Mississippi Choctaw court hears dispute over casino referendum
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Three members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians went to tribal court on Monday to ask for a reservation-wide referendum on a controversial casino project.
The tribal council voted 8-7 to build a casino near Sandersville. Vickie Rangel, Austin Tubby and Bobbie Frazier say tribal members have a right to vote on the issue.
The tribe operates two casinos at its headquarters in Philadelphia. The new site is about 80 miles away but is still considered a part of the reservation.
EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE: Story taken from www.indianz.com
Could Mohegan Tribal Members take their Tribal Council to court for the decisions it has made in the past or could make in the future? It will be interesting to see how this story plays out. What do you think?
Showing posts with label ED. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ED. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
AQUINNAH WAMPANOAG TRIBE BLOCKS BEACH PATH
Town upset after Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe blocks beach path
Friday, July 23, 2010
A pile of twigs, some brush and a sign is stirring a new controversy for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts.
The tribe recently blocked an access path to the popular Lobsterville Beach on Martha's Vineyard. The decision has enraged leaders in the town of Aquinnah.
"The taxpayers in town are being deprived of their right to access to the beach and that right is established by an act of Congress," town selectwoman Camille Rose told The Martha's Vineyard Gazette.
The path was closed because it was not a public path, the director of the tribe's natural resources department told The Martha's Vineyard Times. Parking also has been restricted to two points along the beach.
"It is a piece of private property," Bret Stearns told the paper. "The tribal lands are not open to public access, with the exception of where it has already been established by agreement."
In 1987, Congress passed an act to settle the tribe's land claims. The state courts have ruled that the settlement subjected the tribe to local and state laws and that it waived the tribe's sovereign immunity for alleged violations of local and state laws.
The tribe will hold a public meeting next week to Thursday to discuss the issue.
EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE: Story taken from indianz.com
Friday, July 23, 2010
A pile of twigs, some brush and a sign is stirring a new controversy for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts.
The tribe recently blocked an access path to the popular Lobsterville Beach on Martha's Vineyard. The decision has enraged leaders in the town of Aquinnah.
"The taxpayers in town are being deprived of their right to access to the beach and that right is established by an act of Congress," town selectwoman Camille Rose told The Martha's Vineyard Gazette.
The path was closed because it was not a public path, the director of the tribe's natural resources department told The Martha's Vineyard Times. Parking also has been restricted to two points along the beach.
"It is a piece of private property," Bret Stearns told the paper. "The tribal lands are not open to public access, with the exception of where it has already been established by agreement."
In 1987, Congress passed an act to settle the tribe's land claims. The state courts have ruled that the settlement subjected the tribe to local and state laws and that it waived the tribe's sovereign immunity for alleged violations of local and state laws.
The tribe will hold a public meeting next week to Thursday to discuss the issue.
EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE: Story taken from indianz.com
Sunday, February 28, 2010
SANDS TRYING TO SELL CASINO IN BETHLEHEM?
Sands seeking to sell Bethlehem casino
By Express-Times staff
February 27, 2010, 12:21AM
.The casino on Bethlehem's South Side may get a new name. Las Vegas Sands Corp. is looking to sell the slots parlor less than a year after opening it on former Bethlehem Steel land, according to a person with knowledge of the corporation's plans.Disappointed with Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem's early financial returns, officials are turning their attention to Asia, where Sands is developing megaresorts in Singapore and Macau.
“The company’s focus right now is to get the property to perform better,” Sands spokesman Ron Reese said, declining to discuss whether the casino is for sale. “We’re in the process of initiating some new marketing programs and looking forward to getting table games and overall working to improve the performance of the property.”The Bethlehem casino reported a $2.1 million operating loss in the fourth-quarter of 2009. The revenue was $57.5 million for the same period.
Read Lynn Olanoff's complete report: Las Vegas Sands Corp. seeking to sell Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.Find more news stories in today's Express-Times.
EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE: If Sands can't make a profit in Pennsylvania, what makes the MTGA (the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority), think they can make a profit at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs? Has the Pocono Downs property ever made any money? Will Pocono Downs ever make any money? Should it be sold? What do you think?
By Express-Times staff
February 27, 2010, 12:21AM
.The casino on Bethlehem's South Side may get a new name. Las Vegas Sands Corp. is looking to sell the slots parlor less than a year after opening it on former Bethlehem Steel land, according to a person with knowledge of the corporation's plans.Disappointed with Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem's early financial returns, officials are turning their attention to Asia, where Sands is developing megaresorts in Singapore and Macau.
“The company’s focus right now is to get the property to perform better,” Sands spokesman Ron Reese said, declining to discuss whether the casino is for sale. “We’re in the process of initiating some new marketing programs and looking forward to getting table games and overall working to improve the performance of the property.”The Bethlehem casino reported a $2.1 million operating loss in the fourth-quarter of 2009. The revenue was $57.5 million for the same period.
Read Lynn Olanoff's complete report: Las Vegas Sands Corp. seeking to sell Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.Find more news stories in today's Express-Times.
EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE: If Sands can't make a profit in Pennsylvania, what makes the MTGA (the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority), think they can make a profit at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs? Has the Pocono Downs property ever made any money? Will Pocono Downs ever make any money? Should it be sold? What do you think?
Thursday, April 30, 2009
''DRUNK DRIVERS'
Driver in Fatal Was Drinking at Casino'
By David Collins Published on 4/29/2009
Christopher Brulotte, the 25-year-old construction worker accused of causing a fatal accident April 5 on Interstate 395, sweeping another car off the highway after hitting it from behind at a high rate of speed, was apparently spectacularly drunk.
His blood alcohol levels were .228 and .220, according to police tests, nearly three times the legal limit.
He was so drunk, someone who saw him after the accident told me, that it is hard to imagine how anyone could have continued to serve him alcohol that night. And yet they did.
Brulotte was on his way from Mohegan Sun the night of the accident, his lawyer, Ron Stevens of East Lyme, confirmed this week. He had been drinking at a restaurant there and then on the casino gaming floor, others say.
”It was a tragedy Brulotte, a resident of Lisbon who was also arrested in 2007 on drunken driving charges, will presumably pay a heavy price for what he did. He has been charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle in the death of the 59-year-old Willimantic woman who died in the accident.
Brulotte was the second person in less than a month charged with drunken driving in a fatal accident who had last been drinking at Mohegan Sun before driving. A 23-year-old Connecticut College student was killed March 7 by a wrong-way driver police say had also been drinking at the Sun.
Two fatal accidents in a month attributed to drunken drivers served at the same place is a damning record, one that apparently has been a loud call to action.
Mitchell Etess, president and chief executive officer, said Tuesday the casino has instituted a number of new policies and training programs since the two accidents.
In addition to existing training for liquor servers, dealers will also be taught to better identify and flag drunk patrons. Valets will also get new training. Security personnel will be stationed at exits to the garages on weekend nights to be on the lookout for people who shouldn't drive and electronic signage throughout the casino will deliver drunken driving warnings with increasing frequency throughout the night.
The drink service rules have also been tightened so that customers may be served no more than two drinks an hour. It used to be three. That includes drinks that are paid for as well as complimentary drinks served to people who are gambling.
”We felt like we were doing a lot of things already,” Etess said, citing extensive training programs for beverage servers and electronic systems to be sure that a patron cut off in one area of the casino isn't served somewhere else.
”We always felt we have had a rigorous program in trying to monitor and deal with the consumption of alcohol on the property but . . . in light of the recent events we decided to expand our efforts.”
Both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods pay to have liquor inspectors on the property and both pay substantial fines for violations, although neither casino has ever had its license suspended. Mohegan Sun has paid far more fines over the years, and settled 18 incidents of serving intoxicated people in 2007 and 2008, compared to just two cases at Foxwoods in the same period.
Etess said he couldn't explain the disparity. One can only hope it's going to end.
The state police, too, have taken the two accidents as a call to do something about an obvious problem.
Police were wrong not to disclose to the public, in the wake of the most recent accident, that the accused driver had been drinking at the casino. They did tell casino executives, though.
A recent enhanced weekend police drunken driving patrol netted seven arrests in less than eight hours. More are planned.
Maybe we've reached a turning point.
One thing is for sure. I don't think Gov. Rell will cozy up again for a long, long time to the idea of allowing the casinos to serve liquor 24 hours a day.
This Is The Opinion Of David Collins.
"Regional"
EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE; If you read the story, you come away thinking that maybe the state police didn't tell the media, where the drivers came from to begin with.
It is good to hear that the casinos are doing somthing about this problem. Hopefuly more lives don't have to be lost. Maybe the plan will work. Let's pray it does. I would not want this on my conscience.
Collins is probably correct, when he states that Governor M. Jodi Rell will not be advocatiing twenty four (24) hour driniking in the casinos anytime soon. Keeping drunk drivers off the roadways seem to be a hard thing to do. Good job David Collins. What do you think?
By David Collins Published on 4/29/2009
Christopher Brulotte, the 25-year-old construction worker accused of causing a fatal accident April 5 on Interstate 395, sweeping another car off the highway after hitting it from behind at a high rate of speed, was apparently spectacularly drunk.
His blood alcohol levels were .228 and .220, according to police tests, nearly three times the legal limit.
He was so drunk, someone who saw him after the accident told me, that it is hard to imagine how anyone could have continued to serve him alcohol that night. And yet they did.
Brulotte was on his way from Mohegan Sun the night of the accident, his lawyer, Ron Stevens of East Lyme, confirmed this week. He had been drinking at a restaurant there and then on the casino gaming floor, others say.
”It was a tragedy Brulotte, a resident of Lisbon who was also arrested in 2007 on drunken driving charges, will presumably pay a heavy price for what he did. He has been charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle in the death of the 59-year-old Willimantic woman who died in the accident.
Brulotte was the second person in less than a month charged with drunken driving in a fatal accident who had last been drinking at Mohegan Sun before driving. A 23-year-old Connecticut College student was killed March 7 by a wrong-way driver police say had also been drinking at the Sun.
Two fatal accidents in a month attributed to drunken drivers served at the same place is a damning record, one that apparently has been a loud call to action.
Mitchell Etess, president and chief executive officer, said Tuesday the casino has instituted a number of new policies and training programs since the two accidents.
In addition to existing training for liquor servers, dealers will also be taught to better identify and flag drunk patrons. Valets will also get new training. Security personnel will be stationed at exits to the garages on weekend nights to be on the lookout for people who shouldn't drive and electronic signage throughout the casino will deliver drunken driving warnings with increasing frequency throughout the night.
The drink service rules have also been tightened so that customers may be served no more than two drinks an hour. It used to be three. That includes drinks that are paid for as well as complimentary drinks served to people who are gambling.
”We felt like we were doing a lot of things already,” Etess said, citing extensive training programs for beverage servers and electronic systems to be sure that a patron cut off in one area of the casino isn't served somewhere else.
”We always felt we have had a rigorous program in trying to monitor and deal with the consumption of alcohol on the property but . . . in light of the recent events we decided to expand our efforts.”
Both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods pay to have liquor inspectors on the property and both pay substantial fines for violations, although neither casino has ever had its license suspended. Mohegan Sun has paid far more fines over the years, and settled 18 incidents of serving intoxicated people in 2007 and 2008, compared to just two cases at Foxwoods in the same period.
Etess said he couldn't explain the disparity. One can only hope it's going to end.
The state police, too, have taken the two accidents as a call to do something about an obvious problem.
Police were wrong not to disclose to the public, in the wake of the most recent accident, that the accused driver had been drinking at the casino. They did tell casino executives, though.
A recent enhanced weekend police drunken driving patrol netted seven arrests in less than eight hours. More are planned.
Maybe we've reached a turning point.
One thing is for sure. I don't think Gov. Rell will cozy up again for a long, long time to the idea of allowing the casinos to serve liquor 24 hours a day.
This Is The Opinion Of David Collins.
"Regional"
EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE; If you read the story, you come away thinking that maybe the state police didn't tell the media, where the drivers came from to begin with.
It is good to hear that the casinos are doing somthing about this problem. Hopefuly more lives don't have to be lost. Maybe the plan will work. Let's pray it does. I would not want this on my conscience.
Collins is probably correct, when he states that Governor M. Jodi Rell will not be advocatiing twenty four (24) hour driniking in the casinos anytime soon. Keeping drunk drivers off the roadways seem to be a hard thing to do. Good job David Collins. What do you think?
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