NEWS

People Against a

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01/28/10 - Portland casino efforts renewed

01/25/10 - PACT files Reply to Governor's Motion - Lane County Circuit Court

12/02/09 - PACT files Motion for Summary Judgment - PACT attorneys ask Lane County Circuit Court for an order of summary judgment ... and ... to issue a peremptory writ of mandamus, requiring Oregon Governor Theodore Kulongoski to withdraw the Governor's signature from the tribal-state compact, forbid all state agencies, members of the executive branch, and state employees from taking any action in furtherance of the compact on behalf of the State, and discontinue all executive branch actions authorizing or permitting the operation of the casino on the Hatch Tract.

9/21/09 - Wilsonville Casino? Reservation Shopping Gone Overboard? - The Klamath Tribes have revived a controversial plan to acquire 385 acres along Interstate 5 near Wilsonville -- one of the largest available tracts in the Portland area -- for undisclosed commercial development. Tribal leaders say they have no plans for a casino but could use the site for manufacturing, retail or services, while providing jobs for the 500 Klamaths who live in the Willamette Valley.

9/15/09 - US Senate letter to DOI Salazar - "... we have serious concerns about the recent practice of tribes and municipalities seeking advantageous gaming opportunities on lands that are not traditionally tribal lands. This is an abuse of the land into trust process and violates teh spirit of the IGRA."

09/09/09 - Pequots Find That Easy Money Is Hard To Give Up - ... Congress intended with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, in which gambling was intended to be an engine for economic development — not welfare for tribal members. "It's created a lack of ambition to do anything more."

08/16/09 - We told you so: Casinos do more harm than good - Casinos have positioned themselves in American culture as wholesome entertainment, but people don't raid their children's college funds or blow their whole paycheck or Social Security stipend because they love Kennywood Park or the movies.

07/23/09 - Russia: Casinos are social blight - When Russia carried out sweeping restrictions on gambling this month, closing thousands of casinos and slots parlors, their owners grasped at a small loophole: poker was legally classified as a sport, giving some the prospect of curbing their losses by becoming private poker clubs.

06/28/09 - Court decision raises questions about trust lands / casinos - The nation's highest court in February ruled that the federal Department of the Interior can only take land into trust status for tribes that were under federal jurisdiction as of 1934, the year Congress approved the Indian Reorganization Act. The Supreme Court decision came after the state of Rhode Island tried to block the Department of the Interior from taking land into trust on behalf of the Narragansett Tribe. Rhode Island leaders were worried that the tribe would build a casino on the land, Guest said. "The state believes that all lands within the state should be subject to state civil and criminal laws, including Indian lands," Guest said.

06/19/07 - Casino Tribe refuses to honor agreement with city - After a 14-year-long agreement with the city of North Bend to pay a room tax similar to other hoteliers in the city, the Coquille Indian Tribe is withholding a three-month payment. Tribal Attorney Brett Kenney said the tribe wants to renegotiate its contract and is withholding the nearly $44,000 payment.

06/19/07 - A big question long ignored - The main point is explained by Kelly Clark, the group’s lawyer: “For five years now we have been asking a very simple question: How is it, in a state whose constitution expressly prohibits casinos, that our governors keep siting casinos?” Barring further delaying maneuvers and efforts to derail their suit by the state, the governor and attorney general will have to answer the question and say: “We can make compacts with tribes to authorize casinos regardless of the Oregon constitution because ... ” Then Oregon voters will see if the reasoning holds up.

03/01/08 - Oregon man takes his own life at casino - The morning of Feb. 29, Steven L. Martin, 58, of Westlake, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Three Rivers Casino and Hotel parking lot on Highway 126 in Florence.