“It’s that dangling fear of the future—of what might happen.”
—Dean Kumpuris
“I think that’s our bigger concern. What’s to stop you from changing your mind?”
—Lance Hines
JOHN BERREY says not to worry. The city directors for Little Rock, including Dean Kumpuris and Lance Hines quoted above, needn’t get all in a stew about the Quapaw Tribe of American Indians buying land in these parts. Mr. Berrey, the chairman of the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, says his folks have no plans to build a casino on their 160 acres south of the industrial port. No plans at all.
The tribe just wants to protect its native land, where many of their ancestors are buried.
That’s great news. And who doesn’t respect a people trying to protect gravesites? Here’s hoping all the best for the Quapaw Tribe.
But . . . There may have been some misunderstandings up in Kansas in the last few years between the tribe and officials in that state. Something about the tribe buying property, local officials thinking they’d heard that there were no plans for a casino, then complaints and legal opinions and lawsuits and, oh, it seemed such a mess. Those things happen, especially when two or more human beings are involved. Sometimes folks aren’t always perfectly understood.
Chairman Berrey says the land the tribe owns in Pulaski County is now a soybean field, but eventually the tribe plans to grow crops on the land and give the food to the Arkansas Foodbank. Which, again, is great news. Doubtless the foodbank will benefit from this generosity.
But when asked whether the tribe intends to sign any kind of memorandums of understanding or other binding agreements that would subject the land to state laws governing gambling, Chairman Berrey said he doesn’t think so: “We’re not talking about that. It’s about the cultural stuff.”
And, he added, he doesn’t want to bind the tribe in the future.
Here’s an idea. The tribe has no plans for a casino in Central Arkansas, so why not put a conservation easement on the 160 acres? That could preserve the land and the gravesites, keep it from being developed, and save everybody a lot of worry. Everybody wins. The tribe protects its land, and Little Rock’s city fathers and mothers don’t have to worry about a casino in the backyard.
That seems completely reasonable. For the city, of course—and for an Indian tribe that has no plans for a new casino anyway.
Let’s do it. And remove any chances of a misunderstanding later.