The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta recently heard arguments in the state of Alabama’s appeal, in which the state claimed the Poarch Band of Creek Indians illegally operated slot machines at its Montgomery, Wetumpka and Atmore casinos. Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkins dismissed Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange’s lawsuit against the tribe, on the basis that Alabama has no authority on Indian lands. The tribe has claimed its games are electronic versions of bingo and therefore are legal.
Poarch Band attorney Adam Charnes said the National Indian Gaming Commission, not the state of Alabama, is the entity that decides whether the machines are bingo games, which are allowed without a compact, or slot machines, which would require one.
Alabama Solicitor General Andrew Brasher argued that a section of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act gives states the ability to file civil lawsuits regarding tribal gaming operations. He noted if states could not go to court over activities on Indian lands, tribes could build huge casinos without ever needing a state gambling compact. “Why buy the cow if you are getting the milk for free?” Brasher said. Strange had stated treating Indian and non-Indian casinos the same was a “fundamental fairness issue.”
After the hearing, Poarch Band spokeswoman Sharon Delmar said, “At this time we feel positive about the way oral arguments went today, and will wait for the court’s decision.”
Meanwhile, at the Elmore County, Alabama Circuit Court, a jury declared Wayland Gray, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, not guilty of misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct when attempting to bless an ancient burial site at the Wind Creek Casino and Hotel in Wetumpka in February 2013. “Mvto, mvto!” Gray said, using the Muscogee word for “thank you,” to his supporters in the courtroom.
Muscogee Indians lived and were buried at the site until they were forced to relocate to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears under President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830. Nearly 200 years later, the Poarch Band built their $246 million, 20-story hotel and casino campus on Muscogee Creek’s burial site, known as Hickory Ground. During casino construction, the bones of about 57 Muscogee ancestors were excavated.
However, Poarch Band officials disputed that any remains were removed from the burial site. They said remains and “funerary objects” found elsewhere on the site by archaeologists were put in storage and “re-interred according to Indian tradition in April 2013.”
Video of Gray and his three colleagues show them chanting and singing on a road leading to the casino. Gray told general manager Cody Williamson, “You need to apologize to your ancestors and to their graves for what you’ve done.” Williamson testified that casino officials had told Gray and his supporters they could not visit the burial ground because it was an active construction site. “They had shakers and rattlers and they were putting them in peoples’ faces,” Williamson said, adding that the men were chanting “war cries” in the parking lot. Police took them into custody without conflict.
At the time of Gray’s conviction, a Poarch Band spokeswoman said, “After being found guilty by a district court judge, Mr. Gray has asked for a taxpayer-funded jury trial on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct. He is being prosecuted by the state of Alabama. We do not comment on on-going legal proceedings.”
A federal lawsuit still is pending against the Poarch Band by the Muscogee Nation, which claims the Poarch Band acquired the Wetumpka land under the false pretense of preservation; did not have permission from descendants when they excavated graves; and, that the ceremonial and burial grounds should be protected under the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.
