And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: "Victor Rocha" Miwoks dream of casino; foes see nightmare: Major impact on El Dorado http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local03_19990725.html By Peter Hecht and Dale Kasler Bee Staff Writers (Published July 25, 1999) Someday, just off Highway 50 -- on property framed by oak groves, grasslands and a real estate billboard boasting "The Greatest Earth on Show" -- beams of blue and silver light may reflect off the night sky to form a giant tepee. The light show over Shingle Springs could serve as a gentle beacon calling visitors to the proposed development down below, a $100 million casino and "destination resort" owned by the Miwok Indians, said tribal spokesman Dick Moody. Though there are no architectural plans yet, Moody's musings underscore the determined vision and dogged financial maneuvering of the tribe and its new partners: casino development and management firms from Minnesota and Texas. Investors backing the tribe are purchasing 42 acres of prime real estate, just on the other side of the highway from the Miwoks' Shingle Springs Rancheria, to build a 100,000-square-foot casino, 300-room hotel, entertainment complex and convention facility in the rustic hills of western El Dorado County. Although the Miwoks say they want to work with their neighbors, the tribe's bold plan, unveiled July 16, has riled homeowners and county supervisors, who complain that the casino could sabotage local land-use control and alter the destiny of the region. "It's literally an attack on the area," said El Dorado County Supervisor J. Mark Nielsen. He expressed skepticism the project would succeed, adding: "This is just ... a big, big dream." Indeed, the project must clear significant hurdles, including getting approval from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to put a casino on the land being purchased, and completing a compact with Gov. Gray Davis to establish what sort of gambling would be allowed on the property. The BIA approval may be especially tricky, because federal Indian gaming laws generally say casinos can be located only on existing tribal lands. But the law does grant exceptions, notably, if the tribe builds on land that's next to, or "contiguous" with, the existing reservation. The Miwoks say the casino site is contiguous with their current location. Yet the presence of Highway 50 between the current reservation and the new site could severely complicate the tribe's chances, said I. Nelson Rose, an expert on Indian gaming at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa. Even if the tribe does get the necessary approvals, he said the delays could consume more than a year. "This is not an easy process," Rose said. Still, the Miwoks, shoehorned into a small rancheria north of the highway, have shown on several occasions that they'll go to great lengths in their efforts to grab a share of the $1.5 billion-a-year California Indian gaming industry. The tribe operated a small, tentlike gaming house, the Crystal Mountain Casino, on the rancheria for five months in 1997 before neighbors sued and a judge ruled that customers couldn't use a residential street that provided the only access to the site. Undaunted, the 281-member tribe turned to Chatsworth investor Chris Anderson, whose SharpImage Gaming company stands to profit by selling gaming machines to the tribe. Anderson bought nine residential properties east of the rancheria for $4.2 million, paying nearly triple the value to some holdout homeowners to make way for a new road so the small casino could be reopened. Moody said the Miwoks could still reopen their casino on the existing rancheria. But the tribe is setting its sights on a much bigger facility across the freeway. Envisioning a complex that could employ 1,200 workers, or four times the tribe's population, the Miwoks have teamed with casino manager Lakes Gaming Inc. of Minneapolis and the Kean Argovitz development company of Houston to extend their land to the south side of Highway 50. The investors have agreed to spend $5.5 million to buy 96 acres of land, including four residential properties north of the highway, the 42-acre parcel south of the freeway where the casino would go, and an adjoining 34-acre site, Moody said. Financing came from Kean Argovitz, said the firm's president, Kevin Kean. Kean Argovitz would build the complex, while Lakes Gaming would run the casino under a contract with the rancheria. Moody said Lakes Gaming, which has run Indian casinos in Minnesota and Louisiana, would take 30 percent of the gaming revenue, the maximum allowable by federal Indian gaming law. After five years, the tribe would take over the casino's management, as required by law. At 100,000 square feet, the proposed casino would rival its competitors in Reno and Lake Tahoe, although the Miwoks' final plan would depend heavily on how much gaming is allowed. The Miwoks and other California tribes are in negotiations with the governor on that issue, but the situation is muddled by a pending court challenge to Proposition 5, the voter-approved ballot measure that opened the door for unlimited video slot machine gaming by Indian tribes. "Obviously, to us, the bigger the better," said Jerry Argovitz, the father-in-law and business partner of Kevin Kean. While the casino would be built first, eventually "we're looking to make it an entertainment complex, where you've got first-rate entertainment, a state-of-the-art theater . . . boxing matches, wrestling matches . . . top buffets, top restaurants." Argovitz, a one-time sports agent whose clients included former pro football star Billy Sims, was once president of the Houston franchise of the short-lived United States Football League. That team's name: the Gamblers. Argovitz may have found his biggest gamble yet. The rural hills of El Dorado County are legendary for their ability to provoke intense and often litigious showdowns over growth. Several homeowners near the proposed casino site said they were disturbed to hear about the rancheria's plans. None wanted to be quoted by name. One neighbor on horse property near the proposed casino site said residents in the late 1970s expected it would someday be developed as a berry farm. "We expected it would be something like Apple Hill," said the neighbor. "A casino is a very different thing. ... We have close neighbors who came here to raise their families. There's a lot of concern." Another neighbor said the casino would sit not far from an elementary school. "To move it here," he said, "what are they thinking?" County Supervisor Sam Bradley said he, too, was dismayed at the thought of a major gambling development "on beautiful oak lands" of the county's "scenic corridor." "Are they going to protect this scenery or just do the slash and burn and build a gaudy Reno gambling establishment?" Bradley said. "Personally, I just don't like gambling. I think it unravels the fabric of a community." Moody, the rancheria spokesman, insisted that the project would be aesthetically pleasing. Instead of a flashing neon "cowboy pointing down at a gold nugget," the complex would be tastefully illuminated by the laser-light tepee, he said. The development would be sensitive to the environment, and Moody said the tribe is prepared to negotiate an agreement with county officials to guarantee that the rancheria would pay for traffic improvements, water lines, sewage treatment and the costs of police and fire protection. Moody said shifting to the new site is also intended to ease tensions with residents of the Grassy Run community -- north of Highway 50 -- whose lawsuit forced the closure of the original casino in 1997. "In our approach before, the neighbors and the county never felt as if they weren't let in on the discussions," said Moody, who pledged better relations this time around. And should the tribe receive complaints from residents of six rural parcels south of U.S. 50, where the new casino is planned, the tribe's backers are prepared to pay "full market value" to buy them out, Moody said. It isn't simply a case of public relations. If the BIA decides the casino location isn't contiguous with the existing rancheria, the federal agency could still approve the new site -- but only if the governor, in consultation with local authorities, thinks it's a good idea, said gaming expert Rose. As a practical matter, "if the locals are against it, then the (BIA) won't approve it," Rose said. For now, it's stirring worries. "I'm really concerned. This project is just huge, huge," said Supervisor Ray Nutting, whose district includes the potential casino site. "We're talking about rural El Dorado County here, not Grand Central Station." Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
