The Keweenaw Bay Indian
Community of Michigan reinstated two tribal court judges on Thursday but ordered them to halt proceedings in a lawsuit that challenged plans for a new casino.
The tribal council voted 7-5 to put Chief Judge Bradley Dakota and Associate Judge Violet Friisvall Ayres back to work. The pair had been suspended without pay on Monday after Dakota's father filed the lawsuit, which Ayres was handling.
The lawsuit questioned whether tribal members validly approved the new casino. Fred Dakota, the chief judge's father and a former president, said ballots should have been cast in secret instead of voting through a show of hands at a community meeting.
Current President Donald Shalifoe said the tribe is considering changes to the process. “Our community is in change; we want to go forward,” he told Upper MIchigan's Source.
The tribe is buying the Baraga Lakeside Inn for $2.75 million with the intent of building a new Ojibwa Casino at the site.
Get the Story:
Judges' suspensions lifted, reinstated by Tribal Council
(Upper Michigan's Source 8/14)
Controversy continues
(The Marquette Daily Mining Gazette 8/15)
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KBIC shuts off water and power to tribal
court in casino dispute (8/13)
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community suspends
judges in casino flap (8/12)