OP: The FRESNO BEE had an editorial last April on the greed at Chukchansi that has seen the demise of 70% of their tribe. AND THEY NAILED it!
According to Buddha, "There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed."
A torrent of greed is ripping apart the Chukchansi tribe, which owns a Las Vegas-style casino and resort below Yosemite National Park.
OP:THIS IS NOT NEW, THIS has been a decade in the making.
Three factions have claimed to be the rightful tribal council in little more than a year. There has been a riot that required law-enforcement intervention. There have been continuing disenrollments. And, in fact, the situation is so messy that bankers stepped in and froze a $12 million account.
Profits from Indian gaming are supposed to lift up tribal members, many of who are impoverished. The money flowing from table games, slots, hotels and concerts should go for education, health care and investments in other businesses.
But the focus among some Chukchansi has been on getting as rich as possible and as quickly as possible -- even if it means casting others aside. And profits meant to help tribe members are being diverted to lawyers for legal battles.
The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs bears responsibility in these contentious events. Its hands-off policy allowed a feud to snowball into dysfunction. OP: AND VIOLENCE
Finally, last month, Troy Burdick, the Central California superintendent for the bureau, offered mediation. Tribal leaders should take up his offer because it is abundantly clear that they are incapable of working out things on their own. OP: Burdick is ineffective and unwilling to make a hard decision: THE CASINO MUST BE SHUT DOWN. Does the BIA WANT the destruction of Indians.
Most of the tourists and Valley residents who flock to the casino don't concern themselves with tribal matters. They just want to know that their chips will be cashed, the food will be good and there will be clean sheets on the beds.
But with the federal government and Gov. Jerry Brown approving the North Fork Mono Indians' proposed casino along Highway 99 in Madera County, the Chukchansi better soon get their house in order.
It's possible, perhaps even probable, that the specter of a rival casino is driving one or more of the Chukchansi factions. They see the handwriting on the wall, and want to split the spoils with as few as possible.
This is, more than anything else, a classic case of greed. Question is, can it be cured?
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/04/02/3240794/editorial-greed-could-bring-the.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy
Read MORE about the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians
7 comments:
Picayunechukchansihistory.com from beginning to end a history of the chukchansi people of picayune rancheria.
Vote yes on 48. North Fork has followed all was required and the land is in trust and the Gov and Legislature have given their approval along with the Federal Gov. Looks like chukchanci needs to clean up their act and them and thunder valley,table mountain and feather falls better be on look out for KARMA. Those tribes that want to squish North Fork have spent lots and lots of money to keep their casinos from competition. I hear the drums rolling and Great Spirit is not happy. SHAME ON THEIR ACTIONS against their Native Peoples.
Shame on north fork for allowing their native people to be sooooo damn trashy. That land has not been in trust. You think you can wave more eyes under that corrupt Jerry Brown and get your way! You did not follow all required! You barley got that land I to trust after buying brown off. Prove your better than any of these tribes then take all of your garbage back! Enroll all those tribe hoppers of yours and do the rest of Indian country a damn favor, maybe then they wouldn't mind your rez shopping so much!
You are exactly right, IT IS ALL ABOUT GREED. It's "We got our Casino and we don't want compitation. From all the articles, it doesn't look good for Chukchansi. Customers that had to see the ugly fighting won't want to go there. Those fighting North Fork will come to regret what they have said and done. SHAME will follow you all forever !!!!! Vote yes on 48
I think Prop. 48 should be defeated because it does not have any provision for oversight of casino operations. The Northfork tribe will be able to corrupt tribal gaming just like so many tribes have. New tribes wanting to participate in gaming should be required to have constitutions that protect their citizens from disenrollment, that have external audits of gaming revenue to verify proper per capita distribution, and that have stong remedies for tribal officers that violate their vows of office and use their office to enrich themselves.
Without these assurances there is a strong probability that there will be more trouble in Indian country. The glittering promise of jobs, prosperity, economic opportunity, and benefits to the community will just be fool's gold because of laziness and the desire to have yet another opportunity to reap revenues and divert them away from the community that generates them.
Why should Californians vote to have another mess on their hands? Why doesn't the state government see the need to have stronger oversight? Why doesn't the BIA require gaming tribes to operate honestly? This mess of corruption will continue unless people stand up and say no more! The tax revenue doesn't offset the cost of infrastructure (roads, utilities, traffic control), services (police, fire, emergency medical), and legal/licensing/court costs.
In fact the state will get most of the tax revenue and use it for state needs and the local costs will be borne by the community. The Indians won't pay their fair share unless it is specified that they do. This is not a good deal for anyone until the proper language is inserted into the state gaming compact.
Prop. 48 will benefit the tribal leaders, and everyone else will be left with a bunch of problems to deal with. Of course the tribal leaders fighting Prop. 48 will never tell the people that this is the reality. They just don't want the competition for gaming dollars. But this is the right way to view these deals. Determine the true costs, define realistic shares of the cost, and make sure there are regulations in place so the revenue doesn't enrich the lawyers and tribal leaders and leave the people holding the bag.
They do have protection from dis-enrollment. Look at Graton Rancheria, the chairman had it amended into their constitution that there would never be ANY dis-enrollments, probably because he is not even native though, but that's besides the point. Yes on 48!! Make these crooked tribes accountable or shut them down like Chukchansi.
Prop. 48 has no protection from disenrollment. Prop. 48 is a vote to either endorse or deny the approval of compacts with the Northfork and Wyott tribes. A yes vote will supposedly bring big benefits to the community. A no vote will prevent the North fork tribe from building a casino off their reservation.
My problem with it is that it doesn't properly state the issues. Even though the Northfork compact calls for between $16-$35 million for Madera county for casino construction, there has been no accurate assessment of the costs to the community for the casino. I have identified the areas where there could be cost impact. Prop. 48 also removes certain projects from the California Environmental Quality Act.
What kind of shuffle is that? The supporters say a yes vote means that Northfork can build its casino where it will have less environmental impact than on its reservation which is close to Yosemite. But the compacts were written to keep the casino project from the scope of the California Environmental Act.
Don't be fooled by this double talk. Northfork doesn't want the California Environmental Act slowing down their casino project. They don't want to put their casino up on their reservation because it is too out of the way. They got the Governor and the state Assembly to buy into it because of the promise of revenue and jobs. I say the most of the tax revenue will go to the state instead of to the local community, that it will cost a lot more than $16-$35 million to put in the roads, utilities, control traffic, enforce laws, provide fire protection, emergency medical services, and cover legal costs of permitting, resolution of disputes, and other conditions not yet addressed in their current laws and regulations.
Not to mention that if the business goes to Madera it takes it away from other areas that are just as poor and suffer similar unemployment. Job creation is a good thing, but the local community should not bear the costs when the tribe and the state government are the beneficiaries.
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