Chapter OKs liquor at casino
Official: 'We want to take as much business as we can from Gallup'

By Karen Francis
Staff writer

CHURCHROCK — The Churchrock Chapter voted overwhelmingly to recommend the approval of the sale of alcoholic beverages at the proposed site for the Navajo Nation’s first gaming facility.

Only one person opposed when the vote came before the chapter members during a special meeting Thursday evening. The final vote was 36 in favor, 1 opposed and 1 abstaining.

Dorothy Gray voted in favor of the resolution because she said that Gallup businesses have taken too much money from residents.

“They just take our money. With this, so much percent is going to come back to this community,” she said.

Noreen Kelly also voted in favor of the resolution. She said that if the gaming facility provides quality amenities, then people would not have to travel to other gaming facilities for entertainment.

“A lot of people travel out of town and the idea is to keep the revenue here in the Churchrock-Gallup area,” she said.

The vote followed a presentation by Navajo Gaming Enterprise interim CEO Robert Winter where he updated the chapter members on the status of the temporary facility to be located on Sunside Road and urged the chapter members to consider the resolution from a business perspective.

“It is our intent to build a quality restaurant,” he said. “We want to take as much business as we can from Gallup. That means we have to compete with Gallup. We have to offer better services, and we have to offer equal services.”

Winter painted a picture of a fine dining establishment at the casino where alcohol would only be served with meals and not beyond the dining floor.

“F&B (food and beverage) is closely related to amount of profits,” he said adding that if there are no food and beverage sales, customers must go off the premises to get it and may not come back. F&B affects profits 10 to 12 percent, he said.

Navajo Nation Council delegate for Churchrock, Ernest Yazzie, Jr. said that he will introduce the legislation to Council now that the people have voted in favor of it.

“Today it’s a good day and historic day for us on the eastern side of the reservation,” Yazzie said.

Yazzie is optimistic that the Council will agree with the community and allow limited alcohol sales, similar to the way limited alcohol sales are allowed at Antelope Point in the LeChee Chapter

“The Council all knows we need it and we’re behind schedule,” he said.

Winters told the chapter members that the facility would not be open before June 2008, which would give the Churchrock Chapter time to obtain local governance certification. With local governance certification, the chapter would be able to keep all revenue from sales tax on goods and services. Without it, the tax revenues go to central government for re-distribution to the agencies.

This is the first time that Winter has addressed the Churchrock community in the four months that he has been working for the nation. However, he has had numerous meetings with chapter officials and has been in discussions with Gallup city officials to prepare for the infrastructure.

He said that his meetings with the city of Gallup indicate that it has the resources to handle the proposed facility’s need for utilities, water and sewage waste.

“One exception is fire. We need to build a tower,” Winter said adding that the construction of the water tower is in the budget.

What is not in the budget is the construction of a “diamond site” off Interstate Highway 40 to attract traffic. A ramp off I-40 would cost $30 million, Winter said.

Making necessary improvements to the frontage road so that it could handle increased traffic would cost an estimated $800,000 and that is within the realm of the budget that has been prepared for the facility, Winter said.

All the plans depend of course on whether or not the Council approves legislation authorizing the Navajo Nation to receive a line of credit for $100 million from J.P. Morgan Chase to finance the development and construction of gaming facilities.  

The legislation, which requires 59 votes or more because of a waiver of sovereign immunity, is on the Council’s agenda for a special session scheduled for Sept. 28.

The proposed facility would include a 20,000-25,000 sq. foot casino with 350 slots and seven table games. According to the 2007 GVA Marquette Financial Feasibility study results, such a facility would cost approximately $20 million dollars and could possibly bring in up to $13 million in net profit.

Churchrock Chapter President Johnny Livingston said the groundbreaking for the proposed temporary facility will likely take place in November.