"As Cache Creek Indian Casino embarks on another massive expansion, the tensions between the Indian tribe that owns the Yolo County gambling mecca and its rural neighbors have largely, but not entirely, disappeared.

Part of the reason is resignation. The farmers and other rural residents who live near the casino have come to accept that the tribe is a sovereign nation, which means that although it is federally regulated, the tribe is largely immune from local or state regulation. The tribe's non-Indian neighbors have limited power to prevent the expansion.

The tribe, to its credit, has also reached out to its neighbors. The new tribal chairman, Marshall McKay, has spent hours in town-hall meetings, listening, cajoling, sympathizing and explaining. He also has forged economic ties with people who used to fight the casino. So Cache Creek now buys organic produce from the same farmers who opposed the casino's previous expansions. The casino sells wine from Capay Valley Vineyards, a neighbor that a few years ago was embroiled in a bitter fight with the tribe after raw sewage from the casino bubbled onto vineyards property."

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Editorial: Cache Creek: Progress and issues are apparent (The Sacramento Bee 9/20)
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