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A Resort Casino in Cascade Locks?

The controversy over a major Indian casino proposed to be built in Cascade Locks is currently raging in the media. Opponents, backed by big money from other tribes, as well as taverns and strip clubs with State-sponsored Lottery games, who don't want the competition, are running advertisements stating that a casino would "trash" the Columbia River Gorge and urging people to write letters opposing the casino.

In reality, local officials from the City of Cascade Locks have been working with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs to bring the resort and casino to the Cascade Locks Industrial site (which bears no resemblance to the pristine scenes that the ads indicated will be ruined by a casino). Other tactics imply that a casino in the Gorge will cause Oregon to be overrun with Indian casinos, while the truth is that the casino in the Gorge will replace the casino at Kah-Ne-Tah, so the number of casinos will remain the same. Also, the circumstances involved in siting a casino in Cascade Locks on a historic traditional Warm Springs fishing area instead of eligible trust land east of Hood River, and the State's "one casino rule," make setting a precedent for other off-reservation metro area casinos unrealistic.

The following links provide both historic and current information on what is REALLY taking place in the process to allow the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to build a destination resort/casino in the Cascade Locks Industrial Park. Please don't be taken in by the big money advertisements on TV with their misinformation and scare tactics. Please take the time to educate yourself on what is really happening by clicking on each of the following links:

Photos of the two Gorge Casino sites available to the Warm Springs Tribes

Link to Cascade Locks Resort and Casino EIS Project Web Site

Frequently Asked Questions about the Casino Project

Minutes from Grand Ronde Tribal Council of 05/20/05 Allocating $1,000,000 to Support Opposition Against Gorge Casino

Oregonian Editorial Criticizing the Casino Opponent's Dishonest Ad Campaign

Oregonian Editorial - Big Gamble in the Gorge - 09/12/05

City Administrator Article on Casino Issues from June 2005 Issue of the Cascade Locks City Newsletter

Letter from Elected Officials -- Rebuttal to Congressman Wu

Letter from Gale Norton, Dept of Interior, Temporarily Declining Application

Compilation of Results of 1998 Community Survey on Casino

City of Cascade Locks Resolution Supporting Casino

Hood River County Resolution Supporting Casino

City of North Bonneville, WA, Resolution Supporting Casino

Letter of Support from Hood River County Chamber of Commerce

Letter of Support from City of Hood River, OR

Letter of Support from the Mayor of the City of Troutdale, OR

Letter of Support from Skamania County, WA, Economic Development Council

Letter of Support from West Columbia Gorge Chamber of Commerce

First Letter from the City of Cascade Locks to the Bureau of Indian Affairs In Support of the Warm Springs Casino Application

Second Letter from the City of Cascade Locks to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Support of the Warm Springs Casino Application

"Another Voice" Article by Rodger Schock, Hood River County Commission Chair, on Whether the Warm Springs Tribes are Bluffing about Building on Their Hood River Property

Link to Governor's Compact with Warm Springs

Link to Casino Website of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

Link to Support Cascade Locks Casino Website