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| Lewis, Ayala and Reid, Which one is MOE? |
The three leaders vying for control of the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians — and its $9 million-a-month haul from its Madera County casino — have undeniably different styles.
Reggie Lewis, 62, conducts business from a high-rent, north Fresno office that has a sweeping view of the San Joaquin River. He has control of the tribe's multimillion-dollar bank accounts.
Nancy Ayala, 46, holds meetings in a windowless portable building near the tribe's Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, which opened in 2003 along Highway 41 near Coarsegold. Ayala controls the daily casino profits, which she no longer deposits in the tribe's bank accounts for Lewis to use.
Morris Reid, 72, keeps tabs on the tribe from his Fresno home near Saint Agnes Medical Center. He has neither access to the bank accounts nor the casino profits.
While all three agree that in-fighting is bad for business, none of them are willing to step aside.
The power struggle has led to charges — and counter charges — of embezzlement that, in Ayala's estimation, will put the casino in bankruptcy within a year if the leadership issue isn't resolved.
Now, Lewis has upped the ante, said Ayala, who described the dispute as "a chess match."
For years, Lewis opposed the North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians' plan to put a swanky casino resort along Highway 99 north of Madera because it would cut into the Chukchansi tribe's profits.
As recently as May, Lewis sent out a newsletter to tribal members voicing his opposition. But now, Ayala said, he is trying to cut a deal with the North Fork tribe "for his own personal gain."
"He's a traitor. He's not only selling out his mother, he is selling out the entire tribe," she said.
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I feel bad for morris.. I mean I really do. I know he had his 2 terms, I still think something doesn't set well. All this Making a lot of us sad.
ReplyDeletemorris reid and the tribal council he sat with at picayune in 2006 (dora jones, dustin graham, dixie jackson, joyce burel, harold hammond, herb punkin) are responsible for the arbitrary and capricious disenrollment of over 600 chukchansi people...
ReplyDeletewhat is occurring at picayune DID NOT start with the most recent chapter involving ayala, lewis, and reid--the stage was set for it YEARS ago, and the councils beforehand could have stopped it...
instead, they allowed and completed the disenrollment of over 800 chukchansi individuals between 1999 and 2007, as well as disenrolling the entire wyatt-ramirez family in 1994...
why? because the members of those councils never thought the destruction would ever trickle down to them and their families...
so, they sacrificed hundreds of chukchansi people in what they thought would be appeasement to a certain small and vocal faction within the tribe setting in motion a future which would ultimately include banishment and/or disenrollment for themselves and their own family members...
and the real kicker? NONE of these past prci council members--including and especially morris reid--will take responsibility for THEIR OWN actions setting in motion the chaos which reigns today at picayune...NONE of them will consider bringing ALL chukchansi people home as SHOULD be done, and ALL now cry foul at the violation of their tribal, civil, and human rights--a violation which they perpetrated against HUNDREDS of their own people between 1999 and 2006...
i feel sorry for our ancestors, who did what they had to do--even giving their own lives--for our people to exist...and now to have their tremendous sacrifices dishonored, their histories erased, and their descendants disenrolled and dismembered all in the name of greed and power...
and today, ALL THREE FACTIONS have forgotten the indian way of honoring, respecting, and protecting one's people...until our people exist no more...
Do not feel bad for ANY existing tribal member.
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ReplyDeletei do not feel bad for morris reid...morris sat on the prce tribal council in 2006-2007 that dismembered over 600 tribal citizens from picayune--MORE than nancy ayala and reggie lewis have disenrolled combined...morris also stood beside then chairman dustin graham at the native american caucus meeting in sacramento a year later, speaking out AGAINST establishment of an act that would have brought ALL dismembered people back to their tribes and provided sanctions against those tribes which choose to violate the rights of their people through disenrollment and nonrecognition...the paper genocide could have--and should have--been stopped at picayune long ago, and the councils between 2003 and 2007 at picayune, of which morris was a member had an opportunity to do so...what picayune has now become is a direct result of the actions those councils began in those years...guess morris, dora jones, joyce burel, harold hammond, herb punkin, and dixie jackson never thought the result would be eventual horrific losses for their own families in the future, as has come to pass...and most, morris and dora in particular, still refuse to acknowledge their responsibility for the chaos that has transcended upon picayune today...
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