Narragansett tribe’s right to land upheld

Wednesday, July 5, 2000 | 9:13 a.m.

The legal victory for the tribe comes after it failed to persuade the General Assembly to put a casino referendum on the November ballot.

Trust status means state and local laws do not apply to the land, although most federal laws do, The Providence Journal reported.

Fearing that the tribe will develop a casino on the trust land, even though it has already started to build housing on the site, Gov. Lincoln Almond opposed the Bureau of Indian Affairs' decision.

In court papers, the state noted that the tribe's housing project has numerous problems and there is a "distinct possibility" the Narragansett Indians would try to use the land for a casino.

The state also argued that the 1978 Settlement Act, which gave the Narragansetts 1,800 acres in Charlestown, was meant to resolve all land claims, said Joseph S. Larisa Jr., Almond's legal counsel.

As part of the establishment of the Charlestown reservation, the tribe agreed to permit state civil and criminal laws to prevail on the reservation. The tribe won federal recognition in 1983 and four years later transferred the 1,800 acres into federal trust. But the trust reiterated that Rhode Island civil and criminal laws still applied to the land.

Judge Kathryn A. Lynn of the Interior Board of Indian Appeals, a Virginia-based board under the U.S. Department of the Interior, rejected every argument the state raised in a 14-page decision issued last Thursday.

There is nothing in the Settlement Act that indicates the tribe was to be prohibited from buying land outside its settlement area and have it taken into trust for them by the federal government, Lynn wrote.

Lynn also wrote there is nothing that indicates the tribe intends to use the land for anything but housing.

The tribe has said that despite problems with its $4.1 million housing development on the land, it remains committed to finishing it.

But the Narragansetts have also refused to place a provision in the deed for the land that it would only be used for housing, Larisa said.

The state plans to appeal Lynn's decision in federal court, Larisa said.