Gov. Doug Ducey has signed SB1332 into law, officially expanding the state’s innovate Empowerment Scholarship Account program offering unprecedented educational options to all students living on tribal lands, which includes 22 reservations in total.
“We are very thankful to Gov. Ducey and the bill sponsor, Sen. Carlyle Begay, for their commitment to addressing the long-standing education problems on the state’s reservations,” said Kevin Chavous, executive counsel for the American Federation for Children. “These children have been ignored long enough when it comes to providing them with quality educational options. Today Gov. Ducey did his part to right that wrong.”
According to the Arizona Department of Education, Native American students have the state’s lowest graduation rate at 61 percent making Native children less likely to graduate than any other ethnicity or group including students with special needs.
Arizona has the second largest Native American student population in the United States. Most of the 55,000 Native American students in Arizona attend school on or near their reservation. The new law gives these families on tribal lands, mostly in rural areas, the opportunity to customize their children’s education. Parents can choose how to use their state-funded education accounts and can pay for options like private school tuition, online classes, homeschooling or other education related expenses.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Carlyle Begay, D- Ganado, who has made education in his district, including the Navajo Nation and eight other Tribal communities, a top priority.
“My gratitude goes out to Gov. Ducey … for signing a bill that means so much to families living in my district and throughout all of Arizona’s tribal communities,” Sen. Carlyle Begay, D-Ganado said. “Native American parents went from having almost no options to having a mechanism to build their child’s education around their child’s learning needs. It is an exciting first step toward fixing education on tribal lands!”
With the new law, ESA eligibility now includes students in D or F rated schools, students with special needs, students in adoptive care, students with an active-duty military parent, siblings of an ESA recipient, and students living within the boundaries of an Arizona reservation.
TULALIP – The Tulalip Boys & Girls Club flag football team the Chargers, ages 5 to 6, took on their first opponent on April 18, with a game against the Saints from the Everett Boys & Girls Club. No score was kept but the Chargers kept the Saints on their toes and performed beyond expectations. Great Job Chargers!
Six spots are still available on the Chargers team. Head coach is Deyamonta Diaz and assistant coach is Selena Frajman. Practices are every Thursday, 4:30 -5:30 p.m., and Friday 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Tulalip Boys & Girls Club features five flag football team, one t-ball, one coach pitch and two volleyball teams.
Flag football coaches are Michael Hunter, Aletha Tatge, James Madison, Jay Fryberg and Issac Elliot. T-ball coach is Charlita Davis with Gregory Moses coaching for coach and pitch. Jamie Orth and Becca Marteney coach volleyball.
If you are interested in having your child join any of the available teams, please contact Tori Torolova at360-716-3400.
DENVER, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Indian College Fund (the College Fund) has signed Jim Belushi and The Sacred Hearts to perform live at its 25th Anniversary Gala, to be held Friday, May 8 from 6:30-10:30 p.m. at the legendary Drake Hotel. The formal fundraising event will benefit Native American higher education and celebrate the College Fund’s mission to provide access to higher education for all Native people.
VIP ticket-holders will enjoy a special reception and the opportunity to meet Jim Belushi.
A silent auction featuring Native art and unique items will also be held at the event. In addition, the College Fund will be accepting bids for a guest to perform the song “Soul Man” with Jim Belushi and The Sacred Hearts that evening.
All VIP packages, tickets, individual tickets, tables, and sponsorships are available for purchase now. Visit collegefund.org/gala to learn more or call 303-426-8900.
25th Anniversary event sponsors include Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc.; Comcast NBCUNIVERSAL; Wieden+Kennedy; Ford Foundation; San Manuel Band of Mission Indians; The Walt Disney Company; AT&T; and McDonald’s Corporation.
The Native American Student Organization at Eastern Michigan University held a rally Wednesday, April 22, in reaction to a report some students dressed in Native American garb and painted their faces red during an off-campus party. BEN BAIRD-WASHTENAW NOW
YPSILANTI — In response to an April 11 off-campus party where Eastern Michigan students allegedly dressed in Native American garb and painted their faces red, a university student organization took a public stand Wednesday saying they will not accept silence or for this to be swept under the rug.
Amber Morseau, president of EMU’s Native American Student Organization, said they were rallying that day to stand in unity against racism of Native Americans both on and off campus.
“These students involved decided that our culture was a costume they could just put on for a few hours and take off again when it suited them,” she said. “(They) claimed they were Hurons and honoring our people.”
There was no honor in what they did, Morseau said.
NASO members made clear they are not satisfied with the university administration’s response so far, both in regards to the students in red face as well as the reappearance of the Hurons logo on campus. The Hurons mascot was eliminated more than 20 years ago after a campus-wide effort was begun by four Native American women who found it disrespectful.
Davi Trusty, who was the president of NASO in 1991 when he attended EMU, said he feels it’s a shame Native American students are still fighting the same issues that he fought.
If someone thinks it’s okay to tell a Native American to go back to the reservation or to put makeup on their face and pretend to be an “Indian” something is wrong in that person’s psyche, he said.
Trusty said they appreciate the love and support members of the community have shown following this incident.
Morseau said Kay McGowan, an adjunct professor at EMU who teaches anthropology and sociology classes, spoke to each of her classes April 15 about racism, disrespect toward women and the culture of erasure – of a dominant culture diminishing another.
McGowan, the only Native American professor on campus, subsequently received an email from someone identifying himself as “John Smith” who told her no harm was intended by what happened April 11 and that the Native American community was overreacting.
“This email alone demonstrates to us that these students involved do not understand what it is they have done and they certainly have yet to see the consequences deserved for what we consider to be a hate crime,” Morseau said.
What happened was not a spontaneous action, McGowan said, for such a large group to all be dressed and painted at once. This was planned and done on purpose, she said.
“I want to know why, who did it and what was their intent,” she said. “Along with an apology.”
Sandy Norton, EMU Faculty Senate president, said the university’s faculty is dedicated to the education of their students. This is an opportunity for the students who did this to grow and realize domination is not okay regardless of what group someone is from, she said.
“This is not an isolated incident as you well know, this is simply another manifestation of people who are in a position of privilege and dominance appropriating another culture, representing something in a way that’s destructive and damaging,” she said. “And the issue? They don’t even realize that they’re doing it, that’s what’s scary.”
EMU faculty’s job is to get them into classrooms, meeting other people, talking to other people, and asking themselves questions so they can grow, Norton said.
NASO speakers are asking the students responsible to come forward with a public apology.
Morseau said they are all aware of the incident from April 11 when as many as 20 EMU students in red face, dressed up wearing things like headdresses and portraying the mainstream stereotype of Native Americans, attended an off-campus party.
Nathan Philips, a resident of Ypsilanti, Omaha Nation member and native elder, was walking in the neighborhood when he encountered these students on Ballard Street.
When he asked what they were doing, he said some of the students responded by saying, “We’re the F-ing Hurons!”
Phillips told the students they weren’t honoring Native Americans, but were being racist and offensive.
“And as soon as I said ‘racist,’ it turned from honoring the Indians to, ‘Go back to the reservation, you F-ing Indian, get the F out of here,'” Phillips told 7 Action News.
He also said a beer can was thrown at him.
Phillips attended Wednesday’s rally, during which he made a point to go through the entire crowd of those assembled, taking the hand one-by-one of everyone he approached.
Phillips is also a Vietnam veteran and by May 2013 he completed 500 miles of walking while carrying a POW/MIA flag in honor of fellow veterans. During the rally, Phillip’s flag was carried by Chris Sutton, NASO treasurer.
NASO response to EMU
While Morseau thanked the EMU administration for acknowledging what happened and for both the university and police conducting an investigation, they don’t believe the inciting behavior is being addressed as well as it should be. She said they feel the university’s carefully worded response sent out to students and faculty on April 17 had the effect of minimizing the situation.
“We, as a Native American student organization, feel that the racist attitudes and behaviors that led to the assault are a much bigger problem than the university would like to admit,” she said.
Sutton said the university’s response is kind of what led to the rally – as a way to offer more details to the public.
They expect more from the university, Morseau said, that evidence of pervasive racism be met with a renewed commitment to honor the promises of respect the native community received, including the removal of the Hurons logo throughout campus.
She added the actions against Phillips not only impact the Native American students on EMU’s campus, but the Native American community in Ypsilanti and throughout Michigan as a whole.
It’s also not just a problem for Native Americans, but for all marginalized communities, Morseau said.
If there are those who feel they can discriminate against Native Americans, Trusty said it’s only a matter of time before other groups of people are targeted.
“It’s not just us, trust me, it is you,” he said. “We are all interconnected.”
EMU has said it immediately began an investigation after hearing about what happened April 11.
“Eastern Michigan University takes these matters very seriously and remains strongly committed to maintaining a respectful, inclusive and safe environment, in which acts that seek to inflict physical, psychological or emotional harm on specific demographic groups will not be tolerated,” said Geoff Larcom, EMU’s director of media relations, in a statement.
John Murray, Chief Earl Old Person and Tyson Running Wolf announced Wednesday a national campaign to cancel oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine area.(Photo: Courtesy photo)
The Blackfeet Tribe and National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) announced a campaign Wednesday to cancel the remaining oil and gas leases within the Badger-Two Medicine area.
The rock band Pearl Jam and member Jeff Ament, who originally is from Big Sandy, will be reaching out to their supporters to encourage them to join the campaign, it was announced during a news conference.
The 165,588-acre area is almost entirely within roads and features mountains, ridges, river valleys and wetlands along the Rocky Mountain Front.
The area has 47 oil and gas leases that the Blackfeet and NCAI contend were illegally granted more than 30 years ago without tribal consultation. Today, 18 leases remain. In 2013, Solonex LLC filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government to begin drilling in the area.
The Blackfeet announced a campaign to urge Congress, President Barack Obama and federal agencies to cancel all remaining leases in the Badger-Two Medicine, which is located at the intersection of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
Tyson Running Wolf, secretary of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, said drilling in the lands that are at the heart of the tribe’s creation story with so much cultural significance is not an option. The tribe will be putting the full weight of a growing alliance behind efforts to stop drilling, he said.
“The Badger-Two Medicine is a sacred place where the Blackfeet people gather food and medicine,” Running Wolf said.
The fight against the oil and gas leases was announced during a news conference conducted in Browning by Running Wolf; Blackfeet Chief Earl Old Person; John Murray, Blackfeet tribal historic preservation officer; Jacqueline Johnson Pata, executive director of the NCAI.
Old Person led the announcement with a prayer.
Tribal members have been struggling with the possibility of development in the Badger-Two Medicine for awhile, he said. Past leaders of the tribe said wars of the future would not only be with bows and arrows, he said.
Running Wolf said the Blackfeet Nation has been fighting to protect the area for more than 30 years. Under the Reagan administration, 47 oil and gas leases were illegally issued without consulting the tribe, he said. With the announcement, the full weight of the tribe and a growing alliance is behind the effort.
“We will never let this happen,” Running Wolf said.
Murray said the campaign will include billboards and a website, badger-twomedicine.org. There also is a petition on change.org asking Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to cancel the leases.
The tribe also is reaching out to faith and business communities and national environmental organizations to bring their voices to millions of people around the nation.
Ament, of Pearl Jam, will be helping out as well on social media.
“We’re going to be mobilizing his resources to get the message out about the Badger-Two Medicine,” he said.
Ament, bass player for Seattle-based Pearl Jam, issued a statement through the tribe.
“The Blackfeet Nation sits on the front range of the Rocky Mountains of Glacier National Park, one of the most spiritual and beautiful spots in Montana,” Ament said. “Drilling for oil and gas has no place in the Badger-Two Medicine. Clean water and clean air are precious resources that hold the key to the future of the Blackfeet people and all Montanans. Please cancel the leases in the Badger-Two Medicine.”
On its Facebook page, Pearl Jam urged its followers to join the Blackfeet Nation to protect Badger-Two Medicine region that included a picture of Ament and U.S.Sen Jon Tester, D-Mont.
Johnson Pata, executive director of the NCAI, said Indian access to sacred places is critical responsibility to federal agencies.
“NCAI has requested that the Department of the Interior consult with the tribe on the Badger-Two Medicine, and we are hopeful that the agency will move to cancel all remaining oil and gas leases that threaten the area’s preservation,” she said.
The Blackfeet also announced partnerships with 18 Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Canadian Native tribes and nations, The Wilderness Society, National Parks and Conservation Association, the Montana Wilderness Association and the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance.
TULALIP – Marysville School District’s recent decision to adopt the Since Time Immemorial curriculum as part of their standard curriculum was a big step in addressing the need for Native representation in their schools. Cultural specialist Chelsea Craig, a Tulalip Tribal member who works at the district’s Quil Ceda Tulalip Elementary school says, implementing STI alone will not be enough to address the disconnect schools have with Native students. She is hoping a new change in the district’s paraprofessional requirements will help close that gap.
Paraprofessionals according to the district’s website are “responsible for providing assistance to students under the direct supervision of certificated staff in classrooms or other learning environments as assigned. Although not certified as teachers they act as assistants to teachers and other school staff, making this position great for those who are seeking a career in education. To become a paraprofessional one needed a two-year degree as part of the requirement list that includes background check and ability to pass district training. Now the two-year degree requirement has been dropped and replaced with the requirement to have a high school diploma or equivalent. This change is what Craig is hoping her Native people take advantage of and become involved with their local schools.
“Historically our people have had a mistrust in education, starting from the boarding school era, and then each generation [following] there is still an underlining feeling of mistrust. By having more Native faces in the schools it helps to make schools feel less like an institution to our Native students and more like a family atmosphere,” said Craig.
Four Marysville School District schools are located on the Tulalip Reservation. The schools’ student population adds to the large number of Native students scattered throughout the district. This high concentration of Native students makes a unique partnership between the Tribes and the district. Together both have created initiatives to support students and close the achievement gap, especially in math and literacy.
“Passing STI was huge because we all bring our own wealth of knowledge about who we are and we can share that with our kids,” said Craig.
STI curriculum provides a basic framework of accurate Indian history and understanding of sovereignty that is integrated into standard learning units. Teachers are provided training on tribal history and culture. Quil Ceda has taught this style for some time, gaining national attention for their diverse school culture.
“We are finding that when we teach about culturally relevant topics the engagement is naturally much higher. The kids are motivated to do their work and they are excited about learning about their own culture, and non-Indian students are excited about learning as well. We just need as many Native faces on campus as possible, and if we can’t have them as teachers, having them as paraprofessionals is a great next step,” said Craig. “It makes such a big difference for our kids to see their own people in roles that are inspirational to them.”
If you are interested in becoming a paraprofessional with the Marysville School District visit their website at www.msd25.org or call the district at 360-653-7058.
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
TULALIP – In the aftermath of the school shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School last October, where five students died, including the shooter, the Marysville Tulalip communities have worked tirelessly to stitch a sense of normalcy back into their lives. Through a community recovery team, comprised of members of the Marysville School District, Tulalip Tribes, City of Marysville, Marysville and Tulalip leaders and community members, a coordinated community-wide support net has been created for families and victims of the tragedy.
Support has been offered to families and victims through trainings, resources and community meetings. Families and victims can also find support representation from Victims Support Services, Ministerial Association, Volunteers of America, American Red Cross, Marysville YMCA and United Way of Snohomish County.
The message the recovery team wants the community and youth to know is, “something has happened to you, but something isn’t wrong with you. We are here to help you.”
During the days following the tragedy a strategic effort was created with the help of the International Trauma Center to develop a long-term plan to build resiliency and improve the communities long-term holistic health. The plan is designed according to the unique partnership of Marysville and Tulalip to properly address the needs of the communities.
Throughout the next year, monthly trainings will be held along with meetings that introduce the goals of the team, which include a reduction in self-injurious behavior in youth, integrating culture and education, and increasing access to primary health care to reduce acute long-term effects of psychological trauma.
A list of available resources and community meeting events can be found at the Marysville/Tulalip United website, www.mtunited.org, including crisis numbers for counseling, support services and suicide prevention.
In Tulalip, the Tulalip Trauma Response Network has scheduled a series of trainings that include trauma informed care seminars that educate about emotional management, de-escalation techniques and workforce protection, along with how to decrease the use of coercion, restraint, seclusions and isolation to reduce violence in the community.
Other trainings include psychological first aid and post-traumatic stress management available to councilors, youth workers and natural healers and leaders in the community.
Suicide prevention efforts continue with the addition of the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scales and Gatekeeper training. This training educates community members to screen for suicide to foster targeted intervention. Sources of Strength is another suicide prevention program being implemented that utilizes peer leaders to enhance protective factors to reduce suicide in youth.
For youth under six years old, educators are being trained through Rainbowdance, a classroom-based program that helps children overcome challenges related to stress and trauma to promote violence prevention in younger children. For youth seven years and older, programs such as the Classroom-Community-Culture Based Intervention is effective in developing tools that will help older youth overcome challenges and relate to others.
Intensive outpatient treatment is also available for youth and teenagers who have suffered trauma and violence and need a more intensive support to recover.
Social media is a key component that the recovery team is examining, in how youth use and respond through different social media platforms. Seminars are available for parents and interested community members to learn how to navigate different social media sites. The goal is to educate parents and community members to look for suicidal comments and report them to the proper channels to intercept suicidal behavior in youth. A community-led social media reporting system is being developed that will create a direct channel that parents and community members can report abuse, suicidality and bullying.
For more information on support services available to the Marysville Tulalip community please visit the Community Recovery Team’s website www.mtunited.org. You can also contact the Tulalip Tribes Behavioral Health team for support for children, youth, and adults in coping skills, support groups, and mental health counseling at 360-716-4400.
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
reat Mom to a Sublime Brunch and Visit to the T Spa
Source: Press Release Tulalip Resort Casino
Tulalip, Washington — After treating the kinsfolk to amazing meals all year long, it’s time to turn the tables. On Sunday, May 10, the whole family can honor the special women in their lives at a sublime brunch in the Tulalip Resort Casino Orca Ballroom, with seating at 10:30am and 1:00pm.
Every matriarch will feel like a queen dining her way through an opulent array of tempting breakfast and lunch dishes, including Omelet and Egg, Carving, Pasta, and French Toast/Waffle stations. If Mom loves her salads, she can select among six – from Panache of Fresh Fruit and Vegetarian Soba to Citrus Shrimp Caesar. Hot entrees cover all the bases from Thick Cut Bacon & Grilled Chicken Sausage Patties to Apple Walnut Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with herb cider glaze, and Crab Asparagus and Mushroom Crepes covered with Asiago Mornay Sauce. Assorted breakfast pastries — such as muffins, croissants, and mini Danish — accompany the menu.
If Mom has a big sweet tooth…she may spend the entire day at the dessert buffet sampling the Lemon Meringue Tartlets, Berry Breton Tarts, New York Cheese Cake with berries, French Macaroons Whole Chocolate Cakes, and Assorted Scones with Devonshire cream, raspberry jam, and lemon curd.
For the youngsters, there is a knee-high buffet featuring kid favorites, such as Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard and Ranch Dressing, Macaroni and Cheese Bites, Mini Pepperoni Pizzas, and Pigs in a Blanket.
Celebrate Mom in the royal style she deserves at Tulalip Resort. Mother’s Day brunch, including a welcome Mimosa, is priced at $42 inclusive for adults. Children 4 to 12 are $22. For reservations* call 360-716-6888.
Looking for that special gift for Mom? Treat her like the star that she is at Tulalip Resort’s 14,000 square foot T Spa, by giving her a “Red Carpet Facial,” which all the celebrities have before stepping foot on the red carpet. This unique facial process comes from the land down under. It utilizes the Intraceuticals Oxygen treatment, which combines the extraordinary benefits of refined Hyperbaric Oxygen. She will leave with beautiful, refreshed, plump skin. For reservations and additional information, call (360) 716-6350.
*Note: All reservations will have pre-assigned tables; each reservation will require pre-payment at time of booking and is non-refundable; parties of 10 or more will be placed within close proximity of each other.
(CN) – The 9th Circuit denied the Tulalip Tribes’ bid for additional licenses for video gambling machines, despite the tribe’s claim other members of the state gaming compact are being treated more favorably.
The Tulalip claimed Washington allows the Spokane Tribe to lease more lottery terminals at a better rates, contrary to a “most favored” tribe guarantee for the Tulalip.
The state regulates tribes’ operations of player terminals for a tribal lottery system under a Tribal-State Gaming Compact. The Tulalip can operate 975 terminals but may increase the amount up to 4,000 by purchasing allocation rights from any Washington tribe in the compact. The procedure is known as a terminal allocation plan, or TAP.
In 2007, the Spokane Tribe joined other tribes in the gaming compact. The state allowed the tribe to make payments into an inter-tribal fund to obtain additional terminals if it couldn’t secure the machines under the TAP procedure because “few, if any” machines were available for lease, according to court documents.
The Tulalip claimed the state gave the Spokane more favorable terms by allowing the tribe an additional way to obtain terminals and petitioned to have the same opportunity by amending its compact. After the state refused, the Tulalip filed a federal complaint in 2012 saying the state breached the compact and asking for an injunction amending the agreement.
In 2013, U.S. District Judge Richard Jones granted summary judgment to the state, saying the Tulalip wanted to “cherry-pick” the benefits of the inter-tribal fund provision. The Tulalip appealed to the 9th Circuit.
A three-judge panel ruled on Friday the state is not required to adopt the Tulalip’s amendment because it didn’t “mirror the restrictions” that were in the Spokane’s compact.
Writing for the majority, Judge M. Margaret McKeown said the inter-tribal fund method “carries with it interdependent conditions and consequences” that the Tulalip’s amendment failed to include.
“We hold simply that Tulalip is not entitled as a matter of law to the more selective set of terms in its proposed amendment. The most-favored tribe clause does not allow a ‘pick and choose’ arrangement. The district court correctly entered judgment for the State. Simply put, Tulalip’s proposal does not mirror the restrictions of Appendix Spokane, and those are the terms to which the State agreed,”
The panel did not determine whether the Spokane compact was more favorable, according to the opinion.
David Giampetroni, an attorney with Kanji Katzen PLLC, which represented the Tulalip Tribes, said in an email to Courthouse News that his client is disappointed in the ruling and “respectfully disagrees with the decision reached by the court.”
“The Tribe is evaluating its options,” the attorney said.
PHOTO BY RICK MCFARLAND Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK MCFARLAND –04/14/15– John Berrey, chairman Quapaw tribe, with Tamela Tenpenny-Lewis (center) and Carla Coleman, both with Preservation of African-American Cemetaries, near the 160 acres that the Quapaw tribe owns on Thibault Rd. in Pulaski County Tuesday. A Quapaw burial site also contains graves of slaves.
In a deep, commanding voice, Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma Chairman John Berrey said he feels the presence of his ancestors on the former Thibault plantation southeast of Little Rock.
“There’s something physical that happens to us out here,” he said, looking out onto the green pasture and trees that surround the graves of Quapaws from more than 100 years ago, when the tribe still inhabited Arkansas before members were moved to northeast Oklahoma.
Tribal elders cry when they arrive at the land, he said, standing at the edge of a vast puddle at the land’s western border, dressed in a dark suit and textured brown leather boots, with large jeweled rings and metal wrist pieces matching a turquoise bolo tie.
His journey across Pulaski County last week included a stop in which he was greeted like an old friend at the Arkansas Heritage Museum, where his family members are quoted in the tribal exhibit.
As Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma officials seek to have its 160 acres in Pulaski County placed into federal trust, taking it out of local jurisdiction, tribal leaders have faced suspicion from the city and the county that they intend to build a casino on the property.
Tribal leaders haven’t said no, but they maintain that they don’t have plans to pursue a casino. They focus on the history of the land, which is just south of the multimillion-dollar Little Rock industrial port.
The tribe would need only for the land to be accepted into trust and determined as “last recognized reservation” land for a casino to be built. Berrey said the land could be considered “last recognized reservation” land in the future, but that’s not a process he is pursuing.
Little Rock leaders are concerned that the city and the Little Rock Port Authority don’t have binding agreements about what the tribe would do with the land, if acquired into trust.
“It’s that dangling fear of the future — what might happen,” At-Large City Director Dean Kumpuris told Berrey at a city board meeting.
Some note the tribe’s problems with plans for two casino projects in Kansas — one of which resulted in a state lawsuit against the National Indian Gaming Commission and U.S. Department of the Interior, and the other of which was eventually dropped — as signs that the tribe may not be straightforward.
“I think that’s our biggest concern,” City Director Lance Hines told Berrey. “What’s to stop you from changing your mind?”
HISTORY OF THE LAND
The tribe secured its 160 acres outside Little Rock through 80-acre purchases in 2012 and 2013 for a total of $1,372,000. The tribe has no other land in Arkansas, although it’s interested in purchasing acreage near the Big River Steel project in Mississippi County.
The Quapaw tribe — native to Arkansas and the source of the state’s name — has reclaimed a little of what it lost over the years, through the discovery of tribal artifacts and grave sites where the tribe later purchased the land in Pulaski County.
Several years ago, historians from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff uncovered pottery fragments and other items from Quapaw burial mounds, including an iron spike, an iron buckle and parts of bowls and bottles.
Berrey said these artifacts are distinctly Quapaw, representing craftsmanship that was so popular it can be found among artifacts from across the Americas.
The Quapaw tribe isn’t alone on that land; the graves of American slaves were discovered on top of the Quapaw burial grounds.
The tribe has since formed a partnership with the Little Rock-based Preservation of African-American Cemeteries group to protect the area. The groups’ bond has even translated into a joint conference at the Oklahoma Downstream Casino Resort in May on preserving the graves of ancestors.
Carla Coleman, co-founder of the Preservation of African-American Cemeteries group, recalled the time that she and other group members visited the grave sites on the Quapaw land for the first time.
“It was just spiritual,” she said.
Tamela Tenpenny-Lewis, another co-founder, said many graves in other places are lost because of development, agriculture or industry.
Berrey said he wants to protect these graves by acquiring the land into federal trust to prevent alienation, which is the ability of a property or property rights to be sold or transferred.
QUAPAW IN OKLAHOMA, KANSAS
The tribe operates two casinos, both in northeast Oklahoma, that have generated more than $1 billion of economic impact in the past five years, benefiting schools, scholarships and roads.
The Downstream Development Authority opened the 1 million-square-foot Downstream Casino Resort in Quapaw, Okla., on July 5, 2008, on behalf of the Quapaw tribe at the cost of $301 million. A casino fact sheet describes the spot as a “Las Vegas-style destination resort.”
The tribe owns a second casino — a much smaller venture called Quapaw Casino — just 4 miles south of Downstream.
A few months ago, the tribe announced plans for a third casino, this one in Kansas, to be built with Kansas native Phil Ruffin, a Las Vegas billionaire known for casinos and his joint venture with Donald Trump to put up Trump International Tower in Chicago.
But the tribe withdrew from those plans after Kansas officials sued the federal government March 9, arguing that federal law was improperly applied on a different piece of Quapaw land just north of Downstream Casino Resort in Cherokee County, Kan., where the tribe had planned an expansion of Downstream Casino.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt wrote that tribe officials also broke their promise that the land — acquired into federal trust in 2012 — would not be used for a casino when they announced plans last year to expand the Downstream resort.
A Kansas law passed in 2007 allows for casinos with a minimum investment of $225 million in Cherokee and Crawford counties in southeast Kansas, Dodge City, Kansas City and Wichita, although no casinos have been established there since then.
In 2014, Kansas legislators passed a new law that would decrease the minimum amount of investment required to build a casino from $225 million to $50 million.
Afterward, Kansas proposed three state casinos in Cherokee and Crawford counties that are now awaiting approval from the Kansas Lottery.
Berrey said that change in law presented competition to the tribe’s Oklahoma casino that borders Kansas, prompting the tribe to pursue the casino projects. He added that the tribe had already considered its Kansas property to be gaming land and did not deceive government officials.
The Downstream Casino Resort is so close to the border that the casino has parking spaces in Cherokee County, Kan., where the tribe owns 124 acres of “last recognized reservation” land.
Under federal law, tribes can establish gaming on land acquired into federal trust after Oct. 17, 1988, only if it is “last recognized reservation” land, meaning it was acquired in a recognized treaty and the tribe is present. Presence includes the tribe’s exercise of its own authority on the land and the presence of tribal members on the land. The land also must be in a state with no present-day reservation for that tribe as of Oct. 17, 1988.
Berrey said that same designation could apply in the future to its Pulaski County property, where the tribe had land through an 1800s treaty, but “that’s a whole ‘nother application. That’s something we’re not even looking at.”
The tribe acquired its 124 acres in Cherokee County, Kan., nearly 10 years ago and placed it into federal trust in 2012.
According to the Kansas attorney general’s March 9 complaint in U.S. District Court in Kansas, state leaders wrote letters objecting to the trust before it was granted, believing the property would be used for gambling. The complaint adds that Cherokee County officials withdrew their objection after tribal leaders assured them that the land would not be used for gambling.
In 2013, according to the filing, tribal leaders requested a legal opinion from the National Indian Gaming Commission on whether the land could be used for gambling.
In late 2014, the commission’s acting general counsel issued an opinion that said it could be used for gambling, citing its “last recognized reservation” status.
Tribal leaders then quickly announced plans to expand Downstream Casino Resort into Kansas.
Less than two weeks after the Kansas attorney general filed suit over the National Indian Gaming Commission’s decision, Berrey said tribal leaders would no longer pursue the casino with Ruffin.
WHAT’S NEXT IN ARKANSAS
The Quapaw tribe now leases most of the land in Pulaski County to a soybean farmer. But Berrey said the tribe eventually plans to grow crops on the land to give food to the Arkansas Foodbank.
Berrey also has offered memorandums of understanding to Little Rock and to the Little Rock Port Authority that would be binding agreements on certain issues, such as how the Port Authority should handle any Indian remains it might uncover.
When asked whether the tribe intended to include provisions in those agreements that would subject the land to state laws governing gambling, Berrey said, “I don’t think so.
“We’re not talking about that. It’s about the cultural stuff.”
Berrey said he would “probably” sign an agreement restricting the tribe from acquiring more land in the area.
“We don’t want to bind ourselves in the future, 20 years from now, based on something signed 20 years ago,” he said, adding that he believed Pulaski County residents would eventually see “a lot of value” in the tribe’s use of the land.
Arkansas law allows only for Oaklawn Racing and Gaming in Hot Springs and Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis to exist, but not all state laws may apply once land is acquired in federal trust.
The tribe’s application indicates that placing land into federal trust would remove it from state and local jurisdiction, but the application also states that activities on the land would remain subject to state laws “to the extent afforded by existing federal law.”
Berrey said the laws that would remain intact would be criminal and civil procedures — offenses that would lead to arrests, such as raiding a grave site.
But Little Rock and county officials are concerned that those laws wouldn’t govern everything they’re worried about.
Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde and County Attorney Amanda Mitchell have until May 13 — after receiving a 30-day extension — to respond to a request by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Nashville, Tenn., for information on the financial effect of removing the land from local tax rolls.
Although the land was purchased for nearly $1.4 million, it is appraised at only $85,350.
Hyde said he’s still gathering opinions and information and doesn’t know what the county will say to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. But Hyde said he doesn’t understand why the tribe isn’t considering keeping the land in local jurisdiction and seeking protections for the land through conservation easement, which would prohibit development, or some other arrangement with local government.
“It’s hard to be a real part of the community when you play by your own rules,” he said. Hyde said whether the county would oppose gambling on the land depends on input from the land’s “neighbors,” including the Port Authority and College Station.
The state also has the opportunity to give input to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Gov. Asa Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis did not respond to requests for more information.
Port Authority Executive Director Bryan Day said he is opposed to any use of the land that doesn’t benefit or complement the industrial port, which is a large public-private investment just south of the Arkansas River. Day said an inappropriate use could be a casino, a water park or a fast-food restaurant — anything that would increase nonindustrial traffic.
Little Rock Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jay Chesshir echoed Day’s concern and said the tribe’s activities in Kansas “give rise to questions.”
“Hopefully, the Bureau of Indian Affairs will take any concerns that we bring forward into consideration,” Day said.
Metro on 04/20/2015
Print Headline: Quapaw leader: No plans for casino on land near LR port
