Ten years ago this month, then-Gov. George Pataki signed an agreement with the St. Regis Mohawks to pave the way for a $500 million casino at Kutsher's Sports Academy. It would end the tribe's decades-old land claim dispute and clear a major obstacle in Sullivan County's decades-long struggle to bring casinos to the Catskills. Right. A month later, the Cayuga Nation said it would build a casino at Monticello Raceway, but pay the county $10 million less a year than the Mohawks. Then the Mohawks changed leaders, who didn't like the deal the old tribal chiefs made with Pataki. Then the state's top court ruled against a compact Gov. Mario Cuomo made with the Mohawks in 1993. Yeah, I can keep going, but I think you know how this ends.Get the Story:
Barry Lewis: 10 years after Mohawk pact, where's the casino? (The Middletown Times Herald-Record 5/19)
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