Cowlitz casino dealt big blow

In December 2010, the federal government agreed to take 152 acres of land at the La Center-Interstate 5 junction into trust for the Cowlitz Tribe. It issued a Record of Decision (ROD) that paved the way for casino developers to build a mega-casino and resort there.

At the time, CARS declared, “This is still not a done deal.”

We were right.

Yesterday, March 13, 2013, a federal judge threw out the 2010 ROD, sent it back to the Department of Interior (DOI) and ordered the agency to issue a new one within 60 days.

You see, when DOI produced the 2010 ROD, it “overlooked” a number of documents submitted by casino opponents—including information related to the 2005 federal decision to allow gaming on the La Center property, a cornerstone of the Cowlitz casino ROD.

The situation puts us in uncharted waters, awaiting DOI’s next move. What is certain is that today’s Columbian headline got it exactly right: “CASINO DEALT BIG BLOW.” Read the story online.

Fed issues supplemental Cowlitz casino decision

Legal wrangling over whether the proposed Cowlitz mega-casino and resort will be built at the Interstate 5-La Center junction continued this week with federal attorneys producing a supplemental Record of Decision (ROD).

The attorneys are defending the federal government in a lawsuit brought in January 2011 by Citizens Against Reservation Shopping (CARS), Clark County, the City of Vancouver, the owners of the La Center cardrooms and local property owners, who are protesting the original decision, which was issued in December 2010. It said the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) would take 152 acres at the Interstate 5-La Center junction into trust for the Tribe’s proposed mega-casino and resort.

The case is being considered in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Earlier this year, the federal attorneys discovered the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had either overlooked or lost several key documents submitted by CARS and other local casino opponents when it crafted the initial reservation opinion, a key part of the ROD. The missing documents questioned the Cowlitz Tribe’s historical connection to the proposed casino site near La Center, which is among the criteria the Tribe must satisfy to qualify for an initial reservation and a casino.

The federal attorneys requested a halt in the proceedings to reconsider the Cowlitz Tribe’s reservation determination, but the judge denied the request and gave the federal government until Oct. 5—today—to determine whether it would proceed with the case or withdraw DOI’s original 2010 decision.

Instead, the federal attorneys filed the supplemental ROD, which says it considers the opposition documents and reaches the same conclusion as the original.

No reaction, as yet, from the judge.

Federal Lawsuit Filed: Press Release

This is the news release CARS sent out yesterday announcing our suit in Federal District Court designed to stop the siting of a casino in Clark County.

DOI's recent Cowlitz casino decision

Dear Concerned Citizen:

You have likely heard that the Department of the Interior (DOI) has decided to take 152 acres at the Interstate 5 La Center junction into trust for the Cowlitz Tribe's proposed casino project ("Feds clear way for Cowlitz casino," The Columbian, Dec. 24).

Make no mistake: This is still not a done deal.

Other jurisdictions have successfully overturned similar DOI decisions, and the Cowlitz application is ripe for litigation. CARS and other affected parties are reviewing our options, including legal action.

First, the Cowlitz decision runs counter to the U.S. Supreme Court's February 2009 finding in Carcieri v. Salazar. This ruling states that the Secretary of the Interior has no authority to take land in to trust on behalf of tribes acknowledged after 1934. The Cowlitz Tribe was acknowledged in 2002.

Legal challenges are possible in several other areas as well, including the tribe's heavily flawed Environmental Impact Statement, the federal government's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, and the Tribe's questionable restored lands opinion issued by the National Indian Gaming Commission.

What is perhaps most disappointing in this whole situation is that a federal agency is working to determine the future land use and fate of a local community -- one that has repeatedly and resoundingly pleaded, "No casino here, please."

Please stay tuned and stay hopeful. We will keep you posted on this evolving situation.

Sincerely,

The CARS Team

Declared opposition to the proposed Cowlitz casino
Governmental resolutions of opposition:
Clark County
City of Vancouver
City of La Center
City of Woodland
Port of Woodland
Woodland School District

Expressions of opposition:
Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce
La Center North Clark County Chamber of Commerce
Woodland Chamber of Commerce
Battle Ground Chamber of Commerce
American Land Rights Association
Identity Clark County
Friends of Clark County
Enterprise/Paradise Point Neighborhood Association
Fish First
Chinook Indian Tribe
Stand Up for Clark County Citizens
Citizens Against Reservation Shopping

Mohegan gaming performance "disappointing"

DECLINING PERFORMANCE AT MOHEGAN SUN RAISES

FINANCIAL ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE

Despite a story in last week’s Columbian which had Mohegan tribal leaders declaring a Cowlitz casino at La Center still “viable,” the project’s principal financial backer continues to face declining performance from its major gaming properties, the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and from their casino at Pocono Downs in Pennsylvania.

According to “The Day” in New London, CT, “The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority reported Thursday that their profits plunged by more than half in the third quarter of its fiscal year compared with the same period last year.” Another performance measure showed a 13.8 percent decrease in the quarter compared with last year.

Mitchell Etess, chief executive of the gaming authority and Mohegan Sun, called the performance, “disappointing,” and in a later interview said, “It really is a lack of consumer confidence and a change in people’s spending habits.”

Mohegan Tribal members receive annual payments from tribal gaming activities which are expected to reach $59 million this year. However, Chief Financial Officer Leo Chupaska said of next year’s member distribution, “I think I can safely say it will be less than the current year.”

The information was disclosed during a quarterly conference call with tribal gaming leaders and interested financial parties. The tribe is currently carrying a debt load of some $ 1.6 billion.

Opposition Resolution To Go?

Will the Mystery Guests Please Sign In?

Mayor Jim Irish will lead a workshop in La Center Wednesday night to lay groundwork

for getting rid of a resolution the city council approved three years ago, officially placing the city on record in opposition to a Cowlitz casino.

For whatever reason, Irish has become fixated with the resolution opposing the casino, and wants it off of the books. Why? Well, now he's got a city council that just might do it. The reason? He actually told a reporter last month that a group of businessmen had approached him saying they want to begin doing business at the La Center junction with Interstate 5, but not if the anti-casino resolution remains. Now, this is very curious for a couple of reasons: First, the mayor won't name the businessmen. And second, there is nothing apparent about the existing resolution that would discourage new business from coming to the junction. Nothing. Nada.

That might be enough to send amateur sleuths looking for another reason the mayor wants to get rid of the opposition resolution. Could it be that if the reconstituted city council got rid of the annoying resolution approved by the old anti-casino council, it might get the Bureau of Indian Affairs thinking La Center is now open to the idea of a casino?

But how many times has our mayor declared that he doesn't want an Indian casino, so that doesn't sound right. ...even if he does regularly support pro-casino positions and developer initiatives. So what are we to believe?

If we just want to "talk" to the Cowlitz Tribe, maybe to negotiate something, is it good strategy to give them what they want even before we begin talking? Jim?

The question before the council is this -- do we really want a mega-casino out by our Interstate? If not, let's keep the opposition resolution. After all, we'll never know the names of those phantom business people, anyway.

DRUGS INVOLVED IN BARNETT CRASH

DRUGS INVOLVED IN BARNETT SEATTLE PICKUP MISHAP




In case you missed it, the Columbian newspaper reported earlier this week that drugs were involved in the November auto crash in Seattle that seriously injured would-be Cowlitz casino developer, David Barnett, 49. According to the King County Sheriff’s report, at 6 a.m. November 16, Barnett was riding the back of his pickup truck, which was being driven by his live-in girlfriend, when the vehicle left the roadway and crashed into a rock wall. Barnett was apparently thrown from the vehicle and sustained serious head injuries when he hit the pavement, and was taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment.



Barnett’s girlfriend, 36-year old Sarah S. Rutyne explained to sheriff’s deputies that she and Barnett had been using crack cocaine and methamphetamine along with Hydrocodone, Oxycodone and Percocet prior to the accident. Toxicology reports from blood tests were positive for both parties. According to the report, Barnett had been attempting to break in the truck’s rear window just prior to the accident.



Rutyne told officials that she and Barnett had met in “rehab” where both were recovering alcoholics and in treatment. No charges have yet been filed in the case.



Barnett is the son of former Cowlitz Tribal Chairman John Barnett, now deceased. Between 2000 and 2001, David Barnett took options on land at the La Center interchange with Interstate 5. In March 2002, the tribe applied to have 150 acres taken into trust by the federal government. No decision on that application has been reached.