Monday, June 23, 2008

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.


Read this document on Scribd: PechangaresolutionNCAI

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please tell us more.
What, Pechanga has designed this new golf course among the dead?
I thought they were all about respect for their dead?
They used to at least.

Anonymous said...

I saw something that was written by the developer who said that they were being respectful because they intentionally went around the buriel ground.

The developer, who's name escapes me at this time, also said they were being responsible because they moved and replanted 150 trees.

Fact is, they were being culturally insensitive by tearing up and changing the landscape that Pechanga said they wanted to protect as well as putting a golf course near a known Indian buriel ground.

People say we only care about the money but if that is the case, then why have I and others posted several comments about how the tribe promised one thing to get this land put into trust and then did another when they desecrated the land they swore to protect?

I hope I or someone else can find that piece that the develper put out.

I can't remember where I saw it and I didn't save it after I read it.

wiaasal said...

Pechanga petitioned the NCAI (National Congress of American Indians)for Resolution #BIS-02-062 Supporting of Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Efforts to Protect the Great Oak Ranch. The petition included statements to protect "historical and archaeological sites including tribal buriel sites".

wiaasal said...

Below is a Question and Answer W/ Senator Boxer on the Great Oak Ranch. Complete story on link at end.

WINR: Can you tell us more about the Pechanga tribe property purchase of the 724-acre Great Oak Ranch, and why this is considered to be sacred lands?

Senator Boxer: This property is part of the ancestral homelands of the Pechanga and contains significant cultural, historical, and archaeological resources and sites for both the tribe and the surrounding community. The land is home to the largest known naturally growing California live oak tree. The area also contains tribal burial and spiritual sites. The passage of my bill to protect the Great Oak Ranch was a result of many attempts through different means to protect sacred land. This bill will protect the tribe’s land until their land-into-trust application is completed at the Department of Interior.

http://www.cnr.uidaho.edu/winr/kd24.1.htm

OPechanga said...

So, how do they protect the historical and archaeological sites from an errant driver or 2-iron?

Anonymous said...

But not only did Pechanga ask for support from the NCAI in getting this land put into trust, Chairman Mark Macarro, as I have posted several times on other threads, testified to the resources committee of the United States congress on April 17, 2002, that Pechanga was going to do no development or change of this land of any kind that the tribe wanted to preserve and protect irreplacable natural and cultural resources of the Pechanga and Luiseno people.

The tribe also made the same assertions in its land trust application to the United States Dept. of Interior.

But now those resources have been replaced by golf.

Macarro's brother John Macarro, general council for Pechanga, explained that once a tribe has land put into trust they can change zoning for other uses.

In other words they can say one thing to get land put into trust then do another once the land is in trust.

Anonymous said...

Below is a link to the congressional record from the resources committee dated April 17, 2002 and the testimony is Macarro telling the committee that the tribe was not going to do development of any kind on the property.

As I and other posters have asked, did the tribe lie about protecting that piece of land?

LET THE RECORD SPEAK FOR ITSELF.


http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_house_hearings&docid=f:78759.wais


Mr. Hayworth. Thank you, Mr. Avery.
Chairman Macarro, does the Pechanga Tribe have any plans
for development of any kind on the Great Oak Ranch property?
Mr. Macarro. No, we don't. As stated in our application to
Interior/BIA, we stated or have designated there is no change
of use in the property, and the intended use and purpose is to
preserve and protect the resources that are there.


Mr. Hayworth. Without objection, we would welcome that.
Just one follow-up, and for purposes of the record, Mr.
Chairman, does the tribe plan to use the Great Oak Ranch for
gaming purposes or any purposes other than what you have just
outlined?
Mr. Macarro. No, the tribe does not.

If I seem to be driving this point into the ground by posting it multiple times on several threads, understand that it is a pet peeve of mine that part of my culture has been destroyed forever. This will be my last reposting of this information.

Anonymous said...

It's ALL ABOUT THE $$$!
Who cares about Indians, when we can get birdies? If we are on our game EAGLES!! I hear the golf carts will have GPS, we can act like COWBOYS!! Shoot right at them greedy Indians(mexicans-most of them).

Look out mark,john,francis,boobie
l.,anthony m & your bro(course super?),jen "Witchie poo",andy m, B murphy-adopted for sure!! ,&ect...,...manoa-wait ,ed check again (check the facts)???
nice group!!!

watch out for snakes.
The truth is this golf course will be far under par.

Anonymous said...

On another thread one of our critics who pops in here from time to time, Rob who writes for Victor Rocha's Pechanga.net, said he questioned whether Pechanga built the golf course on land they promised not to change.

He contends that it could be on land next to the land that was supposed to be protected but not on the property itself.

Well I am posting here two articles from the Riverside Press Enterprise that confirm what we have been saying.

Note, for about the tenth time, that Pechanga general council John Macarro said that the tribe can do anything they want with the land once they have it put into trust regardless of what they told the federal government to the contrary.

In the first article that appeared in the Riverside Press Enterprise on March 23, 2008 The author uses Pechanga as an example of why the public should be wary of tribes getting land put into trust.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_casino24.3135a70.html

FROM THIS ARTICLE: According to its stated purpose at the time, the tribe wanted to maintain existing cultural resources and native vegetation of cultural significance to tribal life, Silver said. Pechanga asserted in its application that given the "vast occurrence of cultural resources found on the site, no development is proposed."

Based on that assurance, the Bureau of Indian affairs concluded in March 2001 that the proposed annexation would not harm the environment. By early 2007, however, the tribe was building a golf course on a portion of the land, Silver said.

"This golf course development was especially troubling given the parcel's location within...the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan," Silver said.

In response, Pechanga's General Counsel John Macarro, wrote, "Once the land is placed in trust, a tribe has complete zoning and planning authority over it and can change land uses just as a county or city can change or update its general plan or zoning designations."

In the second article dated May 28, 2008 Temecula city manager Shawn Nelson expresses his concerns about new trust land the tribe now wants because in a previous trust transfer the golf course was put on land the tribe said there would be no development on.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/indianaffairs/stories/PE_News

In his letter, Nelson wrote that while the city has supported prior land transfers to preserve cultural resources and open space, one prior land transfer resulted in open space being used for the Pechanga Resort & Casino's golf course.

"These land uses were 'switched out' irrespective of the representations made in the federal environmental documentation," Nelson said.

Anonymous said...

IF THERE IS ANY DOUBT THAT PECHANGA DID INDEED PUT THE JOURNEY TO PECHANGA GOLF COURSE ON THE GREAT OAK RANCH PROPERTY AFTER THEY PROMISED THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THEY WERE NOT GOING TO DO ANY CHANGES TO THE LAND IF IT WAS PUT INTO TRUST, THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE FOR THE GOLF COURSE ACKNOWLEDGES IT IS INDEED ON THE GREAT OAK RANCH PROPERTY!

http://www.journeyatpechanga.com./history.asp

HISTORY
The native history of the Pechanga Band of LuiseƱo Indians is deeply implanted in every fertile yard of Journey at Pechanga. The cultural heritage and connection to the land runs deep and is virtually inseparable. The very name "Pechanga" means "place where the water drips," a fitting description so in keeping with the beautiful and natural water features that abound on this magnificent course.

Journey is built on a portion of Pechanga’s ancestral land that has been their "home" for countless generations. This land is also home to "The Great Oak" – one of the largest natural-growing, indigenous coast, live oak trees in the United States and estimated to be anywhere from 850 to 1,500 years old.

To the Pechanga people, the land that Journey is built upon, and the Great Oak that stands upon it, carries meaning that far transcends mere physical presence. The Great Oak, for example, has come to embody the very identity and character of the Pechanga Band: strength, wisdom, longevity and determination.

The Pechanga Tribe’s devotion and deep "connection to the land" makes playing the course at Journey all that more awe-inspiring. So when you’re out there on the pristine greens, enjoying every exhilarating minute, take a moment to pause, breath deeply and appreciate your surroundings…you too will feel the connection to this very special land that the Pechanga people hold so dear.