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Tribes hope for two off-reservation casinos
Saturday, May 6, 2006 11:15 AM PDT
PORTLAND- Two Oregon tribes have applied to build off-reservation casinos, one near Ontario and one near Wilsonville.
Members of the Burns Paiute tribe said Thursday that few details were available about the Ontario proposal.
The Klamath Tribes have applied to build a casino and golf course south of Wilsonville.
That makes three active applications for off-reservation casinos in the state.
The applications meet an April 15 deadline set by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which approved legislation March 29 to eliminate off-reservation gambling for tribes with their own reservation land.
But applications filed before April 15 would be grandfathered into current law.
Klamath Tribes officials said they had not planned to apply now but did so to beat the deadline.
Burns Paiute Tribal Chairman Dean Adams and a Bureau of Indian Affairs spokeswoman in Washington confirmed that the tribe headquartered in Burns has made a formal application to the BIA.
The BIA spokeswoman, Nedra Darling, said few details about the proposal could be released.
Adams said the tribe, Oregon's smallest, soon would reveal a description and location for the proposed project. |