Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Apache tribe has been trying to expand its gaming operations into New Mexico for decades, and has frequently been met with fierce opposition from the state’s Mescalero Apache tribe—the two actually share a common heritage, but have gone in separate directions over the last 100+ years.
Now, the Fort Sill Apaches are again pushing to build a casino on a 30-acre development the tribe owns near Akela Flats.
Eddie Martinez, president of the Mescalero Apache tribe, recently penned an op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal to give some context to the years-long fight and to urge New Mexicans to fight back against the Fort Sill expansion; he urged residents to protect “the careful balance of Indian gaming” in the state.
According to Martinez, the Fort Sill and Mescalero peoples share a “tragic history” that was split in 1913, when the tribes’ ancestors, the Chiricahua, were “released from prisoner-of-war status and presented with a choice.” Some of the Chiricahua chose to return to New Mexico, while others opted to stay in Oklahoma—their descendants thus formed the two tribes currently at odds today.
Fort Sill currently operates two casinos in Oklahoma, both of which were made possible through a provision in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that required the tribe to prove that the lands comprised its “former reservation.”
On July 5, Fort Sill representatives officially submitted new plans for a gaming facility on its Apache Homelands park, which would provide 60 full-time positions and bring in over $1 million in yearly tax revenue.
The proposal was open to public comment until July 27, and now awaits a vote from the Luna County Board of Commissioners.
In his arguments against Fort Sill’s latest proposal, Martinez outlined the fact that “not a single Fort Sill member lives at Akela Flats,” which is located “nearly 700 miles” from its headquarters in Apache, Okla. Additionally, he noted that “former N.M. Govs. Gary Johnson, Bill Richardson and Susana Martinez all opposed Fort Sill’s prior gaming proposals.”
The Mescalero Apache leader further warned that the revenue generated by the proposed casino “will go directly to serve their government in Oklahoma,” and the potential jobs created by it “will be offset by significant layoffs to Mescalero Apache employees at the Inn of the Mountain Gods, which will be coupled with cuts to critical programs and services to our people.”
