Banner Graphic, Volume 15, Number 119, Greencastle, Putnam County, 19 January 1985 — Page 3
*mw «* «m* J|p* — „ <m “Hm ** *%*
An acre-size hall that seats 6,000 allows Red Rock, Okla., to bill itself as having the world's largest bingo parlor. More than $6 million in prize money has been
Bingo bonanza
Oklahoma Indian tribe finds a gold mine in an acre-size parlor state officials can't touch
c. 1984 N. Y. Times News Service ST. LOUIS On Friday evenings, Edith Alexsevitz of a suburb of St. Louis and thousands of others like her from Michigan to Texas often board chartered buses heading for a weekend in Red Rock, Okla. Mrs. Alexsevitz happily endured the punishing 20-hour round trip for the chance to spend a recent weekend there because the town in north-central Oklahoma is the home of what is billed as the largest bingo parlor in the world. The lure is that it offers what are probably the world’s fattest purses. The acre-size hall that seats 6,000 people opened April 7. Since then bingo aficionados have taken home more than $6 million in prizes, up to $400,000 a weekend. The games are offered on alternate weekends. Mrs. Alexsevitz, a retired data processor, says she can easily play a game close to home five nights a week. “But it’s pretty tame stuff, compared to Red Rock,” she remarked. That is because Missouri closely regulates the game, as do the 41 other states in which charity bingo is legal. But the Red Rock bingo palace stands on land owned by Otoe Missouria Indian tribe, and Oklahoma cannot regulate either the size of the individual pots or the total given in prizes in a session. Around St. Louis there is a cap of SSOO on what Mrs. Alexsevitz can win in a single game in a church basement or charity bingo game, and no more than $3,600 can be given away in one session. Eight years ago the Penobscots of Maine were the first to see the potential in bingo on Indian land, with Florida’s Seminoles close behind. There were legal challenges, but in 1982 the federal appellate courts held that anything that is legal in a state cannot be regulated on an Indian reservation in that state. The ruling also applies to the tribal lands in Oklahoma, where there are no reservations. Today the Interior Department estimates that about half of the 167 reservation tribes are running bingo operations, and no-holds-barred bingo is pulling crowds to reservations from North Carolina to California. For $49 each one of the St. Louis contingent gotbus fare and a hotel room. The visitors play from noon Saturday until near midnight and again on Sunday until the buses leave for home in late afternoon. Mrs. Alexsevitz says she has won about SI,OOO in her five trips to Red Rock since April; she still remembers with relish when one of her busmates brought home SIO,OOO, crisp new bills she had stuffed in her jeans. “But it’s the fun, the companionship that keeps us coming,” Mrs. Alexsevitz said. “It’s like a big house party.” Mrs. Alexsevitz has been to the bingo hall run by the Indians in kherokee, N.C., the center of that tribe’s holdings deep in the lush Smokey Mountains. But she far prefers the bingo in dusty Red Rock. “There’s no comparison,” she said. “At Cherokee you don’t have all that friendly music and hoopla. It’s strictly business. And they don’t group you by states, with your friends, like they do at Red Rock.” Of hoopla at Red Rock there is plenty. “Deep in the Heart of Texas” blares from loudspeakers every time someone in the Texas contingent wins. In reply, the Texans stand up, ring cowbells and wave Stetsons. About 800 Texans attend any given session, so they win a lot. While some winners broadcast their good fortune, others want anonymity. “Don’t use our names,’ said one winner. “We’re Baptists.” Another said: “Mine neither. My husband’s gone fishing this weekend. He thinks I’m cleaning closets.” Back and forth between the long tables stride young Otoe Missouria men and women with aprons full of bingo sheets for sale, three games to a sheet. Hard-core bingo buffs can play as many as 21 games simultaneously, their eyes flicking up to the closed circuit television monitors and back to their sheets. Other members of the tribe run the food stands or stand guard over the games. In all, says Lem Bargeron, an Atlanta
Confession is disallowed
ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) - An effort by prosecutors to introduce an alleged confession has been denied in the trial a mentally retarded woman accused of arson and murder in the deaths of five family members. Madison Circuit Judge Fredrick R. Spencer said he denied the request Friday because prosecutors had not presented enough evidence that Phronsie I. Gully, 20, of Anderson, made the statement. Miss Gully has pleaded innocent to five charges of murder and one count of arson in the April 21 blaze that killed her adoptive parents and their three sons. In the presence of her attorney, Max Howard, and her court-appointed guardian Virginia A. Streaty, Miss Gully
awarded since the bingo palace, which is located on land owned by the Otoe Missouria Indian tribe, opened its doors last April 7. (N.Y. Times photo)
0 - " t ** f |*» . i
Vadin Elliott, a stuffed animal covering one hand, dances on the tables for luck in the Red Rock, Okla., bingo parlor. Because the parlor is located on an Indian reservation, the size of its prizes cannot be regulated by the state. Games every other weekend draw hundreds of people from surrounding states. (N.Y. Times photo) businessman who runs the operation, about 200 of the 500 resident tribal members work the sessions, some earning as much as S2OO in a weekend. Neither the tribal council nor Bargeron would divulge details of their agreement, under which Bargeron’s company. North American Indigo, built the hall and operates the bingo. But Bargeron says the tribe will get “more than $1 million” this year. Carol Walking Bull of the Pawnee Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Oklahoma, who monitors the contract, says, “I think it is a great step forward in economic development for the Otoe, and I am impressed with North American Indigo’s management.” The tribe ran a small bingo operation before, but tribal officials said they were somewhat relieved to have the administrative problems out of tribal hands. The Otoe Missouria lived in northern Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas before finally being forced in 1882 to the 1,200 acres they now own in and around Red Rock. Oklahoma is the only state where Indian tribes own their lands individually or in the name of the tribe, since it does not have reservations. Dewey Dailey, vice president of the council that governs the 1,300-member Otoe Missouria tribe, said it planned to spend the bingo profits in keeping with its heritage. His first priority is the purchase of a backhoe “to bury our dead.” “Wherever an Otoe dies,” he explained, “he comes back to Red Rock to be buried, and the tribe expects the tribal council to dig the grave. The cost to the family is nothing. We had a backhoe once, but it wore out long ago.” Dailey, a retired computer supervisor for an oil company, also wants to augment the tribe’s cattle herd, now numbering about 50. Other projects envisioned include creating a tribal water district, building a power plant and providing housing.
allegedly confessed to setting the fire. The defense attorney contended the statement was made in a confidential client-attorney relationship. In testimony Friday, an Anderson Fire Department investigator said the fire appeared to have been set deliberately “We eliminated all possible accidental causes,” said Charles McKissick. He was one of four firemen to testify Friday. McKissick said an inspection of the house indicated the fire started in a small couch in the family room. Testimony from McKissick is expected to continue when the trial resumes next Tuesday. Spencer said other matters were scheduled in the Madison Circuit Court Monday.
Budget Prices Reg. ! 35 WAVES $1 COO Now Only T I J includes cut and style GLORIA'S Beauty Shop 325 Arlington St. 653-8957
International Harvester plants are hit by midnight UAW strike
CHICAGO (AP) The United Auto Workers struck International Harvester at midnight Friday, affecting up to 12,000 workers in eight states, company and union officials said A 14-hour bargaining session broke down about 11 p.m. because of IH’s refusal to restore benefits it had promised to restore during the 1982 rounds of negotiations, said UAW vice president Bill Casstevens, who heads the bargaining team. The strike began at midnight EST and affects workers in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Minnesota and Kansas, said Peter Laarmen, a union negotiator. The strike affects 11,000 to 12,000 workers, said Bill Greenhill, a spokesman for the Chicago-based maker of heavyduty trucks and diesel engines. The walkout also will affect 16,000 to 17,000 laid-off workers, he said. Greenhill, who said no new negotiations were scheduled, refused to discuss specific issues. However, he said the strike would have no immediate impact on the company because all production operations scheduled for Friday were nearly completed before the strike deadline. Casstevens said the UAW bargaining team would be available to bargain through the weekend “if Harvester management is prepared to address our members’ needs on a realistic baisis.” He warned that negotiators would return to their locals to join picket lines Monday morning if final agreement was not reached by late Sunday night.
'Tough-minded patriots' named to U.S. arms negotiating team
WASHINGTON (AP) President Reagan has named three new negotiators short on bargaining experience but “tough-minded patriots” to try to work out agreement with the Soviet Union to reduce nuclear weapons. The three are Max M Kampelman, a conservative Democrat; former Texas Sen. John G. Tower, a conservative Republican; and career foreign service officer Maynard W. Glitman. Kampelman will be in overall charge, while also handling “Star Wars" and other missile-defense issues, while Tower will seek reductions in long-range bombers, missiles and submarines. Glitman will concentrate on nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. “Each one of these men is a toughminded patriot,” Secretary of State George P. Shultz said Friday in announcing their appointment at the White House. He also called them “pro-American and
Mexico nixes plans for IBM plant
c. 1985 N.V. Times MEXICO CITY The Mexican government Friday rejected a plan by the International Business Machines Corp. to build a wholly foreign-owned plant to produce its microcomputers here. The National Commission on Foreign Investment said it had rejected the plan to build personal computers here “on the terms proposed by the company” because “there are already companies in existence that manufacture them with a majority of national capital.” The IBM proposal has been looked upon in the foreign business community as a test of the government’s stated intention to allow more flexible terms for foreign investment. Whether the plan can be revived was unclear. A statement from the IBM de Mexico subsidiary confirmed that the plan had “not been accepted in the terms originally proposed. ” But it added that it would “continue an open dialogue with our government, examining alternatives and other types of proposals and schemes that would permit us to offer our microcomputers to users in the country.” As late as Tuesday, representatives of both IBM and the government had said
Rumors
5 E. Franklin St., Greencastle says
f you're having a I mm i f \ I Come celebrate with us. I \ SAT., JAN. 19th / A music by PROPHECY fi V 9:30 - ? jy /Tj) Pool Tournament 8 p.m. (r% Drink Specials for Capricorns s —j PRIZES
Hoosiers join walkout
By The Associated Press Indiana workers joined the strike early today by 11,500 unionized em ployees against International Harvester. The company has about 2,000 United Auto Workers members at its engine factory and foundry in Indianapolis. “We got the word from Chicago. We took them out at 12:01 (a m.),” said William Klepper, Local 98
“We would like to get a settlement, but it’s quite clear we can’t get it on the basis of what the company’s telling us tonight,” Casstevens said in a telephone interview Friday night. According to Greenhill, the old contract was set to expire last Sept. 30, but “by mutual agreement, it was extended in definitely” and included “a provision tha' said it could be terminated on five-day’s notice.” The latest round of talks over “economic and non-economic matters” between IB officials and the union began Jan. 8 The union “exercised its option” Jan. 11 and announced it was terminating the con tract, effective midnight Friday, Greenhill said Greenhill said no new negotiations were scheduled.
pro-our allies.” Tower replaces Edward L. Rowny, who handled strategic negotiations until the talks broke down in December 1983, while Glitman takes over for Paul H. Nitze, who was in charge of the now-suspended Euromissile negotiations. Shultz said the two former negotiators would serve in Washington as special advisers, joining him and Kenneth Adelman, the director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, in helping Reagan set policy. However, Shultz emphasized, “I think it’s very much a presidential operation,” with Reagan making the decisions. "In the end, we’re all reporting to the president.” he said. Glitman, the only one of the three with experience in nuclear weapons negotiations, served under Nitze in the Euromissile talks and headed the U.S. delegation in talks with the Soviets on reducing troops in Central Europe. Those
that talks were progressing on a plan that would have allowed the giant computer maker to retain complete foreign ownership of its plant in return for concessions on such items as the levels of domestic content, fixed capital and employment. Commenting on Friday’s announcement, one foreign business analyst, who asked not to be identified, predicted that the IBM decision “will be a watershed,” and that the rejection of the plan would send “a clear signal about the future” to potential investors. The foreign investment commission, in a statement, said it would continue an “active and selective” policy of permitting foreign investment, including majority foreign ownership, “so long as it does not displace national capital and responds to the objectives of the economic programs of the federal government." The commission said it had approved 70 percent of the applications submitted last
"Good service, good coverage. good priceThat's State Farm insurance."
Al TUCKER, Agent tndi Miles, Off. Mgr. 416 S. Bloomington Greencastle, IN Bus. 317-653-9007 Res. 317-795-4758
/ —\ STATf FARM INSURANCE ’J
Like a good neighbor. Slate Farm is there State Farm Insurance Companies Home Offices Bloomington Illinois
January 19,1985, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic
recording secretary. “They were ready (to strike) when the word came down.” Negotiators were apart on economic issues, but talks continued, Klepper said About 300 UAW members of two locals were on strike at Harvester plants in Fort Wayne. A union spokesman said pickets would be out although the plants are closed for the weekend.
Illinois manufacturing operations that would be covered by the “master contract” are plants at East Moline, Rock Island and Melrose Park. An engineering center in suburban Hinsdale would also be affected The contract would also affect plants in Indianapolis, Springfield, Ohio, and Memphis, Tenn. Most of the plants make trucks or truck equipment . Greenhill noted that under Harvester’s tentative agreement with Tenneco, Inc., the Houston-based company will take over operations in East Moline and Hinsdale. The Memphis plant is also set to be closed, he said. Under the Harvester-Tenneco agreement, announced in November, Tenneco will purchase selected assets of Harvester’s North American and European agricultural equipment operations.
negotiations are stalemated. The Soviets agreed earlier this month to return to the bargaining table under an arrangement that adds defensive systems, such as the U.S. anti-missile research program and Soviet radar installations, to the agenda. Shultz said a date and site for the talks had not been set. Kampelman, a lawyer, was associated initially with the late liberal Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey and now serves Reagan as the U.S. ambassador in negotiations to reduce East-West tensions in Europe. Tower, in the Senate for 24 years and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was an ardent champion of weapons programs and a foe of the 1979 Strategic Arms Limitation treaty with the Soviet Union. He told reporters “it was not in the security interests of the United States. It did not, in fact, limit nuclear capabilities.”
year and had authorized total foreign investment of $1 56 billion, including major projects for the Ford Motor Co. and the Black & Decker Manufacturing Co. How much of that authorization will be exercised by the companies is not certain. The IBM plan has been controversial since it was first announced in March 1984. It provided for a $6.6 million expansion of the company’s existing facilities in El Salto, near Guadalajara, and the employment of 80 Mexican workers to produce an estimated 600,000 personal computer units over the next five years. Some 90 percent of the production would have been for export to other Latin American countries. In addition, IBM vowed to keep prices within 15 percent of those in the United States
LADIES... Looking for some- ‘ thing to do on SUPER BOWL SUNDAY? Shop LINK'S
EVERYTHING PLUS SALE ° o Sunday,Jan. 20 noon ’til 5 p.m.
0% INTEREST for one ye&r or 5% cash discount 'cftkm 24 S. Indiana, Greencastle
A3