CARS is pleased to bring you the latest news on the Cowlitz casino issue. Feel free to add your comments to our blog and research background information on our Web site.
Sincerely,
Ed Lynch, Chairman
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Clark County is revving up to make a new deal with the Cowlitz gambling syndicate.
County Commission Chairwoman Betty Sue Morris acknowledged Tuesday that the 2004 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which was struck before the syndicate had revealed its plans for a casino at the La Center junction, is "pretty much shot." (It has twice been declared invalid.)
The syndicate has been working hard to mollify the county. It got the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) to approve tribal ordinances containing stipulations similar to the MOU, although the NIGC then wrote that it could not vouch for their enforceability. Last week, Cowlitz Chairman John Barnett sent Morris a letter attempting to assure the county: Rest easy, the ordinances are irrevocable. Many legal minds disagree.
A few weeks earlier, though, Barnett had sent the commissioners a letter with a different tone. He insisted that the MOU is alive and well, and that the county had better not terminate it. He also said the tribe would be unwilling to negotiate a new agreement.
The fact is, the syndicate needs an MOU. Desperately....
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