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Two Casino Workers Killed in Blast
Two casino workers from Washington state were killed after an explosion rocked a large cargo container that is used for storage caught fire. The tragedy happened Thursday, June 29 behind the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe casino, according to Kootenai County sheriff spokesman Ben Wolfinger.
Wolfinger added that the victims were employees of the Coeur d'Alene Tribal Bingo Casino. Although positive identifications of the two charred bodies has not been made, the sheriff's department says that two casino employees are missing and they presume that the two are the victims of the explosion.
The two missing employees were identified as 56 year-old Donald S. Hanson of Fairfield, Washington and 49 year-old Richard E. Stokes of Rockford, Washington.
Dental records will be used next week to obtain positive identifications, according to Wolfinger. Whether the victims died from prolonged or sudden death is yet unclear, as is the exact cause of their death.
Police chief Keith Hutcheson declined to comment on the contents of the cargo container or what caused the fire. However, he said that it did not appear to be arson. Hutcheson would not say if any fireworks had been stored in the container, the theory coming up due to the presence of several fireworks stands that operate on the Coeur d'Alene reservation. The container had been located about 150 yards from the casino and hotel facility. The casino facilities continued operations while the fire raged. The fire was put out just over an hour later at about 9:30 am.
The unfortunate event took place on the same day that David Matheson, the casino's former manager, was supposed to hold a press conference to discuss his endeavors to provide higher profit stipends to tribe members. Matheson cancelled the scheduled press conference, claiming that he received a death threat. Purportedly, the threat was made in a Web blog, however, the man maintaining the said blog said that the blog did not contain any threatening material.
Matheson was terminated form his position in May of 2006. Prior to being fired, he sent out a letter to each of the tribe's 1,900 members saying that the casino was profitable enough that an increase of the tribal stipend from $2,000 semi-annually to about $1,500 a month was viable, according to reports by The Spokesman-Review.
The plan was dubbed "ill-considered and misguided" by Chief James Allen. He claims that Matheson's plan would drain the tribal departments to bankruptcy, the nespaper reported.