Report touts benefits of Menominee casino

Friday, October 24, 2008  

The Menominee Nation of Wisconsin has asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs to suspend review of its off-reservation casino but hopes a new study will eventually pave help win approval for the project.

The tribe and its backers paid $50,000 to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs to study the Kenosha casino. A report made public earlier this month says the project would help the tribe address poverty and unemployment that came after the federal government terminated the Menominees in the 1950s.

"The federal government now has the opportunity to make up for that shattering decision by approving the Kenosha casino and helping the Menominee help itself overcome an utterly devastating period in its history," professor Dennis Dresang wrote for the report.

The tribe hopes a new administration will look favorably on the casino. Since Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne took over, the Interior Department has adopted policies -- without tribal consultation -- to make it harder for tribes to open casinos away from existing reservations.

Get the Story:
Report could help push Kenosha casino forward (The Business Journal of Milwauke 10/24)