An Oklahoma Creek Indian group that could try to claim McClellan as rightfully theirs has in the past sought property in other states for casino gaming.

The Kialegee Tribal Town tried to move to communities in Georgia and Texas and establish casinos, but was rejected, according to 2005 Congressional testimony by James T. Martin, then-executive director of United South and Eastern Tribes. That group on its Web site says its mission is to enhance the development of Indian tribes.

Martin was testifying before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs during an oversight hearing on taking land into trust.

Jennie Lillard, chief of the Kialegee Tribal Town, brought a group to McClellan Monday. She did not comment on what the Creeks might want to do with McClellan or if they would pursue a claim to the land.

The McClellan Development Authority at its Wednesday meeting discussed the visit and the Kialegee's previous pursuits.

"I'm not saying (casino gaming) is what their interest in McClellan is, but I find it interesting they were involved in other communities," MDA Chairman Ronnie Smith told the board.

Councilman Ben Little, who first informed Creek officials in April he thinks they may have rights to the land, set up Monday's meeting about a month ago.

Little thinks the Creeks could claim the land based on documents he got from the Calhoun County Probate Office. But the county's mapping experts in the Revenue Commissioner's office say the documents don't refer to land at McClellan. The land described in the documents is in Jacksonville and includes much of the Jacksonville State University campus.

Little's records include a document filed by the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management in 2003. The document contains a 1912 federal law relinquishing the government's claims to lands in Alabama reserved earlier for the Creek tribe and its members.

Little has said other documents support the claim, but he has declined to share them.

Councilman John Spain on Wednesday said he saw additional documents and they refer to land near Lake Martin, not McClellan.

Smith also told the board that early in the Fort McClellan base closure process, Native Americans had an opportunity to come forward and stake claims to the land.

Before the Department of Defense approved the McClellan base reuse plan, local officials had to follow all directives in a base reuse implementation manual.

One of those directives was to work with interested local Native American tribes affected by the base closure. Tribes had from 1995 to 1999 to come forward and participate in the McClellan plan. None did, Smith said.

The Defense Department would not have accepted McClellan's reuse plan had all the directives not been carried out, he said.

"If there was a claim to be made it should've been made then," Smith said.