The Columbian nails it: In our view, disputed homeland.

I have frequently thought that David Barnett is his own, and correspondingly, his Tribe's own worst enemy.

Well, that giant thudding sound you all heard yesterday was the sound of feet hitting the ground as folks jumped off the fence against the development of the Cowlitz Megacasino outside La Center.

Not everyone opposed to the Megacasino/massive retail center is racist. The trouble is that the knee-jerk, default position of the Tribe has ALWAYS been the cry of "racism" whenever anyone expresses concerns over this issue.

Ed Lynch fits the very definition of the phrase "Pillar of the Community." Barnett is a punk relative to Lynch, a beloved figure of many years in the local community.

In the end, when this development is denied by the Department of the Interior, the blame for the denial should begin and end with David Barnett, whose hair-trigger mouth and rampant bigotry turned so very many people off.



In Our View: Disputed Homeland

Friday, September 23, 2005
Columbian editorial writers

Is the Cowlitz Tribe engaging in "reservation shopping"? If so, and if it can be proved and then used to block a proposed tribal casino near La Center, then good for Clark County. But even if not, there are plenty of other reasons to oppose this project.

The reservation-shopping accusation is embodied in the very name of the local group opposing the casino: Citizens Against Reservation Shopping. Ed Lynch is chairman of the group that includes Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell.

The Cowlitz are claiming parts of Clark County as aboriginal territory. They don't have a reservation but clearly want to establish a historical presence here to enhance the tribe's application for reservation status, and then pursue an initial casino at a prime intersection on Interstate 5 in north Clark County.

The latest argument against the Cowlitz claim of a homelands in Clark County was made by Lynch at Tuesday's meeting of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. He said his group found a Department of Interior map from 1876 that places the Cowlitz Tribe in northern Cowlitz and Skamania counties, but not here in Clark County

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