Trespassing charges dropped in Poarch Creek protest arrests

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Trespassing charges against three of the four men involved in a peaceful protest outside a controversial casino were dismissed Tuesday by an Elmore County District Court judge.

Earlier this year, a group of Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizens and their supporters traveled to the expansion site of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ Wind Creek Casino near Wetumpka, Ala., to conduct a ceremony in honor of their ancestors who were once buried there.  The group had requested the construction be halted a day to allow the group to conduct the prayer ceremony without interruption, but was denied by Poarch Band officials. Tribal police arrested four men, including three Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizens, and filed trespassing charges after men stepped onto the casino property during the second day of their visit.

The fourth member of the group, Wayland Gray, originally faced an additional charge of making a terrorist threat. Those charges have since been reduced to disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.

The casino construction project has come under fire from the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, along with traditionalists in Alabama, for its potential desecration of Hickory Ground, a pre-removal sacred site and burial ground. A federal lawsuit to stop the $246 million expansion is pending in the Middle District of Alabama.

In a press statement issued Monday, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians acknowledged the Oklahomans’ ancestral ties to the land, but maintained their sovereignty over the site.

“Despite their orchestrated campaign of disinformation to the contrary, our Hickory Ceremonial Ground land has been preserved and the remains found years earlier were respectfully re-interred,” the statement reads. “The Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribal Council is the locally elected body responsible for protecting our culture and making decisions to build for our future. These decisions should be respected.”