Gambling Commission To Take Testimony On Proposed Casino

Friends and foes of the Kalispel Tribe’s proposed casino at Airway Heights will get another chance to be heard Saturday.

The state Gambling Commission will meet in Spokane from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 3 p.m. to listen to people it didn’t have time to hear at a Nov. 14 meeting. The sessions will be at the Ramada Inn at Spokane International Airport.

Gov. Mike Lowry has directed the commission to sample public opinion on the casino proposal and to give him a report this month. Lowry, in turn, has been asked by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to comment on whether the casino would be harmful to the surrounding community.

Babbitt must determine that the gambling operation would help the Kalispels and not hurt anyone else before the casino project may proceed. If Babbitt gives a green light, the tribe still will have to negotiate a regulatory agreement with the state.

The tiny tribe, which has a 10-square-mile reservation in Pend Oreille County, acquired 40 acres in Airway Heights in 1993 and got the Bureau of Indian Affairs to designate it as reservation land this year.

Airway Heights city officials support the proposed $17 million casino, but some residents and gambling opponents from all over Spokane County have spoken against the project.

Written comments may be sent to the Gambling Commission until Saturday. The address is P.O. Box 42400, Olympia, WA 98504-2400.

, DataTimes