Bingo parlor, ancient Indian bones don’t mix

Dave Bryan

Wednesday, June 19, 2002 | 11:38 a.m.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The oak tree-lined property contains bones of Indians who lived hundreds of years ago, and the pottery and tools they used. There are even soil discolorations suggesting the support poles of a large council house.

But the ancient site near a golf course on 12 1/2 acres along the Tallapoosa River has been at the heart of a modern dispute since the Poarch Band of Creek Indians announced it would build its third bingo parlor here.

The Alabama Historical Commission, concerned construction will endanger artifacts in and around an ancient Indian mound, has added the site to its annual "Places in Peril" list posted on its website.

"They've got a lot of gall questioning the tribe's integrity," Eddie Tullis, chairman of the Atmore-based Creeks, says.

State archaeologists say the property includes artifacts and information about a little-known Indian community dating back hundreds of years.

The land for the bingo hall was donated to the tribe by a private landowner and the state can do little to influence how the tribe develops it.

Still, Tullis says the commission has unfairly targeted the Creeks for criticism.

He says there are no plans to endanger the artifacts at the site known as Kolumi. The bingo hall, expected to be completed in mid-July, is being built on a portion of the land that once was mined for gravel by a Birmingham company.

Also, there are plenty of other Indian mounds in the area -- some of them destroyed long ago -- that never made the commission's endangered places list, Tullis points out.

Tullis says questioning the tribe strikes him as ironic when state archeologists regularly disturb ancient Indian sites in the form of archaeological digs.

But state archaeologist Stacye Hathorn said the historical commission is concerned about the mound because it is well preserved and the last of the Indian mounds in the Tallapoosa River Valley that dates back to a period archaeologists refer to as the "Shine Complex."

The community, one of many that were centered around the mound over the course of hundreds of years -- including the Creeks in the 18th century -- existed sometime during the Mississippian Period (1000-1450). Archaeologists know little about it.

Hathorn says the tribe likely destroyed artifacts at the site of their second bingo parlor in Wetumpka when they built an access road and a utility trench.

That bingo hall, about 20 miles from Montgomery and called Riverside Entertainment Center, opened last November even after the historical commission joined the Wetumpka City Council in a lawsuit seeking to block its construction.

"When you look at the facility and you look at the map from the earlier excavations there is some overlapping," she said.

Landowner Jimmy Dozier said he donated the 12 1/2 acres to the Creeks in part to try to generate business for his own sod, hay and rental warehouse operations in the area.

But he said he also donated the land because he wanted to see the tribe thrive after hearing about local objections to the tribe's Wetumpka bingo parlor.

Dozier said he's sympathetic to the Creeks because they were in Alabama long before European settlers arrived and because they were allies of Gen. Andrew Jackson during the Indian Wars of the 18th century.

"If the state of Alabama can give thousands of dollars to foreign companies from Germany, Japan and Korea for economic development, then why can't I donate land to American Indians?" he asked.

That worked for Tullis when the tribe sought a site on which to build its third casino.

Tullis has been trying to expand tribal businesses to generate more revenue needed to provide services to more than 2,000 Creeks in Escambia and surrounding counties. The services include public housing, a health clinic, police and fire protection and scholarships.

Craig Sheldon, an archaeologist at Auburn University Montgomery and a member of the Alabama Historical Commission, conducted a dig at the site in 1982 that focused on finding out the number people who lived in the village.

The actual mound may have served as a platform for a temple or a council house or homes of families of nobility -- or all three -- at different points in its history. It may have also been used for burials.

Sheldon said during the 1982 dig, discolorations in the ground were found indicating the support posts of a 2,000-square-foot council house on ground next to the mound.

Artifacts, he said, are likely to be found as much as 200 yards outward from the mound.

"If they stay in that area where they are now, they'll be fine," he said. "If they go beyond that -- bam! -- they're going to hit some artifacts."