By Jessica Quandt – Freelance Writer
Hollister – The anti-casino group Casinos Represent a Poor
Solution (CRAPS) is going door-to-door with a petition to keep the
California Valley Miwok tribe from building a casino in San Benito
County south of Gilroy near the Santa Clara County line, and the
organization is seeing an overwhelming amount of support for their
cause, said CRAPS Chairman Steve Merrell.
By Jessica Quandt – Freelance Writer
Hollister – The anti-casino group Casinos Represent a Poor Solution (CRAPS) is going door-to-door with a petition to keep the California Valley Miwok tribe from building a casino in San Benito County south of Gilroy near the Santa Clara County line, and the organization is seeing an overwhelming amount of support for their cause, said CRAPS Chairman Steve Merrell.
The California Valley Miwoks have set their sights on a piece of property off Highway 25 in San Benito County near the Santa Clara County line, and are hoping to build a casino similar in size to the 66,000-square-foot Cache Creek Casino in Yolo County. However, there has been speculation recently that the Miwoks are not indigenous to San Benito County, and some locals are using this to try to keep the casino out.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he will not allow tribes to set up casinos in areas they are not indigenous to without overwhelming support from the locals. Although California Valley Miwok Project attorney Phil Thompson has said he plans to prove the Miwoks have roots in San Benito County, the tribe is currently trying to garner support from local residents and businesses.
Merrell said the anti-casino group’s door-to-door petitioning is showing support for a casino is San Benito County is not there.
“We’re just canvassing the neighborhoods trying to get a large number of signatures,” Merrell said. “So far the response rate is huge. The percentage of people who sign it when approached is huge. Based on that we feel quite confident that we can put to the Board of Supervisors and then the Governor strong evidence that residents don’t want this casino.”
Merrell did not know the actual number of signatures his organization had gathered, but said he hoped the petitioning would be complete by the end of the year. The group will soon be petitioning outside of local grocery stores as well, Merrell said, and already has permission to begin at Albertsons.
The anti-casino group hopes nearby counties will follow its lead and start opposing the proposed casino on a grand scale.
“We’ll take the petition to the board, the City Council, the San Juan City Council, and try to get them to pass resolutions against the casino. Then we want to go to Santa Clara and Monterey Counties and get them to pass resolutions as well. We really think that the best solution is a regional solution, and we’re hoping to see some groups in other counties come together as the threat of this becomes more generally recognized,” Merrell said.
California Valley Miwok Project spokeswoman Nicole Ratcliff did not return phone calls by press time.
In trying to garner support for the proposed casino, the California Valley Miwok Project hosted an invite-only informational meeting at the Tres Pinos Inn Thursday night. The meeting was for “friends of the investors,” Ratcliff said.
