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JUNE 15, 2001

Acknowledging its actions have resulted in a political, legal and public relations mess, the Miami Nation of Oklahoma on Thursday announced that it has officially dropped a lawsuit filed against 15 private landowners in Illinois.

"We recently began a complete review of our legal strategy and concluded that those 15 innocent people and their families should not be unfairly singled out," said Chief Floyd Leonard. "We want to be good neighbors with the people of Illinois and our lawsuit against these families sent the wrong message."

But Floyd added that the tribe hasn't given up entirely on its claim to 2.6 million acres of land in east-central Illinois. The tribe says the Treaty of Grouseland of 1805 proves ownership of the ancestral territory.

The landowners and the state, however, see it differently. The state was allowed to intervene in the case, promising to protect residents from what they believed was merely an attempt to force the state into negotiating a settlement which included a casino.

Tribal officials disputed the notion. They said the casino idea was brought up by Governor George Ryan's office prior to the initiation of the lawsuit, when the tribe was discussing the claim.

Still, the tribe was unable to shake the allegations. In Oklahoma, Class III, or Vegas-style, gaming is prohibited, leading a number of tribes to seek casinos in Kansas or elsewhere.

Also, the developer backing the tribe's lawsuit, Thomas C. Wilmot Sr., acknowledged publicly that he wanted to develop a casino there. While Wilmot didn't speak for the tribe, his comments fueled resentment among the landowners, who were chosen at random from the 15 counties represented in the lawsuit.

Floyd yesterday would only say that the tribe wants to build a cultural and ceremonial center on a portion of the land claim area. He added that the tribe is refocusing its efforts on the facts of the case, hoping to avoid minor issues which threaten to derail a successful resolution to the claim.

The Miami Nation once occupied an area now encompassing Illinois, Indiana, and the upper Midwest. Like a number of other tribes, they were forced to leave their ancestral territory, first removed to Kansas, and then eventually to northeastern Oklahoma.

Along the way, Miami leaders signed a number of treaties with the federal government which ceded millions of acres of aboriginal territory. But the tribe maintained the land along the Wabash River in what is now Illinois was not relinquished.

The lawsuit had been filed against the landowners because the state did not exist at the time of the 1805 treaty. The action prompted Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) to introduce a bill in Congress that would have allowed private citizens sued by any tribe to utilize state law to defend themselves.

Relevant Links:
The Miami Nation - http://www.miamination.com
Greenvile and Grouseland Treaty Lines - http://www.surveyhistory.org/greenville_&_
grouseland_treaty_lines.htm

Related Stories:
State wants land claim dismissed (4/23)
Land claim motives questioned (2/13)
Tribe says land claim distorted (2/9)
Senator: Tribe must play by the rules (07/26)