Illinois county agrees to talks with Prairie Band

Friday, April 20, 2007  

An Illinois county has agreed to enter into negotiations with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Kansas.

The DeKalb County Board voted 12-1 to talk with the tribe about gaming and other issues. The resolution doesn't require the parties to reach a final agreement and requires a public hearing.

The tribe owns 128 acres in the county. The land is part of an ancestral Potawatomi reservation that the tribe say has never been extinguished.

In 2001, the Interior Department's top legal official wrote a letter and said the tribe has a "credible" claim to the reservation. The tribe has hired Mike Rossetti, a former Interior attorney, to work on the issue.

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