New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) intentionally avoided a group of people who gathered to show their support for a gaming facility operated by the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, The Deming Headlight reports. The group hoped to show Richardson how the Apache Homelands Entertainment Center will create jobs in Luna County, which has the highest unemployment rate in the state. But he went out of his way to avoid them after he left the county courthouse. "He's the peoples' representative and he won't come out and acknowledge the people," Edwina Hamilton, a casino employee, told the paper. Richardson has publicly opposed the casino and even sent state troopers to the site in order to block people from going there. The National Indian Gaming Commission says the tribe is operating Class II games there illegally. The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is currently based in Oklahoma but its ancestors lived in southern New Mexico until they were taken as prisoners of war by the U.S. Get the Story:
Governor slips by Apache Homeland protesters after interviewing commission candidates (The Deming Headlight 9/10)