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March 9, 2017 Volume 47 - No. 10

The Paper - 760.747.7119

website:www.thecommunitypaper.com

email: thepaper@cox.net

by lyle e davis

Last week we explored the San PasqualBand of Mission Indians and theirowned and operated Valley View Casino.Let us now take a closer look at the World of Casinos and the PechangaBand of Luiseno Indians The Pechanga Resort and Casino is anIndian Casino on the Pechanga IndianReservation in Temecula, California,operated by the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. It is the largest casinoin the State of California. With 3,400slot machines and about 188,000 sq. feetof gaming space.Currently, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians distribute 90% of NETprofit from the casinos to its enrolledmembers, payable monthly.Enrolled members of the Pechanga Tribe receive a large amount of per capi-ta income, currently about $25,566.66per month. Annually, that translates to$306,799.92. That figure does NOTrepresent a salary. It simply is a paymentmade to you for being you. IF, and it’s abig “IF” you are an enrolled member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians.If you are not an enrolled member, youare out of luck. Big time.Let’s do the math: Average monthly percapita income per tribal member$25,566.66. That translates to $306,000per year, per each famil.y member,enrolled, over the age of 18. With an enrolled membership of approximately 1400, the distribution perenrolled member would be $35,792,400per month. If 90% of x = $35,792,400 then x mustequal $39,769,333 net revenues permonth generated by Pechanga Casino. This leaves $3,975,833 in net profitretained by the casino, per month. Again, this is not a salary for work per-formed . . . it is the per capita distribu-tion to enrolled members simply forbeing an enrolled member of the tribe. Just for being you. By any definition . . . Pechanga Casinogenerates a tremendous amount of money. As we took a close look at Ray Alto andhis family last week, regarding the SanPasqual Band of Mission Indians andthe impact of the Valley View Casinorevenues on its enrolled members, let uslook this week at a several similar casesinvolving two gentleman by name of Rick Cuevas and John Gomez, Jr. - bothof whom claim membership of thePechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. As reported by the Voice of America,Pechanga Indian Rick Cuevas traces hisancestry to a woman named PaulinaHunter, who was granted a lot of landon the Pechanga reservation in the late1800s. He and his family have lived onthe reservation as full tribal members fordecades.But in the early 2000s, the tribal councildecided to posthumously disenrollHunter and, by extension, about 180 of her descendants.

“They have desecrated the memory of our ancestors,”

Cuevas said.

“The Pechanga tribal chairman has ripped our history from us, without evidence. And yet his ancestor, back in the day, called my ancestor ‘Aunt.’”

Disenrollment is an epidemic in reserva-tions across Indian country. Cuevastracks these cases on his OriginalPechanga website: So far, 11,000 Indianshave been exiled from dozens of tribes. As it turns out, this and the majority of other disenrollment cases are aboutmoney.

with their relatives and ancestors,”

Cuevassaid. The Pechanga Band government did notrespond to VOA’s request for comment.

A Case Study at Pechanga

(As Brian Frank reported on theOriginal Pechanga blog

(http://www.originalpechanga.com/2016/01/californias-tribal- cleansingtacit.html)

A revealing study concerns the disenroll-ment of John Gomez Jr., whose entireextended family, consisting of 135 adultsand all of their offspring, was declared in2004 no longer to be Pechanga. Gomezand his relatives are descended fromManuela Miranda, who all sides agree was part of the Temecula tribe from which the Pechanga originate.Cuevas’ tribe operates the PechangaResort and Casino, the largest inCalifornia. By some estimates, it earnsfrom $1-2 billion annually and pays allot-ments to each tribal member of $300,000 or more a year.Cuevas estimates that his family has lostmore than $2.5 million per person in percapita payments alone in the 11 yearssince they were disenrolled, assuming the per capita rate at that time.But money isn’t the only thing he haslost. Some losses can’t be quantified.

“We were tribal members long before the casinocame,”

he said.

“Our family has resided on the reservation continuously for nearly 70 years.”

Today, disenrolled members are deniedhealth and educational benefits. “

And they can’t be buried in the reservation

ceme

tery

Upper left, John Gomez, Jr., Disenrolled; Upper right, Richard Cuevas on right, his ancestor, Pauline Hunter to his left. disenrolled; Bottom right, Pechanga Tribal Chairman, Mark Macarro

EXPOSE’ - The Disappearing Indians Part IIContinued on Page 2

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Give Us ThisDay Our DailyChuckle

This week, a compendium of wit, wisdom and neat stuff you can tell at parties. Enjoy!

dom decreed,

"Okay, I'm ready to hear the evidence...I'll hear the oldest plaintiff first."

The case was dismissed for lack of testimony.•••••I’m only two girls short of a three-some! THIS IS A FRIGHTENING STA- TISTIC, PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST WORRISOME INRECENT YEARS.25% of the women in this country are on medication for mental illness. That's scary.It means 75% are running arounduntreated.••••• A group of women were at a seminaron how to live in a loving relationship with your husband. The women were asked,

"How many of you love your husband?"

All the womenraised their hands. Then they wereasked,

"When was the last time you told your husband you loved him?"

Some women answered today, a few yester-day, and some couldn't remember. The women were then told to takeout their cell phones and text theirhusband:

"I love you, sweetheart."

The women were then told to exchangephones with another person, and toread aloud the text message they received, in response.

Chuckles

Cont. on Page 8

of the casino's restaurant, his cousin wasthe casino's head of human resources,and other relatives helped draft thetribe's constitution. In 2002, Gomez anda cousin were elected to the Pechangaenrollment committee. Deluged withapplications after the opening of its firstgambling hall in 1995, the tribe imposeda moratorium the following year onaccepting new adult members, althoughchildren of existing members were stillpermitted to apply. According to Gomez, he and his cousinfound that the committee was not pro-cessing applications filed before themoratorium and was failing to enrollsome members' children. Only after hecalled for an investigation, says Gomez,did questions about his own ancestry arise. The Pechanga authorities (TribalChairman Mark Macarro) say they arejust belatedly enforcing long-standing rules regarding descent and historicalresidence. In other tribes, too, disenrollment hasbeen used as a club to settle scores andto protect political power. Forced to prove their Pechanga lineage,Gomez and his family searched throughgovernment archives and boxes tuckedaway in homes, eventually amassing hun-dreds of historical documents, many asold as the baptismal record from 1864. John Gomez's case hinges not on hisancestor's blood, but as the ruling exam-ines here, on where precisely ManuelaMiranda lived at a specific time. In 1875,the Temecula were forced off their landby neighboring ranchers backed by SanDiego County sheriffs. Many of themdrifted away to towns; others resettled inthe nearby Pechanga valley, which the

Disappearing Indians - Part II

Cont. from Page 1

When John Gomez Jr. and his family lost their membership in the Pechangaband, they also forfeited their access tothe tribal health clinic, a substantialincome, access to the tribal school fortheir children, certain federal benefitsreserved for American Indians, and eventheir right to call themselves Pechanga inthe eyes of the federal government.Gomez’s family was the first to be disen-rolled in 2004, but trouble began stirring long before that, long before there waseven a casino.In 1995, the tribe opened a small butlucrative gaming center. As the money trickled in, tribal members began toreceive checks made out directly in theirnames.

“It was really, really slow, because it was a small facility,”

Gomez says.

“But eventually, you were talking thousands of dol

lars a

month and then tens of thousands of dollars a month. And there was a lot of people that had never seen that amount of money before, didn’t really know how to handle it, and it created issues for them.”

Most tribal members wrestled withissues of how to spend the money or whether and how much to save, Gomezsays. But for others, it was more aboutgreed.

“It also created a group of people that said,‘You know what? We need to get more. There’s other tribes in the area that get a lot more than we do,’”

Gomez says.It was money that exacerbated the dis-pute over who belonged in the tribe.

his best." "Some music stores are in a CD part of town." "If we would only send young American tenors to stud abroad, they would return immensely improved." "The all-girl orchestra was rather weak in the bras section."

Humbug: A singing cockroach. Violinist: A man who is always up tohis chin in music. Trumpet Teacher: Tooter tutor.If everyone in the choir is singing thesame note, where is the harmony?First Music Score: Beethoven: 7,Bach: 3•••••I went down this morning to sign upIzzy, my English bulldog, for welfare. At first the lady said, dogs are not eli-gible to draw welfare. So I explainedto her that Izzy is unemployed, lazy,can't speak English and has no clue who her daddy is. So she looked inher policy book to see what it takes toqualify. Izzy gets her first check Friday. What a great country this is.••••• A redneck's pickup lines: 1 -

I cain't find my puppy. Kin you help me find him? I think he went into this cheaphotel room. 2 - Yer eyes are as blue as winder cleaner. 3 - If ye'r gonna regret this in the mornin' - we kin jes' sleep till after noon.

••••• The classiest part of The Oscars is

"In Memoriam,"

when we see who wins

"Best Dead Person Based On Applause."

••••• What's the difference between anIrish wedding and an Irish funeral?One less drunk.•••••Inspired by the success of skicross -ski + motocross - I propose skoxing - figure skating + boxing ••••• Warning! Drinking alcoholic bever-ages before pregnancy can causepregnancy.••••• We'll always be best friends becauseyou know too much.••••• When you really want to slap some-one, just do it and then yell

"Mosquito!"

••••• You drink too much, swear toomuch, and have questionable morals. You have everything I've ever wantedin a friend.•••••In California you can get a ticket fortexting in your car from a cop whohas a lap top in his.•••••Several women shared an apartmentand didn't get along. Eventually, they ended up in court, each accusing theothers of causing the trouble they were having. The judge, with Solomon-like wis-

government eventually designated as thePechanga reservation. The tribe's constitution, passed in 1978,says that members must prove

"descent from original Pechanga Temecula people."

But in 1996 the tribal council tightenedthe rules, declaring for the first time thatmembers had to have an ancestor fromthe subset of Temeculas who relocatedto the Pechanga valley.Gomez and his family point to minutesfrom the 1996 meeting indicating thatthe more stringent qualifications werenot meant to be applied retroactively toestablished members such as themselves.Manuela Miranda was born in 1864 inthe Temecula village. The enrollment committee acknowl-edges that Miranda identified herself asan

"Indian of the Pechanga Reservation"

in a1916 probate record. Unfortunately forGomez, the enrollment-committeemembers with ties to the ConcernedPechanga People were reinstated beforehis case was considered: in resuming their positions, they were able to ruleagainst him. The committee states thatMiranda never relocated to the Pechanga valley, and therefore her progeny are notPechangas. Yet Gomez's family insiststhat Miranda kept in close contact withher relatives on the reservation, and inaffidavits elderly tribal members havesworn that they always viewed her as oneof their own.Gomez's disenrollment does not meanthat he is not an Indian but it does puthim outside the Pechanga tribe, costing him more than his monthly casinocheck, his job, and the health and life


Cont. on Page 3

Signs I Have Seen:

"I march to the beat of my own accordion." "Rap is to music what Etch-a-Sketch is toart." "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish."

Music Teacher's Sign:

"Out Chopin - Bach in a minuet." "He thinks Meow Mix is a CD for cats." "Montovani? They play Montovani toinsomniacs that don't respond to strong drugs." "Wear the right costume and the part plays itself." "Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play." "Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing

The families targeted by the eldersincluded all descendants of a womannamed Manuela Miranda, a relative of former chief Pablo Apis—that wasGomez’s family. It also included theGarbani family and the descendants of a woman named Paulina Hunter. TheHunter family included LawrenceMadariaga, the elder who had evenreceived an award recognizing his long service to the tribe. To head off possible disenrollmentaction, members of Gomez’s family approached him about running for aposition on the enrollment committee,figuring that by seating one of theirown, they would have a chance to vote itdown, he says. Gomez had already gained a reputationfor service by lobbying in Sacramento toget the state to recognize the tribe’s rightto operate a casino. He had little trouble winning a spot on the committee. Buthe quickly discovered how shadowy tribal politics could be. He was notallowed, for instance, to see the allegedbacklog of applications that had led tothe moratorium

(of new applicants for tribal membership)

. Those were kept under lock and key, and only a handful of people were allowed to see them, he says.In the end, however, being on theenrollment committee only gave Gomeza front row seat to his own expulsion.Meeting in secret and without all of itsmembers, the committee officially dis-enrolled more than 200 members of theMiranda line, including Gomez, who was not even allowed to cast a vote.In 1998, Gomez settled his own family afew miles from the reservation, in thetown of Temecula, and he soon went to work for the tribe as its legal analyst. Hisbrother has served as the executive chef

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insurance that came with it. Members of Gomez's family can attestto this dilemma: since being disenrolledmany of them have lost their federally funded Indian health care. There arenow more than one thousand peoplefighting ejections from California tribesalone, and far more are embroiled insimilar disputes nationwide. Yet for thedisenrolled there is little recourse.Gomez turned to state and federalcourts, hoping they would be able to set-tle conflicting interpretations of triballaw and historical record. But the samesovereignty that allows Indian tribes torun casinos and sell fireworks also putsthem largely outside the jurisdiction of the courts. A federal judge, ruling lastSeptember on another California case,

wrote, "These doctrines of tribal sovereign immunity were developed decades ago, before the gaming boom created a new and economically valuable premium on tribal membership."

Although the judge was unwilling tochallenge the 1978 Supreme Court deci-sion that made membership an internaltribal matter, she nevertheless found thecase

"deeply troubling on the level of funda- mental substantive justice."

Gomez recently helped form the American Indian Rights and ResourceOrganization, which is calling onCongress to address the current spate of disenrollment abuse. The Pechanga, who are governed by atribal council with seven elected mem-bers, have a separate enrollment com-mittee that oversees membership appli-cations and maintains a list of lawfully enrolled individuals based on eligibility requirements laid out in the tribe’s con-stitution. With the prospect of so much wealth suddenly at play, the tribeclaimed, the number of new applicantsclaiming to be Pechanga had spiked, cre-ating a backlog. Shortly before 2004, Gomez says, agroup calling itself the ConcernedPechanga People began calling for thedisenrollment of three entire family lines. At the same time, the passage of Proposition 1A in 2000 had helped clearthe way for further expansion of Pechanga’s gaming center. In 2002, thetribe had held the grand opening of its AAA-rated Four Diamond PechangaResort and Casino, which was now thelargest in the state with thousands of slot machines, more than 100 tablegames, a nearly 200,000-square-footcasino floor, and more than 500 guestrooms. With no new applications being accept-ed, the amount of money coming fromcasino revenues to each tribe memberhad gradually increased to as much as$15,000 or $20,000 a month. (

Today it is an estimated $25,500 per month.

Editor)

Disenrolling hundreds of members would increase it even more.In 2006, Pechanga would again take what appeared to outside observers asarbitrary action against a single family line. (Ibid: Brian Frank) The tribal council appeared bent on get-ting rid of the Hunter line. They hadalready commissioned a report by arespected anthropologist in SantaBarbara named John Johnson, asking him to look into the genealogy of Paulina Hunter. Hunter, the councilclaimed, was not Pechanga by descent,and so neither were her descendants.

Military w/ID. A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to ‘Oceanside Promise’, acity-wide call to action partnership to ensurethat every student graduates high schoolready to succeed in college, career, and life.See www.OCAF.info for additional informa-tion about the music series.

Everything Fitz, The Fitzgerald Family –

This concert will be on Saturday, March18th, at 2pm, at the center Theater of theCalifornia Center for the Arts, Escondido.Everything Fitz is a family band featuring high-energy fiddling and percussive stepdancing of four of Canada’s finest young musicians. They perform everything fromtraditional jogs and reels, Celtic, swing, jazz,bluegrass, gospel, to novelty numbers – wholesome captivating entertaining musicand dance from the very famous Ottawa Valley in Quebec, Canada. Visit their website at www.everythingfitz.ca. This concert is brought to you by theHidden Valley Community Concert Association which is celebrating their 71stanniversary of bringing a variety of profes-

Meetings/Events Calendar Oceanside Music Festival Event Announced

- Oceanside Cultural ArtsFoundation’s third music event of theOceanside Music Festival 2016-17 Series ishere. “Encore: In Harmony…Community in Concert” will take place 2:30pm, Sunday,March 12th, at St. Mary’s Star of the SeaChurch, 609 Pier View Way, Oceanside.Neither political, nor a religious event, it is abringing together of all segments of ourNorth County community with uplifting,supportive, and inclusive song, instrumentalmusic, and poetry. Scheduled performersinclude JROTC, Oceanside High SchoolConcert Choir, Kathy Robbins (JewishCantor), Robert Parker and Joni Yribe,(pianists), Bahman Sarram (Iranian violinist),Dr. Merryl Goldberg (Klezmer player),BASE student performers, Tiffany Valkilianand Jazmine Rogers (vocalists), BradMcMurrey and Matthew Maichen (poets). Tickets at the door are $15/General Admission, or $10/Students, Seniors, and

Evelyn Madison

The Social Butterfly

Email Evelyn at:

thesocialbutterfly@cox.net

The

Social Butterfly

sional concerts to local communities. Tickets are $30/adults; $20/seniors (65+);and $10/children, students, and active mili-tary. Call the CCAE box office at1.800.988.4253 or go online at www.artcen-ter.org, or buy you tickets in person at thebox office without incurring the credit cardand handling costs. For questionsand/or more information, contactDennis Tomlinson, President,HVCCA, at 760.740.0619.

Business After 5 Mixer

– Escondido Chamber’s Mixer, asocial/networking event, will betonight, Thursday, March 9th, from5-7pm, at Sip Wine & Beer, 129 S.Orange, Escondido. Limited tablesponsorships available for $75 todisplay your business products/services information. For reserva-tions/questions, call 760.745.2125or escondidochamber.org.

DAR Meeting is Saturday

– The SantaMargarita Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), will meetSaturday, March 11, at El Camino Country Club, Oceanside. A 9:30 breakfast buffet will be followed by a program and businessmeeting. Chapter member, Deirdre Marsac, will present information about the NSDAR New Horizons Course. The DAR is open toany female 18 years of age or older who islineally descended from an ancestor whoparticipated in some way in thepatriots fight for independence inthe American Revolution. Visit

www.santamargarita.californiadar.org.

LSM Democratic Club Meeting –

Saturday, March 11th is the date forthe Lake San Marcos DemocraticClub meeting, starting at 12:30pmfor social, and guest speaker at 1pm. The meeting will at the ConferenceCenter at 1105 La Bonita Drive, SanMarcos, 92078. Christie Hill hasbeen invited to talk about what appears to bea conflict between the Executive Branch andthe Judicial Branch of the Government.Christie, a San Diego native, is a SeniorPolicy Strategist with the ACLU of SanDiego and Imperial Counties. For direc-tions, call 760.752.1035 or emailpresident@lsmdem.org. Check the website,http://www.lsmdem.org for info. Cen

ter to Hold Soul Line Dance Class

- The Gloria McClellan Center is offering SoulLine Dance classes beginning March 13from 9-10:30am, at 1400 Vale Terrace Drivein Vista. This six week session will run onMondays through April 24 (no class onMarch 27). Make your body smile and feelrejuvenated through dance while learning SOUL line dances choreographed to yourfavorite R&B jazz, gospel and Latin tunes.No experience or partner required.Beginner and experienced dancers encour-aged. Cost is $55/Vista residents, $66/non-residents. One class punch cards also avail-able for $12/Vista resident, $14/non-resi-dent. Reserve online at cityofvista.com/res-idents/senior-services or call 760.643.5281.

COGG Luncheon

– Tuesday, March 14, isthe date for the Conservative Order forGood Government (COGG) luncheon atthe Bernardo Heights Country Club, 16066Bernardo Heights Parkway, RanchoBernardo, from 11:30am-1:30pm. Cost is$25/non-members. Reservations required,by Friday, March 10th. Contact, Barry Wolfert at 858.385.0876 orbarry@coggrb.com. The program will beC.S.I. San Diego Style, presented by Dr.Glenn N. Wagner, San Diego County Medical Examiner. He will speak on thescope of operations at the medical examin-er’s office, it’s unique programs, the epidemi-ological value of collected data in publichealth and safety, and cutting edge technolo-gies.

N.C. African Violet Society Meeting

– The San Diego North County African VioletSociety will meet on Tuesday, March 14,from 10:30am to 12:30pm, in theCommunity Room at the west side of the Vista Library. The program will be LeonardRe, an African Violet expert, who will


Cont. from Page 2

Social Butterfly

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Johnson concluded after exhaustiveresearch that Hunter’s genealogical tiesto the Pechanga appeared legitimate, butthe council ignored both his report andtheir own moratorium on disenroll-ments to expel the Hunters anyway. Johnson, who is a renowned anthropol-ogist and had been hired by thePechanga Band of Luiseno Indians tostudy their lineage and ancestry hascalled the tribe's recent disenrollment of a large family from its rolls

"unfortunate and not based on solid evidence." "They ignored whatever I did in their decision- making,"

said John Johnson, who washired by Pechanga to determine whetherPaulina Hunter was one of the tribe'sancestors.

"It's too bad economics a nd politics have been injected into (tribal lineage rulings)."

A Powerful New Player

(Ibid: BrianFrank) Tribal governments together make upthe fifth largest special interest group inthe state, funneling more cash intoCalifornia political campaigns than thepowerful teachers unions or pharmaceu-tical manufacturers, according toMAPLight.org California, which trackscontributions. And the heads of twoCalifornia tribes, including Pechangachairman Mark Macarro, made Capitol Weekly’s list of the 100 most powerfulpolitical players in the state. Macarro became arguably the most rec-ognizable American Indian in the state when during the 2008 election season heserved as the face of an aggressive if soft-spoken ad campaign to expand thenumber of slot machines legally allowedat four of California’s richest Indianreservations. That referendum, which voters approved, resulted in an increaseof thousands of slot machines at casi-

nos owned by the Sycuan, Morongo, Agua Caliente and Pechanga tribes, fur-ther boosting their already handsomeearning potential.Subsequently, more and more tribalmembers were removed from the rollsof the tribal membership. (Ibid: BrianFrank) The term

“disenrollment”

is gradually gaining recognition outside of IndianCountry. More than 20 tribes—a fifthof those federally recognized inCalifornia—have voted to disenrollmembers in the past two decades, morethan in any other state. There is no offi-cial tally, but estimates collected fromseveral activists indicate that more than2300 American Indians have lost theirtribal citizenship here since disenroll-ments started occurring more frequently in the late '90s.Meanwhile, some of these same tribesreap tremendous benefits from one of California’s newest and most powerfulindustries, Indian gaming, which for thepast two years has outperformed thealmighty Vegas Strip with its more than$7 billion in estimated annual revenues. What’s at stake here is not only the liveli-hood and identities of thousands of American Indians, but also who con-trols a gaming industry that has virtually overnight become both the richest of itskind in the nation and one of the mostinfluential political lobbies in California.

“We need to do something to bring light to this issue, to help other people, to help each other,and to stop this thing,”

says John Gomez, who as president of the activist group


Cont. on Page 5

Courtesy photo of Oceanside High School Concert Choir performing January 20th, 2017, at OCAF's"In Harmony…Community in Concert” at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church.