The Chukchansi Lament: What Has Tribal Gaming Wrought? Disenrollment, Elder Abuse and Human Rights Violations.

From the Facebook page of Chukchansi Prci.  Disenrollments, Violence, Elder Abuse and Civil and Human Rights abuses from corrupt Tribal Councils. Certainly NOT the Indian Way.

Sometimes it is hard to understand what is going on with our Tribe. (Greed), Rightful members,
Kick them Out, Allotment’s, Distributes, Special Relations, Petitioners,  They don’t know us, wrong color of skin, hair etc., DNA, Banned, sanctioned, sanctioned for 100 years, banned for life, on the wrong side of the hill, the fence and it goes on and on.

It was not this way, until the casino was standing!

Late 2002, we started taking applications for the casino. At that time there were close to 18 Tribal Members working for a company called (Cascade Entertainment), they were to see over “our tribe’s” big adventure, (ChukchansiGold) and Resort.

The times were good, and then one day, we got a check for close to $8,000.00 dollars. I remembered it well, I ran through the house screaming, I bought all of the things I thought I needed, and bought everyone that was close to nice stuff.

Then we had big parties for Christmas, Easter, even Thanksgiving. I had a nice job, I was married, had a car, even two now, and rented a condo in a gated community.

Then “we” started receiving monthly checks, they would just show up in our accounts like magic, they got bigger, and sometimes if we would meet with the tribe, they would give us more monies.

We got money for just being a direct descendent of a great, great, great grandfather, or grandmother. Our constitution said “even if we were “lineal descendant”, meaning, and forever great’s.

Today, we stand so far from one another though. I do not care if it were greed, power, and fear. Just the fact is we do not stand for much other than a tribe of fools. Do not perceive this wrong; we all want what is best for the tribe as a whole…right? In our case there are too many Chiefs and we are killing our own Indians, so we don’t even have enough Indians. Do you feel Indians today, is it when you look in the mirror and see, dark hair, dark eyes, a tattoo saying you are, bead work, a tribal card, one card from the Bureau Of Indian Affair’s, you know the ones that gave us land that they took away.

Told us where to stand and for how long.

There… now follow me; This war is not about who looks Indian, speaks Indian. No this war started the day “they stepped on our shores, and if you listen with your ears to the ground, they are here to get gold, and that they do. They have taught us many things, and most of it is of the bad world.

They taught us to love money, they taught us to colonize, become civilized, don’t use a knife to kill, use this Atomic bomb. They taught us to hate one another; they poisoned our food, our minds our animals our birds of the sky, our hearts and souls. It is just not the white man, first we fought off many, different lands other than where the white man comes from.

Our ignorance of listing to the wind, calling upon the Creator, has dissipated like dew from the tall lilies in the fields. We are no longer, we do not know who we are anymore, some say, his tongue is sick, yes this person who speaks these things does not know my heart. Then I ask you to stop and ask yourself, how does your soul feel right  now?   Did you really think? If you heard, I do not feel well, you are on the red road to recovering our souls back, and then the trek starts.

See you in a while, I will fix this
Cordially Yours, Bridge Walker

READ MORE ON CHUKCHANSI ABUSES:


Picayune Rancheria

Chukchansi thuggery

Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians

Chukchansi disenrollment

Chukchansi Council Dispute

CA Gov. Jerry Brown Reduces Shingle Springs Miwoks Payments to the State...

  California Gov. Edmund G. Brown signed AB 1267 which ratifies the amended compact he signed with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians last November. The ratification bill was approved by both houses of the legislature with zero opposition. The compact has been forwarded to the Department of the Interior for final approval.

Under the new compact, the tribe would pay the state 15 percent of Red Hawk's slot-machine winnings. Currently, the state collects up to 25 percent of the slot winnings.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/30/5459314/gov-jerry-brown-signs-bill-to.html#storylink=cpy

The compact allows the Tribe, which owns and operates Red Hawk Casino, to restructure and refinance its debt to ensure financial viability of its gaming enterprise and its continued operation as an economic engine for El Dorado County.

Tribal Chairman Nicholas H. Fonseca said, "This amended compact is crucial to Red Hawk Casino's financial sustainability and was agreed upon in the spirit of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to finally allow the Tribe to benefit from its tribal gaming. This compact will enable our gaming enterprise to be in a position to continue to benefit our tribal members, our employees, the state and our local community."

The Shingle Springs Tribe has a long history of positive partnership with the state and El Dorado County. The Tribe has made, and will continue to make, significant contributions to El Dorado County to mitigate the impacts of its gaming facility. The Tribe funds public safety and road improvement projects, and operates a health clinic. All of these projects serve the broader community and these benefits were achieved with funds generated from Red Hawk Casino.


MONEY QUOTE from the bill:

SEC. 3.  The amount of the revenue sharing payments made by the
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians to the state pursuant to
Section 4.3.1 of the amended tribal-state gaming compact between the
tribe and the state ratified pursuant to Section 12012.53 of the
Government Code, during the period between July 1, 2012, and the date
the amended tribal-state gaming compact between the tribe and the
state ratified pursuant to Section 12012.58 of the Government Code
becomes effective, inclusive, is transferred from the General Fund to
the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Trust Fund, established
pursuant to Section 12012.585 of the Government Code, as an initial
deposit pursuant to the terms of the amended tribal-state gaming
compact ratified pursuant to Section 12012.58 of the Government Code
and any trust fund agreement executed by the state and the tribe
pursuant to that tribal-state gaming compact.

Hoopa Valley Tribe to Banish All Non Tribal Sex Offenders from Rez. Tribal Sex Offenders Need Not Worry..

The Hoopa Valley Tribal Council voted unanimously to begin the process of banishing all non Hoopa tribal member sex offenders from Hoopa.

The Tribe’s Title 5, which allows exclusion of both tribal and non-tribal members from the reservation, has gained attention in recent months because two tribal members are presently undergoing the exclusion process via the Tribe’s court system.

It’s also raising concerns for local law enforcement.

“The problem is, all we can do is move them to the other side of the reservation boundary,” Lieutenant Ed Guyer with the Hoopa Valley Tribal Police Department said. “The District Attoney’s office won’t prosecute violations of tribal law.”

Councilmembers Hayley Hutt and Ryan Jackson said that’s something that needs to be worked on.

The Tribe’s lead attorney, Mary Jane Risling, said there was discussion about placing potential penalties for violating and exclusion order on the upcoming special election ballot. Hypothetical penalties were mention, but have yet to be fine-tuned and presented for placement on the ballot.

“We don’t have a coordinated approach to law enforcement,” Risling said when commenting on the District Attorney’s inability to prosecute tribal law and Humboldt County’s efforts to conduct sex offender sweeps.

Guyer said it’s hard to know who all of the sex offenders are.

There are several on the Megan’s Law list, a public state registry, accessible online, that lists sex offenders by zip code, county, name and map. But, not all sex offenders are in compliance with their registry, nor are all offenders required to register on the state-run list.

Another motion was passed that will require all sex offenders to register with Hoopa Valley Tribal Police. The motion is redundant of an existing tribal law, Title 47, which requires the Tribal Police Department to maintain a registry of their own separate from the Megan’s Law List.

“Currently, everybody on the Megan’s Law list is in violation of tribal law because nobody is registered with us,” Guyer said.

Added to the motion is a clause that requires Tribal Police do outreach to inform the public that they are beginning the registry process and that it is required by tribal law.

Councilmember, Hayley Hutt made both of the motions and said, “We have to make a stand on this at some point.”

The motion to begin exclusion proceedings of non Hoopa tribal members could affect up to six registered sex offenders on the Megan’s Law List living in Hoopa.

Hutt said there are more registered sex offenders in Hoopa than there are in the entire city of Arcata. And, Willow Creek has only four listed offenders.

A recent search of Megan’s Law shows that zip code 95546 (Hoopa) has 17 registered offenders. At least three of whom are residents of the Weitchpec and Pecwan areas, which share the same zip code. Six of whom are not Hoopa tribal members. The remaining eight registered offenders are Hoopa tribal members.

http://www.tworiverstribune.com/2013/05/hoopa-tribe-starts-banishment-process-of-non-tribal-member-sex-offenders/

Who is the REAL Leader of the Incredibly Shrinking Chukchansi Tribe? Should the BIA pull the RECOGNITION of the PRCI?

Pulled this from Facebook with permission. The so called leaders of Chukchansi only follow the tribal constitution when it suits them.   Should recognition be PULLED from the tribe?

Who is the real leader of our Tribe?
The answer is: Neither

Are we going to allow Nancy and Reggie to rip our Tribe apart?
The answer is NO!

The time has come for a new election.

The following are a list of reasons why there must be immediate change:
Both factions are corrupt, each accusing the other of stealing money, Nancy from the Casino Cage and Reggie/Chance from Chukchansi Inc.

This mess would of never happened if Reggie and Chance would have stepped down after losing the 2011 Election and if Jennifer Stanley and Nancy Ayala did not back them up. Nancy accepted an illegal referendum that was signed by 14 people when it actual required at least 250 people. Furthermore, Nancy stated that there were only 46 official Tribal Members. She then appointed Jane Wyatt on the Council, violating the Constitution in the process. Since Jane had been removed from Council for illegal activities, she could never be on the Council again.

Due to the split, both factions lost a quorum. Nancy/Charlie could not bring Tracey and Karen back from being suspended and Reggie/Chance/Buzz claimed Charlie when it was clear that Charlie was siding with Nancy.  Reggie/Chance/Buzz had no authority (Lack of a quorum) to use Tribal dollars in renting office space over-looking the San Joaquin River. $$$


Nancy hired Bulldog Gang gang members as security guards. Do we want her as our Tribal Council Chairperson when she associates herself with gang members? Nancy’s Council appointed Nancy’s brother, Joe Ayala, to the Tribal Gaming Commission even after he failed a background check for his criminal history. Nancy, Jennifer, Chance, and Reggie were once good buddies when it came to destroying the Tribal Office by breaking windows, throwing burning logs and shooting pepper spray into the building. Now they are bitter enemies.

None of them are leaders. Nancy and her illegal Council took it upon themselves to broadcast to the world our problems by taking out a full page ad in the Fresno Bee. It was sickening and embar-rassing reading our dirty laundry. Furthermore, how much money did that full page ad cost? Under Reggie, Nancy, Jennifer, and Chance’s leadership, the Tribe has fallen apart and they are financially running the Tribe into the ground. In the process, they are jeopardizing our Casino by not paying $2,000,000 in interest to the bond holders. Do you know why your per capita payment in January was less than December? They gave your per capita dollars to Dustin Graham. Dustin claimed he was wrongfully sanctioned for 3 years and deserved your per capita. The truth is that Dustin was rightfully sanctioned for having an affair with a Casino employee while he was the Tribal Chair-person and for purchasing an Arlen Ness motorcycle for himself. Shame on you Reggie, Nancy, Jennifer, Chance, and Dustin.

Please go to this link http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/491/tribes?act=1#play and listen to Reggie selling out the Allotees for “Special Relationship”. Reggie says he follows the Constitution because it’s the law of the land. If that is true, why did Reggie appoint David Castillo on to his Council, knowing that he does not live within the 75 mile radius of the Rancheria? That is violation of Article 7, Section 3.

It is time for all of us, as Tribal Members, to demand a new election immediately and to elect a competent Council that can lead us out of this mess that Reggie, Chance, Jennifer and Nancy created.
If you believe that it is time for a change please sign the Clean Slate referendum and mail it today.

The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians ALSO keeping VETERANS OUT of the Tribe. Tosobol Family Veterans Kept on the Outside by their OWN FAMILY.

The stain of Pechanga's unconstitutional moratorium lingers in its second decade.  As we observe Memorial Day in rememberance of those who served, we have a partial list of Tosobols who we in our armed forces.   Shame on Phillip Ibanez and his family for keeping their OWN family members OUT.


Manuel Rios Sr.   -  US Navy
David Mendoza    -  US Navy
Daniel Mendoza   -  US Air Force

Pechanga FORGETS their Military History on Memorial Day. Thank You Veterans, For Defending Our Country

The Hunter Family, disenrolled from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians after over 200 years of living in the Temecula area have many veterans who served in our military.  Once the Pechanga Resort & Casino opened, corruption lead to exterminating these veterans from their membership rolls and history.

Pechanga Veterans of the Hunter Family

We salute our Pechanga Veterans for your courage, honor and commitment.

· Cuevas, Felipe - Army
· Cuevas, David - Army
Cuevas, Thomas - Army
Vasquez, Robert - Navy
· Harris, William A - Air Force
· Miller, Dario - Army
· Miller, John D - Navy
· Miller, Louie - Army
· Poole, Mary Ann - Navy  - Husband Paul A. Poole served in the US Navy.
. Poole, Gregory - Navy
· Smith, Maltilda - Army    - Husband Frank Smith served in the Air Force.
. Smith, Frank - Air Force
. Smith, Ernest - Navy
· Tavison, Ernest - Army
* Madariaga, Lawrence - Army

I'm sure I've missed a few. Thank you to all Pechanga people who have served. And shame on the Pechanga Tribal Council for staining the memory of these fine people above. We should honor their memory (and,for those still living) with our courage to maintain this fight to regain what is rightfully ours.

FEEL FREE TO Add your veteran's name in the comments.  THANK YOU TO ALL who served.

Jeanette Hanna, BIA OFFICIAL Spends $178K in two years. Didn't Follow RULES on expenses.

You think our government, when facing sequester for overspending, would have check EXPENSES as the very first way to save money.   Now, we have a BIA official spending nearly $200K of our money! Money that could be used for Indian Health Care maybe?   Who's running things at INTERIOR?  Looks like the Obama Administration needs to be more diligent with our money.

When last we checked in with Jeanette Hanna, a polarizing official at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, she was making waves with an unspecified “personnel matter” and a controversial posting in Washington.

Now we’ve seen an inspector general report revealing that her 775-day detail to Washington, which ended in February 2012, cost taxpayers nearly $178,000 — and oh, what a trip it was.

According to the damning IG findings, Hanna (who is still employed by the Interior Department) spent more than $30,000 to rent an SUV, when rules say she should have gotten a cheaper compact car, and frittered away more than $33,000 renting a hotel room that sat empty while she traveled back to her home in Oklahoma for a whopping 283 days of her detail.

She also tried to get reimbursement for a full per-diem payment during the time she spent in Washington (even though rules say employees should only get 55 percent of the per diem during such extended trips)

When the Loop contacted the Interior Department, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs, for a comment, a spokeswoman said the report “speaks for itself.”

Money aside, the IG report also paints Hanna as a bit of a nightmare boss. According to a preliminary report into complaints, while a regional director in Oklahoma, Hanna installed 40 extra security cameras for her office “with live feeds, to monitor employees.” Some underlings “were physically shaking” during interviews about her, according to an investigator, “and feared retribution,” the report notes.


Read more about Jeanette Hanna and BIA overspending HERE

Chukchansi Tribal Council Issues Open Letter to Tribal Members, Want END to Sabotage Campaign

A four-member quorum of the Chukchansi Tribal Council, headed by Tribal Council Chairwoman Nancy Ayala, has mailed an open letter to the central California Tribe’s membership decrying what the quorum believes to be the bad faith negotiation tactics of three “rogue” Council members whom the majority believe to be conducting a “sabotage campaign” against the Chukchansi tribe’s best interests.

OP:  From a disenrolled Chukchansi:     It is well known that numerous financial improprieties against the welfare of the tribe have been committed by members of ALL THREE FACTIONS claiming "ownership" of the Picayune tribal government...OVERWHELMINGLY SO with the arbitrary and capricious DISMEMBERMENT of OVER A THOUSAND chukchanasi people since 1999, which is chukchansi indian blood on the hands of ALL THREE FACTIONS....

In the letter, the Council Quorum details its daily efforts to manage “critical Tribal business, including overseeing the Chukchansi Gold Casino & Resort and handling the everyday responsibilities of Tribal government.” The Council Quorum explains in the letter that negotiations with the minority faction, headquartered in Fresno, broke down “when word reached the Council Quorum that the (accused ''rogue'') group had cancelled the health insurance of dozens of Chukchansi Tribal members.”

“We continue to do the work of the Chukchansi people from our office on the Rancheria, fighting against the sabotage and wasteful spending of the minority group led by Reggie Lewis and Chance Alberta,” said Tribal Council Nancy Ayala. “The Tribe’s forensic audit also continues its work, every day uncovering more evidence of serious issues with how the Lewis-Alberta group has done business in their own self-interest.”

The text of the Council Quorum letter is as follows:

A Letter From The Tribal Council Quorum

Nancy Ayala, Chairwoman; Tracey Brechbuehl, Secretary; Dr. Karen Wynn, Treasurer; Charles Sargosa, Member at Large

As the majority group of the Chukchansi Tribal Council, duly sworn to uphold the laws of our Tribe’s Constitution, we write to you today to be as informative as possible about the ongoing political conflict that has made life so difficult for our Chukchansi people. As you know by now, three members of our Council left the Rancheria in February 2013. Shortly thereafter, Council Members Reggie Lewis, Chance Alberta and Carl Bushman set up an unconstitutional rogue Council headquartered in a $20,000-a-month office tower in Fresno.

Since then, the Lewis-Alberta Council minority has embarked on a relentless, distortion-filled campaign of sabotage meant to harm our Tribe, the economic engine that is our casino and the quality of life enjoyed by each and every Chukchansi citizen. In an effort to return stability to our people, your Council Quorum continues to work every day on the Rancheria, attending to critical Tribal business, including overseeing the Chukchansi Gold Casino & Resort and handling the everyday responsibilities of Tribal government.

We will continue to fulfill these responsibilities day in and day out in a professional manner. We will not be intimidated, nor will we be coerced into abandoning the Chukchansi people.

Recently, in an effort aimed at negotiating an end to this sabotage campaign, members of the Council quorum traveled to San Francisco and to Phoenix to meet with the Lewis-Alberta faction and its lawyers. While it was difficult to sit at the negotiating table with a rogue group that constantly puts its self-interest ahead of our Chukchansi brothers and sisters, we believed the stability and well-being of our people must be more important than personal sleights and past wrongdoings.

Sadly, the Lewis-Alberta faction did not negotiate in good faith, nor did they make a serious attempt to end a dispute that has placed our Tribe’s economy in serious jeopardy. Therefore, when word reached the Council Quorum that the Lewis group had cancelled the health insurance of dozens of Chukchansi Tribal members, and when we received forwarded copies of their lie-filled May 2013 newsletter, we felt there was no point in continuing talks that were premised on falsehoods and destined to fail.

What does this mean for you?

Unfortunately, it means that the business interests of our Tribe – the economic engine you rely on for per-capita payments and the security of your family – remains at risk. Because of the actions of the Lewis-Alberta group, relationships with casino vendors have been badly damaged, bills have gone unpaid or been paid late, and the bond indenture used to finance the casino stands in peril of default.

Your Council quorum, along with the lawfully empaneled Chukchansi Economic Development Authority and the lawful Tribal Gaming Commission, will continue to work to preserve our Tribe’s economy and our day-to-day business interests.

It’s likely, however, that the Lewis-Alberta faction will continue to follow their present self-serving course of action, using Tribal resources to harm rather than improve the lives of the families, elders and young people of our Tribe.

One such expenditure, estimated at more than $300,000 by the Tribe’s forensic audit team, is the illegal referenda put forward by the rogue group. This vote in no way followed the Chukchansi Constitution or the processes of our Election Committee. As Chairwoman Ayala explained in a recent opinion column in the Sierra Star newspaper (see attached), this latest Lewis-Alberta faction deception hired a ballot-processing operation (the so-called Indian Dispute Resolution Services) that employs a Lewis relative who worked on the referenda. More importantly, by offering a one-time per capita payments in return for votes, the referenda appears to have been nothing more than a bribe – one that apparently worked on only a bare majority of voters.

Again, your rightfully empanelled Council Quorum remains in place, undeterred by this sham effort. The four members of the Council Majority will continue to do the business of the Chukchansi people. What’s next on our agenda?

Per capita payments – By the time you read this letter, you will have received your most recent per capita payment. The Council Quorum will continue to fight to preserve this lifeline for our people.

Health insurance issue – As you read this, we are working to determine the extent of the health insurance cancellations caused by the Lewis-Alberta group. We will report back to you immediately with answers and potential resolutions.

Forensic audit – A team of experienced forensic auditors is at work probing the financial expenses made by Chukchansi, Inc. and other subsidiary entities that have long been controlled by Reggie Lewis and Chance Alberta. Because these expenditures involve millions of dollars and documentary evidence of Lewis-Alberta expenses, which are flimsy at best, this has not been an easy task. However, the audit teams has uncovered evidence of serious tax issues already being pursued by the State of California. When the investigators’ preliminary report has been prepared, we will get back to you with additional information.

Finally, the Council Quorum and our other lawful government entities remain in regular communication with the National Indian Gaming Commission and the California Department of Justice. We will do everything in our power, including taking legal action, to protect the interests and financial security of the Chukchansi Tribe.

On our watch, no individuals will be allowed to divert Tribal revenue and resources for their own personal gratification. That has never been the Chukchansi way and it cannot and will not be tolerated.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at the Rancheria offices at (559) 683-6633. Thank you.

I.R.S SLAMS Miccosukee Indians for $170 MILLION in Tax Liens For Failing to PAY

We wrote about this story in October 2012:Another Crack in the Sovereignty Dam
Now the IRS has lowered the book.

The Internal Revenue Service has slammed the Miccosukee Indians with a bill of $170 million for the West Miami-Dade tribe’s failure to report and withhold taxes from its distribution of gambling profits to tribal members, according to court records.

In a long-running battle, the IRS also has smacked hundreds of the tribe’s members with separate bills totaling $58 million for their failure to pay personal income taxes on those distributions during the same period, 2000 to 2005, records show.

The agency’s crackdown comes after years of fighting with the 600-member tribe over its refusal to pay taxes on the distribution of profits from its casino operation off the Tamiami Trail. The assessments for back taxes, interest and penalties, outlined in federal tax lien notices filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, reveal for the first time the sheer scope of the tribe’s tax problems with the IRS.

Without the extras, the tribe’s withholding taxes alone for 2000 to 2005 totaled $45 million, and individual members’ taxes amounted to $30 million for that period, according to the tax liens.

The tax obligations of the tribe and its members are expected to soar because IRS examiners also are auditing the Miccosukee’s gambling distributions for the years 2006-2010, when payouts to each member were as high as $160,000 annually.

Despite the audits, the Miccosukee Tribe continues to argue that it does not have to withhold taxes on the gaming distributions and that individual members do not have to pay taxes on the income derived from the Miccosukee’s bingo-style slot machines and poker.

“The Miccosukee people will continue to pay all applicable lawful taxes, as they always have, and we will continue our efforts to find a fair and workable solution to this dispute,’’ Chairman Colley Billie wrote in a statement to The Miami Herald Tuesday.

“The Miccosukee people, however, will not be intimidated or coerced by these tax liens into surrendering tribal sovereignty or principles for which so many of our ancestors have paid a very high price in blood, lives, and tears.’’

Read more HERE

HEY I.R.S.! Is a PO BOX on An Indian Reservation Good Enough To Not Pay State Taxes?

I'm just asking.     There are more mailboxes than households of people living on the rez.  What are the chances?  I mean, if a former tribal chairwoman takes a thousand slots worth, say $5,000 apiece and pays no taxes on that gain, isn't that a better place to look than, say...the TEA PARTY?

How many have mailboxes on the rez, but not their permanent residences?

Reporting Income Tax Fraud

If you believe an individual or company is not complying with California's personal income tax or corporate income and franchise tax laws, you can report that information to Franchise Tax Board (FTB). We do not offer rewards for reporting this information.

Income tax fraud is intentionally paying less tax than you owe.

Examples of income tax fraud are:
Failing to report all income received.
Claiming to be a resident of another state while residing in California.
Making false or fraudulent claims for refunds.
Not filing state income tax returns.
Questionable tax practitioner practices.
Opening and closing of new businesses to evade taxes.
Preparing documents, books, and records that understate the true income or overstate the expenses of a business.

Call: 800.540.3453, M-F 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. (PST)

CA Democrat Sen. Ricardo Lara QUICKLY CANCELS Out of State Fundraiser

Wow! That was FAST.  Looks like SHAMING works sometimes.  Guess we better follow how and where he gets this money recouped, don't you think?


A planned Station Casinos-hosted fundraiser in Las Vegas on behalf of a California lawmaker was abruptly canceled Tuesday after a Sacramento newspaper raised questions about the timing of the event, which would take place before a vote over an Indian casino project. 

The fundraiser, which included rooms at the Red Rock Resort and tickets to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event Saturday, was to benefit California State Sen.Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, and the Latino Caucus Leadership PAC. Eight Sacramento lobbyists were to fly to Las Vegas for the weekend.

Lara canceled the plans Tuesday after the Sacramento Bee reported on the fundraiser. He declined comment to the Bee. His office released a statement saying the event had been planned for more than a year.

The newspaper questioned the timing. Station Casinos is lobbying the California Legislature to approve a compact with the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians for a casino development near Fresno. Station Casinos has a management contract to operate the casino once the project is built.

“The unpredictability of our legislative calendar has created an unfortunate case of coincidental timing,” the statement said.

The $3,000 tickets to the fundraiser for Lara and the PAC included two receptions, entrance to the fight and accommodations at the Red Rock. Station Casinos and UFC owner Zuffa donated tickets, food and hotel rooms for the event.

Pechanga, Stung By Corruption in The Tribe, Looks For New Revenue With Bingo

After years of declining slot revenue, partially due to the bad publicity of their terrible treatment of their people, Pechanga is trying to find another revenue stream.

Bad Karma has followed Pechanga since they harmed so many of their own people via disenrollment.  Slot revenue is down, their former tribal chair absconded with slot machines.  FBI investigations, embezzlement.  Remember when they promised to help CA balance its budget?

The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians announced Tuesday it will be building a dedicated bingo hall at the Pechanga Resort & Casino, a move that should make the venue a mecca once more for dauber-carrying bingo fans.

The tribe last year offered bingo games during the summer on a trial basis to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of its large resort and casino complex. The games proved popular with both elderly patrons who recalled playing at Pechanga in the 1990s, when games were held inside a tent, and younger folks who enjoy the new types of bingo games that are offered these days.

"We heard the enthusiasm and excitement from players loud and clear last summer for bingo at Pechanga,” Patrick Murphy, president of the Pechanga Development Corporation, said in a statement.

The new hall, which will offer bingo sessions every day of the week, will be built inside an existing 14,000-square-foot area of the resort across from the Pechanga Poker Room.

It's scheduled to open in July.

"This will not be your grandmother’s bingo hall. Guests can expect this to be one of the most innovative bingo facilities in the country," Murphy stated in the release

The room will offer tablet bingo gaming so guests may play multiple bingo cards simultaneously on an electronic device. Those who prefer the more "time-honored" experience of playing with paper bingo cards and daubers may also do so, according to the release.

Remember When Pechanga BEAT their Elderly Customers? 

Now they need them more than ever.  
Remember, IF PECHANGA WILL CHEAT THEIR OWN PEOPLE, they will CHEAT YOU.

CA Sen. Ricardo Lara (D) Head to LAS VEGAS for FUNDRAISER Sponsored By Station Casinos, which Stand to Gain MILLIONS with North Fork Rancheria's New Casino.

Any GUESSES which way he'll vote?  Free tickets, hotel rooms.    Lara holds his manhood cheap doesn't he?

A Las Vegas casino that stands to make millions if the California Legislature approves a gambling compact for a Fresno-area Indian tribe is hosting a fundraiser this weekend for a state senator who is about to vote on the deal.

The fundraiser to benefit Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, and the Latino Caucus Leadership PAC involves about eight Sacramento lobbyists who are flying to Las Vegas to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship match Saturday and stay overnight at the swanky Red Rock Hotel.

Station Casinos, which owns the Red Rock, and its sister company Zuffa, which owns the mixed-martial-arts fighting league, have donated the hotel rooms, food for a reception and tickets to the fight - a gift of about $5,000, said Dan Weitzman, a political fundraiser who organized the event.

The Las Vegas-based casino company is lobbying hard to get the Legislature to approve a compact allowing the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians to open a casino along Highway 99 in Madera, more than 35 miles from the mountainous hamlet where tribal members live.

The deal calls for Station Casinos to operate the 2,000-slot machine facility for the first seven years and take 30 percent of its profits, according to a Station Casinos report to investors.

Read more here: DEMOCRAT Lara TAKES FREE STUFF

Cedric Sunray: Cherokee Nation Places Sovereignty At Risk

A law has no meaning unless it was rendered with morality, ethics, heart, and equity at its foundation.

Disenrollment, Baby Veronica, and countless other issues all share the common denominator of being brought to the proverbial card table of contention by none other than the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

Legalese has determined “tribal sovereignty” the royal flush, while in all honesty the dealer manipulating the deck and the primary player holding the winning hand, the CNO, would better fit the image of the Joker.

The Indian Child Welfare Act was created in response to the massive theft of Indian children from Indian homes. Its contested resurrection is due to the multi-million dollar intervention of what is assumed to be the nation’s largest Indian tribe.

Defining an entity of over 300,000 individuals, which is primarily of white racial descent and scattered across every state in the nation and many countries abroad, a tribe, is another argument altogether; especially when the small, identifiable Cherokee cohesive communities which still exist within the CNO jurisdiction in Oklahoma have little access to the CNO Council’s power.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs pays out on numbers and when an entity such as the CNO is adding tribal citizens at such an astronomical rate, they tend to have the funds to pay massive lawyer fees, to take just about anyone and everyone to court, and to ensure successful lobbying campaigns second to none in the Halls of Power.

Unfortunately, the Cherokee Nation has convinced the rest of Indian Country to support their rhetoric which allows for a 3/256 “Indian” child to be the catalyst for defending ICWA under “tribal sovereignty," to allow the Indian Arts & Crafts Act which protects state recognized tribes to be marketed as for “federal tribes only” in order to protect “tribal sovereignty," and to hide their prejudicial truths of disenrolling tribal citizens with Black ancestry as protecting “tribal sovereignty."

To stop the acquisition of land by the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (a federal tribe in Northeastern Oklahoma which requires ¼ or more blood quantum for enrollment ) in order to maintain their gaming monopoly as an act of “tribal sovereignty” is a further continuation of the sincere misuse of the term, especially when the dealer and winning hand holder currently enroll persons with blood degrees as low as 1/4,096.

Don't get me wrong, the argument is not about "who has more Indian blood", but it is definitely about a group with such enrollees being so two-faced in attacking the identities of others. The irony is so blatant that the only people missing it are those who are purposefully trying to suppress it.

Supporting the campaign of “tribal sovereignty” over tribal cohesiveness, cultural retention, close kinship connection, community involvement, and other factors which clearly identify Indian communities, bands, tribes, and nations is a fool’s game.

Buying into the “all or nothing” scam that is being thrown at Indian Country by the CNO is dangerous business. Which tribe reframed disenrolling tribal members as an act of “tribal sovereignty?" Which tribe sent a council member to last year’s National Congress of American Indians annual conference to declare that none of the twenty or so “non-federal” documented boarding school tribes ever attended Haskell Indian Nations University, just prior to NCAI unanimously drafting a resolution supporting them?

How does that look when the very Haskell alumni from these “non-federal” tribes are seated in the very same room where the fictitious attack is leveled? How dare a group with 1/4,096 blood quantum tribal members play identity police to anyone, at anytime.

The reason that historic, legitimate tribal communities can’t become recognized is because the super-sized CNO is receiving so many federal dollars, that the argument that the pie is to small to split becomes an actual economic reality. If the total of an entities identity and continuation rests in the confines of “tribal sovereignty” over previously mentioned factors, then “tribal sovereignty” becomes all there is left to cling to.

While tribes certainly have a diversity of experience and historical narratives to consider, those who choose the far off descendant model of enrollment as the only criteria have an ethical and moral responsibility to not impose their agenda on the rest of us.

It is time to let the CNO know that their political agendas fueled by their gaming revenues and massive federal allocations are not the responsibility of the rest of Indian Country to uphold. The CNO isn’t protecting our collective tribal sovereignty, they are continually placing it in jeopardy. Today the card game has come down to diamonds over hearts. Diamonds may have the power to force hands, but only have the “sincerity” to move the weakest of hearts.

Cedric Sunray can be reached at helphaskell@hotmail.com.

Shingle Springs Miwok Casino Negotiates Deal to Pay CA LESS MONEY.

In a time when CA is heavily in debt, our wonderful Senate has UNANIMOUSLY passed a bill that will allow us to get LESS money from a Casino Tribe.   Wonder how the campaign funds made out.

The state Senate has approved a revised agreement with a Sacramento-area Indian tribe that owns a struggling casino east of the state capital.

Gov. Jerry Brown negotiated the new compact last fall with the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. The tribe owns the Red Hawk Casino, which officially opened in December 2008 just as a national recession began.

Sen. Ted Gaines, a Republican from Rocklin, said his bill will let the tribe restructure and refinance its debt while retaining about 1,400 jobs in El Dorado County.

AB1267 would let the tribe reduce its payments for several years before requiring that it eventually pay the state 15 percent of the casino's net winnings.

The bill passed unanimously and without debate Thursday, and now goes to the Assembly.

Riverside County Supervisors Do Pechanga's Bidding on North Fork Rancheria Casino

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to go on record opposing state legislation that would allow an American Indian tribe in Central California to establish a casino on the outskirts of a city, away from its reservation.

In pushing for the stance, Supervisors Jeff Stone and Marion Ashley wrote in a report to colleagues that Assembly Bill 277 would create a "dangerous precedent."

Stone did not attend the meeting and did not vote.

"The proposed compact is the first foothold in an effort to push the limits of off-reservation gaming," Stone and Ashley wrote. "The North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians has lands eligible for gaming but prefers a more lucrative location on the Madera city border."

The supervisors' districts are home to the Pechanga and Morongo casinos, two of the region's most successful gaming venues.

The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and its portly leader Mark Macarro are well known for violations of civil and human rights.  Macarro was the subject of a recall attempt.  Tribal factions did not like that he hired his wife's company IETAN Consulting without bringing it before the tribe.   

Standoff at Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians ENDS in Multiple Arrests. Violent Action by Sheriffs End Standoff

A lengthy standoff at the tribal headquarters of the Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians in Oroville ended in multiple arrests Thursday afternoon.

Butte County Sheriff's media liaison Miranda Bowersos said approximately 15 to 20 tribe members, unhappy with a certain internal tribal process, locked themselves in the headquarter building off Olive Highway around 1 a.m.

Deputies later revealed the protesting members were disgruntled due to a vote taken to remove numerous members from the tribe and reservation.

Deputies established contact with the individuals through the door of the building and were trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution. However, after hours of unsuccessful negotiations, deputies set of a flash bang grenade and accessed the building through a rear entry point around noon, said deputies.

All individuals inside were detained and transported to county jail, deputies said.

Learn More on Disenrollment, Ethnic Cleansing in Indian Gaming Country at these Links:

Gaming Revenue Blamed for Disenrollment

disenrollment is paper Genocide

CA Tribal Cleansing

Tribal terrorism

TRIBAL TERRORISM includes Banishment

Nooksack Disenrollment

OBAMACARE To Penalize Half Million Native Americans. Pay for Insurance or Face FINES

Native Americans are entitled to free and subsidized medical care at some federally-funded health clinics, but 'Obamacare' will soon force many of them to buy insurance or else face hefty fines if they are not “Indian enough”.

“A lot of folks are going to get stuck with the bill,” Jay Stiener of the National Council of Urban Indian Health told the Associated Press.

Members of federally-recognized American Indian tribes have received government-funded health services since 1787. Throughout the US, there are 33 hospitals and 59 health centers that provide services including prenatal care, baby well-checks, dentistry and eye glasses to Native Americans.

The US government has treaty obligations to care for the well-being of Native Americans, but may soon abandon many of its legal responsibilities. President Obama’s health care reform will force thousands of Native Americans to purchase their own health insurance or pay a minimum fine of $695 to the Internal Revenue Service. Indian health advocacy groups estimate up to 480,000 people will be affected, AP reports.

Only those who can prove that they are “Indian enough” will be exempt from the mandate. Native Americans will have to show documentation that they belong to one out of 560 tribes that are federally recognized by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs.

There are more than 100 US tribes that are recognized by states, but not the federal government. Members of these tribes would no longer receive the free or subsidized healthcare that they are guaranteed by the Indian Health Service (IHS), which is a division within the US Department of Health and Human Services.

“This could lead to some tribal citizens being required to purchase insurance or face penalties even though they are covered by the HIS,” Rep. Tom Cole, a Republican congressman and member of the Chickasaw Nation tribe, told AP.

Additionally, Native Americans who do not have documentation of their tribe membership will be forced to purchase insurance or pay a fine. This becomes particularly troublesome for Native Americans under the age of 18, since many tribes only provide official membership to adults. Even if both parents of the minors are members, their healthcare coverage may not apply to their children unless they also have the proper documentation.

The health care reform would also complicate the situation for Native Americans who live in metropolitan areas or suburbs. Some tribal governments require members to live on the reservation to gain documentation, which few people do. Nearly two-thirds of American Indians and Alaska Natives currently live in cities, which hinders their ability to receive membership cards from their tribes.



Full Article on Obamacare and Native Americans

Ninth Circuit Overturns BIA Sloan Family Ruling On Laytonville Rancheria Disenrollment Case

  The 9th Circuit on Wednesday narrowly overturned a ruling that would have forced the small Cahto Tribe in northern California to re-enroll 22 members.

     The federal appeals panel in San Francisco said the tribe's governing documents do not allow the Bureau of Indian Affairs to review the tribe's decision to disenroll members.

     The Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria has fewer than 100 voting members and occupies 200 acres in Mendocino County. In 1995, it voted to remove 22 people from its membership roll, all members of the Sloan-Heckler family.

     The tribe claimed the Sloan-Hecklers were ineligible for membership because they were affiliated with other tribes and/or accepted money from a settlement involving the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the Yurok Tribe.
     However, the family reportedly did not enroll with either tribe.

     Some speculated that the tribe wanted to shrink enrollment to boost payouts from its Red Fox Casino to existing tribe members.

     The tribe's attorney asked the BIA to "honor the action taken by the tribe ... and recognize the existing tribal members." The agency instead referred the matter to the tribe's executive council.
     It echoed this hands-off approach when disenrolled member Gene Sloan appealed the tribe's action in 1999.
     But in 2000, the BIA's superintendent and regional director said the agency would not recognize the tribe's decision to disenroll the Sloan-Hecklers.

     The Interior Board of Indian Appeals, which has jurisdiction over agency decisions, reversed, saying "BIA officials lacked decision-making authority in the circumstances."

     Nonetheless, the BIA explicitly took up Sloan's appeal in 2009. It refused to recognize the disenrollments and ordered the tribe to put the disenrolled members back on its membership roll.
     The tribe challenged the action in federal court, saying the BIA's involvement violated the Administrative Procedures Act.   
   
     A federal judge upheld the agency's decision as "not in excess of its authority," and the tribe appealed.
     "We hold that the tribe's ordinance is unambiguous and that it provides a right of appeal only for rejections of enrollment applications, not for disenrollment decisions," Judge Michael Hawkins wrote for the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit.

     "Nowhere in the tribal documents is there a grant of authority to the BIA to review appeals from disenrollment decisions," the panel concluded.

Learn More on Disenrollment, Ethnic Cleansing in Indian Gaming Country at these Links:

Gaming Revenue Blamed for Disenrollment

disenrollment is paper Genocide

CA Tribal Cleansing

Tribal terrorism

TRIBAL TERRORISM includes Banishment

CA Casino Tribes Draft Legislation Legalizing Internet Poker That Screws Horse Tracks and Wagering Facilities.

 It figures that a group including a tribe like Pechanga, which has violated civil and human rights of it's people and practices apartheid on its reservation would help draft legislation that cheat CA citizens of income and freezes out competitors.

From the Press Enterprise:

A group of prominent American Indian tribes with casinos has crafted draft legislation to legalize Internet poker. It differs in several areas from a bill on the issue introduced by a key state senator.

The draft language, which has not been introduced as a bill, has been circulated by a group of tribes that includes the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in the Coachella Valley.

The proposal would offer online poker licenses to entities that already offer poker — namely tribes with casinos and the state’s 88 card rooms.

Horse tracks and advanced-deposit wagering facilities would not be eligible, as they are in Senate Bill 51 by state Sen. Rod Wright, D-Inglewood, the chairman of the committee that oversees gaming.

Also, the draft proposal calls for a license fee of $5 million. That is a fraction of the $30 million license fee in the Wright bill.

Remember when PECHANGA tried to keep Californians from voting?

Read more on former Pechanga Tribal ChairJennie Miranda

So Called LEADER of Chukchansi Whines About What Her Actions Has Led To

Nancy Ayala tried to pull a fast one on the tribe, which we wrote about:Chukchansi Tribe at War With Each Other  . Now she's whining that their's turmoil.  Well YEAH.  Read her opinion column that SIERRA STAR NEWS has up

As the tribal chairwoman of the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, I feel the need to set the record straight about the turmoil within our tribe.

Along with the other three members of our tribal council quorum, I have remained mostly silent during nearly two years of unrest -- disputed elections, council suspensions, legal actions and financial struggles. Our silence has been intentional: We have kept busy ensuring the stability of the tribe's casino and resort, for one, and we have always believed that this was an internal matter, a tribal conflict best settled outside the glare of the media.

Unfortunately, in a headline culture, lies shouted loud and shouted often ultimately get attention. I fear that's what's happened with our tribe.

In late February 2013, three members of our council -- Reggie Lewis, Chance Alberta and Carl "Buzz" Bushman -- fled the Rancheria and set up an unconstitutional "shadow" council in three office suites in a luxury Fresno office complex. Using liquidated tribal funds, the rogue council is paying an estimated nearly $20,000 per month in rent for their office space. This is money that should be used to help our tribe and its members.

The rogue council members and their lawyers have also sent numerous letters to casino vendors, banks, casino employees and the National Indian Gaming Commission, trying mightily to disrupt casino business, despite the fact that the Chukchansi people rely on that business for much-needed services and per-capita payments. While the rogue tribal council seems intent on sabotaging our people's economic engine from afar, the members of the quorum council -- Tracey Brechbuehl, Dr. Karen Wynn, Charles Sargosa and I -- go to work every day in a cramped office a few hundred feet from our lifeline business, making sure that more than 1,000 jobs stay in place and that the casino and resort remain in a business-as-usual mode.

Nor has the rogue council stopped there. Despite the Chukchansi Constitution's clear mandate that only a quorum of council members can make government decisions, this threesome has declared themselves in charge, holding sham council meetings 40 miles off the rancheria in Fresno, issuing sham council suspensions and appointing a sham fourth council member to grant themselves a sham quorum. The only thing real about these edicts is the confusion it has created in our community, in the media and with our business partners.

The rogue council threesome's latest ploy to grab headlines came in late April. Again using liquidated tribal funds, the minority hired an allegedly "independent" consultant to conduct a pair of referenda meant to reshuffle the tribal council in their favor. This balloting was tainted in three ways: One, it failed to follow the Chukchansi Constitution. Two, the allegedly "independent" group, Indian Dispute Resolution Services, has for years employed a relative of Reggie Lewis' whom we believe worked on the referenda. And three, the voters in this bogus election were paid for their votes.

Specifically, the council minority offered voters a one-time payment of hundreds of dollars in return for signing the referenda in question. The ballots even came accompanied by IRS forms, to ensure easy payment. Perhaps the only thing surprising about the results of such a "pay for votes" election is that the council minority claims to have "won" with a mere 53% of the vote, despite such payments.

Let me be clear about the state of the Chukchansi tribe today. The council quorum of four works daily from the rancheria, doing the business of our people. Our casino remains open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, despite the wasted funds and wasted efforts of three rogue council members who believe they can run our tribal government from a glass office building in Fresno.

These three in their glass house continue to throw stones. Regardless, our quorum is determined to restore stability and dignity to the Chukchansi people. Every single member of our tribe deserves nothing less.

Chukchansi Tribe Needs a Clean Slate: Editorial by Chukchansi Tribal / Members For A Real Solution

The SIERRA STAR NEWS is the leader in getting information out on the multi faceted problems at the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians   This is an effort to get the two remaining power groups together so they can share the booty of cheating 75% of their former members, without further scrutiny.  They are only going back TWO YEARS, leaving the first disenrollees out in the cold...


It is a crucial time for our tribe. As the various factions fight for power, we have become divided more than ever. We are in jeopardy of losing our control over the casino as well as our tribal programs for the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians.

OP:  This road was begun by terminating 70% of their tribe.  It's time to bring ALL the People HOME.  Get the FULL tribe back together.  Which has more impact, 500 or 2,000?

The Ayala faction and Lewis faction have failed us, for the tribe is on a spiral decline into oblivion. This must change. The time has come for a whole new tribal council.

We must put aside our differences and stand united as a tribe. It does not matter whether you have supported the Reid faction (four leaders elected in 2011 who were never allowed to take power at the rancheria), the Lewis faction, or the Ayala faction. Let us all come together and demand a new election to end this senseless fight for power once and for all.

If tribal members believe that it is time for a change, we are asking them to sign a new "Clean Slate" referendum no later than May 31. We believe that together, we can make a difference.

The governance dispute that has plagued the tribe since December, 2011 has done great harm to the tribe as a whole and the individual tribal members.

The governance dispute has escalated further since the Wyatt and Ramirez families have formed a third group claiming to be the tribal council.

The tribal membership recognize that the dispute will not be resolved unless the membership takes action.

The tribal membership realize that we are divided and there must be a unification of the tribe.

Therefore, we members of the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians formally have submitted a referendum for a clean slate election to resolve the dispute between the Reid, Lewis, and Ayala factions through the referendum process.

The following is some more specifics from the clean slate referendum:

1. Referendum process: The Madera County Clerk will oversee and certify the referendum process, and ensure confidentiality of all responses. Names and signatures will not be disclosed.

2. Special clean slate election: A special "clean slate" election shall be conducted to elect seven tribal members to the tribal council. All aspects of the election shall be overseen and certified by a neutral third party, such as the Madera County Clerk, the BIA, or another neutral body. All ballots and votes will remain confidential. Once the results are certified, the election will be deemed final.

3. Terms of the elected: The three candidates receiving the highest total votes shall hold office until the December, 2014 election and seating. The four candidates receiving the next highest total of votes shall serve until the December, 2013 election and seating. Thereafter, all terms of office shall return to two years.

4. Tribal membership: All purported disenrollments between November 1, 2011 and today's date shall be declared null and void. Any individual who was a tribal member on October 1, 2011 shall be restored to full tribal membership, and all adult members shall be eligible to vote..

5. Sanctions: All sanctions, including but not limited to anti-violence ordinance sanctions and debarment letters between October 1, 2011 and today's date shall be declared null and void.

6. Voter eligibility: All persons who were, as of October 1, 2011, members of the tribe and eligible to vote in a tribal election shall be eligible to vote in the clean slate election. In addition, all tribal members who have reached the age of 18 since October 1, 2011 shall be eligible to vote.

7. Qualification of candidates: Candidates shall be qualified voters, reside within a 75-mile radius of the Picayune reservation and have never been removed, recalled or forfeited their position on the tribal council prior to December 3, 2011.

Dr. Lehman Brightman Evicted From Home. Native American Activist Extraordinaire Needs YOUR Help To Vacate.

Here is the chance for all Native Americans to come to the aid of a brother who has fought for YOUR rights for DECADES. You may not agree with tactics, but you are benefitting from HIS ACTIONS with UNITED NATIVE AMERICANS. We have embedded a page where you can donate to help defray costs. $10 from 100 people is a thousand dollars. PLEASE HELP!

New Documents for Latest PALA Disenrollment Action in Court.

Turtle Talk Blog has the links to all the paperwork.

The Pala people are continuing their action against Robert Smith and the corrupt council.   Please read more about the disenrollments at Pala at: PALA WATCH

Pala disenrolled 162 members

Learn More on Disenrollment, Ethnic Cleansing in Indian Gaming Country at these Links:

Gaming Revenue Blamed for Disenrollment

disenrollment is paper Genocide

CA Tribal Cleansing

Tribal terrorism

TRIBAL TERRORISM includes Banishment

WTF? ACLU will Get Involved in Native American Issues when CA Violates Rights, But Not when TRIBES VIOLATED CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

When we ask for help on civil rights matters, we only get crickets chirping.  Prisoners want religious artifacts, ACLU is right on it.    Criminal,okay! Elders...who cares..

MAY 9, 2013

This week, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of California joined an inter-tribal coalition, comprised ofHuy, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, the Pit River Tribe, the National Native American Bar Association, and California Indian Legal Services, in formal protest of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s issuance of a provisional “emergency” regulation denying indigenous prisoners access to items used in religious ceremony and access to sweatlodge ceremony.

The California ACLU’s protest letter is here and Huy’s protest letter is here.

This national inter-tribal protest movement was featured by Indian Country Today last week. In short:

In February, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) provisionally outlawed, on a so-called “emergency” basis, American indigenous prisoners’ religious use of: tribal sacred medicines like kinnikinnick, copal, and osha root; indigenous sacred items like pipes and pipe bags, drums and other instruments, and water dippers; and tribal religious necessities like cloth for prayer ties, beads and beading supplies, and animal hides and teeth. It appears the indigenous prisoners’ sweatlodge ceremonies have also been curtailed being reduced from occurring every weekend to only one or two times per month.

Although the public comment deadline has passed, any person, group or tribe can still submit written comments about what remains a proposed CDCR religious property regulation to CDCR, Regulation and Policy Management Branch (RPMB), P.O. Box 942883, Sacramento, CA 94283-0001, or by fax to (916) 324-6075, or by e-mail to RPMB@cdcr.ca.gov. The CDCR will soon consider comments, evaluate proposed alternatives, and issue a final rule.

We continue to urge your written and public comment in opposition to the State of California’s unlawful effort to unduly restrict American indigenous prisoners’ freedom to believe, express and exercise traditional indigenous religion.

Can we trust tribes working on Internet Poker plan for CA?

How, can Californians trust tribes that have cheated their own people, violated human and civil rights, craft an online gaming plan for California?  Left without oversight on their casino operations, we have had embezzlement, uncounted slot machines, reduced dollars to our state.  We now have tribes like Pechanga practicing APARTHEID and segregation on their reservation.  The Democrats have on of these crooks leading their Native American Caucus.  Can we trust the Democrat Party?

— Representatives of some of the state’s most successful tribes with casinos have met privately to hammer out a proposal to legalize online poker, tribal leaders and others said Tuesday.

Deep divisions among the state’s politically influential tribal casino industry — including tribes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties — thwarted past attempts to advance legislation to license online poker in California, one of the world’s largest potential markets.

In recent months, though, tribes that previously opposed online poker because they said it threatened their casino businesses have begun to warm to the idea. Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have authorized Internet gaming. And a legal site, Ultimate Poker, started taking bets in Nevada last week.

Congress, meanwhile, could adopt nationwide rules harmful to tribes’ interests.

“Tribes are primed right now to begin moving it, to begin working with state legislators to see something to fruition,” Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula, said at an online gaming conference sponsored by Capitol Weekly, a publication that covers California government and politics.

The Pechanga band and others opposed past proposals to legalize online poker because of fears that online gambling would undercut tribes’ casinos. Macarro, though, said the tribe’s position on that issue “is evolving.”

Another Riverside County tribe, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, also is part of the tribal talks. The tribe operates two casinos in the Coachella Valley.

Barry Brokaw, an Agua Caliente lobbyist, said “there has been a great commonality of purpose” among tribes and online poker.

“A lot of those tribes have been working together and we’ve made strides,” Brokaw told the Capitol Weekly audience. “I think there is a possibility that something may develop pretty soon, and we can have some serious discussions with lawmakers in the building and see what we can come up with.”

In addition, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near San Bernardino has also been involved. San Manual, along with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning, was a member of a now-defunct group that sponsored an online poker proposal last year.

Jerry Levine, an attorney working with the San Manuel band, said he thinks the tribes can craft a unified proposal.

Trial Date Confirmed For The Alleged THIEF of Robinson Rancheria

The theft case against the Robinson Rancheria Pomo Indians tribal chair was confirmed for trial Monday.

Tracey I. Avila is set to face a jury next month on one count of grand theft. She was arrested in September 2011 because authorities allege she stole tens of thousands of dollars from the federal government and the Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians while working as that tribe's fiscal officer between February 2006 and September 2008.

Avila, 51, of Nice has pleaded not guilty to the felony charge.

Last week, a judge rescheduled Avila's trial date because her attorney had a scheduling conflict. The trial, expected to last six to 10 days, is set to get underway June 19.

Avila appeared Monday afternoon at the Lake County Courthouse, where Judge Richard C. Martin conducted a trial-readiness conference before confirming Avila's case for trial.

Avila, who is out of custody, is scheduled to return to court June 14 for courtroom assignment.

Redding Rancheria Still Economic Force a Decade After Disenrollment of First Tribal Chairman and Family

No mention of that fact in this story

When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in 1987 the right of federally-recognized tribes acting as sovereign nations to conduct gaming on Indian lands free of state control, the recently re-instated Redding Rancheria had slightly less than 31 acres on which to operate and a tribal council that was struggling to maintain the salary of its one paid employee.

Unemployment was running at nearly 87 percent among the Wintu, Yana and Pit River tribal members who made up Redding Rancheria. The tribal government had a budget of $40,000 in 1989, remembers Barbara Murphy, who was hired that year as its executive director.

For the previous six months in 1988, while still living and working in British Columbia, Murphy had offered advice to her elder brother and others on the tribal council on a seemingly never-ending series of proposals from investors intent on contracting their services to manage a high-stakes bingo hall on Redding Rancheria land.

The tribal elders, led by Murphy, negotiated a loan and management contract in 1988 that preserved Redding Rancheria’s sovereignty rights and gave preferential treatment to tribal members for casino employment and management training.

Within its first 17 months of operation, tribal elders paid off the $1.2 million loan with interest and canceled the investor’s management contract.

By 1993, when Redding Rancheria converted the bingo hall to a full-fledged casino with card games and slot machines, the tribal council’s budget had grown to $4.2 million annually. In 1996, the tribal council was dealing with a $40 million budget.

This week, Redding Rancheria is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Win-River Casino, opened in 1993 following a $2.7 million renovation and expansion to replace the metal-sided bingo hall with a small, but fully-equipped casino.

Since then, the casino has expanded two more times — once in 2005 with a $40 million upgrade that added convention space, corporate offices and other amenities — and the soon-to-be-completed addition of an 85-room resort hotel and spa, also priced at $40 million, said General Manager Gary Hayward.

Hayward is a nephew of Murphy’s who came back to Redding Rancheria in 1990 following a stint in the U.S. Air Force to work at the bingo hall and is now the casino’s general manager.

“It’s kind of surreal. Each morning as I drive in to go to work, I sit in the parking lot to finish my cup of coffee as I watch the hotel construction. I often think about how much we have changed in the last 20 years,” said Hayward, now 45.

Although the tribal council does not release annual revenue and expense figures from the casino’s operations, Hayward said he expects the latest expansion to pay for itself in less than 10 years.

Hayward will also add another 55 employees — 45 at the hotel itself and another 10 in the hotel gift shop, spa and restaurant — bringing the total of casino employees to more than 400.

In 2010-2011, the casino itself averaged 360 employees and paid $12.5 million in payroll and benefits, he said. It also paid $1,090,760 in payroll taxes during that two-year period and paid $26.5 million to more than 9,400 non-local vendors and another 2,500 local vendors, he said.

"Without A Tribe" KNBC's Report on Pechanga's Disenrollment; See Mark Macarro Lie in 16 seconds.

This details the disenrollment of Pechanga members in 2006.  The Paulina Hunter descendents, which was the second family to be terminated from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians.  Please listen to THEIR expert Dr John Johnson speak. WE DID NOT HIRE to review our family's Dr. Johnson, the foremost expert on California Indians PECHANGA DID. They used him to determine other families too.

Why did they not believe their OWN expert? Because he didn't come to the conclusion they wanted.  They accepted hearsay evidence versus the historical record of their own tribe. The preponderance of the evidence says that Paulina Hunter was Pechanga.   If Pechanga will CHEAT IT'S own people, won't they cheat YOU?






SADLY, Lawrence Madariaga, Hunter Family Elder, has passed away. This happened because Frances Miranda, Ihrene Scearce and Ruth Masiel disregarded their experts report, and believed a CHILD MOLESTER instead.  It's a disgrace and an action worthy of your scorn.


Learn More on Disenrollment, Ethnic Cleansing in Indian Gaming Country at these Links:
Gaming Revenue Blamed for Disenrollment
disenrollment is paper Genocide
CA Tribal Cleansing
Tribal terrorism
TRIBAL TERRORISM includes Banishment