November 1, 1997

The last step is waiting for President Bill Clinton's signature finalizing the bill into law.

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U.S. Senate approves legislation preserving the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City, Kan., exclusively as a burial ground

By RICK ALM Staff Writer

Date: 10/28/97 22:15

Legislation preserving the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City, Kan., exclusively as a burial ground was approved Tuesday by the U.S. Senate and sent to the president for his signature.

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas introduced the measure in September, shortly after the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma announced plans to build a high stakes bingo hall on the two-acre site, across the street from City Hall.

Tribal officials could not be reached late Tuesday for comment. At a news conference in the cemetery last month, Brownback said the tribe's plans "stunned the sensibilities."

An estimated 400 to 800 tribal members have been buried there since the 1840s. Tribal officials acknowledged that some bodies might have to be exhumed to accommodate the proposed bingo hall, which would be erected on pillars at the south end of the cemetery.

The Republican senator's amendment, which was attached to an Interior Department appropriations bill, "ensures that the lands comprising the Huron Cemetery are used only...as a cemetery and burial ground." It was adopted 84-14.

The measure reaffirms terms of the tribe's 1855 treaty with the U.S. government that declared the cemetery was to be "permanently reserved and appropriated for...a public burying-ground."

The tribe also has proposed developing a casino at The Woodlands racetrack. Chief Leaford Bearskin has said that the tribe's preference is to conduct legalized gambling at the Kansas City, Kan. track, not the cemetery, which is the tribe's last resort.

Casino gambling at the track, however, requires approval of the Kansas Legislature, which for several years has refused to approve casino-style gambling measures at state-licensed tracks.

The Wyandotte tribe is in court, fighting lawsuits filed by other Kansas tribes with casinos. And an estranged tribe -- the Wyandot Nation of Kansas -- has sued to block the cemetery-gambling plan. The tribe split a century ago and since then local Wyandots have tended the cemetery.

"To the Wyandot Nation of Kansas it is our most sacred site," said Jan English, who earlier this month was re-elected as the Wyandots' principal chief. "To desecrate that site is to deny us our religious freedom."

Holly Zane, a Topeka lawyer and the local Wyandots' attorney general, applauded the Brownback measure "as the ethical and the moral thing to do....This protects the cemetery from those who are more interested in making a buck."

Staff Writer Anne Lamoy contributed to this article.