Meskawki Council proposes new election ordinance to solve dispute

The dispute over who controls the Meskwaki Tribe may be nearing a resolution. The Alex Walker tribal council has announced a new ordinance which it says will create an election board and a process to ensure impartial and equitable elections. Spokesman Eric Woolson say the tribe has never had uniform election procedures and this measure spells out the process in black and white.The tribe’s casino in Tama has been closed since late May, putting 13-hundred people out of work. The casino had been generating a reported three-million dollars per week. Woolson says in the past, no time table was given for recall petitions or when elections should or could be held, and now there is a plan in place.Petitions collected on June 26th by the Homer Bear group were presented to the Alex Walker group and this was taken as a gesture that says the Walker group is in charge. The Walker group is already recognized by both state and federal agencies as being the group in charge. Woolson said if Walker is in charge, then there is only one thing holding back the opening of the casino. Woolson said to get the casino opened, the Homer Bear group needs to recognize the next official election is the third Tuesday in October.Woolson says the casino could re-open in as quickly as 24 hours and the 13-hundred employees would return to work if the Homer Bear group goes along with this ordinance idea. The Homer Bear group was contacted and has yet to respond to the media.