Guest blogger 'Aamokat has a post on whether it's possible that someone with non-Pechanga blood becomes Chairman.
IS ANDY MASIEL A TRUE PECHANGA PERSON?
'Aamokat
Pechanga councilman Andy Masiel is running for tribal chairman in this year’s election which takes place this coming Saturday, July 19, 2008 but is he really a true Pechanga person?
Masiel’s family have a connection to Soboba and while they have had a presence at Pechanga for years, are they really from Pechanga?
For example family members from previous generations such as Petronilla Flores Salazar, Roberta Flores Salazar, and his mother Ruth Agnes Flores (Salazar) are all listed as being born at Soboba in a summary of 1928 applications for enrollment as Indians with the State of California .
So are they really Pechanga or are they Soboba?
But what really throws a monkey wrench into the machinery is the fact that Ruth, Andy’s mother, is listed in the 1929 Pechanga census as being adopted by Petronilla. Ruth is also listed as being illegitimate in some of the earlier Pechanga census records of the 1920’s which show her name as her as Janet Leivas.
This is her connection to the Basquez family (spelled with a V in the census records) as
Irene Basquez, reportedly Ruth's sister, now known as Irene Scearce, is listed as the daughter of Arturo Basquez and Francisca Leivas.
Arturo is listed as a Mexican so they can’t claim membership from him but ironically even the Leivas connection is suspect as because even though they claim their membership from Josepha (Garcia) Leivas, who is reportedly supposed to be Francisca’s mother, Josepha is listed as being married to one Felipe Cascara at the time of Francisca’s birth in 1898.
Sound confusing? My head is spinning just writing this stuff!
But the tour de force of all of this seemingly conflicting data may be the infamous 1940 Pechanga census in which 14 names, some of which were hand written, were added on to the end of the record from the BIA census record. The astonishing part of it is all but one of those names were people born after 1940 and some of those people were born decades later including Raymond Basquez Junior, Andy Masiel’s nephew, who was born in the 1960’s! (OP: How can a 1960's birth be on a 1940's census and be "accepted"?)
Most of the names added on were all from the Basquez/Masiel family, who reportedly wanted to use that census as a base roll for membership at Pechanga!
I remember when Jenny (Masiel) Miranda, Andy Masiel’s sister, used to get up at the general membership meetings and support what she called adoption in the “Indian way.”
No wonder as her family doesn't appear to be able to show a blood connection to the people. But if her mother Ruth isn’t of Pechanga blood was she ever adopted in the Indian way or was she just adopted through a county court?
I didn’t have a problem with them being in the tribe because they have been around Pechanga a long time during the 1900’s but do they have a connection to the Original people from the 1800’s? I HAVE GRAVE DOUBTS THAT THEY DO!
ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS LEAVE THOSE OF US ALONE WHO CAN SHOW A DIRECT CONNECTION TO THE RESERVATION WHEN IT WAS CREATED AND TO THE TEMECULA VILLAGE BEFORE THE RESERVATION AND WE COULD HAVE ALL LIVED TOGETHER AS ONE PEOPLE BUT THEY COULDN’T DO THAT!
Who cleared this family? Raymond said they had to go through the disenrollment process and were cleared. What was the reason they were cleared?
ReplyDeleteIs it true that some people may have paid for their Enrollment/ Membership cards? I heard a rumor once.
ReplyDeleteHow many people are in the Masiel/Basquez line? If they all pitched in say $2000 a piece, they could buy something.
ReplyDeleteAt the height of the disenrollment crisis seven members of the enrollment committee were suspended from the committee because their respective family lines were under investigation.
ReplyDeleteThe Basquez/Masiels were cleared by only three members of the committee out of the ten members the committee is supposed to have.
The rules of the committee say they are supposed to have at least 51 percent or six members to have a quorum but when the first three families were cleared, their family members, including from the Basquez/Masiels were reinstated to the enrollment committee so that they could vote to oust the M.Mirandas and the Hunters.
Members of the M.Mirandas and Hunters had filed disenrollment papers against the Basquez/Masiels as well as the descendants of Candelaria Flores and once those committee members families' were cleared by only three members of the committeee they were allowed to vote against the committee members who had filed against them and our families, myself included.
So the decsion to clear these families should have been null and void so hence the decisions to disenroll the Hunters and M Mirandas should also be null and void.
I don't know why this particular family was cleared.
I have heard that they were considered adopted in the Indian way but I just don't know.
You know, I didn't enjoy posting things like Ruth was adopted and she was illegitimate as it appears that I am being spiteful.
However, it is in the public record, official Pechanga censuses from the national archives.
Those families really have had a connection to the Rez for a long time and maybe that is why they consider themselves to rightfully belong but like I said in my Guest Blog, were they there at the beginning?
After all, the requirments are from an Orginal Pechanga Temecula person, which would be from the 1800's not the 1900's.
IF Ruth Masiel was adopted in the Indian Way (which I highly doubt), then she can be a member, but the bylaws do not say that her future descendents will automatically be members. SO Jennie and her outlaw son and the rest of her family are ILLEGAL ALIENS!!! Send them back to where they came and get them off of the Pechanga Reservation. They have only polluted it. Raymond Basquez is a farce as a shaman (anyone can bury artifacts in their yard).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Francisca Leivas had THREE 1928 Applications for THREE different places. We really don't know what kind of Indian she was (if any), but we do know that she was a CROOK just like her descendents. She left quite a legacy.
So, membership based on a lie should be enough for disenrollment, correct? A crime family for sure.
ReplyDeleteGloria Wright would know for sure, via her sister. What does she have to say about this?
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that the statements presented here are precisely WHY the Hunters and Miranda families were booted from the tribe. That there are illegitimate members in the tribe and they themselves feared being removed from it.
ReplyDeleteA case of do unto others before they can do unto you. Except the Hunters were only looking for a peaceful life.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that criminals and those without ethics, like the Basquez-Masiel clan, believe the worst of others?
When are those indictments coming down?
So in order for anyone to become a tribal member,You have to be a non indian or adopted! How many real indians are in the tribe?
ReplyDeleteNo, rhere are still plenty of Indians left in the tribe. If we have given the impression that there are no longer Indians or even true Pechanga Indians in the tribe, I would like to oppoligize for the missunderstanding.
ReplyDeleteIts just that it seems that all the proactive Indians, those who would make a diffrence, those who would demand a change are now gone. And the non-Indians and non-Pechanga are now in charge of key positions (a small minority, although it seems perhaps a growing one).
I believe the jist of this story shows that this family is neither Pechanga or Temecula Indian. Possibly Sobboba or some other Mission Indian.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this Families ties to Pechanga Prior to 1882? Who do they descend from? Just because they have lived on or near the rez for an extended period of time, what is thier ties prior to the rez being established.
This family is full of criminals. The rez is a perfect place to hide. Did you come here while some fathers were doing prison time?
If you have the proof you say you have, show it.
We want to know your link to Pechanga or Temecula prior to 1882!
The process for determining membership was flawed during the disenrollment process. Extended family lines did not have to prove ancestry to an Original Temecula Pechanga person all in the same way. The biased attitude of the enrollment committee had different marks set as to the criteria to meet. That is the flaw.
ReplyDeleteThe two documents I would like to see on the Masiel/Basquez family. How do you make ties to Temecula and Pechanga prior to 1900? How does the Salazar, Flores clan claim their membership from Josepha (Garcia) Leivas?
Petronilla Flores Salazar simply adopted the person now known as Ruth Masiel so the Salazars are not really part of the direct equation.
ReplyDeleteRuth was known as Janet Leivas prior to her adoption, the daughter of Francisca Leivas, as listed in census records of the 1920's.
Francisca herself is listed as born in 1898 in some of the censuses after 1900, was she the daughter of Josepha?
Josepha was married to someone named Felipe Cascara as listed in that 1898 census and other censuses of the 1890's.
So again, was Francisca Josepha's daughter?
Believe it or not, my purpose is not to show these people aren't Pechanga only to ask questions that should have been addressed by a full enrollment committee of ten members or at least by a legal quorum which is supposed to be 51 percent or six members.
I still don't know how the tribe could justify letting only three enrollment committee members clear them and then let the family members of the Masiel/Basquez vote on our disenrollment case, the Hunters, after family members of ours had filed papers questioning their membership.
The tribal council should have ordered that only a full committee of impartial tribal members from none of the families that were under investigation would be allowed to rule on all of the pending cases involved.
If we had been cleared would it have been fair for us to rule on families that had filed papers against our membership?
No!
AS I SAID, IT IS FISHY THAT THE BASQUEZ/MASIELS WERE CLEARED BY ONLY THREE ENROLLMENT COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND THAT OPENS UP OTHER QUESTIONS.