"When Californians approved Propositions 1A and 5, they were told -- and believed -- that these landmark gaming initiatives would give our state's Indian tribes the right to operate casinos on Indian lands.

Voters never dreamed that a few short years after they endorsed these measures promising Indian self-reliance on Indian lands, communities throughout California would be fighting to prevent an alarming move toward the proliferation of Indian casinos on nontribal sites, miles away from the ancestral homelands.

One such battle is now under way in Madera County, where the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians' proposed mega-casino project, on Highway 99, more than 40 miles from their federally recognized land, seems headed for approval by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Local residents were outraged by this textbook example of "reservation-shopping" and at first believed the regional office of the BIA would protect them by responsibly examining, and ultimately rejecting, North Fork's application to take this new land into trust.

However, the BIA continues to do just the opposite, opening the door to a massive new gambling enterprise in Madera. In a series of highly questionable decisions, the BIA seems determined to push through the North Fork deal without the studies, investigations and adequate public input required by law."

Get the Story:
SEN. DEAN FLOREZ: Reservation shopping in Madera County demands investigation (The Fresno Bee 7/21)
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