Public Comments on California Tribal Casino Plans

BARSTOW, California – As reported by the Desert Dispatch: "Some speakers at a federal public input environmental impact scoping meeting held Thursday evening expressed the proposed dual casino/hotels here, while a representative from another Southern California tribe referred to it as 'reservation shopping.'

"At the Bureau of Indian Affairs' meeting in the Barstow College gym, the public had a chance to speak for or against the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians and the Big Lagoon Rancheria project that would be placed on 45 acres on Lenwood Road.

…Ted Baca, speaking for his brother, Fernando Baca, said his brother is in favor of the project both believe the ecological impact will be minimal, and the economic impact will be 'tremendous.'

…The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians came out against the project.

Henry Duro, chairman of the San Manuel Tribe, called the project 'one of the most outrageous examples of reservation shopping.'

…Catherine Siva Saubel, spokesperson for the Los Coyotes Band and a tribal elder, said that the San Manuel Tribe 'get a lot of money (from their own casino) and we don't get a thing.'…"