Fort Sill Apache Tribe breaks ground for new Chiricahua Plaza at Akela, NM

AKELA, N.M. – The Fort Sill Apache Tribe broke ground on Tuesday on its new Chiricahua Plaza, a state-of-the-art full-service truck plaza, convenience store, and retail center. The ground-breaking ceremony took place on the site of ancestral land at Akela, New Mexico, located 18 miles east of Deming, NM.

The structure, located at 20885 Frontage Road Exit 102 I-10 on the Fort Sill Apache reservation in Akela Flats, will directly connect to the current Apache Homelands retail shop that now sits at the property.

The new plaza will feature showers, laundry, electric vehicle charging stations, and is nearly 10,000 square feet. There will be a secondary lounge featuring additional comfortable amenities.

Mountain Management, LLC is managing the construction which is expected to be completed by November 2022.

This groundbreaking on original historical Fort Sill Apache lands represents a new era for the Tribe whose history in the area has all but been erased by revisionist history. Led by Chairwoman Lori Gooday Ware, whose grandfather and ancestors were known nomads in the area, the plaza is a statement that the Apache is on the path to tremendous growth.

Members of the Fort Sill Apache tribe are descended from the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apaches, who lived in southern New Mexico and Arizona until removed by the federal government in the late 1880s. They were sent to Florida, Alabama and later to Oklahoma.

The federal government designated a 30-acre parcel in southern New Mexico as the tribe's reservation in 2011, but the Apache governmental offices are in Oklahoma.

The land near Deming, New Mexico, has been held in trust for the tribe since 2002, and the tribe considered operating a casino there back in 2008.

The tribe acknowledged that the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act generally prohibits gambling on trust lands acquired after 1988. However, it argued at one time that the rule doesn't apply to land restored for a tribe that is federally recognized or land that was part of the tribe's initial reservation.

Since then, the Tribe has operated the Apache Homelands – a convenience store/smoke shop/café popular with truckers and travelers along Interstate 10 in Luna County.

Tuesday's ground-breaking drew a local and state audience that included City of Deming Mayor Benny Jasso, Senator William Soules, and Kasandra Gandara, Mayor Pro-Tem of Las Cruces, NM.

Honorary co-hosts included Chairwoman Lori Ware and other Fort Sill Tribal Leaders.

The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is the successor to the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache Tribes. In 1886, they were taken as prisoners of war by the U.S. Army and removed from their homelands of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona to Florida, Alabama and Oklahoma, where they were released.

They organized as the Fort Sill Apache Tribe after a federal court affirmed their claim for the loss of over 14.8 million acres of their homeland.

The tribe has always maintained both its independence as Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apaches and its desire to return to its rightful home.

After receiving an invitation from the governor of New Mexico in 1995 and again in 2000 to return to New Mexico, the tribe purchased the property at Akela Flats in 1998.

It was made tribal trust land in 2002 and designated a reservation in November 2011.

The Fort Sill Apache Tribe has now completed the next step in its expansion with the Chiricahua Plaza. This is part and parcel of the continuation of the return to aboriginal homelands.

Bill Armendariz can be reached at 575-546-2611 (leave a message) or biarmendariz@demingheadlight.com.

This article originally appeared on Deming Headlight: Fort Sill Apache breaks ground for new Chiricahua Plaza at Akela, NM