April 21,
2005 - Supes sweeten pot in fight against
casino By NOEL STACK Staff
writer
THIS TENT served as a casino for the
Shingle Springs Indian Rancheria for four months
in 1997 until it was shut down after the tribe
lost a lawsuit over its use of a private road for
public access to the casino. The tent is being
given away to a church. See story, " Supes sweeten
pot in fight against casino." Democrat photo by
Joanne McCubrey
Reaffirming its opposition to the proposed
casino on the Shingle Springs Rancheria, the El Dorado County
Board of Supervisors approved a $200,000 budget transfer to
cover the cost of continuing litigation.
The vote
Tuesday was unanimous, with none of the supervisors making
comments on the decision.
After the meeting, Supervisor
Charlie Paine said the board is hopeful that it will see some
resolution to the lawsuits soon and it wouldn't be wise to
quit now.
"This is kind of the ninth inning and the
board has made a decision to continue with the litigation and
see it through," Paine said.
To date, the county has
spent $1,689,645 fighting legal battles against the Shingle
Springs Band of Miwok Indians, the tribe's financial backers,
Lakes Entertainment, and state and federal agencies since the
fall of 2002, according to Chief Administrative Officer Laura
Gill.
The county, working with law firm Diepenbrock
Harrison, is challenging the casino and tribe on several
fronts. It is currently appealing rulings it lost on in its
case against Caltrans, the agency responsible for designing
and building the interchange needed to build the casino.
Caltrans has also appealed a portion of that case that it lost
and the county is responding to that appeal. No hearing date
for the appeals has been set, according to Chief Assistant
County Counsel Ed Knapp.
On the federal level, the
county has filed an appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals to appeal a decision in its case against the Bureau of
Indian Affairs. The county filed a lawsuit against the BIA,
claiming the BIA's declaration that the casino project would
have no significant impacts on the environment is incorrect,
but a district judge ruled in favor of the federal
agency.
Since that ruling came out, the county has
taken its entire case, including a challenge to the status of
the tribe, to the next level.
The county is also
monitoring legislation and the tribe's efforts to renegotiate
its compact with the governor, according to Knapp.
The
Board of Supervisors has openly opposed the idea of a casino,
and possibly hotel, on the rancheria since the tribe opened a
tent casino in 1996. The Crystal Mountain Casino was open for
one day in 1996 and then for four months in 1997 before it
closed down. The tribe has since donated the tent structure,
which remains on the rancheria for the moment, to a local
church.
