RESERVATION, CASINO IN WORKS NEAR DIA

by Deborah Frazier
Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
December 31, 2003

A Longmont-based investment company plans to buy land east of Denver International Airport on behalf of two Indian tribes, win designation as a reservation and then build a major casino.

The reservation and the casino's profits would compensate the Cheyenne and Arapaho for the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 as ordered by Congress, under the proposed deal by Council Tree Communications.
The company, which calls its proposal the "Cheyenne-Arapaho Homecoming Project," envisions building a $100 million casino complex on 300 to 500 acres about 15 to 30 miles east of Denver, according to a confidential presentation dated September 2003 and obtained by the News.

The tribes would receive an estimated $1.1 billion in proceeds during the first 10 years, hiring preference for 1,454 jobs, and $2 million to establish a Sand Creek Memorial at the National Park Service's historic site in southeastern Colorado.

The project would include a Plains Indian Cultural & Media Center and a five-star restaurant in a glass-enclosed rooftop observatory in a style compatible with Denver International Airport, the proposal said.

Council Tree Communications, the most successful capital fund in Colorado during the 2001-2003 recession, is headed by Steve Hillard, who refused to comment.

But his office released a brief statement in response to questions from the News.

"We have numerous projects under way in various stages of assessment. We respectfully caution that reliance on dated and preliminary materials will lead to factual errors and misinformation."

Hillard, an attorney and a venture capitalist, is known for his work with Spanish language television and radio stations, including Telemundo.

He also has been involved with American Indian groups in Alaska and has been active in the Denver community.

James Druck, who manages the Cheyenne and Arapaho casino in Oklahoma and who bought the Sand Creek site and donated the land to the tribes, said he isn't involved in the Council Tree plans.

The confidential and tentative Council Tree proposal hinges on settlement of land and water rights ordered as compensation by Congress after several federal investigations into the Sand Creek Massacre.

In 1864, in eastern Colorado, 700 soldiers attacked 500 sleeping Arapaho and Cheyenne, killing 164 - mostly women and children. Scalps and body parts were paraded through Denver by the troops.

"The claims from the massacre were never settled," said Suzan Shown Harjo of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C. A Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, Harjo wrote about the Council Tree proposal in Indian Country Today, a national Indian newspaper.

"Other claims of this kind in other states have been totally successful and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court," Harjo said.

A map of Colorado with the northeastern quarter marked as tribal claims is part of Council Tree's presentation.

It's unclear who owns the land being targeted for the casino and reservation.

By turning the parcel east of Denver into a reservation, thus settling the land claims, the tribes could open and operate a casino without state approval.

Nedra Darling, spokesman for the Department of Interior's Indian Affairs office, said no proposal had been made to the department, which is headed by Gale Norton.

To create a reservation, proponents would have to get the support of the tribes, the state and Congress, she said.

A gaming operation would undergo a similar process, Darling said.

However, Council Tree's confidential presentation makes a strong case for state approval based on economic benefits.

Over 10 years, Council Tree estimates, the casino facility should create more than $1 billion in direct revenue and other economic benefits to the state; 3,388 new jobs; and a taxable payroll of $1.6 billion, plus attract 54,000 out-of-state visitors a year.

Representatives of Council Tree met with Gov. Bill Owens on Oct. 16.

"The governor made it clear that he unequivocally opposes any expansion of gaming in the state," said Dan Hopkins, Owens' spokesman.

Tribal leaders at the Southern and Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes in Oklahoma, Montana and Wyoming said they are aware of the casino proposal, but had not been given specifics.

Bill Bland of the Joint Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribal Council's business committee, who has been working with Council Tree, declined to comment.

Perhaps anticipating opposition in Colorado, Council Tree retained Ciruli & Associates to poll state voters in July.

The survey polled 800 people by phone and, according to the confidential presentation, concluded:

• 78 percent backed creation of a reservation to compensate the Cheyenne and Arapaho for the Sand Creek Massacre and the forced removal of the original Colorado natives.
  
  
• Support for the reservation spanned political parties with 73 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of Democrats and 85 percent of independent voters endorsing the plan.
  
  
• 58 percent endorsed limited Indian gaming on the reservation.
  
  
• 61 percent said Colorado leaders should give the proposal "serious consideration."

"Colorado's displaced Indian tribes have considerable sympathy from the public and support for compensation in the form of a small reservation Indians purchase themselves," the Ciruli poll concluded.

"If asked to choose, voters prefer the Indian gaming proposal over video lottery terminal at racetracks by more than 2-to-1," the Ciruli report said.

In November, Colorado voters defeated a proposal for video lottery terminals at racetracks.

Ciruli declined to comment about the poll.

Hillard and Council Tree, with $500 million in investments, are respected in the business and Indian communities.

Ben Sherman, head of the Colorado-based Western Indian Chamber - which supports Indian businesses and economic development - said he hadn't heard about the proposal.

"It would be a bonanza for the tribes who are in desperate need of economic development," Sherman said. "I have the highest regard for Steve Hillard."

But it won't be easy, Sherman said.

"There is almost always opposition to putting land into an Indian trust," he said.

"The state could make things difficult. The rural communities could oppose that kind of economic development," he said.

Members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho still consider Colorado their homeland, Sherman said. Hundreds of tribal members visit the Sand Creek site to pray.

"It will take very delicate negotiations to bring all the tribal factions together, but if it all happens, it will benefit all of them," he said.

INFOBOX

Potential benefits of tribal casino

TO TRIBES

• $1.1 billion of direct revenue for the first 10 years
  
  
• Hiring preferences for 1,454 jobs * $2 million to establish a Sand Creek Memorial at the historic Colorado site

TO THE STATE

• 3,388 new jobs with taxable payroll of $1.6 billion during the first 10 year
  
  
• $780 million-plus to state in TABOR-exempt revenue sharing for first 10 years
  
  
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