Editorial By Rick Cuevas

Sierrastar.com - Do They Care?

By Rick Cuevas — Guest Commentary

We've read so much about the issues at the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians. Does anyone really believe that the three groups led by Morris Reid, Nancy Ayala and Reggie Lewis have the best interest of the tribe as their priority, or the best interest of themselves?

All three of these so-called leaders were proponents of the first disenrollments in the tribe in 1999 and 2006. They cut 800 tribal members from their heritage and rights as Native Americans. Is that what someone who purports to care about the tribe does? I think not.

These actions against their own people and those subsequent disenrollments documented by the Sierra Star, have led to violence and huge police presence to protect Chukchansi's shrinking number of citizens from their own leaders. Is this what was meant by tribal self reliance?

Read Full Article Here - Sierrastar.com - Do They Care?

Rick Cuevas runs  Original Pechanga's Blog

Off-Reservation Casino Moves Forward

Capital Weekly - State’s first off-reservation tribal casino poised for OK

By Greg Lucas | 06/24/13 5:00 AM PST

Despite objections of a dozen Indian tribes operating casinos across California, the Senate is expected to approve legislation this week allowing the North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians to build a hotel casino complex near Madera – the first off-reservation tribal casino authorized in the state.

North Fork says its 2,000-slot casino and 200-room hotel will jumpstart the economic livelihood of its 1,900-member tribe and buoy the area’s depressed rural economy.

“Ratification of our compact is going to bring jobs to the area and build up the economy,” Elaine Bethel Fink, chairwoman of the North Fork tribe, told Capitol Weekly. 

 Read Full Article Here - Capital Weekly - State’s first off-reservation tribal casino poised for OK

LA Weekly Article on Pala

Pala's Big Gamble: A SoCal Tribe's Casino Made Them Rich. But At What Cost?

By Ben Westhoff Thursday, Jun 20 2013

When city folk daydream about ditching the rat race and settling down somewhere peaceful, they imagine a place like the Pala Indian reservation. Nestled near the base of Palomar Mountain in north San Diego County and just a few miles east of I-15, it's 12,000 acres of gorgeous hilly countryside and red earth. Roadside stands sell oranges and avocados. Prickly nopal cactus grows like weeds, surrounding ranches populated by cows, horses and even the occasional buffalo.


READ MORE HERE Pala's Big Gamble: A SoCal Tribe's Casino Made Them Rich. But At What Cost?

Pala's Chairman Robert Smith Writes A Letter

The Chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians wrote a letter to the San Diego Reader in response to an article written by Siobhan Braun titled Can you find the big secret in this casino? Reservation’s reservations.

You can read all of Chairman Smith's letter here under the heading Attention to Detail:

San Diego Reader Editorial Inbox - Attention to Detail by Robert Smith

Part of Chairman Smith's letter reads:

"Additionally, the blood requirement to receive a land allotment in 1913 for any Native American was 50 percent. This was determined by the federal government, not by the Pala tribe."

Margarita Brittain received an allotment in 1913 along with all her children which makes her children 1/2.

Here is the 1913 Allotment roll.  Margarita Brittain is listed as 4/4 and her children as 1/2.  Thus all the disenrolled members of Pala are eligible for enrollment under Pala's Constitution as they posses 1/16 Blood of the Band.

1913 Pala Enrollment Approved by Secretary of the Interior by kupa821

San Diego Reader Article on Pala

Can you find the big secret in this casino? Link to Full Article

Reservation’s reservations

By Siobhan Braun, June 5, 2013

The Pala Indian reservation sits 40 miles northeast of San Diego, on 12,333 acres in the middle of the San Luis Rey River Valley. If you approach from along Highway 76, a winding, two-lane road that takes you through Palomar Mountain’s foothills, the first landmark you see is the Pala Casino. It’s a Las Vegas–style casino and hotel, and it looks garish among the modest tribal-member-owned ranch-style homes and rundown businesses. The casino boasts over 2000 slot and video machines, 87 table games, a 9-table poker room, and a 507-room hotel. It opened its doors on April 13, 2001.

If, instead of entering the casino’s parking garage, you make a left onto Pala Mission Road, you wind up in the heart of the reservation. Remnants of the tribe’s past are evident along this main drag. A scruffy mutt with matted white fur roams the graveled lot in front of a run-down fruit-and-vegetable stand. Next door is a small, paint-chipped Mexican restaurant and hamburger joint. Double-wide trailers house a beauty salon and a tattoo parlor. A few blocks farther and you come to the Mission San Antonio de Pala. A white picket fence surrounds a cemetery overrun with wildflowers. Wooden headstones tilt over the graves, etched with old tribal family names. The mission opened June 13, 1816, and it is the last California mission still in operation. Across the street sits the Pala General Store, established in 1867. Tribal elders sit on a weathered bench out in front and watch the comings and goings.

Can you find the big secret in this casino? Read Full Article Here