Oklahoma's Kialegee Tribe Linked To Casino Projects In Other States

The Kialegee Tribal Town is facing opposition as it continues construction of the Red Clay Casino in Broken Arrow. But this is not the tribe's first development attempt.

02/08/2012 Related Story: Oklahoma Governor Joins AG's Effort To Stop Broken Arrow Casino

The tribe's chief says they've looked at plans in at least two other states, and there's controversy surrounding claims in a third state.

Before the construction began in Broken Arrow, the Kialegees say they tried other things to become economically self-sufficient.

"I think there's a few that we, that the tribal town has tried," Tiger Hobia, Kialegee Tribal Town Chief, said in an earlier interview.

According to news reports out of St. Simons Island, Georgia, a developer who owned land there agreed to sell 300 acres to the Kialegee Tribal Town.

The tribe wanted to build an historically accurate recreation of an Indian town. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported it would be the first federally recognized Indian reservation in Georgia.

Some legislators opposed it, saying it would open the door to casino gambling on land. Georgians currently have to go out on boats to gamble.

An attorney for the Kialegees says the tribe was never part of that deal. Dennis Whittlesey says the tribe's governing body had neither approved the project nor submitted the application.

He says the developer met with federal officials and acted on his own by submitting an application. Whittlesey says the tribe notified federal authorities that the application was unauthorized and the Kialegee name was removed from the project.

In a recent interview, Kialegee Chief Tiger Hobia never acknowledged the Georgia project.

"There was one in Alabama, down in Texas," he said.

Hobia was cut off by another of the tribe's attorneys and later wouldn't explain the Alabama and Texas endeavors.

01/27/2012 Related Story: Chief Of Kialegee Tribal Town Comments On Broken Arrow Casino

News On 6 found another report from 1999 in the Augusta Chronicle that states the Kialegees proposed a casino in three other Georgia counties that year, but those plans never worked out.

The Kialegee's attorney says he doesn't know about those plans.