Friday, January 31, 2014

Democrats in CA Keep Convicted Felon Rod Wright, Internet Gaming Supporter In State Senate

State Sen. Roderick Wright will remain a member of California's upper house until an appeal is decided on his eight felony convictions for lying about where he lived.

But the Democratic lawmaker from Inglewood is being removed as chairman of the powerful Senate Governmental Organization Committee, which oversees gambling and liquor laws. He was allowed to keep his membership on the Senate's budget, energy and human services committees.

"Unless and until there is a final conviction for a felony," state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) told reporters, "I do not believe it is appropriate or necessary to expel Sen. Wright or ask him to resign."

 
Read rest of the story

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Pechanga Disenrollments: Wages of Sin Are Death

Cancer is afflicting those who harmed hundreds of Pechanga people.  Word from the Pechanga rez is that two of those responsible for the witch hunt that destroyed the heritage of two families have cancer.

This would mean they would be joining Ihrene Scearce, who has already succumbed to the disease, in hell soon.

While I take NO joy in this result, I also feel nothing for these two horrible people.... YM and RR, good luck to you...

NOOKSACK Appeals Court DENIES Corrupt Chairman Bob Kelly's Attempt To Control Election

A BIG win for the NOOKSACK 306. The Appeals Court DENIES Bob Kelly's Motion to shorten the time for appeals hearing.



Read the Nooksack Appeals Court Decision

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

NOOKSACK 306 are at American Indian LOBBY DAY in Washington State.

Indian American lobby day brought about 50 to the capitol Friday morning to voice their opinions about tribal issues.
A group from the Nooksack tribe, based in Deming in Whatcom County, gathered mainly to express their anger with the disenrollment conflict that would cut the tribe by about about 15 percent.
According to the Nooksack Tribal Council, 306 members do not meet membership requirements because their common ancestor Annie George is missing from a 1942 census that is used as to verify lineage.
Since the council cannot find proof that supports their membership, the group is losing medical, housing, fishing and hunting rights. But the excluded members said that they are upset for reasons that go much deeper than these surface issues.
“I feel like they’re dragging my ancestors through the mud,” said Michelle Roberts, a member who would be excluded. “We have unity and belong just as much as they do.”
Rudy St. Germaine, who was removed from his council position of executive tribal secretary because of the issue, agreed. He said this is a fight for his and his family’s identity.
Tribal police have started to serve disenrollment notices. Now, the impacted Nooksacks are raising awareness about the issue and calling on fellow members to get informed about issues discussed at the capitol.
Elizabeth Satiacum, a tribe member, challenged the crowd to look up a bill that affects them, whether it’s related to hunting, gathering, health or education. For example, she mentioned House Bill 1290 that would require county auditors to place ballot drop boxes at various locations, which would allow tribe members to vote without making a trip to the city.
She added it is important to be aware of the issues in order to impact them.
“It all starts with one thought because thoughts can and do become things,” said Satiacum.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Disenrollment Leaves Natives Culturally Homeless.

The AP finally picks up the Disenrollment Story:

Mia Prickett's ancestor was a leader of the Cascade Indians along the Columbia River and was one of the chiefs who signed an 1855 treaty that helped establish the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in Oregon.
But the Grand Ronde now wants to disenroll Prickett and 79 relatives, and possibly hundreds of other tribal members, because they no longer satisfy new enrollment requirements.
Prickett's family is fighting the effort, part of what some experts have dubbed the "disenrollment epidemic"—a rising number of dramatic clashes over tribal belonging that are sweeping through more than a dozen states, from California to Michigan.
"In my entire life, I have always known I was an Indian. I have always known my family's history, and I am so proud of that," Prickett said. She said her ancestor chief Tumulth was unjustly accused of participating in a revolt and was executed by the U.S. Army—and hence didn't make it onto the tribe's roll, which is now a membership requirement.
The prospect of losing her membership is "gut-wrenching," Prickett said.
"It's like coming home one day and having the keys taken from you," she said. "You're culturally homeless."
The enrollment battles come at a time when many tribes—long poverty-stricken and oppressed by government policies—are finally coming into their own, gaining wealth and building infrastructure with revenues from Indian casinos.
Critics of disenrollment say the rising tide of tribal expulsions is due to greed over increased gambling profits, along with political in-fighting and old family and personal feuds.
But at the core of the problem, tribes and experts agree, is a debate over identity—over who is "Indian enough" to be a tribal member.
"It ultimately comes down to the question of how we define what it means to be Native today," said David Wilkins, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota and a member of North Carolina's Lumbee Tribe. "As tribes who suffered genocidal policies, boarding school laws and now out-marriage try to recover their identity in the 20th century, some are more fractured, and they appear to lack the kind of common elements that lead to true cohesion."
Wilkins, who has tracked the recent increase in disenrollment across the nation, says tribes have kicked out thousands of people.
Historically, ceremonies and prayers—not disenrollment—were used to resolve conflicts because tribes essentially are family-based, and "you don't cast out your relatives," Wilkins said. Banishment was used in rare, egregious situations to cast out tribal members who committed crimes such as murder or incest.
Most tribes have based their membership criteria on blood quantum or on descent from someone named on a tribe's census rolls or treaty records—old documents that can be flawed.
There are 566 federally recognized tribes and determining membership has long been considered a hallmark of tribal sovereignty. A 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling reaffirmed that policy when it said the federal government should stay out of most tribal membership disputes.
Mass disenrollment battles started in the 1990s, just as Indian casinos were establishing a foothold. Since then, Indian gambling revenues have skyrocketed from $5.4 billion in 1995 to a record $27.9 billion in 2012, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission.  OP: Picayune Rancheria, Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, Redding Rancheria, Pala Band of Luiseno Indians, San Pasqual Band among them.
Tribes have used the money to build housing, schools and roads, and to fund tribal health care and scholarships. They also have distributed casino profits to individual tribal members.
Of the nearly 240 tribes that run more than 420 gambling establishments across 28 states, half distribute a regular per-capita payout to their members. The payout amounts vary from tribe to tribe. And membership reductions lead to increases in the payments—though tribes deny money is a factor in disenrollment and say they're simply trying to strengthen the integrity of their membership.
Disputes over money come on top of other issues for tribes. American Indians have one of the highest rates of interracial marriage in the U.S.—leading some tribes in recent years to eliminate or reduce their blood quantum requirements. Also, many Native Americans don't live on reservations, speak Native languages or "look" Indian, making others question their bloodline claims.
Across the nation, disenrollment has played out in dramatic, emotional ways that left communities reeling and cast-out members stripped of their payouts, health benefits, fishing rights, pensions and scholarships. OP:  The total has surpassed $700 MILLION
In Central California, the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians has disenrolled hundreds. Last year, the dispute over banishments became so heated that sheriff's deputies were called to break up a violent skirmish between two tribal factions that left several people injured.
In Washington, after the Nooksack Tribal Council voted to disenroll 306 members citing documentation errors, those affected sued in tribal and federal courts. They say the tribe, which has two casinos but gives no member payouts, was racially motivated because the families being cast out are part Filipino. This week, the Nooksack Court of Appeals declined to stop the disenrollments.
And in Michigan, where Saginaw Chippewa membership grew once the tribe started giving out yearly per-capita casino payments that peaked at $100,000, a recent decline in gambling profits led to disenrollment battles targeting hundreds.
The Grand Ronde, which runs Oregon's most profitable Indian gambling operation, also saw a membership boost after the casino was built in 1995, from about 3,400 members to more than 5,000 today. The tribe has since tightened membership requirements twice, and annual per-capita payments decreased from about $5,000 to just over $3,000.
Some members recently were cast out for being enrolled in two tribes, officials said, which is prohibited. But for Prickett's relatives, who were tribal members before the casino was built, the reasons were unclear.
Prickett and most of her relatives do not live on the reservation. In fact, only about 10 percent of Grand Ronde members do. Rather, they live on ancestral lands. The tribe has even used the family's ties to the river to fight another tribe's casino there.
Grand Ronde spokeswoman Siobhan Taylor said the tribe's membership pushed for an enrollment audit, with the goal of strengthening its "family tree." She declined to say how many people were tabbed for disenrollment.
But Prickett's family says it has been told that up to 1,000 could be cast out, and has filed an ethics complaint before the tribal court. They say the process has been devastating for a family active in tribal arts and events, and in teaching the language Chinuk Wawa.
"I have made a commitment to both our language and our tribe," said Eric Bernardo, one of only seven Chinuk Wawa teachers who also faces disenrollment. "And no matter what some people in the tribe decide, I will continue to honor that commitment."

Monday, January 27, 2014

Sorry For the Lack of Posts, GOOGLE Blocked Me From Costa Rica

Had difficulties last week posting.  GOOGLE blocked me and with no phone access either, Costa Rica wasn't very helpful in the internet department.

So, instead, we spent time sailing, bodysurfing, horseback riding, rafting and of course, a little imbibing.

We will be up and running shortly..

Friday, January 17, 2014

1800 GET SCREWED Nooksack Tribe Won't Do Disenrollment TO YOUR FACE:


Got this from the Nooksack 306 who have been fighting the corruption of Bob Kelly.. 

BOB KELLY, AGRIPINA SMITH, RICK GEORGE, Katherine Canete, ROBERT SOLOMAN are some of the council members.

We don’t need to look you in the eye while we violate your rights to confront your accusers.

360 592 5164 is the number of the Nooksack Tribal Office, call and leave a message as to what you think of their cowardice.

Snoqualmie Tribal Chair Carolyn Lubenau Responds to Allegations From Disgruntled Employee Who Resigned from Casino

One day after being accused of running Snoqualmie Casino illegally by replacing its gaming commission with the Tribal Council, Tribal Chairwoman Carolyn Lubenau said a new commission has been selected and is being directed, in the interim, by the tribe's police chief.
Lubenau said the selection of three new Snoqualmie Gaming Commissioners was made Thursday, and had no connection to a lawsuit filed last Friday or a report on accusations included in the litigation by KING 5 the day before.
The lawsuit, filed by former SGC Chairman William Papazian, outlines a deteoriating relationship between the commission and the Snoqualmie Casino staff it is required by law to oversee.
According to federal law, tribal gaming agencies/commissions must be independent from the casinos and tribes they watch.
Lubenau said Thursday the problems between the SGC and the casino had nothing to do with Papazian, but the Executive Director and Manager he hired.
"We want professionals," she explained, "You have to be above reproach.  You can't have tantrums."
Lubenau said commission staff frequently threatened to pull gaming licenses from casino personnel "for no reason".  The tribe, she said, conducted two independent investigations.
"It was very clear, if we wanted to have our gaming commission functioning in the way we want to go, we need to terminate those two positions," said Lubenau.
Papazian refused to go along, according to Lubenau and court documents, and resigned.
"It was very amicable," recalled Lubenau, "He said in the resignation it was a family matter."
Beyond what led to his departure is what Papazian alleged has happened in the interim, the SGC being filled with the Tribal Council.
Just one day after the situation became public, Lubenau said changes have been made.  Thursday, three commissioners were appointed under an interim Executive Director, police chief Gene Fenton.
None of the commissioners have gaming experience, which is not required by law.  Fenton is handling background checks for all casino employees, a task usually handled by the SGC.
"We won't be caught by surprise when things are not working right," said Lubenau, "We can fix things before they get to this point where they unravel so quickly like they did."
As for why Papazian would file a lawsuit against his former employer, accusing it of "fraud", "racketeering", and "money laundering", Lubenau thinks the answer is simple.  Money.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Nooksack Appeals Court Rules AGAINST DISENROLLEES

The Nooksack Court of Appeals has not stopped the disenrollment in Lomeli but they have ruled that the Kelly Faction can be sued for violating the constitution. This is a critical ruling in the history of Nooksack law.  Add your voice to your Congressperson asking for hearings on the Indian Civil Rights Act.



This appeal is from the Tribal Com1′s order dismissing Appellants· second amended complaint. Appellants requested the Tribal Court enjoin members of the Nooksack Tribal Council from conducting disenrollment proceedings against them. Appellants are understandably gravely concemed at the prospect of disenrollment. We understand how serious the prospect of disenrollment is to Appellants. and how it impacts their cultural. social and political identity.
We also recognize that determining its own membership is a hallmark of a tribe’s sovereignty. It is one of the few aspects of tribal sovereignty that has withstood the  relentless attempts by outside forces to tear down tribal self-governance, and one of the  few aspects of tribal sovereignty that has not been eroded by the federal government.
Judges are not sages. We do not delude ourselves into believing we have the wisdom of a Solomon. It is not our role to insert ourselves into the Tribe’s political fray. or second guess  the political judgments made by the Tribe’s elected leaders or its voting members, even if  we believe those judgments unwise. We, like the trial court. are limited to resolving legal questions where authorized by the Tribe’s Constitution and laws.
The nature of this dispute requires us to find the delicate balance between Nooksack lawand politics keeping in mind the equal importance attached to both Tribal membership and Tribal sovereignty. The Tribe’s Constitution guides us in this difficult task. which we are duty bound to perform.
The Nooksack judiciary is not the only Nooksack governmental body whose decisions are tethered to the Tribe’s Constitution and laws. The decisions of its elected officials are as well. The trial judge expressed it well and it is worth repeating:
The Tribal Council members named in this Complaint hold an obligation to act in the best interests of the Nooksack Indian Tribe. Membership and enrollment decisions impact individual lives in the deepest possible ways and those decisions cannot be taken lightly. This Cotut recognizes the serious implications of this case and its decision on this motion and all the others that have preceded it. It is the solemn obligation of this Court to follow the law of the Nooksack Indian Tribe and it is the obligation of the Tribal Council to do the same.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Redding Rancheria Disenrollments Nearing 10 Yr. Anniversary. Shameful Episode in Native American History

From our friends, the Foreman Family, a reminder that 10 years have passed since the injustice of tribal disenrollment happened to their family.  Why didn't they take a DNA test?  THEY DID and it was 99.9% positive.  

"THE TRUTH"

On January 27th 2004, 76 members of my family the "Foreman's" were removed from the Redding Rancheria tribal rolls based on nothing but a conjured up rumor alleging my great grandmother Lorena Foreman-Butler was not the daughter of her mother (my great great grandmother) Virginia Timmons, one of Redding Rancherias 17 original distributees.

Redding Rancheria tribal officials NEVER produce A SINGLE PIECE OF EVIDENCE to dispute my Great Grandmothers lineage and my family provided reams of legal and contemporary documents proving her mother was Virginia Timmons. Tribal Council still required my family to provide genomic DNA from my deceased great grandmother and my deceased great great grandmother to retain our tribal citizenship.

Despite my family providing Tribal Council with DNA test results from two separate labs of 99.987% and 99.890%, proving by the legal standards established by the American Bar Association and the American Medical Associations that Lorena Butler and Virginia Timmons were mother and daughter, Redding Rancheria Tribal Council still stripped my family of our tribal citizenship.

Congratulations to the Redding Rancheria for their dispicable acts of DISHONOR in what they did to my Grandfather, my Ancestors and my family! Money over your own people, after everything my Grandfather did for his people and for his tribe. Its been 10 years, but justice is coming SOON! 





Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Should Federal Recognition of Chukchansi Be REVOKED?

This is a repost from 2012, but sadly, the situations have gotten WORSE not better.  LOOK what the BIA has wrought by not stepping in to protect Natives....from Natives.

The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, of Coarsegold near Fresno have drastically reduced their membership.   They have recently removed 200 people including their few remaining language speakers.  The BIA's director Dale Risling was quoted in 2007 saying there was nothing they could do "short of ceasing to recognize" the tribe because of the Martinez decision.   Well, how many would recognize the tribe from what is was in 2005?

I have put together a very rudimentary graphic that explains what the destruction of the Chukchansi populace looks like if you put them into buses to move them.   Once a proud convoy of 30 buses would have been used (at 50 people per bus) to transtport the tribe.   Now, after the tribe has thrown so many UNDER the bus, less than eight full buses would be needed.

I believe the BIA should cease to recognize THIS tribe, especially after the recent election debacle.



Will the BIA get its head out of the sand and exercise it's moral outrage?

A Curious CHANGE in Tribal Lobbyings Spend By Pechanga. Chairman Macarro's WIFE's firm cutback?

It looks like Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians is dissatisfied with the impact their lobbyist, IETAN CONSULTING is having for them in Washington D.C.

In checking their lobbying spending on Open Secrets, we find that secondary lobbyist  AKIN GUMP (no relation to Forrest Gump) is getting a big chunk of Pechanga Money this year.

AKIN GUMP's MONEY FROM PECHANGA

2011   $40,000
2012   $50,000   (+25%)
2013   $360,000 (+720%)

While the company of Mark Macarro's wife, Holly Cook Macarro, IETAN CONSULTING, seems to have suffered.

IETAN CONSULTING's MONEY FROM PECHANGA

2011   $240,000
2012   $240,000
2103   $120,000

Now it may be that yearly totals are not updated yet, which would mean that Pechanga's lobbying spending would reach $600,000 this year.  To what end?

As we discussed in a previous post, our trip to Washington DC showed that according to Senator Boxer's person,  Holly Macarro wrote the bill for Pechanga.  Is that even LEGAL?   Does Pechanga now think high powered lobbying firm AkinGump is better equipped to help Pechanga steal water from reservation allottees/landowners?     Food for thought.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

APARTHEID TRIBAL NATION, Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians Renovates Hotel

The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, which practices APARTHEID on their reservation has said that their Pechanga Resort & Casino has unveiled the multimillion-dollar renovation of its 22,000-square-foot hotel lobby, two restaurants and the addition of two new dining outlets.

Learn More about The Pechanga Tribe, which has harmed many of it's own tribal and family members, and remember, if they will cheat their own....:

Pechanga’s corrupt tribal council
Mark Macarro lied to Congress
Pechanga’s Apartheid Reservation

Friday, January 10, 2014

Corrupt Chukchansi Faction AYALA LOSES in COURT to Corrupt Chukchansi Faction Lewis

The same tribe that says courts have NO SAY in tribal matters want court to solve tribal matter:

The court says differently:

Plaintiffs argue that CIHA is a separate entity from the tribal government, and
that HUD and the Court must continue to recognize the last formally recognized tribal government – and the CIHA board that it appointed – until the BIA and the Tribe resolve
the intra-tribal dispute. Doc. 28 at 4. But CIHA is not an entity separate from the factions vying for control of the Tribe. The Ayala faction claims to control CIHA, while the Lewis faction has appointed an entirely different set of board members to govern
CIHA. Control of CIHA is therefore embroiled in the intra-tribal dispute this Court
cannot resolve.

The same is true of the tribal court judgment upon which Plaintiffs ask the Court
to rely. Plaintiffs acknowledge that the various tribal factions have established their own
tribal courts and have obtained rulings in their favor from those courts. Doc. 28 at 8-9.
Even if a ruling of a tribal court would be entitled to deference (an issue the Court need
not decide), identifying the valid tribal court would require a prohibited inquiry into the
claims of the competing tribal factions.
III. Conclusion.

Plaintiffs cannot meet their burden of showing that they have been injured by
Defendants’ actions or that their injuries will be redressed by this Court’s order without
asking the Court to resolve matters of intra-tribal governance. Plaintiffs therefore cannot
show that they have standing to pursue this action. The Court finds Plaintiffs’ arguments
and authorities unpersuasive, and elects to follow cases that have dismissed similar
claims

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Valley View Casino CLOSED FOR BUSINESS.

With the way they treated the Alto family, people should just STAY AWAY and not come back.  They are closed for upgrades.

The Valley View Casino & Hotel in Valley Center is closed for business until Jan. 17 while a “head-to-toe” remodel of the facility is undertaken.
“We’ve decided to do all of this in 11 days instead of inconveniencing (our customers) with six months or more of constant stop-and-go construction that continuously interrupts their fun,” general manager Bruce Howard said in a news release.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Appointing a Civil Rights Abuser to Fresno State Board OK with YOU? Contact President Joseph Castro

Received this information from our friend Cathy Cory, disenrolled member of the PRCI, Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, a tribe which has violated the civil and human rights of nearly a THOUSAND Native Americans. This is a PERFECT way for you to get involved and have your voice heard.

If anyone has an opinion in regards to the questionable ethical choices of Fresno State in the recent appointment of Nancy Ayala, tribal "leader" at Picayune Rancheria to the Fresno State University Advisory Board by President Joseph I. Castro, please submit your comments via this website link:

http://www.fresnostate.edu/president/feedback/

my opinion? NO "tribal leader" from picayune should receive, or DESERVES, appointment to a board that is making important educational decisions for indians in the central valley native american community...those who participate in corruption and in the violation of THOUSANDS of american indians tribal, civil, and human rights should not be tolerated, much less glorified and rewarded!

BE HEARD, send your feedback. Remember, Fresno State takes students from all over the state, so this is NOT a jurisdictional issue.

READ MORE on Tribal Disenrollment:


disenrollment is paper Genocide
CA Tribal Cleansing
Tribal terrorism
TRIBAL TERRORISM includes Banishment
Nooksack Disenrollment



Hank Plante: Tribes Have Overplayed their hands


Former CBS Reporter and Peabody award winner Hank Plante has an opinion piece on Tribes and their new land grab tax issues, getting state land taken off the tax rolls, while claiming sovereignty on it's use..

 A high-stakes gamble by Native American tribes is being waged far from their Indian casinos. The game is being played in courtrooms all across California.

The latest power grab by the Agua Caliente tribe is a federal lawsuit that would allow the tribe to stop paying certain taxes to Riverside County. The taxes amount to $29 million a year, according to a county audit — money used for schools, police, fire and roads.

It is the latest volley in an escalating war between local governments and tribes, who seem to feel that their status as sovereign nations allows them to avoid taxes, clean air regulations, development limits and even the notion that water belongs to the public.

Yes, Native Americans were badly mistreated in history. But today is a different story thanks to casino revenues topping $7 billion a year in California and northern Nevada.  OP: NOW, it's TRIBES that are mistreating their own people.

A Desert Sun investigation by reporter Keith Matheny last year found the state’s five largest tribes spent more than $4.8 million over a two-year period to lobby state officials in Sacramento, and that the Agua Caliente and Morongo tribes — along with two others — have spent nearly $250 million on politics since 2000.
Noted California journalist Joe Mathews said of the tribes, “They are getting the protection of a monopoly, sanctioned by the federal government and formalized by the states.”


Read the rest of the column here

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Agua Caliente Tribe SUES Riverside County for Unlawful Taxes.

In announcing the lawsuit against Riverside Monday, the tribe said possessory interest taxes are “unlawful and infringe on Tribal sovereign rights.”

“Riverside County uses the money collected on the Reservation to benefit people living in other cities and areas far away from where the taxes are collected,” Agua Caliente Chairman Jeff Grubbe said in the statement. “The Tribe’s desire is to keep tax money within our commuity to service the Coachella Valley.”

In the complaint filed Jan. 2 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the tribe argued that the possessory interest tax increases the economic burden on the tribe and its members by devaluing Indian land leases. The tax also limits the tribe’s income, since the tribe has agreed to forgo its own tax in order to avoid the double taxation of leaseholders, according to the court filing.

Officials with Riverside County said Monday they believe they have the legal authority to collect the tax and that new regulations hasn’t changed that.

Sen. Maria Cantwell MAY Leave Chairmanship of Senate Indian Affairs Committee

Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) might leave her post as chairwoman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee if she's offered the gavel on the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, according to The Washington Post.

Democrats are shuffling committee chair posts due to the pending exit of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), who leads the Senate Finance Committee. He's been nominated to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to China by President Barack Obama.

The shakeup could mean the Senate Indian Affairs Committee will lose its first female chairwoman. Cantwell's office declined to speculate on any potential moves, the Post said.

Cantwell took over the committee in January 2013. She has held fewer hearings and has advanced fewer pieces of legislation than most of her predecessors although her staff has held a significant number of listening sessions with tribal leaders and Indian organizations.

Cantwell stymied Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro in a recent hearing on the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians attempt to steal water rights for allottees of the 120 year old reservation.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Tribes Only Care About MARKET SHARE, Not Helping Indians.

To lure customers from doorbuster sales on Black Friday, Table Mountain Casino offered gamers five times their usual incentive points.
Not to be outdone, Chukchansi Gold Casino & Resort offered 10 times the points.
That kind of competition for gaming dollars at Indian casinos in the Valley could intensify if Indian casinos near Madera and Friant now on the drawing board are built.
The central San Joaquin Valley's six gaming tribes -- five with existing casinos and one with aspirations -- face an unsettled future. Some experts believe the Valley's population is not sufficiently large to sustain new and existing casinos, leading to oversaturation of the Indian gaming market. Another suggests a free-for-all approach to casino sites could be around the corner.
"We are to a point where expansion is growing the market as much as taking away from an existing one," said Mark Nichols, a professor of economics at the University of Nevada, Reno's Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gambling. "The time when you could open a casino and be the only one within 100 miles is dwindling."
The battle over plans to build a casino and hotel next to Highway 99 shows how lucrative tribes believe gambling can be -- and current conditions for the tribe that wants it show what life can be like without it.
The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians says they've jumped through all the regulatory hoops to build the complex, just north of Madera city limits. They say there's no suitable land for a casino on their tribal grounds in remote eastern Madera County, and the tribe needs casino revenues to lift members from poverty.
Price tag: $250 million. By comparison, the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold was projected to cost $150 million when it opened in summer 2003, prior to a later expansion.
The North Fork Rancheria's casino plan is the target of a statewide referendum, underwritten in part by its closest tribal competitors who fear that a casino on a major highway just north of Fresno will siphon off customers from their casinos near Friant and Coarsegold.




Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/01/04/3698343/valley-indian-casinos-in-flux.html#storylink=cpy




Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/01/04/3698343/valley-indian-casinos-in-flux.html#storylink=cpy

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Disenrolled Saginaw Chippewa Seek Federal Recognition

A group of Mt. Pleasant-based Native Americans, including 66 removed from the rolls of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in November, are seeking federal recognition of the original three bands of American Indians that first settled in Isabella County in the mid-1800s.
No one has disputed that most of those behind the effort are Native American descendants of the historical three tribes, but they claim to have been disenrolled from the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe for historical quirks linked to inappropriate rulings and poor record keeping by the federal government.
Among those leading the effort is Ben Hinmon, a former Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Council member whose grandmother, born on the Mt. Pleasant reservation and placed in the Mt. Pleasant Indian School in 1906 at the age of 8, was posthumously stripped of membership in November.
Removal of the late Malinda (Pontiac) Hinmon from Tribal rolls also stripped membership from Hinmon and 44 of his relatives, who are among 66 removed from Tribal membership rolls late last year.
At least 700 to 900 and up to 1,000 Native Americans who trace to those historic tribes, but are not members of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, could gain federal recognition under the latest effort, Hinmon said.
To illustrate the record-keeping and federal administrative quirks, Hinmon points to a photograph of his grandmother and her sisters. While his grandmother is no longer a Tribal member, one of her sisters is the grandmother of newly-elected Tribal Chief Steve Pego.
“What I’m doing is defending my family and their inherent right to be a member of the Swan Creek, Black River and Saginaw Chippewa,” Hinmon said. “It’s a matter of blood.”
Those original three bands, who settled on federal land set aside for them in Isabella County beginning in the 1850s, were later formed into the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.
But because older federal records could not be located, and because the Bureau of Indian Affairs was allocated only $2 million to reform all tribes in the nation, federal authorities instead formed the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe as a group of “Indians living on a reservation” and relied on later residency rolls for membership purposes.
“We were not disenrolled because of blood quantum,” Hinmon said. “We were disenrolled because we didn’t fit the model of Indians living on a reservation.”
Hinmon and Chad Avery, a Mt. Pleasant resident with close relatives who are members of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe but who has never been on the rolls himself, met with federal officials in November to begin the effort of seeking federal recognition of the historic bands.
At issue, they claim, are hundreds of Native Americans whose ancestors lived on the Isabella Reservation after 1855 but who had moved in the ensuing years. In the 1930s, federal administrators picked records from 1883, 1885 and 1891 as key to determine official membership in the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe because earlier records could not be located.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Nooksack Chairman Bob Kelly LAWBREAKER - Shows CONTEMPT for Tribal Court's Ruling


Our friends from the NOOKSACK 306 have passed this on to us, which show that "tribal courts" don't mean a thing when you are corrupt.

Our lawyers have filed a MOTION FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT against the Kelly Faction for violating the Tribal Court's order on Christmas support payments. 
They continued to cut checks to non-306 members after the ruling on December 18, but Bob Kelly, Abby Smith and Katherine Canete told staff to not cut Christmas support checks to the 306 too. 

That is a breach of the Court's Order! And three non-306 members were fired from accounting in the process. Our hands go up to Leah Zapata for submitting a sworn declaration to the Judge, explaining how the Kelly Faction has once again broke Nooksack and federal law.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Spirit Mountain Covers UP Member Terminations of Grand Ronde with Toy Drive

You see this all the time with tribes that disenroll their members.  They make donations to cover up what they are doing to their own people.    This helps people forget what the tribes actually DO.     Great they've done it for five years, but this is one of those times where the hospital should have said THANKS, but NO THANKS.

OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital received a semi-truck load of toys and a $5,000 check just in time for the holidays. Spirit Mountain Casino provided the toys, which were donated by their generous patrons during the annual three-week Holiday Toy Drive.