Our friend Elizabeth Larson has the story of BIG HAPPENINGS on the Robinson Rancheria, a COMPLETE change in the tribal council. You will recall that tribal chair Tracey Avila was just arrested on embezzlement charges.
After four years of strife resulting from overturned or delayed elections and the disenrollments of dozens of tribal members, a majority of the members of the Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo decided they had had enough.
Meeting on Sunday afternoon at Elem Colony in Clearlake Oaks, tribal members acted, in their words, to take back control of their tribe by kicking out the sitting council, installing a new one and voiding the tribal government structure.
“It just shows that we're all fed up,” said EJ Crandell, who by meeting's end would find himself among the newly elected council members.
According to the organizers of the Sunday meeting, based on Bureau of Indian Affairs guidelines and the tribe's own constitution, approximately 75 enrolled members – or 51 percent of the tribal roll – needed to take part in the voting to make it valid.
Of the close to 100 people present, it was determined that 79 enrolled members were present, clearing the way for them to move forward on a slate of 12 resolutions.
And move they did, swiftly voting unanimously to nullify a 31-year-old tribal constitution and removing from power the sitting tribal council, which includes Chair Tracey Avila and members Curtis Anderson Jr., Michelle Monlo, Kim Fernandez, Stoney Timmons and Nick Medina.
“It's a new world. It's a new path,” said Clayton Duncan, who was elected the interim tribal chair.
Along with Duncan, the new interim council will include Bruce White, Nathan Solario, Monty Orozco, Rosita Anderson and Crandell, a slate accepted as part of the agendized resolutions.
The new council will spend the next 90 days working to get the tribe's operations back up and running, appointing new committees and setting up an election for permanent officers.
Click this link for the rest of the story at the Lake County News
We invite all other tribes to stand up to those corrupt tribal councils that act outside their tribal constitutions.
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Larson; Lake County News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Larson; Lake County News. Show all posts
Monday, October 10, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Elizabeth Larson Reporting: Robinson Rancheria's Tracey Avila Faces Three Years If Convicted
UPDATE: SacBee finally gets the news.... a little late
Elizabeth Larson of Lake County News gets deeper into the Tracey Avila embezzlement case. Interesting to note that investigators interviewed Avila at a meeting at the Pechanga Resort & Casino.
An investigation initiated more than two years ago and carried out by federal officials has led to the arrest of Robinson Rancheria's tribal chair on a charge of felony grand theft for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from another Lake County tribe.
Tracey Isabelle Avila, 50, of Nice was arrested on a felony bench warrant on Friday, Sept. 9, according to jail records. She posted bail, set at $20,000, and was released later that same day.
Avila is alleged to have taken more $60,000 from Elem Indian Colony of Clearlake Oaks between February 2006 and September 2008, during which time she worked as the tribe's fiscal officer and also was Robinson's tribal chair, according to Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson, who is prosecuting the case.
Abelson said Avila is due to appear in for arraignment in Lake County Superior Court's Clearlake division before Judge Stephen Hedstrom on Oct. 31.
According to the case file, the Berkeley firm Karshmer & Associates, Elem Colony's general legal counsel, sent a letter dated June 1, 2009, to Laura Yoshii, acting regional director for the US Environmental Protection Agency's Pacific Southwest Region 9, requesting an investigation into the alleged embezzlement.
The letter, written by attorney Sarah Dutschke, said that after Avila's termination as bookkeeper the tribe uncovered evidence which they alleged showed that during her 30 months of employment Avila had taken funds from the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act grant as well as from grants the tribe had received from the US EPA and US House and Urban Development.
Elem's own investigation led to the conclusion that Avila had allegedly taken the funds through three principal methods – increasing her hourly pay rate without authorization, giving herself unapproved pay advances and signing several of her family members up for health care coverage but not having the required premiums deducted from her paycheck, Dutschke's letter stated.
On June 15, 2009, the US EPA's Grants Management Office opened the investigation, which later was taken over by special agents with the EPA Office of the Inspector General and HUD's Office of the Inspector General, the documents state.
A review of Avila's pay records conducted as part of the investigation revealed that Avila is alleged to have given herself just over $44,000 in unauthorized pay raises, as well as more than $16,000 in additional paychecks and annual leave.
During the same time a check for more than $14,000 was stolen from the tribe and cashed by a Hispanic male suspect in the Chico area, where Avila is reported to have family, according to case file.
According to the investigation, Elem alleged that Avila hired auditors from Robinson Rancheria to conduct an audit of Elem's financial records. The audit reportedly came back clean. OP: Uh, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck..
Avila's work records showed she was frequently late or ill, and rarely worked entire weeks, yet still drew full wages, the report said. OP: And certainly worth giving a raise to?
The special agents interviewed Avila on June 9, 2010, at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula. OP BIRDS OF A FEATHER?
During the interview Avila said that Elem's system for receiving the grant funds was a “mess,” and that others were writing checks on tribal accounts without her knowledge. She said that she eventually quit her job after becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation.
Avila also told the agents that she paid back the pay advances, insisted that the tribal council had authorized her pay raises and accused another tribal leader of taking the missing funds.
Elem tribal members the agents interviewed stated that Avila had threatened to implicate others if she got in trouble, and that over time her work hours dropped from eight hours a day to four. She also allegedly got a better car and started wearing more expensive clothes.
Abelson said Avila could face a maximum of three years in state prison if convicted. Due to the state's realignment, Avila's time could be served in the county jail, which is where prisoners convicted of certain felonies will be housed.
PLEASE read the Elizabeth's full story at Lake County News
Elizabeth Larson of Lake County News gets deeper into the Tracey Avila embezzlement case. Interesting to note that investigators interviewed Avila at a meeting at the Pechanga Resort & Casino.
An investigation initiated more than two years ago and carried out by federal officials has led to the arrest of Robinson Rancheria's tribal chair on a charge of felony grand theft for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from another Lake County tribe.
Tracey Isabelle Avila, 50, of Nice was arrested on a felony bench warrant on Friday, Sept. 9, according to jail records. She posted bail, set at $20,000, and was released later that same day.
Avila is alleged to have taken more $60,000 from Elem Indian Colony of Clearlake Oaks between February 2006 and September 2008, during which time she worked as the tribe's fiscal officer and also was Robinson's tribal chair, according to Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson, who is prosecuting the case.
Abelson said Avila is due to appear in for arraignment in Lake County Superior Court's Clearlake division before Judge Stephen Hedstrom on Oct. 31.
According to the case file, the Berkeley firm Karshmer & Associates, Elem Colony's general legal counsel, sent a letter dated June 1, 2009, to Laura Yoshii, acting regional director for the US Environmental Protection Agency's Pacific Southwest Region 9, requesting an investigation into the alleged embezzlement.
The letter, written by attorney Sarah Dutschke, said that after Avila's termination as bookkeeper the tribe uncovered evidence which they alleged showed that during her 30 months of employment Avila had taken funds from the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act grant as well as from grants the tribe had received from the US EPA and US House and Urban Development.
Elem's own investigation led to the conclusion that Avila had allegedly taken the funds through three principal methods – increasing her hourly pay rate without authorization, giving herself unapproved pay advances and signing several of her family members up for health care coverage but not having the required premiums deducted from her paycheck, Dutschke's letter stated.
On June 15, 2009, the US EPA's Grants Management Office opened the investigation, which later was taken over by special agents with the EPA Office of the Inspector General and HUD's Office of the Inspector General, the documents state.
A review of Avila's pay records conducted as part of the investigation revealed that Avila is alleged to have given herself just over $44,000 in unauthorized pay raises, as well as more than $16,000 in additional paychecks and annual leave.
During the same time a check for more than $14,000 was stolen from the tribe and cashed by a Hispanic male suspect in the Chico area, where Avila is reported to have family, according to case file.
According to the investigation, Elem alleged that Avila hired auditors from Robinson Rancheria to conduct an audit of Elem's financial records. The audit reportedly came back clean. OP: Uh, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck..
Avila's work records showed she was frequently late or ill, and rarely worked entire weeks, yet still drew full wages, the report said. OP: And certainly worth giving a raise to?
The special agents interviewed Avila on June 9, 2010, at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula. OP BIRDS OF A FEATHER?
During the interview Avila said that Elem's system for receiving the grant funds was a “mess,” and that others were writing checks on tribal accounts without her knowledge. She said that she eventually quit her job after becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation.
Avila also told the agents that she paid back the pay advances, insisted that the tribal council had authorized her pay raises and accused another tribal leader of taking the missing funds.
Elem tribal members the agents interviewed stated that Avila had threatened to implicate others if she got in trouble, and that over time her work hours dropped from eight hours a day to four. She also allegedly got a better car and started wearing more expensive clothes.
Abelson said Avila could face a maximum of three years in state prison if convicted. Due to the state's realignment, Avila's time could be served in the county jail, which is where prisoners convicted of certain felonies will be housed.
PLEASE read the Elizabeth's full story at Lake County News
Monday, May 10, 2010
Increasing Efforts to Draw Attention to Disenrollments In Indian Country and Boycotts Of Offending Tribes
Elizabeth Larson of the Lake County News has another story on the protests of Tribal Disenrollments in California, this time on the Robinson Rancheria. Read the Full Article
Throughout the day Friday, about two dozen American Indian community members and their friends stood alongside the entry into Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino, holding signs, shouting slogans and trying to bring attention to the situation of local tribal disenrollees.
The action comes in the wake of a Bureau of Indian Affairs decision last month to uphold the December 2008 disenrollment action carried out by the Robinson Rancheria Citizens Business Council against a total of 67 tribal members, as Lake County News has reported.
Members of the Quitiquit family, several dozen of whom were disenrolled from the tribe, were back at the scene on Friday, a day they picked because it also was the fifth annual National Indian Day.
The group called for a boycott of the casino and demanded a hearing on what they argue are civil and human rights violations.
They carried signs with slogans that accused the tribe of offering the disenrollees no due process and misspending tribal and federal funding.
But the main issue was the disenrollment action, which has cut off the now-former tribal members from the rancheria and their cultural ties. They say disenrollment is an attack on their identity as American Indians.
“Why is the government backing this genocide on paper?” asked Wanda Quitiquit, one of her family's most vocal members.
A message left at the tribal office seeking comment was not returned.
Quitiquit, ironically, worked for years as a member of the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization (AIRRO), to bring attention to the growing number of disenrollment actions across California and the nation before she herself became a target of it.
AIRRO has estimated 3,500 Indians have been disenrolled in California, with a total of 11,000 civil and human rights violations across the United States as a whole.
During the Friday protest, American Indians from other tribes – including Dry Creek in Sonoma County, and the Apache and Passamaquoddy, the latter from Maine – stopped in to ask questions, as did other community members.
Natives from other areas agreed that many of the problems facing tribes is all about money.
The Quitiquits and others whose names were removed from the tribal rolls say they are planning to appeal the BIA decision, with a letter expected to go out to the agency announcing that intention this week.
“We really don't want to go into court, but if that's the last thing we have to do, that's what we'll do,” Quitiquit said.
Even a favorable court decision doesn't guarantee a welcome back into the tribe, she said, pointing to court rulings in other states that still left disenrollees without resolution.
However, there are efforts to draw attention to the disenrollment problem, both from other activists and from Lake County's congressman, who is calling for a congressional hearing on the matter.
On April 29, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson wrote a letter to Congressman Nick Rahall, who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, which includes the Office of Indian Affairs.
“Disenrollment of tribal members is an issue among tribes in my district and throughout California, as well as in other parts of the United States,” Thompson wrote. “In some cases, members are voted out of tribes for bona fide reasons such as their lack of relative bloodline and/or failure to meet membership or residency requirements in accordance with tribal constitutions. However, in other cases, there appears to be arbitrary removal of entire families for obscure reasons.”
Thompson explained that when Congress passed the Indian Civil Rights Act in 1968, tribal members who believed that their civil rights were abused had no legal recourse except to turn to the tribal bodies that were accused of civil rights infringements.
“On behalf of the growing number of disenrolled Native Americans, I believe this issue merits a congressional oversight hearing be convened to review enforcement of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968,” he said.
Late last week, Thompson's Washington, DC office told Lake County News that there had been no formal response to, or acknowledgment of, the letter yet.
Quitiquit said she and the others impacted by the disenrollment action are looking to Thompson for leadership at this time.
Throughout the day Friday, about two dozen American Indian community members and their friends stood alongside the entry into Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino, holding signs, shouting slogans and trying to bring attention to the situation of local tribal disenrollees.
The action comes in the wake of a Bureau of Indian Affairs decision last month to uphold the December 2008 disenrollment action carried out by the Robinson Rancheria Citizens Business Council against a total of 67 tribal members, as Lake County News has reported.
Members of the Quitiquit family, several dozen of whom were disenrolled from the tribe, were back at the scene on Friday, a day they picked because it also was the fifth annual National Indian Day.
The group called for a boycott of the casino and demanded a hearing on what they argue are civil and human rights violations.
They carried signs with slogans that accused the tribe of offering the disenrollees no due process and misspending tribal and federal funding.
But the main issue was the disenrollment action, which has cut off the now-former tribal members from the rancheria and their cultural ties. They say disenrollment is an attack on their identity as American Indians.
“Why is the government backing this genocide on paper?” asked Wanda Quitiquit, one of her family's most vocal members.
A message left at the tribal office seeking comment was not returned.
Quitiquit, ironically, worked for years as a member of the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization (AIRRO), to bring attention to the growing number of disenrollment actions across California and the nation before she herself became a target of it.
AIRRO has estimated 3,500 Indians have been disenrolled in California, with a total of 11,000 civil and human rights violations across the United States as a whole.
During the Friday protest, American Indians from other tribes – including Dry Creek in Sonoma County, and the Apache and Passamaquoddy, the latter from Maine – stopped in to ask questions, as did other community members.
Natives from other areas agreed that many of the problems facing tribes is all about money.
The Quitiquits and others whose names were removed from the tribal rolls say they are planning to appeal the BIA decision, with a letter expected to go out to the agency announcing that intention this week.
“We really don't want to go into court, but if that's the last thing we have to do, that's what we'll do,” Quitiquit said.
Even a favorable court decision doesn't guarantee a welcome back into the tribe, she said, pointing to court rulings in other states that still left disenrollees without resolution.
However, there are efforts to draw attention to the disenrollment problem, both from other activists and from Lake County's congressman, who is calling for a congressional hearing on the matter.
On April 29, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson wrote a letter to Congressman Nick Rahall, who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, which includes the Office of Indian Affairs.
“Disenrollment of tribal members is an issue among tribes in my district and throughout California, as well as in other parts of the United States,” Thompson wrote. “In some cases, members are voted out of tribes for bona fide reasons such as their lack of relative bloodline and/or failure to meet membership or residency requirements in accordance with tribal constitutions. However, in other cases, there appears to be arbitrary removal of entire families for obscure reasons.”
Thompson explained that when Congress passed the Indian Civil Rights Act in 1968, tribal members who believed that their civil rights were abused had no legal recourse except to turn to the tribal bodies that were accused of civil rights infringements.
“On behalf of the growing number of disenrolled Native Americans, I believe this issue merits a congressional oversight hearing be convened to review enforcement of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968,” he said.
Late last week, Thompson's Washington, DC office told Lake County News that there had been no formal response to, or acknowledgment of, the letter yet.
Quitiquit said she and the others impacted by the disenrollment action are looking to Thompson for leadership at this time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)