Tribes hold out hope for Beloit project
BELOIT — A spokesman for the Beloit Casino project said he's so mad he could spit.
And a federal legislator said the application is a victim of "personal bias."
The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs on Tuesday denied an application to develop a tribal casino at Beloit. It's the second time in a week that the federal government rejected proposals for off-reservation gambling projects in southern Wisconsin.
The Bad River and St. Croix Chippewa bands of northern Wisconsin made the application to develop a casino complex in Beloit. The four-page letter of denial cited "serious and far-reaching implications" for the residents of the reservations if large numbers leave the reservation to work at the casino.
Joe Hunt, tribal spokesman, called that statement patronizing.
"I just want to spit when I read it," Hunt said. "It bothers me because the United States government took the Indians and moved them from their ancestral homelands and moved them to these remote locations," and now the government is denying the tribes' application, citing the distance from Beloit to the reservations in northern Wisconsin.
Hunt said the casino actually could improve conditions on the tribes' reservations.
"Certainly, if you're training your young people, and people are relocating to gain job skills, you're reducing the pressures on the reservations, and you're using the revenue streams to improve conditions," Hunt said.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., criticized outgoing Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, whose agency oversees the BIA, for suddenly denying the application after months of foot dragging.
Kempthorne has been open with his opposition to off-site casinos such as the one requested for Beloit and changed the rules during the application process to make it harder for such applications to get approved, Baldwin said.
"I don't believe he reviewed this application based on its merits," Baldwin said. "Rather, he reversed the (approval) process to achieve his desired outcome."
Hunt said the tribes still have hope the project will go forward. He cited an ongoing lawsuit and the possibility that the administration of President-elect Barack Obama will see things differently.
"I don't know what shape it will take because this just happened," Hunt said. "I just know it's not over."
The Bad River and St. Croix Chippewa bands are challenging in court the rules that make it harder to get an off-site casino approved the farther it is from a reservation.
The Menominee tribe has filed a similar suit.
Last week, the government rejected the Menominee tribe's proposal to build a casino and entertainment center at the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha.
Beloit voters approved a casino project in 2000.
Reporter Frank Schultz and The Associated Press contributed to this report
Jan 28, 2009 at 7 p.m.
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freddog: It's called an addiction. Having a casino here has nothing to do with it. People are responsible for their own actions. There is alcoholic addiction, also. Should we ban alcohol, because of the people who abuse it?
Jan 16, 2009 at 1:55 a.m.
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Wonder how many are getting greased on this deal?
The Kenosha project has HUGE $$$ backing from the Mohegan Tribe out in CT. Before they got involved you had Dennis Trojah get busted for corruption trying to grease Doyle to get that project approved. Now the Mohegan are dumping millions into the effort. Perhaps they will be more discrete then Trojah was. If Beloit really wants this all they need to do is grease a few politicians, and it will get done.
Jan 14, 2009 at 11:32 p.m.
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with the gambler's hotline have record calls coming in, do we need another casino..
Jan 14, 2009 at 3:42 p.m.
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Thank you Tammy and Judy for sticking with Beloit!
Jan 14, 2009 at 12:31 p.m.
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We'll get the casino yet.
Jan 14, 2009 at 10:43 a.m.
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Well, frankly, the casinos are about the least patronizing good thing we've ever done for most Native Americans. I don't quite see what the federal objections are here, particularly when practically all local authorities and a substantial part of the population are in favor.
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dkush21, the history of US and American Indian relations is complicated and often ugly, but the basic problem now is pragmatic. In most cases the tribes have the same sovereignty on their reservations as a foreign country would on its embassy grounds. But these are only viable for subsistence and subsidized living, not places where jobs and wealth creation can take place. Some tribes have hunting and fishing rights they can lease out, but most have very few resources. At least in states where certain types of gambling are permitted (by law a prerequisite), casinos are an option that has proven itself for many tribes, and I think there has to be a much more transparent and accountable process if that option is to be denied.
Jan 14, 2009 at 10:07 a.m.
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First of all, we seem to forget that most of us in the US are descendants from people from other countries. The Indians were here before any of us were. Who were we to take them away from their lands and put them in reservations. And why hasn't this changed by now????
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