People Against a Casino Town
Information
Outrageous Conduct
 
These articles are an indication of just how far casinos can, and will, go
when they are under-regulated, under-supervised, condoned and promoted by politicians,
and there's a lot of money to be made by those at the top.
(No, we're not making these things up)
Casino tribe withholds emergency report - While the casino buzzed with patrons hoping to win a luxury car giveaway, 55-year-old Talley wobbled into a bathroom and collapsed on the stone floor from a cardiac arrest. Two days later, she died at a nearby hospital. Bridgette Jackson, who accompanied her mother to the casino that night, said the first responders ignored her pleas for them to perform CPR and never used the defibrillator they had with them to try and shock Talley's heart back into rhythm. Convinced that the casino staff didn't do enough to save their mother, Talley's daughters have spent months fighting for reports that might tell them how quickly 911 was called and when CPR began. Critics like Gordon hope that at some point, there is wide enough concern in the public over the tribe's sovereign status that federal elected leaders are forced to act. (11/9/08 - Casino tribe withholds emergency report)

Slot Revenues - What's the take?  Between $227 and $403 per machine, per day.  The daily per-machine revenue is the average amount of money left in a slot machine at the end of a day after winners have been paid. It's a universal statistic in the gambling industry for how well a casino performs.  (1/17/08, Casino Ahead of Game)
NM - Casino claims sovereign immunity - Sovereign immunity has  taken center stage in a dispute between Sandia Pueblo and a Bernalillo County,  New Mexico, man who claims the pueblo's casino failed to pay him a jackpot of  nearly $1.6 million last year.  The trouble began when Gary Hoffman tried  his luck on a Mystical Mermaid slot machine during a visit to the casino on  August 16th, 2006. The machine indicated he hit the jackpot, but casino  workers ushered him  into a room and told him he wouldn't be paid. (10/16/07, New  Mexico tribe claims sovereign immunity in jackpot case)
NY - Trading land claim for casino - Speakers voice opposition to land claim settlement - Seneca County held its public hearing Monday night on the proposed settlement with the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York to limit the acreage the tribe can apply to take into sovereign status in exchange for a Las Vegas-style casino in the Catskills and hold harmless payments to Cayuga and Seneca counties. "The Upstate Citizens for Equality stands for equality, legality and morality, not creating a special privileged group for $13 million, for so-called blood money from casinos," said Peter Shuster, a farmer who wore a straw hat and flag-colored suspenders. (6/18/07, Trading land claim for casino)

CT - Would-be casino tribe wants to charge landowners 200 years' back rent - A state Indian tribe that repeatedly has been denied federal recognition wants to charge property owners back rent on land it claims was taken from its ancestors. The Golden Hill Paugussetts, in court documents filed last month, claim the tribe has been denied over 200 years of rental income and profits rightfully due to it from the land.  The Bureau of Indian Affairs has twice rejected the tribe's bid for federal recognition, dealing a blow to the tribe's plan to build a casino in the state.  The latest legal filing is an amendment to land claims the Trumbull-based tribe filed in 1993 to hundreds of thousands of acres in Bridgeport, Westport, Southbury, Shelton, Seymour, Trumbull, Orange, Derby, Woodbridge, Branford and East Haven.  The tribe has said in the past it would drop its land claims in return for 300 acres in Bridgeport for a casino. O'Connell said the offer is still on the table.  (7/19/06 - Tribe wants to charge landowners back rent)

PA - Housing tenants paid to "support" casino at rally - Tony Eaves of the Hill District says Mr. Simms agreed to pay $15 to every Bedford Dwellings tenant who attended an April 18 pep rally. The Downtown rally -- sponsored by Pittsburgh First, which is headed by Mr. Simms -- was organized to demonstrate the neighborhood's purported support for the redevelopment plan.  Mr. Eaves, in an interview yesterday, said Mr. Simms stiffed him, fronting only $400 of the $1,200 or so that was needed to pay the 80 housing tenants bused to the rally that day.  (6/6/06 - Payments for casino pep rally spawn lawsuit, Pitsburgh Post-Gaxette)

Land claims around the country  - "would settle for a casino" - The new wave of Indian land litigation began in the Northeast but has now spread around the country. Claims by the Miami Indians spill over large portions of Illinois and Indiana. The Eastern Shawnee want 4 million mislaid acres in Ohio. New York's Onondaga, Oneida and Cayuga have claimed the land under such cities as Syracuse and Binghamton. In Colorado the Cheyenne-Arapaho managed to top that with a filing for 27 million acres including Denver. Near Allentown, Pa. the Delaware Indians failed in a bid for a tract that includes Binney & Smith's famed Crayola factory. In virtually all these cases tribes have made clear that they would settle for a casino permit.  (5/8/06, Forbes Magazine, "My kingdom for a casino")

New York confiscates 72-year-old woman's home so casino can expand
Van Egmond has lived in her home for 50 years and advised on Friday’s Sean Hannity program that her home is to be given to the Seneca Indian Tribe so that it can build onto its existing casino. Van Egmond and her attorney said that casinos are illegal in the State of New York State. The Indian Tribe, apparently, holds its sovereignty on the casino land. However, the State of New
York is reported to have lucrative casino compacts with the tribes in the state.  (1/20/06 - New York to seize home and give to casino)

Oklahoma Casino Tribe suing State of Ohio for 146 square miles - but would settle for a casino
The Eastern Shawnee tribe sued the state last week, demanding title to 146 square miles of western Ohio along with back taxes and other money the state has made since acquiring it. The suit also seeks hunting rights on another 11,315 square miles. In announcing the suit, members of the tribe spoke about traditional songs lamenting their removal from Ohio in 1831 and promising a return. The Eastern Shawnee readily acknowledge, however, that they'll settle for a piece of land worth building a casino on.   (7/8/05, http://www.centralohio.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/BC/20050708/NEWS01/50708001/1002&template=BC ) The tribes are keeping their eyes on the real prize, which would not be ancestral land but strategic sites for native American gaming establishments in larger urban centers of the state.(A Game of Ohio Hold-up, 7/11/05, Toledo Blade)

Shinnecock Tribe Plans Suit, Claiming Land in Hamptons
Tribal leaders say their suit seeks to reclaim 3,600 acres in Southampton that include the Southampton College campus, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, where the United States Open is played, and the bayfront resort community Shinnecock Hills. The tribe says it will also file a second suit, within a month, claiming much more of Southampton - possibly the entire town, which has 57,000 residents, major parks, Grabeski Airport, Suffolk County's jail and courts, many businesses and spectacular oceanfront homes. The legal action comes as the Shinnecocks, who are now based on an 800-acre reservation, have been pushing to open a casino on nearby land that they already own - a move that has been stridently opposed by neighbors and local officials. The second suit, for far more land, will be based on a more general argument that the Indians once occupied the area and are entitled to its return ... (6/12/05 - http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/12/nyregion/12tribe.html?ex=1119240000&en=745273b43b3a4664&ei=5070&emc=eta1 )

So, who's cheating now? - computers guarantee that the casino wins
The dealer shuffles cards. ... On the side of the card, there's invisible ink, and each card is bar coded. The system reads the stack of cards and knows when the cards are being dealt out, and which card goes to which player. The chips have a stripe on the
side of them, and there are computers under each table that can read the side of the chip."  "With the information we get, we know how many hands are being played, the value and size of someone's bet as they play."
(http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2004-11-02-managing-tech2_x.htm 11/2/04)

Tribe offers to "give up" $27 Million Land Claim "in exchange" for casino right
Colorado - The Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma have filed a 27 million-acre land claim with the Department of the Interior. The claim says northwestern Colorado, including all of Denver and Colorado Springs, rightfully belongs to the tribes.  But they've offered to give up the claim in exchange for permission to build a $150 million casino complex near Denver International Airport. (8/29/04 Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2366238,00.html)

Money Stored in a Garbage Can
California - Candace Cates saw many things that troubled her as an investigator of Indian casinos for the California attorney general's office. What troubled her most was what she couldn't see.  Ms. Cates ran across what she and other agents suspected was evidence of embezzlement, kickbacks and suspicious money movements, including $90,000 being stuffed into a shoebox and driven away from one casino in the trunk of a car. Yet, she contends, her bosses at the state consistently stopped her from investigating these matters and ordered her to delete references to them from reports. One senior state official allegedly told her that because Indian tribes are semi-sovereign entities under federal law, investigators needed to "kiss a- on the reservations." (Wall Street Journal, 8/23/04)

 Public colleges take a gamble on casino studies
California - At San Diego State University, where the casino industry was screaming for help, a professional certificate in gaming was offered this past spring to serve employers and boost college revenues. ... "It's disgusting," said state Sen. Frank Padavan, a Queens Republican and vocal opponent of New York's reliance on gambling revenues to balance budgets. "I think it's inappropriate for the state to become a vehicle by which people are in increasing numbers addicted ... To have that policy reinforced through a curriculum in a public university is reprehensible."  (The Detroit News, 8/14/04, http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0408/15/schools-242129.htm)

FBI examines shooting in Warm Springs police case
Portland, Ore. - The FBI has launched an investigation into a high-speed chase on the Warm Springs Reservation (Kah-Nee-Tah Casino) in which a member of the tribal council fired six shots into an occupied car, officials said."  ""We had no idea who this guy was," said Jerry Clement, who was in the car along with his wife and Antunez' girlfriend. "Picture a guy standing in front of your car shooting into your enging bay.  He could have killed us," he said." (Yakama Nation Review Newspaper -  July 30, 2004
Related article:  "Eleven police officers with the Warm Springs Police Department, including the police chief, have been suspended with pay following an alleged threat of a walkout over working conditions, outdated equipment and low pay. Raymond Tsumpti, the head of public safety for the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, said Friday that the officers were put on administrative leave two weeks ago for "breach of public trust" after he perceived the possibility of a walkout." (http://www.bendbulletin.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=13954 )  (Editor's Note: Warm Springs tribes own the Indian Head Casino)

Indian land claims for casino could delay proposed rail, bus project for years
The Regional Transportation District's FasTracks project could be stalled by Indian land claims filed by an organization seeking to build a tribal casino near Denver International Airport.   The claims could stall the proposed $4.7 billion rail and bus project for
months or years.  Hillard already has filed a formal tribal land claim with the Interior Department, which oversees American Indian issues, on 27 million acres in Colorado that were the Cheyenne and Arapaho homelands. The Native American Lands Group offered to settle the claims if Colorado allowed a casino and cultural center on 500 acres the project's investors would buy.  (Rocky Mountain News, 7/23/04 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3058202,00.html)

Drug mugging great-granny held
Italian police have arrested an 80-year-old great-grandmother suspected of drugging and robbing easily fooled victims for years to feed her gambling habit. Vittoria Benetti was detained after her last victim, a 70-year-old woman travelling in the same train compartment, identified her in a photo, Italian media reported Saturday. Benetti drugged her with a cup of coffee and then escaped with 1,000 euros ($1,226) which she promptly spent at a casino in neighboring Slovenia. (7/24/04, Reuters, Rome, Italy, CNN)

Hopeful Oklahoma casino tribe claims 1 million acres in Ohio
"The Shawnee tribe is ready to file a federal claim on 1 million acres in Ohio, Casey said, including the Symmes Purchase: Indian Hill, Montgomery, Loveland - even downtown Cincinnati." "What he and the tribe have in mind is five to seven casinos." (7/11/04) http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/07/11/loc_bronson11.html

Casino Ad : use prescription stimulants, have wives in two states, cheating ok
"At the Hard Rock Hotel (casino), we believe in your Monday night rights: large quantities of prescription stimulants (and) having wives in two states" "For example, one of the ads showed a naked male and female lying atop a gaming table with dice by their sides and a card in her mouth, urging players to go the Hard Rock to cheat." (5/21/04, Nevada Gaming Commission Ojbection - Advertising Complaint - http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/May-21-Fri-2004/news/23933559.html)


Tribes claim to own 40% of Colorado in order to "arrange a settlement" for Casino
In a bold gambit to open a casino in Colorado, the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma have notified 150 land title companies about pending land claims in 30 counties.  "We wanted to give full notice of the existence of the claims," said Steve Hillard, a Longmont investment broker. Hillard put together the Native American Land Group to file the claims and arrange a settlement that would allow the tribes to buy 500 acres of land for a casino.  In other states, including Michigan, Hawaii and South Carolina, valid but unsettled Indian land claims put a temporary damper on real estate sales. He said the tribes seek a ruling on their claimed ownership of 40 percent of Colorado from the Interior Department, which oversees Indian issues.
  • Land-claim politics:
    • 40%: Portion of Colorado the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes claim to own.
    • 500: Number of acres the tribes want for a casino.
    • 150: Number of title companies the tribes notified about the pending claims.
Rocky Mountain News, 5/13/04, http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2882147,00.html


Bundles of checks given to GOP House members by contributors linked to LV casino
St. Paul, MN - Checks to GOPers from gambling interests returned - Shortly after the Legislature convened this year, some GOP House members got an unwanted surprise: envelopes with bundles of checks from contributors linked to Caesars Entertainment of Las Vegas.  Top Republican House leaders said they were startled because the checks appeared to violate two state laws - one that prohibits "bundling"  campaign checks and another that bars contributions during the session from lobbyists or principals with matters pending before the Legislature,  the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported Wednesday.  4/28/04, Associated Press http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/8537563.htm

Casino tribe "police" threaten to arrest Union picketers and impound vehicles
 Florence, Oregon: A union organizer said a subcontractor at the casino site violated numerous safety regulations and fails to pay prevailing wages. (Siuslaw News, Florence, Oregon,  April, 2004)

$2 Million Spent to Lure Smokers to Casino
Michigan: "In October, the tribe paid Scanlon $2 million for work on a campaign to ban smoking in Michigan restaurants and bars in hopes of driving smokers  into the Mt. Pleasant casino." 4/20/04 http://www.freep.com/news/casinos/lobby20_20040420.htm

Teaching Kids How to Gamble
This April 2003 advertisement, according to a Washington state anti-casino group, was  printed in a large daily newspaper .  The ad promotes "Kid's Bingo" for ages  4 to 17.  The games only cost $12 "buy-in" and the kids can win stuffed animals and shiny new toys, all within sight of their parents or grandparents who are playing at the grown-up gambling machines on the other side of the glass partitions. (Kiddie Gambling)

Kiddie Gambling Kiddie Bingo

Using Pheromones in Air to Stimulate Gambling
In the face of a sluggish economy and decreased consumer spending, a growing number of retailers are beating the odds by infusing their establishments with a synthetic human pheromone designed to stimulate sales. Odorless and airborne, pheromones are produced naturally by most species of insects and animals, including humans.  EAT researchers have identified and synthesized a proprietary pheromone that instills a sense of comfort and security in humans.  Consumers also tend to return more frequently to establishments infused with Commercaire.  "At a subconscious level, the sense of comfort and security instilled by the compound causes consumers to have positive memories of any environment in which they are exposed to it.  They're more likely to return as a result," says Malkin.  Already in use by several major casinos, the company's client base has seen a rapid increase into several non-gaming related industries. ( http://www.commercaire.com/)

Gambling is Solution to Credit Card Debt
Ads promote gambling as way to pay mounting bills  - By The Associated Press - ISLETA PUEBLO, N.M. Isleta Casino, on the south edge of Albuquerque, has been running television ads suggesting people with debts to head to the casino an idea criticized by a gambling opponent and a rival casino.

"So the holidays have passed and those credit card bills just keep piling up, and there seems to be no relief in sight?" a narrator asks in the 30-second Isleta Casino & Resort television ad that recently aired on some New Mexico stations. "How will you pay those huge bills?

"Well, Isleta Casino Resort comes to your rescue!" the ad says.

The ad begins in black-and-white, showing a man who appears to be at his wit's end as organ music plays in the background. Then the narrator suggests Isleta casino as a financial rescuer. It concludes by showing a woman smiling and laughing as someone fans a stack of cash into her outstretched palm.  Isleta casino manager Barry Milligan had no comment.
Guy Clark, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition Against Gambling, called the ad outrageous.
He said it leaves the impression that people behind on their bills can get cash by gambling.  "You may owe for Christmas, but if you stay there long enough, you may lose your house," Clark said. "This is plain, flat lying."
The acting marketing manager of Sandia Casino, which lies north of Albuquerque, also was critical. "It crosses the line between promoting responsible gaming and reckless gaming," said Anne-Marie Collins.
(http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2004/03/27/news/the_west/satwst04.txt)

Oregon Governor Plugs Casino as He Tours State
Salem, Oregon: Governor Ted Kulongoski is now touring his state in a $400,000 mobile home/office vehicle provided by Oregon business interests and sporting a billboard on the side advertising the Seven Feathers Motel and Casino Resort, an Indian gambling complex.  The Governor insists the luxury transportation was made available to him to help promote the State's economy and tourism.  But the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees thinks the arrangement smacks of cozy business lobbying.  (news-040211-govbus.html)

School Refuses to Fire Teacher, so Casino Tribe Pulls $120,000 Funding
New York:  School district cuts sports, programs after tribe closes purse -  January 29, 2004, 3:44 PM EST - Stockbridge, N.Y. -- A small, rural upstate New York school district is eliminating spring sports, cutting after-school music programs and firing a business teacher to help make up for a $120,000 grant revoked by the Oneida Indian Nation as part of a dispute.The Stockbridge Valley Central School District received the money under the Oneida's Silver Covenant Chain of Friendship program but was stripped of the grant last month when district officials refused to fire an employee that the Oneida's say has brought tribal politics into school.  "It's disappointing and I feel bad for the kids. It was a hard decision to make ... but it was the right decision. We stood up for our principles," Superintendent Randy Richardson said Thursday. 
 
On Wednesday night, the school board voted unanimously to lay off the district's only business teacher, eliminate overtime pay for the head bus driver, cut $5,200 for extracurricular music programs and cancel all field trips not already approved.  The board also dropped six baseball and softball teams. About 90 students played for those teams. The business program had 22 students. The district has 620 students."We're a small district. There was not much else we could do," said Richardson.  The cuts add up to $56,572 in reductions to the district's current $7.1 million budget. The school board must trim another $60,000 from next year's budget to make up the deficit, he said.
 
Oneida Nation spokesman Mark Emery said the tribe stood by its decision to withhold the money."We never asked for her to be fired. We just said we wanted a solution," Emery said. The nation contends that employee Monica Antone-Watson is injecting nation politics into the school and recruiting students for political protests against the nation.

Antone-Watson and school officials deny the accusation.  Antone-Watson is a Mohawk Indian who lives on Oneida Territory and serves as the district's Native American coordinator. She's one of a group of residents suing the nation in federal court over the eviction of four other families who live on the Oneida reservation.
 
Emery on Thursday raised questions about Antone-Watson's qualifications and the program's effectiveness. He said the nation acted because the school district had failed to respond to parents' complaints about racial and religious discrimination by Antone-Watson. "This is not an immediate thing. This has been an issue we've addressed with three superintendents," Emery said.
 
The board's decision was not well received by several dozen students and residents in attendance, some of whom left shouting at board members. Stockbridge is located 35 miles east of Syracuse and in the heart of the Oneida's 250,000-acre land claim. "It was bound to happen sooner or later," said Scott Peterman, president of Upstate Citizens for Equality, a grass-roots organization that opposes the Oneida's land claim."We said it should be called the 'Silver Handcuff' program because you have to agree with the Oneidas. If you upset them, you lose the money just like Stockbridge Valley," Peterman said.
 
Across the country, most Indian tribes have established revenue-sharing procedures included as part of their gaming compacts or operating contracts, or have set up separate agreements, said Robin Shield, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Oneidas do not share the gambling revenues from their Turning Stone casino under the compact reached with Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1993. However, the state's highest court has ruled that such compacts must be approved by both the governor and the state Legislature, calling into question the validity of the Oneida's compact.
 
The Stockbridge district was among the first recipients of the grants when the nation first created them in 1996, using their casino profits. The nation does not pay property taxes and instead makes voluntary payments to school districts and municipalities where it owns land. Since 1996, the Oneidas have paid out more than $6.5 million to seven school districts and three municipalities participating in the program. Several surrounding communities have rejected the grants. Such tribal gift programs, whether in the form of scholarships, awards or grants, are not unusual, said John Forkenbrock, a spokesman for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for school districts that include military bases and Indian trust lands.However, Forkenbrock said Stockbridge Valley was the first time he has heard of a grant being lost in such a dispute.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--oneidas-schooldis0129jan29,0,5662789,print.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

Casino Tribe Claims It Owns Part of Notre Dame
South Bend,Indiana - Michigan Indian tribe claims it owns part of Notre Dame campus  - An American Indian tribe from Michigan's Upper Peninsula is suing the University of Notre Dame for a tract of land on campus and rent dating back to 1842.

The lawsuit, filed Dec.23 on behalf of the Hannahville Indian Community Tribe of Potawatomi Indians,seeks declaration of ownership and damages for the "unlawful trespass" by the university, which was founded in 1842. The lawsuit contends that under a treaty signed in 1826, the Potawatomi Tribe was given a 100-foot-wide strip of land stretching from Lake Michigan to the Wabash River for a road, referred to as the Michigan Road, and contiguous land tracts for every mile of the road. The government gave the state of Indiana the right to locate Michigan Road and transferred the land to the state for that purpose, the lawsuit states.

The state later conveyed the disputed property to the University of Notre Dame without proper title,the lawsuit alleges. The suit claims the continued possession,occupation and claim of ownership by Notre Dame is a violation of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. A legal description of the tract places it roughly in an area near the WNDU television studios on Indiana 933, according to the Portage Township assessor's office.  WNDU is owned by the university. Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown said Monday that the university has not seen the lawsuit.  But Brown told the South Bend Tribune "we are confident that our ownership of the land is proper and legal."

The lawsuit, which also names the U.S.Department of Interior as defendants, asks that the Hannahville Indian Community be declared owners of the land and that damages be awarded, or that the tribe be paid fair market value for the land.

As one of the seven bands of the larger Potawatomi nations, the tribe is an ancestral sibling of the Dowagiac, Mich.-based Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. The tribe has about 600 members living on or close to a reservation in Wilson, Mich., according to the tribe's Web site. Wilson is in Menominee County in the Upper Peninsula. The tribal community has prospered greatly since gambling was introduced in the 1980s,the Web site said.  (Native American Press/Ojibwe News, January 9, 2004)

High School Boys Recruited for College Sports With Sex and Casinos
Miami, Florida:  3/5/04 - (Excerpts) Sex and the Campus: women a major part of recruiting scene - By Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, - Charlie Jones, a coveted 18-year-old running back, waltzed past a line of South Beach clubgoers - including Miami Dolphin Chris Chambers - and settled into a prime spot at B.E.D., where a $20 cover or the right entourage allows you to rub elbows with the likes of P. Diddy and Warren Sapp while lounging on giant mattresses.  Three University of Miami football players were with Jones the night of Dec. 12 as hosts of his recruiting weekend. Their mission: Show him a good time. According to Jones, the Grey Goose vodka was flowing all around him and scantily clad women paraded by his table. Jones committed to Miami without taking another campus visit.  Jones' visit didn't make headlines, but things have not gone so well after hours in other places, including Gainesville where Carol City High's Willie Williams ran into trouble during his visit. The wave of incidents nationwide has drawn intense new scrutiny by the NCAA into recruiting practices that involve women and booze to seduce prospective student-athletes to enroll.  . . .

"By law, underage kids shouldn't even be in those places, but we all know that isn't always the case, and these kids look older than their age and are with well-known players, so they get in the door,"  Dee said. "We let them go with no supervision, but trusting that the host will do the right thing."  . . .

Jim Fitzpatrick, a Hollywood producer who played at Illinois State from 1977-81 and later with the Tampa Bay Bandits, added: ``I went on recruiting trips. I was given money to treat recruits to a great time, including all the beer or booze they can drink, all the food they can eat, and last but not least, all the girls they could get. Some of the stories were so bad they can't be repeated. It's been going on for decades. Unfortunately, with the moral decline of our country, so goes the expectations of what defines a great time. With all the XXX-rated films on Showtime and HBO, the profanity on every network, how can anyone expect a teenager to stop in his tracks after everybody else says it's OK?''  . . .

During the past 10 years, the universities of Michigan, Alabama and Mississippi were put on probation for entertaining football and basketball recruits with strippers. In 1998, Michigan State's wrestling program was put on probation after visiting high school recruits were entertained by strippers at a Detroit nightclub and taken to a casino. . . .

Florida high school coaches said they often hear stories of alcohol and girls from their players who take recruiting trips.
"My kids have told me they have girls waiting for them as soon as they get off the plane," said a Dade Public Schools coach, who did not want to be named. "I had a kid come up to me and ask me, 'Coach, what should I do when they offer me sex?' I told him 'Make sure you wear a rubber.' "  Northwestern coach Roland Smith said: "These kids are drinking when they shouldn't be, but to me it's not the school's fault. It's where these other players are taking them.''
---
Herald sportswriters Manny Navarro, Susan Miller Degnan and Mike Phillips contributed to this report.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/8117462.htm  Posted on Fri, Mar. 05, 2004

$45 Million Paid to Casino Lobbyists
Washington, D.C.:  Lobbyist got $10 million from executive - Washington - Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff received $10 million in previously undisclosed payments from a public relations executive whom he recommended for work with wealthy Indian tribes that operate casinos, congressional investigators have determined.

Abramoff, one of Washington's best-connected Republican lobbyists, this month was forced out of his firm, Greensberg Traurig, after revelations that he and the executive - Michael Scanlon, a former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas - had persuaded four newly wealthy tribes to pay them fees of more than $45 million over the past three years.  That amount rivals spending on public policy by some of the nation's biggest corporate interests.  (Register-Guard, Eugene, OR, March 30, 2004.)

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