Manuelito I-40 casino plans fold

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The Manuelito Chapter's chances of starting construction on the Navajo Nation's first casino at Gallup's doorstep by the end of the year were already less than good, ever since President Joe Shirley Jr. promised to bestow that honor on the Nahata Dziil Chapter near Navajo, Ariz., instead.

But when 39 members of the Manuelito Chapter voted unanimously last weekend to sever all ties with the Tse Ndeeshglizh Corporation, they did away with just about any chance they had left.

While most people have heard at least vague talk of a casino coming to Gallup, few have likely heard of the Tse Ndeeshglizh Corporation. Registered with the Navajo Nation's Business Regulatory Department, it was the chapter's attempt to turn that talk into reality. With questionable competence, and at times overstating its progress, the corporation had been negotiating with local governments and a Las Vegas gaming company for over a year.

But it was the corporation's choice of a consultant, Oswaldo Galarza, that finally convinced chapter members to sever ties, according to chapter President Milton Davidson.

"(Galarza) wanted things his way," Davidson said. "He just rushed and he (told) the people, 'I want this done, I want it this way,' " Davidson said. "And the people said, 'We don't want to work with him.' "

A private entrepreneur, Galarza was advising the corporation on its gaming plans; however, Davidson believes Galarza only hurt the chapter's chances "because he didn't tell the truth to the (chapter's) board members, to the chapter, to the people. That's why (the president's office) lost interest."

Davidson said he did not know about a deal Galarza struck with Full House Resorts the Las Vegas gaming company the corporation chose to develop and operate the casino it planned to build for a share of the gaming revenues until a Full House official told him about it.

For its part, the president's office said Galarza had nothing to do with Shirley's decision to endorse Nahata Dziil's gaming bid first.

Davidson had no regrets about splitting with Galarza and the corporation, although he was disappointed about the opportunity he believes they've cost the chapter. Back when the chapter's hopes were still high, the corporation was touting a casino that would have 600 slot machines and at least as many employees.

"(The casino) was mainly for the community, for our people, for jobs," Davidson said, not just for Manuelito, but for the surrounding chapters as well.

Corporation President Rhonda Ray hung up when she was called for comment.

The split between the Manuelito Chapter and the Tse Ndeeshglizh Corporation does not necessarily mean the end of gaming near Gallup.

A tribally commissioned study of 11 potential casino sites across the Navajo reservation ranked the Gallup area fourth, and the president's office hasn't ruled it out as one of the six sites Shirley eventually wants the tribe to build casinos.

There's also the 12 acres Full House Resorts still owns adjacent to the tribal allotment land on which the chapter planned to build its casino, on the south side of Interstate 40 just east of the port of entry. Full House Chief Operating Officer Greg Violette said the company was still holding out hope that the tribe will chose Gallup for one of its casinos. Wary of gaming after its experience with Galarza, the chapter, said Davidson, would rather see the land turned into a gas station/truck stop, not that it has any say in the matter.

Full House was deeded the property last September by Manuelito Titleholding, which lists Mary Clare Moser a business partner of Galarza's and the former Vice President of Development and Design for the Tse Ndeeshglizh Corporation as its manager. Staff at the McKinley County Assessor's Office said they had no information on whether the transfer involved a financial transaction, and Violette declines to comment on what if anything Full House paid for the land.

The split between the chapter and the corporation does not necessarily mean the end of Tse Ndeeshglizh either.

Because the corporation is registered with the tribe's Business Regulatory Department, Galarza said, it still exists.

"The chapter has no power to (do) away with anything," he said.

That's a far cry from the image Ray has tried to created for the corporation. In a Feb. 15 news release about progress on the chapter's casino projects, she describes the corporation as "100 percent chapter owned." A previous news release describes it as the "development arm of the chapter." The corporation even gave the chapter 1,000 shares in itself worth $1 each according to Galarza but now wants them back.

Whatever the corporation's status, Galarza said he and Tse Ndeeshglizh were no longer interested in a casino. Their next project, he said, is a processing plant that would turn used tires into fuel oil. Another project Galarza said he and the corporation were working on aims to extract oil and gas from the San Juan Basin and sell it to power companies for refinement.

Whatever those ventures come to, he said, the chapter will now have no stake in them.

The chapter would seem to want it no other way.