"What would the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors do if Station Casinos, a Nevada casino operator, were to buy land close to Highway 101 in Rohnert Park and seek to construct a massive new casino that would generate thousands of car trips a day on already overcrowded Highway 101?

Sound preposterous? Well it isn't. It is happening right now, and the only difference is that Station Casinos is "partnering" with a group of Indian descendants, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (FIGR). The Board of Supervisors has now blessed the project, and The Press Democrat has concurred. They claim that the FIGR has given up the right to seek a second casino in the county. The truth is the FIGR has given up a right it does not have.

Neither the federal government nor the state of California has yet recognized the sovereignty of this Indian group over any land. The Graton Rancheria was a small piece of land that the federal government purchased in 1921 from the then-current owners to house Indians. The idea was that the Indians could work on farms in the area. The few Native Americans who lived on the rancheria from 1936 on never organized as a tribe. There was no thought that the Graton Rancheria was sovereign Indian land; it had been under state jurisdiction and remained under state jurisdiction.

Now the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria want to buy a different parcel of land just off the freeway to build a casino that will be inconsistent with county zoning laws, generate traffic not in compliance with the county general plan, and conduct casino games in violation of state gaming laws. Is this legal?"

Get the Story:
Marilee Montgomery of Stop the Casino 101 Coalition: Tribe gives up little but gains much (The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat 8/2)

A Different Opinion:
Editorial: County's strategy over tribe's casino is a prudent wager (The Marin Independent-Journal 8/4)