Kings Mountain casino work continues; tensions remain between NC Cherokees, SC Catawbas
The U.S. Senate’s failure to act on a proposed bill late last year has highlighted the smoldering tension between the Catawba and Cherokee nations over a casino being built on land in Kings Mountain, N.C.
The Cherokees filed a lawsuit last April to halt the project, but that effort failed. Then, in a statement last month, their chief celebrated failure of the U.S. Senate to vote on a bill related to the project.
The Cherokees haven’t ended their fight. And construction of the casino, to be named Two Kings Casino Resort, continues.
A land dispute
The U.S. Department of Interior placed the Kings Mountain, N.C., land in trust for the casino in July 2020.
Records show that the Catawbas were granted permission to purchase the land, known as the Kings Mountain Site, because of its location within Catawba aboriginal grounds.
The Catawbas’ reservation is at the edge of Rock Hill, S.C., city limits, roughly 40 miles from Kings Mountain, N.C. The Cherokee reservation is in western North Carolina, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway.
The Department of Interior has denied Cherokee claims that the Kings Mountain land belongs to them, according to the April 2020 lawsuit. In that lawsuit against the Department of Interior and Catawba Indian Nation, the Eastern band of the Cherokees claimed that the King’s Mountain site falls within “Cherokee historical, and treaty territory.”
It is likely that both tribes existed on this land at some point, Catawba spokesperson Elizabeth Harris said.
Richard Sneed, the Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, was quoted in the lawsuit saying the “project could impact Cherokee’s cultural sites.”
District Judge James E. Boasberg denied the Cherokee’s claims, citing the lack of archaeological evidence that Cherokee artifacts are on the land.
Session ends without decision
S.C. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham submitted a bill last year that would have pushed Congress to uphold the Department of Interior’s decision.
“The Catawba Nation has been treated unfairly by the federal government, and our legislation rights that wrong,” Graham said in a statement in March 2019. “I hope this legislation will be quickly passed through the Congress and signed into law so we can once and for all bring resolution to this issue.”
Amendments to Graham’s bill, made by Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, asked for Senate affirmation of the Department of Interior’s decision to take the land in Kings Mountain into trust for the Catawbas.
The bill had successfully passed through the Committee of Indian Affairs, which ordered the bill “passed favorably,” legislative documents show.
Without a Senate vote in 2020, the bill now must be re-submitted for committee approval next session, Harris confirmed.
Cherokee Chief praises congress
Meanwhile, a Dec. 22 statement by Richard Sneed, the Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokees called the senate’s inaction a “refusal to endorse the Catawba Nation shopping scheme.”
The chief has called into question efforts by Wallace Cheves, a registered lobbyist involved with building the casino and acquisition of land surrounding it.
In his statement, Sneed said:
“Congress has refused to endorse casino mogul Wallace Cheves’ plan to use the South Carolina Catawba Tribe as a proxy to force an unlawful and unwanted casino onto the citizens of North Carolina.”
However, Harris said lack of Senate action on the bill is not an endorsement, or lack thereof, of the Catawba’s project.
The dispute also is about money
Records show that the Catawbas have pushed to build the Kings Mountain casino as a way to boost their struggling economy.
The April 2020 lawsuit acknowledged that the project would be “for the (Catawba) Nation’s benefit.”
“The Nation is very thankful for the Department’s decision to take this land into trust, enabling us to achieve the promise of self-determination through economic development,” Catawba Chief Bill Harris said in a statement.
The unemployment rate of the Catawba Nation, as calculated in April 2020, was 13.8%, which is around three times the unemployment rate of North and South Carolina.
Its median household income is around $30,000, records show. This is about 30% below the median income in both Carolinas.
Records of the Catawba’s business plan show that the casino is projected to generate $72 million in revenue in its first year with revenue projected at $150 million by its fifth year.
The business plan also states that the development is “expected to create 2,600 direct employment opportunities.”
The Eastern Band of Cherokees have operated Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in North Carolina since 1999. The resort includes a casino, a hotel and shops. A 2011 study by the University of North Carolina concluded that the casino “has had a clear positive impact on the economy of Western North Carolina.”
It also significantly benefited the Cherokees, the study found, providing $67 million to the Cherokee Preservation Foundation by the end of the 2009 fiscal year with $1.8 million transferred directly to the Eastern Band Cherokee Indians.
The study also found that “revenue sharing arrangements between the casino and the tribe appear to have improved parent-child interactions by lifting families out of poverty.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 12:17 PM.
