Casino Liquor License Fought

About 70 agencies and individuals, including the Alexander Valley School District and the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, are protesting the Dry Creek Rancheria's application for a state license to serve liquor at River Rock Casino.

The prospect of tired and possibly intoxicated drivers leaving the hilltop casino and sharing the Alexander Valley's winding roads with school-bound children concerns school and law enforcement officials.

"When you look at the situation, it's oil and water. It just doesn't mix," said Michael McEvoy, superintendent and principal at rural Alexander Valley School. Sheriff Bill Cogbill echoed that concern and also said that beer, wine and hard liquor service at the casino would increase calls for service within a 535-square-mile zone covered by two patrol deputies.

"We're already pretty busy," Cogbill said. Since the casino pays no property taxes, it affords the county no added resources for law enforcement, the sheriff said. River Rock officials have offered to share the wealth with the county, but the county has been unwilling to discuss a revenue-sharing deal that could provide money for law enforcement.

The Dry Creek Pomos also said the casino would abide by all state regulations, including the refusal to serve drinks to intoxicated persons. "We'll do everything we can to make sure our customers stay safe," said Curtis Steinhoff, a casino spokesman.

The casino includes a bar and a separate area, called the Wine Creek Room, designed to showcase Alexander Valley wines, Steinhoff said. River Rock Casino, which opened in September on the Dry Creek Pomos' 75-acre rancheria on Highway 128, has been busy enough at times to turn away customers.

It is Sonoma County's and the Bay Area's first Indian casino, and with 1,600 slot machines it may earn about $146 million a year, although tribal officials decline to discuss their revenue. The tribe's application for an on-sale liquor license, submitted in February, is currently pending before the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

An investigation of the protests and a public hearing must be held before a license is approved, a process that will take about three months, alcohol control officials said.

One common objection to the casino -- that it is out of place in Alexander Valley -- isn't within the alcohol control department's purview, said Scott Warnock, supervising investigator in the agency's Santa Rosa district office.

The most common reason for rejecting a liquor license, Warnock said, is that it deprives people of the "quiet enjoyment of the neighborhood." But that applies only to people within 100 feet of the premises, and there are no neighbors that close to the casino.

Warnock said state law will prevent River Rock from serving free drinks to gamblers, as Nevada casinos do, and restrict the hours during which alcohol can be served. Drinks must be sold for the retailer's cost plus 6 percent, Warnock said. And even though the casino runs 24 hours a day, liquor sales must halt between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Superintendent McEvoy said a casino patron could start drinking at 6 a.m. and be on the road, intoxicated, when school buses are rolling and students are waiting for them by the side of the road.

One school bus stop is on a blind curve within a half-mile of the casino entrance. "It's a volatile situation," he said. Alexander Valley residents have repeatedly cited the risk of increased accidents due to casino-generated traffic. But CHP statistics show no increase to date.

On Highway 128 between Highway 101 and Geysers Road, the CHP reported 15 collisions, 12 of them involving injuries, since September, when the casino opened. In the same period, September to May, a year earlier, there were 19 collisions, 11 involving injuries, CHP Officer Shannon King said.