Wind Creek Casino ‘Burial Desecration’ Case Lands in Federal Appeals Court

A federal appeals court in Atlanta heard arguments Wednesday in a long-standing legal fight between two tribes over the land on which the Wind Creek Casino and Hotel in Wetumpka, Ala., now stands.

The Oklahoma-based Muscogee Creek Nation (MCN) claims the Wind Creek’s owner, the Alabama-based Poarch Band of Creek Indians, desecrated a sacred MCN burial ground when it built the casino.

The land, known as the Hickory Ground, was MCN’s last capital in Alabama before the tribe was removed to Oklahoma in the 1830s as part of a federal policy of forced repatriation, according to the lawsuit.

MCN alleges 57 sets of human remains and the artifacts buried with them were removed in 2001 during the construction of the bingo parlor that later grew into the casino. These remains were stored improperly, without ventilation or temperature control, per the suit.

MCN wants the court to halt further development on the Hickory Ground and have the Wind Creek Casino torn down.

Distant Relatives

The Poarch Creeks are a distantly related tribe that also claims ancestral ties to the land in question, and who have been granted sovereignty over the site by the federal government. MCN argues the Poarch Creeks neglected their legal responsibilities to protect and preserve the land when they built the casino.

Hickory Ground is sacred as the final resting place for some of the nation’s most significant military leaders, tribal leaders, and spiritual leaders,” Mary Kathryn Nagle, attorney for the Muscogee Creek Nation, said in her opening argument.

Poarch Creek attorney, Mark Reeves, argued that his client’s tribal sovereignty meant it could make decisions about land development. He also emphasized the tribe’s own ancestral ties to the land.

“We absolutely do have a longstanding attachment [to the site],” he told the court. “We have a shared history of that property with the Muscogee Nation.”

‘Sovereignty Issue’

Stephanie Bryan, Tribal Chair and CEO for the Poarch Creeks, said the issue was about tribal sovereignty.

We are Creek people from that area, and we have respected our ancestors,” she said. “The demand to tear the building down and put the ancestors back in place is unreasonable.”

Bryan claimed the Poarch Creeks had tried to work with MCN and had suggested they purchase the land jointly when the former acquired it in the 1980s, but MCN had declined.

The lower court dismissed the case in 2021 on the grounds that the Poarch Creeks were shielded from liability by sovereign immunity. The appeal judges will determine whether the case should be returned to the lower court to be decided on its merits.