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Gambling Opponents Try to Block Referendum11 May 2002NEW YORK -- May 11, 2002 – As reported by the Buffalo News: ``Tough anti-casino leaders are trying to block Tuesday's Seneca Nation referendum on casinos, the tribal president says the vote will go on after one Seneca court rejected a challenge Friday. "`I have not canceled the referendum, and I have not received documents that would cancel it. I urge people to get out and vote Tuesday,' Seneca President Cyrus M. Schindler Jr. said Friday afternoon. ``He downplayed Seneca gambling opponents' claims that they have obtained a temporary restraining order blocking the referendum and described their efforts as a "ploy" to prevent members of the Seneca Nation from exercising their right to vote. ``At the Allegany Indian Reservation's Peacemakers Court earlier Friday, tribal judges rejected a separate effort to delay the vote. ``…Casino opponents insist the nation is being presented with an incomplete gambling agreement that could later be altered if it is approved. ``Seneca-run casinos in Buffalo and Niagara Falls could generate more than $1 billion in gambling revenue for the Senecas and $300 million for New York State over the life of the proposed 14-year compact. ``…A total of 4,561 Senecas are eligible to vote in the referendum. If approved, the tribe would buy property in Buffalo and Niagara Falls for casinos. Tribal land is exempt from state law barring gambling…'' |