By MIKE JONES
St. Joseph News-Press 11-18-97

The Kickapoo Nation isn't worried about a federal judge's decision refusing to issue an order blocking an Oklahoma Indian tribe from starting work on a casino over a tribal burial ground in Kansas City, Kan.

"The Wyandottes will have to jump through a ... lot more hoops than we did," Tribal Council Member John Thomas said Monday. "It's going to be pretty darn hard for anything like that to happen in Kansas City, Kan."

That could be, at least in terms of the burial ground. President Clinton on Friday signed a U.S. Department of Interior spending bill that included language from Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., to protect the Huron Cemetery from becoming a site for a gaming facility. Four Northeast Kansas tribes and the state also have other actions in federal court.

The injunctive relief denied in U.S. District Court in Topeka, Kan., on Friday by Judge Richard Rogers doesn't impede those actions, which challenge the status and control of the proposed site in downtown Kansas City.

But the Wyandotte Tribe is not interested in the burial ground except as a last resort, says Chief Leaford Bearskin, and will continue to work with Kansas City officials and others in government to get casino gaming going at the Woodlands Racing complex. That gaming scenario is one of four considered by the tribe.

"The Woodlands is where we'd like to go," Mr. Bearskin said, noting the tribe also has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court presiding in the Woodlands' case to accept a tribal presence there. The Woodlands racetrack filed for protection from creditors in May 1996. Since then, St. Joseph riverboat czar Bill Grace has purchased most of the $29 million Woodlands debt. A hearing on the bankruptcy is scheduled for Dec. 18.

Mr. Bearskin said a second choice for a casino would be another as yet undetermined location in Kansas City, Kan., and the third choice would be property adjacent to the burial ground, the so- called Shriner property.

"The cemetery itself is No. 4, and we don't want to use it," Mr. Bearskin said. "We hope we never reach that position."

In his ruling, Mr. Rogers said his ruling was made because the cemetery -- the spiritual center of the Kansas Wyandots -- was not in any imminent danger by the Oklahoma Wyandottes.

"The court believes injunctive relief should be denied because plaintiffs have not clearly demonstrated that they will suffer irreparable injury prior to the trial of this case if an injunction is not issued," Mr. Rogers wrote in part in his nine-page opinion.

While the cemetery is the spiritual center for the Kansas Wyandots, the Oklahoma Wyandottes are recognized by the federal government as a tribe and thus have control over the cemetery.

The Wyandots of Kansas have asked for federal recognition, but have yet to receive it.

The two tribes split from each other in 1855. The Kansas Wyandots aren't a federally recognized tribe because they were given U.S. citizenship in exchange for land.

"They said they won't do anything immediately, and that is part of the court's record. The judge is taking their word ... and setting conditions that are very favorable," Holly Zane, attorney for the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, said of the Friday ruling.

Three of four Kansas tribes, including the Sac and Fox, have casino.gambling under way. Mr. Bearskin said the tribes' legal action was aimed at keeping his tribe from competing against them.

The Kickapoo have the longest-running casino in Kansas. The Golden Eagle Casino opened about 6 miles west of Horton, Kan., in May 1996. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe opened an interim casino in October 1996 and the Sac and Fox open shortly after the first of this year. The Iowa Tribe has yet to open its casino.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.