"It's been more than a decade since the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe in a landmark hunting and fishing treaty rights case.

Some members of two other Ojibwe bands, Leech Lake and White Earth, plan to demonstrate on the shore of Lake Bemidji Friday to call attention to their claim of similar hunting and fishing rights.

Many business owners and anglers around Lake Mille Lacs are still angry over the Supreme Court decision 11 years later. Linda Eno, owner of Twin Pines resort in Garrison, Minn., about 10 miles north of the reservation, said the Supreme Court decision has devastated local businesses.

"I mean, you just have to drive around the lake and it's becoming a ghost town," she said.

Eno said 12 resorts and restaurants have gone out of business in the eight miles between Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Garrison.

"That should make me, one of the very few survivors, as busy as can be. When we took this resort over 16 years ago, the only day of the year I closed was Christmas day," Eno said. "That is how busy and successful things were around this lake."

Now she closes two months of the year: one in the spring and one in the fall.

Other nearby business owners echoed Eno's concerns, but they didn't want to be interviewed on tape, because they say they get labeled "racist" for questioning treaty rights. These local business owners say many of their clients have boycotted the lake."

Get the Story:
A decade later, Mille Lacs netting decision still angers anglers (Minnesota Public Radio 5/14)

Also Today:
Round 1 begins in northern Minnesota treaty rights dispute (The Bemidji Pioneer 5/15)
Chippewa Members Test 1855 Treaty Rights (WCCO-TV 5/14)

Related Stories:
Opinion: Respect Ojibwe off-reservation treaty fishing rights (5/17)
Ojibwe fishermen stage protest to support 1855 treaty rights (5/14)
Leech Lake fishermen plan treaty rights protest this Friday (5/11)
MPR: Great Anishinaabe Fish-Off still planned in Minnesota (05/04)
Ojibwe tribes request comanagement of treaty resources (4/27)
Column: White Earth leader prefers diplomacy on treaty (4/26)
Leech Lake Band won't take part in treaty rights protest (4/23)
Chippewa Tribe of Minnesota plans fishing rights protest (4/21)