STATE POLICE AND CASINO ENTRANCES

The Day, Tuesday, March 31, 2009, Section Region, page B2, POLICE LOGS

State Police--Montville..........."Cory Poplaski, 25, of 19 Wilder Ave., Westerly, was charged Sunday at Mohegan Sun with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and making an improper turn.

The MTGA (Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority) under Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum, Chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Council and Helga woods, the Attorney General of the Mohegan Tribe sent letters to Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell and Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General of Connecticut. In the letters, the Mohegan government representatives stated that the state proposed smoking ban was against the Mohegan Tribe's sovereignty. The tribe threatened to withhold the revenue from the slot machines (put in escrow) that the State of Connecticut gets from the casino until after the case runs its course in Federal Court, all the way the United States Supreme Court if necessary. The state maintains that they have the right to impose the smoking ban if it is passed into law by the legislature of Connecticut.

Brokenwing, what do these two events have to do with each other? The State Police stopping a alleged drunk driver and the smoking ban. I believe, when the Mohegans tribe signed the compact with Connecticut we gave the right for state police to enforce driving violations on the reservation.

The question is, what is stopping the State Police from blocking the entrances to Mohegan Sun Casino? Isn't Sandy Desert Road and Route 32 and the entrance north of it both state intersections (road)? What about the entrances from route 2-A on to Mohegan Sun Boulevard, aren't they both state intersections? would the state do this?

How long could the Mohegan sun Casino last if the state blocked the entrances? Could the state do this? Legally they may be able to do it. I am not a lawyer, but it seems like a dangerous threat to me. Do we really want to hold the state's revenue back? What will the state do? What do you think?