Local support has waned for the proposed Catawba Indian tribal casino in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, after local elections ousted the former pro-casino mayor.
A local advocacy group that opposes the proposed casino project says it now has a majority of seats on the local city council, after voters replaced outgoing Mayor Rick Murphrey, who supported the casino project, with challenger Scott Neisler, whom locals say isn’t as supportive of the proposed Catawba Indian casino.
“We want to lobby the council to pass a resolution reversing (earlier council support) of the casino project,” Kings Mountain Awareness Group co-founder Adam Forcade told the Kings Mountain Herald. “It’s a whole new game, now.”
Although the Kings Mountain City Council has no regulatory authority over the proposed tribal casino, it does have the power to enact enabling legislation or formally oppose it in an attempt to sway the decision-makers in the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has the only authority to approve or deny the project.
