Airway Heights Hears Tribe’s Casino Plans Indians Launch Registration Drive

Airway Heights residents fidgeted Wednesday night as a panel of Indians and out-of-state businessmen tried to sell them on building a glitzy casino in their tiny city.

Then the local critics questioned if the project would undercut businesses, overburden city services and lure criminals.

“We’re at your mercy,” Joe Martella, bar owner and former Airway Heights mayor, said of the plan. “You’re paying no property tax, no sales tax, no business tax, and you make an impact on all our facilities around here.”

The casino project is a proposed joint venture between the small Kalispel Tribe of northeast Washington, and the huge Miami-based Carnival Hotels and Casinos company.

The partners want to build a $17 million Las Vegas-style casino on the Kalispel Tribe’s 40 acres near Spokane Raceway Park.

The proposal comes as Eastern Washington’s congressman, George Nethercutt, tries to tighten rules for commercial ventures on tribal lands outside reservations.

It also comes as state tribes rekindle last year’s failed effort to open up tribal gambling in Washington to allow lucrative slot machines and other electronic gaming.

Faced with federal budget cuts and uncertain support for a gambling initiative, state tribes launched a $130,000 voter registration drive Wednesday to get more Indians and other casino supporters to the polls.

The Airway Heights project requires local, state and federal approval. Wednesday’s public hearing in Airway Heights was the first step in what is usually a long and arduous process to open a casino.

But casino promoters appeared confident, unveiling flashy drawings for “Carnival Kalispel,” a proposed gold, green and purple casino with a fountain out front and valet parking.

Plans for the “entertainment center” include a casino with 50 table games, restaurant, lounge and 600-seat bingo hall.

“Every day you walk into this facility it will be a beautiful, sunny day,” boasted Las Vegas architect Paul Steelman.

Carnival officials rattled off statistics about the project’s economic virtue. It would create 600 construction jobs and 500 full-time jobs, averaging $23,000 a year, they said.

The city of Airway Heights would also get $370,000 up front in impact fees to help pay for more police officers and expand city services.

The Kalispel Tribe, based on a 4,600-acre reservation near Usk, Wash., bought the land in 1993. If the casino is approved, the tribe intends to buy another 140 acres and open up a cultural and training institute, called the Camus Institute.

The tribe’s plans in Airway Heights also include a possible hotel complex, a business park, a low-income housing project and a cultural institute.

Several residents praised all this as good for the city.

“The overall picture for 10 years down the road is that it will help this area, this community,” predicted Francis Peine.

But most of the 50 people in attendance were suspicious and fearful.

A Spokane bar and gaming club owner warned local business owners that his revenues fell off 34 percent after the Spokane Tribe opened a casino near Chewelah.

“I see this as a lose-lose situation,” said Bob Materne, who owns The Swinging Doors Tavern.

Terry Munro’s concerns were far broader. “I think you should go back to the drawing board and see what impact this will have on the county,” the county resident said.

Munro asserted a casino could bring an explosion of gambling addicts, as well as traffic and crime problems that would swamp local police and medical resources.

“I for one do not want (a) casino in Spokane County,” Munro said to applause.

Bill Johnson, a Carnival vice president, countered the concerns by noting other businesses bring problems, too.

“You put up a bowling alley, you got a problem,” he said. “You got a teen center, you got a problem.”

The Washington State Gambling Commission will not study the Kalispel proposal until Gov. Mike Lowry urges the commission to pursue it, said Carrie Tellefson, assistant to the director.

But Tellefson said residents shouldn’t worry about casino-related crime. “We have the strongest regulatory program in the country,” she said.”I wouldn’t be concerned about the criminal element coming into Spokane.”

Tellefson said the state has never examined Carnival because the company has never formally applied to do business in the state.

Last week, Nethercutt joined forces with other congressmen in advocating tougher taxation policies regarding tribal “trust lands” outside reservations.

Speaking on the House floor, Nethercutt alluded to projects like the Kalispels’ and their potential impact on nearby businesses that don’t enjoy the same tax breaks.

The House approved an amendment that forces tribes to pay all state taxes for their commerce with non-Indians on trust lands.

If the bill passes the Senate and becomes law, it would only impact newly acquired trust lands. But it could still derail the Airway Heights project, predicted Robert Dellwo, a professor of Indian law at Gonzaga University.

At the end of his casino sales pitch Wednesday, Art Frank, another Carnival vice president, told the crowd: “Ladies and gentleman, this is the bottom line: Without your support we can’t get this done.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PLAYING THE GAME Before dice begin tumbling on blackjack tables, the Airway Heights casino project must be approved by the following: Airway Heights City Council Washington State Gambling Commission Washington governor U.S. Secretary of Interior