| Coalition Against Gambling in New York Annual Meeting, September 8, 2007 Saugerties, New York accommodations |
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The
Coalition Against Gambling in New York held its Annual meeting for 2007
in Saugerties, New York, at the home of Elizabeth and Stephen
Shafer. The meeting took place on Saturday, September 8.
The Shafers have a beautiful home, high on a bluff overlooking the
Hudson River. They were gracious hosts, and arranged a
continental breakfast to start the day, and a very nice lunch
(including a vegetarian selection for those who were so inclined) to
sustain us through what turned out to be a fairly lengthy meeting.
The Shafers also arranged for out-of-town visitors to stay with local anti-casino volunteers. My stay with Demi McGuire, from Casino-Free Sullivan County, was such a delightful experience that, for those who are interested, I thought I'd offer a brief aside to describe it. Someone circulated an attendance sheet, but I haven't received it. However, I did note during the meeting that a quorum was present, allowing for people who paid their 2007 dues during the meeting (which is permitted). There were quite a few people from Ulster County, just as we had a lot of people from Erie County at last year's meeting in Buffalo. Moving the meeting from place to place where there are anti-casino fights seems to be a better strategy than seeking a central location, in terms of encouraging attendance, especially on the part of new participants. The minutes were taken by two people. Early in the afternoon, a huge storm came up, and some of the people from the Thousand Islands area had to leave in order to arrive home at a reasonable hour in bad weather. Consequently, our Secreatry, Charlotte Wellins, was not present for the second half of the meeting. Our Vice Chairperson, Distant Eagle, took over the note-taking responsibilities at that point. Here are the minutes: MINUTES: CAGNY ANNUAL MEETING
September 8, 2007 Meeting Called to
Order by Chairperson Joel Rose: Financial Report: None other than that there has been no
financial activity since the last meeting, with the exception of the costs for
this meeting – i.e. refreshments and other incurred expenses. (Unpaid dues of $10 per person are welcome!). [About a
month before the meeting, Rev. Duane Motley's secretary, Rachel Bond,
had e-mailed me the financial report as of that date, which I had
forgotten to bring to the meeting. This is what she sent:
Later, she sent a list of people who had paid their dues for 2007. Very few of us had, so dues were paid during the annual meeting. -- JR] Election of
Officers: Chairperson: Joel Rose was nominated. Nomination seconded. No other nominations. Motion was made and seconded that the Secretary cast one ballot. No opposition. Joel Rose re-elected. Vice-Chair: James David Audlin (aka Distant Eagle) was nominated. Nomination seconded. No other nominations. Motion was made and seconded that the Secretary cast one ballot. James David Audlin re-elected. Secretary: Charlotte Wellins was nominated. Nomination seconded. No other nominations. Motion was made and seconded that the Secretary cast one ballot. Charlotte Wellins re-elected. Treasurer: Duane Motley was nominated. Nomination seconded. No other nominations. Motion was made and seconded that the Secretary cast one ballot. Duane Motley re-elected. Election of Directors at Large: A motion was made and seconded to nominate current Directors at Large Demi McGuire, Stephen Shafer, Dan Warren, Joe Eldred. In addition, Judy Bachmann was nominated to be added to the Directors at Large. Motion was seconded. Distant Eagle will look into the possibility of a 6th person (Doug George-Kanentiio, a well-known Hadenosaunee writer) to be voted on at a future meeting if he is willing to serve. The five named above were voted by acclamation to be the Directors at Large. Let the record show that the same procedure was followed for the same Directors at Large to serve both CAGNY Action and CAGNY Information. [Here's where this stands now: Richard has been tied up with the CACGEC v. Kempthorne case, but said he would indeed proceed with the 501(C)(3), but as he's doing it pro bono, he'd appreciate it if I would obtain the form for the 501(C)(3) from the IRS and fill out the parts that I could. I did go to the web to try to get the form, but there appeared to be two choices and I wasn't sure which we needed. I'll need to call the IRS when I can. Richard wasn't sure why we needed a 501(C)(4) and I didn't have a good answer. I'll need to consult with an accountant for further advice. -- JR] Distant Eagle made some extended remarks regarding the governance of the Mohawk people and the related issue of casino gambling, which he has been kind enough to summarize for us.
There are seven teachings of The Great Law: First Teaching: Love – Could take one whole day to talk about – one whole year to live. Kind of love changes about every 7 years. Second
Teaching: Kindness – The Creator taught us how to give kindness. Be kind to everyone—to everything. [Kelly emphasized that it's more than treating others as you would have them treat yourself, because often we don't treat ourselves that well. He said the goal is to treat others better than we would have them treat ourselves. -- DE] Third Teaching: Sharing – Reminds us to give from the heart and that “man is not measured by what he collects.” Fourth Teaching: Gospel
Truth or Honesty Fifth Teaching: Humility – Treat people better than you want to be treated. (Sometimes we don’t treat ourselves well!) Sixth Teaching: Courage – Comes from within. Ability to stand up and fight for what you know to be inherently correct. Seventh
Teaching: Wisdom – Knowledge is absolutely useless. When man makes decisions, he usually bases it
not on God but on money. Mr. Curley
suggested that we find that part in ourselves that doesn’t understand and ask
elected officials, “Do you believe in God?”
He posed the question, “Should people who don’t believe in God be our
representatives?” [Distant Eagle notes that the seventh teaching is "respect." This is what turns knowledge into wisdom, since we respect ourselves and others enogh to put learning into practice. -- JR] Mr. Curley remarked that he had never once mentioned gambling in today’s talk, up to that point. He admonished that regarding gambling we “Quit. Stop. Don’t do it. Go home.”A discussion was initiated by Demi McGuire of how we can form an alliance with the “traditionals” who don’t want gambling. Mr. Curley suggested that we first must find an alliance with ourselves with God. He suggested also that we go to those traditional people who are on an Iroquois Council to get CAGNY placed on the agenda. Distant Eagle mentioned that he has had some communication with Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs members (the traditional council) and to some extent with the iroquois Grand Council, which is the equivalent to a federal government. Since these governments work on a consensus basis rather than a majoritarian vote basis, he said this process could take a while. Lunch Panel: Putting a Face on Gambling – Real life stories, moderated by Charlotte Wellins: A paper written by a female gambler who could not be presnt was read aloud by Charlotte Wellins. The gambler had lost her husband’s business as she was his bookkeeper. Her “drug of choice” was scratch-off lottery tickets, which had accelerated to the point that she not only lost her husband’s business but also did not pay major household bills leading to near loss of their home, writing bad checks, and ultimately begin taken away in handcuffs by local police. She is now gambling-free for over two years. A woman whose partner is currently an incarcerated gambler spoke. He is allowed out for work release only. Her partner’s gambling was NYS Quick Draw. Over a two-year period, he embezzled seven million dollars from funds that he managed for his super-model stepdaughter. The woman who spoke met this gambler after he was in recovery and talked about how many lives he had affected—family members, his former spouse, clients from his insurance business, friends, local politicians, etc. Although she had not known him when he was an active gambler, her life had also been greatly affected by her relationship with him as from the beginning of their relationship, he was awaiting sentencing and then was sent to prison. The woman ended by acknowledging that she, too, is in a 12-step program for friends and family members of gamblers and that she knows that she will be “okay” no matter what the future brings. A young woman gambler shared that she is currently not gambling but told her story of beginning with scratch-off tickets before she was of legal age to do so and then being introduced to casino gambling when a boyfriend took her to one. That accelerated to the point that she stole from her parents and grandparents to feed her fast-growing addiction and lost her boyfriend. She commended CAGNY members for what they do and told of how “scary” it is “out there” for people like her because everywhere you go—a convenience store, a gas station, even the local pharmacy—NYS has made readily accessible gambling opportunities.A gambling counselor who has worked with compulsive gamblers for the last 15 years told of different stages of gambling and different terminology—gambler, compulsive gambler, problem gambler, pathological gambler. He noted that he has seen an acceleration in numbers of gamblers as more and more opportunities to gamble have become available. The moderator ended the panel discussion with the story of another young man who was going to be with us for this meeting—a 19-year-old Native American who had been introduced to gambling by his mother and grandmother, who took him to bingo halls on the reservation when he was only five years old. This young man has been in rehab, but left to go back to the reservation to help his mother and grandmother who have troubles because of their gambling. The moderator also shared some of her 48-year journey with a compulsive gambler who she had married at the age of 20—a man she did not know gambled until six years into marriage. It was stressed by many of the speakers on this panel that every gambler affects a minimum of ten other people, that these stories are not unusual, and that pathological gambling is a hidden disease and a disease of denial that often is not exposed until a real crisis exposes it. These notes submitted by: Charlotte L. Wellins, Secretary [Right after that last panel a huge storm came up, and we were all treated to an amazing display of lightning and thunder. By common consent, we moved the meeting indoors. Charlotte Wellins had to leave, and from this point on the minutes were taken by Distant Eagle -- JR] Susan Puretz, of No Sugerties Casino, Ulster County, spoke on in-person lobbying of town boards and county government; grass-roots mail campaigns at the state and federal level. Susan said that NYS Assemblyman Kevin Cahill's bill passed the Assembly in June, but will likely die in the Senate Rules Committee for lack of a Senate sponsor. This bill would remove She then gave a comprehensive summary of the No Casino Saugerties lobbying campaign. She noted that fifteen municipalities in There was discussion of union involvement in the casino and anti-casino movement. [In her talk, Susan outlined the very extensive, leave-no-stone-unturned approach to lobbying which seems to have worked very well for the village of Saugerties. I was so impressed with her demonstrated leadership abilities that I asked her to consider joining the Board of Directors (we still have an opening). She said she'd think about it. Subsequently, she was kind enough to share her rough notes for the talk, which I include in this report to provide a sense of how thorough the No Saugerties Casino effort has been. A key element of that effort has been the use of a series of one-page information sheets on various casino-related topics. These information sheets should be seful for any community fighting against casino gambling. -- JR] Review of anti-casino litigation around New York State, arranged by Joel Rose Judy Bachmann, speaking about litigation related to Turning Stone Casino. Under NEPA, Judy said, her people had asked for a PEIS (Programmatic EIS) on Turning Stone. This was denied, and they are appealing, saying that there is no established fFderal land in [Judy Bachmann is a Vice Chair of Citizens Equal Rights Alliance and has been invited to join the Board of Directors of CAGNY. In addition to Distant Eagle's notes on this presentation, we also have some direct comments from Judy, forwarded with notes by Susan Puretz. -- JR] Joe Rappaport, National Resources Defense Council, spoke about NRDC's environmental lawsuit on the proposed Monticello casino. Joe spoke on behalf of the NRDC and Catskill Mountainkeeper. He described their pending lawsuit that contends an EIS should have been done in the case of the Mohawk casino proposal for the Catskills, rather than an EA (Environmental Assessment). The current status is that there is an agreement that there must be a ruling before any transfer of land. [Joe distributed copies of a press release describing this litigation. --JR] Live phone call with Richard Lippes, talking about the litigation pertaining to the Buffalo Creek Casino. [Richard is the attorney for Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County, CAGNY-action, NCAGE, and others in CACGEC et al. v. Kempthorne et al., and CACGEC et al. v. Cason et al., both of which are in Federal Court. Richard works with a team of attorneys retained by Citizens for a Better Buffalo and the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation. These latter groups have also initiated an environmental suit in State Court, and Richard participates in that as well. -- JR] Richard, who is counsel in the Buffalo Creek case, spoke to the meeting by telephone. He said that there are two related cases, in state court and federal court. The state case is environmental in nature, challenging approvals granted without an EIS. He expects a preliminary decision within one or two months.
[This
parcel was not taken into trust at all, and it was not acquired
pursuant to settlement of a land claim. Initially, Judge William
Skretny rescinded the approval by the National Indian Gaming Commission
of the original Seneca Gaming Ordinance, and remanded it back to
N.I.G.C. for reconsideration, on the grounds that the NIGC had not made
a determination
that the land in question was Indian land and that gaming was
permissible under IGRA. However, the Judge dismissed the
substantive claims, determining that they were
premature pending reconsideration by the N.I.G.C. Plaintiffs have
appealed the partial dismissal, and that motion is pending. -- JR]
The Senecas, Richard said, have resubmitted their application, and his group has sued again. [Subsequently
the NIGC did reconsider and approved the resubmitted Seneca Gaming
Ordinance, which had since been redrawn to specify the
parcel of land involved. This set the stage for the second
federal lawsuit, which
challenges the new approval on esentially the same grounds that earlier
had been
dismissed as premature. -- JR] Dan Warren spoke to us in a prepared video, regarding his federal lawsuit to stop the Buffalo creek casino.
[Dan's lawsuit makes a different argument, namely that, given the result in Dalton, I.G.R.A. is unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because it usurps the legitimate power of a state by enlisting state officials to perform federal mandates. He also challenges the state authorizing legislation on state constitutional grounds. To view Dan's presentation, turn up the volume (it recorded at a low volume level) and click here. This is a 24 MB .wmv file, so please be patient. -- JR] Cornelius Murray spoke to us in a prepared video, regarding his efforts to force state officials to close Turning Stone Casino.
Neil and his colleagues argue that the government must believe the rulings of state and federal courts about this lack of a valid compact, and close the casino. He said they will be going back to the State Supreme Court, specifically before Judge McCarthy, asking him to declare the existing compact illegal and require the state government to enforce the decisions rendered by the courts - specifically, that no tax monies may be spent at Turning Stone (such as oversight and police protection); this would force the federal government to reconsider authorizing gambling at the site, if there is no state supervision. After the Sherrill decision, the [To view Neil's presentation, click here. I had to compress this file, which accounts for the poor video quality. The original that Neil provided was much clearer, but it was a huge file. Even after compression, this is a 48 MB .wmv file, so you'll need to be patient. -- JR] Richard Tallcot provided a video tape describing the efforts of UCE to keep a casino out of Cayuga and Seneca Counties. [Richard Tallcot is Chair of the Cayuga-Seneca cahpter of Upstate Citizens for Equality. -- JR] Dick spoke by prepared video. He emphatically contended that proposed casinos in the Catskills would be seriously flawed by a loss of state and/or federal jurisdiction over water and wasterwater issues, and the like.
Respectfully submitted, James David Audlin / Distant Eagle, Vice-Chair |
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