Post by Okwes on Jan 13, 2008 18:36:52 GMT -5
Shawnee leader to view site of proposed Lordstown casino
www.tribunechronicle.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=19069
<http://www.tribunechronicle.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=19069>
Glenna Wallace, Eastern Shawnee chief, watched authentic Indian
performers Saturday in downtown Warren. She intends to view Lordstown
land today she hopes could become a casino/resort. See more photos on CU
by visiting cu.tribune-chronicle.com
Tribune Chronicle / Christopher Bobby
WARREN — Defying any stereotypes of a national political leader,
Glenna Wallace carried around her plastic grocery bag holding trinkets.
The native American chief had visited Warren's SCOPE-sponsored Wild
Western Days Saturday afternoon. She sat among a crowd in the middle of
sunny West Market Street, enthralled with the authentic Indian dance
performance.
But as the leader of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Wallace is
more familiar than most with dancing.
``We tried to get some of our people here to perform, and it
didn't work out. There are pow-wows being held all over this time of
the year. So, I decided to come here in their place,'' said
Wallace, who today plans to see for the first time a chunk of land in
Lordstown that could someday become a thriving casino/resort.
Lordstown Mayor Michael Chaffee will serve as the chief's tour
guide. Both the mayor and the chief share the view of a gaming
development as a major economic achievement. They plan to view 137 acres
on state Route 45 at the Ohio Turnpike that the tribe has maintained an
option to purchase, according to Chaffee, whose village ratified an
intergovernmental agreement between the tribe and the village in
November 2005.
``If Lordstown wants it, then we're receptive,'' the chief
said.
She said this area sits so close to bordering Pennsylvania and West
Virginia and Ohio remains as the last state without such gambling
resorts.
``It would be nice if some would come here to play,'' Wallace
said likening it to an area near her home that has taken advantage of
casino visitors who come to Oklahoma from neighboring Missouri, Arkansas
and Kansas.
``I'm strictly here because I was invited to this event. I said
I would come. And I like to keep my word,'' said Wallace, who sees
no reason not to mix a little pleasure with business.
She and a friend gassed up the car Thursday and drove from Oklahoma. The
chief — the first female elected chief in any of the three
recognized tribes in modern times — admitted Shawnee are known as a
nomadic bunch.
Wallace, a veteran of 38 years as a teacher and department head of a
communications department of a community college, points out her
ancestors were pushed from the Great Lakes region to the west where they
searched for another type of game — the kind to feed their families.
And as patient as she was in making the 15-hour road trip to Trumbull
County, Wallace is content to remain patient in the negotiations to try
and land a deal that will reclaim Ohio land and possible sites for a
casino venture.
She has remained patient to the point of Ohio retaining a new governor
and attorney general. She thinks the new Democrat administration is more
receptive to the Shawnee's ideas.
And it was in April, the Eastern Shawnee and Ohio Attorney General Marc
Dann accepted a judge's proposal to dismiss litigation after the
Shawnee and several defendants reached an agreement.
According to an attorney for the tribe, recognizing the settlement means
Eastern Shawnee can now take the next step in developing casinos, asking
the U.S. Department of Interior to take the land into trust for the
tribe.
Attorneys said that process, which is complicated and will take time,
should begin in the next several months.
Wallace, who said she will visit Lima on her way home next week, said
the trust deal, in the hands of the Department of the Interior,
isn't finalized but she's willing to wait.
The tribe originally sued the state and more than 60 defendants seeking
title to 92,800 acres of former reservation lands and hunting, fishing
and gathering rights to approximately 11,315 square miles in central and
western Ohio. Settlements include land in Lima in Allen County, Lawrence
Township in Stark County, Botkins in Shelby County and in Warren County.
Wallace said the link between tribes and gambling developed out of an
idea given to the Seminoles in Florida by an interior secretary in
President Reagan's administration.
``The tribes asked for advice, pointing out they didn't want a
handout from the government. They were told how successful they were
with bingo halls. Things started out of an old red barn that had served
as a truck driving school,'' Wallace said.
