Kaukauna committee approves Indian casino contract

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2000 | 8:55 a.m.

The five-member Finance and Personnel Committee unanimously approved Monday the pact and a resolution authorizing casino gaming within the city. Both items were scheduled to be considered by the full council Tuesday night.

City residents voted last week against a referendum that would have outlawed gambling.

The tribe has proposed a $20 million casino, $30 million hotel and convention center, and $5 million water park for the former Fox Valley Greyhound Park. A $92.5 million bonus would be split between the city and Outagamie County over 20 years.

After going before the full council, the deal would next move to the county, then the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and finally to Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Meanwhile, more than 100 people turned out at La Crosse to hear representatives of the Ho-Chunk Nation and anti-casino forces discuss what casino gambling brings to a community.

A Nov. 7 advisory referendum is scheduled on whether they support development of a Ho-Chunk casino in La Crosse County.

The Rev. Wesley White, representing United for a Greater Coulee Region, said it is wonderful the tribe spends the majority of its casino profits on programs that help educate and care for tribal members.

But he said voters need to remember this about casinos: "You can't win. The house has the advantage."

"I would ask you to listen carefully to distinguish between the appealing promises by casino supporters and the appalling track record of casinos taking revenue out of community, cannibalizing jobs, destroying lives, changing our community direction away from technical growth, and increasing taxes for road maintenance and construction, education, a jail, the police and courts," he said.

Tribal attorney William Boulware said it is unfair of casino opponents to use studies that look at crime or other social ills caused by commercial, Las Vegas-style casinos and even other Indian casinos, then project those results onto La Crosse.

Unlike commercial casinos, all Ho-Chunk casino profits go into tribal programs, including elder feeding sites, health clinics and Head Start programs, Boulware said.

He said the tribe pays local governments for services like police patrols and ambulance calls to its casinos. The nation has offered to pay $4 million a year to the city and county in lieu of property taxes. Boulware said Indian gaming is much more heavily regulated than commercial gambling