By RODGER NICHOLS
The Dalles Chronicle
March 6, 2008

KAH-NEE-TAH — More than 200 people packed a meeting room at Kah-Nee-Ta Resort Monday night in the first of five public hearings scheduled over the next two weeks on whether the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs can build a new casino at Cascade Locks.

At issue was a Draft Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the Bureau of Indian Affairs which concluded the Cascade Locks site was a better choice than alternate sites in Hood River and on the Warm Springs Reservation.

Of the 39 people who testified at the hearing, 34 people supported the Cascade Locks site, four tribal members supported a site on the reservation and one non-tribal resident of Stevenson opposed the Cascade Locks site without stating an alternate preference.

But BIA official Jerry Henderson, who chaired the hearing, noted that the final decision would not be about numbers of people testifying for or against a particular option, but by substantive comments that spoke to the issues raised.

For most, the issues were substantial.

Ron Suppah, chair of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, said “We cannot overstate the importance of the DEIS.” He noted the tribes had voted in 1994 to build the existing Indian Head Casino at Kah-Nee-Ta, and that it had provided some employment and a small profit, but “it will always be limited due to its distance from population centers.”

Tribal Chief Operations Officer Gerald Smith provided grim numbers about declining tribal revenues and a growing population’s unmet needs.

“In 1994, tribal income was $23.8 million,” he said. “In 2007, it was only $2.25 million.”

The steep decline in revenue, he said, was due primarily to a sagging forest products industry, exacerbated by recent drops in new-home construction. That was underlined by the recent announcement by Warm Springs Forest Products that the company would lay off nearly half its workforce by April. (See related story.)

Unemployment, Smith said, runs a staggering 28.4 percent of the reservation workforce.

Tribal resources are further strained by cutbacks in the U.S. Indian Health Service and other federal programs.

“Because we are sovereign, unlike counties or cities, we have to provide a wider range of services,” Smith said, noting 98 percent of the 650,000 acres on the reservation is tribal land that must be managed. He also cited tribal responsibilities to provide police and courts, public utilities like sewer and water, health care, job training, and a number of other responsibilities.

As person after person stepped up to the microphone, several common themes emerged.

The tribal tradition of environmental stewardship was often cited.

“We are people of the land. Always have been and always will be,” said Rosalind Sampson.

“When Lewis and Clark and the first adventurers visited the Columbia, they all wrote how beautiful it was,” said Arlita Rhoan. “That’s because we used it naturally.”

And Michael Collins said, “Nobody asked us Indians if they could build cities in the Gorge or what it would do for the environment.”

But the strongest wording came from Cowlitz tribal spokesman Philip Harju, who stressed he was acting as a private citizen.

He noted the Cowlitz Tribe is planning to build its own casino in southwest Washington. Unlike the Grande Ronde Tribe, who currently has the closest casino to Portland, the Cowlitz were supportive of the Warm Springs casino in Cascade Locks.

“We want the BIA to understand that there were mills all up and down the Gorge, with wigwam burners going 24 hours a day,” Harju said. “The mills dumped a lot of stuff in the river. So if the Friends of the Gorge, or whatever front group they’re using, claims the Warm Springs are going to hurt the Gorge; what a crock.”

Several people testified regarding a criticism that the Cascade Locks site is too far from the tribal population base on the reservation. They noted that traditionally, the tribes in the region were semi-nomadic, moving with the seasons to fish at Celilo and Shearer’s Falls, to pick berries in the mountains, and to dig roots near Prineville and Shaniko.

“There has been a question and controversy surrounding our ability to commute,” said Leona Ike. “Today, our children spend several hours a day commuting to the 509-J School District in Madras each school day of the year, traveling as much as 100 miles or more a day. Many of our children travel out of state to attend BIA boarding schools in South Dakota, Oklahoma, Arizona and Kansas.”

Mary Repar of Stevenson, treasurer in the No Casino committee, was opposed to the Cascade Locks site, comparing the Gorge to a beautiful woman.

“A pretty woman attracts a lot of lovers who make midnight promises. They say they will respect her in the morning. But Mother Earth is saying no.”

But the mood of the evening was overwhelmingly supportive, and not one person spoke in favor of the Hood River option, where local residents are nearly unanimously against a casino.

Voicing support for the Cascade Locks site was Holli Van Wert, executive director of the Madras-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, who said money from a Cascade Locks casino would be of direct economic benefit to Madras, since that was the prime shopping area for the tribe.

City Administrator Mike Morgan echoed the support of the City of Madras, and Circuit Court judge Dan Ahern said, “Those critical of the Tribe’s decision to solve their problems should be aware if you live in a glass house, you shouldn’t throw stones.”

Several people from Cascade Locks testified in favor of the site, including Marva Janik of the Port of Cascade Locks. “This will turn a former industrial area into a green complex,” she said. “Clearly Cascade Locks is the best site.”