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Rural Residents Upset with Cache Creek Casino

CAPAY, California – As reported by the LA Times: "Thaddeus Barsotti remembers when he could ride his bicycle along the two-lane highway next to his family farm here, meeting only an occasional slow-moving tractor.

"Nowadays, the bike is in the barn. Barsotti, 23, spends time coming to the aid of motorists who barrel through his fence in their race to the giant Cache Creek casino a few miles up the road.

"…Before the proliferation of Indian casinos began changing the face of California, the beautiful, secluded Capay Valley was a quiet enclave for organic farmers like Barsotti and for nature lovers who came to watch the large tule elk herd and the bald eagle colonies.

"…What started as a modest bingo parlor already attracts thousands of customers daily. The throngs clog narrow State Route 16 bisecting the valley, boost crime rates and turn the country night sky into a spectral glow of 24-hour commerce.

"According to Bruce Naliboss, an investigator for the Yolo County district attorney, the Cache Creek casino accounted for 97 drug arrests in the 12-month period ending Feb. 10, more than twice the number than in the nearby university town of Davis, which has a population of more than 60,000.

"…Faced with the tribe's federally granted sovereignty, local government has been unable to slow the rapid pace of expansion or control its scale.

"…Helen McCloskey, who raises dogs and bottles her own olive oil, has been known to chase reckless drivers to the door of the casino. After she watched one driver weave in and out of traffic on State Route 16, she followed him to the casino and wrote 'drunk driver' on the side of his car in red lipstick.

"Ex-Marine Pete McCloskey, who once ran for president against fellow Republican Richard Nixon, was a prominent leader in the anti -Vietnam War movement. A year ago, McCloskey drove his tractor in a motorized protest against the casino expansion…"

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