. . . . .Splinter Group: Nazi-like Tactics of Propaganda

Continuing the story of Pechanga's Splinter Group as told by John Gomez Jr.

Splinter Group 4

When Hitler attacked the Jews I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church -- and there was nobody left to be concerned.
Martin Niemoller, Congressional Record, 14 October 1968, page 31636

I am sure most of you are asking yourself why this installment regarding the Splinter Group starts with a quote about Hitler and the Nazis. Well, if you have not noticed, there is a new era of genocide rolling through Indian Country. This genocide is not at the hands of the Spanish government, nor is it a policy of the US government. No, this new genocide is being carried out by Indian people against Indian people.
Most people believe the word "genocide" means the actual physical killing off of a group or race of people. Genocide also refers to actions which attack the culture, soul, and mind of the people. Disenrollment (Termination)is a pure example this.

The recent actions of the Splinter Group, and similar groups throughout Indian Country, are representative of those deeds of Hitler and the Nazis. Even before the Nazi Party rose to power, the Jewish people were blamed for the ills that had befallen a once mighty Germany. The Jews were characterized as all that was wrong with government and business, and through their destruction, through the purification of the German people, Germany would once again be strong.

The Splinter Group learned well the lessons of Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Through misinformation and propaganda, the Splinter Group asked members of the Tribe to rise up:

"people are plotting to take control of our government…"
"…the true Pechanga people are still a majority of this Tribe!!!"
The families the Splinter Group targeted for disenrollment were the reasons that their "…sons and daughters, will never get the opportunity and privilege to serve our government…"
The targeted families were responsible for stripping away their rights as the "TRUE Pechanga people".

By de-humanizing the Jewish people and those targeted for disenrollment, the Nazis and the Splinter Group succeeded in segregating their victims and justifying the acts of genocide as a purification of those less than the true people.
People who were once friends, acquaintances, business partners, and even family, turned their backs on those targeted. Fear reigned.

Don’t talk to them or be seen with them…you could be next.
Don’t attend their meetings or go to the Gathering. Those who attend may loose their jobs with the Tribe…or worse.

Who is next on the Splinter Group’s list? Ask the Enrollment Committee. They got a copy of the list. Hopefully those who are not members of the Splinter Group aren’t afraid to talk.
Are places within Indian Country turning into neo-Nazi regimes? Is it really that bad?
Ask those who have been disenrolled or targeted for disenrollment.

Ask the Chairperson of the Pechanga Enrollment Committee why she thinks her house was shot at and who she thinks did the shooting?
What is it going to take? How many are going to be "killed off" before something is done to stop this genocide?

Those who fail to help or stand up against these genocidal actions are as much to blame as those who carry them out. They say ignorance is bliss, but nobody can say they don’t know what is going on. They know. However, as long as they are not the targets, as long as they reap the financial benefits, they will continue to deny the truth.

All our brothers and sisters will be gone, and those who did nothing to help them will be left to fend for themselves. Look around, are you the person Martin Niemoller spoke about?
There is much to think about…there is even more to do. Our ancestors our crying out…we must heed their call.

I will close with a quote by Benjamin Franklin:
"Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations."
Benjamin Franklin spoke these words in response to the government’s policy towards the Native Americans. Unfortunately, they are as true today as the day on which they were spoken.

The only difference is, the United States government has been replaced by the likes of the Pechanga Splinter Group and those who deny the truth.

Cherokee Freedmen Meeting Set

The Freedmen Band of Cherokee nation of Oklahoma will hold its next meeting Saturday July 19 2008 at the West Side Community Center, 501 S Bucy in Bartlesville Oklahoma.

The meeting will begain at 12:15pm. The organization educates freedmen tribal members and the general public on their rights and responsibilities as tribal members. Band officers Marilyn Vann and Vera Jones will update meeting attendants on their recent trip to Washington DC to visit members of Congress to request support for legislation supprting the freedmens rights.

The special speaker for the meeting will be John Gomez, a former Pechanga Nation tribal official who is currently President of the American Indian Rights and Resources Organization (AIRRO), an organization which fights for the rights of California Indians who have been disenrolled as citizens of California Indian tribes in violation of federal, state, and or Indian nation tribal law. The meeting is free and open to the general public. Meeting attendants are asked to bring a "covered dish" to share with the other meeting attendants.

Pechanga Group Takes on Strange Bedfellows.

UPDATE: Questions include: Are the CPP truth tellers, or outrageous liars?
Would they lie about Jennie Miranda and family? Would they lie about the Hunters and Manuela Miranda descendents? Jennie, which one is it? Are they lying about YOU, or about the Hunters, OR BOTH?

The Concerned Pechanga People have been active in getting rid of two large families from Pechanga. But, according to this flyer from 1992, they absolutely DID NOT like some of the people that they subsequently conspired with to remove the Manuela Miranda and Hunter Clans. Here's the flyer:

CCPElectionFlyer1992[1] - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: CCPElectionFlyer1992[1]

The CPP accuse Jennie Miranda (former spokeperson for Pechanga and mother of thief Larry Miranda, soon to be indicted) of "being unfair to people" and telling "lies" and wanting to bulldoze sensitive sites and burial grounds. AMAZING that after all this, the CPP would work with Jennie to use her mother AND Frances Miranda to eliminate people.

Does this sound like someone who cares about the tribe, or themselves? CPP, how could you turn on your own people, with people like this?

And Enrollment Committee HOW could you trust people like this? And we all know, Frances hasn't got any nicer with age.

SAN PASCUAL Follows PECHANGA Lead: KICK Them to the CURB.

Selling out their tribal members for an additional $450 per month! Add San Pascual to the list of tribes that should be avoided.

In a move that sadly and despicably follow the digusting lead of the Pechanga Band, the San Pascual Tribe has OUSTED 17% of their tribal members, cutting off monthly per capita payments of $4,000.

Curiously, James Fletcher, BIA Superintendent in S. Cal and Pechanga Member, had this to say:

Because the bureau hasn't had a chance to rule on this latest move, the tribe can't cut off monthly checks, fire people or kick them out of their houses while asserting that they're not tribal members, Fletcher said.
“They're members until such time as the BIA changes its mind,” he said.
And that won't be easy, because the head of the agency ruled 13 years ago that the ancestor in question was a full-blooded Indian.
“It will take something substantial to change that,” Fletcher said.

Curious, because Fletcher did not stand up when member of his OWN tribe did the same thing to 25% of the tribe. Could it be because he stood to gain financially? The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ruled that Paulina Hunter was Pechanga when they allotted her 20 acres on the reservation.

The Union Tribune has the full story here

UPDATE: Equally Curious, this made Pechanga.nets's QUOTE of the Day:

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"You grow up with that identity and then all of a sudden, when they say, 'No, you're not a part of us,' boy, that's harsh," Gamboa said."

Exactly what Rocha's cousin did to 25% of Pechanga Tribal Members.

High Noon At Pechanga 2: Even Quieter than April

In April, we reported HERE that Pechanga's Casino seemed emptier than normal. There were some comments on another post that business was down because of the news getting out about Pechanga's dirty deeds with their people. Although that's difficult to prove, I made a trip to the casino to check on "parking status".

April: 386 EMPTY parking spaces in the new parking structure.

June 27: 577 EMPTY parking spaces in the new parking structure.

Maybe the gamblers are car-pooling? Or, most likely, there are LESS gamblers at Pechanga. Are they going to Pala?

Is there a chance that the per capita of over $30,000 per month to the RPP (Remaining Pechanga People) will have to be reduced? Will Pechanga be able to meet it's obligations to the people of California?

State Panel Votes to Back Wintu Tribe in Recognition Effort.

Great News for the Wintu Tribe.

State panel votes to back Wintu tribe

SACRAMENTO — Members of a north-state Indian tribe were pleased Tuesday that a state Senate committee voted to support their effort to win back federal recognition.
Historically, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe occupied land between Mount Shasta and Redding, said Mark Franco, a member of the tribe.
However, he said, through what the tribe regards as a government error, the Winnemem Wintu were dropped from the list of federally recognized tribes, and members lost government services, such as education, housing and health programs.
In addition, according to Franco, in 1948, when Shasta Dam was completed, the creation of Lake Shasta took 4,800 acres of the tribe's allotted lands. He said the government failed to make good on its promise to give the tribe other land and to create a tribal cemetery.
Assembly Joint Resolution 39, authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, would give the tribe the support of the state of California as the Winnemem Wintu seek to convince the federal government to restore recognition.
The bill already passed the Assembly and on Tuesday won approval from the Senate Governmental Organizations Committee on a 6-0 vote. It should reach the Senate floor in August, Franco said.
Franco and his wife, Caleen Sisk-Franco, the tribe's spiritual leader and chief, live in Redding. Sisk-Franco graduated from Chico State University and used to work at Chico State.

A Sad Barona Story

From CHRISTOPHER'S side I'm not sure why, but for the first time in my life, i've decided to write a little about my life. What I am about to write is not a story of greed, nor a story of "whats right and whats wrong", this is a story about whats moral. My grandmother, who will remain nameless, was a Kumeyaay indian of Capitan Grande, what was once my families land. She had 2 children before everything went wrong, Rose, the older sister, and Debra, the younger, Debra is my mother. I dont know all the details, because my mother does not speak much of them, and I find it hard to blame her for it based on what little I have heard, but sooner or later after the birth of my mother Debra and the flight of my grandfather whos name I do not know, my grandmother married a white man, who shall also remain nameless. Before I go on, I would like to say that my grandmother was a caring, kind women, but as is the way of many good people, she was afraid to be alone. That, along with the fear, is why she never left this white man she married, and had 5 other children besides my mother and her older sister. He was a cruel man, I recall days from my childhood of him terrorizing my older brothers, making my young sister and myself sit outside in one hundred plus tempature, with no drinks, for hours at a time, because he thought we were too dirty. But that really is nothing complared to some of the stories my mother has told me about him, he was a bad man in my childhood, but he was a downright evil man in my mothers childhood. I'll skip most of the details here, seeing as that is not what I am here to talk about, but let me just say he was abusive in just about every way a parent possibly could be, and it went on for years. But as time went on and I got older, and my mother begin to open up more about this man, I learned about how deep his cruelty ran. For his own greed, he sold us out, giving our land away, and renting to others not of our tribe. I dont know the full details of this, but not long after, the Barona natives removed them from any native immunity. This was after my mother left I think. We of Capitan Grande are now known as the "spinter tribe", a name meaning that we are nothing more to our own people than a slight pain that they must pull out and throw away, and pull they did. My mother did the best she could with what she had, but one thing led to another and we moved back to our land via trailor. There was no electricity or running water, but we made do. Eventually we were kicked off our native land, by a white man, representing Barona. Since that day life has been hard. We work with what we have but it never seems to be enough. Natives will not give us any help seeing as we are not living on native land, the same land they banned us from living on. America would not help us, they saw it as we were getting our rightful benifits from Barona, and didnt need any from america, though they knew we were getting nothing. So we worked, and worked hard. My mother had many children, some better off than others. I myself am going through a very trying time at the moment, but I suppose that the fault in that is mine. I had always hoped that somehow, Barona would give us what was once ours, but that is not the case. I do not claim that what my supposed grandfather did was not wrong, but I guess its just hard to think that my whole family is having to pay for his mistake, and that Barona will not even listen to our cries of help. Most of my family, my older brothers amoungst them, do not even honor themselves as native americans. I have defended our heritage to my own family many times, but I am finding it harder to argue with them. For years I wondered why others of the splinter tribe remained silent, as my family has. Is it that they are homeless, like we? Is it that they are scared? No, I think it is that those who still remember our proud land are ashamed, ashamed that they cannot do anything but aid themselves in the seemeingly unwelcoming america.After so long of waiting for my native brothers and sisters of Barona to see us, I had lost faith that they ever would. For years I did not pay any mind to my tribe. But one day I went on a small hike with my brothers son, and we saw fields stretching for miles. He asked if this was our tribes land, and when I looked down, I nearly fell over. He was so excited about possibly seeing the land of our ancestors birth. And I knew then that I will not give up. I'll be damned if I let some miserable greedy bastard ruin that sight for this child, i'll be damned if I sit patiently while america chooses to side with Barona, and more importantly i'll be damned if I let Barona or any other damnable casino tainted tribe take away a sight that I will die to keep alive. That sight is the sight of our land, our land being ours, and I will not rest until I find a way to make it so my children, and my childrens children, can walk free on that precious soil. I am a Kumeyaay native american of southern california and I am damned proud of it.I apologize if I posted this in the wrong area. I would like to dedicate this in memory to Gary Youngblood, one of the greatest and wisest men I ever knew. Rest in peace my friend.

Cabazon Tribe Denied More Slots; Battin Claims UNFAIR

Goodness gracious, Senator Battin, UNFAIR? We have brought you much evidence of UNFAIRNESS and you make no public mention of it? Cabazon pay into your "defense fund" did they.

The Assembly Governmental Organization Committee rejected Senate Bill 1201 by Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, to allow tribes with one of the original 61 compacts signed in 1999 to operate 2,000 machines.
But opponents countered that it's unfair to allow some tribes to get more slot machines now without negotiating amended compacts after other tribes have taken that step to get more machines.
"We think it's terribly unfair to change the rules of the game," said Cathy Christian, a lobbyist for San Diego County in opposing the bill.
BATTIN IS TWO-TIME LOSER
The committee also turned down SB 864 by Battin aimed at preventing charities from using electronic bingo games instead of paper cards.

There is lots of unfairness around SENATOR, OPEN YOU EYES.

Supreme Court Restricts Indian Court's Jurisdiction

Crack in Sovereignty Dam

Justices restrict Indian courts' jurisdiction
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday restricted the ability of Indian courts to hear lawsuits involving non-tribal members.
The 5-4 decision in favor of the Plains Commerce Bank came in a dispute involving the Long Family Land and Cattle Co. Inc., an Indian-owned business on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

It was the first Supreme Court case involving Indian law for the court's newest members: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. Roberts wrote the majority opinion.
Generally, Indian tribal courts cannot hear disputes between tribal members and nonmembers. One exception enables regulating nonmembers who enter agreements with tribes or their members.
In his opinion, Roberts ruled against the Longs, saying that the exception does not allow tribes to regulate the sale of non-Indian land within a reservation

Disenrolled Pechanga Gets SHOUT OUT at Angels Game

UPDATE: The July 5 Angel Game is the next target date. Let's make it a 3 family deal!

.......At tonights Angel game, the JUMBOTRON sported this message:

Tonight, we'd like the welcome the disenrolled

Pechanga Members to the Game

Thank you Angels for putting the message up right next to the PECHANGA ad!

UPDATE II: Dissension at Pechanga Concerning Upcoming Indictments?

UPDATE II: Interesting back and forth in the comment section. Some questions from Amo'kat:
Munoaboy, please answer these questions.
Article 11 of the Pechanga constitution says, " the enrollment shall opened the first month of every year by the band's enrollment committee."Even so, even if the constitution did allow a moratorium, which it doesn't, it was only supposed to be for one year, for as you say, to catch up on the paperwork,which to a lot of people made sense as a lot of people were coming to join the tribe at that time. But was it needed for over ten years with an eight year extension now on top of that to catch up on paperwork?What kind of idiots need 18+ years to catch up on paperwork or is that just an excuse for those who pushed for the moratorium and they lied just like they lied about a lot of other things?

Munoaboy, do you realize that when a member of the Hunters and two members of the Manuela Mirandas were on the enrollment committee they found out that the committee had been burying applications that were in on time before the moratorium started and since these applications weren't processed on time, a lot of people were stuck in the moratorium that shouldn't have been?
The Hunter and M Mirandas then went to one of the tribal attorneys who told them he couldn't advise them on what to do per instructions from John Macarro.

IT IS WHEN THEY FOUND OUT THERE WAS WRONG DOING ON THE ENROLLMENT COMMITTEE WHEN THE ENROLLMENT COMMITTEE MEMBERS WHO WERE DOING WRONG STARTED THE DISENROLLMENT NONSENSE!IN THE LONG RUN LAWLESSNESS WILL NOT PREVAIL AND THE RULE OF LAW WILL WIN OUT AND WE WILL BE BACK.AGAIN, I JUST HOPE YOU ARE NOT SHOCKED TO FIND OUT THAT YOU WILL BE JOINING US ON THE SIDELINES, DISENROLLED, IN THE MEANTIME! DON'T YOU WANT TO BE PART OF A TRIBE THAT FOLLOWS ITS OWN LAWS LIKE IT IS SUPPOSED TO? YOU CAN BE PART OF THE SOLUTION BY INSISTING THAT PECHANGA FOLLOWS ITS OWN LAWS!


========================================
It looks like there is the foment of dissension at the Pechanga Reservation, home of the Splinter Group.

The indictments of Pechanga employees and members will be coming soon. Reports are that as many as 40 indictments will be handed down, including those for the son of former Pechanga spokesperson Jennie Miranda.

The adopted families are concerned that Larry won't be rehired at Pechanga casino, (ya think?). Uh, why hire criminals who steal from the casino and the Pechanga people? In fact, why isn't he disenrolled?

Stay tuned for more, but, it sounds like more people are standing up to the thugs in the back of the room. Of course, RB Jr. is good at threatening gestures, though not in backing them up.

Temecula, will you quit going to Pechanga while they are under indictment? I heard they are laying off people since they put in the new machines?

UPDATE: QUESTIONS:

Is PECHANGA letting some of their employees GO?
Are credit checks the excuse they are using to eliminate people?
Has the union tried to organize yet?
Has Pechanga finally paid it's bill to the state?
IS Pechanga a bad neighbor that does some good things?

Schwarzenegger Withholding Indian Money SDF from Cities.

Governor, the tribes have already paid this money into the funds and it should have been dispersed already. You are playing a shell game with our cities money and with our votes. You said gambling compacts would be good for California, and you allow Sycuan to get away with NOT paying $30 million that we need. You knew they hadn't passed the compact. GIVE OUR CITIES the money the Tribes have already paid for. YOU KNOW that money will go away soon anyway as you hide it in the general fund.

Valley leaders fear that loss of money could have big impactDebra GruszeckiThe Desert Sun
SACRAMENTO - The $30 million freeze on the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund has prompted a field trip to Sacramento by a contingent of Riverside County and Coachella Valley leaders.
The delegation - including leaders from Cathedral City, Coachella, Indio and Palm Springs - is expected to testify today that Assembly Bill 1389 offered by Majority Floor Leader Alberto Torrico offers positive reform.
But it falls short, they plan to say, because it lacks an amendment to reauthorize the inclusion of the $30 million in tribal Special Distribution Fund monies that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed from the 2007-08 budget bill.
That fund put more than $13 million in Riverside County in the fiscal year that ends next week.
The veto followed a California State Audit report that found some California counties outside of Riverside had spent casino mitigation funds on questionable items such as a $170,000 rescue ambulance boat for Lake Havasu with no Indian casinos near the lake.
Palm Springs City Manager David Ready said Riverside County and cities impacted by the casinos complied with all regulations involving these funds,

Rest of the story HERE

Soboba and Riverside Sheriff Working Together to Promote Communication

Good work by the Soboba band and Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff's department names interim tribal liaison

A retired sheriff's lieutenant who is a Torres-Martinez Indian was named today as interim tribal liaison to improve communications between the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and local Indian tribes.

The appointment comes in the wake of last month's shooting deaths by sheriff's deputies of three people in gun battles between Soboba tribal members and law enforcement officers.
The fact that Tortes belongs to the Torres-Martinez tribe (Born on Soboba Rez) will help him to understand the issues that are unique to reservation living, said Gutierrez."It truly is a good fit for the tribes and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department,'' he said.

Crack in the Sovereignty Dam: Couple wins $1.3 MILLION

Tribes are finding that hiding behind sovereignty won't always work. Each case like this, creates a little crack in the dam of sovereignty and tribes will be responsible for losing sovereignty for ALL tribes. Tread lightly. Couple Awarded $1.3M in Lawsuit A federal jury has awarded $1.3 million in damages to an Anglo couple who farmed for 17 years on leased land at Santa Ana Pueblo before its then-governor barred them from baling hay at night. The couple, Bob and Sue Burrell, said the governor's order, stemming from a noise complaint, effectively curtailed their farm operations in 1997. Although there were initial efforts at resolving the dispute, the Burrells eventually filed two federal lawsuits. The jury verdict came in a trial this week before U.S. District Judge William "Chip" Johnson. The Burrells' complaint alleged that the family was "run off their farm based on illegal discrimination based on race, national origin, color and religion" and caused significant financial harm. The litigation had previously been dismissed by a tribal court judge (SURPRISE!) and by Johnson before making its way to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The appeals court reversed Johnson, ruling that, while the pueblo was protected by sovereign immunity, pueblo officials acting outside the scope of their authority were not. Read more HERE

How Long Did Pechanga Know About The Dead at the Golf Course.

Since 1992. Don't take too deep a divot, golfers. In fact, golf somewhere else.

PechangaresolutionNCAI - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: PechangaresolutionNCAI

The Governator KNEW! SYCUAN:Compact not signed; $30 Million Shortfall to California.

UPDATE: Curiously, Sycuan donated $45,000 to Arnold backed initiatives last November. The Gov says that's a CO-incidence. Believe it or don't. More in the LA TIMES article HERE:

$30 MILLION in 4 months LOST to Californians because SYCUAN LIED to us. We know they all LIED to us about the amount we would get, but it's amazing that the government didn't TELL us that Sycuan didn't sign the compact yet.

Oh, yeah, Pechanga, have you paid your bill YET?

Sycuan withholds gambling pact OK Long a secret, the delay is costing state millions Cost State $8 million per month; Shwarzenegger KNEW before the Vote
By James P. Sweeney

SACRAMENTO – As four California Indian tribes waged one of the most expensive ballot fights in U.S. history last winter, they promised that gambling deals hanging in the balance would pay the state a huge bounty, more than $10 billion over 23 years.
To collect, voters had to approve the four big compacts, the tribes urged in a $100 million media blitz.
But one of the tribes was keeping a secret – it had not yet approved its own gaming agreement, even though a deadline to do so had long since passed.

The Sycuan band of El Cajon still has not ratified its revised compact, and the delay is expected to cost the state at least $30 million, the Schwarzenegger administration recently disclosed.

Story HERE EDITED to take out Soboba in my first line.

Pechanga Corruption: Which Family Is Next for Termination?

Occasionally, the OP blog will have guest bloggers. Today my cousin Wiaasal has a contribution. Thank you cousin.


If anyone thinks disenrollments are over, you better get your copy of the memorandum from the tribal council dated July 18, 2005.

Article 1 of this memo. says it all. "Because Pechanga Membership requirements are codified in the Constitution, the Petition process or any process other than the process outlined in the Constitution for amending the Constitution may not be used to amend Membership requirements.

Therefore, the passage of the Petition by the Pechanga General Membership did not change the Pechanga Membership requirments, and it did not create a base membership roll as of June 19, 2005 (e.g. did not "grandfather" in everyone who was a member as of June 19, 2005).

I promise you, Andy M., his sister and the rest of the CPP are planning another attack. The wording in this memo is very clear. This memo basically strips the General Membership of it's Governing body of the band.

Retroactively it may be used against other families, including some adopted families. Article 2 says "the only governing body that could take this action would be the Enrollment Committee, concerning enrollment or disenrollment." Better get ready.

The ride is not over yet.

Wiaasal makes some strong points. With the tribe be able to stand up to the splinter group? Is Andrew Masiel trustworthy as a tribal spokesman?

Just as important, if the band cannot make changes to membership requirements in the constitution, HOW could it impose a MORATORIUM, when the constitution says OPEN ENROLLMENT in January? The moratorium therefore has to be invalid

New Crack in Sovereignty Dam: Barona Can't Avoid Taxes

Nice try by Barona, but it didn't work.

It is true that tribes have an interest in their economic self-sufficiency," Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, Clinton nominee, wrote for the majority. "However, this concern carries minimal weight in the context of a $75 million casino expansion," the court said.
The court said the tribe "invited" commercial activity to the reservation that would otherwise take place off the reservation. So it is non-Indian businesses -- not the tribe -- whose rights are at stake, Wardlaw wrote in the 15-page ruling.
"In these circumstances, we find the state interest in the application of its general sales tax to be greater than the combined federal and tribal interests," the court said.

Read more: HERE

Commercial Bribery Scheme at Pechanga Falsifying Job Applications.

Pechanga employee cheats employees of $3,000 each.

UPDATES: Choomchuen Zhou was arrested on May 1st. Now, we'll see who she sings on when trying to save herself from a long term in prison. Also, a note that this story was also linked to at Pechanga.net on Sat. 6/21, after I sent notice to our friend Rob Schmidt. Thanks Rob, for linking to this story and helping get the word out about the corruption at Pechanga. We assume there will be a Larry Miranda story soon.

Mean Streets Blog reports that while Special Agents from the Riverside Office of the Bureau of Gambling Control (BGC) were investigating several management employees of the Pechanga Resort and Casino, the Agents uncovered evidence that floor supervisor, Kathy Zhou, who was recently suspended from her job, was charging casino job applicants $3,000 each to falsify their job applications to secure employment.

Agents monitored a telephone conversation between Zhou and one of her "customers," during which she instructed the individual not to say anything to DOJ agents. Zhou admitted to the witness during this conversation that she lied to the agents when they questioned her, and was admonishing everyone involved to "keep their stories straight."

Zhou was arrested on charges of commercial bribery and obstructing a criminal investigation.

Employees embezzle, tribal members cheat employees, employees violate the law, young tribal thugs get nightclubs shut down.

Avoid Pechanga... Temecula... Avoid Pechanga

Pechanga Smackdown! Andy Masiel vs. Mark Macarro

The FIGHT TO THE FINISH.

The battle for Chairman of the Pechanga Tribe will be: Andrew Masiel, current council member and son of the mother who disenrolled a hundred other Pechanga Mothers and the uncle of a man recently FIRED for stealing from Pechanga employees and Mark Macarro, handpicked chairman of the CPP and Splinter Group, known for his incredible shrinking tribe and bad temper.

In this corner: Evil "Andy" Masiel His opponent: Little Evil "Mark" Macarro

Who will the the tribe choose, the shorter, er, lesser of two evils in Macarro, or the big evil, the man who was part of the splinter group who broke up the tribe, something the Spanish, the whites couldn't do?

Stay TUNED for more, but I'll bet Mark would LOVE to have 300 votes back.

Mark, overturn your decision not follow the will of the people NOW and rescind the disenrollments!

BIA Rules on Comanche DeEnrollment; Another Crack in the Sovereignty Dam

The BIA has supported Debbie Hendrix is her disenrollment from the Comanche Nation.
Her rights of due process were violated and her rights granted in ICRA have also been violated.

Interesting that the BIA would look into this membership issue.
This link may for members only, but it's easy to join. I"ll add to this post shortly

From Debbie Hendrix communique:

As you read you will see the de-enrollment is tentatively invalid. Also, the telephone vote taken was also invalid. Therefore all benefits are to be reinstated and my name is to be placed back on the ballot. If Wallace chooses not to abide by the directive from the Regional Director then any people elected will not be recognized by the Bureau. Therefore we will not have a functioning government. In July when all the 638 contracts are to be signed they will not be recognized by the bureau because of the illegal CBC members. So the Tribe will loose all their 638 programs. Every bit of land the Attorneys are trying to put in the Comanche name will not be completed because of the illegal CBC positions. Wallace's resort will only be a memory. Because the Bureau will not do any business with anyone wanting to do business with the Comanche Tribe.

People then you can thank your Chairman and 4 CBC members for the loss of all tribal programs. Then if NIGC knows the land is not going to be put in trust then our Casinos will be closed down. Again you can thank your Chairman and 4 CBC members for the loss of your per cap. This shows you how much they care about the people. The chairman will break every law he wants just to get his way.

Pechanga's Splinter Group: Breaking Away from the Band

The Splinter Group - Part 3

The Pechanga Band had a stable government for many years. Over a period of 10 years or so, the Band developed and adopted a Constitution and an Enrollment procedure in response to the growing population on the reservation and the need of the Band for a more formal governing structure.
After the Constitution was adopted and the enrollment criteria decided upon, the Band proceeded to enroll approximately 450 members in full compliance with its enrollment procedures.
A small group of dissidents, led by BM, refused to acknowledge the Band’s Constitution and the tribal enrollment process. In fact, they refused to apply for enrollment. This small group announced to the Pechanga Band at a tribal meeting that they were breaking away from the Band and forming their own tribal government.

Prior to breaking away from the Band, the Splinter Group took steps to disrupt the workings of the government. Below are some quotes regarding the Splinter Group’s actions: “…we never did get past the first item which was a petition circulated by JM to abolish the bylaws and new roll. They wanted to go by recognition only…If they don’t like you, you never get recognized though you would be a legitimate member by lineal descent.” “…I felt we needed police protection. They were that violent.” “…the violence of the opposition would not allow the continuance of agenda. Now they are starting their own band. This stems from agitators who probably do not have a Pechanga or Temecula back ground.” “We may have to take legal action before something drastic happens here.”
These actions, along with their need to abolish the adopted Constitution and enrollment criteria and their failure to apply for enrollment, are signs that the Splinter Group “probably do not have a Pechanga or Temecula back ground.”

If they did have lineal descent and could meet the enrollment criteria developed and approved by the tribe, why was it necessary to cause such disruption of tribal government and eventually break away to form its own government with separate enrollment criteria?

Was their breaking away from the Band to form their own government a concession that they in fact could not meet the enrollment criteria and they were not tribal members as defined in the Band’s governing documents?

Pechanga: A Bad Neighbor that Does Some Good Deeds

It’s been a decade since Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro asked the People of California to help Native Americans in their quest for self-reliance. I believe that most people took self-reliance to mean that Native Americans would help take care of their own people with the proceeds of Indian Gambling. This is the messaging of every public relations campaign during every California referendum on Indian Gaming, Each time the leaders of Pechanga were the face of the California Native community.

Unfortunately, self-reliance to Pechanga means keeping rightful people from joining the band and removing people who don’t think the way the leadership wants them to think, so there will be no dissent among the membership. The Council’s policy is cash your check and shut the hell up.

Pechanga’s Constitution and Bylaws provides for OPEN ENROLLMENT each January, yet in 1997 the band approved a petition, which called for a moratorium on member enrollment so that the tribe can get caught up with the applications. There are 10 members on that committee, how long could it take to catch up? The will of the people was the rule of law in an enrollment matter, upheld by the tribal council.

When the people passed a valid petition to halt all disenrollments in 2005, the tribal council maintained that the petition couldn’t be enforced, because the general council had no authority in enrollment matters.

Let’s get this right, the general council says the people could keep people OUT, but they can’t keep people IN?

So, we have the Pechanga Tribal Council acting in a shameful manner by eliminating 25% of their citizenry. They stripped this group of their status as Native Americans, and grabbed their share of per capita payments to grow their own. They keep rightful members from their place at Pechanga via disenrollment and abused the elders and children of two families, terminating their cultural heritage.

In direct contradiction to these reprehensible actions, Pechanga donates to groups like the Boys and Girls Clubs, The Temecula Valley School District, and other organizations, which gladly take generous donations from the tribal government. Would these groups accept these donations if they knew what Pechanga had done to their own people?
Pechanga used those donations to trumpet how they were generous to the community, and good neighbors. Yet, I can’t believe that the organizations mentioned above would believe it’s okay to screw someone, let some people die knowing their heritage was stripped, so that they can have a new swing set on their playgrounds? I really don’t believe they would have endorsed Pechanga in the last elections if they knew what was really happening on the reservation in their own neighborhood.

Ethical businesses and governmental agencies should be expressing their outrage at what Pechanga has done, not turning a blind eye. Many sovereign countries quit doing business in South Africa because of their apartheid policies. Pechanga’s policy of denying basic civil rights to the people that they were purported to be helping with Proposition 5A is little different than S. Africa's, or Saudi Arabia's denying women the right to vote.

If Wal-Mart is so bad for not providing health coverage for all of their associates, which bring protests for each new store, why isn’t the same outrage aimed at Pechanga, who not only took away per capita, but health coverage, education assistance, employment and elder care for the citizens they kicked to the curb?

What Pechanga is doing is the epitome of hypocrisy. They are hiding their ‘dirty family secret’ behind a veil of sovereignty, and then publicizing their good deeds to local charities to show what honorable people they are. Don’t allow them to get away with it. It is time the people of this community learn the truth.

Please spread the word and if you must patronize an Indian Gaming facility, it is time to go elsewhere. Let Mark Macarro know that you DO NOT support his actions.

Pechanga Per Capita payments at $30,500 Mo. After Eliminating 25% of the Tribe

I find MANY people are google searching Original Pechanga's blog and looking for how much per capita Pechanga is making.

To clarify for those looking, the per capita for Pechanga, since they terminated two large families has jumped from $10,000 per month, to $30,500 per month. And, this does not include the quarterly bonuses. CPP members say it's about correcting the membership rolls, but, then, you do the math.

Now, expect to see in the comments that someone or two will say that we are whining because we lost our per capita. Loss of income has been difficult, especially for the elders, who are in the unhirable age, or disabled. However, there were 400 or so OTHER rightful Pechanga, the Moratorium people that are also deserving of their share of the sun.

This was NOT what we understood self-reliance was. Terminating Indians of their own tribe, is more disgusting, especially when it was done by those we adopted INTO the tribe.

UPDATED to ADD: Also, the Pechanga Tribal Council pays OVER $90,000 per year. Any wonder why they wanted to remove two large voting blocs? Of course, as a spokesman, Macarro is a "useful idiot" because his public persona belies the temper tantrums he throws on the rez.

Happy Father's Day to Disenrolled Pechanga People

A very happy Father's Day to those Pechanga people who have been in the unconstitutional moratorium at Pechanga and to those who have been disenrolled.

My father, who Pechanga still credits as Pechanga people on their website was a decorated war veteran, awarded the Bronze Star and the Army commendation medal for heroism in Vietnam, is now considered, NOT PECHANGA. Of course, he always knew he was, helping to build a cabin on the rez in 1957. For you history buffs, that was pre-casino, pre-cornfield and pre-Gloria Wright, who came to the rez in 1972. She's one who keeps her brother from his rightful place in the tribe.

Pechanga, shame on you, for disavowing your veterans and Fathers, and their descendents.

Feds Warn Soboba That it COULD be Forced to Close; VIOLENCE

This is a problem with sovereignty that should be addressed. What happens when THEIR sovereignty interferes with OUR rights to safety?

The federal agency that regulates Indian casinos warned the Soboba tribe recently that it could be forced to close its casino if violence on the reservation endangers people there.
Phil Hogen, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, confirmed Friday that he and his staff have been talking to the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians in the wake of two law enforcement shootouts on the reservation that left three tribal members dead. (OP: Criminal Tribal Members were shooting weapons, threatening San Jacinto and sheriff's deputies. Deputies defended themselves and citizens of Riverside County from the threat of Soboba Tribal Members)
"We said, 'Hey, we've heard there's been some violence there in the vicinity of the gaming facility,' " Hogen said in a telephone interview. "If it looks like it's going to put life and limb at risk ... closure of the facility might be necessary."
Hogen stressed that the casino is not currently in danger of being closed, and the commission hasn't issued any citations or penalties in connection with the shootouts last month. The commission informed the tribe of the "worst-case scenario," he said. (How worse does it have to get, better tribal marksman?)
The commission has the ability to shut down an Indian casino for safety reasons, but Hogen said it has probably done so only a few times in its 20 years in existence.
Hogen didn't recall any cases similar to the Soboba situation, and he said most of the safety concerns at other casinos have involved building issues, such as inadequate fire protection.
Hogen and staff members from the commission's Temecula office have been communicating with the tribe in the wake of the shootouts, he said.
The commission asked the tribe to clarify a number of issues, including a policy that firefighters and paramedics be escorted by law enforcement when they respond to calls on the reservation, Hogen said.
Cal Fire, which responds to fire calls on the Soboba Reservation, reversed that policy at 8 a.m. Friday and now allows firefighters to respond immediately, said Capt. Fernando Herrera.
"Things have changed, and there have been no incidents for weeks," Herrera said Friday. (yeah, Fernando..like 3 WHOLE weeks!) HERE is the story

NBC's Tim Russert Dead at 58

Sad News today that Tim Russert, NBC Washington Bureau Chief and Meet the Press moderator, died today at 58 of an apparent heart attack.

He was one of the good ones. Story HERE at Hot AIR. Condolences to his family.

Cherokee Freedmen: Historical Facts Clarify Citizenship Issue

Study of historical facts clarifies Freedmen citizenship issue
By Dr. Dan Littlefield
Director of Sequoyah Research Center

The controversy over Freedmen citizenship in the Cherokee Nation has led to misunderstanding & misstatement of historical facts. These misrepresentations come from various sources: citizens who are simply unlearned in Cherokee history, politicians who tend to rewrite Cherokee history to serve their own purposes and out-and-out racists.

No matter who causes the misunderstanding or makes misstatements, all promote a distortion of the historical facts, which must be clarified ifCherokee citizens are to make informed decisions. It is time for them not only to face the facts, but honestly to re-evaluate their positions in light of them. Because so much attention focuses on the work of the Dawes Commission and the Dawes rolls, they should consider the background for making Cherokee rolls and what the Dawes Commission did.

The argument that the Freedmen never had full citizenship rights in theCN prior to the Dawes period is spurious. In 1866, for the first time, theFreedmen gained the first citizenship they had ever held. It was the only citizenship they would have until 1901, when the United States made all of the citizens of the CN citizens of the United States as well. The Freedmen's rights in the Cherokee Nation were guaranteed by the Treaty of 1866, which the CN signed and carried out. It did so admirably, considering the racial climate in the adjoining states at the time.

Read more HERE

Our Ancestor, Paulina Hunter, an Original Pechanga Temecula person is also featured with a picture in Rose's newsletter.

Pechanga's Splinter Group: Anti-Pechanga Constitution and Bylaws

The Splinter Group Part 2.

The Pechanga Band became concerned about the question of enrollment in the early 1970’s. Many years of debate and discussion led to the presentation of a proposed final enrollment application and proposed procedures.

Between 1979 and 1981, using the approved process, approximately 456 members were enrolled and given enrollment numbers. During the screening of applications, the Enrollment Committee returned approximately 45 that were incomplete and requested further information from the applicants. There were also about 20 enrollment applications that did not meet the standards set by the Band.

Those standards, found at Article II of the Band’s approved Constitution and Bylaws include the following:

Membership is an enrolled member documented in the Band's Official Enrollment Book of 1979.
Qualifications for membership of the Temecula Band of Luiseno Mission Indians are:
A. Applicant must show proof of Lineal Descent from original Pechanga Temecula people.
B. Adopted people, family or Band, and non-indians cannot be enrolled. Exception: People who were accepted in the Indian way prior to 1928 will be accepted.
C. If you have ever been enrolled or recognized in any other reservation you cannot enroll in Pechanga.

The 20 applications that did not meet the standards involved the descendants of adopted members. People who would not be eligible for membership based on the Constitutional requirement. They included members of the Splinter Group.
The applicants were sent letters stating that their application for enrollment “has not met with the standards approved by the Band” The same letter advised the applicants that there is a provision for appeals to the Band. None of the individuals so notified ever appealed the decision of the Enrollment Committee.

In fact, as far as could be determined at the time, only one member of the Splinter Group, its leader BM, applied for membership in the Band. BM was sent the form letter advising him that he would have to appear before the Band on the issue of enrollment inasmuch as he was the descendant of an adopted member. BM never requested a hearing before the Band.
None of the individuals that were on the Splinter Group’s “council” were enrolled members of the Band.

Instead, you have a small group of perhaps 20 who simply refused to comply with the will of the band as a whole and who refused to apply for membership. Could it be that they knew then, as many know now, that they would not and should not be granted membership?

Instead of appealing to the tribe, those who would not be considered members based on the Band’s membership standards found another way to gain membership. However, this way did not include complying with the Band’s membership requirements as listed in the Constitution.

Be Careful Temecula: Mongols Motorcycle Gang Rally at Pechanga; MONGOLS President responds

UPDATE II: Mongols President BLASTS POLICE
The Mongols' president, 51-year-old Ruben "Doc" Cavazos, has a New York publicist and a new memoir about his life as a Mongol.
Cavazos said Wednesday that police in Riverside and San Diego counties harassed the group without provocation, stopping Mongols on motorcycles and searching their RVs for contraband.
"I think that the motorcycle clubs are truly the last group that you can violate their rights and nobody says anything," Cavazos said. (DOC, not too many people care about the rights of the individual Indian that tribes like Pechanga violates their civil rights either!)"They stepped all over us this weekend."
Dozens of sheriff's deputies and officers from around the area pulled over Mongols in and around Temecula, holding some at gunpoint, issuing 58 citations and arresting 17 people.

UPDATE: Sheriff's action keeps incidents negligible. Thank you to RCSO deputies. Congratulations Mongols on staying above the fray.

Be CAREFUL .... IF you decide to patronize Pechanga. They have their own thugs there, but then, the nightclubs were closed because of them.

Mongols Motorcycle Gang Arrests
LOS ANGELES (KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO) -- More than a dozen members of the Mongols Motorcycle gang were arrested this afternoon on Interstate 15 in the Temecula area.
By mid-afternoon traffic in both directions on the 15 slowed to a crawl, partly because drivers paused to watch the police activity.
As many as one-thousand Mongols are expected to rally at the Pechanga Casino then ride to the La Jolla Indian Reservation for a weekend gathering.

From Press Enterprise:

Capt. Jerry Williams of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said a large group of Mongols had been expected to rally at the Pechanga Casino on Friday, then ride to the La Jolla Indian Reservation near Valley Center in northern San Diego County for a weekend campout. Authorities expected 300 to 1,000 Mongols to attend.
Williams said the rally was not sanctioned by the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, but at any rate, it never materialized.

OP: WHY would Jerry Williams be saying it wasn't sanctioned by Pechanga? How does HE know? And what difference does it make? A criminal element planned to stage at Pechanga, they must feel comfortable there.

Whites Only Group Supports Cherokee in Freedmen Dispute.

NICE Backers! Look who you have for supporters:
LINK MORE SUPPORT HERE: http://colorofcrime.blogspot.com/

To advance the interests of persons of traditional European ancestry in the United States.
To educate such persons about news and issues of importance and relevance.
To provide a social network that promotes social intercourse among members through a system of local chapters and special project groups and to encourage a friendly community spirit among members.
To support the preservation and advancement of the two-parent European American family.
In keeping with America's first immigration laws and the intent of the nation's founders, to limit United States citizenship to persons of wholly European descent who have irrevocably surrendered claim to citizenship in any foreign nation.

More: Black Congressmen Pushing Bill To Shakedown Cherokee Nation

A coalition of blacks, non-voting delegates, and some of the more screwball white Democrats, are sponsoring a bill to shake down the Cherokee Nation.
The bill would require the Cherokee Nation to accept blacks who allege their ancestors were once owned by Cherokee slaveholders. Calling themselves “The Cherokee Freedment”, blacks demanding membership in the tribe would also be entitled to governmnent benefits and casino profits. The Cherokee Nation voted last year not to accept blacks as tribe members.
The bill in congress would suspend entitlements to the Cherokee Nation and freeze casino operations until the so called “Cherokee Freedmen” get a piece of the action for themselves. The bill also contains vague language allowing the “Cherokee Freedmen” to sue for alleged damages, meaning that these opportunists are seeking a very large piece of the pie indeed.
The Treaty of 1866 came about during Reconstruction. The Federal government declared that the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek tribes had violated their treaties because of alliances with the Confederate Government. The government nullified all treaties with these tribes. Since the Cherokee owned significant numbers of Negro slaves, when the Federal government wrote the new treaty it declared the Negroes free and citizens in the Cherokee Nation. The negroes were listed as Cherokee citizens on all Indian cenuses.
In 2007, the Cherokee Nation voted by a 77% majority in favor of a referendum that denied freed slaves were ever Cherokee citizens, and any blacks who had falsely claimed Cherokee membership were expelled. The heart of the controversy is money and jealousy. Blacks had been joining because of lucrative Federal entitlements and casino profits.

Pechanga: CPP has Origins In a Splinter Group, who stole from the Band

The Splinter Group

What is the Splinter Group? Who are its members? What is its relationship to the so called Concerned Pechanga People? Why did they spearhead the Pechanga disenrollments?
Here is some information about the Splinter Group and the Concerned Pechanga People and their role in the most recent disenrollments of legitimate Pechanga tribal members.

The information provided is available to the public and can be obtained from federal agencies through the Freedom of Information Act process. All quotes are taken directly from tribal and government documents obtained through the FOIA process.

Origins of the Splinter Group

In 1978 the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians adopted a Constitution and By Laws and an Enrollment procedure, all of which were to become effective on January 1, 1979. During 1979, the Band began operating under its Constitution and By Laws and began its first full year of accepting enrollment applications.
Everything went smoothly with these various processes until about mid-1980 when a small group of dissident individuals led by BM began attending meetings and opposing everything that the Band had been working for the past ten years. This group voiced its opposition in the name of “custom and tradition.”

They so disrupted the regular Band meetings that nominations for the tribal council elections could not be held and had to be postponed until March of 1981 with the election to follow in April.
In the meantime, in October, 1980, BM and his followers announced that they were breaking away from the Band and forming their own tribe. So, in January, 1981, they held their own elections and elected a spokesman and four council members, none of whom were enrolled members of the Pechanga Band. This self appointed “tribe”, whom the Pechanga Band referred to as the “splinter group”, then went to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and requested formal recognition as the official Pechanga Band.

This recognition was granted the splinter group in spite of the fact that (1) the Council members were not enrolled tribal members; and (2) the BIA had been previously advised that this was just a splinter group; and (3) the real Band’s election was to be held in April, not in January.
After the Pechanga Band’s April election, the real Pechanga Band was once again recognized by the BIA.
However, BM, leader of the splinter group, appealed the decision of the BIA to recognize the Pechanga Band’s duly-elected council pursuant to the April 25, 1981 election.

The Pechanga Band expended significant effort in responding to BM’s Appeal. This was necessitated by the fact that BM’s Appeal “shows an alarming and blatant disregard for the true facts. That appeal document …is replete with half truths, lies, misstatements and misinformation, and as such is wholly irresponsible”.

Please stay tuned for MORE information.

http://www.pechanga.info/

Open Letter:NBA's David Stern & Jerry Buss on Pechanga Sponsor

UPDATE 2:

Hot Air has more on the disgraced ref. Ed Morrissey has a take on it: HERE. Take a look. And SHOULD the NBA be in bed with Gambling Sponsors? RICK MORAN also has a take on this. Please take a look there too.

UPDATE: Day 19 with no word yet from Mr. Stern still waiting: originalpechanga2@yahoo.com

Open Letter to NBA Commissioner David Stern and Los Angeles Lakers Owner Dr. Jerry Buss

Dear Commissioner Stern and Dr. Buss,

During the past 60 years, the National Basketball Association has built itself into one of the premier leagues in professional sports. From the first championships in the late 1940’s, through the George Mikan’s Lakers teams to the dynasty of the Celtics and the rivalry between the Celtics and Lakers and through the Michael Jordan years, the NBA has stood for fairness, and purity of sports.

Sadly the NBA finds itself sullied by gambling scandals. The publicity of the Donaghy incident has shaken the foundation of the game. Now, we find that NBA analyst and former superstar Charles Barkley has a $400,000 unpaid gambling debt and Sir Charles has admitted to spending $10 million gambling, but to him, “it’s not a problem”.

Our concern is your sponsorships from Indian Casinos. How can you decry gambling on one hand, yet on the other, take millions of dollars in advertising and sponsorships from gambling enterprises. Your flagship team, the Los Angeles Lakers has a partnership with the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians.

Throughout Indian Country, thousands of native Americans have had their cultural heritage stripped from them, primarily by tribes in pursuit of gaming compacts. The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, of Temecula CA, is one of the most egregious civil rights violators in Indian Country.

The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and KNBC News have done numerous stories detailing the activities of the tribe, including “Tribal Flush: Pechanga People Disenrolled En Masse.” and “Without a Tribe” reported by Colleen Williams of KNBC.

- The Pechanga Band has eliminated 25% of its citizenship and denied them due process, equal protection under tribal and federal laws, in violation of the Indian Civil Rights Act.
- The tribe stripped elders of their health care benefits and access to the tribal clinic.
- Forcibly removed the children of some members from the tribal school.
- The most recent disenrollment of 100+ adults and children was especially egregious as the General Membership, the Tribe's governing body, had previously passed a law which (1) repealed the Tribe's disenrollment procedures and (2) made it illegal for the Enrollment Committee to disenroll members. In violation of its own Constitution and the ICRA, Pechanga tribal officials breeched their duty.

We question the wisdom of accepting money from a gambling enterprise that is a known civil rights violator. We are asking that you sever your ties to Pechanga and investigate the issues detailed above and determine whether sponsorship from gambling casinos is in the best interests of the National Basketball Association.

CONTACT INFORMATION for the NBA:

Feel free to fax a copy of my open letter. National Basketball Association, Inc.Olympic Tower, 645 5th Ave.New York, NY 10022NY Tel. 212-407-8000 Fax 212-754-6414

Rep. Diane Watson's Meeting With The Cherokee Freedmen

Rep. Diane Watson was at the Cherokee Freedmen's Meeting this past weekend.

The Honorable California Congresswoman Diane Watson of California was the keynote speaker at the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes Association annual conference which was held at the Oklahoma City Langston University campus on June 7th 2008. The Congresswoman exhorted the freedmen people to continue to fight on for their treaty rights. She spoke of the oversight role of Congress in determining how federal funds are spent. Her speech pointed out that the leadership of the Cherokee nation of Oklahoma has spent more than $10 million dollars in lobbying and legal costs to remove the tribal citizenship of the 2800 Cherokee freedmen tribal members whose ancestors were enslaved by Cherokee Indians.
She also spoke of how the tribe has shut down enrollment of Cherokee freedmen tribal members and how the descendants of the recognized black Cherokee freedmen tribal members are unable to access benefits. She spoke of her concern for elderly freedmen such as Mrs. Riggs, a relative of Cherokee Will Rogers who are currently being denied benefits available for other Cherokee citizens due to her status as a Cherokee freedman.

Congresswoman Watson discussed the bill which she introduced in Congress in June 2007, HR2824 which if passed will deny federal funding(which is currently about 300 million ) to the Cherokee nation of Oklahoma until the tribe comes into legal compliance regarding the continuation of the tribal membership of the freedmen tribal members who have a treaty right to tribal membership. She spoke of her support for hearings to be held on the bill by the House Judiciary and the Natural Resources Committees. She emphasized the fact that the bill HR 2824 is not a termination bill of the tribe’s government to government relationship with the United States.
She also discussed why myths which have been put out as fact by the Cherokee nation are not true – such as the tribal administration statements that Cherokees did not own slaves.
She spoke of the Cherokee tribe’s passing of brutal laws encouraging the oppression of people of African ancestry, of tribal laws passed protecting the institution of slavery during the 19th century and the brutal suppression of a slave revolt in 1842 by the tribal government.

She exhorted the freedmen people to continue to lobby members of Congress, tribal leaders, and local legislators for support of freedmen rights and warned the freedmen that the Cherokee leadership’s goal is to just outlast the freedmen and their allies.

Soboba's Salgado: White People should go back to Plymouth Rock

This is good customer relations from Chairman Salgado of Soboba:

If those in the trailer park aren't happy, he said, they should "get back on Plymouth Rock and sail back to Europe." in response to neighbors who complained about bullets from the reservation hitting their mobile homes.

Reminds of the words of wisdom of Pechanga Chair Macarro: "what we do on the reservation is NO BUSINESS of the WHITE MAN.

But, Riverside County, WHERE YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY IS your business. Take your business ELSEWHERE.

Even if the tribe and the department strike a deal, it won't be the end of the story. The tribe's lawyer, veteran Indian rights attorney Jack Schwartz, is investigating whether deputies violated the tribe's civil rights.

JACK, will you take up the cause of INDIANS who have ALSO had their rights violated by tribes like PECHANGA and PICAYUNE?

Seneca-Cayuga: Tribe's Council Meets, Defying Court Order

Coincidentally, Pechanga was supposed to have a meeting every month, too. But during Pechanga's Indian Removal era, the council often did not have meetings, in order to conspire as to how to terminate Indians. Lawlessness. There are 1o ways to help combat lawlessness in Indian Country on the sidebar.

Tribe's council meets in defiance of court order

Associated Press - June 8, 2008 1:15 PM ET
GROVE, Okla. (AP) - A dispute between two arms of the Seneca-Cayuga's tribal government has taken another turn.
The Miami, Okla.-based tribe's general council met yesterday, even after a tribal court had ordered the meeting to be postponed. During the meeting, the council voted to abolish the court, which had been created less than a year ago.
The council also accepted the resignation of tribal Chief Paul Spicer, who had already said he planned on stepping down.
Under the tribal constitution, a quorum of at least 30 tribal council members must meet on the first Saturday in June. Such meetings have been held annually since 1937.
The tribe has about 4,400 members, some of whom claim Spicer has tried to silence opposition at council meetings. Spicer countered that a faction of tribal members wanted to intimidate those who did not agree with them and tried to set up a "shadow government."
The tribal court's order had stayed all general council meetings until July 9th, when a hearing was scheduled on a case involving Spicer and 11 tribal members.

Welcome to Visitors From John Cornsilk's Place

Thank you for stopping by. We share some information on the Cherokee here, but we are mainly Pechanga-centric, spreading the word of how Pechanga has terminated 25% of the tribe with their Indian Removal Act.

Stay and check some articles and, PLEASE, come back.

Readers, please check out John's Place, which is linked on my blog roll.

Tribal Justice at Barona: Paid for Judges?

Quote of the Day: Most people don't realize that when you go to an Indian casino, it's like entering a foreign country where you have very few rights,"

Tribal justice for outsiders is not swift or sure. And judges taking contributions from tribes that may come before them?

When Redd discovered that Goldsmith had taken political contributions from nine Indian tribes, including the Barona tribe, she filed a petition to have his decision thrown out on grounds that he should have disqualified himself. The petition was turned down by the California Supreme Court.

Barona Bedbug Bites mean be careful when going on sovereign territory

Jerry Brown: Fox Guarding the Tribal Casino Henhouse?

State AG Jerry Brown doesn't seem to be taking a strong stand against crime on California's Indian Reservations. He DOES seem to be courting the tribes, however, should he plan to run for governor again.

Michell DeArmond has the story HERE.

The attorney general's office's Bureau of Gambling Control is one of several entities that regulate Indian casinos. Whether Brown, as attorney general, can crack down on problems at Indian casinos and simultaneously solicit tribes' political support could become an issue on the campaign trail, as questions of potential conflicts of interest often do
Records show that Brown hasn't collected any campaign contributions from tribes during his time as attorney general thus far. In a telephone interview Tuesday, Brown said he wouldn't rule out accepting tribal donations later but would exercise "prudence and good judgment" in cases of potential conflict.
"That's a concern I might have with respect to anybody," he said, noting that many political donors do business with the state. "I don't want to single out tribes. They're big and they're important in the political process, but there are also a lot of others."

OP: Except, Jerry, that YOU KNOW that tribes, led by Pechanga are the single BIGGEST donors. Are you going to be out front when the indictments are going to be handed down?

Does Pechanga Think Crime Pays?

Paulina Hunters Blog asks that question

CHEROKEE FREEDMEN: Housing Amendment at Last Stop

It would seem reasonable, for other tribes affected by the Cherokee's decision to strip some of its people of their citizens, which, would be similar to the US removing descendents of slaves from US citizenship, to place some pressure on the CHEROKEE. Why should Congress support a sovereign nation that violates its people so badly?

Cherokee housing amendment may be at last stop

by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today
WASHINGTON - For months, Rep. Diane Watson and the Congressional Black Caucus have gotten all the attention on the Cherokee freedmen issue. The California Democrat has introduced a bill, H.R. 2824 in the House of Representatives, that would sever federal relations with the Cherokee of Oklahoma for a referendum vote of the tribe to, in effect, exclude the freedmen from membership. With the backing of the caucus, amendments echoing the bill would penalize the Cherokee in the realms of health care and housing.

The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, its lobbyists and allies have mounted a campaign against Watson's bill, arguing in part that it would penalize a tribe for determining its own citizenship, a cornerstone of sovereignty.
But upon the recent passage of a Senate bill reauthorizing the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Assistance Act, the freedmen-specific spotlight turns from Watson and the CBC to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. After full debate and a pause in the legislative process for mediation efforts, the House version of the bill, H.R. 2786, emerged from the Financial Services Committee and passed the House with a provision that forbids housing funds to the Cherokee of Oklahoma under its provisions.
The Senate version is silent on the Cherokee. A conference committee of House and Senate members must now convene to iron out differences between the two bills. But as chairman of a committee of original jurisdiction, Frank retains a key say in the bill's disposition. According to several accounts on Capitol Hill, he remains firm that the amendment against Cherokee funding will not iron out in conference, and indeed that the bill will not emerge from conference without it.
''That's what I heard, and I guess it's true,'' said Christopher Boesen of Tiber Creek Associates in Washington, a veteran advocate of Indian housing. ''It's Frank's office did not respond to a request for comment. Pending court decisions, the freedmen remain tribal citizens as descendants of slaves and free blacks who lived among the Cherokee, most of them belonging to individual tribal members, before and during the Civil War.

OP: South Africa was a sovereign nation and we pulled our investments from there. Similarly, we shouldn't support a nation that treats its people badly, such as California Nations: Pechanga, Picayune, and Enterprise. Rep. Watson and CBC, there are other citizens who have been treated badly too, and hey, we have African-Americans in the Hunter family, terminated unconstitutionally from Pechanga.

Coming Soon: Another Crack in the Sovereignty Dam

Word is that at the beginning of next week, OR SOONER, there will be some news on court rulings against tribal disenrollment. Continued cracks in the dam of sovereignty, caused by Casino tribes who mistreat their people.

Stay tuned. This could help pending and upcoming lawsuits.

Sen. Jim Battin Offered NO Help to Nat. Americans whose Civil Rights Violated

Thank Goodness for term limits. Outgoing Senator Jim Battin ignores the plight of those disenfranchised Native Americans because he received over $350,000 in contributions. He voted their way most of the time. This new site has the information on how much our politicians are taking from sovereign nations.

http://maplight.org/map/ca/interest/X3400/view/all

Banished Snoqualmie File Civil Rights Lawsuit

Lynda V. Mapes
Seattle Times staff reporter

Nine banished members of the Snoqualmie tribe have filed a federal lawsuit in the latest round of an ongoing fight for control of the tribe, poised to open one of the state's most lucrative gambling casinos this fall. Tossed out in April, the banished members, including the tribal chairman, several council members and a minister of the Indian Shaker Church, filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, claiming violation of their civil rights.
Named in the suit are the Snoqualmie council members who banished them, stripping them of their tribal identity; barring them from tribal lands, and cutting them off from any tribal benefits, including health-care services. "This is a sad, sad time," said banished tribal member Lois Sweet Dorman. "This was supposed to be a time to celebrate together; the promise of prosperity to enable us to provide for our people. We worked so hard for our sovereignty. Most of us are elders of this tribe; this action is unbelievably harsh and cruel."

In the suit, attorney Rob Roy Smith of Seattle said the banishments should be overturned because his clients' liberties were illegally restrained by violation of the Indian Civil Rights Act. Passed by Congress in 1968, the act is intended to safeguard the fundamental civil rights of tribal members, such as their right to due process, free speech and peaceable assembly. The banished had no opportunity to confront their accusers or exercise their right to free speech, and were unlawfully accused of "treason" and meeting as an "illegal shadow government" in violation of their right to peaceable assembly, according to the suit. They are also denied their liberty in being barred them from tribal lands and services, the suit stated.

Matt Mattson, tribal administrator, declined to respond except by e-mail on Friday: "The tribe is not aware of the suit and really cannot comment without knowing more details.(What do you think? They aren't aware?)
Read related story HERE and HERE

The Pechanga Indian Removal Acts: Violations of Civil Rights

Steve Craig and the folks at apoliticalblog.com have graciously asked me to contribute to their blog. Here is the first submission The Pechanga Indian Removal Acts

The Pechanga Indian Removal Acts

Posted on January 16th, 2008 by Original Pechanga

The explosion of Indian Gaming in California has lead to some acts that tribes such as Pechanga Band of Temecula would like to keep as “family secrets.” Removing Indians from tribes, pronouncing them non-Indians, had the same effect as Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Acts had in 1830’s America. Get the Indians we don’t want or like out of the way.

In 2004 and 2005, as part of the Concerned Pechanga People’s Indian Removal Policy, members of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians were forced to give up their membership in the tribe whose reservation is in Temecula, CA. Life-long members, who have had land on the reservation for centuries were forcibly expelled from the tribe. This act of paper genocide has had devastating effects on 25% of the Pechanga people.
Elders no longer qualify for the health care that they lobbied the tribe to provide for all its members. The young are not allowed to attend the reservation’s school, being forcibly blocked and told to leave, much in the manner of the white racists who blocked black children from integrating schools in Little Rock in the 1950’s.

Those who were removed, face an unsecured financial future. Many worked for the tribe, were part of all events, meetings, have their dead buried in the Pechanga Cemetery. Now, that has ended. In order to increase the per capita ($15,000 per month at the time of the first removal) some of the descendents of Pablo Apis, the family of Manuela Miranda were terminated from the tribe. Per capita grew to $20,000 per month (plus bonuses) for those remaining, members of the Concerned Pechanga People initiated a misinformation campaign, one that has successfully terminated over 300 Native Americans of Pechanga descent at the time of the second removal (the descendents of Paulina Hunter.) The per capita is now reportedly $40,000 per month.

Blood relatives are banished from the reservations, families who are no longer in the tribe, but live on the reservation property that they’ve owned since the late 1800’s live in fear that the tribe will take away their water, which has been threatened by some of the remaining tribal members. Will Pechanga really turn off their lifeblood, as easily as they took away their civil rights? It’s not difficult to think so, after the atrocities that the CPP have already committed.

The Concerned Pechanga People
This is the group of people that let the blackness of greed take over their hearts and minds.

The Splinter Group

This group is an offshoot of the 1980’s Splinter Group, led by Russell Murphy and assisted by Frances Miranda and Ihrene Scearse (later on the enrollment committee and committed to removing tribal members). Non-enrolled members of Pechanga, they started attending meetings and disrupted the regular goings on of the business. They announced that they were separating from the band and forming their own Tribe. They petitioned the BIA to recognize them, but the BIA refused.
With few exceptions, no member of the splinter group applied for membership because they knew they could not meet the constitutional requirements established by the Pechanga Band.
The actions of the splinter group raise legitimate questions: Are they really Pechanga? Are they able to document their lineal descent from an Original Pechanga Temecula Person as the Pechanga Bands Constitution and Bylaws require? Did they figure that disruption of tribal matters was the way to go?
This is not the portrait of a tribe in need, asking the people of California to allow tribes to have Las Vegas type gaming such as portrayed in the Prop. 1A and Prop. 5 television commercials of the 1990’s. This is about power, greed and violations of civil rights, voting rights, and elder abuse. It’s about tribal governments wielding sovereignty like a club and it’s about individual Indians that have nowhere to turn for justice.
I’ll explore this more in future posts, with thoughts on expanded gaming in California and what it feels like to be told you aren’t who you know you are.

Please take a look at the whole article, please check out the link and COMMENT.

Temecula AGAINST Pechanga's Land Transfer and Darrell Issa's HR 2963! UPDATE

UPDATE: CONTACT INFO FOR DARRELL ISSA BELOW

The City of Temecula has sent a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa in opposition to HR2963, which is a land transfer to the Pechanga Band of Unconstitutional Indians. The reason: Pechanga LIED about their last land transfer, that we discussed HERE. Pechanga said that they wanted the last land transfer to preserve the cultural resources and according the the letter from the city of Temecula:

In 2004, the City was supportive of HR 4908 (Issa) but did request that if in the future the Band's plans for the area changed, the Tribe consult with the City to ensure that all local issues are appropriately addressed. As a result, we are more concerned now because these opens space areas now contain the Pechanga tribe's golf course. These land uses were "wswitched out" irrespective of the representations made in teh federal environmental documentation.

In other words for Pechanga, "a lie is as good as the truth, if you can get someone to believe it."

The city of Temecula believs a strong and accountable enforcement provision is necessary. We've been saying that for quite a while about the Indian Civil Rights Act that Pechanga cares nothing about.

City of Temecula Leaders... won't you join the disenfranchised Pechanga people who have lost their citizenship (not membership) in Pechanga? Or, does it only bother you when a golf course ruins your view? Time to stand up for what is right.

UPDATE: The process calls for Pechanga to get 1200 additional acres from the rest of the United States. Perhaps they should get the parcel reduced by..say..25%, since that is how much they have reduced their tribal citizenship. NO LAND FOR PECHANGA until they restore the civil rights they took away from the people.

Contact Info for Darrell Issa:

San Diego County Office1800 Thibodo Road, #310Vista, CA 92081phone: 760-599-5000 fax: 760-599-1178

Washington D.C. Office211 Cannon HouseOffice BuildingWashington, DC 20515phone: 202-225-3906 fax: 202-225-3303