Smoke Signals 3
JUNE 15, 2005
Gorge Casino Idea Falters
CASINO continued
from front page
compact because the land in question
had not yet been approved as trust land
for the Tribe. In the letter denying the
compact, James E. Cason, Associate
Deputy Secretary of Interior, stated the
reason for denial was that the land
must first be taken into trust under
Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regu
latory Act before the Department of
Interior can consider approval of the
compact. Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle
Kennedy stated that "Grand Ronde
agrees with the Department of
Interior's decision that land must be
taken into trust for a casino before any
compact can be considered."
Congressman David Wu (D-Dis-trict
1) opposed the Cascade Locks
casino in order to preserve "the crown
jewel of Oregon's natural heritage,"
according to his press release on the
Interior decision.
Congressman Greg Walden (R-Dis-trict
2) supported the casino because
of the potential for jobs and economic
development. Walden also stated that
if Warm Springs cannot put a casino
in Cascade Locks, they "will most
likely return to their plans to locate
a casino east of Hood River on trust
land overlooking the Mark O.
Hatfield Park." The Hood River site,
however, has long been viewed by op
ponents as an empty threat.
Opposition to the Cascade Locks
casino has come from a diverse
group, including Grand Ronde, envi
ronmental groups, restaurant asso
ciations, family councils and others.
In addition to Grand Ronde, the Cow
Creek Band of Umpqua Indians have
also stated that they do not support
off-reservation gaming.
The next step in the process will be
for Warm Springs to apply to have the
Cascade Locks land put into trust; a
process that could take a year or more.
The process will involve a thorough en
vironmental analysis with an opportu
nity for pubic comment.
No Comment
Oregon Governor Ted.
Kulongoski (D), who
helped craft the updated
state compact that could
pave the way for a
Cascade Locks casino,
has not publicly com
mented on the Interior
Department decision,
although his General
Counsel has called it "a
bump in the road."
Of
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The Tribe is asking members to contact their local legislators and media outlets to help
oppose the Cascade Locks casino. Below are many of the contact phone numbers.
The Oregonian Governor Ted Kulongoski Rep. Earl Blumenauer
Email: lettersnews.oregonian.com 503-378-4582 202-225-4811
Fax: 503-294-4193
Sen. Gordon Smith Secretary Gail Norton
Salem Statesman Journal 202-224-3753 202-208-3100
Email: drisserstatesmanjournal.com
Sen. Ron Wyden Rep. Peter DeFazio
Hood River New 202-224-5244 202-225-6416
E-mail: kneumann-reaeaglenewspapers.com
Fax- 541 386 6796 Rep. David Wu Rep. Darlene Hooley
202-225-0855 202-225-5711
Eugene Register Guard
E-mail: jwilsonguarnet.com Rep. Greg Wa en
Fax: 541-683-7631 202-225-6730
On Memorial Day, Casino Nearly Burst At The Seams
Guests won a record 170 jackpots, of $1,200 or more; $92,000 motor home also given away.
By Ron Karten
With more than half a million dol
lars in slot payouts and a winner tak
ing home the widely advertised
$92,000 recreational vehicle, Memo
rial Day this year was BIG for Spirit
Mountain Casino.
"It's safe to say that we had our
largest single day for slot activity
and our largest single day for slot
jackpots," said Casino Manager
Randy Dugger.
"We had 170 taxable jackpots," said
Slot Supervisor Jeff Johnson. Taxable
jackpots are those worth $1,200 and up.
"Mostly it was the pure amount of
people," he said. "You couldn't walk
around. The walkways were all
plugged up."
To Johnson, it seemed like "at least
every five minutes somebody was pay
ing one or multiple jackpots."
Although the casino does not release
dollar figures, Dugger said that the
casino hosted as many as 1 1,000 guests
during the day compared with an av
erage weekend day when 8,000-9,000
show up over a 24-hour period to play.
Another telling statistic: "At one
point," said Dugger, "we were down
to 50 or fewer parking spaces out of
2,900 total."
"I worked two and a half hours of
overtime," said Tami S., a clerk in the
poker room, "simply because I could
not get out of the parking lot."
But Tami, unlike many guests and
employees, took a lot of pleasure in the
tumult. "I'm in my element in the
busy-ness," she said. "That's what I
enjoy the most."
The poker room had enough custom
ers that day that the casino would have
had to add 12 more tables to accommo
date them all, said Tami.
For awhile, employees coming in for
their shifts circled the casino's park
ing lots until employees ending their
shifts moved their cars out.
"We experienced a short period of
time where we were down to swapping
"Probably the biggest issue with that
day was the difficulty with swing shift
people that afternoon getting to the
facility," said Dugger.
Security Officer Rod H., who nor-
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parking," said Dugger. "It just took
awhile for everybody to get situated.
We didn't turn anyone away. We
never closed the building."
Rumors swirled that the building
was closed due to the crowds or that
the casino was fined for having too
mally only gets involved with traffic
issues when concerts let out, was busy
from 10 in the morning to nearly mid
night handling traffic both coming in
and going out.
The roads were so clogged that people
said it was a two-hour ride to the ca-
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Spirit Mountain Casino
many people inside, but none of that
was true.
"At no time was anybody at any risk
or any danger from overcrowding," said
Dugger.
sino from Dallas, normally 30-35 min
utes from front door to a spot in front
of the Million Dollar machine.
As a result, shifts had to be extended,
often on a moment's notice.
"I know that everybody asked to
stay and work did so willingly," said
Dugger. "It was an extraordinary day,
and staff were extremely helpful, to the
person, in doing what was necessary."
Dugger sent out an email to all ca
sino employees when the day was done.
"At moments like this, everybody
was at their finest. Basically what
I said was: 'Everybody understands
that Monday was a busy holiday,
busier than any of us anticipated.' It
was the busiest and one of the most
hectic holidays I've experienced here
and I said, 'Whenever we are so busy
and it seems we have reached the
edge of chaos, everyone in the build
ing stepped up their level of perfor
mance. You pitched in and did what
ever was necessary to get through the
day. There was no department that
was not impacted by the volume of
activity we have experienced. I'm ex
tremely proud of the teamwork that
I saw across all the departments.
When we had something that needed
to be done, we had two volunteers for
every task. It was just an outstand
ing example of teamwork at all lev
els. I was very impressed.'"
The compliment included the work
of many. In any given 24-hour cycle,
roughly 970 people work at the casino.
"Pretty much from 10 AM through
out the day," said Dugger, "I think all
of the table games were occupied and
busy and certainly occupancy at slot
machines was very high, probably
around 90-95 percent."
The Casino Board and Tribal Coun
cil have been considering additional
parking and food services for some
time now, according to Dugger, and
Memorial Day only "reemphasized our
need to reevaluate."
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