Land taken into trust for Rhode Island's Narragansett Indian tribe is intended for housing, not a casino, stated the lawyer representing them in $4.1 million dollar housing project with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The troubled project, which is the subject of a federal audit, has 12 units of the 50-unit development built but uninhabitable. The tribe wants to complete the development.
John F. Killoy, Jr., speaking on behalf of chief sachem Matthew Thomas, stated that the 32-acre parcel of land in Charlestown that has been placed in trust with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is for housing and that is the tribe's intention.
Concerns over the possibility of the Narragansett tribe using the land for a casino prompted Governor Lincoln Almond to ask the tribe to pledge in writing that they won't use the land for gambling. Trust status means that state and local laws are not applicable to the land but federal laws are relevant.
The state of Rhode Island plans to appeal a recent court ruling by Judge Kathyn A. Lynn of the Department of the Interior Board of Appeals that gave 1,800 acres to the Narragansetts as part of the 1978 Settlement Act. The Governor and representatives of the Town of Charlestown contend that this act was to be a resolution of all past, present and future land claims on the part of the Narragansetts.
The judge noted that the Settlement Act makes no reference to prohibiting the Narragansetts from buying additional land outside their settlement area and to have it taken into trust for them by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
