| Yesterday, a judge put a halt to the proposed Lansing casino. Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians announced plans for a $245 million casino in January 2012. The injunction stops the tribe from applying to have the land taken into trust — the next necessary step for conducting gaming on the site — until it can be clarified whether a unique provision the Sault tribe claims exempts it from state rules is, indeed, legal.
Keep in mind that it was in pursuit of this stupid thing that America's Shoutiest Mayor had to apologize for slurring Native Americans. Last year, someone accused me of opposing this stupid thing because it would take business away from the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort, which is about five miles away from where I currently sit. That's not true. I wish the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort didn't exist, because the benefits it's provided the community have been outstripped by the increase in traffic, the rise in stupid crimes (embezzlement, and the time some jackass stole a convenience store crippled kids jar so's he could go play slots), and the loss of locally owned businesses in favor of chains. I have no moral objection to casinos or gambling, and I regard the practice of geezers on oxygen tanks rolling into town to deposit their Social Security checks into the Tribe's coffers as a form of soft reparations for 400 years of harsh treatment. They just don't really do much to grow the local economy, and misdirects resources from actual businesses to an industry predicated on selling a pipe dream to the stupid and greedy. |
