A St. Simons Island developer has agreed to sell 300 acres of prime real estate to a band of Oklahoma Creek Indians, a move he says is key to creating jobs and developing 4,300 fallow acres near Brunswick.
But some legislators and Georgia Creek Indians oppose the sale, concerned it will lead to casino gambling the state wouldn't be able to control and inter-tribal competition.
Developer Joe McDonough wants to partner with the tribe to develop up to half of the 4,300 acres he owns into a commercial and industrial complex through federal loans and grants the tribe could draw down. The sale is contingent on the Bureau of Indian affairs approving the land as a new tribal homeland. It would be the first federally recognized reservation in Georgia.
"We were in a position of just about being out of business because of a lack of funding from traditional sources," McDonough said of his long-held property.
But Creek Indians living in Georgia and some state legislators fear the Kialegee Tribal Town, the Oklahoma Creeks who have a history of seeking land for casinos, will bring land-based gambling to Georgia. Brunswick already has a cruise ship that heads three miles offshore to international waters, where the dice and card tables open for play.
"This is really establishing the process" to land the tribe in Georgia, said the area's freshman Senator William Ligon, R-Waverly, who doesn't want the land deal to open the door for casino gambling. The Kialegee could apply for the gaming permit later, Ligon said. The federal gaming permit process usually takes several years and could be approved only with the governor's OK.
Ligon has taken a preemptive strike with Senate Bill 62, which would require a two-thirds vote by the General Assembly to transfer Georgia land to another government or nation. It passed the Senate but stalled in a House subcommittee over questions of whether the law would pre-empt federal priority to control Indian affairs.
Allied with Ligon are a separate band of Creeks who never left Georgia when other Indians were forced out in the 1800s. Georgia has recognized them as the Lower Muscogee Indians, but they lack federal recognition.
"This has never been done before, where a tribe has moved back into an area and done this," tribe member Nealie McCormick of southwest Georgia told a state House subcommittee last month.
He said he is concerned about gambling and that the move by the Kialegee, which has only about 400 members, could break uphis tribe. The Lower Muscogee Tribe is based in Whigham, where members teach language and culture and hold special events. State-recognized tribes don't get federal benefits or nation status. Federally recognized Indian tribes are considered nations within the nation that can establish their own courts and regulations, including gambling, over which states have no jurisdiction
"If this is successful, there are 10 Creek towns that could do the same thing. And I'm not sure how many Cherokee there are," McCormick warned. "This could open up the floodgate."
Nathan Sparks Director of the Brunswick and Glynn County Development Authority has been working with McDonough on the project. The authority hasn't taken a stance on the reservation issue, Sparks said.
"My point is, the industrial site is viable with or without the Native-American designation, although Mr. McDonough thinks that could be accelerated with the Native Americans," Sparks said. "The bottom line for us is we want to help create jobs on the piece of property and are working to that end."
The Kialegee hope to build a historically accurate re-creation of an Indian town "like Colonial Williamsburg" on the property, with a museum, hotel, entertainment center and golf course, McDonough and tribal Chief Tiger Hobia confirmed.
The Kialegee would then partner with McDonough, using federal loans to the tribe to develop as much as half the property into an industrial and commercial center that McDonough says could bring hundreds of new jobs. The land has highway and rail access and is only a few miles from the Port of Brunswick.
Robert Anderson, a law professor and director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington, said he is familiar with only one other case where a tribe has asked for new reservation lands across state lines.
"The regulations provide that the farther away from the reservation the land is, the greater scrutiny must be given [by the Bureau of Indian Affairs]," Anderson said. "And that scrutiny includes the affect it will have on local jurisdictions. State and local governments have to be notified and be given a chance to comment."
McDonough argues that trying to block the Georgia plan will kill job creation at a time when the state unemployment rate exceeds 10 percent.
Rep. Roger Lane, R-Darien, chairman of the House judiciary subcommittee reviewing Ligon's bill represents part of Glynn County, and noted concerns over the casino question. .
"But I think [McDonough's plan] has a lot of merit," he said. "... Whether or not the state would be able to prevent (gambling) is the question," Lane said.
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