Opponents sue to block coast casino

FLORENCE - Casino opponents went straight to the Oregon Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking justices to order Gov. Ted Kulongoski to terminate the state's agreement with a Coos Bay tribe to build a casino near Florence.

Attorneys representing People Against a Casino Town filed a lawsuit with the state's highest court late Monday, bypassing the circuit and appellate courts that would normally hear such arguments first.

Effectively, the "petition for writ of mandamus" asks the court to void the state's gaming compact with the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians on the grounds that the governor is forbidden by the state constitution from signing such a document.

"The governor's power is limited to executing faithfully the laws of the state," said Liam Sherlock of Eugene, one of three attorneys working on the case. "The governor can't make up new laws or usurp the constitution."

Next, the court will decide whether to accept PACT's petition or send the group's case back to circuit court.

"This is a matter of great urgency," Sherlock said. "The tribes, the city of Florence and the state of Oregon will presumably begin spending taxpayer and tribal money in preparing for and developing this site.

"It doesn't make sense for us to have to go through all the lower channels when the issue is likely to come before the state Supreme Court anyway. In many cases, the tribes don't recognize lower court decisions."

Thus begins another chapter in the nearly decadelong battle to keep a casino out of Florence, beginning with the tribes' efforts in the mid-1990s to build a casino at the site of the Windward Inn.

After backing away from that attempt, the tribes purchased a 98-acre parcel of land known as the Hatch Tract, which lies north of Highway 126 and west of the North Fork of the Siuslaw River.

In 1998, the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the tribe's application to enter the land into trust, making it eligible for gaming under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which Congress passed 10 years earlier.

That action set off a series of legal battles. The state sued the bureau and the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, arguing that only land taken into trust before the act passed could be approved for gaming. Two federal judges have ruled on the case, in favor of the tribes.

In January of this year, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber executed a compact between the state and the tribes, just before Kulongoski took office. It allows the tribes to set up the casino on the Hatch Tract.

Casino opponents refused to give up. And the last stand may be the most dramatic.

If the state Supreme Court sides with PACT, that could call into question the gaming compacts of eight other federally recognized tribes, all of which already operate casinos in Oregon - though PACT attorneys made clear they are focusing solely on the proposed Three Rivers Casino near Florence.

Such a case might appear to be a longshot, with its sweeping implications. For 140 years, it would have been impossible.

"In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court said 'State law can have no force in Indian Country,' " said Robert Miller, an associate professor of Indian law at Lewis and Clark University in Portland. He did not review the lawsuit Monday.

The court cited the Indian Commerce Clause in that case, Miller said, which gives Congress the sole authority to regulate commerce with Indian tribes.

But in 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which "gave states a large voice in Indian gaming," Miller said. "(The act) gave the state the authority to stop a tribe from engaging in (casino) gaming unless the tribe had entered into a compact with the state."

In fact, says Sherlock, the act permits casinos on Indian lands "only if such activities are ... located in a state that permits such gaming for any purpose by any person, organization or entity."

In 1984, Oregon voters passed an initiative to amend the constitution, explicitly banning the Legislature from authorizing casinos.

According to the constitution, "The Legislative Assembly has no power to authorize, and shall prohibit, casinos from operation in the state of Oregon."

Several similar lawsuits have led to voided compacts in other states, Sherlock said. In 1996, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in Clark vs. Johnson that the governor hadn't gotten authority from the state Legislature to enter a compact. In 1992, the Kansas Supreme Court made a similar assertion in Stephan vs. Finney, this time ruling that the state constitution prohibited the governor's action.

Kevin Neely, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said he couldn't respond to the merits of the lawsuit, not having seen it.

Still, he said "the state absolutely believes the governor does have the authority to sign these compacts, and we will vigorously defend that authority. This probably will be a very important case."

Strickland, a professor of Native American law at the University of Oregon, agreed with Neely - also before reviewing the lawsuit.

"The state role in gaming is the result of a federal statute," he said. "The compact is an outgrowth of that. It says the states are required to negotiate them with tribes. It would be a clear violation of federal law and the (U.S.) constitution for the state to prohibit that.

Florence has a huge population of retired pentioners who moved there in newly developed gated communities for the most part. No sales tax, more bang for the buck spending powerwise, and the area is relatively undeveloped.

They fear the increase in traffic and acpects of big metro areas many moved there to get away from.

They should get rid of the sour grapes because they lost. The casino is going in, new jobs and people will be moving to and visiting Florence, so they should build bridges and work with Casino people to manage the growth problem.

Being an ostrich won't help one bit here.

The casino is going in, new jobs and people will be moving to and visiting Florence, so they should build bridges and work with Casino people to manage the growth problem.

I live in a small rural community which has "Indian Gaming." It is blight on the community and has destroyed the local ambiance.

What bothers me most is the legalized racism. How is giving one racial group preferential treatment constitutional? The other thing that bothers me is the way the tribe here has built an empire that does not have to pay the same taxes as competing businesses. For instance, they are not required to charge bed tax at their hotel.

Another thing that bothers me is that a group of approximately 150 people average over $50,000 per person per month and yet they list their addresses on the reservation so they are not required to pay the California State sales tax on their automobiles and other high dollar items.

I can go on and on. The people who frequent these places are the people who can least afford it. High school students, old folks on social security, AFDC types looking to get rich.

Believe me, you do not want one of these place in your community.

A group of citizens in Sonoma County, CA are fighting a proposed Indian Gaming casino. The guy who heads the tribe is a real con-artist with less Native American blood in his veins than I have from my great grandmother who was equal parts Sioux and Ojibway Indian.

This so-called tribal chief formed a new tribe from a defunct tribe. He lied to the Feds saying that he only wanted his "heritage" back and would NOT have a casino if only the Feds would give him and "his people" tribal status and "a little land" for their reservation. Guess what? The guy lied. He and his tribe have teamed up with a Las Vegas gambling concern--the same Las Vegas operators who have turned the once quiet suburb of Roseville, CA into a mess--and are busy sweet-talking the local politicos with visions of "a piece of the action."

Go here: http://www.stopthecasino101.com for some interesting info and links. Click on the section that says "Read What the Politicians Aren't Telling You." and the "About Us" section. It explains the whole mess.

Barbara Boxer's son is one of this tribe's "consultants." It's gonna get ugly soon. The citizens of Rohnert Park, CA are starting a recall of the entire city council. Two county supervisors involved in the "backroom deal" are also rumored to be recalled soon.

I'm proud of my Native American heritage, but I'm an American first. This sort of "land grab" violates my right to self-government (the politicians are in the pockets of the casino operators) and my right to self-determination.
These harmful Land Trust reservation/casinos that are made out of whole cloth and then put smack-dab into communities that don't want the known problems associated with them should be challenged. It should go straight to the Supreme Court since it is a violation of Constitutional rights!

My great grandma Annie Onagun was part Ojibway (Chippewa to the White Man) and Sioux Indian. Annie Onagun lived to be 93 years-old. She used to tell me and my siblings stories about Iktome the Spider Man (I call him Spider Spirit, so as not to be confused with the Marvel comic book hero.) and his buddy Shunk-Manitou, or Coyote Man. Here is how my Great Grandma described them:

"Spider Spirit and Coyote Man are a couple of evil tricksters who visit the earth, causing mischief and sometimes mayhem. They are liars and cheats. They both like to steal--even from each other if they think that they can get away with it! The two of them are lazy, greedy and always after women. They like nothing better than to travel from tribe to tribe spreading lies and mischief. Sometimes whole villages fall for their tricks and wind up abandoning their honor. The village is soon filled with selfish loafers, gamblers, liars, lusters, cheats, and all around bad people. Once Spider Spirit and Coyote Man have lured most of the tribe into acting foolish and sometimes even murderous towards the few honorable people left, the two of them have a good laugh. Then the two troublemakers move on to seduce the next village."

My Grandma Annie would say that whenever a person starts abandoning honor and begins to act selfish, greedy or takes advantage of another's weakness or ignorance, Spider Spirit and Coyote Man were there whispering in their ear that it's OK to do these bad things.

Years after my Grandma Annie died, my surviving kin saw what the Indian Gaming business was doing to the people. They saw the outside handlers from New Jersey and Vegas call the shots using a few Indian families as their fronts.

Some of my more spiritual relatives felt that the gambling money didn't really bless them or their reservation. The easy money just made them and their fellow tribe members contemptuous of gamblers, more greedy and unwise in the ways of handling the sudden wealth. Eventually those relatives left or were forced off the Res because they didn't like what the casinos were doing to the bodies (more alcoholism/gambling addictions) and souls of their people.

There is a legend/prophecy spoken of by Native Americans regarding the buffalo. Native Americans believe that when the buffalo herds become plentiful again, they will get their revenge over the White Man and be blessed. Some Native Americans now refer to Indian Gaming as the "New Buffalo."

I don't see the "New Buffalo" and neither would my Great Grandmother Annie Onagun. We see Spider Spirit and Coyote Man laughing over the worldly greed and wickedness of a people who take pride in causing financial and spiritual misery to their fellow man.

The Navaho and Hopi have refused the casinos for years, citing an ancient legend/curse regarding a "Gambler Spirit."
Go here: http://americanindian.ucr.edu/discussions/gaming/articles/ict-dine.html

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