"What's New" — Tribe plays tit for tat with La Center

La Center’s negative response to the Cowlitz Tribe’s sewer proposal Wednesday (June 13, 2007) has resulted in the tribe cutting off all negotiations with the town.

The La Center City Council voted 4-1 to turn down the tribe’s offer to extend the city’s sewer lines west to the site of the proposed casino and to pay half the cost of upgrading the city’s sewage treatment plant.

On Thursday, The Columbian reported that the tribe is “through trying to work with the city of La Center.”

The city’s response to the sewer agreement is at least the third time it has rebuffed the tribe.

Feb. 1, 2006, Cowlitz Tribe Chairman John Barnett, backed by attorneys from Vancouver, Seattle and Washington, D.C., presented Mayor Jim Irish with a draft agreement that would have compensated the city for some lost revenue for up to 10 years. The city never responded. That night it asked that the Department of the Interior set aside a questionable opinion saying that the proposed casino site is “Indian lands.”

Last month, the city council unanimously approved a resolution stating its strong opposition to the casino project.

We applaud La Center for keeping its message to federal decision-makers clear: No casino—not here—please.

>>Read about Wednesday’s city council decision in The Columbian.

>>Read Thursday’s report in The Columbian.