Sec. 14.2. Term of Compact; Termination.
(d) If the 25 Acre Parcel is not taken into trust and determined eligible for Class III Gaming pursuant to section 20(b)(1)(A) of IGRA prior to May 31, 2007, the Compact shall be deemed null and void unless the Tribe and the State agree in writing to extend the date.(see page 82)
Similar language relating to a 23-acre parcel is in the Tribal Gaming Compact the State negotiated with the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians; which could mean an end to their Barstow casino quest as well.
Clearly Barwest professionals must have mislead the Governor's staff, or even been fooling themselves, to believe they could get the "Fee to Trust" process completed in this time frame.
Interior Department officials have previously signaled that tribes must have the land for off-reservation gaming held in trust before they begin the state Compacting process and before the Secretary of Interior (as Trustee) will even consider granting concurrence of any Compact.
Barwest and its partners have ignored that directive.
To blame the failure to meet this critical deadline on the circumstances of the stalled Compacts would be a smokescreen.
The Fee to Trust process should have preceded the Compacting process and could be completed regardless of the Compact's progress. Barwest could have begun the necessary steps to complete the Fee to Trust process a year or more before they did; further, they waited nearly six months after the Governor signed the Compacts to kick-off the Fee to Trust process.
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