Town of Thompson urges casino plan

By TOM RUEM

MONTICELLO - Thompson town board members joined other local municipalities in supporting a proposal by representatives of the Oneida Indian Nation to open a casino at Monticello Raceway, in a unanimous vote at a March 6 meeting.

Supervisor Tony Cellini took credit for proposing the action. "I proposed the resolution for everyone's review. I don't know what [the villages of] Monticello and Liberty] are doing. This is what the county is doing," he told a board member who asked where the draft resolution came from.

Read aloud by councilman Bill James, the resolution declared: "...that we wholeheartedly support this project and we urge the Governor of the State of New York to concur with the trust land request by the Oneida Indian Nation to the benefit of all parties involved -- the Oneida Indian Nation and its members, the surrounding community of Sullivan County, the greater community of the Catskill Region, and the people of the State of New York."

The resolution was approved unanimously, without dissent from board members or anyone in the audience.

---

Above text is copyright by the author.
Duplication without permission is prohibited.