"What most people are at 25, I don't think I became until I was 38...I thought, even if I could just make enough to buy a loaf of bread and not starve to death, this would be the greatest adventure that I could ever go on. I said, 'I don't give a damn what happens to me. I'm doing this.'"
Jerry Seinfeld, October, 2007, on being a star and a comedian.

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I'll be spending my last week in ABQ trying to prepare for the next leg of my Fall Adventure. My plan is to visit Santa Fe on Tuesday and Wednesday. I can't be this close to Santa Fe without spending some time there before leaving the area. On Tuesday night I'll be attending the "New Mexico Filmmakers Intensive," at the College of Santa Fe. Screenwriters who attend the school will be reading from their screenplays, and the college will have an open house for those interested in attending the school. Actors will also be performing some of the scenes from scripts actually produced in 2007.

On Wednesday in Santa Fe, I'll be attending a new photography exhibit at the Photo-Eye Gallery on Garcia Street. Mark Klett is opening an exhibit titled "Saguaros," with a reception and book signing after the opening.

My last day in ABQ will be Sunday, October 28.

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One of the items to hit the paper this week concerns a lawsuit against the Sandia Casino. Good Morning America was on site Friday to do a feature story that will air sometime next week. The pending lawsuit might make it to the Supreme Court and have an effect on how Indian casinos operate in the future. That's why it's attracting the national press.

The lawsuit concerns Gary Hoffman's complaint that the casino failed to pay him a slot machine jackpot prize of almost $1.6 million. Hoffman was playing a nickel slot machine last summer when he supposedly hit the jackpot. He even took a photo of the slot machine showing his good fortune with his camera phone. Casino officials claim the slot machine malfunctioned, and therefore, they don't owe Hoffman a dime.

Hoffman wants to sue the casino in state court, but the Sandia Pueblo tribe that owns the casino and the surrounding reservation lands believes they are a sovereign nation and cannot be sued in a state or federal court. Thus the Supreme Court may need to decide if Indian tribes that owe casinos can ever be sued for such a thing. Poor Hoffman just wants his money but for now must fight it out, probably for years, and he may end up with nothing.

The fact that Indian tribes are sovereign entities within the U.S. shouldn't provide a shield from someone wanting their day in state or federal court. It's only fair, it seems to me, that Hoffman have his case heard. The tribal governments have their own courts, but few people believe he could ever receive an unbiased opinion in a court run by the same people who run the casino.