Threats to the Ridge Actions that should be taken to save the Ridge About the Shawangunk Ridge Coalition Media coverage about the Shawangunk Ridge Learn more about the environment of the Shawangunk Ridge Conservation efforts on the Shawangunk Ridge Recreation on the Shawangunk Ridge Maps of the Shawangunk Ridge Links to supporters and affiliated sites Search this site for information Contact information for the Shawangunk Ridge Coalition Return to our home page

Mohicans lack Pataki's ear, Bush's blessing
By Steve Israel
Times Herald-Record, November 14, 2002

Bridgeville - The tribe that wants to build a casino here on a hill above the Neversink River has a lot going for it. The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans' application is speeding through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Its developer built the hugely successful
Indian casino, Mohegan Sun. Sullivan County officials pledge their support, crucial to state and federal approval. But the Wisconsin-based tribe with New York roots doesn't have Gov. George Pataki's ear. To run one of the three casinos approved for the Catskills, the Stockbridge-Munsees must cut a deal with the state. New York
has only been dealing with tribes that live here - like the Mohawks, who plan a casino at Kutsher's.

The Stockbridge-Munsees just moved to get the state's attention. The tribe acquired 125 acres on its old reservation in upstate Stockbridge - from its casino developer, Trading Cove Associates, which bought it last year. That, says its president Robert Chicks, "re-establishes our presence in New York state." The move may not work. "This is irrelevant to any land claim or casino deal," says Pataki spokesman Joe Conway. Now the Stockbridge-Munsees - and any tribe that wants to build a casino off its reservation - may have another problem. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton said she has doubts about more off-reservation casinos, in a letter to Gov. Pataki and Seneca President Cyrus Schindler. She has the final say. "While I do not intend to signal an absolute bar on off-reservation gaming, I am extremely concerned that the principles underlying (the law
that allows Indian casinos) are being stretched in ways Congress never imagined. ..."

Casino watchers disagree on what this means for the Catskills - although the governor's office is "confident a compact for gaming will be approved." But a lawyer for the Stockbridge-Munsees says it could have "implications." "I suspect President Bush made no secret of his disdain for gambling," said Don Miller. "And I suspect his administration is trying to tip-toe a fine line between what a Republican governor wants in New York and what they
want in Washington."