February 11, 2010
SACRAMENTO - Friends of Amador County, an anti-casino group, filed a suit in the
California Eastern District federal court in Sacramento asking a judge to
overturn federal approvals granted to the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk
Indians for 67 acres near Ione where the tribe plans to build a casino. The
casino project will cost $150 million to build and will operate table games and
950 slot machines.
The new lawsuit alleges the land does not qualify as tribal land, and the
federal government acted illegally in granting approval.
Jerry Cassesi, president of Friends of Amador County, said the federal archives
show the inhabitants of Buena Vista Rancheria were never a tribe with a common
language and history. Instead they were the scattered remnants of many tribes
rather than local Me-Wuks.
The tribe issued a statement today that read "The allegations of the lawsuit
appear to mirror those of the lawsuit filed by the County of Amador against the
Interior Department, which was dismissed by the U.S. District Court in
Washington, D.C. We expect the same result for this lawsuit."
In 2005 an attorney with the National Indian Gaming Commission issued an opinion
that Me-Wuks had lived on the site since at least 1817 and that the land is
suitable for a tribal casino. The tribe received federal recognition in 1985.
Construction of the Buena Vista Casino was to start last summer but the tribe
has still not been issued a federal sewage discharge permit.
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