Separation of Powers In the Nooksack Tribe: Corrupt Council Runs Afoul of Tribal Law

“No Indian tribe in exercising powers of self-government shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws or deprive any person of liberty or property without due process of law.”

 

Tribes laugh at this portion of the Indian Civil Rights Act, and deny with impunity, Native Americans rights under this act. An article in Indian Country Today, by Peter D'Errico detail the issue:

Let's look at how the Nooksack case plays into the negative stereotypes about Native legal systems:

On February 29, the Nooksack citizens targeted for “disenrollment” won an important motion in Nooksack Tribal Court, when Judge Susan Alexander affirmed their right to vote in the upcoming 2016 elections. But, apparently unbeknownst to these citizens, their lawyer, and the court itself, the Nooksack Tribal Council had taken steps on February 24 to disbar their lawyer.

On March 7, when the lawyers tried to file motions to get copies of council resolutions and related documents, the tribal judge said the council disbarment move prevented the court from accepting the motions, and that the citizens were now in a pro se status, i.e., they had to represent themselves.

The council did not directly deprive the Nooksack citizens of all legal representation, but it derailed their representation in the middle of the case. According to a statement filed in tribal court by the lawyers, the tribal council convened a special meeting during which it “resuscitated” a tribal resolution on business license procedures that had not been enforced for 30 years. The lawyers told the tribal judge their application for a business license had been returned by the Nooksack Chief Financial Officer, with a statement, “We…are not able to issue the requested license.”

The right to be represented by a lawyer in criminal cases has long been seen as fundamental, but representation in civil cases stands on a lower rank. Nevertheless, many jurisdictions provide a right to counsel in the most serious types of civil cases, such as termination of parental rights and commitment proceedings.

Read more at Indian Country Today  

In Hopland Disenrollment, Evidence is Unnecessary Because it Would Contradict the Narrative.

Interesting post from a FB page of a recently disenrolled HOPLAND POMO woman, on evidence presented, and how corrupt tribal politicians (not much of a leader) only use what they want to use.

It strikes a chord with me and my family, because in our disenrollment, the enrollment committee didn't use the expert's evidence they paid for, instead using some vague hearsay from ..dead people.

Here's the post: 

Data and records were submitted with our disenrollment appeals letters proving our lineage to the tribe dating back to the 1800's. According to our appeals Letters from the interim secretary of the tribe, we were, in writing, assured that whatever evidence we submitted would be shared with the general council.

NOOKSACK TRIBE Reportedly has NO LEGAL Tribal Council: NO AUTHORITY to RUN their CASINO??

Word coming  today that the NOOKSACK TRIBAL COUNCIL has outsmarted themselves..

They need a quorum of 5... There was no election held on March 19th, 2016.. Therefore their positions are NULL and VOID. Lona Johnson's term is up! Katherine Canete's position is up! Abby Smith's position is up! And Rick George--vice chairman's position is up.

They cannot extend their positions according to the Constitution.They do not have the Constitutional power to extend their Rule.. 

The Nooksack Tribe, in their zeal to keep the Nooksack 306 from their rights to vote, and by delaying elections, now should be kept from having their business enterprises running.

SHUT DOWN THEIR CASINO, NIGC!  

Indian Child Welfare Act Rear It's Ugly Head in the case of LEXI. But This Could Have been Settled 3 years AGO

The Indian Child Welfare Act, developed to protect Native children from the horrors of the past when Indian children were taken from their families, has come between a child and her foster family. Ostensibly designed to protect Native children, to ensure they are kept with Native families, this case of Lexi, a foster child in CA is making news.

From a FOX 11 News Story:
Lexi has 1.5 percent Native American blood, and because of that, she's about to be removed from the only home she's ever known. Both of her biological parents have been out of the picture since she was around age 2.

"Lexi doesn't know another home. She finally knows what mom and dad means and they want to take that away from her, and we can't stand idly by while that happens," Rusty said.
"This little girl, we are her home. This is her family and that can all be rocked tomorrow," Summer said.

On Friday, in the middle of their litigation, the court system lifted the families "emergency stay."
"She doesn't know tomorrow might be her last day in this house. None of our kids do. We are under specific orders not to tell any of them what's happening," Rusty said.

As hard as it is, and as scary as it is to go up against the people we going up against, we're putting everything on the line. A mom is not going to sit back, a dad is not going to sit back. We're going to fight until the very end," Summer said.

This child will be placed with a NON-Native family, not blood related in UT, away from the only family she has known.  Is this what is best for the child? It definitely WOULD have been 3 years ago.

In a statement, a court appointed attorney for Lexi said, "Her family in Utah have been waiting to receive her for over 3 years, during that time they have traveled to California monthly and she has visited their home as well.

"The injustice here is not that she is leaving California but rather that her foster parents pursued litigation which prevented her from joining her family sooner."

In another statement, the Choctaw Nation said it wants what is best for Lexi.


"The Choctaw Nation desires the best for this Choctaw child. The tribe's values of faith, family and culture are what makes our tribal identity so important to us. Therefore we will continue to work to maintain these values and work toward the long-term best interest of this child," it said.

In an ICWA revision press release, it states:

Several long-term studies have been conducted of Native American adult adoptees. Despite socioeconomic advantages that many of them received by virtue of their adoption, long term studies reflect that these adoptees experienced increased rates of depression, low self-esteem, and suicide. In addition, many adult adoptees continue to struggle with their identities and have reported feelings of loneliness and isolation. Today, the number of Native American children in foster care alone is still alarmingly high, and they are still more than twice as likely to be placed in foster care overall.


Is it time for a study on the experiences of depression, low esteem and suicide on children who have been discarded, sometimes by non-Indian leaders?  Think about this:  The news release continues: Protecting Indian children reflects the highest ideals of the trust responsibility to Indian tribes and the guidelines issued today are a part of this Administration’s broader approach to ensuring compliance with ICWA.     This statement begs the question: 

WHO has the trust responsibility to protect the now individual Indian children and ensuring the protections that the ICWA, provides Indian Children?

We can't even get the Secretary to LISTEN, or respond to repeated questions for help. Where are the Indian child welfare advocates to work on behalf of the Indian children who no longer have their heritage and whose ancestors have been desecrated by disenrollment.


There are NON-Indian children, enrolled in Indian tribes who are protected by the ICWA, while a thousand Indian children, some removed by non-Indian tribal leaders, are cast aside, receiving no protection, and to whom the Indian Child Welfare Act now does not apply.  TheBIA recognizes all tribal members as Indian, yet they have abdicated their trust responsibility to Indian children, hoping nobody will notice.

What say YOU?

Chumash Chairman Vincent Armenta RESIGNS....for CULINARY SCHOOL?!?

Wow....

Vincent Armenta resigned from his post as tribal chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians on Thursday to pursue a culinary arts degree.

“I have always enjoyed cooking, but it’s been a lifetime dream to delve further into the culinary arts and enhance my talents in this area,” Armenta said in a statement.

Armenta has served as chairman since December 1999 and been reelected every year to the tribe’s top post.

“Nearly 17 years ago, when I first became tribal chairman, I was a young man who had no tribal government experience, but what I did have was a strong desire to work on behalf of my tribe to take us to the next level and position our tribe for a better future,” Armenta said. “I believe I have done that.”

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The tribe’s vice chairman Kenneth Kahn will take over on an interim basis.

“Under chairman Armenta’s leadership, our tribe has traveled further than any of us ever thought possible,” Kahn said. “He led our tribe from relative obscurity to being one of the most visible and dynamic tribes in the nation. I am grateful for all that he has done for our tribe and wish him the best.”

Armenta was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, New York, where he will pursue a bachelor’s degree. 

BOYCOTT Tribal Businesses That Violate the RIGHTS of their People

The Nooksack 306 are beginning to put together a boycott of Nooksack businesses.  Actually, it's in response to the Nooksack's treatment of their elders, whom the tribe has stripped of their free meals. Recently the tribe has refused service to some N306 people, even placing then on a do not serve list.

I wrote this piece quite a while back, and I think it's time to resurrect the idea of a BOYCOTT.  The State of CA was working to boycott neighboring state AZ businesses, because of the tough immigration laws that didn't even take affect. Yet, these same entities won't stand up for tribal people that have actually been HARMED by their tribes.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Obama Supreme Court Pick, Served JUSTICE for Cherokee Freedmen Against The Cherokee Nation

Today, President Barack Obama made his choice for the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the death of legal giant, Antonin Scalia.  His pick Merrick Garland, has made some waves in Indian Country. Including being in the majority against San Manuel vs. NLRB

Merrick Garland
Supreme Court Candidate

He was part of the 3-0 decision in Vann vs US Department of Interior which reversed a lower court ruling that the Cherokee Chief could NOT be sued due to tribal sovereignty.  Read more about the Cherokee Freedmen

Before the Civil War, members of the Cherokee Nation had slaves. Those slaves
were freed in 1866 pursuant to a treaty negotiated between the United States and the Cherokee Nation. The Treaty guaranteed the former Cherokee slaves and their descendants – known as the Freedmen – “all the rights of native Cherokees” in perpetuity. 
See Treaty with the Cherokee, art.9, July 19, 1866, 14 Stat. 799. 
Those rights included the right to tribal membership and the right to vote in tribal elections. At some point, the Cherokee Nation decided that the Freedmen were no longer members of the tribe and could no longer vote in tribal elections. A group of Freedmen eventually sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claiming that the Cherokee Nation had violated the 1866 Treaty.

The District Court agreed with the Cherokee Nation. The District Court concluded that the Cherokee Nation was a required party for purposes of Rule 19, that the Cherokee Nation’s interests could not be adequately represented by the Principal Chief, and that the case could not go forward

The court said:

We reverse. Applying the precedents that permit suits against government officials in their official capacities, we conclude that this suit may proceed against the Principal Chief in his official capacity, without the Cherokee Nation itself as a party.

When reached for comment, Marilyn Vann, President of the Descendents of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes stated:  "He' s not a tool of big money tribes, so he' s the kind of judge we need on higher courts"

NOOKSACK 306 Told;You Don't Get Your Stinkin' Attorney Gabe Galanda. We CHANGED the RULES

Since attorney Gabe Galanda has been kicking the ass of the corrupt Nooksack tribal leaders in tribal court, the best alternative for them is to CHANGE THE RULES and keep Galanda from their courts.

On Feb. 24, the Nooksack tribal council gave itself the power to disbar attorneys. It might seem a curious move. Both inside and outside Indian country, that power is usually vested in courts and bar associations.

But the council soon made its motive clear. At the very same meeting, the council voted to disbar its biggest foe: Gabriel Galanda

HOPLAND Pomo JUSTICE: Stripping Citizenship, Rights from Members, No Respect of Tribal Constitution, Two Minutes to Present Cases

Pathetic. Some voted TWICE?  TWO minutes to present their case?  Voting without hearing any evidence?

On Saturday, the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians voted 127-71 to confirm the disenrollment of 74 members of the tribe. Those who have been disenrolled are no longer eligible for tribal housing, tribal healthcare, or academic scholarships provided through the tribe.

Questions about discrepancies arose immediately. According to tribal member Susan Billy, 181 voters responded to roll call after signing in and presenting their voter ID cards. But 199 ballots were cast, with one spoiled. Rather than considering each disenrolled member separately, voters were asked to cast their ballots for or against the disenrollment of all 74 members, who were told they had two minutes each to appeal the Council’s decision. Voters were also told they could cast their ballots and leave before the disenrolled members presented their cases.

Former Pechanga Chairwoman Jennie Miranda DENIED Reinstatement to Tribe

Multiple sources say former Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians Tribal Chairwoman Jennie Miranda attempted to regain her citizenship status in the band at a tribal meeting on Sunday.

 HER ATTEMPT FAILED MISERABLY

As we reported:

A recent letter from the rez to our politicians has pointed out that former tribal chair Jennie Miranda has been investigated for money laundering and embezzlement from the tribe.   They were not disenrolled, as 25% of the tribe has been, but disenfranchised, a new term.  No per capita, but still get their health care.  How disgusting.   Congratulations Macarro.

MONTEAU: BIA SHIRKING IT's Fiduciary and TRUST Responsibilities...AGAIN and AGAIN

Attorney Harold Monteau  a founding partner of the law firm, Monteau and Peebles, which was the tribal attorney for picayune during the HUGE disenrollment of over 600 chukchansi people in 2006, has a piece about the BIA betraying its trust responsibility to Native Americans in not following due process in TRIBAL DISENROLLMENT which is stripping of citizenship from tribes.

The entitlement of Native Americans to benefits and services from the United States, as trustee for Indian Persons and Indian Tribes, cannot be terminated without due process of law on the part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

The fiduciary duty of the U.S. Government cannot be so easily disavowed by the BIA when to do so involves the enforcement of a legal standard of “blood quantum” or “membership”, whether it is by the BIA or by a surrogate, such as an Indian Tribe.
Those standards made their way into Federal Law at a time when the policy of the United States was to work towards the termination of the Indian Tribes and the Trust Responsibility by enforcing policies that would cause the eventual disappearance of Tribes and disbursal and disappearance of individual Indians “into the mainstream” of society.

Such a policy comports with no “fiduciary” standard known to western jurisprudence. A “trustee” cannot facilitate the “disappearance” of a “beneficiary” any more than it would comport with Fiduciary Responsibility to bring about the demise of the beneficiary in order to terminate the duties of the trustee. Such a policy meets the definition of Genocide.

Read more at Indian Country Today

Petition to STOP UNJUST DISENROLLMENTS and EXPOSE Corruption In Indian Country

Working for YOUR rights and your family's  rights is more than a single day event.  Many in our disenrolled community are working to "DO SOMETHING" while many are content to sit back and watch/wait.  Watching and waiting is NOT a successful tactic.  HERE is a LINK to a petition that draws attention to disenrollment.  

PETITION TO BAN Disenrollments and Expose Corrupt Governments  (link fixed)

Sure you may have seen others, but did you sign?  Why not?  Get your name out, be a warrior for justice.

Please join us in petitioning the tribes from continuing to dis-enroll their members.

San Pasqual Meeting for ALL JOSE JUAN DESCENDANTS.

There is a meeting Saturday March 12th for all 

Jose Juan descendants at the Valley Center Community

Hall regarding your enrollment at 4:00 p.m. Please 

bring your parents. 

Time to STAND UP. 

UPDATE: MURDER ARRESTS on PALA Indian Reservation Weeks after Chairman's Daughter Arrested on Weapons Charges

Only weeks after Pala Tribal Chairman Robert Smith's daughter was arrested on assault weapons charges, NOW, murder.  IS it safe to go to the Casino at Pala?

Sheriff's Homicide detectives have arrested 32 year-old Anthony James Boles Sr. and 30 year old Tyann Louise Allen for the murder of a 44 year old male found inside their home on the Pala Indian Reservation.  Sources say they are tribal members

On the night of March 2, 2016, Anthony Boles Sr. and Tyann Allen reported to Pala Tribal Security that after returning home from dinner they found an unknown deceased male in their garage. Pala Security Officers entered the home and found an adult male deceased in the garage. At approximately 11:00 PM, deputies entered the home and confirmed that the deceased male had apparent gunshot wounds.

Detectives from the San Diego Sheriff's Homicide Detail responded to the scene to investigate. The investigation established probable cause to arrest Boles and Allen for murder. The motive of the homicide is still under investigation.

UPDATE: