"'Blackmail" is not too strong a term to describe the contemptible tactics a local venture capitalist is using in his effort to create an Indian-owned casino near Denver International Airport. And that's the word the usually subdued Gov. Bill Owens used in forceful testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in Washington Wednesday.

Entrepreneur-developer Steve Hillard of Council Tree Communications Inc., although not a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma, is trying to get them a 500-acre casino by filing claims against 27 million acres, or 40 percent of the state, including Denver and Colorado Springs. Such a preposterous claim could, theoretically, cloud the titles to untold thousands of plots and farms.

What federal judge is going to evict millions of Colorado property owners in favor of Native American tribes who had no concept of private property?"

Get the Story:
Editorial: Casino bid looks like 'blackmail' (The Denver Rocky Mountain News 9/12)

Relevant Links:
Cheyenne-Arapaho Homecoming Project - http://www.homecomingproject.org

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Senate panel to hold briefing on Cheyenne-Arapaho bid (08/13)
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