"It might sound optimistic to the edge of delusional, but the longtime leader of the Bay Mills Indian Community says he expects the tribe will open a casino in Port Huron within the next 15 months.
"Late spring or early summer of 2012," Jeff Parker replied when I asked if he could predict an opening date. "It's a lot of stuff to get done in a year." Indeed it is. For starters, Bay Mills must win a legal challenge it appears to be losing. It also must strike a deal with Gov. Rick Snyder, whose position on a Port Huron casino is unknown. And who knows what new bedevilments to expect from the tribe's relentless opponents, led by a phalanx of well-paid lobbyists and lawyers marching to the orders of MGM Grand, the Chippewa of Mount Pleasant and the Ottawa of Petoskey?" Get the Story: