Jemez Pueblo accuses Echo Hawk of rushing gaming decision

Tuesday, November 22, 2011  

Jemez Pueblo says the Obama administration made a premature decision on its off-reservation casino in southern New Mexico.

In August, the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Albuquerque asked local officials for their views on the project. The letter gave them 60 days to respond.

But on September 1, while talks were ongoing with local officials, Assistant Secretary Larry Echo Hawk in Washington, D.C., rejected the casino. That has the tribe crying foul.

"We're still trying to sort out what happened," Benny Shendo, a tribal member, told El Paso Inc.

The tribe wants to build a casino in Anthony, near the Texas border. The site is more than 300 miles from the reservation.

The BIA in Albuquerque had asked officials in El Paso, Texas, about the casino.

Get the Story:
Supporters say casino denial violated rules (El Paso Inc 11/21)

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Jemez Pueblo weighs options for off-reservation casino denial (9/5)
Echo Hawk rejects off-reservation casino for New Mexico tribe (9/2)
Michael Toledo: Off-reservation casino a path to self-sufficiency (8/9)