Press Release Summary = Marian Ilitch and Michael J. Malik, Sr. partners in Detroit, Michigan-based Barwest, LLC are bankrolling legal challenges and other attempts to block any public vote that would demonstrate local support for Indian gaming in Barstow, CA
Press Release Body = BARSTOW, Ca -- In sworn court testimony this last week, it was revealed that gambling interests behind Detroit-based Barwest, LLC are the driving force and the million dollar bank account funding a last ditch lawsuit intended to remove a Barstow ballot measure on Indian gaming removed from the June ballot. Attorneys representing the \"Committee for 2800 New Jobs,\" a group led by former Barstow Councilman Manuel \"Gil\" Gurule, filed a counter motion (anti-SLAPP motion) in Barstow District Superior Court (CASE NO. BCV 08816) this month to protect the constitutional rights of Barstow\'s voters. The legal move was introduced to bring to the court\'s attention the relentless effort Detroit-based Barwest has made to interfere with the constitutional rights of Barstow locals. Since 2003, Barwest has refused to support any public vote in Barstow despite requests from both supporters and opponents of Indian gaming.
\"We\'ve worked too hard for the right to vote,\" said Gurule, \"despite a series of aggressive, unethical and border-line criminal efforts by Mayor Lawrence Dale with support from his friends in Detroit. It's been a real fight since the July 4th weekend when the Mayor interfered with our first amendment rights." Gurule explained, "Barwest wants total control over the future of gaming in Barstow and we think the citizens should be in control."
"We don't control what Marian Ilitch can and can't do in Detroit; likewise, we don't think Mrs. Ilitch should have total control of our destiny."
Gurule's group circulated petitions and gathered 2,200 signatures which were submitted at the end of Summer 2005. In December 2005, months after the Barstow City Council certified the voter backed initiative and set it for the June 2006 ballot, a Barwest connected attorney from San Francisco made a surprise appearance at a Barstow City Council meeting. He said he represented some newly formed local group that would seek to have the measure removed from the June 2006 ballot. The attorney said he represented Greg Lint and a other Barstow citizens as well as the Los Coyotes tribe. He informed the council these locals were going to back the Mayor\'s relentless effort to block any public vote on Indian gaming matters.
In sworn court testimony recently, Greg Lint failed to offer proof that any such group was formally established. He explained he was recruited by Barwest operatives at the last minute to be the face of their \"citizens group.\" In truth, Lint and a woman who also resides with Lint are the only Barstow residents truly involved.
Fred Woocher, attorney for the Gurule lead group backing the right to vote said, \"In several hours of back to back testimony, Lint and Kevin Siva, Los Coyotes tribal leader and his tribe\'s casino resort project manager, testified under oath, that they knew little at all about the frivolous law suit and to our shock, did not demonstrate much command of the facts and circumstances of the Barstow casino resort development proposals either. It is unfortunate to see the pair being used by people from Detroit.\"
Gurule added, \"The testimony of Kevin Siva demonstrates the Los Coyotes tribe is unfortunately being used by Barwest in order to further the financial gains of Barwest principles Ilitch and Malik and maintain the Detroit gambling operator\'s exclusive strangle hold on Barstow\'s future." "Ilitch and Malik have the Mayor under their spell and the Detroit gambling operators will go to any extreme to guarantee they, and no one else, control the destiny, or the fate, of a Barstow casino resort.\"
\"Barwest demonstrates little regard for those of us they call their \'partners:\' the taxpayers and voters of Barstow and the well intended Indian tribes who have simple dreams of hope and opportunity.\"
\"Barwest doesn\'t think twice about threatening lawsuits to bully and intimidate Barstow taxpayers. They are using the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon Indians to score gambling millions, even billions, while they keep tribal leaders muzzled and in the dark. This is not what the federal government or the voters of California intended.\"
Web Site = http://
Contact Details = Manuel \"Gil\" Gurule manuelgurule@verizon.net
Committee for 2800 New Jobs 841 Linda Lane Barstow, CA 92311 (760) 256-7828
2025
