By Ryan McCarthy
Neighbors - South Placer Edition
An Indian casino will be built in Placer County, says the attorney for the United Auburn Indian Community.
"It's going to happen one way or the other," Howard Dickstein said Wednesday in a talk to the Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce. "There's nothing that will dissuade the tribe."
A casino is planned for a 58-acre site at Athens and Industrial Boulevards outside Rocklin.
Referring to the Lincoln City Council's decision in September to deny water and sewer service to the property, Dickstein said such services can be provided to the site without Lincoln's help.
He said the city first approached the tribe about using Lincoln's services for the casino development.
Michael Storz, mayor of Lincoln, said the city staff sought out the tribe about using sewer and water service from the municipality.
"It was our city manager who saw a business opportunity," Storz said of William Malinen. "Being a businessman, he sought the opportunity."
Storz said his objection is to a gambling establishment in the area. He does not object to the Indian community. The mayor said he supports plans for a housing development by tribe on 1,100 acres outside Lincoln.
"We have welcomed you. We do welcome you," said Storz.
Dickstein said the council vote came "for reasons I'm not going to speculate about."
Tribal members, who number about 200, "are patient but they're determined," he said.
"If it doesn't work out, the tribe will move forward in any case either at that location or another," Dickstein said. "It's a little disheartened by the opposition," he said of the Indian community.
"It's nothing new," the attorney said. "(Indians understand that) there are people who don't like Indian gaming or gambling in general."
Local gambling includes a state lottery, buses taking gamblers to Reno, card rooms in Placer County and churches conducting bingo games, Dickstein said.
Indians wonder, "Why, when we want to have it, gambling is a terrible, immoral act?" he said.
Casino operations in other California counties involve very good relations with local governments as well as horror stories, Dickstein said. "If you look at those horror stories, it's always because there's tremendous acrimony.'
Because the tribal community constitutes a government, Dickstein said, money made from gambling will return to the tribe. "This revenue is going into the tribe's general fund. They are just like any other local government," he said.
Dickstein called gambling the only economic opportunity for American Indians "since gold was discovered in Placer County."
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