04/11/2007Big Lagoon, Los Coyotes tribes are looking for help in Sacramento
Joe Nelson, Staff WriterSan Bernardino County Sun
The battle for Barstow and the billions it could mean for casino operators lucky enough to get in on the action opened a new season in Sacramento on Tuesday.
Two of the tribal contenders, Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians, rallied to be heard as state Senate hearings on an unrelated tribal gaming issues got under way.
Absent from view were the Chemehuevis, whose reservation is located on the Colorado River in San Bernardino County. That tribe also wants to build a casino in Barstow.
Tuesday's hearing was a renegotiation of gaming compacts for six California Indian tribes, including the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which operates a casino adjacent to San Bernardino and Highland.
In September 2005, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved gaming compacts for the Los Coyotes of San Diego County and Big Lagoon of Humboldt County. The compacts authorized each tribe to build its own casino in Barstow. But there are a number of hurdles to be cleared before ground can be broken. First, the compacts must be ratified by the Legislature.
Barstow, which supports the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon plan, estimates the casinos could generate 3,700 new jobs and $6million a year in city revenue.
"We're asking the Senate look at the off-reservation gaming compacts at the same time they're evaluating the on-reservation gaming compacts," city spokesman John Rader said Tuesday.
But the effort to build the casinos in Barstow has met opposition from some tribes, including the San Manuels, who argue the two tribes would be encroaching on Serrano ancestral lands.
"Ancestral history is not a requirement to get approval for a casino project," said Jason Barnett, a spokesman for the Big Lagoon Rancheria tribe. "What it comes down to is there's a question of competition and whether they (the San Manuels) feel this would be a threat to the competition and to their tribe."
But San Manuel tribal spokesman Jacob Coin said competition is not the issue. The tribe does not oppose similar efforts by the Chemehuevis to open a casino in Barstow because the Barstow area would be considered ancestral land to the tribe.
Another problem, Coin said, is that more than a dozen Indian tribes in California are pushing to build casinos off their reservations, maneuvers he said go against what gaming tribes promised during their campaigns for Proposition 5 and 1A - that casinos would be built solely on reservation land.
"It's a huge issue in California," Coin said, adding that there are 69 applications on file with the Department of the Interior to build casinos off reservations.
Officials representing the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon tribes hope the state Senate gives them equal time.
"Our feeling is while we respect these other tribes' rights to expand and amend their compacts . . . all we're asking for is the same opportunities that they've enjoyed," Barnett said.
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