At a November 17 meeting, the DeKalb County, Illinois board unanimously came out in support of Shab-eh-nay Reservation Act Settlement legislation, at the request of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and Chairman Joseph Rupnick.
Tribal officials previously asked the county board for approval to open a Class 2 casino in Shabbona that would offer only bingo. Rupnick said the land reclamation request is not related to the casino request.
A letter signed by DeKalb County Board Chairman John Frieders was addressed to U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Adam Kingzinger, asking them to introduce and support the legislation, which would give the tribe 1,280 acres near Shabbona State Park in southern DeKalb County.
The DeKalb County board tabled the resolution to approve the letter of support at its October meeting. Frieders asked to delay the vote to give board members more time to determine the status of the legislation at the federal level. Frieders previously stated the land reclamation issue is “one of the top priorities of the County board” and that the board would “support this moving forward.”
Rupnick said his fourth great-grandfather, Chief Shab-eh-nay, was given land near Shabbona in 1829 under the Treaty of Prairie du Chien. The land illegally was sold without the chief’s consent in 1849. Since then, several non-Indian individuals, the state of Illinois, the DeKalb County government and corporate entities assumed ownership of the reservation. Under the Federal Non-Intercourse Act, the U.S. Congress is the only governing body with the authority to designate land titles for Native nations.
The U.S. Department of the Interior confirmed the tribe’s claim to the land in 2001 and the Prairie Band Potawatomi, successors to Chief Shab-eh-nay, have tried to reclaim it.
On October 15, Illinois state Rep. Tom Demmer filed House Resolution 0504 on Oct. 15 in support of “the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s efforts to regain possession of Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band’s land that was illegally sold by the federal government in 1849.”
