Barstow casino project extensions issued

Legislature has until Sept. 17 to approve compact By AARON AUPPERLEE Staff Writer

BARSTOW - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Big Lagoon Rancheria and the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians announced the extension of two major deadlines for the Barstow casino project on Thursday. The extension agreements, signed by Schwarzenegger and representatives from the two tribes, prolong the land into trust deadline and the legislative deadline until Sept. 17. The compacts originally stated that the land in Barstow set aside for the casino had to be made into reservation land and determined eligible for gaming by Thursday and that the legislature had to approve the compacts by Aug. 31. "Today's agreement gives the legislature until the end of the this year's session to approve this balanced solution to a dilemma that has spanned more than a decade," the governor stated in a release from his office. Virgil Moorehead, chairman of the Big Lagoon Rancheria, has grown weary of the process and said the Sept. 17 deadline would be the final deadline. If a deal isn't made by then, he said, they group will shift attention away from Barstow and back to the Big Lagoon in Humboldt County. For the Los Coyotes, the extension allows them to turn their attention back to the legislature and focus on the fight there, said Tom Shields, spokesman for the group. Shields said the extension shows that the governor remains confident in the project and the progress of the land into trust process.