Gambling district proposed for Pennsylvania

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Monday, Sept. 10, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.

PITTSBURGH -- Canada's Grand River Iroquois Indian reserve has spent as much as $429,000 on legal and lobbying fees to establish a gambling district in Brownsville, 30 miles south of Pittsburgh, a leading official of the reservation said.

David General, a member of the Six Nations band council, said leaders of the Six Nations band council have visited Fayette County to look into the property, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Sunday.

The council is the governing body of the 10,000-resident reservation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

The business district of Brownsville has fallen into disrepair after the majority of properties were purchased by a Churchill couple over the past 10 years. Ernest and Marilyn Liggett purchased about 125 properties, with plans for a floating casino and other attractions.

The Liggetts' hope of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania never came to pass, and many of the buildings have become uninhabitable and are in violation of myriad building-code regulations.

Casino and riverboat gambling remains illegal in Pennsylvania, but the purchase of Brownsville's business district to create a gambling district is still being pursued, General said.