Monday, April 11, 2011

A Symbol of the Need to Control

Sault Ste. Marie, Mi...It's eighty miles from the Soo to Whitefish Point. Still, both of these communities are in unit one.

Unit one takes in the Soo area as far out as Kinross. Then it snakes westward becoming a narrow strip of land taking in all of the small communities along the shore.

It's as extreme example of Gerrymandering; done by the politicians of the Soo to beef up the number of directors in their area to give them more clout on the board.

Thus the snide reference to the Sault Tribe as the Sault Saint Marie Tribe of Unit One Indians. Of the the thirteen directors on the board, the Soo has five of them.

What do the people of Whitefish Point have in common with the people of the Soo? Not as much as they have in common with the people of Newberry...or even Munising. Still, they're not in either of those units.

As much as anything else, this disproportioned claim to the voting membership is a symbol of the deeper problems plaguing tribal government. Where simple fairness should rule how the tribe does the people's business, power and the need to control rule it instead.

Thank you, Charles Forgrave

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you'll want to get a twitter button to your blog. Just bookmarked the url, although I had to make it by hand. Just my 2 cents.

Anonymous said...

What is this nonsense you are talking about. You are just a consperiency(sp) nut spreading fears rather than facts. Give us a break,

Nathan Wright said...

There is no one spreading fears. The Sault Tribe has different classes. Those living closer to the Soo get more based on our numbers. The farther away you are the less you get. Even though our total numbers are use to obtain these monies. How different would it be if all casino monies would stay in their own areas and not go back to the Soo. Very different. And now the previous poster will shut up, because they have now been made aware of what Chuck was trying to say.

Anonymous said...

I agree, some of the stories you print are over-the-top, you seem to be saying that the tribe never tells us what it is doing yet you never attending meetings.

Anonymous said...

Charles sometime I think you just want to stir things up.

Lynne Weaver said...

"Things" have been stirred up for far too long but it isn't Charles who is stirring "things" up. Writing about all the BS that goes on, starting at the top, is a never-ending story. Perhaps the person that is complaining about Charles 'stirring things up' is part of the problem and would prefer to keep things quiet.

Lynne Weaver said...

"Idoit"...you made all three comments that were addressed to Charles. Agreeing with your own comments doesn't really make your case.

Our right to make changes through referendum is the one voice we have left....use it.