A letter to the editor of the Sierra Star News brings up an interesting point. Should the threat of freezing tribal accounts be realized? At Chukchansi, a lawful election was held and the outgoing council voided it illegally. At Pechanga, the tribe voted to halt all disenrollments and the tribal council ignored the will of the people. SHOULD THEIR ACCOUNTS be frozen until justice is served?
Freeze tribal accounts
Dear Editor,
The real problem behind all the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians' politics is money. The saying "money corrupts" is clear as the tribe disenrolls members and fights over power.
So the simple solution is stop the flow of money. The tribe needs the Federal Banking System to operate. The tribal entity has become invalid due to the infighting so no bank should recognize any signature on any check. The authority to withdraw money should be frozen until the internal fighting has come to a conclusion.
The federal government should tell their bank to freeze tribal accounts. This is a win for the feds as they will not be meddling in tribal affairs ... just enforcing banking regulations that require "authorized" signatures for any entity.
This whole thing can be wrapped up with a 10-day notice from the federal banking regulators, not the Bureau of Indian Affairs. You watch how fast the tribe settles its bickering that has left the rest of us scoff at their greed.
Marc Sobel, Oakhurst
27 comments:
that would all be fine and well... if all you were dealing with was a slot machines...there are children and major health risk to consider for elderly people....too simple of a response.
That's why the tribe should respond to it. There have been THOUSANDS who have had their health risks increase due to lack of insurance lost when they were disenrolled. Children, Elders tossed away. Shouldn't that matter?
Well...it is a catch 22...if harm begets harm all you can hope for is personal revenge ...you play into their own hands.
I disagree with:
Anonymous said...
Well...it is a catch 22...if harm begets harm all you can hope for is personal revenge ...you play into their own hands.
March 2, 2012 9:31 AM
When wrong is done there needs to be a process to make certain people are not allowed to be victimized by the leaders they elected into office and to ensure all people are treated equally.
When greed and corruption are left unchecked it will grow and more rights abuse will continue to happened. The end result may be violence as we have seen with "Occupy Chukchansi!".
my question is who are the aggressor and who is the victim? I suggest all the people are the victim to their corrupt leaders who aggravate these circumstance to their benefit with malice and contempt to the people they represent and are supposed to protect. continuing on this path in the name of sovereignty will have the opposite affect because Sovereignty is for all not for some who abuse the people it is meant to protect.
pechangaredbrother
Harm? Tell that to the elders of Chukchansi who live in shacks on the reservation with NO health care. What about the families of Pechanga that Mark Macarro tried to stop from using Indian Health Services? A government entity. What about the children that lost their homes and tribal schools when their parents lost their jobs and enrollment from their tribes. It's ok if it's happening to someone else. But the thought of happening to you, suddenly has a different tune.
I feel for you guys....if only your large numbers could reach the east coast to knock on doors...i'm sure the BIA and congress are sure glad that you can't ....it would definitionly strength your cause and possibly offer change to the ICRA....without that you will continue to flounder ...it is really sad that some tribes hide behind sovereignty as a defense to their harmful ways and what is really much more saddening is the fact that non indian lawyers are behind this tactic for unwise so called tribal leader....without their thinking and paid talking heads....real indian people might have a chance at defending their issues against one another.
Thank you, above commenter.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Things have been set in motion by tribes and there is no stopping the reaction now.
Corrupt tribes have started the disenrollment process, which has started court trials, news articles, congressional investigations, BIA inquiries. This is bigger than any one tribe could imagine. They have brought Indian gaming and tribal sovereignty into the for front of public media. The chain reaction has yet to be concluded.
This Harm...sorry if I offended anyone with my off the cuff comment....it wasn't meant too...it wasn't well thought out at all...just responded to quickly....I know first hand what a rogue government can do to their own people....it happened us to....they cut off some of our elderly people that were on dialysis due to the high diabetes rate in our community and reversed their stand regarding health care...peoples lives were really at stake....so I know first hand what some of you are going through.....again sorry.
Here's one for thought....if you had a tribe that had numerous people placed on it rolls due out right fraud and/or error with absolutely no legal tribal right to be on the tribal roll...what do you do? Should there be a federal or tribal remedy to this ...or simply just leave it as is ....knowing full well that these people should have never been place on the tribes roll....I guess once on always on....what's to stop future fraud from happening again? Just wondering what people think of fraud in this case....mind you this out right fraud and error.
Where's the fraud? People who have proven their lineal descent through, DNA, tribe hired anthropologists, certified documents, sworn tribal elder affidavits? Or people that "SAY" there was an error 100+ years ago when the US Government rounded up and placed said error and frauds on these lands to establish a Reservation? Now erasing history saying ALL OUR HISTORY is fraud. I don't think so. No one is that stupid to believe this.
Exactly, why would you be enrolled if you had no proof.
The problem with federal is that no one wants to see the federal government force a Tribe into doing what should be a sovereign nations right to govern there own nation.
The problem with Tribal is what if those sitting on the council the chairman those in charge of Tribal rolls have been taken over by those with no legal to be on the Tribal rolls?
What happens when those in charge of your Tribe refuse to do the will of the people and ignore what the General Council has voted into law?
Tribes are not the harmonious band of people that non indians think they are. There are always schisms and factions that do not get along with one another. What happens when one small group gains complete control of the tribe with the added incentive of millions of dollars in there pockets (people have been killed for much less). What happens
when your accusers become your judge and jury?
What ever happened to the Inter-tribal Court of Southern California? I had some high hopes that this
That should have read "General Membership has voted into law?" and not General Council.
"Harm? Tell that to the elders of Chukchansi who live in shacks on the reservation with NO health care. What about the families of Pechanga that Mark Macarro tried to stop from using Indian Health Services? A government entity. What about the children that lost their homes and tribal schools when their parents lost their jobs and enrollment from their tribes. It's ok if it's happening to someone else. But the thought of happening to you, suddenly has a different tune."
We, even though we are original allottees with a famly allotment from the 1890s, cannot go anywhere on the reservation except to and from our property or face banishment.
So Macarro and his cohorts are blocking us from using the health center.
To anonymous March 2 20125:17 pm. I know in Pechanga there is fraud in the Leivas line. Francisca Leivas forged different names to get money from the B.I.A... The Leivas line never was an original allotee they forged documentation and took the Garcia’s allotment. They wear caught changing their blood quantum. Francisca’s daughter Irene Scearce did this when she worked at the Riverside B.I.A... The Leivas documentation has been posted on this site just look it up. And what of the other tribes that families that are not true members through a blood line or linear descent but adopted are now disenrolling tribal members
"And what of the other tribes that families that are not true members through a blood line or linear descent but adopted are now disenrolling tribal members?
You are talking about Russel "Butch" Murphy as an example. Right?
Mother adopted by a tribal member, could not meet requirements for membership, asked for recognition through approval of general membership, and now sits on council which expelled Hunters of lineal decent from an original Temecula Indian. the one who's descendants hold a valid claim to the allotment as Pechanga Indians as documented at the BIA.
Good Example...
pechangaredbrother
My Bad......this is definitely not the forum to ask a general question regarding fraud as it pertains to tribal membership....it wasn't meant to single out anyone's current situation......I think I got the answer though......"there just might not be one".
I think "Luiseno" got the general premise of the question as posed...
Anonymous said...
I think "Luiseno" got the general premise of the question as posed...
And so did the rest of us!
Anonymous said...
Here's one for thought....if you had a tribe that had numerous people placed on it rolls due out right fraud and/or error with absolutely no legal tribal right to be on the tribal roll...what do you do? Should there be a federal or tribal remedy to this ...or simply just leave it as is ....knowing full well that these people should have never been place on the tribes roll....I guess once on always on....what's to stop future fraud from happening again? Just wondering what people think of fraud in this case....mind you this out right fraud and error.
If you are saying that the likes of "Butch Murphy" is fraud, we all agree. But if you are saying that "Indians Of Legal Decent" are "Fraud Or Error," you are sadly "Mistaken!" That is something "Anotherview" would say. Are you, "He?" You care to "Clearify" your statement above? Of who are you speaking of? The "Illegally Disenrolled?" Or the right of the "Corrupt and Criminal Tribal Leaders( Pechanga and others), without foundation, to "Disenroll?"...."WHICH IS IT?"
The question was searching for a bonifide legal approach in general....not to address ones particular circumstance ....in "some cases" it will always depend on which fox is guarding the hen house!
Why won't Pala make the list of 154members disenrolled on February 1, 2012 public? Is it because there are some still on the rolls who are the descendants of the same ancestor who is claimed to be less than full blood? Let's see the list Pala Executive Committee so we can verify or discount this rumor.
With "Pechanga," the "Fox in the Henhouse" is "Mark Macarro," and he's not "Guarding the Henhouse," its "He is looking for his next Meal(Disenrollment)." Fewer people means more "$$$." "Criminal: You Bet!"
heres a question since people were injured during this hole chukchansi thing, what will happen to them and what can they do to the tribe. I saw one security guard who was white that got hurt, wouldn't this have bigger problems for the tribe, then disenrolled memebrs. If he was smart he would be working on a lawsuit againt the tribe, or the tribe should just pay him off. And what about the other guy who was stabbed. Im jsut reading all this stuff about people whining about being kicked out of a tribe but nobody has said anything about what these injured people can and will possibly do to this tribe that could have reprocutions for all indian tribes threw out the US.
Please I would love some comments back on this.
Your unwanted answer, 2 words.....SOVEREIGN NATION.
but heres one question, even them being a sovereign nation, can the US take that right away from them because they can not get there act together and actually work as a sovereign nation, they bearly got there rights just over 20 years ago, since this hole thing happened will this hurt them. I know the US does not want to lose money that there getting form this tribe, but could this hole problem casue issues that will take that right away from them.
Anonymous said on March 6, 2012 11:42 PM
Im jsut reading all this stuff about people whining about being kicked out of a tribe
I know from the outside it may appear to be a lot of whining, but you have to realize that for hundreds of years we have been fighting and striving to retain something that is very important to us, and that is our identity as a people. My ancestors fought so hard, sacrificed so much against an endless and over whelming barrage to retain there identity as a people. It has become part of my makeup, maybe even as deep as my genetic makeup.
To have someone rip it away with a stroke of a pen is being put to death.
It could, but it won't happen. Back to the "Sovereign Nation Clause," and the amount of $$$ therein. The "Government(Indian Affairs) won't "Bite The Hand That Feeds Them!" We'll have to "Hide And Watch" to see if anything will come of this. But don't hold your breath.
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