{"id":241172,"date":"2025-09-29T17:13:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T22:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=241172"},"modified":"2025-09-29T17:13:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T22:13:38","slug":"statement-gun-lake-tribe-mourns-passing-of-ernie-stevens-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2025\/09\/29\/statement-gun-lake-tribe-mourns-passing-of-ernie-stevens-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement: Gun Lake Tribe mourns passing of Ernie Stevens, Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi statement on Ernie Stevens, Jr.<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, September 29, 2025<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source\">Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n <p><\/p>\r\n<em>The following is  the text of a September 29, 2025, statement from  D.K. Sprague, Chairman Emeritus of the <a href=\"https:\/\/gunlaketribe-nsn.gov\/\">Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi<\/a>, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe.<\/em>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of Ernie Stevens, Jr.  Indian Country has lost a great relative, friend and warrior.  If I may, with affection, I refer to him simply as \u2018Big Ern\u2019 as we hold him and his family in our thoughts and prayers as he takes his journey. \r\n  <p><\/p>\r\n\u201cThroughout the years, Ernie was an advocate, advisor, and most importantly, a friend to our people here at Gun Lake.  His guidance through our initial struggles helped pave the way to the success of the Gun Lake Casino Resort.\r\n  <p><\/p>\r\n\u201cAs we faced many roadblocks, trials and tribulations as we pursued federal recognition in the 1990s, and then in our pursuit of economic development, we needed friends and allies.  We thank the Creator we found a true friend who played a big role in our eventual accomplishments. \r\n  <p><\/p>\r\n\u201cAs Chairman of the Indian Gaming Association, Ernie was a big part of the Gun Lake Tribe achieving federal re-affirmation, and our legal and legislative victories on our path to self-sufficiency. \r\n  <p><\/p>\r\n\u201cFor this, and all he did over many decades to improve the lives of Indian People, we give thanks to his family and the entire Oneida Nation in Wisconsin that Ernie was there for all of us. \r\n  <p><\/p>\r\n\u201cChi Migwetch Ernie, travel well.  You will always be loved and missed by all those who\u2019s lives you touch in such a meaningful way.\u201d","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;Indian Country has lost a great relative, friend and warrior,&#8221;  Chairman Emeritus D.K. Sprague said on behalf of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,1],"tags":[6796,1480,3755,523,236],"class_list":["post-241172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-gaming","category-national","tag-dk-sprague","tag-ernie-stevens","tag-iga","tag-michigan","tag-obituaries","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/30\/IndianzComDefaultImage.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-10JS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241380,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241172\/revisions\/241380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}