Hancock County finds new tribal partner in effort to attract casinos

Monday, May 29, 2000 | 9:08 a.m.

After one Indian tribe lost interest earlier this year, Hancock County officials found a new partner in the Alabama Quassarte tribe of Muskogee, Okla. But they still have to get past major bureaucratic hurdles, the state Constitution and a governor who opposes casino gambling.

Still, Hancock County is undeterred. A gambling hall in Georgia could mean big money, considering the closest casinos are about 150 miles away in Cherokee, N.C., and 430 miles away in Tunica, Miss.

Hancock officials were negotiating last year with the Kialegee tribe from Oklahoma, which had plans to build a $150 million casino and golf resort, creating jobs for at least 2,500 people.

When the Kialegee lost interest, the county went looking for another tribe and found the Alabama Quassarte, the only other landless tribe with ancestral ties to Hancock County, said Lesley Roberts, Hancock County's program coordinator.

Rebecca Torres, chief of the Alabama Quassarte Tribal Town, said a partnership with Hancock County would be a historic event.

"Georgia would be the first state to invite a tribe (that was forced out of the East) back to establish a reservation," Torres said. "That would say something great about the state and its pride in the Native American contributions."

The Alabama Quassarte, which has been federally recognized since 1939, would be able to "return to our ancestral home," Torres said.

But it won't be easy. Hancock County officials are not the first to try to link up with a tribe, said Rex Hagler, spokesman for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.

"There's a misconception out that, if you can find an Indian, you can build a casino," Hagler said. "That's just not the case."

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 prohibits gambling on most reservations established after Oct. 17, 1988, unless the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and the governor of the state agree that gambling would benefit both the tribe and the community.

A spokeswoman for Barnes said Thursday the governor remains opposed to casino gambling.

If the Alabama Quassarte attack Barnes for supporting the state lottery, he can find political cover in Georgia's constitution, which specifically outlaws casinos.

Torres said a major announcement on the casino plan could happen in July. But Betty Hill, chairman of the Hancock County Commission, refused to confirm that for The Macon Telegraph.