"Historians have alluded to the removal of Indian tribes from the old Northwest frontier as an act of ethnic cleansing, and there appears to be some justice in this claim. That does not mean, however, that courts should rule favorably on a claim by the Ottawa Indian of Oklahoma tribe that it has a right to the entire 677-acre North Bass Island as well as the $17.4 million paid by the state of Ohio to Paramount Distillers two years ago to buy 87 percent of the island in order to preserve most of it from development.

The Ottawa tribe's claim, according to its attorney, would be to build a fishing village, a fish hatchery, hotels, condominiums, tax-free shops, and an expanded air strip. Its ownership would be based on two treaties of 1805 and 1807 under which, the tribe argues, North Bass Island was situated north of the U.S.-Canadian border, until the border was redrawn in 1822.

We have long opposed the notion that an Indian tribe can expand its reservation boundaries to other regions simply to build a casino, whatever they may be able to do on land that has been set aside by treaties as reservations. Some tribes with established reserves in populous areas have become quite wealthy; those in more sparsely settled states attract visitors, too, but not in head-turning numbers."

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Editorial: No island casino (The Toledo Blade 11/30)