Oneidas credit gambling for sharp turnaround in fortunes By JULIET WILLIAMS Associated Press Writer ONEIDA, Wis. (AP) - The laughs and squeals of kindergarten children swinging from multicolored playground equipment fill the space outside the Oneida Tribal School, a modern, turtle-shaped enclave with legs for classrooms and unlimited learning inside. The turtle, a legendary creature in the story of the Oneida Nation, decorates the sleek curving walls and floors inside the school, where children learn a mix of the new and old. The Oneida have time to focus on tradition now that residents' basic needs are met through dozens of social services and commercial ventures. A cultural center, Oneida language programs and a traditional garden employ tribal members on the sprawling 20,000-acre reservation near Green Bay. Amenities include a fitness center, a 27-officer police force, a career center, drug and alcohol abuse programs and job training for the previously impoverished. Most of it is thanks to gaming. Oneida casino patrons spent about $165 million in 2001, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. U.S. Census figures show the poverty rate of families on the reservation dropped to just 4 percent in 2000, from 22.6 percent in 1990. The median household income, or midpoint income, was a whopping $60,404 in 2000, more than a third higher than the state overall. Outside the tribe's new $16 million one-stop health center, late model SUVs and minivans crowd the parking lot. Climbing into one of them is Jerry M. Hill, 64, who remembers leaving the reservation decades ago, first for school, then to work. "There was nothing going on," said Hill, who returned later to help start the tribal school. "Really until gaming came along there really were no jobs with any career potential to them." Tribal home ownership programs encourage home ownership. Another plan moves elderly residents out of dilapidated homes into modern ones on their own property. In the low-rent Three Sisters subdivision on the edge of reservation land, yellow ribbons and American flags flap outside homes with neatly mowed lawns - a far cry from the inner-city ghetto reluctant neighbors envisioned when the Oneida proposed building there. Tribal spokeswoman Bobbi Webster said the non-American Indian community also benefits from the tribe's newfound prosperity. About half its 3,000 employees are not tribal members. The tribe estimates it spends around $248 million a year in surrounding Brown County. A busy strip of land that sat vacant for decades in a dispute with the county now provides rent for the tribe from Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. A casino is wedged between other busy ventures on one end of the parking lot. Inside, a steady stream of beeps and buzzers entices visitors to games featuring Elvis, Madonna, Austin Powers, the Addams Family and Pac-Man. Keno and Plinko machines beep on one side. A poster advertises appearances by Jay Leno, David Lee Roth and LL Cool J. A shuttle bus ferries patrons between Oneida casinos. Casino revenue allows the tribe to run an independent government and has ended its reliance on government handouts, tribal chairwoman Tina Danforth said. "We've changed tremendously. It's allowed us to maintain services and operate programs we couldn't have," said Danforth. "The benefits outweigh anything that could be seen as a negative." When Danforth, 41, returned to live on the reservation from Chicago at age 13, she found dirt roads and homes without electricity and water. "I knew there was a better life," she said. Home ownership, budgeting and financing skills are helping residents learn pride of place and self, she said. Webster agrees: "We've done it ourselves, primarily. We now have nice schools, beautiful health care facilities. Certainly there's a pride that one feels in arriving at the reservation."