Oklahoma Wyandottes see the Woodlands as first choice By Bob Friskel
of the Kansan
7-10-96
“We plan to put a casino in Kansas City,” Leaford Bearskin, chief of the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma stated Tuesday in Kansas City Kan.
Bearskin, Second Chief Jim Bland, and several others working with the tribe were in KCK for talks with city officials. In a later meeting at the Kansan, they listed three plans of action:
Plan A: A casino at the Woodlands
Plan B: A casino at another site in KCK
Plan C: A casino at the former Scottish Rite Temple adjacent to the Huron Indian Cemetery.
Bearskin said the tribe has an option on the Scottish Rite Temple and will purchase the building once its 30-day waiting period for placing the cemetery land in trust has expired. That expiration date is Friday.
But Holly Zane, attorney for the Wyandot Nation of Kansas said she and Mario Gonzalez, attorney general for the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas will file action Thrusday or Friday “asking a temporary restraining order to have this stopped until there can be an independent review.”
Zane said the suit will be filed in a federal court still to be decided, perhaps in KCK.
The former Scottish Rite building is owned by McCurry’s Home Health. Ron McCurry, part owner, said “There’s been a long-standing contract. If it happens we’ll start looking for another place. If not, we’ll be happy to stay here.”
The tribe’s first choice is to have the casino at the Woodlands, Bearskin said, but it intends to purchase the Scottish Rite building regardless of where the casino is buildt. If built downtown, it will house the casino. If the casino is built elsewhere, the Scottish Rite building will serve as a tribal headquarters and/or cultural center.
He said a primary concern no is the opposition of the Kansas tribes to a downtown casino. Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt has given approval to placing the downtown land in trust for the Oklahoma Wyandottes, pending the 30 day waiting period that ends Friday. But the other tribes object to what they have called desecration of the cemetery.
“Its absolutely false we would desecrate the grounds,” Bearskin said. “We have no intention of doing that. And Federal regulations as well as our tribal regulations would prevent that. We’ve met all the regulations; we’ve met all of the hurdles we’ve had to go through. We would enhance the cemetery.
Placing the land in trust, Bearskin said, will allow the tribe to buy the Scottish Rite Temple building and begin planning the casino. It will continue its ongoing talks with officials at the Woodlands in its “Plan A” of having the casino there.
“If we build the casino downtown we could employ about 1200 people”, Bearskin said. “If we build the casino at The Woodlands we would employ two to three times that number.”
But Kansas tribal officials say the Oklahoma tribe’s application with the Bureau of indian Affairs calls for placing about one-half acreof land it plans to purchase adjacent to the Huron Indian Cemetery in trust status so it can establish and operate a Class III (Las Vegas type) gaming facility on the land. “He’ll have to get the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to be rewritten,” Zane said.
Gov. Bill Graves has expressed disaproval of a downtown casino but has not spoken against a tribal casino at the Woodlands.
Indian casinos are not required to pay city or stat taxes, but Bearskin said the tribe is discussing an agreement with city officials in which it would make a payment to the city in lieu of taxes.
“We would help finance your utilities, your police, your fire departments,” Bearskin said.
The Wyandot Nation of Kansas is opposing a casino and other tribes who have built or are building casinos in Kansas also do not favor a KCK Indian casino. They are the Sac and Fox, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, and the Iowa.
Paul Filzer, attorney with the Oklahoma tribe, observed that an Indian casino in KCK would present competition for other Indian tribes in Kansas and also would compete with Kansas Ciky Mo. Indian linked caasinos. He said Harrah’s which has two K.C. Mo. casinos recently signed an agreement to manage the Potawatomi casino in Kansas.
Bearskin said a Florida company would manage his tribe’s casino and that the tribe has been planning it in KCK for about six years. The tribe has been working with North American Sports Management in Maitland Florida. He said the tribe has tried to reach agreement with the Kansas Indians without success.
The Oklahoma tribe has 3,663 members throught the nation, Bearskin said, including about 400 in the Northeast Oklahoma headquarters and about 850 in the state of Oklahoma. The location of the headquarters has no bearing on reservation land, he said. The Wyandot Nation of Kansa, has about 500 members, also in scattered sites. Its headquarters, Jan English Second Chief said, “is the cemetery.”
Zane said the restrining order request will allege that several laws, including the Treaty of 1855, were violated.
“They didn’t get federal status as a tribe until the 1970’s,” she said of the Oklahoma Wyandottes. “We have petititioned to get federal status as a tribe and that has been frozen. We have not been told why.”
Of the suit, she added: “We’re hoping they make a quick decision.”