"Farmers are decidedly independent-minded and frugal, as you can observe in a Grant Wood oil painting of note.

However, the very opposite of those character traits would be for farmers to meekly accept economic rescue – and from attractions luring tourists to their area so the visitors can go for broke and maybe lose everything in gambling casinos.

Yet that’s what happening in five rural counties here at the far western tip of North Carolina that are going through lingering hard times. The hope here is that the Indians will ride to the rescue in these counties — that a people who were once deported from the region by the U.S. Army will now provide for its economic recovery.

It's rare in our community for any action to go unopposed, but plans to expand casino gambling (operated by the Cherokee) have proceeded without a whisper of dissent. Local officials and citizens alike hope the casinos will juice up the region's economy."

Get the Story:
Tom Bennett: Rescued by the Cherokee? (The Daily Yonder 7/10)

Related Stories:
Eastern Cherokees on a hiring spree with new Class III compact (6/28)