Spiiyay Tymoo, Wdi-m Springs, Oregon
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Spokane Tribe reaches gambling deal with state, feds
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP)—
After years of operating casi
nos in defiance of the law, the
Spokane Tribe of Indians on
Thursday announced it had
reached a tentative deal with
federal and state regulators to
bring its gambling offerings
under their control.
The proposed compact calls
for the Spokane Tribe to have
much greater freedom than
other tribes in the state, and may
prompt some of those tribes to
seek the same deal.
Under the agreement, the
Spokane Tribe can operate up
to five casinos, with a total of
4,700 video gambling machines.
That is a number in harmony
with other tribes in the state. But
the Spokanes can offer much
higher stakes at some tables, and
will be allowed to operate video
gambling machines that will ac
cept coins or currency, rather
than paper tickets.
The Spokanes are the last
tribe in Washington that runs a
casino without a compact. There
are currendy 25 Indian casinos
in the state, which generate
about $1.2 billion a year using
machines that take paper tickets
instead of cash.
“We have reached a proposed
compact that will serve the tribe
and state well,” Spokane Chair
man Richard Sherwood said in
a news release.
The deal, after 15 years of
conflict, will provide economic
benefits to the tribe and region,
and ensures that gambling will
remain limited and well-regu
lated, Sherwood said.
Gambling revenues will be
used to improve health care and
provide higher education for
tribal members, as well as law
enforcement and government
services, he said.
The deal was reached be
tween the tribe, the Washington
State Gambling Commission
and the U.S. Department of the
Interior, and still must be ap
proved by all the entities.
“I’d like to thank the Spokane
Tribe and state negotiators for
their hard work to reach this ten
tative agreement,” Gov. Chris
Grégoire said in a news release.
The Spokane Tribe has op
erated several casinos for years
on its reservation north of Spo
kane. The tribe and the state
were not previously able to
reach agreement on the terms
of a compact.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled in 1998 that the
state was not negotiating in
good faith with the tribe and
dropped a federal injunction
against tribal gambling opera
tions. The state and the tribe
resumed talks in 2004.
From here, the deal will be
the subject of a public hearing
within 30 days of the Legisla
ture receiving the proposal. The
state Gambling Commission
will hold a public hearing Feb. 8
to decide whether to send the
proposal to the governor. The
tribal chairman, governor and
secretary of the interior must all
sign the compact.
Under the deal, the Spokane
Tribe would be the first allowed
to offer cash-operated, single
push-button video-gambling
machines.
State Sen. Margarita Prentice,
D-Renton, who sits on the
Gambling Commission, was
sharply critical of the deal. On
Wednesday, she told The Seattle
Times the proposal was “really
offensive” and a much greater
expansion of gambling than the
public wanted.
She did not return telephone
messages from The Associated
Press on Thursday.
Gregoire last year rejected a
proposal that would have al
lowed the tribe to run 7,500
machines in return for giving
the state a cut of the proceeds.
The new proposal provides
no cut for the state.
The proposal would allow
the tribe to raise betting limits
on 15 percent of its slot-style
machines from $5 to $20 a turn.
The tribe can also have no more
than 2,000 video machines at
any one location.
The tribe can also operate
up to 75 gambling tables at
one facility, and up to 50 at
other casinos.
The Spokanes, also for the
Potential Lake Tahoe casinos anticipate competition
RENO (AP)— A casino
planned east of Sacramento
along could drain $75 million a
year from Lake Tahoe’s south
shore economy, but casinos
there plan to tap into new mar
kets to buoy business.
“It is pretty clear that, for the
community, it is definitely a
threat, not just to gaming, but
to tourism in general and many
businesses in South Lake
Tahoe—lodging, stores that sur
vive and thrive on tourism,” said
John Packer, director of com
munications at Harrah’s and
Harveys in Stateline.
The new casino is expected to
save gamblers from the Sacra
mento area who would head to
Lake Tahoe some 67 miles of
driving over Echo Summit, which
can be treacherous in winter.
Lakes Entertainm ent of
Minnesota plans to develop and
manage the casino for the
Shingle Springs Racheria of
Miwok Indians.
A similar situation occurred
when the Thunder Valley Ca
sino opened off Interstate 80 in
June 2003, saving gamblers a
drive over Donner Summit to
Reno and Sparks. That casino
had 1,900 slots and 100 table
games, almost exactly what is
planned at Foothill Oaks.
Thunder Valley took the
blame for a slump in Reno and
Pioneer of Native education programs dies
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)—
Emma Olga Olsen, a pioneer
of Native education pro
grams and a longtime Alaska
Native Sisterhood leader,
died Tuesday. She was 87.
A funeral service was
planned Friday at the Alaska
Native Brotherhood Hall.
Olsen didn’t have much
chance to advance her edu
cation after eighth grade since
the high schools were segre
gated.
“She wanted to go to a
high school, but could not do
that,” said Marie Olson,
Emma’s niece. “That was one
of her goals later in life, to
support many of the children
that wanted to go to high
school.”
Olsen was born July 22,
1919, in Dundas Bay to Sam and
Sally Hopkins. She was a
Yaashundoosteen, of the
Tin.aa.Hit (Copper Shield
House) of the Kiks.adi, Frog
Tribe.
Her parents brought her up
in the Alaska Native Brother
hood and instilled a deep appre
ciation for her culture, Olson
said.
“(Her parents) were not only
performers for special events,
but also at potlatches,” Ebona
said. “Emma could speak the
Tlingit language fluently. She
always knew what was happen
ing when people were speaking
publicly or at potlatches.”
Olsen married her husband
of 61 years, Oscar P. Olsen, on
April 12, 1945, in Juneau.
She served 15 terms as presi
dent of Alaska Native Sister
hood Camp 2, where her fo
cus remained on education.
She began the Tlingit Tea for
Teachers program and sup
ported the Juneau’s Indian
Studies programs. She also
talked about revitalizing the
Tlingit language.
“She had an interest in
education that included ev
eryone, and particularly the
Alaska Native child,” said her
nephew, Andy Ebona. “She
was obviously interested in
the high dropout rate and felt
that those issues needed to be
addressed more firmly. The
alternative forms of educa
tion were also a priority, es
pecially for those kids that
were not succeeding in the
regular school system.”
Sparks casinos that they only
appear to be recovering from
more than three years later. In
May 2003, the month before
Thunder Valley opened,
Washoe County casinos re
ported $93.6 million in revenue.
This year, they reported
$91.2 million, not quite back to
the pre-Thunder Valley level,
but up 3 percent from 2005 be
fore the recovery. So far this fis
cal year, the casinos’ revenue is
flat with last year.
Companies operating in the
region with public stock still cite
the casino as a drain on revenue
during slow months.
“Casinos in Northern Ne
vada have dealt with the initial
blow that came when California
casinos, particularly Thunder
Valley, opened,” said Packer,
whose parent company,
Harrah’s, also has a Reno casino.
“They have found different
ways to work around it. Cer
tainly, there was some loss in
business, untracked casino play,
but it has been offset for
Harrah’s in our ability to use our
database and Internet marketing
to backfill where those losses
occurred, to some extent.”
H arrah’s and Harveys at
Tahoe could use the same strat
egy of direct marketing to
Harrah’s registered gamblers
first time in the state, could of
fer high stakes betting on table
games such as poker and black
jack for 120 days a year at a few
tables at one location. Those
high wagers would be available
only for players who pass finan
cial screening and aren’t known
to be problem gamblers.
The compact will make it
easier for the tribe to secure fi
nancing for a proposed 40,000-
to-60,000-square-foot casino
and hotel with at least 100
rooms at Chewelah, north of
Spokane. It already operates a
casino there.
The tribe also wants to open
a retail complex at Airway
Heights, a Spokane suburb, with
a $67 million casino-hotel and a
2,500-seat entertainment venue.
It would need separate federal
approval to operate a casino off
its reservation.
nationwide and charter flights
into Reno-Tahoe International
Airport to replace business lost
to Foothill Oaks.
“But the impact could be
greater for those that depend
more on retail players,” Packer
said. “The Lakeside Inn, Hori
zon and Montbleu don’t have
the database of players that
Harrah’s has. They are more
dependant on the drive-up mar
ket.” Columbia Sussex owns the
Florizon in Stateline. It recently
bought the former Caesars
Tahoe for $45 million and spent
another $45 million redesigning
it into Montbleu, debuting the
new property this year.
Big Foot High School to reconsider logo, nickname
WALWORTH, Wis. (AP) - Big Foot High
School is named after Chief Big Foot, the last
chief of the Geneva Lake Potawatomi. The
school uses his image as one of its logos and uses
Chiefs as a nickname.
School officials plan to consider if any changes
need to be made after teacher Marsha Ries pre
sented a letter to the school board in December
protesting the use of the chief s image on logos
and the use of Chiefs as a school nickname.
Big Foot High School is one of 39 high schools
in Wisconsin that use an American Indian related
team name.
Happy Hew Hear
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Thomo/ Sole/ & Service
of Aladra/
169 SE 5th Street, Madras, OR 97741
475-2333
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