Editorial: Mohegan Tribe's role in Cowlitz casino

Wednesday, July 23, 2008  

"Clark County commissioners are shining a spotlight into a corner of the proposed Cowlitz tribal casino controversy that, for the most part, has been in the shadows. In so doing, they add reasons to question, if not doubt, the supposed benefits to tribal members that are so glibly promised by casino proponents.

Most of the concern from this page and elsewhere about a possible mega-casino has focused on the social impact stemming from a quantum increase in gambling here plus the fact that most of the casino jobs would be low-wage and the effect on drinking water, sewers, roads, schools and other services.

Good for commissioners Steve Stuart, Betty Sue Morris and Marc Boldt. Their response to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed casino complex dealt with those concerns.

But they also lifted the rock on a less-discussed aspect that ought not be overlooked: The role to be played by the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut. It would manage the casino at the La Center junction on Interstate 5 for the Cowlitz Indians, whose ancestral homelands are north of here in Cowlitz and Lewis counties.

Of the five alternatives examined in the FEIS, four (A, B, C and E) “work against self governance” for the Cowlitz Tribe, the commissioners wrote to the Bureau of Indian Affairs."

Get the Story:
In our view: Complaints about casino statement put focus on Connecticut tribe’s role (The Columbian 7/23)