The Colville Tribal Enterprise Corp. board of directors plans to meet with the Colville Business Council at 1 p.m. Monday, July 21, at tribal headquarters near Nespelem to discuss the plan for the new Omak casino project.
     “Due to the ‘inadvertent discovery’ (of human remains) by the tribe’s history and archeology department during preliminary site work yesterday, we will need to meet with the council to discuss future development possibilities, including alternate sites,” said CTEC board chairman John MacClain said late July 16.
     Tribal officials announced July 15 that the remains were found on the site just south of Dayton Street in Omak.
     "We have no choice but to stop the excavation and all construction at the site," said Colville Business Council chairwoman Jeanne Jerred.
     “Nothing is more important than the protection of our sacred sites,” said Jerred. “We require others to adhere to our laws and regulations to protect archaeological and prehistoric sites, and we can do no less ourselves."
     The order also requires CTEC, which operates the tribe’s three casinos, to search for an alternative site for the casino.
     “We will continue to work cooperatively with our tribal leaders and tribal departments to develop the plan that moves this project forward with their support,” said MacClain.
     The $24 million, 58,000-square-foot casino would have been the tribe's largest and first permanent casino, according to Michelle Campobasso, a spokeswoman with CTEC. The casino was scheduled to open in 2009.
     Jerred said that given the atmosphere of the council and the order for CTEC to find another site, repatriation of the remains to another location to allow for construction of the casino is not an option.
     “I do not think it is any longer an option to remain there” at the same site, Jerred said. “The process will need to be started again.”