A sharply divided Amador County Board of Supervisors in California on Tuesday delayed a decision on a controversial plan to accept millions of dollars from a tiny Indian tribe in exchange for dropping legal actions to stop a major gambling resort 40 miles from Sacramento.
The intensity of the debate over the proposed casino by the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians was underscored by board Chairman Richard Forster's declaration that "I won't accept the blood money" from the planned gambling development near Highway 88 in southern Amador County.
Under a proposed settlement, the tribe would pay the county a lump sum of $18 million, plus $8 million a year, in exchange for the county dropping a federal lawsuit against the development. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a gambling agreement with the tribe — consisting primarily of a mother and her four children — that allowed it to install an unlimited number of slot machines on its 67.5 acre property. The tribe's pending agreement with the county would limit its total slots to 950.