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Tribe: No casino for South Yankton
Message was posted: 10:58 Feb 6th, 2007

User: Lucky Lady Rank: Casino Gold: 29190CG Contributor rating: 75600 Status: Offline

Casino news source: Sioux City Journal - http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/ Tribe: No casino for South Yankton The Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska is getting a $1 million grant, but a lawyer says the tribe has no plans to use it to start up a casino in South Yankton, just across the Missouri River from Yankton. The grant is from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and is aimed at supporting community programs and economic development. Speculation about a casino began after the Santee tribe put 7 acres of land at South Yankton in federal trust. The tribe already runs a casino in Nebraska, about nine miles south of Santee. Tribal attorney Conly Schulte of Omaha, Neb., said there are restrictions against gambling on property acquired after 1988. "The tribe has not applied for gaming and has notified the federal government that they are not putting up a casino," he told the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan. "To put a casino there, there would be all sorts of hoops that would include input from local governments and surrounding communities. That would be a separate process that would be required should gaming ever occur." The Cedar County Commission in Nebraska chose not to oppose the Santee Sioux effort to attain trust-land status, said Dave Dowling, Cedar County clerk. "We originally had appealed and sent out letters a year ago. We got a notice now again, but the board didn't do anything at this time," Dowling said. Cedar County no longer would get about $8,000 a year in taxes should Santee Sioux property become trust land, county Assessor Don Hoesing said. But if it acquires trust status, the property no longer will get county services such as law enforcement, Dowling said. A release from the Shakopee said the $1 million grant will be allocated to improvements to tribal businesses, programs for youth and the elderly, administration of a program that helps poor people pay their heating bills, expansion of a clinic and construction of a new swimming pool.