Friday, May 23, 2003 | 11:54 a.m.
TAMA, Iowa -- Federal officials moved in early today to close the Meskwaki tribe's lucrative casino, one day after a special election was held in an attempt to resolve a leadership dispute.
"I just got the word," Homer Bear Jr., chairman of the appointed council, said this morning.
All seven members of the appointed council, including Bear, were elected Thursday in the special election.
Bear confirmed that he had received notice from the U.S. Marshals Service that the casino would be closed.
"It is closed. We got notice," he said.
Betsy McCloskey, the casino's marketing director, said the shutdown came on the eve of one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Barricades were set up at the casino's entrance and security guards were diverting people away. The usually full parking lot had fewer than 100 cars.
Employees and patrons were seen leaving the casino, and a Radisson Coach Tour Bus sat outside.
A sobbing casino worker stopped to hug co-workers as she left the building. She said she had worked there for nine years and the job made it possible for her to buy a house. She declined to give her name.
McCloskey said marshals had given casino workers 2 hours to close up the casino, secure the assets in the casino vault and escort patrons from the building.
She said the shutdown was peaceful and orderly, and she was pleased that marshals had chosen a time when fewer people were gambling.
"They tried to come at a time when people weren't going to be around," she said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Teig said the casino was closed at 6 a.m. under a judge's order, which would be unsealed later in the morning.
Teig said federal attorneys will have to study the judge's order for details of the shutdown and the process for reopening the casino.
Teig said the closure was a temporary action, pending resolution of the National Indian Gaming Commission's shutdown order.
The closing follows an eight week power struggle over tribal leadership.
The dispute began in late March when a tribal council elected in 1999 was ousted by a new group of leaders appointed by the tribe's hereditary chief, Charles Old Bear. The appointed council has been in control of the tribe's government and casino business ever since.
The tribe's casino, which generates $3 million a week and employs 1,300, is critical to the local economy and livelihood of tribal members. The tribe pays its members about $2,000 per month in casino royalties, and uses revenue to support schools, health care and housing projects.
McCloskey said casino employees will be on layoff status and they will be recalled when the casino reopens. They will receive pay for the next 30 days and arrangements already have been made for them to file for unemployment benefits, she said.
In Thursday's election, each of the tribe's estimated 840 eligible voters was encouraged to pick any seven of the 13 candidates printed on paper ballots. The top seven candidates were declared winners, but federal officials say it's unlikely the outcome will satisfy the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the National Indian Gaming Commission.
Neither agency has recognized the appointed council, whose grip on power is the reason the casino was deemed to be operating in violation of gaming laws.
Alex Walker Jr., chairman of the elected council, said the closure "is the result of what happens when people don't do what they're supposed to do legally."
He said the Gaming Commission used the closure to send "a very clear message to Indian country that illegal activities will not be tolerated."
Walker, who received just six votes in Thursday's election, said he doesn't know how long the casino will remain closed, but the solution involves the appointed council stepping down.
"All they've got to do is vacate their offices," he said.
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