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Date Posted: 09:41:18 07/07/01 Sat
Author: Anonymous
Subject: NEWS AND ISSUES

The Senate has confirmed Neal McCaleb, a Chickasaw Tribe member and former Oklahoma state lawmaker, as the next head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

McCaleb, who also served as head of the state Transportation Department under Republican Gov. Frank Keating, struggling to make ends meet in health services, law enforcement and education.

Last month, he told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that one of his top priorities would be reforming the Indian Trust Fund, created in 1887 to hold royalties from the sales of oil, gas, grazing and logging leases on Indian land.

Record-keeping has been was shoddy and some money was stolen or used for other federal programs.

More than 300,000 American Indians are suing the government, claiming they are owed at least $10 billion due to the mismanagement. They are demanding the government reform its accounting system.

McCaleb said in an interview last month that he is confident of completing an accounting of what is owed and reforming the system before he leaves the bureau



Losing gamblers contribute to Cherokee success CHEROKEE, N.C. (AP) -- Most members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will remain strangers to the thousands of visitors who come to their reservation over the course of the year.


But because their losses are the tribe's gain, these visitors are radically changing the lives of tribe members.


About 3.6 million people are drawn to the tribe's casino each year. Some will leave with more money than they brought, but odds are most will leave with less.


Faye Watkins of Kennesaw, Ga., and her husband, Glen, come to escape their busy lives a little while. Faye prepares income taxes. Glen, who currently drives a truck for a living, is also a musician, singer, actor and Civil War historian.


"The only way to ever have anything is to work for it," Faye said. "We don't have any illusions that we're so lucky we're going to have some windfall. I love it when I go in with my $20 and I win my $20 back and the rest of it is play money. If I win $300, that's my play money."


Most of Harrah's customers come from North Carolina, but the casino draws heavily from Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina, in that order, said Scott Barber, Harrah's Cherokee Casino marketing director. The average age of the customers is 52, and most have a household income of $50,000 or greater, he said.


People pouring money into the machines may lose cash by the bucketload, but figure they'll make it back if they keep going. Some make multiple trips to automatic teller machines that can be found in every corner of the casino or to get cash advances from their credit cards, while others gamble until they lose their limit and leave for home or other attractions.


"I don't do the ATM," said Bernard Wall, 36, of Durham, who says he plays blackjack and the slot machines at the casino "once in a blue moon."


His 27-year-old wife, Sonja, confirmed that they play by certain rules. "What you bring is it. What you don't want to spend, you leave at home," she said. "We have three kids at home. We try to keep our priorities straight."


Each loser contributes to the more than $120 milliion in profits the casino clears each year. Half that amount goes goes in direct payments twice a year to members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, said Michell Hicks, executive director of the tribe's budget and finance division.


Payments totaling about $5,000 a year are sent to each of the tribe's nearly 12,500 enrolled members. Those payments grow each year.


The Eastern Band also has used casino revenues to build a dialysis center and a youth center. It is planning a $6 million wellness center with racquetball courts and walking trail.


Across the river from the casino, a 15-story, $63 million hotel is due to be complete in the spring, said Barber said. The tribe's hotel will have 252 rooms, a conference center and a covered parking garage for 650 vehicles.


Also planned is a 20,000-square-foot expansion for the 175,000-square-foot casino building to create space for 800 more video gambling machines, Barber said.


That would bring the number of machines to 3,500 and the gaming space to 80,000 square feet. Construction is tentatively scheduled to start in August or September and take almost a year to complete, he said.


Direct payments aren't the only way the tribe and other members of the area's work force have benefited from the booming casino business. The casino already employs about 1,600 people, Hicks said, and the hotel and conference center will create another 300 jobs.






50 Date: 2001-07-03 12:51:45
NAA Reporter (no email / no homepage) wrote:

Pomos want Windsor land

Neighbors oppose plan to buy 50 rural acres,
build 50 homes just outside town limits
July 2, 2001

By STEVE HART
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT









The Lytton band of Pomo Indians, who lost its Sonoma County reservation 40 years ago, says it's found a new home on 50 oak-studded acres just outside the town of Windsor.


But the plan is running into opposition from some Windsor neighbors, who say the proposed Indian community doesn't belong in the semirural enclave. They're also worried the tribe will open a casino on the property.


Margie Mejia, leader of the 220-member tribe, said the Lytton Pomos will never build a casino on the land. "Our goal is to be good neighbors," Mejia said. "We never wanted a gaming facility near our homes."


Instead, the tribe has a deal with the East Bay city of San Pablo to open a casino in an existing card club. Congress last year cleared the way for the Lytton Pomos to acquire the San Pablo site, but the tribe still needs approval from Gov. Gray Davis for Nevada-style gambling there.


The tribe would use profits from the San Pablo casino to develop 50 homes for Pomo families and a community center on the Windsor property. Philadelphia stadium promoter Sam Katz, the tribe's gambling partner, would put up $2 million to buy the site on Windsor River Road if the federal government agrees to make it an Indian reservation.


The tribe has an option to buy the Windsor property from Georgina Funtanellas, a Santa Rosa physician.


So far, Windsor and Sonoma County leaders haven't taken positions on the tribe's Windsor plans. The Pomo development conflicts with Sonoma County's land-use regulations, which allow a maximum of 10 homes on the property.


County zoning rules don't apply on Indian land, but local government agencies have a chance to comment when tribes ask the federal government to create reservations for them. Neighbors are pushing local, state and federal representatives to fight the Lytton project, saying the tribe shouldn't be allowed to build five times more homes than the county allows.


They said the increased density will lead to traffic, water and sanitation problems. "It will be a completely different environment," neighbor Debbie Bailey said.


"This is not the appropriate location for them to do what they want to do," another neighbor, Bob Crawford, said. The neighborhood is mix of rural homes, small farms, vineyards and grazing land.


"We will do all it takes to stop this project," nearby resident Bill McCormick said.


Mejia said the tribe's project will protect the environment and Windsor is the right location. She said the homesites will be clustered to save native oaks and a natural buffer will be created between the houses and Windsor River Road.


The tribe chose the Windsor location because it has rural character but it's close to town, she said. "This is the closest we could get to our aboriginal home," Mejia said.


She said 50 homes would not be out of place because there's a Windsor housing tract just a block away.


She said the Lytton Pomos have been looking for a new home since 1961, when an act of Congress officially disbanded the tribe. The Lytton band regained its tribal status in 1991 but its 50-acre Alexander Valley reservation had long since been sold to non-Indian owners.


Mejia said the Lytton Pomos were determined to reestablish a reservation in Sonoma County, where most of the tribe's members still live. "It's our way of living together," she said. "We want to live as we did 40 years ago."


She said the Windsor development is needed because many tribe members are living in substandard housing. "We're just asking for our 50 acres back," Mejia said. "I don't think that's unreasonable."


Two years ago, the Lytton Pomos asked the U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs to acquire the San Pablo and Windsor properties as land to be held in trust for the tribe.


The tribe did environmental studies on both projects but didn't pursue the Windsor development because federal regulations require gaming projects to be considered first, according to tribal attorney Tony Cohen. Now that Congress has approved the San Pablo acquisition, the tribe will soon reapply for the Windsor land, he said.


Carmen Facio, realty officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Sacramento, said the review process could take anywhere from 18 months to several years. She said the tribe also must submit a new environmental study of the Windsor project, which will be subject to public review.


She said individuals and government agencies have a chance to comment on the project and the tribe must respond to issues that are raised. Facio said the bureau could ask the tribe to provide more information on the environmental impacts if it's deemed necessary.


Once the bureau makes a decision, the matter can be appealed to the Interior Department, Facio said. The department's decision can be challenged in federal court.


According to Facio, the tribe wouldn't be able to open a casino on the Windsor property without going through a separate approval process.


Cohen said the Lytton Pomos welcome a full review.


"This is a tribe that has bent over backwards to accommodate public concerns," he said. "We will go out of our way to respond to individuals and government agencies that have concerns."


But neighbors said they aren't reassured. Once the land is declared a reservation, Windsor won't have any say over what happens there, said Crawford, a retired attorney. "The basic reason we worry is there is no control," he said. "There is nothing to prevent them from changing their application to do a casino here."


Neighbors also note the tribe's original application talks about a need for 97 homes for its members.


Mejia said the tribe hasn't decided how it will meet the need for additional housing.


Neighbors also are worried about how the tribe will provide water to its residents and treat its sewage. Mejia said the tribe wants to talk to Windsor about extending town water and sewer service.


But if the tribe can't get service from the town, Mejia said, it will develop water wells and build an on-site sewage treatment system.


If that happens, neighbors fear, their wells might be affected and the development could discharge wastewater into nearby streams. They said the 50 acres, now used for grazing, contain wetlands and sensitive wildlife habitat.


Cohen said those issues will be addressed in the tribe's environmental studies. "The tribe is going to go out of its way to mitigate the impacts," he said.


Windsor Mayor Steve Allen said the town is waiting to receive the tribe's formal application before taking a position. He said there could be impacts on traffic, water and schools, "but until we see them come in the door and make a proposal, it's difficult to judge."


Even if it agrees with the Lytton band's plan, Windsor could be barred from providing services to the reservation under the town's urban growth boundary law. That law, passed in 1998, says services can't be extended outside the growth boundary without approval from voters. The property is just outside the boundary.


Mejia said the tribe successfully negotiated agreements with the city of San Pablo and it can do the same with Windsor.


Mejia said she's worried that opponents are motivated by prejudice. But neighbors insist race is not the issue. "I don't care who buys the property as long as they adhere to the zoning," Bailey said.


"If they want to follow the county's rules, I'll be the first guy in the welcoming party," McCormick said.


You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5212 or e-mail shart@pressdemocrat.com.

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