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More News from Indian Country
P^ge 9 Spilydy Tymoo December 28, 2011
Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s gaming gifts add up
B O IS E , Idah o (AP) -
When the C oeur d ’Alene
Tribe first signed a gaming
com pact with the state o f
Idaho in 1992, tribal leaders
insisted on donating 5 per
cent o f net casino gaming
proceeds to education on or
near their reservation — a
gesture that has added up to
$16.8 million in donations
since 1994, including $1.5
million this year and $1.8
million last year.
“The tribe originated the
idea,” said David High, the
now-retired deputy Idaho
attorney general who for
years oversaw negotiations
with the state’s Indian tribes
over gaming. “ They didn't
have to do it.”
In fact, High said, the N a
tional Indian Gaming Regu
latory Act forbids states from
taxing or assessing any kind
o f fees on the proceeds o f
tribal gaming. “ Congress in
tended the tribes to get the
financial benefit o f Indian
gaming and did not want the
states trying to take a piece
o f that,” he said.
B ut in the case o f the
Coeur d’Alenes, “The tribe
has agreed to it is the thing,”
High said.
Later, the tribe wrote the
5 percent contribution into
a tribal gaming initiative that
Idaho voters strongly ap
proved in 2002, prompting
two other Idaho tribes, the
Kootenai and Nez Perce, to
add it to their compacts as
well.
The biggest beneficiary o f
the Coeur d ’Alenes’ dona
tions has been the belea
gu ered Plum m er-W orley
School District, which has
received $3.125 million, in
cluding $110,000 this year
and $110,000 last year. The
second-biggest beneficiary
was the Coeur d’Alene Tribal
School in DeSmet, which got
$2.8 million.
“We’ve been very grate
ful for it— it’s helped us out
an awful lot, helped our stu
dents,” said Ju d i Sharrett,
Plummer-Worley superinten
dent. This year, the tribe’s con
tribution to Plummer-Worley
m ade up 2.4 percent o f the
school district’s budget.
The district is one o f the
state’s poorest; it’s the only one
for which the state has had to
force a property tax increase
after local voters repeatedly re
fused to approve a bond to re
place a condemned elementary
school.
“They’re close and a lot o f
our kids go there,” said Helo
Hancock, the tribe’s legislative
liaison, adding, “There’s certainly
a need there.”
Ernie Stensgar, the longtime
Coeur d’Alene tribal chairman
and current vice chairman who
signed the original gaming com
pact with the state, said, “ I think
we wanted to really give people
a good look at who we were.
And giving is part o f our cul
ture.”
T h a t’s a trad itio n that
stretches far back into the Coeur
d ’Alene Tribe’s history, from
helping out starving and freez
ing white setders in pioneer times
to the cultural tradition o f hand
ing out blankets, shawls, drums
and bandannas at tribal events.
T h e N e z P erce and tiny
Kootenai tribes also have taken
pride in their donations since
2002, and note that like the
Coeur d’Alenes, they’ve given
more than the required 5 per
cent and have supported many
causes, including college schol
arships, social programs, wildlife
restoration and local kindergar
ten classes.
But the success o f the Coeur
d ’Alene Casino Resort Hotel,
which has made the tribe the
se co n d -larg e st em ployer in
N o rth Id ah o , beh in d only
Kootenai Medical Center, has
prom pted some grumbling in
recent years over who got how
much o f the education money.
That’s prompted the tribe to stop
holding formal ceremonies an
nouncing the donations for the
past two years, which led to
speculation that the tribe no
longer was making them.
“ I know in the recent years
they ju st h aven ’t w anted to
make a big showing about it,”
The tribe now
employs nearly
2 ,0 0 0 people,
including 1,300 at
the casino
said state Rep. Bob Nonini, R-
Coeur d’Alene, who chairs the
Idaho Council on Indian Affairs.
In August, the Coeur d’Alene
Press reported that schools in
the region, including Plummer-
Worley, hadn't gotten contribu
tions from the tribe in two years,
though the same newspaper had
published an article in January
noting that the district had in
cluded grant funds from the
casino in its budget. The Idaho
Lottery issued a statement say
ing the tribe had met its 5 per
cent requirement and had been
“good stewards o f their gaming
activities and generous neighbors
to the communities on or near
the reservation as well as to other
good causes.”
Said Hancock, “We challenge
anybody to find another orga
nization who gives more to the
com m unity than the C oeur
d’Alene Tribe.” He called sug
gestions that the tribe wasn’t
keeping its 5 percent promise
“ ridiculous and offensive.”
The hubbub prompted a se
ries o f public records requests
to the Idaho Lottery Commis
sion, the agency designated to
oversee tribal gam ing in the
state. M ost sought a breakdown
o f who got how much money
from the Coeur d’Alenes’ 5 per
cent donations, but the lottery
doesn’t have that information.
Both the tribe’s compact with the
state and the 2002 initiative say
the donations are handed out “ at
the sole discretion o f the tribe.”
The only inform ation the
tribes hand over to the Lottery
Commission is their audited fi
nancial statement, which shows
the 5 percent figure, along with
other proprietary information
about their gaming operations,
such as, in some cases, back
ground checks on employees
and information about security
p ro ce d u re s. T h e C o eu r
d’Alene Tribe’s compact with
the state exempts from pub
lic disclosure information it
submits to the state under the
trade secrets clause o f Idaho
Public Records Law.
C om pacts betw een the
state and the other tribes con
tain similar trade-secrets con
fidentiality provisions.
High noted that the Coeur
d ’Alenes’ donations to the
comm unities around them
stood them in good stead
when then-Gov. Phil Batt con
vened a task force in 1997
to hold hearings around the
state to determine whether
Idahoans still wanted to al
low gambling on Indian res
ervations. Despite a member
ship that included a host o f
gambling opponents, the task
force voted narrowly in fa
vor o f allowing limited res
ervation casinos to continue
operating.
“At the hearings, we had
local government people com
ing in, saying how gaming had
benefited their communities,”
High said. “ So it was obvi
ously really a wise move on
their part.”
In 2002, when he was a
candidate for Congress, Gov.
Butch O tter endorsed the
tribal gaming initiative.
Idaho’s once-destitute In
dian tribes have thrived since
they added gambling opera
tions. Unemployment among
Coeur d’Alene tribal mem
bers before the casino was as
high as 70 percent, while now
there are m ore jo b s than
tribal members on the reser
vation. Among all residents
o f the reservation, including
non-Indians, unemployment
has dropped by h alf from
11.3 percent in 1990 to 5.2
percent, on average, between
2005 and 2009, according to
the Idaho D epartm ent o f
Labor.
H ancock said the tribe
now em ploys nearly 2,000
people, including 1,300 at the
casino; nearly 70 percent are
non-Indians.
N ative Am erican wom an
approved for sainthood
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - A
N ativ e A m erican w om an is
am ong seven new saints ap
proved by Pope Benedict XVI.
That puts the Blessed Kateri
Tekakwitha on track to be can
onized next year.
.
Tekakw itha w as a N ative
American baptized in 1676 in
the Mohawk Valley.
She fled to a m issio n in
Canada after being scorned and
threatened in her home village
near what is now the village o f
Fonda.
Benedict signed decrees last
week approving miracles attrib
uted to the intercession o f the
womon and six others, the last
obstacle to their canonizations.
Mich, woman brings Indian
remains home from Canada
MOUNT
PLEA SA N T,
M ich. (AP) — A M ichigan
w om an attending college in
C an ad a retu rn ed hom e for
Christmas with the remains o f
American Indian that were kept
at a museum for more than 100
years.
The remains, along with other
item s, were then repatriated
M onday by the Saginaw
C h ippew a T rib e in cen tral
Michigan’s Isabella County. It’s
not known how the remains
ended up at the M useum o f
Vancouver in British Columbia,
although officials say there was
much “ random collecting” in
the early 20th century.
T h e rem ain s w ere tra n s
p o r te d by E m ily B irk y o f
Glenn, Mich., who is pursuing
a doctorate at the University
o f British Colum bia. She be
lieves the rem ains w ere re
m oved from a m ound near the
Cass River, south o f Saginaw,
around 1905.
Jury dings Calif, tribe for
$31 million in casino dispute
PLA CER V ILLE, Calif. (AP)
— A Northern California jury has
returned a $30.4 million judg
ment against an Indian tribe for
breaking its contracts with a
company that was supposed to
help build and furnish slot ma
ch ines fo r a casin o in E l
Dorado County.
The Shingle Springs Band o f
Miwok tribe said it would ap
peal the verdict returned late last
week.
The
jury
aw arded
Chatsworth-based Sharp Image
G am ing o f Chatsworth in its
long-running dispute with the
Miwok over the tribe’s aborted
plans for a casino in the late
1990s. The tribe instead con
tracted with a Minnesota com
pany to build the Red Hawk
casin o in P lacerville, which
opened in 2008.
The tribe claim ed that its
contract was invalid because the
slo t m achines the com pany
planned to supply violated gam
bling regulations that existed at
the time.
Long-time Navajo judge to retire
C H IN L E , Ariz. (AP) _ N a
v ajo N atio n D istric t C o u rt
Judge Leroy S. Bedonie is retir
ing at year's end. The tribe's
Judicial Branch announced that
B edon ie will retire D ec. 31.
Bedonie has served the Navajo
Nation court system since 1989
when he was confirm ed as a
probationary judge.
Woman
Hopis
lose
suit
over
sentenced for effluent for snowmaking
embezzling
FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A St.
Michael wom an convicted o f
embezzling from the Spirit Lake
Tribe has been sentenced to
three years o f probation and
restitution.
Patricia Robertson, 53, will
spend six months o f her time
on home confinement. U.S. At
torney Timothy Purdon says the
woman who also is known as
Patricia Cavanaugh was ordered
to pay back the tribe nearly
$5,500. Robertson was coordi
nator o f a tribal program that
helped people with low incomes
pay their heating bills. She was
among five tribal officers and
employees indicted on theft and
em b ezzlem en t ch arges last
spring.
FLAG STAFF, Ariz. (AP)
— The Hopi Tribe has lost a
round in court in its bid to
stop F lagstaff from selling
treated sewage water to Ari
zona Snowbowl. Coconino
County Superior Court Judge
Jo e Lodge ruled in favor o f
the city last week.
It’s not clear if the Hopis
will appeal the decision.
“We’re going to seriously
take a look at what we have,”
said Hopi Chairman Le Roy
Shingoitewa.
The judge said the substan
tial components o f the case
had already been decided in
federal court, and the tribe
was legally required to raise
its objections earlier.
“The plaintiff was clearly
on notice in March 2002 that
the city o f Flagstaff intended
to contract with Snowbowl to
purchase reclaimed wastewa
ter to
be u sed
for
snowmaking at the Snowbowl
ski area,” Lodge wrote in his
ruling.
The ruling sidesteps some
o f the new legal questions
raised by the tribe, such as
whether reclaimed wastewa
ter can legally be used to
m ake snow if the m elted
snow then flows into other
w ater b asin s o u tsid e o f
Snowbowl, which is prohib
ited by state regulations.
F la g sta ff officials were
pleased with the ruling.
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Delay sought in Crow triple killing trial
B IL L IN G S, Mont. (AP) -
The defense attorney for a
man accused o f killing three
family members on southeast
Montana's Crow Indian Res
ervation has asked a federal
judge to delay a trial that was
scheduled to begin this week.
Public defen der D avid
M erchant said the request
was made because the ballistics
report has not been completed
on a weapon recovered from
the car o f suspect Sheldon Ber
nard Chase when he was ar
rested in Spokane, Wash-
Chase is charged with first
degree murder in the deaths o f
his 80-year-old grandmother, his
cousin and his cousin's boy-
friend. He is being held at the
Yellowstone County jail.
The U.S. Attorney's Office
has not objected to the re
quest for a continuance.
Merchant says that if the
court grants the request the
trial likely would be delayed
several months.
) ! 11
Inc! sion . _ vw
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