Oklahoma Court Settlement Could Affect Tribal Casino Opening
LAS CRUCES (AP) — Fort Sill Apache Tribe officials say a 2007 court settlement in Oklahoma gives them legal grounds to open a casino in New Mexico.
Governor Richardson last week ordered state police to block access to the tribe’s casino just off Interstate 10 east of Deming.
And the National Indian Gaming Commission has told the Fort Sill Apache Tribe that it cannot legally open the casino.
Tribal officials say they believe the settlement of a dispute between the tribe and the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma contained an acknowledgment by the federal government that the Fort Sill Apaches don’t have a reservation in Oklahoma.
The tribe says that a federal law prohibits gaming on most tribal trust lands acquired after 1988. But a tribe that’s granted a reservation for the first time is exempted from that law.
The tribe has applied for reservation status in New Mexico.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
