What should stay in Vegas

April 22, 7:05 AMSonoma County ExaminerLaura McHale Holland

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Las Vegas. It's an hour and forty minutes or so by plane from SFO, but it's a universe away from home. I'm at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on a business trip, and I haven't set foot outside since I arrived two days ago. "Oh, how I miss Sonoma County's sunshine, fresh air, even the smell of manure permeating the air after farmers ready their fields for planting.

Obviously, I'm no gambler, nor do I enjoy partying late at night at the various clubs I pass on the long walk through the cavernous casino to my hotel room.

We have casinos in and near Sonoma County. Who could have missed River Rock Casino's chirpy ads on KRSH (the Crush)? But thankfully, that enterprise doesn't affect my life day to day.

That could change. Stations Casinos and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are planning a Las Vegas-style casino complex right on the edge of Rohnert Park. It's controversial, of course. And, I've been told it's inevitable. However, Sonoma County deemed in March the project's final environmental impact report was inadequate because it didn't even address traffic congestion, a major concern given the project's proximity to an already congested Hwy. 101.

With the Great Recession upon us, people may be softening to the idea of the Rohnert Park casino because communities are desperate for money. But I figure the saying, What happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas, should apply to the entire casino resort concept, not just to travelers' indiscretions.

Here are some Web sites with further information: www.rpcity.org/content/view/568/1; www.greenbelt.org/regions/sonomamarin/camp_casino.html; www.stopthecasino101.com; www.rpcity.org/content/view/568/1/