The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe of California might have to deal with a higher power if it opens an off-reservation casino, critics suggested at a public meeting this week.
The tribe is promising annual payments and other considerations in a municipal services agreement with the city of Ridgecrest. But many residents are openly hostile to the idea, citing concerns about religion, addictions and other social ills.
“Do we want to risk the displeasure of God for $395,000 a year?” Pastor Wayne Porter said at the meeting, The Ridgecrest Daily Independent reported.
According to the paper, most of the people who spoke at the meeting and most of the people in attendance oppose the casino. The opposition was surprising to at least one resident.
“I just can’t believe what I’m hearing. I feel like I am in the movie Footloose trying to convince everyone to let us have a dance,” one resident said, the paper reported.
The city has scheduled a town hall next Wednesday to discuss the project.
An agenda
and a
supplemental agenda offer more details about the casino.
The tribe hopes to open a casino near the Naval
Air Weapons Station China Lake. A land-into-trust application will be
submitted to the Bureau of Indian
Affairs.
The tribe has a reservation in Death
Valley National Park but it has to look elsewhere for economic development
due to restrictions there.
Get the Story:
Public pans casino plans
(The Ridgecrest Daily Independent 4/22)
Casino town hall Wednesday
(The Ridgecrest Daily Independent 4/22)
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