Push vs. shove
Navajo government: What do the kids think?Presidential Candidate Joe Shirley Jr. gives his opening statment at the Navajo Nation Presidential forum on Tuesday night at the Window Rock Athletic Center. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Matt Hinshaw

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — If you’ve been to Fire Rock Casino early in the morning during the first part of the week waiting on the doors to open, you might have noticed a delay. But don’t worry, all is well.

“Our normal hours have been opening at 8 a.m. and closing at 4 a.m. On weekends we can pretty much go 24 hours. But due to training, we opened two hours later on Monday and Tuesday of last week and this week,” said Ray Etcitty, counsel for the Navajo Gaming Enterprise.

Bob Winter, CEO, said Monday that the casino is short on employees “so we’re bringing them on and they have to be trained. In the casino business you have to be trained in policies and procedure.”

“Given we perceive that Thanksgiving and Christmas are slow periods, we are opening two hours late in order to provide that time for further employee training. We still have people being hired. It’s the best time to provide training for a large staff,” Etcitty said.

Each department in the casino has separate policies and procedures that have to be followed according to minimum internal controls, according to Winter. “Employees must be trained in those things. If not, they can’t operate in the casino. This is the last week for it. It’s the slow time of year and we’re taking advantage of it.”

So far, business at Fire Rock is going very well. “The business exceeds what the financial performa indicated it would be. We’re very, very happy. We’re looking to improve. We’re going to add another cage where people cash in their tickets because people are waiting too long.

We’re adding two kiosks at which people can get change rather than go to the window. That should shorten up the lines,” he said.

Once Cheii Pub & Grill is fully staffed, which is expected in the next week or so, they will go to the actual planned menu prepared by Chef Anton. “He’s been doing primarily buffet, but there’s a full menu including grilled trout and grilled salmon steaks that goes on the open grill, but we have to have the staff to do that,” Winter said.

“We are proceeding in Washington to get our liquor license, so hopefully we’ll have that fairly soon. We’re shooting to have it for our New Year’s party.”

Also sometime around the new year patrons will be treated to new visual effects in keeping with the Navajo theme. “We’re putting up what we call hogan slot machines. There will be special slot machines that when a jackpot is hit, the hogan will have some special effects,” Winter said.

In addition, they are looking to install a laser show where “eagles will fly and bears will roam all over the ceiling” once the jackpot is hit, he said.

After this week the casino will be open as many hours as the New Mexico compact allows. “We will have completed our training, at least for the bulk of the employees, and then we’ll be operating the full hours which are 24 hours Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and 18 hours Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,” Winter said, adding that all New Mexico casinos must adhere to the same rule in accordance with the law.

The slots are performing well. The only glitch has been security cameras. “You’ve got to have cameras, and there was just camera coverage on one or two banks so we had to shut four or five of them down until we got sufficient camera coverage,” he said.

Churchrock Delegate Ernest Yazzie last week received approval from the Budget and Finance Committee for a supplemental appropriation of $650,000, contingent on the availability of funds in the Unreserved, Undesignated Fund Balance, for cleanup of Lot 3 within the Churchrock Industrial Park beside the casino.

“Nine months ago I brought that up at the chapter house to do away with the junk yard, because it was an eyesore to the casino sight. It could have been cleared out and been parking space for trucks or a convention center. I’m glad it passed. When it’s cleaned up, the first thing we’re going to do is build a big convention center with everything in it so we can have meeting space there. You can just walk to the casino.” Yazzie said the site is about 21ž2 acres.