Historic site at issue in casino lawsuit

Carl Manning

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003 | 9:40 a.m.

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Two federal agencies failed to enforce laws protecting a national historic site that's being used as a casino by an Indian tribe, Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

In the lawsuit, the attorney general asked U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson to order the Department of Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission to suspend gambling at the casino until full compliance of the law has been met. No hearing date was set Tuesday.

The Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma opened its casino on Aug. 28 in narrow trailers attached to the Scottish Rite Temple in downtown Kansas City, Kan. It is next to the tribe's historic Huron Cemetery, which was established in the 1840s.

Neither agency would comment Tuesday on the lawsuit. The Wyandotte tribe referred calls to its attorney, David McCullough of Oklahoma City, who didn't return phone messages left at his office.

In the lawsuit, Kline said the two agencies didn't enforce provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act as they pertain to modifications or defacements of the landmark.

The tribe wasn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Kline spokesman Whitney Watson said that was because "the two federal agencies are the ones charged with the oversight of the tribe and in federal court they are the ones you sue."

Kline said the temple is on the National Register of Historic Places. The lawsuit said the tribe "has engaged in conducting certain demolition, modification and-or alternation to the interior" since taking possession of the temple.

The state doesn't know the extent of the changes because the tribe has refused to allow state inspectors to check the premises, Kline said in the suit. He also said the two agencies didn't conduct required evaluations of potential adverse impact nor did the state have a chance to provide any input.

The casino offers about 150 bingo games, "pull tab" games and a variety of electronic pull tab devices that look and play like slot machines.

The Interior Department in June ruled the tribe's downtown land was eligible for federally licensed Class II gambling activities, which allows such games.

In 1996, the Wyandotte Nation asked the Interior Department take the property in trust for the tribe, which it did. The state is currently appealing the agency's decision in the federal court.

The tribe for years had threatened to open a downtown casino as leverage to force approval of its preferred plan for a larger-scale casino and resort at The Woodlands racetrack in Edwardsville or near Kansas Speedway in western Wyandotte County.