"The matter of slot machine casinos is enough of a muddle without fussing over which mythical Connecticut Indian tribe is which.

I have had many calls and letters lately about various columns -- including ones about a local student on the ''Jeopardy'' television show and a Nashville statue honoring the Ku Klux Klan's founder -- but the most dealt with the Indians who (supposedly) built Pennsylvania's first casino, the Mohegan Sun near Wilkes-Barre.

Last Friday, discussing the miraculous slot machine jackpots won by state politicians who support the gambling industry, I mentioned that the people who run the Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut are the same who run the Wilkes-Barre joint.

''Foxwoods is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe,'' said one letter, from Ron Bartizek of the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, a Connecticut native. ''Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs is run by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, an outgrowth of the Mohegan Tribe. The two are completely different tribes and entities.''

He was among many who focused on my error and Connecticut's casino situation.

My main error was to specify Foxwoods, when I should have included Connecticut's other big Indian casino, the Mohegan Sun. To understand the situation, you'd have to start with my ancestor, William Phelps, a Puritan who helped settle Connecticut in the early 1600s, when the Mohegan Indians were part of an Algonquian culture dominated by the Pequots."

Get the Story:
Paul Carpenter: Casino tribes miraculously resurrected (The Hartford Courant 5/20)