Moorehead had indicated that if the tribe didn't have a hearing before the CA Senate Committee overseeing Indian Gaming by May 24, he would abandon plans for a Barstow casino and resurect the tribe's plans for a modest casino at home on their Humboldt County Reservation. It appears that was another in growing list of idle threats the tribe's chairman has made over the last five years.
Attempting once again to quiet rumors that the casino project had hit a fatal milestone, Barstow Mayor Lawrence Dale reports a conversation he has had with representatives of the Detroit casino syndicators (Barwest). The statement they prepared for him is flawed, but listen for yourself.
Barstow Mayor Lawrence Dale fronting for Detroit casino syndicators
attempts to quiet headlines suggesting dual off-reservation casinos deal is a bust
The tribe has a gaming agreement signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger two years ago which the legislature has refused to ratify since. An Assembly committee voted to deny ratification to the agreement in June 2006.
The agreement includes a May 31st deadline that the tribe has failed to meet by which the Interior Department was to have taken land in Barstow owned by Detroit Casino syndicators into trust for the tribe's proposed casino. Current Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is not likely to approve any such move during his tenure.
An extension of the May 31st deadline through August 2007 buys nothing as the tribe will still not have the land in Barstow taken into trust by that time.
Through Barstow's Mayor, the Detroit casino syndicators are suggesting that Governor Schwarzenegger has agreed to make modifiactions to the agreement he signed with the tribe in 2005. Subsquently the Governor has approved and is backing other gaming compacts that are anticipated to bring $500 million in new and much needed revenue each year to the state; the Big Lagoon tribe and its Detroit backers have worked to block those agreements.
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