People Against a Casino Town
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Florence meeting highlights national and local casino issues
 

Meeting Highlights National and Local Casino Issues
March 20, 2004

David Jaques, chairman of the Douglas County Planning Commission and communications director for Oregonians in Action, a private property rights advocacy group, spoke at a PACT meeting Tuesday (March 16).  He outlined his opposition to casinos and gave an overview of what he saw as crucial issues facing the town of Canyonville, home of the Seven Feathers Casino.

Jaques read a letter from an unidentified business owner in the Canyonville area.  The letter stated that the Seven Feathers Casino had greatly impacted businesses that were already struggling with a downturn in timber production. "The disposable income of the area was already down to a pretty small pie," Jaques read.

"When something this big comes in, it takes a huge percentage of the local pie.  Gas stations and motels do benefit in the people casinos bring in, but other businesses lose.  They also put a huge strain on our infrastructure and fire department.  They do pay for these things to some degree, but we've really had to hold our ground (to keep from having to pay for all of the city improvements needed to serve a casino).  They're buying and building other untaxed businesses that are competing with our small businesses and larger businesses throughout the state.

"Their employment is not family wage jobs.  Many of their employees qualify for low income housing."

"Is this the kind of growth we're after?  Those who don't pay taxes, and take in millions of dollars, have many of their employees live in housing that we have to subsidize with our tax money."

The author of the letter said that many other businesses in Canyonville feel the same but are afraid to go public for fear of losing more business.

"That's the harsh reality.  That's the intimidation factor," Jaques said. "There is clear law that says whether this casino can go forward, yet you can't even get your day in court because of the tactics of our current governor.  It's a disgrace and there's no integrity to that."

One of the effects of Seven Feathers, he said, was that casino proceeds had bought about $71 million dollars worth of real estate in Douglas County and taxes were no longer paid on it.

He said those tax-free businesses were now competing with regular business. "You don't have a level playing field," he said.  "Fundamental fairness doesn't seem to be represented anywhere in this process."

Susie Dewberry, president of the group, gave an update on the progress PACT has made in the year it has been in existence.

"Little did we realize what this battle would become when we were just people sitting around a table in the library," said Dewberry.  "We have delayed the construction of the casino, we have forced the tribes to greatly downsize their plan," she said.  "What started out as a 40,000 square foot facility, entertainment center, 100-room hotel, themed restaurants and retail outlets, has become a temporary tent.

"Developers know that everything they do in constructing the casino is under the shadow of our lawsuit."

Dewberry went into some examples of what she sees as widespread corruption attached to gambling.

She read part of a letter that the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion had recently sent to President Bush:

"The Bureau of Indian Affairs has turned itself into a national facility for the uncontrolled and inexcusable proliferation of casino gambling.  No longer concerned with the true health and welfare of native Americans and their neighbors, the Bureau has become a clearing house for unsubstantiated tribal recognition and circumvention of state's rights and laws.  The gambling industry is using IGRA law and Native Americans as a battering ram to force gambling down the throats of American states and communities."

She quoted Matt Helms, a former campaigner to bring casinos to Missouri, as saying, "Because of the unlimited potential for abuse, I've never met anybody who could resist a full court press by the gambling industry."

She also said that citizen opposition had played a large part in blocking 43 of 46 attempts at gambling expansion across the country last year.  "It's largely the result of communities just like this that have said, unequivocally, no," she said.

Things have gotten bad enough across the country, she continued, that calls have been made for congressional investigations into the BIA and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.  Recent steps include pieces of proposed legislation to allow for community input in the placement of casinos.

Dewberry said that the Florence City Council had done nothing to facilitate the casino and thanked them for what she called "their wise position."  She blasted West Lane County Commissioner Anna Morrison, however, saying that Morrison had never opposed the casino as she claimed.

"Anna urges us to make lemonade out of the lemon the casino would bring to our community," she said.  "To me, ingredients of crime, bankruptcy, suicide, divorce, child abuse, loss of land-use planning, drunk drivers on Highway 126, damage to local businesses, sounds more like a concoction for poison  than lemonade.  Perhaps Anna has a secret ingredient that makes it more palatable to her."

She said that Rep. Peter DeFazio had also been no help to PACT's efforts. DeFazio, she said, claims that he hears nothing negative about the Seven Feathers Casino when he holds town hall meetings in Canyonville.

"Funny thing is, he failed to mention the fact that the town hall meetings are held at the casino.  It's also interesting to note that one of DeFazio's main supporters is the chairperson of the Cow Creek Tribes," she said.

She said that Sen. Ron Wyden had sent staff to both Canyonville and Florence to listen to concerns.

"It was nice that he took the time to listen to us; so far nothing has come of that (Florence) meeting," she said.  "Then of course, there's Gov. Kulongoski, who rides around in his $400,000 bus, advertising the Seven Feathers Casino. He's doing everything he can to not have the merits of our case heard."

"We are causing waves in the state and need to continue," she said.  "Florence in many ways is the poster city for what has gone wrong with IGRA and the BIA."

Siuslaw News, by Bret Yager, Saturday, March 20, 2004.

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