RED SPRINGS — Lumbee Tribal Council members on Thursday didn’t address their decision to dismiss the tribe’s longtime federal recognition attorney and hire a Las Vegas company to guide the recognition effort.

They were silent despite a handful of protesters who wanted answers.

“This isn’t over yet,” Lawrence Locklear, a Lumbee Tribal Council member from 2005 to 2008, said. “We’ll be looking at our options. Our options include taking this issue to the (Lumbee) Supreme Court. The tribe’s constitution also provides for council members to be recalled after they have completed their first year in office.”

As Locklear addressed the council at its regular monthly meeting Thursday at the Boys and Girls Club in Hoke County, other Lumbees protesting the council’s decision to dismiss Arlinda Locklear and hire the consulting firm held up signs saying ‘Impeach the scoundels (sic)” and “Swett off to a bad start.” The protesters said the council’s decision could destroy the tribe’s chance for full federal recognition, as well as the financial windfall that would go with it.

Locklear told the council its action violated provisions in the tribe’s constitution mandating that an action taken by the council that has a permanent effect on the entire tribe must be codified by ordinance, not just by resolution.

“We demand answers for what you did,” he said. “We want answers and accountability.”

Richard Locklear, another former Lumbee Tribal Council member, also chastised council members.

“Gambling is no good,” he said. “This will destroy the Lumbee Tribe.”

The council members did not address the protesters during the meeting, but those supporting the hiring of Lewin International LCC, a company with expertise in the development, marketing and operations of full-service casinos, said before and after Thursday’s meeting the decision had nothing to do with gambling. Several repeated the same words — “It’s just about recognition.”

The contract with Lewin International was ratified last week during a special meeting at a unity conference in Raleigh. The contract designates the company as the “exclusive” lobbyist for the tribe’s efforts to obtain federal recognition.

According to the contract, if federal recognition is not obtained, the tribe pays the company nothing. If successful, it acquires the exclusive right to develop and manage such amenities as hotels, restaurants, retail establishments and theme parks on land owned by the Lumbee Tribe.

The contract includes a provision providing the company the exclusive rights to operate gaming facilities if the tribe gets gaming within seven years of the end of a contract with the company. The tribe would have to pay Lewin $35 million if the exclusive gaming operation clause of the contract is broken.

In a statement, Tribal Chairman Purnell Swett said that he and the council “remain unquestionably committed to achieving full federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

“We continue to pursue all legal and appropriate means to achieve recognition because we believe it is the only way to ensure both the survival and success of the Lumbee Tribe and our people,” he said. “The council has not, and will not, consider or execute a contract that would jeopardize our sovereignty or mutual goals. The contract does not bind the tribe to a particular course of action or decision regarding gaming. That decision remains with the tribe now and in the future.

“However, the contract will provide substantial support for our efforts at recognition,” Swett said. “Remaining wedded to a single strategy for decades, when that strategy has not been successful, is a recipe for failure.

“We must all remain committed to honest, constructive debate. That is the best way to demonstrate to those outside the tribe who watch our actions that we are in fact ready for true and meaningful self-government.”

In a statement issued Wednesday, Ricky Burnett, the tribal council’s speaker, said that the hiring of Lewin International does not mean the tribe is moving to develop casinos.

“Both bills in Congress would prohibit the tribe from entering into a gaming enterprise,” Burnett said. “The tribe’s position on this has not changed.”

Passage of the recognition bill would bring hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid to the Lumbee Tribe, which has more than 50,000 members, most of whom live in Robeson, Scotland, Hoke and Cumberland counties. The tribe would be eligible for health care, education, housing, economic opportunities and benefits currently received by tribes recognized by the federal government.

The Lumbee recognition bill jointly introduced by U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, a Republican, and Kay Hagan, a Democrat, is waiting on a vote on the Senate floor. U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Democrat from Lumberton, guided a similar bill through the House last year.

In other business. Elizabeth Jacobs, of the Census Bureau, presented a brief update on the status of the 2010 Census. She urged everyone to return their census questionnaires so that they can be counted.

Jacobs also emphasized that Lumbees should be sure to specify on the questionnaire that they are “American Indian” and a member of the “Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.”

“The more of you that say you are a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the more money there will be that will come back to the tribe for grants,” she said.