River Rock Casino Controversy
In the early 21st century, controversy erupted in the Alexander Valley when the Alexander Valley Association of farmers, wineries and property owners objected to a proposed tribal casino to be built on land owned by the Pomo people. In 1998, the association had been able to block a large winery expansion proposed by Kendall-Jackson, but in the dispute with the Pomo casino, federal and state laws granted the tribe the right to develop the land in any way they wished. The casino was built and named River Rock Casino. Resulting traffic problems along Highway 128 following River Rock Casino's 2002 opening have led to public safety concerns during harvest season when the narrow rural roadways must accommodate tractor trailers and grape gondolas. These concerns intensified after River Rock received their liquor license in 2008.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Valley AVA
Famous quotes containing the words river, rock and/or controversy:
“We are bare. We are stripped to the bone
and we swim in tandem and go up and up
the river, the identical river called Mine
and we enter together. No one’s alone.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now.... [The Nazis] have made it clear that not only do they intend to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)