The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are posted only for purposes of discussion.)
The battle over the efforts of a southern Arizona tribe to build a casino on a county island in the West Valley continues. Looking ahead …
Diane Enos, president, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community:
When highly publicized promises, like those made by all 17 Arizona tribes, including the Tohono O’odham Nation, that there would be no additional casinos in the Phoenix area, aren’t upheld, it compromises the honest intentions of the other tribes who are standing by their commitments. It shuns voters who in 2002 approved, by a very slim margin, 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent, Indian gaming in our state. And it jeopardizes a very critical economic development tool for all Arizona tribes.