Bulletin E-Edition:
Warm Springs tribes offered casino deal
Grand Ronde tribes want Cascade Locks plans abandoned
By Keith Chu / The Bulletin
Published: June 08. 2006 4:00AM PSTA letter from Grande Ronde tribes offered Warm Springs a casino deal.
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The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde have offered the Warm Springs tribes a deal: Drop plans for a casino in Cascade Locks and in exchange, they'll finance a brand new Warm Springs casino in Central Oregon.
The Grande Ronde tribes made the offer in a letter from Grand Ronde Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy to Warm Springs Tribal Chairman Ron Suppah.
Read the entire letter from the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde.
Neither tribal leader could be reached Wednesday night. Warm Springs attorney Dennis Karnopp, who received the letter last week, said he hasn't discussed it with the tribal council.
"So far as I know there hasn't been any response yet" to the proposal, Karnopp said.
The letter, dated May 9, lays out the conditions in general terms.
"Grand Ronde is prepared to finance, on favorable terms, a new on-reservation casino - one that is better situated than Kah-Nee-Ta to take advantage of the rapidly expanding population and economy of Central Oregon," Kennedy's letter reads. "The development of this alternative casino," she continued, "instead of the proposed project in Cascade Locks, would be good for both our Tribes and for all of Oregon."
The Warm Springs tribes have proposed building a $389 million casino and resort on the Columbia Gorge, less than 45 miles away from Portland. If it gains approval from federal agencies, the casino would be closest in the state to Oregon's biggest metro area.
Currently, the closest casino to Portland belongs to the Grand Ronde tribes, which operate the Spirit Mountain Casino west of Salem.
The Warm Springs tribes are seeking to convert their Cascade Locks property into trust status, which is required before they could build a casino on off-reservation land. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs will base its decision about trust status in part on an environmental impact statement, currently being drafted by an independent consultant. A final statement could be complete this winter, according to a timeline on the consultant's Web site, and the BIA would issue a decision sometime after that.
Len Bergstein, a consultant for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, said the tribes appreciate the opportunity to speak with the Grand Ronde, but that studies have shown no on-reservation casino would be as profitable as one in Cascade Locks.
"A casino placed on a remote reservation would not produce the kinds of revenues the tribal council believes it needs for self-sufficiency," Bergstein said.
"To the extent that this is kind of an honest opening or an olive branch, great," Bergstein added. "But to the extent that it's merely a letter that ... doesn't really match up with the realities, then obviously it wouldn't be an honest conversation."
Siobhan Taylor, public affairs director for the Grand Ronde tribes, said the offer was made in good faith and never intended to be made public.
"Our tribal chairwoman would not have offered that letter if our tribal council didn't really, really want to do what was best for both our tribe and the Warm Springs tribe," Taylor said. "We feel that's a solution that would be an economically sound one."
During gubernatorial primaries, the Grand Ronde tribes backed ads blasting Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski and defeated Republican candidate Kevin Mannix for supporting the Cascade Locks casino.
Taylor defended the Grand Ronde's ads, and disputed an Associated Press report that the tribes are planning a new round of attack ads if Kulongoski continues to back the Warm Springs proposal.
"The Grand Ronde tribe has made no decision on how or if it would move forward in the gubernatorial campaign with ads," Taylor said.
In her letter, Grand Ronde chairwoman Kennedy said if the Warm Springs tribes accept her proposal, "it would also avoid an acrimonious fight over off-reservation gaming and the Casino at Cascade Locks, allowing you to move forward more quickly to generate jobs and revenue."
Keith Chu can be reached at 617-7829 or at kchu@bend bulletin.com.
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