Leaders in the town of Middleboro, Massachusetts, intend to invoke a dispute resolution clause in the casino agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
The clause apparently requires the town and the tribe to sit down and work out the terms of a severance. The tribe could face a lawsuit if it can't reach an agreement. "We've done everything that was required of us under the agreement," attorney Dennis Whittlesey, an Indian law practitioner who crafted the deal, told The Cape Cod Times. The tribe already started the land-into-trust process for 539 acres in Middleboro. The Bureau of Indian Affairs held public hearings on the application but hasn't issued an environmental impact statement. The BIA's inaction is most likely due to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, which restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934. The Mashpees didn't gain formal recognition until May 2007. Get the Story: