Hundreds attend Wednesday's casino hearing

BARSTOW • A majority of people spoke positively of the benefits of a Barstow casino Wednesday night, while a handful of residents and outside tribes showed disapproval.

About 400 people came to the hearing at Barstow Community College and more than 45 people spoke. The hearing, moderated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Pacific Office, was part of the public comment portion in the approval process for the Los Coyotes Casino, proposed on Lenwood Drive near Barstow’s outlet centers. The public was allowed to comment on the project’s draft environmental report or voice any other thoughts regarding the casino.

Barstow’s mayor and City Council members were the first to speak at the hearing, all in support of the casino.  Mayor Joe Gomez called the casino “the catalyst that will stimulate our local economy.”

Sean Fowler, CEO of Barstow Community Hospital, called the casino “crucial to the community’s well-being,” and added that the new jobs would come with insurance benefits for the employees.

But some residents disagreed.

Bob Conaway, a Hinkley resident, said since that the initial developer is out-of-state — the Michigan-based BarWest Gaming — a lot of the revenue isn’t helping the town or state.
“Gaming is a predatory industry,” Conaway said.

Ricardo Arredondo said the casino will hurt the community because it will miss out on the tax benefits, since a gaming casino is tax-exempt. He also was concerned that the casino would take away revenue from Barstow, not increase local business. The casino, he said, would “compromise values for a quick fix.”

Curt Mitchell, city manager, responded that part of the 4.5 percent annual revenue Barstow would get from the casino covers the exempt taxes.

Morris Reid from the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians was the first to speak against the casino. Reid said he doesn’t oppose gaming casinos, as his own tribe runs a 160-acre casino on its reservation near Chino, but that he has a “strong opposition to the off-site, off-reservation casino.”

“They will have moved away, losing their identity,” he said. In an interview Thursday, Reid said his tribe has presented its opposition to state legislators as well.

Charles Wood from the Chemehuevi tribe, said BarWest was “tribe shopping” in its partnership with Los Coyotes. Tribes have “no legal or cultural right” to a gaming casino in Barstow, if they have no ancestral ties to the area. Los Coyotes, he said “leapfrog over 10 reservations that stand between them and Barstow.”

The Chemehuevi also proposed a competing casino near the Los Coyotes casino in 2006, and it was also rejected by the Department of Interior in 2008.

But Tina Johnson, a Los Coyotes member, responded that the tribes opposing the casino are only acting in their own interest, and that Los Coyotes know what they are doing in partnering with BarWest for the casino.

“You tell us that we’re stupid like we can’t think for ourselves,” she said in the hearing. In an interview later in the hearing, Johnson said the tribe strongly approves of the casino and tribe members who live in Riverside or San Bernardino counties will want to commute to the casino.

The casino “allows us to have a change in opportunity,” Johnson said in the hearing, also saying that the other tribes are supposed to help fellow tribes, not “hold them down.

“When this casino is approved I will guarantee that our tribe will fight for other tribes.” she said, to applause. 

The public comment portion runs until Sept. 14, after which the BIA will revise the draft environmental impact statement based on submitted comments. The BIA could not give an estimate on how long the revision process takes.