At the December meeting of the Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, members unanimously approved holding a referendum vote on “the question of expanding alcohol sales to other business establishments outside of casino property on the Qualla Boundary.” The council plans to follow up with a work session to determine the precise ballot working and to schedule the referendum.
The referendum proposal was introduced in October 2017. In November, a public form attracted about 100 people who overwhelmingly were opposed to any off-casino sales.
Opinions vary on the impact of a “no” vote, because a state statute, the so-called Blue Ridge Law, allows alcohol licenses to be issued; currently three restaurants on the Qualla Boundary sell alcohol under the law. Regardless of the referendum outcome, additional alcohol licenses would be allowed because the Blue Ridge Law is a state statute, analysts said. They noted the vote simply would allow tribal members to express if they would approve expanding alcohol sales rather than not allowing them.
In 2009, tribal members held a referendum allowing a limited exception to their ban on alcohol sales on the Qualla Boundary, to allow alcohol to be sold only at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. As a result, alcohol sales exclusively generated $20 million annually for the tribe, Principal Chief Richard Sneed noted.
In 2011, the Tribal Council passed a law allowing limited off-casino permits. In 2015, the legislature passed the Blue Ridge Law which allowed the city of Cherokee to grant permits to tourism establishments within 1.5 miles of Blue Ridge Parkway on- for one-time events such as festivals. Then-Principal Chief Patrick Lambert prohibited granting the licenses; he claimed that would be illegal without a referendum vote of approval.
But when Principal Chief Richard Sneed took office in May 2017 and the first Blue Ridge Law permits were issued, he said state law takes precedence because federal law grants states sole control over alcohol distribution. He warned the state could find the tribe to be noncompliant with state alcohol laws and the casino could lose its ability to sell alcohol, resulting in a huge financial loss.
Sneed also said a section of the proposed legislation should be removed, which states in granting Blue Ridge Law permits, the Tribal ABC Commission “assumes mistakenly that we are not a sovereign nation and have somehow ceded our sovereignty to the State of North Carolina.” Sneed commented, “I don’t know how we can support to pass that with that language in there, because that is not accurate and that’s not what is happening. When that state law was adopted in 2015, that makes it law, and they are tasked with carrying out what is in that ordinance. The language in here, it’s slanderous language that says they ‘assume mistakenly that we have somehow ceded our sovereignty.’ That’s not accurate.”
Lambert disagreed, noting, “The commission chose to not issue permits for several years, and did anything bad happen in those years? No. When I was in office, I made sure the commission understood I would not tolerate the issuing of a permit like that because the people had spoken.” Lambert added the Blue Ridge Law was passed by the state at the behest of the tribe. What needs to be asked here in this chamber is if we still agree with that law and what was pushed forward and lobbied by certain members of this tribe. It’s a very simple thing to me. Why don’t we go lobby again and remove that provision? Then it’s up to this body and it’s up to this tribe and this sword isn’t held over everybody’s head.”
Chairman Adam Wachacha said, “The Blue Ridge Bill will not be taken away. Jump up and correct me if I’m wrong, but with this resolution being passed, the requirements of the Blue Ridge Bill would still be in place because it’s an ordinance.”Vice Chief Alan “B” Ensley commented, “I think the best action would be not to even take action on this. Let it die on the vine, bring a clean resolution in, and go from there. Even the ones that’s against it, they want to have a referendum just to voice their opinions. Bring a clean resolution in, vote it up or down, move on with a referendum or not have one at all.”
