone\'s \"\"yup-yup\" man\", \nand a required partner. It was an easy sell to Manistique.\n\nWhat I didn\'t understand was why a $500,000 \"gift\", that benefited so few Sault \nTribe members, was acceptable to Bernie Bouschor\'s political rivals. What I \ndidn\'t know was that the Sault Tribe, in general, benefited by the use of 2% \nfunds to purchase benefits for Sault Tribe members. What I didn\'t know at the \ntime, and still don\'t, was if the money used to purchase the use of the \nrecreation building was represented, to the State of Michigan, as 2% money, to \nbe distributed to local governments.\n\nWhat I do not know, is if the apparent, and likely, accounting slight of hand, \nallowed the skimming of $500,000 of Sault Tribe money, for other purposes.\n\n\nOver the following years, I came to understand the reason and purpose of what \nwas referred to as \"2% money\". I learned to appreciate, first hand, the \ncorrupting economic and political influence that is wielded by easy gambling \nmoney, when it is invested in a local bank presided over by the morally \nbankrupt. I learned what \"2% money\" buys, when the Sault Tribe chooses the \ngovernment entities, or facilities, that it will support with discretionary \"2% \nmoney\", over which it has sole control to determine what \"2% money grant\" \nrequest is most deserving, or not.\n\nI learned that nothing in the Tribal Gaming compacts, with the State of \nMichigan, suggest or state that \"2% money\" is to be used by the Tribe to \npurchase goods and services for tribal members; quite the contrary, the money is \nto be allocated to government entities or non-profit organizations for them to \nspend, as they deem necessary. According to terms of the gaming compact, no \nadditional \"payback\" or \"kickback\" or \"benefits\" for Native American casino \nowners is implied, suggested, or required. The gaming compacts hint nothing of \nbribery and blackmail, as a necessary part of qualification for 2% funds.\n\nWith the progress of time, the consequences of the corrupt business dealings \nbetween Bernie and Ronnie severely crippled the bank, and cost Sault Tribe \nmembers, and other bank investors, a substantial fortune, that few people wish \nto acknowledge, or remember. So why should the financing of Manistique\'s multi-\npurpose recreational building be free of their corrupting influence?\n \n\nAt the Manistique City Council meeting of December 11, 2006, an agenda item \nregarding the multi-purpose recreation building was introduced by City Manager \nAldrich. After a short discussion, Council voted, unanimously, to approve a \n$75,000 contract with the Sault Tribe, for the Tribe to purchase the use of the \nmulti-purpose recreation building for specific periods of time, along with \nother consideration, for five years.\n\nAt that televised meeting, the verbally stated source of the funding was the \ntribal-state gaming compact mandated 2% money. No part of the Council approved\nwritten contract indicated the origin of the funds, beyond the Sault Ste. Marie\nTribe of Chippewa Indians.\n\nAssuming that Manistique City Council members, and the City Manager, knew what \nthey were talking about, AND, assuming my basic understanding of the origin, \npurpose and distribution of \"2% money\" is correct, why is the Sault Tribe buying \nservices, by written contract, for tribal members, with the money bound by the \nstate gaming compact to be distributed to local governments, or non-profit \norganizations of its own choosing? Assuming my understanding is correct, why is \nthe City of Manistique selling substantial value to receive a \"2% money grant\", \nthat is, by the written terms of the contract, not a grant, but payment for the \ncontracted use of recreational facilities, and more?\n\nWho are the current civic leaders and tribal leaders that are so brain-dead, \nfrom my perspective, that they choose to maintain a decade old perversion, into \na confidence game, of a relatively benign term of the gaming compacts.\n\nI never read that tribal members purchased the right to hunt with the new law \nenforcement pistols that 2% money purchased for the Schoolcraft County Sheriff \nDepartment. I never heard that the Sault Tribe purchased the right to use the \ncounty jail for a pow-wow, because they provided 2% money to help local law \nenforcement. I never read that the Tribe bought the right, with 2% money, to \nchange the name of our \"Bishop Baraga\" park to Ronnie Ford or Bernie Bouscher Park.\nI have yet to read of a contract to time share the new public safety pumper truck,\nwith 2% money. I have no reason to believe that the 2% money that has gone to LSSU, \nHabitat for Humanity or an animal shelter, purchased any entitlement, for any \ntribal members, to periods of free or contracted tuition, room and board, or pet \ncare. \n\nSo why do I see a process corrupted in 1996, in part due to my ignorance, \ncontinue to bare the legacy of Ronnie and Bernie\'s \"Creative Accounting 101\", \nthat gored the community so deeply? Am I a blind ol\' geezer, already, whose \nperception of the world is the consequence of little more than senile dementia?\n\n\nI understand the Manistique City Council approved contract of December 11 as the \nspawn of the 1996 contract, the one I voted for, some 10 years ago. It was \nclaimed, at the time, that the one half million dollars was \"2% money\". Needless \nto say, IF the $500,000 was 2% money, and my current understanding is correct, \nhow did the Tribe get to write it off as 2% grant money, when they used it to \npurchase recreational benefits for Sault Tribal members? How will the Sault \nTribe account for the recent $75,000 of 2% money that it used to purchase \nrecreational benefits for Sault Tribe members, for the next five years?\n\n\nIF that 1996 $500,000 was not 2% money, then my concern is little more than \nknowing, for sure, that it was not credited to the gambling compact mandated 2% \nmoney allocations, and that $500,000 in real 2% money was distributed; in \naddition to the $500,000 the Sault Tribe used to purchase tribal recreational \nbenefits. My same concerns apply to the $75,000 of the December 11, 2006, City \nCouncil approved contract.\n\nIt should be apparent to all, from this rant, that I admit that I was, regarding \nthe 1996 contract, too naive and ignorant to understand the details of what I \nconsider now, a blatant public confidence game, that I was part of. No other \npublic official, in 1996, or later, has expressed any concern, that I am aware \nof, regarding the propriety of the 1996 contract, or the contract approved on \nDecember 11, 2006. To me, it is as if confidence games are a necessary and \nacceptable local government procedure to achieve political goals, or \nManistique\'s elected officials are incapable of learning.\n\n\nIn 1996, I would never have voted, knowingly, to sell, by written contract, the \nuse of city recreational facilities for 2% grant money. I would never have been \npart of a confidence game that could enable the Tribe to claim, to the State, \nthat it distributed $500,000 in 2% money, if it didn\'t.\n\nDo I know that the Sault Tribe did claim, to the State of Michigan, that the \n1996 $500,000 contract purchase money was 2% grant money? No I do not. Do I \n\"think\" they did? Yes, with little doubt. \n\nI have waited 10 years for the appropriate opportunity to speak and I am more \nthan willing to ask, now, the questions that may alleviate any ignorance and \ndelusions I may have acquired during that period. I hope the answers I hear make \nmore sense than those I heard 10 years ago, and that my speculated \"con by \ncompact\" is nothing more than a figment of my imagination.\n\nTo me, the 1996 contract looked like a scam, it smelled like a scam, and, in my \nmouth, it still tastes like a scam. To me, the 2006 contract is no better.\n\n\nThere is a reason for the historical control, by organized crime, of the \"vice\" \nrelated businesses of drugs, prostitution and gambling. I have patronized all of \nthem, in past lives, and I know of which I speak.\n\nJust in case the Manistique City Council, and City Manager Aldrich, fail to \nunderstand my concerns, or choose to ignore my concerns; from my perspective, \nthe 2% money is legislated unconditional compensation for the local Kewadin \nCasino\'s impact upon the community\'s resources and infrastructure, under the \nguise of a \"sovereign nation\". In return, the Sault Tribe gains a government \nright to victimize local residents by preying upon a facet of basic human \nnature; the perpetual search for pleasure and thrill.\n\nI do not like what I perceive to be the Sault Tribe equivalent of organized \ncrime, conspiring with local leaders, to dictate to the non-tribal residents of \nSchoolcraft County what the Tribe will gain, additionally, in return for the 2% \nof net slot revenues that buys their State granted right to victimize \nlocal residents. The two written contracts are testimony to my claims. They \nstand as testimony to the fact that the Sault Tribe purchased substantial value \nfor that which the Sault Tribe, and the City of Manistique, claimed to be 2% \nmoney grants, as required by the terms of the gaming compacts.\n\nIf the purpose of the 2% grants is to provide the Sault Tribe a tax-free means \nto purchase goods and services, for tribal members, then you have my abject \napology for this public tirade, but, before my apology becomes effective, I will \nneed far more reason than the past self-serving and vague public proclamations \nof civic responsibility and Sault Tribe largess.\n \n\nPart of the gambling wealth generated by preying on productive members of \nsociety is used to purchase political influence to prey upon them, further. As \nfar as I am concerned, the December 11th unanimous vote by Manistique City \nCouncil, along with the 1996 contract I voted for, were bought by the Sault Ste. \nMarie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, acting as a criminal enterprise.\n\n01/12/07\n\nThe following is quoted from the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians newspaper,\n\"Win Awenen Nisitotung\", dated 01/12/07, page 7, within the article titled\n\"Saving Anishinabeg Artifacts\". I read this, at the breakfast table, on the\nmorning of 01/15/07, one month after writing the rest of this article.\n\n\"Two percent funds are derived from the compact we signed with the State of\nMichigan to allow us the right to operate casinos in Michigan. The compact reads\nthat two percent of the net revenue from the slot machines must be given to\nlocal units of governments. This money must be given freely and accounted for by\nthe tribe as such.\n\nYou have seen the photos in the paper before. It goes for roads, fire trucks,\nanimal shelters, sports teams and numerous community improvement projects.\"\n\nI never thought, when I wrote my justified rant, that I would read a plain \nEnglish statement of justification for my ire, from a Sault Tribe source, before\nthe recent ill conceived agreement was signed by the Mayor of Manistique, Dave\nPeterson, and the Sault Tribe Chairman, Aaron Payment.\n\nSincerely,\n Peter Markham\"\n \n\nSince I wrote the first part of the \"letter\", in 12/12/06, I sought a copy of\nthe signed 12/11/06 contract from the Manistique City Clerk\'s office, and from\nManistique City Manager Aldrich. Every time I asked, I was told that the contract\nwas not confirmed by personnel of the Sault Tribe.\n\nAt the Manistique City Council meeting of 02/12/07, under the agenda catchall\nheading of \"Reports and Communications\", City Manager Aldrich announced, as a\nsimple matter of fact, that the Sault Tribe approved the agreement. No details,\nor reference to a signed agreement; little more than might accompany a personal\nagreement, sealed with a hand shake, to complete a \"done deal\", with everyone\'s\nunderstanding of the terms.\n\nAfter the meeting was adjourned, I asked City Manager Aldrich where I might get\na copy of the signed contract. With a guilty look on her face, she told me there\nwas no written signed contract. Assuming I had misunderstood her, I rephrased the\nquestion. Same answer; no written contract.\n\nPaul Olson, wearing his Pioneer Tribune \"Ace Reporter\" hat, spoke up and asked if\nthe City had the money. Aldrich said it had. While I was present, I heard no mention of\nan amount, at any time, during or after the council meeting, but was informed later\nthat Aldrich had stated that the City had received $7,500.\n\nI haven\'t the slightest idea whether the money was a bag of cash, check, casino\ntokens, how much, for what, and for whom. The City now has an amount of money,\nacquired under mysterious circumstances, vouched for by nothing more than the\nempty and vague words of Manistique city officials; that I have learned to distrust.\n\nRegardless of whether new recreational benefits were purchased for Sault Tribe\nmembers, in 2007, by a verbal contract, with current two percent revenues, they\nwere definitely purchased in 1996, by the terms of a written contract, with money\nthat may have been for that purpose; or not.\n\nStill, 10 years later, the same old shell game.\n\n\n03/12/07\n\nDuring the \"Reports and Communications\" agenda item, of today\'s Manistique City\nCouncil meeting, City Manager Sheila Aldrich stated that there were \"no strings\"\nattached to the $75,000 two percent gambling revenue to be used to finish the\nkitchen of the multipurpose recreation building. There was no comment by any\ncouncil member.\n\nI have no idea what happened to the consideration documented in the contract\nsigned by Mayor Dave Peterson. Perhaps I imagined all that I wrote of and no\nexplanation is due, regarding the most recent verbal agreement spoken of this\nevening. Why the sudden difference, compared to the last two written versions,\nthat documented what the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians were purchasing with\nthe two percent money, instead of distributing, freely?\n\nWould the State of Michigan care to fill in the details, so conveniently\nomitted at tonight\'s council meeting, that changed apparent fraud to\nappropriate compensation, by evading the responsibility to state the reasons\nfor the changes from the documented agreement? Had I not spoken up, would\nthe residents of Schoolcraft County have to submit to continued bribery, or\nblackmail, to get what was due?\n\nHow easy it is to maintain the fiction of responsible, moral, ethical and law\nabiding officials, by ignoring the details of public responsibility.