“Number two was the efforts of the Friends of Amador County to make a presentation at the Chamber, where they, the local group, were rebuffed and the Tribe was allowed to make a presentation instead,” said Forster. The third act was the discovery that the Buena Vista Rancheria had been placed on the Chamber’s Tourism Committee without being an established business. Forster said, “Each time they (the incidents) seem to get more flagrant,” referring to the Chamber. He continued by saying, “I for one though it should not be tolerated and they (The Chamber) are taking actions to promote the tribe, which does not have a casino built (yet), when the County is still actively fighting the efforts of the tribe to build a casino-which we view as illegal.” 

After the heated discussion, which included Executive Director Lucido and Chamber President Jack Mitchell approaching the board, the board passed a motion to delay the item for two weeks to allow the parties involved, (which include the FOAC, the Chamber, and the Buena Vista Tribe) to try to work things out amongst themselves and possibly see if Tribe would be willing to resign from the Tourism Committee. The vote passed 3-2, with Supervisors Escamilla, Novelli and Oneto voting for the delay, and Supervisors Forster and Boitano voting against it. Supervisor Boitano called the entire situation, “upsetting,” while Supervisor Novelli referred to it as a “train wreck.” --We will have more in depth coverage of what was said at the meeting at noon with Karly.