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Ground breaks on Catawba casino
EBCI files amended complaint contesting the project BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER our months after the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians filed suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior’s decision to allow the Catawba Indian Nation to move forward with plans for a casino in Kings Mountain, the DOI has officially taken the land into trust and the Catawba have broken ground on the site. However, the EBCI is still fighting the decision, on July 6 submitting a new, amended complaint in the case.
July 22-28, 2020
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GROUND BREAKS IN CASINO PROJECT While the initial complaint had featured the EBCI as the sole plaintiff, the amended
document also includes 12 tribal members who live near the Kings Mountain site. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, which has intervened on behalf of the EBCI, submitted an amended complaint as well. “We welcome the growing coalition that is fighting against the DOI’s decision,” said Principal Chief Richard Sneed. “The decision is an egregious violation of federal law, and our amended complaint will establish for the court that there is no legitimate, legal basis for the decision.” Meanwhile, Catawba Chief Bill Harris has extolled the DOI’s “very rigorous process” for reviewing trust applications. “We are very thankful for the hard work of the Department’s solicitors and staff on our application, who carefully reviewed our history, including our historic land settlement, ensuring that it is consistent with the Supreme Court’s Carcieri decision,” he said in a March 12 press release. On March 12, the DOI approved the Catawba’s September 2018 application to take 16.57 acres at Kings Mountain into fed-
eral trust for the purpose of conducting gaming activities, a decision that was the culmination of years of effort on the part of the Catawba. The tribe, based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, is governed by the Settlement Act of 1993, which states that the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act does not apply to the Catawba and that the tribe must instead abide by South Carolina gaming laws. However, South Carolina does not allow gaming, meaning that the tribe cannot have a casino on its existing reservation. So, the tribe has made various efforts to gain approval for a casino over the state line in Cleveland County, North Carolina. The Catawba first applied for the land to be taken into trust in August 2013, but that mandatory acquisition application was denied in March 2018. That September, the tribe submitted a new application under the discretionary process and also attempted a legislative route. S.790 — introduced by South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham with support from North Carolina Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr — would have
authorized the DOI to take the land into trust for gaming, but the bill died in committee. However, in March the Catawba received word that its 2018 discretionary application had been successful. Along with its initial suit March 17, the EBCI filed a motion asking that the judge issue a preliminary injunction preventing the DOI from moving forward with taking the land into trust until the lawsuit resolved. However, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order April 30 denying that request, stating that the record is “thin” as to whether any Cherokee resources are located on the proposed site and that “even a liberal reading” of the complaint shows that “the injuries fall short of irreparable.” According to a July 11 post on the Catawba Nation Facebook page, the deed transferring the land into federal trust for the tribe was signed July 10. The tribe will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at the project site Wednesday, July 22, with a drive-in celebration event planned for Friday, July 24, on the reservation. “This is a historic moment for the Catawba Nation and we are excited to share it with all of our people,” said a statement announcing the groundbreaking.
THE AMENDED COMPLAINT While the six counts of alleged misconduct in the amended complaint have some differences from the five contained in the original document, they make many of the same arguments as to why the decision should be overturned, focusing on alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, the 1993 Settlement Act, the Indian Reorganizing Act, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. However, the amended complaint includes a much-heightened focus on the role of casino developer Wallace Cheves, characterizing him as “a casino operative with a history of criminal and civil enforcement actions against him and his companies for illegal gambling.”
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