"The proposed casino on Highway 99 in Madera County is still a bad idea, even if the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs has rejected the Old Mill site near the mountain town of North Fork as an alternative location.

Trading one bad site for another certainly doesn't dress up the problems of the Las Vegas-style casino planned by the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians.

The proposed casino would be located on a non-reservation site 35 miles from the tribe's traditional homeland.

It's classic reservation shopping, and is not what California voters intended when they originally approved tribal gaming.

The casino on a major freeway would quickly turn the 305 acres at Avenue 17 into a congested urban area. Other tribes have had to play by the rules in locating their casinos, and now the North Fork Rancheria wants to gobble up a lucrative location. If tribal casinos are going to compete, there must be a degree of fairness.

Proponents of the Highway 99 site only seem to see dollar signs in this plan and are blind to the negative impacts that would reach well beyond Madera County.

We continue to support Indian gaming on reservation land in rural areas. That makes sense for the tribes and for the public. Our opposition to this casino is only about its location; we welcome a North Fork Rancheria casino in an appropriate location."

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Editorial: Proposed Madera casino site is still a bad choice (The Fresno Bee 7/5)
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