Officials use open house to weigh controversial casino

Joseph B. Frazier

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 | 10:22 a.m.

CASCADE LOCKS, Ore. -- An open house regarding a proposed tribal casino here pitted environmental concerns over the scenic Columbia River Gorge against tribal unemployment and the hopes of a dying river town that sees the gambling enterprise as its last chance.

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, with the support of Gov. Ted Kulongoski, wants to put the casino on off-reservation land in Cascade Locks, about 40 miles east of the lucrative Portland market. It would be the first off-reservation casino in Oregon and one of only a handful in the nation.

If their bid for Cascade Locks fails, the tribes' say they will build on land they own in Hood River, a tourist-oriented river town whose residents have said they don't want it.

Conservationists have accused the tribe of bluffing, saying the Hood River site is too steep and also would face environmental barriers. They say the environment of the Cascade Locks area is too fragile to handle the traffic and other demands of the 3 million visitors backers of the project hope will come each year.

The open house was designed to help the Bureau of Indian Affairs consider a draft environmental impact statement, alternative casino sites and benefits and drawbacks to the Cascade Locks proposal.

Terry Buchholz, project manager of the consulting firm preparing the environmental impact statement, told the roughly 150 people who attended Thursday's open house that the plan is to fill 25 acres with a 90,000-square foot casino, a 250-room hotel, a meeting facility and parking for 3,700 cars. Buchholz said the impact statement could be ready by 2006 and Interior Secretary Gale Norton could make a decision by that summer.

Tribal attorney Dennis Karnopp said the tribes' current casino -- on reservation land in Central Oregon -- is not large enough to replace income lost when other tribal resources dwindled. He said a site on Highway 26, which passes through the reservation, is inadequate because it lacks the infrastructure available in Cascade Locks.

Many Cascade Locks residents hope a casino will reverse the sagging fortunes of their town of about 1,100, which has maintained its population in recent decades only through annexations.

Bob Willoughby, the city manager, said there were striking similarities between his city and the tribe, with both suffering from poverty and high unemployment.

"We're both in the same boat," he said.

But some at the open house questioned whether high-paying jobs would really come to fruition. Others were concerned that a tax-free tribal casino would make it impossible for existing businesses to compete.

"If motels and restaurants from the casino come into town, what will that do to our businesses?" asked Cheryl Randall of Cascade Locks. "Our end of the town will dry up."

To land the casino, the tribes and Cascade Locks will have to overcome a well-financed coalition of antigambling, state lottery and environmental interests and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, which operates the Spirit Mountain Casino, currently the closest in Oregon to the Portland market.

Spirit Mountain is Oregon's most-visited tourist attraction and likely would lose business to another casino near Portland.