Some residents not surprised by casino setback

BARSTOW — Barstow is probably not getting a casino anytime soon but most residents seem OK with it.

Many observers of the long-standing effort to develop an off-reservation Indian gaming casino in Barstow said they were not surprised by Friday’s decision from the Department of the Interior denying the projects.

Barstow resident Eduardo Quiles said that after four years of delay since the project was first publicly proposed, he didn’t expect it to be built.

“I would like to see a casino in Barstow, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” he said.

Quiles, who lives in Barstow but works in Chino, said he doesn’t consider himself a gambler but wanted to see a casino for the jobs and revenue it would bring.

Charles Mattix, senior pastor at the First Assembly of God in Barstow, said he’s objected to the development since it was introduced.

“For those that have been in opposition, it seems to have been a victory,” he said. “For me, it has been a moral issue along; gambling can be damaging to individuals in the short term and in the long run to the city economically.”

Although the decision was a defeat for the three tribes with Barstow casino plans, members of the Lone Pine Band of Paiute and Shoshone Indians, whose reservation is 120 miles from Barstow, see the decision as a win.

“Even just for all of the Shoshone its kind of a relief,” said Kevin Zucco, a Lone Pine tribal member familiar with gaming issues. “The project’s been dead for a long time.”

Zucco and other tribe members were opposed to the Barstow projects because they say the other tribes lack ancestral ties to the area. They claim the Treaty of Ruby Valley signed with the federal government in 1863 gives them rights to lands that include Barstow.

Despite the hopes and fears about the impacts of projects that never materialized, some business owners say they weren’t overly affected by the casino proposals.

Kevin Chohan, whose Hansot Hotel Group is building a 103-room La Quinta Inn and Suites in Lenwood close to the proposed casino sites, said that he doesn’t think his business will suffer too much.

“Yeah, definitely, we were counting on it. I always thought it would be good for that Lenwood exit to have a casino for all Barstow businesses,” he said. “But we’ll still need hotels for the tourists.”

Business owners and investors saw Barstow’s land prices increase due to speculation immediately after the project was announced, but interest cooled off after the project was delayed said Pam Hersh, newly-elected president of the Barstow Association of Realtors.

“I think that the speculation period is long over and were getting back to a normal real estate market,” she said.

The Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians and the Big Lagoon Rancheria tribes partnered with developer BarWest Gaming and the city to open a dual casino on 40 acres near Lenwood. The Chemehuevi tribe planned to open a casino nearby. Both proposals were stalled by the Interior Department’s ruling that off-reservation casinos should lie within a reasonable commutable distance from the tribes’ reservations.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, members of the Los Coyotes spoke out against the ruling and pledged to proceed with project, although they acknowledged it could take years.

Newly elected tribal spokeswoman Francine Kupsch said she traveled the 115 miles from the tribes to prove that it’s reasonable to commute to Barstow from her tribes’ reservation in Warner Springs.

“(Department of the Interior) Secretary Kempthorne obviously has no concern for us or any of the poor tribes. For him to say that we are better off staying on the reservation being unemployed and living off of government handouts rather than being self-sufficient show how out of touch he is with Indian people,” she said. “The purpose of Indian gaming is to provide for our members no matter where they live. … We want to continue to pursue this project in Barstow until all our options are exhausted.”

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