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As one of many Native Americans in this state working to promote tribal self-sufficiency, I was appalled by the recent articles printed in the Arizona Daily Star about the impacts of Indian gaming in Southern Arizona.

Nationally, Arizona is consistently held up as a model for Indian gaming in terms of our compacts, our regulatory structure and how gaming is fostering economic development among tribes in this state.

While I understand that Indian gaming is a complex topic, in the past reporters and editors have grasped the fundamental facts about our industry. This was not the case for the Star's reporters and editors.

I could correct numerous problems, but I will address just three.

Contrary to what the Star's reporters stated, Indian gaming was never intended to eliminate the tribes' need or eligibility for federal and state funding.

Prior to gaming, the level of funding, particularly federal funding, was inadequate to meet the needs of tribes. Indian gaming allows tribes to generate funds to supplement the inadequate funding that has been available through the federal government.

As any government will attest, many state and federal funds are tied to the ability to provide matching funds. Had the Star understood this, it would have known that tribes today are not more reliant on federal funds. Rather, because of gaming, they are better able to capture some of the funding they are eligible for.

The Star also noted that more tribal people are enrolled in federal programs such as food stamps and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. But it missed why this is the case.

The federal government has made a big effort in recent years to sign up more people for these programs. Consequently, statewide the number of individuals on food stamps has increased 78 percent from 2001 to 2007. In the Tohono O'odham Nation during this same period, the number of people on food stamps has increased 21 percent while the number of people on food stamps in the Pascua Yaqui Tribe is up by just 17 percent.

The story is the same for AHCCCS. Statewide the number of individuals on AHCCCS increased by 106 percent from 2001 to 2007. It is up just 59 percent for the Tohono O'odham Nation and 46 percent for Pascua Yaqui during the same period.

The Star did not mention that the increases are the result of the state actively encouraging more families to enroll in this program because people with insurance are more likely to use preventive health care rather than depend upon more costly emergency room services.

Additionally, AHCCCS is able to use federal funding for Native American members, which eliminates any impact on state funds.

Finally, the Star misrepresented the facts about unemployment. Before gaming, tribes faced extraordinarily high rates of unemployment.

The article noted that the overall unemployment rates have not changed in 18 years. Yet that same story pointed out that the Tohono O'odham Nation cut its unemployment rate from 60 percent before gaming to 18 percent now, a dramatic drop that any government would be proud to claim.

I can only conclude that either the Star did not understand the subject or deliberately misrepresented the facts. Either way, this newspaper has done a disservice to the public, tribal governments and tribal people.

Some problems take more than money to fix — a fact that also escaped the Star. Tribes know that gaming is delivering what it promised, but they also understand that building strong economies and healthy societies takes expertise, experience and, most of all, time.