Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Seneca Gaming Corporation is looking at another shakeup. The board has relieved Jeffrey Gill of his duties as chairman and elected former Seneca Nation treasurer Kevin Seneca. The board didn't give a reason for the vote at Monday's meeting. Gill had served only four months after Seneca President Barry Snyder Sr. forced Cochise Redeye out. He served as chairman for only six months. Redeye and Gill were both part of a faction of board members who ousted Snyder as gaming board chairman after he refused to cooperate with an audit looking at the Hickory Stick golf course purchase. Gill was in federal court Friday when disbarred attorney Timothy Toohey admitted that he had embezzled $202,000 in the Hickory Stick land deal. So far, Toohey is the only one charged in connection with the land deal. Federal officials say as much as $900,000 may have been taken from the Senecas.

Seneca Nation President Barry Snyder Sr. was among the dignitaries on hand to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel in Salamanca today. During the ceremonies, Seneca Gaming Corporation Chairman Cochise Redeye said one of the new initiatives this year will be an employee bonus policy. He said the reason for instating the bonus policy is a renewed commitment to improve employee culture.

New Seneca Gaming Board Chairman Norman "Cochise" Redeye says his request to have former chairman Barry Snyder Sr. removed from the board is nothing personal. He says the board is just trying to do what's best for the Seneca people. Redeye says Snyder refused to be interviewed by auditors, who criticized Seneca Gaming's $2.1 million purchase of land in Lewiston for a championship golf course. The auditors also looked at the disappearance of $250,000 in Seneca Gaming money that was to bring gaming Buffalo; and how a Seneca program had been used to make a few Senecas wealthy, including the woman who lives with Snyder's son.

Barry Snyder Sr. has been removed as chairman of the Seneca Gaming Corporation by the company's board of directors. In a surprise vote, the board got rid of Snyder then elected Norman "Cochise" Redeye to replace him. Snyder's control of Seneca Gaming has been questioned recently. Construction projects have been halted and employees have been laid off because of declining revenues. Seneca Gaming's annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission reported a 13.9 percent drop in earnings last year. Snyder remains as president of the Seneca Nation of Indians.