Chukchansi Faction WHINES About Support For North Fork Rancheria

Wah!  The stinking corrupt leaders of the Picayune Rancheria now care about the WILL of the CA voters?  Bet the voters wouldn't like them MACING their elders... Here's a letter to the editor of the Sierra Star News.

The Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians Tribe has long stood opposed to the illegal, off-reservation North Fork casino, proposed for 99 more than 35 miles from the Mono Tribe's land. This off-reservation casino absolutely flies in the face of the will of California's voters and their "yes" vote on Proposition 1A in 2000.

Just as importantly from our perspective, the illegal North Fork casino will decimate our 10-year, $350 million investment in the Chukchansi Gold Casino – Madera County's largest employer, supporting more than 1,100 jobs and annually pumping millions of dollars into the county economy.

Madera County Supervisor Tom Wheeler ignored these critical points in his comments in "Funds pour in to put North Fork casino on the ballot" in the Sept. 24 edition of the Star. Supervisor Wheeler touts the proposed Mono casino as an economic benefit without acknowledging that most of the dollars North Fork would earn and the jobs that illegal casino might create will come at the expense of our tribe, our casino and the more than 1,000 Madera County families who rely on Chukchansi Gold for a paycheck.

Supervisor Wheeler rails against what he calls "an intrusion of our local economic development and land use planning authority."

We'll make the obvious point: What about the economic development opportunities our tribe will lose if this casino is built?

MY RESPONSE:

This faction of the Chukchansie Tribal Councils asks the QUESTION: What about the economic development opportunities our tribe will lose if this casino is built? ANSWER: WHAT ABOUT IT? Your tribe was given those opportunities when you promised to help your tribal members. Instead, you embarrass Indian Country by your harmful actions of terminating 60% of your tribe. We write about that at ( http://originalpechanga.com/ ) You FURTHER embarrass yourselves when you pay Cal State Fresno to preserve your language AFTER getting rid of language speakers. 

While in Washington DC last week, we were able to tell the Director of the House Subcommittee On Indian and Alaskan Native Affair what harm you have done. While reservation shopping is NOT ideal, in THIS case, to provide competition that may have the ADDED benefit of putting YOUR TRIBE out of business...is a GOOD THING. People should STAY AWAY from YOUR business entity based on this simple premise: 

IF YOU WILL CHEAT and HARM YOUR OWN PEOPLE, won't you do the same to your customers?

Tragio-COmedy of Chukchansi Shenanigans Delays Community Grants. Time To Disinvest from Picayune

With the Tragio-Comedy of Corruption and Mismanagement of the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians still being played out, those looking for a handout, are getting nervous they won't be approved.  What they should be doing is refusing to take money from a tribe that violates human and civil rights of their people.  They SHOULD be pushing hard to keep people from going to the casino.  Disinvestment is the proper choice.

The anxious county-wide schools, organizations and government agencies who have applied for a portion of the $1 million in Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians Community Grants will have to wait a bit longer to know if they are on the approved list.

Last year the grants were announced on May 1 at a Madera County Board of Supervisors meeting. This year, due to tribal leadership conflicts, meetings with county supervisors and staff were delayed or postponed several times by tribal representatives.

Tribal leaders and county officials are expected to discuss the selections in October.

Last year, nine of 24 grants awarded were for the Mountain Area totaling $408,000.

Nearly 100 grants requests from throughout the county, totaling more than $7 million, were submitted for consideration prior to the March 1 deadline.

Originally, the awards dinner at the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino was scheduled for May 23. A new date for the awards dinner has not been announced.

Nancy Ayala, a leader of one faction of the tribe, said the delay is due to complex litigation the tribe is currently going through.

"We will continue to be good neighbors and to help the community in every way possible," Ayala said in a prepared statement. "We've had a pair of meetings with the county supervisors on the grant program and we continue to move forward processing more than $7 million in grant applications. But before grants can be awarded this year, we need to ensure that we have our house in order and that we can give the grant program the attention and resources it requires. That's what's behind this temporary delay."

Picayune Rancheria Reportedly Holding Disenrollment Hearings for 50 Tribal Members.

It looks like decimating half their tribe wasn't enough for some Picayune Rancheria Council members.

Reportedly, hearings began today to disenroll another 50 people from Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians. These are relations of a former tribal chair, and members of his family including several "honored" elders.

Read our post  FOLLOW THE MONEY..... to find out why. 

House Natural Resources Committee Announces New Members from GOP

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., today announced committee assignments for the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs. Don Young, R-Alaska, will serve chairman over the following GOP House members: Jeff Denham, of California; Daniel Benishek, of Michigan; Paul Gosar, of Arizona; Raúl Labrador, of Idaho; Kristi Lynn Noem, of South Dakota. Hastings will serve ex officio.


“The Natural Resources Committee has broad jurisdiction that allows our Members to use their individual talents and expertise to work on policies and issues that will help create jobs, grow the economy, and reduce wasteful government spending,” Hastings said in a statement accompanying the announcement.

The full committee will meet Jan. 26 in part to adopt an oversight plan, which includes the following Indian-focused items: budget and spending Review; federal barriers to economic and energy development on Indian land; Cobell v. Salazar settlement implementation; trust reform; fee-to-trust issues, including Carcieri v. Salazar; Alaska Natives; natural resources management on Indian reservations; Tribal Law and Order Act implementation; Indian Health Care Improvement Act Implementation/Indian Health Service; and gaming.

WE must continue to press for enforcement of the Indian Civil Rights Act!