Madera County supervisors reaffirmed their support Tuesday for the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians' plans for a $250 million casino and resort north of Madera.
Supervisors were compelled to weigh in after Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein questioned whether there is local support for the casino in a letter sent last month to Madera County leaders.
They voted 4-1 to send a letter outlining the steps the county has gone through over seven years to approve a site for the casino, which will have 2,500 slot machines.
The 305-acre site next to Highway 99 is 36 miles from the North Fork rancheria.
Supervisor David Rogers said he voted against the letter to Feinstein because he opposes gambling, not the tribe.
The supervisors' letter said the casino will create thousands of jobs in a community beset by 14.4% unemployment and pump up to $50 million into the local economy each year in the sales of products and services.
Feinstein gave Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and his Indian affairs staff two months to verify casino supporters' claims that the project has local support.
Madera County support isn't enough for Cheryl Schmit, director of Sacramento-based Stand Up California, a group opposing off-reservation gambling.
She noted the city and county of Fresno oppose the project and said that nine other local governments didn't respond to requests for support.
"There has been no response for widespread support," Schmit said.
But Darren Schmall, who operates a winery in Madera County, told the supervisors that the casino will bring revenue and people to the county. When more people come, he said, there will be more opportunity to sell Madera County products.
"As a business owner in the tourism industry, a casino would be a tremendous asset to us," he said.
North Fork Rancheria leaders said they have federal permission to build on Highway 99 because they have no land for a casino on the rancheria.
The tribe's 61 acres is designated for homes, said Elaine Bethel Fink, North Fork's tribal chairwoman.
But leaders of other tribes told the supervisors they oppose the project, because North Fork is not being held to the same standard requiring that casinos be built on reservation land, as they were.
"Be fair and equal to every tribe," said Morris Reid, a leader in the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, which runs a casino and hotel on Highway 41 near Coarsegold. "This will cut out the tribes that played by the rules."
To build the casino, the North Fork tribe needs support from Gov. Jerry Brown, who is expected to issue a decision by September, tribal leaders said.
 

The reporter can be reached at mbenjamin@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6166.