Indian leader dismayed tribal bill won’t advance
February 20, 2013 11:16AM
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Updated: February 20, 2013 11:12PM
LAFAYETTE (AP) — The leader of the Miami Nation of Indiana says he’s dismayed a bill that would provide state recognition for the Indian nation has failed for a third straight year to get a legislative hearing.
Chief Brian Buchanan tells the Journal & Courier state officials have no “problem using our names for geological markers and schools, but then they’re telling us we don’t exist.”
Republican Sen. Randy Head of Logansport has introduced the bill for the past three years. Both he and Buchanan believe it has met resistance because top lawmakers fear that giving the Miami Nation state recognition would lead it to build a casino as other tribes have done.
Buchanan says he and the Indian nation’s nearly 6,000 Indiana residents have no interest in developing a casino.
