Ohio attorney general Jim Petro hired two professors to analyze an Oklahoma tribe's land claim.

University of Toledo history professor Alfred A. Cave and Ohio State University geography professor Morton E. O�Kelly said they found no merit to the Ottawa Tribe's claim to Bass Island. In a report [PDF], they said there is no evidence the island was ever part of the tribe's traditional territory.

Petro cited the report in a letter to the tribe's attorney that dismissed the claim. The tribe said it wanted money damages and to re-establish hunting and fishing rights in the island.

Get the Story:
State rejects tribe's claim to Erie island (The Canton Repository 6/3)
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Ottawa tribe's claim to North Bass Island is rejected by Petro (The Toledo Blade 6/3)
Petro Rejects North Bass Island Land Claim By Out-Of-State Tribe (Attorney General 6/2)

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Another Oklahoma tribe denied out-of-state land (05/05)
Oklahoma tribe files claim to island in Ohio (04/07)
Out-of-state claim dismissed by federal judge (12/3)
BIA still hasn't ruled on out-of-state land acquisition (11/11)
Oklahoma tribes lead pack in out-of-state land claims (08/16)
Tribes take chances with far-away land acquisitions (04/01)
NIGC rules against Okla. tribe's casino in Kansas (03/26)
Bill would terminate out-of-state sovereign rights (09/26)