Are all bets off?Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard EMERGING PLAYERS Last of a four-part series on Indian casinos in Oregon THE SERIES Sunday: Indian tribes use casino revenue to pull their members out of poverty Monday: Cow Creek Cow Creek may refer to:
Tuesday: Tribes' political influence keeps pace with casinos' revenue with side story, Casinos deal clout, controversy to lobbyists Today: Off-reservation casinos threaten to shake the stability among Oregon tribes with side story, Critics say Kulongoski's pact sets precedent Just as all nine of Oregon's Indian tribes have settled into a peaceful era of casino-created prosperity, forces are threatening to reshuffle the deck. Three tribes are trying to move their gaming centers to more lucrative locations - inflaming in·flame v. in·flamed, in·flam·ing, in·flames v.tr. 1. To arouse to passionate feeling or action: crimes that inflamed the entire community. 2. rivals who already claim those areas as their turf. A tribe in Washington is trying to build a massive casino not far across the river from Portland. And a pair of entrepreneurs are considering an initiative campaign in two years to get voters to allow Oregon's first nontribal casino. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , after a decade of steady growth and stability among Indian casinos in Oregon, uncertainty is the tribes' latest watchword. "I don't see where anything is stable," said Ron Brainard, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw, which operates the Three Rivers Three Rivers, Que., Canada: see Trois Rivières. Casino in Florence. One tribe's greener pasture Nationwide, long-impoverished Indian Country Indian country or Indian Country n. 1. Indian Territory. 2. Federal reservation lands under Native American tribal jurisdiction. is experiencing unprecedented economic vitality, thanks to 405 casinos that pull in $19 billion a year. But geography - specifically, the varying proximity of each tribe's casino to population hubs and major travel routes - has dictated an uneven distribution of that wealth. Oregon's casinos along busy Interstate 5 or near the gambler-rich Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley (pronounced [wɪˈlæ.mɪt], with the accent on the second syllable) is the region in northwest Oregon in the United States that surrounds the Willamette River as it proceeds northward from its have flourished, while those in lonely stretches of Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is a geographical term that is generally taken to mean the area of the state of Oregon east of the Cascade Range, save the region around The Dalles and sometimes Klamath County. The area around Bend is considered to be Central Oregon rather than Eastern Oregon. have not. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is a federally recognized confederation of Native American tribes who currently live on and govern the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of Oregon. , the Klamath Tribes The Klamath Tribes, formerly the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon, are a federally recognized confederation of three Native American tribes who traditionally inhabited Southern Oregon and Northern California in the United States: the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin. and the Burns Paiute Tribes are seeking to catch up by replacing their modestly successful casinos - all east of the mountains - with ones closer to population hubs. Federal law restricts tribal casinos to reservations. But it includes an exception allowing tribes to acquire off-reservation "trust" land on which to build casinos. That has prompted a nationwide flurry of what critics call "reservation shopping" by tribes looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. better locations for their gambling operations. In turn, opponents in Congress are trying to shut down what they see as a loophole that clears the way for off-reservation casinos. The Klamath and Burns-Paiute tribes have barely started their efforts, filing proposals in April with the Department of the Interior. The Klamath want to replace their small gaming center in Chiloquin with one south of Wilsonville, in the Portland metro area This article is about the music production team. For the article about population centers, see metropolitan area. Metro Area are a Brooklyn-based dance music production team composed of Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani. . The Burns Paiute want to replace a remote casino near Burns with one in Ontario, an Oregon border town 50 miles northwest of Boise. The proposal that has been in the works the longest - and has generated most of Oregon's debate about off-reservation casinos - is that of the Warm Springs tribes. Its proposed Bridge of the Gods casino resort in the Columbia River Columbia River River, southwestern Canada and northwestern U.S. Rising in the Canadian Rockies, it flows through Washington state, entering the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Ore.; it has a total length of 1,240 mi (2,000 km). Gorge would lie 42 miles east of Portland and could open as soon as 2009. Warm Springs Tribal Chairman Ron Suppah said complaints that approval of an off-reservation casino sets a statewide precedent don't ring true. Likewise, he said the criticism of tribes that hopscotch across their states - or leap state lines - to exploit the richest veins of gambling profits doesn't apply to the Warm Springs, who stay within their ancestral territory. A journal account from the Lewis and Clark expedition Lewis and Clark expedition, 1803–6, U.S. expedition that explored the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and the country beyond as far as the Pacific Ocean. seems to vouch for vouch for verb 1. guarantee, back, certify, answer for, swear to, stick up for (informal) stand witness, give assurance of, asseverate, go bail for verb 2. the tribes' claim of ancestral roots in Cascade Locks: Three Indians whose tribal descendents are today in the Warm Springs confederation briefly stole Capt. Meriwether Lewis' dog while the expedition was passing through where that city now stands. Constructing a casino resort here could offset the tribes' 50 percent unemployment and replace vanishing dollars from its struggling timber and power-generating operations and its 1970s-era Kah-Nee-Ta resort on its reservation, which has struggled to compete with newer, glitzier destination resorts elsewhere in the Northwest. Suppah said the tribes' casino, located at the resort, just doesn't draw enough traffic to put the kind of money into the tribes' coffers as do those gaming centers located near major freeways or population centers. Its present casino offers 338 electronic gambling terminals, four blackjack blackjack, one of the world's most widely played gambling card games; also known as twenty-one or vingt-et-un. Despite contesting claims between the French and Italians, its origins are unknown. tables and two poker tables; the proposal for Cascade Locks would provide up to 2,000 terminals and 70 gaming tables. "In exploring all the options and alternatives that we might have, it was decided to pursue a casino at the gorge, where we would have access to a more lucrative customer base," he said. How other tribes see it The proposed casino has divided opinion among 22,441 enrolled members of Oregon's nine recognized tribes. The Grand Ronde Grand Ronde may refer to one of the following places or entities in the U.S. State of Oregon:
It has spent close to $1 million on radio ads, most of which ran this spring as part of the campaign leading up to the May 16 primary elections. It also has been among the few tribes to support federal legislation sponsored by Sen. John McCain For McCain's grandfather and father, see John S. McCain, Sr. and John S. McCain, Jr., respectively John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936 in Panama Canal Zone) is an American politician, war veteran, and currently the Republican Senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. , R-Ariz., that restricts off-reservation casinos. The Grand Ronde even have offered to pay for construction of their rival tribe's casino, provided it stays on its Central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographical region lying near the center of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is commonly considered to include Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Primary cities in Central Oregon are La Pine, Sunriver, Bend, Redmond, Madras, and Prineville. reservation - something the Warm Springs tribes thus far have rejected. The Warm Springs tribes have countered with a more modest series of radio spots touting the resort as the source of 1,700 new jobs and $850 million for college aid over the next 25 years. The Siletz and Coquille co·quille n. A scallop-shaped dish or a scallop shell in which various seafood dishes are browned and served. [French, from Latin conch tribes have written letters supporting the Warm Springs tribes' move to Cascade Locks. Siletz Tribal Chairwoman Delores Pigsley noted that her tribe has faced the kind of competition that Grand Ronde now fears: Five months after her tribe's Chinook Winds casino's grand opening on the central coast, the Grand Ronde's Spirit Mountain casino opened its doors on Highway 18, where it can lure Willamette Valley day-trippers and siphon off Verb 1. siphon off - convey, draw off, or empty by or as if by a siphon siphon, syphon draw, take out - take liquid out of a container or well; "She drew water from the barrel" business from travelers headed for the central coast. "We're just 20 miles down the road from Spirit Mountain, so I understand that," she said. "But I also believe every tribal government has the right to exercise their jurisdiction to do what they need to do for their tribal government." The Grand Ronde is not the only Oregon tribe opposed to the Columbia River Gorge casino. Brainard, chairman of the Coos tribal council This page is about the administrations of Native American tribes and Canadian First Nations peoples. For details about Tribal Council on CBS's Survivor, please see Tribal Council (Survivor) A Tribal Council , said it was important to his tribe that its Three Rivers Casino in Florence be located within its ancestral territory - even if that placed it a distance from densely populated pop·u·late tr.v. pop·u·lat·ed, pop·u·lat·ing, pop·u·lates 1. To supply with inhabitants, as by colonization; people. 2. or heavily traveled parts of the state. He said it would be best if the state's other eight tribes kept to the same values. "I think it would screw up the gaming for everybody if everybody were to start jumping around from here to there," he said. Noise in Congress The explosion of tribal gaming nationwide has led to many other such instances where tribes have sought to build casinos away from their reservations. So far, 30 have been approved by the Interior Department and many more are under consideration. These examples of "reservation shopping" have prompted key leaders in Congress to consider restricting the practice. Rep. Richard Pombo Richard William Pombo (born January 8 1961) is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, having represented California's 11th congressional district from 1993 to 2007. , R-Calif., introduced a bill in March to prohibit tribes that already have casino-eligible land from pursuing an off-reservation center elsewhere. McCain, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee as well as a potential presidential candidate in 2008, is well positioned to move his own bill restricting off-reservation casinos. It does so by barring tribes from moving across a state line to open a casino and requiring that they have historic ties to the land they acquire for off-reservation casinos. The McCain restrictions would be effective retroactively to April 15, prompting the Klamath and Burns Paiute tribes' applications for off-reservation casinos just before that deadline. `As many as Nevada has?' Even if Congress blunts bids by Oregon tribes to upgrade their casino locations, there still could be a grab for more of the gambling population in the Portland metro area. Southwest Washington's Cowlitz Tribe is seeking approval for a casino in La Center, 26 miles from Portland. The casino would be on a Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. scale with 3,000 video slots and 155 gambling tables. Add to the mix: the possibility that a pair of Lake Oswego Lake Os·we·go A city of northwest Oregon, a residential suburb of Portland. Population: 35,800. businessmen might succeed with an initiative campaign to loosen a constitutional ban that has kept commercial casinos out of Oregon. It would clear the way for their plan to convert the shuttered Multnomah Greyhound Park dog track into a $490 million casino resort. A quarter of the revenue - or an estimated $100 million a year - would be dedicated to public education. The effort to put such a proposal before the voters this November fell short of the necessary petition signatures, in part because legal challenges delayed the petitions from going into circulation until June. Advocates have refiled their measures with the state to try again for 2008. The net effect, if the three tribes and the initiative campaigns all succeed with their casino plans, could be four large gambling outlets within easy access for the 2 million metro-area residents. With up to 11,500 video slot machines, the potential for gambling business at the three proposed developments could dwarf the capacity currently at all nine Oregon tribal casinos combined, with their 6,105 machines. "It's like a race. It's like an arms race, really," said Bob Whelan, a Portland economist with the firm ECONorthwest who specializes in the economics of gambling. However, Whelan, who has done research for the tribes' Oregon Gaming Alliance, said the potential Portland casino expansion doesn't necessarily translate into an excess of casinos in the state. "You could have as many as Nevada has, if you really wanted to," he said, pointing out that that state has 177,815 slot machines on casino floors. Gary George, chairman of the Oregon Gaming Association, says that very well could be the result if the proposed constitutional amendment allowing nontribal casinos passes. While the measures' proponents are advocating it as a way to pursue their own casino plans, George said tribes would have just as much interest - and a head start in financing and expertise - in building casinos in and near population hubs. George said his association opposes the proposed initiatives. The measures have said the Oregon Constitution The Oregon Constitution is a U.S. state constitution, the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon. It was ratified on November 9, 1857, and took effect when Oregon achieved statehood on February 14, 1859. Differences from U.S. would be changed to allow only a single commercial casino while otherwise continuing the prohibition against such operations beyond the one. However, George said if it passed, the tribes would be likely to challenge such an only-one-casino provision as unconstitutional. Additionally, he said the tribes and others could pursue their own ballot measure campaigns for the same casino-operating rights. "If that passes and the state Constitution is amended, the tribes have the capability and the resources to do the same thing," said George, the chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. at his Umatilla tribes' Wildhorse Resort Casino near Pendleton. "And now all of a sudden you would really see gaming open up." See side story, "Critics say Kulongoski's pact sets precedent"(Page A8) |
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